Dataset Information

Analysis of body condition indices reveals different ecotypes of the Antillean manatee.

ABSTRACT: Assessing the body condition of wild animals is necessary to monitor the health of the population and is critical to defining a framework for conservation actions. Body condition indices (BCIs) are a non-invasive and relatively simple means to assess the health of individual animals, useful for addressing a wide variety of ecological, behavioral, and management questions. The Antillean manatee (Trichechus manatus manatus) is an endangered subspecies of the West Indian manatee, facing a wide variety of threats from mostly human-related origins. Our objective was to define specific BCIs for the subspecies that, coupled with additional health, genetic and demographic information, can be valuable to guide management decisions. Biometric measurements of 380 wild Antillean manatees captured in seven different locations within their range of distribution were obtained. From this information, we developed three BCIs (BCI₁ = UG/SL, BCI₂ = W/SL³, BCI₃ = W/(SL*UG²)). Linear models and two-way ANCOVA tests showed significant differences of the BCIs among sexes and locations. Although our three BCIs are suitable for Antillean manatees, BCI₁ is more practical as it does not require information about weight, which can be a metric logistically difficult to collect under particular circumstances. BCI₁ was significantly different among environments, revealing that the phenotypic plasticity of the subspecies have originated at least two ecotypes-coastal marine and riverine-of Antillean manatees.

SUBMITTER: Castelblanco-Martinez DN

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8484672 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Analysis of body condition indices reveals different ecotypes of the Antillean manatee.

Castelblanco-Martínez D N DN Slone D H DH Landeo-Yauri S S SS Ramos E A EA Alvarez-Alemán A A Attademo F L N FLN Beck C A CA Bonde R K RK Butler S M SM Cabrias-Contreras L J LJ Caicedo-Herrera D D Galves J J Gómez-Camelo I V IV González-Socoloske D D Jiménez-Domínguez D D Luna F O FO Mona-Sanabria Y Y Morales-Vela J B JB Olivera-Gómez L D LD Padilla-Saldívar J A JA Powell J J Reid J P JP Rieucau G G Mignucci-Giannoni A A AA

Scientific reports 20210930 1

Assessing the body condition of wild animals is necessary to monitor the health of the population and is critical to defining a framework for conservation actions. Body condition indices (BCIs) are a non-invasive and relatively simple means to assess the health of individual animals, useful for addressing a wide variety of ecological, behavioral, and management questions. The Antillean manatee (Trichechus manatus manatus) is an endangered subspecies of the West Indian manatee, facing a wide vari ...[more]

PMID: 34593916

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Project description:Body condition may predict individual fitness because those in better condition have more resources to allocate towards improving their fitness. However, the hypothesis that condition indices are meaningful proxies for fitness has been questioned. Here, we ask if intraspecific variation in condition indices predicts annual reproductive success and survival. We monitored a population of Neochmia phaeton (crimson finch), a sedentary, tropical passerine, for reproductive success and survival over four breeding seasons, and sampled them for commonly used condition indices: mass adjusted for body size, muscle and fat scores, packed cell volume, hemoglobin concentration, total plasma protein, and heterophil to lymphocyte ratio. Our study population is well suited for this research because individuals forage in common areas and do not hold territories such that variation in condition between individuals is not confounded by differences in habitat quality. Furthermore, we controlled for factors that are known to impact condition indices in our study population (e.g., breeding stage) such that we assessed individual condition relative to others in the same context. Condition indices that reflect energy reserves predicted both the probability of an individual fledging young and the number of young produced that survived to independence, but only during some years. Those that were relatively heavy for their body size produced about three times more independent young compared to light individuals. That energy reserves are a meaningful predictor of reproductive success in a sedentary passerine supports the idea that energy reserves are at least sometimes predictors of fitness. However, hematological indices failed to predict reproductive success and none of the indices predicted survival. Therefore, some but not all condition indices may be informative, but because we found that most indices did not predict any component of fitness, we question the ubiquitous interpretation of condition indices as surrogates for individual quality and fitness.

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Dataset Information

Analysis of body condition indices reveals different ecotypes of the Antillean manatee.

Publications

Analysis of body condition indices reveals different ecotypes of the Antillean manatee.

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