Cooperative breeding alters physiological and behavioural responses to habitat fragmentation
Description
Here, we investigated physiological and behavioural responses of a cooperatively breeding bird in a severely fragmentated and disturbed tropical biodiversity hotspot and combined these data with remotely sensed (LiDAR) environmental data. We found that individuals had increased glucocorticoid levels when breeding in territories with low indigenous canopy cover or located within small fragments. However, when breeding with the help of subordinates, breeders in low quality territories had similar glucocosrticoid levels as those in higher quality territories. Our study shows that sociality may impact how well animals cope with environmental change and contributes to our understanding of the role of glucocorticoid physiology and behaviour in response to anthropogenic change.
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Institutions
- Universiteit Gent
- Universitat Salzburg