title: Environmental stressors alter relationships between physiology and behaviour.
abstract: Although correlations have frequently been observed between specific physiological and behavioural traits across a range of animal taxa, the nature of these associations has been shown to vary. Here we argue that a major source of this inconsistency is the influence of environmental stressors, which seem capable of revealing, masking, or modulating covariation in physiological and behavioural traits. These effects appear to be mediated by changes in the observed variation of traits and differential sensitivity to stressors among phenotypes. Considering that wild animals routinely face a range of biotic and abiotic stressors, increased knowledge of these effects is imperative for understanding the causal mechanisms of a range of ecological phenomena and evolutionary responses to stressors associated with environmental change.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative Medicine, College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences, Graham Kerr Building, University of Glasgow, G12 8QQ, Glasgow, UK. Electronic address: shaun.killen@glasgow.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Shaun S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Killen
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Marras
authors.forename: Neil B
authors.initials: NB
authors.lastname: Metcalfe
authors.forename: David J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: McKenzie
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Domenici
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology; D004734:Energy Metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D004777:Environment; D008954:Models, Biological; D010641:Phenotype; D013312:Stress, Physiological / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: aerobic scope; environmental change; intraspecific variation; metabolic rate; personality; stress