LAUSR

Glucocorticoids regulate many physiological functions and play an important role in coping with challenging stimuli. The non‐invasive assessment of glucocorticoids is increasingly used as a tool to evaluate individual and population health status in wild animals. Given the crucial role of rodents in forest ecosystems, it may be useful to study the glucocorticoid profile of these species to find possible links with the characteristics of the environment in which they live and facilitate the development of biodiversity management plans. We studied two closely related species that are the main representatives of the ground‐dwelling rodent communities in sub‐Mediterranean forested areas: Apodemus sylvaticus and A. flavicollis. The fecal corticosterone metabolite (FCM) levels of animals captured in a Mediterranean agroforestry system were measured, taking into account the evidence of methodological assessments to evaluate hormone metabolite differences between feces excreted at different times under captive conditions and the stability of these metabolites. We found that A. sylvaticus males excreted lower FCM levels than females, while A. flavicollis males showed higher FCM levels than females. Males of the two species excreted similar FCM levels, while higher FCM levels were recorded in A. sylvaticus females than in their A. flavicollis counterparts. The FCM levels in both species were similar between breeding conditions, seasons and habitat types. The results of our exploratory investigation suggest that traditional silviculture may not trigger the activity of the hypothalamus‐pituitary‐adrenal axis. Further studies are required for a more detailed examination of how environmental factors affect FCM levels. Long‐term studies may disclose possible effects of interannual environmental factor variability in ground‐dwelling rodents.