Tracking reproductive events: Hoof growth and steroid hormone concentrations in hair and hoof tissues in moose ( Alces alces)
Abstract Measurements of reproductive and stress-related hormones in keratinous tissues (e.g. hair, claws, hooves, baleen) can provide a record of stress and reproductive response in wildlife. We evaluated a method to collect keratin tissue from hooves of immobilized moose (Alces alces) and validate...
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Language: | English |
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Oxford University Press (OUP)
2023
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/conphys/coad097 https://academic.oup.com/conphys/article-pdf/11/1/coad097/57312488/coad097.pdf |
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croxfordunivpr:10.1093/conphys/coad097 2024-05-19T07:27:52+00:00 Tracking reproductive events: Hoof growth and steroid hormone concentrations in hair and hoof tissues in moose ( Alces alces) Keogh, Mandy J Thompson, Daniel P Crouse, John A Narayan, Edward Alaska Department of Fish and Game through Federal Wildlife Restoration Grants 2023 http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/conphys/coad097 https://academic.oup.com/conphys/article-pdf/11/1/coad097/57312488/coad097.pdf en eng Oxford University Press (OUP) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Conservation Physiology volume 11, issue 1 ISSN 2051-1434 journal-article 2023 croxfordunivpr https://doi.org/10.1093/conphys/coad097 2024-05-02T09:29:20Z Abstract Measurements of reproductive and stress-related hormones in keratinous tissues (e.g. hair, claws, hooves, baleen) can provide a record of stress and reproductive response in wildlife. We evaluated a method to collect keratin tissue from hooves of immobilized moose (Alces alces) and validated enzyme immunoassays for measuring cortisol and progesterone in hooves and hair. We also measured the annual growth and wear rates of moose hooves. Progesterone (range: 1.0–43.7 pg/mg) and cortisol (range: 0.05–2.9 pg/mg) were measurable and showed variation among hoof samples and moose. Pregnant females had twice as high progesterone concentrations (18.00 ± 3.73 pg/mg) from hoof sample locations post breeding compared to non-pregnant moose (9.40 ± 0.25 pg/mg). Annual hoof growth differed between the front (5.58 ± 0.12 cm) and rear (4.73 ± 0.13 cm) hooves and varied by season with higher growth rates during summer which decreased into autumn and winter. Adult female hooves represented between 1.6 and 2.1 years of growth and included up to two reproductive cycles. We established a method to estimate hoof growth rate and applied this to postmortem samples and were able to detect previous pregnancies. Shoulder guard hairs grew between August and March including during late gestation; however, hair progesterone concentrations (range: 2–107.1 pg/mg) were not related to reproductive state. Hair cortisol concentrations in our study (range: 0.2–15.9 pg/mg) were within the range of values previously reported for cervids. Our study supports the use of hooves for longitudinal sampling and measuring reproductive and stress-related hormones, providing a new tool for tracking reproductive events and understanding what variables may contribute to population level changes in reproduction. Article in Journal/Newspaper Alces alces Oxford University Press Conservation Physiology 11 1 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Oxford University Press |
op_collection_id |
croxfordunivpr |
language |
English |
description |
Abstract Measurements of reproductive and stress-related hormones in keratinous tissues (e.g. hair, claws, hooves, baleen) can provide a record of stress and reproductive response in wildlife. We evaluated a method to collect keratin tissue from hooves of immobilized moose (Alces alces) and validated enzyme immunoassays for measuring cortisol and progesterone in hooves and hair. We also measured the annual growth and wear rates of moose hooves. Progesterone (range: 1.0–43.7 pg/mg) and cortisol (range: 0.05–2.9 pg/mg) were measurable and showed variation among hoof samples and moose. Pregnant females had twice as high progesterone concentrations (18.00 ± 3.73 pg/mg) from hoof sample locations post breeding compared to non-pregnant moose (9.40 ± 0.25 pg/mg). Annual hoof growth differed between the front (5.58 ± 0.12 cm) and rear (4.73 ± 0.13 cm) hooves and varied by season with higher growth rates during summer which decreased into autumn and winter. Adult female hooves represented between 1.6 and 2.1 years of growth and included up to two reproductive cycles. We established a method to estimate hoof growth rate and applied this to postmortem samples and were able to detect previous pregnancies. Shoulder guard hairs grew between August and March including during late gestation; however, hair progesterone concentrations (range: 2–107.1 pg/mg) were not related to reproductive state. Hair cortisol concentrations in our study (range: 0.2–15.9 pg/mg) were within the range of values previously reported for cervids. Our study supports the use of hooves for longitudinal sampling and measuring reproductive and stress-related hormones, providing a new tool for tracking reproductive events and understanding what variables may contribute to population level changes in reproduction. |
author2 |
Narayan, Edward Alaska Department of Fish and Game through Federal Wildlife Restoration Grants |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Keogh, Mandy J Thompson, Daniel P Crouse, John A |
spellingShingle |
Keogh, Mandy J Thompson, Daniel P Crouse, John A Tracking reproductive events: Hoof growth and steroid hormone concentrations in hair and hoof tissues in moose ( Alces alces) |
author_facet |
Keogh, Mandy J Thompson, Daniel P Crouse, John A |
author_sort |
Keogh, Mandy J |
title |
Tracking reproductive events: Hoof growth and steroid hormone concentrations in hair and hoof tissues in moose ( Alces alces) |
title_short |
Tracking reproductive events: Hoof growth and steroid hormone concentrations in hair and hoof tissues in moose ( Alces alces) |
title_full |
Tracking reproductive events: Hoof growth and steroid hormone concentrations in hair and hoof tissues in moose ( Alces alces) |
title_fullStr |
Tracking reproductive events: Hoof growth and steroid hormone concentrations in hair and hoof tissues in moose ( Alces alces) |
title_full_unstemmed |
Tracking reproductive events: Hoof growth and steroid hormone concentrations in hair and hoof tissues in moose ( Alces alces) |
title_sort |
tracking reproductive events: hoof growth and steroid hormone concentrations in hair and hoof tissues in moose ( alces alces) |
publisher |
Oxford University Press (OUP) |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/conphys/coad097 https://academic.oup.com/conphys/article-pdf/11/1/coad097/57312488/coad097.pdf |
genre |
Alces alces |
genre_facet |
Alces alces |
op_source |
Conservation Physiology volume 11, issue 1 ISSN 2051-1434 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1093/conphys/coad097 |
container_title |
Conservation Physiology |
container_volume |
11 |
container_issue |
1 |
_version_ |
1799469457638162432 |