Stress on chickens with varying levels of recreational use of habitats

In 2007/2008, a study on stress hormone measurements from the solution of chickens in the field was published (Thiel et al. 2008). This was the reason for a practical project with this simple method. It should check whether in Gesäuse/Gscheidegg, due to the high frequency of ski tourers, disturbances on the local porridge population could already be detected. The hypotheses at that time were simple: Where tourers are common, chickens show higher levels of stress hormone than in an unencumbered comparison area. Unexpectedly, however, the stress levels in the heavily polluted areas were significantly lower than in the unencumbered areas at that time. It seemed worth checking whether additional habitat-related parameters could explain these patterns, or whether the porridge might have been used to regular disturbances and therefore showed no reaction (Fowler 1999; Romero & Wikelski 2002).2007至2008年间，一项针对野外鸡只样本溶液的应激激素水平检测研究正式发表（Thiel等，2008年）。以此为基础，研究团队启动了一项采用该简易方法的实地项目。该项目旨在验证：在格绍（Gesäuse/Gscheidegg）地区，由于滑雪登山者活动频次极高，是否已能观测到对当地松鸡种群的干扰效应。彼时的研究假说十分简洁：在滑雪登山者频繁出没的区域，鸡只的应激激素水平将高于未受干扰的对照区域。然而出乎意料的是，彼时受干扰严重区域的应激激素水平显著低于未受干扰的区域。这一结果引发了进一步的验证需求：是否可通过补充生境相关参数来解释该观测模式，抑或是当地种群已适应了常规性的人类干扰，因此未表现出应激反应（Fowler，1999；Romero & Wikelski，2002）。