Non-native grazers affect physiological and demographic responses of Greater Sage-grouse

1. Non-native ungulate grazing has negatively impacted native species across the globe, leading to massive loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services. Despite their pervasiveness, interactions between non-native grazers and native species are not fully understood. We often observe declines in demography or survival of these native species, but lack understanding about the mechanisms underlying these declines. Physiological stress represents one mechanism of (mal)adaptation but data are sparse.
2. We investigated glucocorticoid levels in a native avian herbivore exposed to different intensities of non-native grazing in the cold desert Great Basin ecosystem, USA. We measured corticosterone, a glucocorticoid in feathers for a large sample (n = 280) of female Greater Sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) from three study areas in Northern Nevada and Southern Oregon with different grazing regimes of livestock and feral horses.
3. We found greater feral horse density was associated with hi...