Environmental risk factors, including physicochemical agents, noise and mental stress, have a considerable impact on human health. This environmental exposure may lead to epigenetic reprogramming, including changes in non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) signatures, which can contribute to the pathophysiology state. Oxidative stress is one of the results of this environmental disturbance by modifying cellular processes such as apoptosis, signal transduction cascades, and DNA repair mechanisms.
Climate change will expose mammals to an array of stressors, some new, and some with increased frequency and severity. Those stressors influence endocrine and metabolic function, with potential consequences for the survival and persistence of mammalian species. Here, we review the similar consequences of climate change on the physiological function of terrestrial mammals, including direct effects of increasing air temperatures and reduced water availability, as well as the indirect effect of reduced or unpredictable food supply.
All organisms respond to environmental cues that allow them to organize the timing and duration of life history stages that make up their life cycles. Superimposed on this predictable life cycle are unpredictable events that have the potential to be stressful. Environmental and social stresses have deleterious effects on life history stages such as migration, reproductive function and molt in vertebrates. Global climate change, human disturbance and endocrine disruption from pollutants are increasingly likely to pose additional stresses that could have a major impact on organisms.
