Maintaining sustainable populations in captivity without supplementation through wild-capture is a major challenge in conservation that zoos and aquaria are working towards. However, the capture of wild animals continues for many purposes where conservation is not the primary focus. Wild-capture hinders long-term conservation goals by reducing remaining wild populations, but the direct and long-term indirect consequences of wild-capture for captive population viability are rarely addressed using longitudinal data. We explored the implications of changes in wild-capture on population dynamics in captivity over 54 years using a multi-generational studbook of working Asian elephants ( Elephas maximus ) from Myanmar, the largest remaining captive elephant population. Here we show that population growth and birth rates declined between 1960 and 2014 with declines in wild-capture. Importantly, wild-caught females had reduced birth rates and a higher mortality risk. However, despite the disadvantages of wild-capture, the population may not be sustainable without it, with immediate declines owing to an unstable age-structure that may last for 50 years. Our results highlight the need to assess the long-term demographic consequences of wild-capture to ensure the sustainability of captive and wild populations as species are increasingly managed and conserved in altered or novel environments.

Advanced maternal age at birth can have pronounced consequences for offspring health, survival and reproduction. If carried over to the next generation, such fitness effects could have important implications for population dynamics and the evolution of ageing, but these remain poorly understood. While many laboratory studies have investigated maternal age effects, relatively few studies have been conducted in natural populations, and they usually only present a “snapshot” of an offspring's lifetime. In the present study, we focus on how maternal age influences offspring life‐history trajectories and performance in a long‐lived mammal. We use a multigenerational demographic dataset of semi‐captive Asian elephants to investigate maternal age effects on several offspring life‐history traits: condition, reproductive success and overall survival. We show that offspring born to older mothers display reduced overall survival but higher reproductive success, and reduced survival of their own progeny. Our results show evidence of a persistent effect of maternal age on fitness across generations in a long‐lived mammal. By highlighting transgenerational effects on the fitness of the next generation associated with maternal age, the present study helps increase our understanding of factors contributing to individual variation in ageing rates and fitness.

1. Matrix population models (MPMs) are an important tool for biologists seeking to understand the causes and consequences of variation in vital rates (e.g. survival, reproduction) across life cycles. Empirical MPMs describe the age-or stagestructured demography of organisms and usually represent the life history of a population during a particular time frame at a specific geographical location. 2. The COMPADRE Plant Matrix Database and COMADRE Animal Matrix Database are the most extensive resources for MPM data, collectively containing >12,000 individual projection matrices for >1,100 species globally. Although these databases represent an unparalleled resource for researchers, land managers and educators, the current computational tools available to answer questions with MPMs impose significant barriers to potential COM(P)ADRE database users by requiring advanced knowledge to handle diverse data structures and program custom analysis functions.3. To close this knowledge gap, we present two interrelated R packages designed to (a) facilitate the use of these databases by providing functions to acquire, quality control and manage both the MPM data contained in COMPADRE and COMADRE, and a user's own MPM data (Rcompadre) and (b) present a range of functions to calculate life-history traits from MPMs in support of ecological and evolutionary analyses (Rage). We provide examples to illustrate the use of both.4. Rcompadre and Rage will facilitate demographic analyses using MPM data and contribute to the improved replicability of studies using these data. We hope that this new functionality will allow researchers, land managers and educators | 771Methods in Ecology and Evoluঞon JONES Et al.

Abstract1. Effective conservation and species management require an understanding of the causes of poor population growth. Conservation physiology uses biomarkers to identify factors that contribute to low individual fitness and population declines.Building on this, macrophysiology can use the same markers to assess how individual physiology varies with different ecological or demographic factors over large temporal and spatial scales.2. Here, we use a macrophysiological approach to identify the ecological and demographic correlates of poor population growth rates in the Cape mountain zebra metapopulation. We use two non-invasive biomarkers: faecal glucocorticoids as a measure of chronic stress, and faecal androgens as an indicator of male physiological status.3. We found that faecal glucocorticoid concentrations were highest in the spring prior to summer rainfall, and were elevated in individuals from populations associated with lowquality habitat (lower grass abundance). In addition, faecal androgen concentrations were higher in populations with a high proportion of non-breeding stallions (where male:female adult sex ratios exceed 2:1) suggesting sex ratio imbalances may intensify male competition. Finally, population growth rate was negatively associated with faecal glucocorticoid concentrations and female fecundity was negatively associated with faecal androgens, indicating a relationship between hormone profiles and fitness.4. Together, our results provide cross-population evidence for how poor population growth rates in Cape mountain zebra can be linked to individual physiological biomarkers. More broadly, we advocate physiological biomarkers as indicators of population viability, and as a way to evaluate the impact of variable ecological and demographic factors. In addition, conservation physiology can be used to assess the efficacy of management interventions for this subspecies, and this approach could inform models of species' responses to future environmental change. K E Y W O R D Sandrogens, conservation management, faecal hormone metabolites, glucocorticoids, habitat quality, macrophysiology, sex ratio skewThis is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

This study has identified that the majority of available apps relating to weight loss surgery do not have health professional input. The establishment of a 'quality stamp' provided by an established bariatric surgical body could improve the confidence with which patients and clinicians use these new information sources. Weight loss surgery apps offer a unique opportunity to provide accurate and reliable patient information and their use as part of the informed consent process should be explored.