Whisker growth in Tasmanian devils (Sarcophilus harrisii) and applications for stable isotope studies

Abstract Individual longitudinal records of diet, movement, and physiological state of endangered Tasmanian devils (Sarcophilus harrisii) are needed for effective management of wild populations, yet most traditional techniques are expensive or labor‐intensive. Stable isotope analysis of inert tissue...

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Autores principales:	Marie R. G. Attard, Anna Lewis, Stephen Wroe, Channing Hughes, Tracey L. Rogers
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Wiley 2021
Materias:	biomarkers diet foraging ecology growth models keratin Sarcophilus harrisii Ecology QH540-549.5
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/cf1d4b61d1114a7399b9acc74fe89e6c
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:cf1d4b61d1114a7399b9acc74fe89e6c2021-11-29T07:06:43ZWhisker growth in Tasmanian devils (Sarcophilus harrisii) and applications for stable isotope studies2150-892510.1002/ecs2.3846https://doaj.org/article/cf1d4b61d1114a7399b9acc74fe89e6c2021-11-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.3846https://doaj.org/toc/2150-8925Abstract Individual longitudinal records of diet, movement, and physiological state of endangered Tasmanian devils (Sarcophilus harrisii) are needed for effective management of wild populations, yet most traditional techniques are expensive or labor‐intensive. Stable isotope analysis of inert tissue, such as vibrissae (whiskers), provides a viable and minimally invasive solution to chronologically record the foraging ecology and habitat use of individuals. Species‐specific information on whisker growth (i.e., time‐position growth of isotopic signatures), retention time, and arrangement on the face is required before the implementation of stable isotope analysis in wild populations. Here, whiskers of six captive Tasmanian devils were internally marked with 13C‐ and 15N‐labeled glycine at three‐month intervals followed by isotopic analysis of the longest whisker to provide a time stamp for whisker growth and estimate retention time. Intradermal and extradermal lengths of wild Tasmanian devil whiskers were used to assess the arrangement and relative length of whiskers on the face. We found that whiskers can record at least nine months of an animal's ecological history and that whisker growth is not linear, the growth gradually slows down as the whisker lengthens. Our findings demonstrate that sequentially sampled whiskers have the potential to track monthly and seasonal isotopic changes of an individual animal in the wild, both within its historical range and in areas to which it has recently been introduced. Such information can be used to identify temporal shifts in habitat and prey preferences within populations and help select suitable individuals for translocations. We recommend that the longest mystacial whiskers, positioned posteriorly at the third and fourth row, should be preferentially used for stable isotope studies in this species. The timeframe represented by the root of the whisker (˜3–63 d) can be used to adjust the base of cut whiskers to the correct time period.Marie R. G. AttardAnna LewisStephen WroeChanning HughesTracey L. RogersWileyarticlebiomarkersdietforaging ecologygrowth modelskeratinSarcophilus harrisiiEcologyQH540-549.5ENEcosphere, Vol 12, Iss 11, Pp n/a-n/a (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	biomarkers diet foraging ecology growth models keratin Sarcophilus harrisii Ecology QH540-549.5
spellingShingle	biomarkers diet foraging ecology growth models keratin Sarcophilus harrisii Ecology QH540-549.5 Marie R. G. Attard Anna Lewis Stephen Wroe Channing Hughes Tracey L. Rogers Whisker growth in Tasmanian devils (Sarcophilus harrisii) and applications for stable isotope studies
description	Abstract Individual longitudinal records of diet, movement, and physiological state of endangered Tasmanian devils (Sarcophilus harrisii) are needed for effective management of wild populations, yet most traditional techniques are expensive or labor‐intensive. Stable isotope analysis of inert tissue, such as vibrissae (whiskers), provides a viable and minimally invasive solution to chronologically record the foraging ecology and habitat use of individuals. Species‐specific information on whisker growth (i.e., time‐position growth of isotopic signatures), retention time, and arrangement on the face is required before the implementation of stable isotope analysis in wild populations. Here, whiskers of six captive Tasmanian devils were internally marked with 13C‐ and 15N‐labeled glycine at three‐month intervals followed by isotopic analysis of the longest whisker to provide a time stamp for whisker growth and estimate retention time. Intradermal and extradermal lengths of wild Tasmanian devil whiskers were used to assess the arrangement and relative length of whiskers on the face. We found that whiskers can record at least nine months of an animal's ecological history and that whisker growth is not linear, the growth gradually slows down as the whisker lengthens. Our findings demonstrate that sequentially sampled whiskers have the potential to track monthly and seasonal isotopic changes of an individual animal in the wild, both within its historical range and in areas to which it has recently been introduced. Such information can be used to identify temporal shifts in habitat and prey preferences within populations and help select suitable individuals for translocations. We recommend that the longest mystacial whiskers, positioned posteriorly at the third and fourth row, should be preferentially used for stable isotope studies in this species. The timeframe represented by the root of the whisker (˜3–63 d) can be used to adjust the base of cut whiskers to the correct time period.
format	article
author	Marie R. G. Attard Anna Lewis Stephen Wroe Channing Hughes Tracey L. Rogers
author_facet	Marie R. G. Attard Anna Lewis Stephen Wroe Channing Hughes Tracey L. Rogers
author_sort	Marie R. G. Attard
title	Whisker growth in Tasmanian devils (Sarcophilus harrisii) and applications for stable isotope studies
title_short	Whisker growth in Tasmanian devils (Sarcophilus harrisii) and applications for stable isotope studies
title_full	Whisker growth in Tasmanian devils (Sarcophilus harrisii) and applications for stable isotope studies
title_fullStr	Whisker growth in Tasmanian devils (Sarcophilus harrisii) and applications for stable isotope studies
title_full_unstemmed	Whisker growth in Tasmanian devils (Sarcophilus harrisii) and applications for stable isotope studies
title_sort	whisker growth in tasmanian devils (sarcophilus harrisii) and applications for stable isotope studies
publisher	Wiley
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/cf1d4b61d1114a7399b9acc74fe89e6c
work_keys_str_mv	AT mariergattard whiskergrowthintasmaniandevilssarcophilusharrisiiandapplicationsforstableisotopestudies AT annalewis whiskergrowthintasmaniandevilssarcophilusharrisiiandapplicationsforstableisotopestudies AT stephenwroe whiskergrowthintasmaniandevilssarcophilusharrisiiandapplicationsforstableisotopestudies AT channinghughes whiskergrowthintasmaniandevilssarcophilusharrisiiandapplicationsforstableisotopestudies AT traceylrogers whiskergrowthintasmaniandevilssarcophilusharrisiiandapplicationsforstableisotopestudies
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Whisker growth in Tasmanian devils (Sarcophilus harrisii) and applications for stable isotope studies

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