Fecal glucocorticoid metabolites as an indicator of adrenocortical activity in Arctic foxes (Vulpes lagopus) and recommendations for future studies
Measuring fecal glucocorticoid metabolites (fGCMs) is a widely used, non-invasive method for studies of stress in vertebrates. To study physiological responses in wild Arctic foxes (Vulpes lagopus) to perceived stressors such as fluctuating food availability, occurrence of competitors and predators...
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fthsinnlandet:oai:brage.inn.no:11250/3029585 2024-03-03T08:40:22+00:00 Fecal glucocorticoid metabolites as an indicator of adrenocortical activity in Arctic foxes (Vulpes lagopus) and recommendations for future studies Larm, Malin Hovland, Anne Lene Palme, Rupert Thierry, Anne-Mathilde Miller, Andrea Landa, Arild Angerbjörn, Anders Eide, Nina Elisabeth 2021 application/pdf https://hdl.handle.net/11250/3029585 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-021-02917-1 eng eng urn:issn:0722-4060 https://hdl.handle.net/11250/3029585 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-021-02917-1 cristin:1928580 Navngivelse 4.0 Internasjonal http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.no Polar Biology Stress Fjellrev Arctic fox VDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400 Peer reviewed Journal article 2021 fthsinnlandet https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-021-02917-1 2024-02-02T12:42:13Z Measuring fecal glucocorticoid metabolites (fGCMs) is a widely used, non-invasive method for studies of stress in vertebrates. To study physiological responses in wild Arctic foxes (Vulpes lagopus) to perceived stressors such as fluctuating food availability, occurrence of competitors and predators and disturbance from human activities, a species-specific physiological validation of a method to evaluate adrenocortical activity is needed. Here we used 15 captive Arctic foxes (both males and females and juveniles and adults) to investigate fGCM concentrations following ACTH injection (physiological validation), or handling alone and compared them with their respective baseline concentrations prior to the treatments. A 5α-pregnane-3ß,11ß,21-triol-20-one enzyme immunoassay measured significant fGCM increases following both treatments. The time lags to reach peak fGCM values were 9.3 ± 1.3 h and 12.8 ± 1.7 h for ACTH and handling treatment, respectively. Concentrations of fGCMs varied a lot between individuals, but not attributed to sex nor age of the foxes. However, we found a negative relationship between boldness and fGCM concentrations. Faecal glucocorticoid metabolites concentrations did not change significantly over a period of 48 h in samples kept at temperatures reflecting winter and summer means. This would allow the collection of samples up to two days old in the wild regardless of the season. We conclude that our successfully validated method for measuring fGCMs can be used as a non-invasive tool for studies exploring various stressors both in wild and captive Arctic foxes. publishedVersion Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Fox Arctic fjellrev Polar Biology Vulpes lagopus Høgskolen i Innlandet: Brage INN Arctic Polar Biology 44 10 1925 1937 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Høgskolen i Innlandet: Brage INN |
op_collection_id |
fthsinnlandet |
language |
English |
topic |
Stress Fjellrev Arctic fox VDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400 |
spellingShingle |
Stress Fjellrev Arctic fox VDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400 Larm, Malin Hovland, Anne Lene Palme, Rupert Thierry, Anne-Mathilde Miller, Andrea Landa, Arild Angerbjörn, Anders Eide, Nina Elisabeth Fecal glucocorticoid metabolites as an indicator of adrenocortical activity in Arctic foxes (Vulpes lagopus) and recommendations for future studies |
topic_facet |
Stress Fjellrev Arctic fox VDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400 |
description |
Measuring fecal glucocorticoid metabolites (fGCMs) is a widely used, non-invasive method for studies of stress in vertebrates. To study physiological responses in wild Arctic foxes (Vulpes lagopus) to perceived stressors such as fluctuating food availability, occurrence of competitors and predators and disturbance from human activities, a species-specific physiological validation of a method to evaluate adrenocortical activity is needed. Here we used 15 captive Arctic foxes (both males and females and juveniles and adults) to investigate fGCM concentrations following ACTH injection (physiological validation), or handling alone and compared them with their respective baseline concentrations prior to the treatments. A 5α-pregnane-3ß,11ß,21-triol-20-one enzyme immunoassay measured significant fGCM increases following both treatments. The time lags to reach peak fGCM values were 9.3 ± 1.3 h and 12.8 ± 1.7 h for ACTH and handling treatment, respectively. Concentrations of fGCMs varied a lot between individuals, but not attributed to sex nor age of the foxes. However, we found a negative relationship between boldness and fGCM concentrations. Faecal glucocorticoid metabolites concentrations did not change significantly over a period of 48 h in samples kept at temperatures reflecting winter and summer means. This would allow the collection of samples up to two days old in the wild regardless of the season. We conclude that our successfully validated method for measuring fGCMs can be used as a non-invasive tool for studies exploring various stressors both in wild and captive Arctic foxes. publishedVersion |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Larm, Malin Hovland, Anne Lene Palme, Rupert Thierry, Anne-Mathilde Miller, Andrea Landa, Arild Angerbjörn, Anders Eide, Nina Elisabeth |
author_facet |
Larm, Malin Hovland, Anne Lene Palme, Rupert Thierry, Anne-Mathilde Miller, Andrea Landa, Arild Angerbjörn, Anders Eide, Nina Elisabeth |
author_sort |
Larm, Malin |
title |
Fecal glucocorticoid metabolites as an indicator of adrenocortical activity in Arctic foxes (Vulpes lagopus) and recommendations for future studies |
title_short |
Fecal glucocorticoid metabolites as an indicator of adrenocortical activity in Arctic foxes (Vulpes lagopus) and recommendations for future studies |
title_full |
Fecal glucocorticoid metabolites as an indicator of adrenocortical activity in Arctic foxes (Vulpes lagopus) and recommendations for future studies |
title_fullStr |
Fecal glucocorticoid metabolites as an indicator of adrenocortical activity in Arctic foxes (Vulpes lagopus) and recommendations for future studies |
title_full_unstemmed |
Fecal glucocorticoid metabolites as an indicator of adrenocortical activity in Arctic foxes (Vulpes lagopus) and recommendations for future studies |
title_sort |
fecal glucocorticoid metabolites as an indicator of adrenocortical activity in arctic foxes (vulpes lagopus) and recommendations for future studies |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/11250/3029585 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-021-02917-1 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic Fox Arctic fjellrev Polar Biology Vulpes lagopus |
genre_facet |
Arctic Fox Arctic fjellrev Polar Biology Vulpes lagopus |
op_source |
Polar Biology |
op_relation |
urn:issn:0722-4060 https://hdl.handle.net/11250/3029585 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-021-02917-1 cristin:1928580 |
op_rights |
Navngivelse 4.0 Internasjonal http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.no |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-021-02917-1 |
container_title |
Polar Biology |
container_volume |
44 |
container_issue |
10 |
container_start_page |
1925 |
op_container_end_page |
1937 |
_version_ |
1792496077156384768 |