ReviewOecologia2011
Measuring stress in wildlife: techniques for quantifying glucocorticoids.
Review in Oecologia, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 311 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
311 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 903 citations in OpenAlex.
- Analysis of different biological matrices for glucocorticoid detection in wild Cervidae and Bovidae from Europe and North America: a review.BMC veterinary research · 2025Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Stress in the city: meta-analysis indicates no overall evidence for stress in urban vertebrates.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2020Pooled it
- Infrared Thermal Imaging and Blood and Faecal Cortisol Measurements for Stress Assessment in Rabbits During Blood Sampling.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2026Article
- Integrating Nutrition and Stress into Life History Stages of Wild Free-Ranging Female Pronghorn.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2026Article
- Exploring techniques to assess stress-related physiological responses in captive African penguins.MethodsX · 2026Article
- The Relationships of Season, Climate, Habitat, and Sex Variables With Fecal Cortisol, Progesterone, and Testosterone Metabolite Concentrations in Roe Deer.Ecology and evolution · 2026Article
- Effect of Racking Systems Versus Enriched Terraria on Fecal Glucocorticoid Metabolites in Four Species of Captive Snakes: A Pilot Study.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2026Article
- A paired longitudinal comparison of fecal and serum cortisol in Holstein transition dairy cows.BMC veterinary research · 2026Article
- Post-Release Survival and Behavior of Rehabilitated Vervet Monkeys (Chlorocebus pygerythrus rufoviridis) in Malawi.American journal of primatology · 2026Article
- The adrenal stress response involves distinct dynamics of both cortisol and corticosterone in the axolotl salamander.Lab animal · 2026Article
- Wolf Presence Disrupts Seasonal Variation in Hair Cortisol Among Free-Ranging Beef Cattle.Ecology and evolution · 2026Article
- Hair cortisol concentrations as marker of chronic stress in wild roe deer (Capreolus capreolus).Veterinary research communications · 2026Article
- Non-Invasive Assessment of Adrenal Activity in the Subterranean RodentAnimals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2026Article
- Time Series Analysis for Physiological and Endocrinological Data: A Practical Guide.Integrative and comparative biology · 2026Review
- Spikes in the data: biological validation and applications of an assay for detecting faecal glucocorticoid metabolites in Western European hedgehogs (Conservation physiology · 2026Article
- Stress, Well-Being, and Reproduction in Wildlife.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2026Review
- Non-invasive biomarkers of reproduction in individuals and populations of wild vertebrates.The Journal of reproduction and development · 2026Review
- Associations between canine temperament and salivary concentrations of cortisol and serotonin.PloS one · 2026Article
- When touch is stressful: acute endocrine and behavioral responses of domestic rabbits to unfamiliar human handling.Frontiers in veterinary science · 2026Article
251 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 4 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Stress responses play a key role in allowing animals to cope with change and challenge in the face of both environmental certainty and uncertainty. Measurement of glucocorticoid levels, key elements in the neuroendocrine stress axis, can give insight into an animal's well-being and can aid understanding ecological and evolutionary processes as well as conservation and management issues. We give an overview of the four main biological samples that have been utilized [blood, saliva, excreta (feces and urine), and integumentary structures (hair and feathers)], their advantages and disadvantages for use with wildlife, and some of the background and pitfalls that users must consider in interpreting their results. The matrix of choice will depend on the nature of the study and of the species, on whether one is examining the impact of acute versus chronic stressors, and on the degree of invasiveness that is possible or desirable. In some cases, more than one matrix can be measured to achieve the same ends. All require a significant degree of expertise, sometimes in obtaining the sample and always in extracting and analyzing the glucocorticoid or its metabolites. Glucocorticoid measurement is proving to be a powerful integrator of environmental stressors and of an animal's condition.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.