Prof Tessa Smith
Professor of Biological Sciences
Tessa Smith is a Professor of Behavioural Endocrinology at the University of Chester, teaching and conducting research in the field of Animal Behaviour, Conservation Physiology and Welfare of both captive and wild animals across the taxa including amphibians, fish, birds and mammals.
Tessa uses innovative pedagogical approaches for teaching undergraduate and post graduate students in the fields of Animal Behaviour (AB), AB and Welfare, Conservation physiology and Wildlife Conservation. Tessa's teaching focusses heavily on critical analysis and relies on primary research literature as a basis.
Tessa develops novel, non-invasive methods to extract and quantify levels of glucocorticoids and reproductive steroid hormones excreted by animals in diverse environments, including the wild, zoological institutions, agricultural systems, laboratories, private homes and semi-free ranging environments.
The physiological tools developed by Tessa are often applied in parallel with novel, behavioural measures (and additional physiological methods) to test both theoretical and applied research hypotheses pertaining to behavioural ecology, animal welfare and conservation physiology. Media examined for hormone metabolites in her research include urine, faeces, saliva, hair and housing water (in the case of aquatic species).
Tessa has pioneered the physiological monitoring systems in published, collaborative research for approximately 42 species across the taxa including various amphibians, fish, birds and mammals.
Tessa has published over 45 peer reviewed journal articles in this field. Her research has subsequently guided management practices for the maintenance of captive animals and provided empirical data to guide field programs (e.g. managing TB in wild badger populations) and farming practices (e.g., aquaculture).
Before joining UoC, TS spent nine years working in the private, public and charity sectors in the Americas. Tessa has been awarded competitive funding for behavioural endocrine research as PI and Co-PI from a variety of sectors, including from charities (e.g. Royal Society), government bodies (e.g. Department of Education, Northern Ireland), private businesses (e.g. Disney USA), academic organizations (e.g. Universities Federation for Animal Welfare, UK) and UK research councils (e.g. National Centre for the three Rs and Leverhulme Trust) illustrating the wide range of stakeholders to whom her research has relevance.
Welch, M. J., Smith, T., Hosie, C., Wormell, D., Price, E., & Stanley, C. R. (2020). Social Experience of Captive Livingstone’s Fruit Bats (Pteropus livingstonii). Animals, 10(8), 1321. doi:10.3390/ani10081321
Price E, Coleman R, Ahsmann J, Gladwell F, Glendewar G, Hunt J, Smith T, and Wormell D. 2019. Individual, social, and environmental factors affecting salivary and fecal cortisol levels in captive pied tamarins (Saguinus bicolor). American Journal of Primatology e23033. DOI: 10.1002/ajp.23033
Holmes AM, Emmans CJ, Coleman R, Smith TE, Hosie CA 2018. Effects of transportation, transport medium and re-housing on Xenopus laevis (Daudin). General and Comparative Endocrinology. Available online 12 March 2018.
Ash H, Smith TE, Knight S, Buchanan-Smith HM 2018. Measuring physiological stress in the common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus): Validation of a salivary cortisol collection and assay technique. Physiology and Behaviour. 185,14-22. doi: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2017.12.018.
Holmes AM, Emmans CJ, Jones N, Coleman R, Smith TE, Hosie CA (2016). Impact of tank background on the welfare of the African clawed frog, Xenopus laevis (Daudin). Applied Animal Behaviour Science.
Smith TE. 2016. Endocrinology and behaviour: a stress-free approach to improving animal welfare. The Endocrinologist 122:14-15.
Smith TE, McCusker C, Stevens JMG, Elwood, RW. 2015. Patterns of behaviour, group structure and reproductive status predict levels of glucocorticoid metabolites in zoo-housed ring-tailed lemurs, Lemur catta. Folia Primatologica 86:506-24.
Setchell JM, Smith T, Knapp LA. 2015. Androgens in a female primate: relationships with reproductive status, age, dominance rank, fetal sex and secondary sexual color.' Physiology and Behavior, 147:245-254.
George SC, Smith TE, Mac Cana PS, Coleman R, Montgomery WI. 2014. Physiological stress in the Eurasian badger (Meles meles): effects of host, disease and environment. General and Comparative Endocrinology, 200: 54-60.
Young T, Creighton E, Smith TE, Hosie C. 2012. A novel scale of behavioural indicators of stress for use with domestic horses. App. Anim. Behav. Sci. 140:33-43..
SetchellJM, SmithTE, WickingsJ, Knapp LA. 2010. Stress, social behaviour, and secondary sexual traits in a male primate. Hormones and Behavior. 58: 720-728.
SetchellJM, SmithTE, WickingsJ, Knapp LA. 2008. Factors affecting fecal glucocorticoid levels in semi-free ranging female mandrills. American Journal of Primatology, 70:1023-1032.
SetchellJM, SmithTE, WickingsJ, Knapp LA. 2008. Social correlates of testosterone and ornamentation in male mandrills Hormones and Behavior, 54:365-372.
Smith TE. 2006. Individual olfactory signatures in common marmosets, Callithrix jacchus. American Journal of Primatology, 68:585-604.
Schaffner CM, Smith TE. 2005. Familiarity may buffer the adverse effects of relocation in marmosets (Callithrix kuhlii): Preliminary evidence. Zoo Biology. 24:93-100.
Davis N, Schaffner CM, Smith TE. 2005. Evidence that zoo visitors influence HPA activity in spider monkeys (Ateles geoffroyii rufiventris) Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 90: 131-141.
Smith TE, McCallister JM, GordonSJ, Whittikar M. 2004. Quantitative data on training New World primates to urinate. American Journal of Primatology 64:83-93.
Dunlop RA, Laming PR, Smith TE. 2004. The Stress of Four Commercial Farming Practices, Feeding, Counting, Grading and Harvesting, in Farmed Rainbow Trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss. Marine and Freshwater Behaviour and Physiology 37:179-183.
McCallister JM., Smith TE, Elwood RW. 2004. Validation of urinary cortisol as an indicator of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal function in the bearded emperor tamarin (Saguinus imperator subgrisescens). American Journal of Primatology, 63: 17-23.
Smith TE. 2004. Zoo Research Guidelines: Monitoring Stress in Zoo Animals. The Federation of Zoological Gardens of Great Britain and Ireland, London. ISSN 1479-5647.
Bassett L, Buchanan-Smith HM, McKinley J, Smith TE. 2003. Effects of training on stress-related behavior of the common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus) in relation to coping with routine husbandry procedures. Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science 3: 221-234.
Savage A, Zirofsky DS, Shideler SE, Smith TE, Lasley BL . 2002. Use of levonorgestrel as an effective means of contraception in the white-faced saki (Pithecia pithecia). Zoo Biology 21:49-57.
Smith TE, Gordon SJ. 2002. Sex differences in olfactory communication in Saguinus labiatus. International Journal of Primatology 23:429 – 441.
Smith TE, Abbott DH, Tomlinson AJ, Mlotkiewicz J. 2001. Female Marmoset Monkeys (Callithrix jacchus) can be identified from the chemical composition of their scent marks. Chemical Senses, 26:449-458.
Smith TE, McGreer-Whitworth B, French JA. 1998. Close Proximity of the Heterosexual Partner Reduces the Physiological and Behavioral Consequences of novel-cage housing in Black Tufted-ear Marmosets (Callithrix kuhli). Hormones and Behavior, 34, 211-222.
Smith TE, Abbott DH. 1998. Behavioral discrimination between circumgenital odor from peri-ovulatory dominant and anovulatory female common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus). American Journal of Primatology 46: 265-284.
Smith TE, French JA. 1997. Psychosocial stress and urinary cortisol excretion in marmoset monkeys (Callithrix kuhli). Physiology and Behavior 62: 225-240.
Smith TE, French JA. 1997. Social and reproductive condition modulates urinary cortisol excretion in black tufted-ear marmosets (Callithrix kuhli). American Journal of Primatology 42: 253-268.
Smith TE, Abbott DH, Tomlinson AJ, Mlotkiewicz JA. 1997. Differential display of investigative behavior permits discrimination of scent signatures from familiar and unfamiliar socially dominant female marmoset monkeys (Callithrix jacchus). Journal of Chemical Ecology 23: 2523-2546.
Smith TE, Faulkes CG, Abbott DH. 1997. Combined olfactory contact with the parent colony and direct contact with non-breeding animals does not maintain suppression of ovulation in female naked mole-rats, Heterocephalus glaber. Hormones and Behavior 31: 277-288.
Smith TE, Schaffner CM, French JA. 1997. Social and developmental influences on reproductive function in female Wied’s black tufted-ear marmosets, Callithrix kuhli. Hormones and Behavior 31:159-168.
French JA, Brewer KJ, Schaffner CM, Schalley J, Hightower-Merritt DL, Smith TE, Bell SM. 1996. Urinary steroid and gonadotropin excretion across the reproductive cycle in female Wied’s black tufted-ear marmosets (Callithrix kuhli). American Journal of Primatology 40: 231-246.