Large mammal telomere length variation across ecoregions
Telomere length provides a physiological proxy for accumulated stress in animals. While there is a growing consensus over how telomere dynamics and their patterns are linked to life history variation and individual experience, knowledge on the impact of exposure to different stressors at a large spa...
Published in: | BMC Ecology and Evolution |
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-022-02050-5 https://phaidra.vetmeduni.ac.at/o:2040 |
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ftvetmeduwien:oai:phaidra.vetmeduni.ac.at:o:2040 2023-09-26T15:08:57+02:00 Large mammal telomere length variation across ecoregions Fohringer, Christian (Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences) Singh, Navinder J. (Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences) Smith, Steven (University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna) Spong, Göran (Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences) Ericsson, Göran (Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences) Cayol, Claire (Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences) Hoelzl, Franz (University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna) Allen, Andrew M. (Netherlands Institute of Ecology / Radboud University) 2022 application/pdf https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-022-02050-5 https://phaidra.vetmeduni.ac.at/o:2040 eng eng BioMed Central isPartOf:https://phaidra.vetmeduni.ac.at/o:605[Publications / University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna] doi:10.1186/s12862-022-02050-5 https://phaidra.vetmeduni.ac.at/o:2040 CC BY 4.0 International http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ BMC Ecology and Evolution 22(1) (2022) Sex-Differences Habitat Use Stress Moose Dynamics Life Temperature Responses Selection Age article 2022 ftvetmeduwien https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-022-02050-5 2023-08-27T23:29:25Z Telomere length provides a physiological proxy for accumulated stress in animals. While there is a growing consensus over how telomere dynamics and their patterns are linked to life history variation and individual experience, knowledge on the impact of exposure to different stressors at a large spatial scale on telomere length is still lacking. How exposure to different stressors at a regional scale interacts with individual differences in life history is also poorly understood. To better understand large-scale regional influences, we investigated telomere length variation in moose (Alces alces) distributed across three ecoregions. We analyzed 153 samples of 106 moose representing moose of both sexes and range of ages to measure relative telomere lengths (RTL) in white blood cells.We found that average RTL was significantly shorter in a northern (montane) and southern (sarmatic) ecoregion where moose experience chronic stress related to severe summer and winter temperatures as well as high anthropogenic land-use compared to the boreal region. Our study suggests that animals in the northern boreal forests, with relatively homogenous land use, are less disturbed by environmental and anthropogenic stressors. In contrast, animals in areas experiencing a higher rate of anthropogenic and environmental change experience increased stress.Although animals can often adapt to predictable stressors, our data suggest that some environmental conditions, even though predictable and ubiquitous, can generate population level differences of long-term stress. By measuring RTL in moose for the first time, we provide valuable insights towards our current understanding of telomere biology in free-ranging wildlife in human-modified ecosystems. Article in Journal/Newspaper Alces alces Vetmeduni Vienna Phaidra (University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna) BMC Ecology and Evolution 22 1 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Vetmeduni Vienna Phaidra (University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna) |
op_collection_id |
ftvetmeduwien |
language |
English |
topic |
Sex-Differences Habitat Use Stress Moose Dynamics Life Temperature Responses Selection Age |
spellingShingle |
Sex-Differences Habitat Use Stress Moose Dynamics Life Temperature Responses Selection Age Fohringer, Christian (Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences) Singh, Navinder J. (Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences) Smith, Steven (University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna) Spong, Göran (Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences) Ericsson, Göran (Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences) Cayol, Claire (Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences) Hoelzl, Franz (University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna) Allen, Andrew M. (Netherlands Institute of Ecology / Radboud University) Large mammal telomere length variation across ecoregions |
topic_facet |
Sex-Differences Habitat Use Stress Moose Dynamics Life Temperature Responses Selection Age |
description |
Telomere length provides a physiological proxy for accumulated stress in animals. While there is a growing consensus over how telomere dynamics and their patterns are linked to life history variation and individual experience, knowledge on the impact of exposure to different stressors at a large spatial scale on telomere length is still lacking. How exposure to different stressors at a regional scale interacts with individual differences in life history is also poorly understood. To better understand large-scale regional influences, we investigated telomere length variation in moose (Alces alces) distributed across three ecoregions. We analyzed 153 samples of 106 moose representing moose of both sexes and range of ages to measure relative telomere lengths (RTL) in white blood cells.We found that average RTL was significantly shorter in a northern (montane) and southern (sarmatic) ecoregion where moose experience chronic stress related to severe summer and winter temperatures as well as high anthropogenic land-use compared to the boreal region. Our study suggests that animals in the northern boreal forests, with relatively homogenous land use, are less disturbed by environmental and anthropogenic stressors. In contrast, animals in areas experiencing a higher rate of anthropogenic and environmental change experience increased stress.Although animals can often adapt to predictable stressors, our data suggest that some environmental conditions, even though predictable and ubiquitous, can generate population level differences of long-term stress. By measuring RTL in moose for the first time, we provide valuable insights towards our current understanding of telomere biology in free-ranging wildlife in human-modified ecosystems. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Fohringer, Christian (Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences) Singh, Navinder J. (Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences) Smith, Steven (University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna) Spong, Göran (Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences) Ericsson, Göran (Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences) Cayol, Claire (Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences) Hoelzl, Franz (University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna) Allen, Andrew M. (Netherlands Institute of Ecology / Radboud University) |
author_facet |
Fohringer, Christian (Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences) Singh, Navinder J. (Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences) Smith, Steven (University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna) Spong, Göran (Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences) Ericsson, Göran (Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences) Cayol, Claire (Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences) Hoelzl, Franz (University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna) Allen, Andrew M. (Netherlands Institute of Ecology / Radboud University) |
author_sort |
Fohringer, Christian (Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences) |
title |
Large mammal telomere length variation across ecoregions |
title_short |
Large mammal telomere length variation across ecoregions |
title_full |
Large mammal telomere length variation across ecoregions |
title_fullStr |
Large mammal telomere length variation across ecoregions |
title_full_unstemmed |
Large mammal telomere length variation across ecoregions |
title_sort |
large mammal telomere length variation across ecoregions |
publisher |
BioMed Central |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-022-02050-5 https://phaidra.vetmeduni.ac.at/o:2040 |
genre |
Alces alces |
genre_facet |
Alces alces |
op_source |
BMC Ecology and Evolution 22(1) (2022) |
op_relation |
isPartOf:https://phaidra.vetmeduni.ac.at/o:605[Publications / University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna] doi:10.1186/s12862-022-02050-5 https://phaidra.vetmeduni.ac.at/o:2040 |
op_rights |
CC BY 4.0 International http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-022-02050-5 |
container_title |
BMC Ecology and Evolution |
container_volume |
22 |
container_issue |
1 |
_version_ |
1778131865992953856 |