Understanding wild animal responses to stressors underpins effective wildlife management. In order for responses to stressors to be correctly interpreted, it is critical that measurements are taken on wild animals using minimally invasive techniques. Studies investigating wild animal responses to stressors often measure either a single physiological or behavioural variable, but whether such responses are comparable and concordant remains uncertain. We investigated this question in a pilot study that measured responses of wild-caught urban brown and black rats (Rattus norvegicus, Rattus rattus) to fur-based olfactory cues from a predator, the domestic cat (Felis catus); a novel herbivore, the koala (Phascolarctos cinereus); and a familiar herbivore and competitor, the common brushtail possum (Trichosurus vulpecula). Physiological responses, measured by assaying faecal glucocorticoid metabolites, were compared to behavioural responses observed via video recordings. We found that physiological and behavioural responses to stressors were expressed concordantly. There was no sizeable physiological response observed, and the behavioural response when considered across the night was negligible. However, the behavioural response to the predator and competitor cues changed across the observation period, with activity increasing with increasing hours of exposure. Our results indicate that responses of wild rodents to cues are nuanced, with stress responses modulated by behaviour changes that vary over time according to the severity of the perceived threat as animals gather further information. If the physiological response alone had been assessed, this moderated response may not have been evident, and in terms of wildlife management, vital information would have been lost.

了解野生动物对压力源的反应，可以有效地管理野生动物。为了正确解释对应激源的反应，至关重要的是使用微创技术对野生动物进行测量。研究野生动物对压力的反应的研究通常只测量一个生理或行为变量，但是这种反应是否可比和一致仍然不确定。我们在一项初步研究中调查了这个问题，该研究测量了野外捕获的城市棕色和黑色大鼠（Rattus norvegicus，Rattus rattus）对捕食者家猫（Felis catus）的基于毛皮的嗅觉提示的反应。一种新颖的食草动物考拉（Phascolarctos cinereus）; 还有一个熟悉的草食动物和竞争者，常见的草尾负鼠（Trichosurus vulpecula）。将通过测定粪便糖皮质激素代谢物测量的生理反应与通过视频记录观察到的行为反应进行比较。我们发现生理和行为上对应激源的反应是一致表达的。没有观察到较大的生理反应，整夜考虑的行为反应可以忽略不计。但是，在整个观察期内，对捕食者和竞争者线索的行为反应都发生了变化，活动时间随着接触时间的增加而增加。我们的结果表明，野生啮齿动物对线索的反应是细微的，应激反应受行为变化的调节，行为变化会随着动物收集更多信息而根据感知到的威胁的严重程度随时间而变化。如果仅评估生理反应，