Body Girth as an Alternative to Body Mass for Establishing Condition Indexes in Field Studies: A Validation in the King Penguin.
International audience Abstract Body mass and body condition are often tightly linked to animal health and fitness in the wild and thus are key measures for ecophysiologists and behavioral ecologists. In some animals, such as large seabird species, obtaining indexes of structural size is relatively...
Published in: | Physiological and Biochemical Zoology |
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Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
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Online Access: | https://hal.science/hal-00725011 https://doi.org/10.1086/667540 |
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ftunivnantes:oai:HAL:hal-00725011v1 2023-05-15T17:03:55+02:00 Body Girth as an Alternative to Body Mass for Establishing Condition Indexes in Field Studies: A Validation in the King Penguin. Viblanc, Vincent A Bize, Pierre Criscuolo, François Le Vaillant, Maryline Saraux, Claire Pardonnet, Sylvia Gineste, Benoît Kauffmann, Marion Prud'Homme, Onésime Handrich, Yves Massemin, Sylvie Groscolas, René Robin, Jean-Patrice Department of Ecology and Evolution Université de Lausanne = University of Lausanne (UNIL) Département Ecologie, Physiologie et Ethologie (DEPE-IPHC) Institut Pluridisciplinaire Hubert Curien (IPHC) Université de Strasbourg (UNISTRA)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Strasbourg (UNISTRA)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) Laboratoire Ressources Halieutiques de Sète Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer (IFREMER) IPEV (project 119) 2012-09 https://hal.science/hal-00725011 https://doi.org/10.1086/667540 en eng HAL CCSD University of Chicago Press info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1086/667540 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/pmid/22902382 hal-00725011 https://hal.science/hal-00725011 doi:10.1086/667540 PUBMED: 22902382 ISSN: 1522-2152 EISSN: 1537-5293 Physiological and Biochemical Zoology https://hal.science/hal-00725011 Physiological and Biochemical Zoology, 2012, 85 (5), pp.533-542. ⟨10.1086/667540⟩ [SDE]Environmental Sciences [SDV.BID.EVO]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Biodiversity/Populations and Evolution [q-bio.PE] info:eu-repo/semantics/article Journal articles 2012 ftunivnantes https://doi.org/10.1086/667540 2023-03-08T00:08:27Z International audience Abstract Body mass and body condition are often tightly linked to animal health and fitness in the wild and thus are key measures for ecophysiologists and behavioral ecologists. In some animals, such as large seabird species, obtaining indexes of structural size is relatively easy, whereas measuring body mass under specific field circumstances may be more of a challenge. Here, we suggest an alternative, easily measurable, and reliable surrogate of body mass in field studies, that is, body girth. Using 234 free-living king penguins (Aptenodytes patagonicus) at various stages of molt and breeding, we measured body girth under the flippers, body mass, and bill and flipper length. We found that body girth was strongly and positively related to body mass in both molting ([Formula: see text]) and breeding ([Formula: see text]) birds, with the mean error around our predictions being 6.4%. Body girth appeared to be a reliable proxy measure of body mass because the relationship did not vary according to year and experimenter, bird sex, or stage within breeding groups. Body girth was, however, a weak proxy of body mass in birds at the end of molt, probably because most of those birds had reached a critical depletion of energy stores. Body condition indexes established from ordinary least squares regressions of either body girth or body mass on structural size were highly correlated ([Formula: see text]), suggesting that body girth was as good as body mass in establishing body condition indexes in king penguins. Body girth may prove a useful proxy to body mass for estimating body condition in field investigations and could likely provide similar information in other penguins and large animals that may be complicated to weigh in the wild. Article in Journal/Newspaper King Penguins Université de Nantes: HAL-UNIV-NANTES Physiological and Biochemical Zoology 85 5 533 542 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Université de Nantes: HAL-UNIV-NANTES |
op_collection_id |
ftunivnantes |
language |
English |
topic |
[SDE]Environmental Sciences [SDV.BID.EVO]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Biodiversity/Populations and Evolution [q-bio.PE] |
spellingShingle |
[SDE]Environmental Sciences [SDV.BID.EVO]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Biodiversity/Populations and Evolution [q-bio.PE] Viblanc, Vincent A Bize, Pierre Criscuolo, François Le Vaillant, Maryline Saraux, Claire Pardonnet, Sylvia Gineste, Benoît Kauffmann, Marion Prud'Homme, Onésime Handrich, Yves Massemin, Sylvie Groscolas, René Robin, Jean-Patrice Body Girth as an Alternative to Body Mass for Establishing Condition Indexes in Field Studies: A Validation in the King Penguin. |
topic_facet |
[SDE]Environmental Sciences [SDV.BID.EVO]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Biodiversity/Populations and Evolution [q-bio.PE] |
description |
International audience Abstract Body mass and body condition are often tightly linked to animal health and fitness in the wild and thus are key measures for ecophysiologists and behavioral ecologists. In some animals, such as large seabird species, obtaining indexes of structural size is relatively easy, whereas measuring body mass under specific field circumstances may be more of a challenge. Here, we suggest an alternative, easily measurable, and reliable surrogate of body mass in field studies, that is, body girth. Using 234 free-living king penguins (Aptenodytes patagonicus) at various stages of molt and breeding, we measured body girth under the flippers, body mass, and bill and flipper length. We found that body girth was strongly and positively related to body mass in both molting ([Formula: see text]) and breeding ([Formula: see text]) birds, with the mean error around our predictions being 6.4%. Body girth appeared to be a reliable proxy measure of body mass because the relationship did not vary according to year and experimenter, bird sex, or stage within breeding groups. Body girth was, however, a weak proxy of body mass in birds at the end of molt, probably because most of those birds had reached a critical depletion of energy stores. Body condition indexes established from ordinary least squares regressions of either body girth or body mass on structural size were highly correlated ([Formula: see text]), suggesting that body girth was as good as body mass in establishing body condition indexes in king penguins. Body girth may prove a useful proxy to body mass for estimating body condition in field investigations and could likely provide similar information in other penguins and large animals that may be complicated to weigh in the wild. |
author2 |
Department of Ecology and Evolution Université de Lausanne = University of Lausanne (UNIL) Département Ecologie, Physiologie et Ethologie (DEPE-IPHC) Institut Pluridisciplinaire Hubert Curien (IPHC) Université de Strasbourg (UNISTRA)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Strasbourg (UNISTRA)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) Laboratoire Ressources Halieutiques de Sète Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer (IFREMER) IPEV (project 119) |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Viblanc, Vincent A Bize, Pierre Criscuolo, François Le Vaillant, Maryline Saraux, Claire Pardonnet, Sylvia Gineste, Benoît Kauffmann, Marion Prud'Homme, Onésime Handrich, Yves Massemin, Sylvie Groscolas, René Robin, Jean-Patrice |
author_facet |
Viblanc, Vincent A Bize, Pierre Criscuolo, François Le Vaillant, Maryline Saraux, Claire Pardonnet, Sylvia Gineste, Benoît Kauffmann, Marion Prud'Homme, Onésime Handrich, Yves Massemin, Sylvie Groscolas, René Robin, Jean-Patrice |
author_sort |
Viblanc, Vincent A |
title |
Body Girth as an Alternative to Body Mass for Establishing Condition Indexes in Field Studies: A Validation in the King Penguin. |
title_short |
Body Girth as an Alternative to Body Mass for Establishing Condition Indexes in Field Studies: A Validation in the King Penguin. |
title_full |
Body Girth as an Alternative to Body Mass for Establishing Condition Indexes in Field Studies: A Validation in the King Penguin. |
title_fullStr |
Body Girth as an Alternative to Body Mass for Establishing Condition Indexes in Field Studies: A Validation in the King Penguin. |
title_full_unstemmed |
Body Girth as an Alternative to Body Mass for Establishing Condition Indexes in Field Studies: A Validation in the King Penguin. |
title_sort |
body girth as an alternative to body mass for establishing condition indexes in field studies: a validation in the king penguin. |
publisher |
HAL CCSD |
publishDate |
2012 |
url |
https://hal.science/hal-00725011 https://doi.org/10.1086/667540 |
genre |
King Penguins |
genre_facet |
King Penguins |
op_source |
ISSN: 1522-2152 EISSN: 1537-5293 Physiological and Biochemical Zoology https://hal.science/hal-00725011 Physiological and Biochemical Zoology, 2012, 85 (5), pp.533-542. ⟨10.1086/667540⟩ |
op_relation |
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1086/667540 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/pmid/22902382 hal-00725011 https://hal.science/hal-00725011 doi:10.1086/667540 PUBMED: 22902382 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1086/667540 |
container_title |
Physiological and Biochemical Zoology |
container_volume |
85 |
container_issue |
5 |
container_start_page |
533 |
op_container_end_page |
542 |
_version_ |
1766057914720583680 |