| This research brings together optimal foraging behavior, predation risk, parasitism, energetic physiology, and stress hormones in a number of combinations. In chapter one I investigate the connections between optimal foraging and energetic costs for mice foraging during the winter. In chapter two I evaluate predation risk and small mammal biodiversity along a major interstate. In chapter three I determine the time course for stress hormones to be found in feces after a stressful event. In chapter four I look at how stress hormones in rodent hosts are related to energetics and ectoparasitism. In chapter five I explore the connections between stress hormones, predation risk, and optimal foraging in gerbils. As a whole this research elucidates connections between different fields in ecology, and makes a valuable contribution to the existing body of ecological literature. |
