Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

Season, sex and age variation in the haematology and body condition of geometric tortoises Psammobates geometricus

Season, sex and age variation in the haematology and body condition of geometric tortoises... Body condition and haematological indices provide powerful information when assessing wildlife health. Reference intervals for these indices can facilitate wildlife management, and would benefit initiatives to save the Critically Endangered geometric tortoise (Psammobates geometricus). We collected data from 126 geometric tortoises to establish baseline values reflecting variation over four seasons (spring 2000 to winter 2001) and among three groups (female, male and juvenile). We measured body condition index (BCI; mass to shell volume), blood urea nitrogen (BUN), plasma chloride, packed cell volume (PCV), haemoglobin concentration (Hb) and red blood cell count (RBC), and used PCV, Hb and RBC to calculate erythrocyte indices. BCI correlated poorly with haematological measures but had a strong inverse relationship with BUN. BCI did not vary among groups, but all groups had low condition indices in autumn, the end of the dry season. High BUN and chloride values in autumn indicate dehydration, particularly in males. Males had the highest PCV, Hb and RBC values, especially during summer and autumn when they moved long distances, likely pursuing mates. Female and juvenile indices were similar, except that female Hb was higher than juvenile Hb, possibly to meet female energy needs associated with their large size and reproductive metabolism. Low Hb levels in winter coincided with low temperatures and reduced movements. Our results illustrate how intrinsic and extrinsic factors influence the physiology of geometric tortoises and provide reference intervals to monitor their health. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png African Zoology Taylor & Francis

Season, sex and age variation in the haematology and body condition of geometric tortoises Psammobates geometricus

Download PDF

Season, sex and age variation in the haematology and body condition of geometric tortoises Psammobates geometricus

Abstract

Body condition and haematological indices provide powerful information when assessing wildlife health. Reference intervals for these indices can facilitate wildlife management, and would benefit initiatives to save the Critically Endangered geometric tortoise (Psammobates geometricus). We collected data from 126 geometric tortoises to establish baseline values reflecting variation over four seasons (spring 2000 to winter 2001) and among three groups (female, male and juvenile). We measured...
Loading next page...
 
/lp/taylor-francis/season-sex-and-age-variation-in-the-haematology-and-body-condition-of-OCEfmTHgaf
Publisher
Taylor & Francis
Copyright
© 2017 Zoological Society of Southern Africa
ISSN
2224-073X
eISSN
1562-7020
DOI
10.1080/15627020.2017.1284575
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Body condition and haematological indices provide powerful information when assessing wildlife health. Reference intervals for these indices can facilitate wildlife management, and would benefit initiatives to save the Critically Endangered geometric tortoise (Psammobates geometricus). We collected data from 126 geometric tortoises to establish baseline values reflecting variation over four seasons (spring 2000 to winter 2001) and among three groups (female, male and juvenile). We measured body condition index (BCI; mass to shell volume), blood urea nitrogen (BUN), plasma chloride, packed cell volume (PCV), haemoglobin concentration (Hb) and red blood cell count (RBC), and used PCV, Hb and RBC to calculate erythrocyte indices. BCI correlated poorly with haematological measures but had a strong inverse relationship with BUN. BCI did not vary among groups, but all groups had low condition indices in autumn, the end of the dry season. High BUN and chloride values in autumn indicate dehydration, particularly in males. Males had the highest PCV, Hb and RBC values, especially during summer and autumn when they moved long distances, likely pursuing mates. Female and juvenile indices were similar, except that female Hb was higher than juvenile Hb, possibly to meet female energy needs associated with their large size and reproductive metabolism. Low Hb levels in winter coincided with low temperatures and reduced movements. Our results illustrate how intrinsic and extrinsic factors influence the physiology of geometric tortoises and provide reference intervals to monitor their health.

Journal

African Zoology – Taylor & Francis

Published: Jan 2, 2017

Keywords: blood urea nitrogen; erythrocyte indices; haemoglobin; packed cell volume; red blood cell count; reference intervals

References

  • Reference values for hematology and plasma biochemistry variables, and protein electrophoresis of healthy Hermann’s tortoises (Testudo hermanni spp.)
  • Guidelines for the field evaluation of desert tortoise health and disease
  • Blood profiles for a wild population of green turtles (Chelonia mydas) in the Southern Bahamas: size-specific and sex-specific relationships
  • Health survey of wild and captive bog turtles (Clemmys muhlenbergii) in North Carolina and Virginia
  • Clinical disease and laboratory abnormalities in free-ranging desert tortoises in California (1990–1995)
  • Reference intervals and physiologic alterations in hematologic and biochemical values of free-ranging desert tortoises in the Mojave Desert
  • Hematology and plasma biochemistry reference range values for free-ranging desert tortoises in Arizona
  • Does translocation influence physiological stress in the desert tortoise?
  • Red blood cell packed volumes, sizes and numbers
  • The geometric tortoise: quietly slipping into extinction
  • Mass/length residuals: measures of body condition or generators of spurious results?
  • Seasonal and annual energy budgets of female desert tortoises (Gopherus agassizii)
  • Body of evidence: forensic use of baseline health assessments to convict wildlife poachers
  • Hematologic and biochemical reference intervals of free-living mediterranean pond turtles (Mauremys leprosa)
  • Conservation action plan for the endangered geometric tortoise
  • Sexual and environmental variation in the space requirements of the critically endangered geometric tortoise, Psammobates geometricus
  • Marking amphibians and reptiles for future identification
  • Collecting biological samples for disease monitoring
  • Problems with using weight versus carapace length relationships to assess tortoise health
  • Does habitat fragmentation cause stress in the agile antechinus? A haematological approach
  • Use of erythrocyte indicators of health and condition in vertebrate ecophysiology: a review and appraisal
  • Blood cell morphology and plasma biochemistry in Russian tortoises (Agrionemys horsfieldii)
  • Reproduction of the smallest tortoise, the Namaqualand speckled padloper, Homopus signatus signatus
  • Annual variation in the body condition of a small, arid-zone tortoise, Homopus signatus signatus
  • Inside the redbox: Applications of haematology in wildlife monitoring and ecosystem health assessment
  • The sex difference in haemoglobin levels in adults – mechanisms, causes, and consequences
  • Tissue carbon incorporation rates and diet-to-tissue discrimination in ectotherms – tortoises are really slow
  • Physiological ecology of desert tortoises in southern Nevada
  • Clinical hematology in reptilian species
  • Hematology of the Pascagoula map turtle (Graptemys gibbonsi) and the Southeast Asian box turtle (Cuora amboinensis)
  • Anhomeostasis: Seasonal water and solute relations in two populations of the desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii) during chronic drought
  • Temporal, population, and sexual variation in hematocrit of free-living desert tortoises: correlational tests of causal hypotheses
  • Diagnostic value of hematology
  • The use of body condition and haematology to detect widespread threatening processes in sleepy lizards (Tiliqua rugosa) in two agricultural environments
  • Diagnostic hematology of reptiles
  • Body mass condition in Greek tortoises: Regional and interspecific variation
  • Blood cytology and hematology of the green sea turtle, Chelonia mydas
  • Androgens and erythropoiesis