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20 - Field endocrinology: monitoring hormonal changes in free-ranging primates

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

By
J. Keith Hodges  and
Michael Heistermann
Edited by
Joanna M. Setchell  and
Deborah J. Curtis
Joanna M. Setchell
Affiliation:
University of Durham
Deborah J. Curtis
Affiliation:
Oxford Brookes University
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Summary

INTRODUCTION

Field endocrinology can be considered as the application of non-invasive methodologies to examine behavioural–endocrine interactions in primates living in natural conditions and social settings. In bringing together laboratory and field-based research methods, the discipline provides new and exciting opportunities for developing a more integrated approach to studies of primate behavioural ecology.

Traditionally, field studies have relied mainly on visual measures, such as behaviour and/or morphology. Although this has generated a great deal of essential information, its limitation is that interpretation of the observations is often based on assumptions concerning the physiological context in which they were made. The availability of non-invasive methodologies based on measurement of hormones in either urine or faeces now provides us with quantitative measures of physiological status by which the significance of observational data can be gauged. This greatly facilitates the testing of hypotheses concerning the adaptive significance of behavioural and morphological traits and mating systems and is helping to provide new insights into reproductive processes in an evolutionary context. Field endocrinology also facilitates a better understanding of the impact of anthropogenic activities on primate physiology. In combination with studies of the health status of wild primates (Chapter 8), this can help to elucidate the link between environmental stress, health and reproductive parameters and thus to estimate the viability of threatened populations (Pride, 2005; Chapman et al., 2007).

Type
Chapter
Information
Field and Laboratory Methods in Primatology
A Practical Guide
 , pp. 353 - 370
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2011

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