ArticlePloS one2011
Does environmental enrichment reduce stress? An integrated measure of corticosterone from feathers provides a novel perspective.
Article in PloS one, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 32 papers, 1 of them a synthesis 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
32 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 96 citations in OpenAlex.
- Glucocorticoids in relation to behavior, morphology, and physiology as proxy indicators for the assessment of animal welfare. A systematic mapping review.Frontiers in veterinary science · 2022Pooled it
- Species-specific variations in corticosterone concentrations in captive snake shed skins: implications for housing systems and welfare.BMC veterinary research · 2026Article
- Comparative evaluation of native slow-growing roosters: focus on gut integrity and physiological traits.BMC veterinary research · 2025Article
- Innovations in Quail Welfare: Integrating Environmental Enrichment, Nutrition and Genetic Advances for Improved Health and Productivity.Veterinary medicine and science · 2025Review
- Article
- Physiological responses of wild birds to artificial grass during introduction to laboratory housing.PeerJ · 2025Article
- Early-life enrichment in American mink (Animal welfare (South Mimms, England) · 2025Article
- The Effect of Environmental Enrichment on Selected Physiological and Immunological Stress-Related Markers in Dairy Goats.Biology · 2024Article
- Social-pair judgment bias testing in slow-growing broiler chickens raised in low- or high-complexity environments.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Environmental Enrichment Promotes Transgenerational Programming of Uterine Inflammatory and Stress Markers Comparable to Gestational Chronic Variable Stress.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Article
- Using physiology to better support wild bee conservation.Conservation physiology · 2023Article
- Glucocorticoid metabolites in anConservation physiology · 2023Article
- Survey on the Past Decade of Technology in Animal Enrichment: A Scoping Review.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2022Article
- Effect of Providing Environmental Enrichment into Aviary House on the Welfare of Laying Hens.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2022Article
- Casting the Net Widely for Change in Animal Welfare: The Plight of Birds in Zoos, Ex Situ Conservation, and Conservation Fieldwork.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2021Article
- Comparison of Two Different Feather Sampling Methods to Measure Corticosterone in Wild Greater Flamingos (Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2021Article
- Corticosterone in feathers: Inter- and intraindividual variation in pullets and the importance of the feather type.Veterinary and animal science · 2021Article
- Adaptive response to a future life challenge: consequences of early-life environmental complexity in dual-purpose chicks.Journal of animal science · 2020Article
- Corticosterone in feathers of laying hens: an assay validation for evidence-based assessment of animal welfare.Poultry science · 2020Article
- Are FDA-Approved Sunscreen Components Effective in Preventing Solar UV-Induced Skin Cancer?Cells · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
6 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Enrichment is widely used as tool for managing fearfulness, undesirable behaviors, and stress in captive animals, and for studying exploration and personality. Inconsistencies in previous studies of physiological and behavioral responses to enrichment led us to hypothesize that enrichment and its removal are stressful environmental changes to which the hormone corticosterone and fearfulness, activity, and exploration behaviors ought to be sensitive. We conducted two experiments with a captive population of wild-caught Clark's nutcrackers (Nucifraga columbiana) to assess responses to short- (10-d) and long-term (3-mo) enrichment, their removal, and the influence of novelty, within the same animal. Variation in an integrated measure of corticosterone from feathers, combined with video recordings of behaviors, suggests that how individuals perceive enrichment and its removal depends on the duration of exposure. Short- and long-term enrichment elicited different physiological responses, with the former acting as a stressor and birds exhibiting acclimation to the latter. Non-novel enrichment evoked the strongest corticosterone responses of all the treatments, suggesting that the second exposure to the same objects acted as a physiological cue, and that acclimation was overridden by negative past experience. Birds showed weak behavioral responses that were not related to corticosterone. By demonstrating that an integrated measure of glucocorticoid physiology varies significantly with changes to enrichment in the absence of agonistic interactions, our study sheds light on potential mechanisms driving physiological and behavioral responses to environmental change.
Indexed as
Identifiers
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.