RT35: Environmental endocrinology

Wingfield, J.C. & Silverin, B. 1999. Environmental endocrinology. In: Adams, N.J. & Slotow, R.H. (eds) Proc. 22 Int. Ornithol. Congr., Durban: 3225. Johannesburg: BirdLife South Africa.

Over the past two decades field endocrine techniques have revealed that population specific cycles in reproductive hormone secretion and hormone-behaviour interactions, are related to mating systems and breeding strategies. Additionally, we have been able to develop experimental field techniques that disrupt endocrine cycles, or alter behaviour on one individual, and then assess the effects on others in the population. These data suggest that although the endocrine system may appear similar in vertebrates from fish to mammals, the way in which hormones are secreted in response to environmental changes, and the manner by which individuals respond to those hormones, may differ. The Round Table Discussion addressed how we investigate ecological bases of endocrine phenomena; how to distinguish true adaptations from pure phylogenetic differences; and whether it is now possible to take a theoretical approach to environmental endocrinology. There was extensive debate on how to introduce new techniques but still keep an objective field perspective. A particularly difficult problem, how to integrate ecological thinking (at the ultimate causation level) with mechanistic and reductionist thinking (at the proximate causation level), was raised and discussed at length. It was clear that interactive collaborations are an important way of the future and essential to satisfy the demands and scientific rigour necessary to operate successfully in interdisciplinary research. It is hoped that these discussions will pave the way for significant advances in this developing field in the future.