Literaturdatenbank
Literaturdatenbank |
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Averill-Murray, R. C. (2002). Effects on survival of desert tortoises (gopherus agassizii) urinating during handling. Chelonian Conservation and Biology, 4(2), 430–435.
Added by: Admin (14 Aug 2008 20:35:24 UTC) |
| Resource type: Journal Article BibTeX citation key: AverillMurray2002 View all bibliographic details  |
Categories: General Keywords: Gopherus, Gopherus agassizii, Habitat = habitat, Nordamerika = North America, Schildkröten = turtles + tortoises, Testudinidae Creators: Averill-Murray Collection: Chelonian Conservation and Biology |
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| Abstract |
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Gopherus agassizii Testudinidae Desert tortoises (Gopherus agassizii) mitigate their exposure to arid conditions by using their urinary bladders as water reserves. I investigated whether tortoises that urinated and lost water during handling by field researchers had lower survival compared to tortoises that did not urinate. I analyzed data from 6 years at 3 sites in the Sonoran Desert of Arizona. Survival varied by site, increased with body size, and decreased if tortoises urinated during handling. Mean annual differences in survival of average-sized tortoises between individuals that urinated during handling and those that did not ranged from approximately 5 to 13% among the 3 sites. Recapture rates also varied by site and increased with body size, but urinating had no detectable effect. These results highlight the importance of developing well-defined study objectives and procedures that minimize the probability of desert tortoises urinating during processing, not only to avoid compromised data due to reduced survival (or other dehydration-induced behavioral, reproductive, or physiological responses) but also to ensure that research activities do not compromise the status of study populations themselves.
Added by: Admin |