Hematologic and serum biochemical reference intervals for wild eastern quolls (Dasyurus viverrinus): Variation by age, sex, and season

Abstract

Background: The eastern quoll (Dasyurus viverrinus) is an endangered carnivorous marsupial that has recently suffered significant population declines. Several small captive breeding populations have been established, with plans to translocate wild and captive individuals to areas of their former distribution. Accordingly, hematologic and serum biochemical reference intervals (RIs) established from wild eastern quoll populations are essential for monitoring the health and disease status of both captive and wild populations, and to evaluate the health of individuals before, during, and after translocation.Objectives: We aimed to establish hematologic and serum biochemical RIs for wild eastern quolls, and examine the effects of age, sex, and season. Methods: We collected a total of 202 hematologic samples, 309 packed cell volume samples, and 335 serum biochemical samples from 168 individual quolls between May 2011 and November 2013. Species-level RIs were established, as well as RIs of groups separated by age (juvenile, adult) and sex (adult male, adult female) using nonparametric, robust, and parametric methods. Seasonal variation in age-and sexspecific reference values was also assessed.Results: Strong age and seasonal variation were evident in many hematologic and serum biochemical analytes, with significant variation observed in serum biochemical analytes between the sexes. Conclusions:The observed age, sex, and seasonal variation reflect differences in the timing of growth and reproductive stressors, which interact with seasonal energetic demands. Our findings highlight the importance of using age-, sex-, and season-specific RIs for clinical evaluation of eastern quolls, as species-level RIs will inadvertently smooth and mask important seasonal fluctuations that reflect reproductive status at different times.

Reference intervals for parameters of health of eastern grey kangaroos Macropus giganteus and management implications across their geographic range

“…he immune system undergoes ontogenesis (Sidman et al 1987), with many haematological and some serum protein parameters increasing with age (Fancourt and Nicol 2019). Consistent with this, maturity was partitioned in our RI because it was determined as moderately important in our RF model, with adults having signiicantly higher MCV, MCH, MCHC, TP and globulin concentrations than subadults.…”

“…18 models, one for each parameter, were created using the 'randomForest' R package. Each factor (site, season, sex, sexual maturity, laboratory, rainfall and temperature) was selected to train the model based on their known influence on haematological and serum protein parameters (Pacioni et al 2013, Fancourt andNicol 2019). Average monthly rainfall and temperature data were obtained from the nearest weather station (Bureau of Meteorology 2020) for the month preceding collection for each site.…”

Kangaroos at maximum capacity: health assessment of free-ranging eastern grey kangaroos on a coastal headland

“…Prior to analysis, a log transformation was carried out and normality and collinearity assessed using the Shapiro–Wilk normality test and variance inflation factor (< 2), respectively. The initial factors for all models were selected from relevance in the literature ( Turner et al 2012 ; Fancourt and Nicol 2019 ) and previous work ( Brandimarti et al 2020 ). Factors for N:L ratio model selection are presented in Table 1 .…”

Influence of sex and age on biochemical parameters of Lophiosilurus alexandri (Steindachner, 1876): First results

“…Sex is generally associated with variation in serum biochemistry in different species of animals, including fish (Fancourt & Nicol, 2019; Kulkarni, 2017). Studies have reported higher values of these constituents for male individuals compared with females due to the greater depletion of metabolic components by the processes of ovarian development and spawning (Tavares‐Dias et al, 2004) or to behavioural differences between males and females (Kulkarni, 2017).…”