Topic

Solving conservation puzzles: Animals’ physiology as a clue

Highlights

• Physiological marker of stress-response, cortisol, can act as a clue in comprehending how animals react to different challenges
• Cost and benefit ratios of any challenges, both ecological and anthropogenic, should be evaluated for better conservation
• Hair of an animal can act as a calendar to their ‘stressful’ past

Dr. Sanjeeta Sharma Pokharel, a Smithsonian postdoctoral fellow working jointly with the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute and the Indian Institute of Science, will give a talk on Solving conservation puzzles: Animals’ physiology as a clue based on her recently published articles

1. Pokharel, S. S., Seshagiri, P. B., & Sukumar, R. (2017). Assessment of season-dependent body condition scores in relation to faecal glucocorticoid metabolites in free-ranging Asian elephants. Conservation Physiology, 5(1).   https://doi.org/10.1093/conphys/cox039 
2. Pokharel, S. S., Seshagiri, P. B., & Sukumar, R. (2019). Influence of the number of calves and lactating adult females in a herd on the adrenocortical activity of free-ranging Asian elephants. Wildlife Research, 46(8), 679-689. https://doi.org/10.1071/WR18163
3. Pokharel, S. S., Singh, B., Seshagiri, P. B., & Sukumar, R. (2019). Lower levels of glucocorticoids in crop‐raiders: diet quality as a potential ‘pacifier’ against stress in free‐ranging Asian elephants in a human‐production habitat. Animal Conservation, 22(2), 177-188. https://doi.org/10.1111/acv.12450
4. Pokharel, S. S., Yoneda, H., Yanagi, M., Sukumar, R., & Kinoshita, K. (2021). The tail-tale of stress: an exploratory analysis of cortisol levels in the tail-hair of captive Asian elephants. PeerJ, 9, e10445. 10.7717/peerj.10445

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Biography:

I am a wildlife endocrinologist attempting to understand how large mammals, such as elephants, are reacting or adapting to different types and magnitude of disturbances in their natural habitats. I was awarded a PhD degree by the Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, India, for my work on assessing the stress-response of free-ranging Asian elephants. I did my short-term postdoc research with Kyoto University, Japan where I measured the ‘stress’ in elephants using their tail hair. I was selected under the Chemical Ecology project of the Department of Biotechnology India to continue my quests to evaluate the stress-response in Asian elephants across different landscapes. I am currently a Smithsonian postdoctoral fellow working jointly with the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute and the Indian Institute of Science.