Faecal glucocorticoid metabolites as a measure of adrenocortical activity in polar bears (Ursus maritimus)
Analysis of faecal glucocorticoid metabolites (FGMs) is frequently applied to assess adrenocortical activity in animal conservation and welfare studies. Faecal sample collection is non-invasive and feasible under field conditions. FGM levels are also less prone to circadian rhythms, episodic fluctua...
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ftdatacite:10.17169/refubium-27345 2023-05-15T18:42:25+02:00 Faecal glucocorticoid metabolites as a measure of adrenocortical activity in polar bears (Ursus maritimus) Hein, Anna Palme, Rupert Baumgartner, Katrin Fersen, Lorenzo Von Woelfing, Benno Greenwood, Alex D. Bechshoft, Thea Siebert, Ursula 2020 https://dx.doi.org/10.17169/refubium-27345 https://refubium.fu-berlin.de/handle/fub188/27591 unknown Freie Universität Berlin https://doi.org/10.1093/conphys/coaa012 https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/conphys/coaa012 https://doi.org/10.1093/conphys/coaa012 Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode cc-by-4.0 CC-BY biological validation EIA faecal glucocorticoid metabolites non-invasive HPA axis assessment stress Ursusmaritimus 600 Technik, Medizin, angewandte Wissenschaften610 Medizin und Gesundheit616 Krankheiten 500 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik590 Tiere Zoologie590 Tiere Zoologie Text article-journal Wissenschaftlicher Artikel ScholarlyArticle 2020 ftdatacite https://doi.org/10.17169/refubium-27345 https://doi.org/10.1093/conphys/coaa012 2021-11-05T12:55:41Z Analysis of faecal glucocorticoid metabolites (FGMs) is frequently applied to assess adrenocortical activity in animal conservation and welfare studies. Faecal sample collection is non-invasive and feasible under field conditions. FGM levels are also less prone to circadian rhythms, episodic fluctuations and short acute stressors than glucocorticoid (GC) levels obtained from other matrices, for example blood or saliva. To investigate the suitability of FGM measurement in polar bears (Ursus maritimus), a species listed as Vulnerable by the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature), a cortisol enzyme immunoassay (EIA) was biologically validated by demonstrating a significant increase in FGMs after five zoo-to-zoo transports. In addition to validating the method, the study also documented an average delay of 7 h until the first occurrence of food colorants in the monitored polar bears, which provides essential information for future studies. After validation, the assay was applied to measure FGM concentrations of five polar bears over a 1-year period. Several pre-defined potentially stressful events were recorded in an event log to measure their effect on FGM concentrations. A mixed model analysis revealed significant increases in FGM concentrations after social tension and environmental changes, whereas season and sex had no significant effect. The study demonstrates that the applied cortisol EIA is suitable for measuring FGM levels in polar bears and that using a carefully validated assay for FGM analysis in combination with a detailed sampling protocol can serve as a valuable tool for evaluating mid- to long-term stress in polar bears. FGM levels can be used to monitor stress in captive polar bears in order to optimize housing conditions but also to elucidate stress responses in wild populations for targeted conservation measures. Text Ursus maritimus DataCite Metadata Store (German National Library of Science and Technology) Eia ENVELOPE(7.755,7.755,63.024,63.024) |
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Open Polar |
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DataCite Metadata Store (German National Library of Science and Technology) |
op_collection_id |
ftdatacite |
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unknown |
topic |
biological validation EIA faecal glucocorticoid metabolites non-invasive HPA axis assessment stress Ursusmaritimus 600 Technik, Medizin, angewandte Wissenschaften610 Medizin und Gesundheit616 Krankheiten 500 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik590 Tiere Zoologie590 Tiere Zoologie |
spellingShingle |
biological validation EIA faecal glucocorticoid metabolites non-invasive HPA axis assessment stress Ursusmaritimus 600 Technik, Medizin, angewandte Wissenschaften610 Medizin und Gesundheit616 Krankheiten 500 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik590 Tiere Zoologie590 Tiere Zoologie Hein, Anna Palme, Rupert Baumgartner, Katrin Fersen, Lorenzo Von Woelfing, Benno Greenwood, Alex D. Bechshoft, Thea Siebert, Ursula Faecal glucocorticoid metabolites as a measure of adrenocortical activity in polar bears (Ursus maritimus) |
topic_facet |
biological validation EIA faecal glucocorticoid metabolites non-invasive HPA axis assessment stress Ursusmaritimus 600 Technik, Medizin, angewandte Wissenschaften610 Medizin und Gesundheit616 Krankheiten 500 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik590 Tiere Zoologie590 Tiere Zoologie |
description |
Analysis of faecal glucocorticoid metabolites (FGMs) is frequently applied to assess adrenocortical activity in animal conservation and welfare studies. Faecal sample collection is non-invasive and feasible under field conditions. FGM levels are also less prone to circadian rhythms, episodic fluctuations and short acute stressors than glucocorticoid (GC) levels obtained from other matrices, for example blood or saliva. To investigate the suitability of FGM measurement in polar bears (Ursus maritimus), a species listed as Vulnerable by the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature), a cortisol enzyme immunoassay (EIA) was biologically validated by demonstrating a significant increase in FGMs after five zoo-to-zoo transports. In addition to validating the method, the study also documented an average delay of 7 h until the first occurrence of food colorants in the monitored polar bears, which provides essential information for future studies. After validation, the assay was applied to measure FGM concentrations of five polar bears over a 1-year period. Several pre-defined potentially stressful events were recorded in an event log to measure their effect on FGM concentrations. A mixed model analysis revealed significant increases in FGM concentrations after social tension and environmental changes, whereas season and sex had no significant effect. The study demonstrates that the applied cortisol EIA is suitable for measuring FGM levels in polar bears and that using a carefully validated assay for FGM analysis in combination with a detailed sampling protocol can serve as a valuable tool for evaluating mid- to long-term stress in polar bears. FGM levels can be used to monitor stress in captive polar bears in order to optimize housing conditions but also to elucidate stress responses in wild populations for targeted conservation measures. |
format |
Text |
author |
Hein, Anna Palme, Rupert Baumgartner, Katrin Fersen, Lorenzo Von Woelfing, Benno Greenwood, Alex D. Bechshoft, Thea Siebert, Ursula |
author_facet |
Hein, Anna Palme, Rupert Baumgartner, Katrin Fersen, Lorenzo Von Woelfing, Benno Greenwood, Alex D. Bechshoft, Thea Siebert, Ursula |
author_sort |
Hein, Anna |
title |
Faecal glucocorticoid metabolites as a measure of adrenocortical activity in polar bears (Ursus maritimus) |
title_short |
Faecal glucocorticoid metabolites as a measure of adrenocortical activity in polar bears (Ursus maritimus) |
title_full |
Faecal glucocorticoid metabolites as a measure of adrenocortical activity in polar bears (Ursus maritimus) |
title_fullStr |
Faecal glucocorticoid metabolites as a measure of adrenocortical activity in polar bears (Ursus maritimus) |
title_full_unstemmed |
Faecal glucocorticoid metabolites as a measure of adrenocortical activity in polar bears (Ursus maritimus) |
title_sort |
faecal glucocorticoid metabolites as a measure of adrenocortical activity in polar bears (ursus maritimus) |
publisher |
Freie Universität Berlin |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://dx.doi.org/10.17169/refubium-27345 https://refubium.fu-berlin.de/handle/fub188/27591 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(7.755,7.755,63.024,63.024) |
geographic |
Eia |
geographic_facet |
Eia |
genre |
Ursus maritimus |
genre_facet |
Ursus maritimus |
op_relation |
https://doi.org/10.1093/conphys/coaa012 https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/conphys/coaa012 https://doi.org/10.1093/conphys/coaa012 |
op_rights |
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode cc-by-4.0 |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.17169/refubium-27345 https://doi.org/10.1093/conphys/coaa012 |
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1766232071731150848 |