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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Song sparrow (Melospiza melodia) |
Urbanization | Stress-induced | Decreased in males | Grunst et al. (2014) |
| Abert’s towhee (Pipilo aberti) |
Urbanization | Stress-induced | Increased in males, depending on life history stage | Fokidis et al. (2009) |
| Curve-billed thrashers (Toxostoma curvirostre) |
Urbanization | Stress-induced | Increased in males, depending on life history stage | Fokidis et al. (2009) |
| House sparrow (Passer domesticus) |
Urbanization | Stress-induced | Increased in males, depending on life history stage | Fokidis et al. (2009) |
| Northern mockingbird (Mimus poluglottos) |
Urbanization | Stress-induced | Increased in males, depending on life history stage | Fokidis et al. (2009) |
| Song sparrow (Melospiza melodia) |
Urbanization | Stress-induced | Increased in males and females (only in certain years) | Foltz et al. (2015) |
| Curve billed thrasher (Toxostoma curvirostre) |
Urbanization | Stress-induced | No change in males | Fokidis et al. (2011) |
| Abert’s towhees (Pipilo aberti) |
Urbanization | Stress-induced | No change in males | Fokidis et al. (2011) |
| Dark-eyed junco (Junco hyemalis) |
Urbanization | Stress response | Decreased in males and females | Atwell et al. (2012) |
| Copperhead (Agkistrodon contortrix) |
Urbanization | Stress response | Decreased in males and females | Owen et al. (2014) |
| European blackbird (Turdus merula) |
Urbanization | Stress response | Decreased in males (winter and spring) and females (winter only) | Partecke et al. (2006) |
| Common side-blotched lizard (Uta stansburiana) |
Urbanization | Stress response | Increased in males and females | Lucas and French (2012) |