Table 1. A comprehensive review of empirical work to date on the relationship between human-induced environmental change and corticosterone in birds and reptiles. Results for baseline cort, stress-induced cort and stress response (stress-induced minus baseline) are included for studies that investigated adults (studies on juveniles are not included). The ‘result’ column (decreased/increased/no change) refers to birds exposed to human-induced environmental change, as compared to non-disturbed birds.
| Species | Disturbance type | Cort measure | Result | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Painted turtle (Chrysemys picta) |
Human presence | Stress response | No change in males or females | Polich (2016) |
| Ornate tree lizard (Urosaurus ornatus) |
Urbanization | Baseline | Decreased in males and females | French et al. (2008) |
| American kestrel (Falco sparverius) |
Urbanization | Baseline | Increased in females, but not males | Strasser and Heath (2013) |
| House wren (Troglodytes aedon) |
Urbanization | Baseline | Increased in males and females | Davies et al. (2017) |
| Song sparrow (Melospiza melodia) |
Urbanization | Baseline | Increased in males and females (only in certain years) | Foltz et al. (2015) |
| Tree sparrow (Spizella arborea) |
Urbanization | Baseline | Increased in males and females | Zhang et al. (2011) |
| Abert’s towhee (Pipilo aberti) |
Urbanization | Baseline | No change in males | Fokidis et al. (2009, 2011) |
| Common side-blotched lizard (Uta stansburiana) |
Urbanization | Baseline | No change in males and females | Lucas and French (2012) |
| Copperhead (Agkistrodon contortrix) |
Urbanization | Baseline | No change in males or females | Owen et al. (2014) |
| Curve-billed thrashers (Toxostoma curvirostre) |
Urbanization | Baseline | No change in males | Fokidis et al. (2009, 2011) |
| Dark-eyed junco (Junco hyemalis) |
Urbanization | Baseline | No change in females | Atwell et al. (2012) |
| European blackbird (Turdus merula) |
Urbanization | Baseline | No change in males or females | Partecke et al. (2006) |
| House sparrow (Passer domesticus) |
Urbanization | Baseline | No change in males | Fokidis et al. (2009) |
| Northern mockingbird (Mimus poluglottos) |
Urbanization | Baseline | No change in males | Fokidis et al. (2009) |
| Song sparrow (Melospiza melodia) |
Urbanization | Baseline | No change in males | Grunst et al. (2014) |
| Dark-eyed junco (Junco hyemalis) |
Urbanization | Stress-induced | Decreased in males and females | Atwell et al. (2012) |
| Ornate tree lizard (Urosaurus ornatus) |
Urbanization | Stress-induced | Decreased in males or females | French et al. (2008) |