Stress and Animal Welfare

Aim

Stress consists of an evolutionary highly conserved suite of physiological and behavioural reactions to challenges experienced during the life-time of an individual. It can cause short-term as well as long-term effects on the biology of an individual, and may affect a wide range of biological traits. This ranges from cognitive performance to reproduction. Understanding the biology of stress is therefore essential for understanding animal welfare of animals in captivity. The student will be able to describe the mechanisms, function, phylogeny and ontogeny of the stress system, with a focus on its consequences on biology and behaviour of domesticated animals and other animals in captivity. The student will develop a proficiency in finding, evaluating and compiling primary and secondary research literature on relevant topics. The student will improve her/his skills in both written and oral communication of results of relevant scientific data through literature searches in both written and oral form. Furthermore, the student will develop critical assessment ability, allowing proper scientific judgement of scientific data on stress biology. The student will furthermore develop skills in the theory and practice of physiological methods related to stress biology. The student will be able to prepare, design, carry out, analyse and present scientific studies on stress measurement. The student will develop proficiency in formulating hypotheses and predictions and to design the recordings in accordance with those. The student will improve her/his skills in both written and oral communication of his/her results.

Content

The course covers the following topics:

• History and context of the stress concept
• The hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis and its regulation
• The sympathetic-adrenal axis and its regulation
• Consequences of stress in different life-perspectives
• Chronic and acute stress
• Individual differences in stress responses: coping patterns
• Genetics and epigenetics of stress
• Methods for stress measurement and assessment