Dulude‐de Broin, F., Hamel, S., Mastromonaco, G. F., & Côté, S. D. (2019). Predation risk and mountain goat reproduction: Evidence for stress‐induced breeding suppression in a wild ungulate. Functional Ecology.

Study Highlights:

Predation risk had a direct positive effect on the average annual fecal glucocorticoid concentration in the population, which, in turn, negatively affected the proportion of reproductive females. The same pattern was observed with hair cortisol concentration, but these results were inconclusive.

This is some of the first robust evidence that stress‐mediated breeding suppression can occur in a wild ungulate following increased predation risk, thereby providing a major insight on the mechanisms underlying non‐consumptive health effects of predation in wild mammals.

This research was also featured in The Wildlife Society’s news story: Wild Cam: Predators stress mountain goats