Conservation physiology represents a recently emerging arm of conservation science that applies physiological tools and techniques to understand and solve conservation issues. While a multi-disciplinary toolbox can only help to address the global biodiversity crisis, any field can face challenges while becoming established, particularly highly applied disciplines that require multi-stakeholder involvement. Gaining first-hand knowledge of the challenges that conservation physiologists are facing can help characterize the current state of the field and build a better foundation for determining how it can grow. Through an online survey of 468 scientists working at the intersection of physiology and conservation, we aimed to identify characteristics of those engaging in conservation physiology research (e.g. demographics, primary taxa of study), gauge conservation physiology’s role in contributing to on-the-ground conservation action, identify the perceived barriers to achieving success and determine how difficult any identified barriers are to overcome. Despite all participants having experience combining physiology and conservation, only one-third considered themselves to be ‘conservation physiologists’. Moreover, there was a general perception that conservation physiology does not yet regularly lead to tangible conservation success. Respondents identified the recent conceptualization of the field and the broader issue of adequately translating science into management action as the primary reasons for these deficits. Other significant barriers that respondents have faced when integrating physiology and conservation science included a lack of funding, logistical constraints (e.g. sample sizes, obtaining permits) and a lack of physiological baseline data (i.e. reference ranges of a physiological metric’s ‘normal’ or pre-environmental change levels). We identified 12 actions based on suggestions of survey participants that we anticipate will help deconstruct the barriers and continue to develop a narrative of physiology that is relevant to conservation science, policy and practice.

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在线调查揭示了研究人员对保护生理学挑战和机遇的看法

保护生理学代表了最近新兴的保护科学分支，它应用生理工具和技术来理解和解决保护问题。虽然多学科工具箱只能帮助解决全球生物多样性危机，但任何领域在成熟时都可能面临挑战，特别是需要多方利益相关者参与的高度应用学科。获得保护生理学家面临的挑战的第一手知识可以帮助描述该领域的当前状态，并为确定它如何发展奠定更好的基础。通过对 468 名从事生理学和保护工作的科学家进行在线调查，我们旨在确定从事保护生理学研究的人员的特征（例如人口统计学、研究的主要分类群），评估保护生理学在促进实地保护行动中的作用，确定实现成功的感知障碍，并确定任何已识别障碍的克服难度。尽管所有参与者都有将生理学和保护相结合的经验，但只有三分之一的人认为自己是“保护生理学家”。此外，人们普遍认为，保护生理学尚未经常导致切实的保护成功。受访者认为该领域最近的概念化以及将科学充分转化为管理行动的更广泛问题是这些缺陷的主要原因。受访者在整合生理学和保护科学时面临的其他重大障碍包括缺乏资金、后勤限制（例如 样本量、获得许可）和缺乏生理基线数据（即生理指标的“正常”或环境变化前水平的参考范围）。我们根据调查参与者的建议确定了 12 项行动，我们预计这些行动将有助于解构障碍并继续发展与保护科学、政策和实践相关的生理学叙述。