SYMP 7-4 - Stressed out: Environmental health predicts variability in coyote ecophysiology in San Francisco, CA

Novel disturbances in cities frequently challenge wildlife to cope with those stressors to survive in cities. The cumulative effects of urban stressors (e.g., artificial light at night, noise pollution, chemical pollutants, etc.) can serve to dysregulate wildlife metabolic functions that disrupt their ability to maintain homeostasis. As a result, we often assume that urban wildlife populations are customarily more stressed than their nonurban conspecifics. However, evidence across stress physiology studies in mixed, suggesting that certain species demonstrate reduced stress responses toward urban living, whereas others do not vary along urban-rural gradients. The spatial distribution of urban stressors is fundamentally heterogeneous, governed principally by the same structural and societal inequities that inform segregation, racial zoning, and access to environmental (dis)amenities. Thus, interrogating how structural oppression contributes to the heterogeneous distribution of disturbances and environmental health are integral to uncovering the links among society, urban stressors, and wildlife physiological outcomes. We collected over 700 coyote (Canis latrans) fecal samples across San Francisco to assess whether glucocorticoid and thyroid concentrations were associated with variation in environmental health. Here, we used the publicly available resource – CalEnviroScreen – that combines 21 environmental and social factors to assess pollution burden at the census level. We then determined whether there were associations among pollution burden and coyote hormonal responses. By implementing this social-ecological approach, we provide evidence to suggest that human-mediated environmental health has broad-sweeping consequences for wildlife in cities.