Body condition and ruminal morphology responses of free-ranging impala (Aepyceros melampus) to changes in diet

Mitchell, Emily; Clauss, Marcus; Kock, Nancy D.; Hill, F. W.; Majok, Aggrey A.; Kotzé, Antoinette; Codron, Daryl

doi:10.1007/s10344-014-0824-1

Cited by 13 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…However, BM itself may not always be the most useful proxy for body size. BM may be subjected to systematic seasonal variation or other variation related to the nutritional and health status of the animal (e.g., Schwartz et al, ; Adamczewski et al, ; Lane et al, ). Given that many morphological measures that may be of interest can be expected to show less corresponding variation, such as skeletal measures or in our case tongue length, it should always be considered if a less variable reference measure as a proxy for body size is available.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Convergence of macroscopic tongue anatomy in ruminants and scaling relationships with body mass or tongue length

Meier

Schmuck

Meloro

et al. 2015

Journal of Morphology

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Various morphological measures demonstrate convergent evolution in ruminants with their natural diet, in particular with respect to the browser/grazer dichotomy. Here, we report quantitative macroanatomical measures of the tongue (length and width of specific parts) of 65 ruminant species and relate them to either body mass (BM) or total tongue length, and to the percentage of grass in the natural diet (%grass). Models without and with accounting for the phylogenetic structures of the dataset were used, and models were ranked using Akaike's Information Criterion. Scaling relationships followed geometric principles, that is, length measures scaled with BM to the power of 0.33. Models that used tongue length rather than BM as a body size proxy were consistently ranked better, indicating that using size proxies that are less susceptible to a wider variety of factors (such as BM that fluctuates with body condition) should be attempted whenever possible. The proportion of the freely mobile tongue tip of the total tongue (and hence also the corpus length) was negatively correlated to %grass, in accordance with concepts that the feeding mechanism of browsers requires more mobile tongues. It should be noted that some nonbrowsers, such as cattle, use a peculiar mechanism for grazing that also requires long, mobile tongues, but they appear to be exceptions. A larger corpus width with increasing %grass corresponds to differences in snout shape with broader snouts in grazers. The Torus linguae is longer with increasing %grass, a finding that still warrants functional interpretation. This study shows that tongue measures covary with diet in ruminants. In contrast, the shape of the tongue (straight or "hourglassshaped" as measured by the ratio of the widest and smallest corpus width) is unrelated to diet and is influenced strongly by phylogeny. J. Morphol. 000:000-000, 2015.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Convergence of macroscopic tongue anatomy in ruminants and scaling relationships with body mass or tongue length

Meier

Schmuck

Meloro

et al. 2015

Journal of Morphology

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“…Although a rich and diverse literature exists regarding the effects of wildlife nutrition on various measures of fitness (for a recent example see Lane et al ), to our knowledge, no other study has tested the NVH using actual food resource use (i.e. realized dietary niche) relative to a measure of physiological condition (i.e.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Testing the niche variation hypothesis with a measure of body condition

Lafferty

Belant

Phillips

2014

Oikos

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Individual variation and fitness are cornerstones of evolution by natural selection. The niche variation hypothesis (NVH) posits that when interspecific competition is relaxed, intraspecific competition should drive niche expansion by selection favoring use of novel resources and that among‐individual variation should confer a selective advantage. Population‐level niche expansion could be achieved by all individuals using all available resources, or by each individual using a unique combination of resources, thereby increasing among‐individual dietary niche variation. Although individual variation can lead to species‐level evolutionary and ecological change, observed variation does not ensure a beneficial outcome. We used carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analysis of claw keratin and a Bayesian stable isotope mixing model to estimate the summer (July–September) assimilated diet of individual female black Ursus americanus and brown U. arctos bears. We quantified variation in dietary niche in both populations, and assessed diet relative to percentage body fat. We hypothesized that if the NVH held, percentage body fat would be similar for individuals of the same species across much of the dietary range of observed proportional salmon contributions to individual bear diets. Although we found greater differences in dietary niches between than within species, we observed greater among‐individual dietary variation in the brown bear population. Moreover, we found that within each species individual female bears achieved similar ranges of percentage body fat at various levels of salmon in the diet. Our results provide support for the NVH. Linking individual dietary niches to measures of physiological condition related to fitness can offer new insights into eco‐evolutionary processes related to food resource use.

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“…Body condition scoring systems have been developed and used on many wildlife species to investigate the population integrity when their resources are limited or environment is changing (DelGiudice et al, 2011;Lane et al, 2014;Carpio et al, 2015;McWilliams & Wilson, 2015). The BCS evaluates the outer appearance of an individual's fitness, including survival and reproduction potential, based on visual cues.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Monitoring body condition score of reintroduced banteng (Bos javanicusD’Alton, 1923) into Salakphra Wildlife Sanctuary, Thailand

Kongsurakan

Chaiyarat

Nakbun³

et al. 2020

PeerJ

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Background Banteng (Bos javanicus d’Alton 1823) are an endangered species, highly sensitive to habitat structure and quality. In many areas, banteng were extinct and needed to be reintroduced to restore their population. Thus, understanding the responses of body condition of reintroduced banteng to their habitat was important for ensuring the sustainability of a reintroduction program. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the body condition of banteng after reintroduction into the Salakphra Wildlife Sanctuary in Thailand based on photographs from camera-traps carried out between July 2016 and November 2018. Methods Seven banteng were bred at the Khao Nampu Nature and Wildlife Education Center and systematically reintroduced into the Salakphra Wildlife Sanctuary in December 2015 (four) and July 2016 (three). The seven reintroduced adults and two newborns (from the 2015 group) were captured via camera traps in 2018. The body condition scoring (BCS) obtained from these photographs was used to identify the individual performance of all seven adults after their reintroduction. Results The BCS scores in reintroduced adult banteng, both males and females, (between 5 and 7 years old) increased significantly over time after reintroduction into a natural habitat (p < 0.05), although the BCS scores in females were not significantly different between the second and third years (p > 0.05). Conclusions The results from the present study suggest that camera traps are a practical tool to assess the BCS of reintroduced banteng, and can be used to monitor their condition post-release. These techniques may be appropriate for translocation programs elsewhere.

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Body condition and ruminal morphology responses of free-ranging impala (Aepyceros melampus) to changes in diet

Cited by 13 publications

References 37 publications

Convergence of macroscopic tongue anatomy in ruminants and scaling relationships with body mass or tongue length

Convergence of macroscopic tongue anatomy in ruminants and scaling relationships with body mass or tongue length

Testing the niche variation hypothesis with a measure of body condition

Monitoring body condition score of reintroduced banteng (Bos javanicusD’Alton, 1923) into Salakphra Wildlife Sanctuary, Thailand

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