Validation of fecal glucocorticoid metabolites as non-invasive markers for monitoring stress in common buzzards (Buteo buteo)

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Authors

Grundei, Lara-Luisa
Wolf, Tanja Esther
Brandes, Florian
Schütte, Karolin
Freise, Fritjof
Siebert, Ursula
Touma, Chadi
Pees, Michael

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

MDPI

Abstract

For wild animals, being in captivity in wildlife centers can cause considerable stress. Therefore, it is necessary to establish and validate non-invasive tools to measure chronic stress during rehabilitation. Eight Common Buzzards which lived in permanent husbandry were placed individually into prepared aviaries and their feces were collected before, during and after a stress event for biological validation over a period of seven days. The extracted fecal glucocorticoid metabolites (fGCMs) were analyzed with three different enzyme immune assays (EIA) to find the most suitable one. Additionally, we aimed to investigate the stability of fGCM levels after defecation because further metabolization by bacterial enzymes can lead to changed results. The Cortisone-EIA performed best in males and females and showed that the stress event led to an fGCM increase of 629% (557% in females and 702% in males) in relation to basal values. We found no significant differences between the sexes, but observed significant differences between different times of day. FGCM concentration significantly changed after eight hours at room temperature. Our study successfully validated the non-invasive measurement of fGCM as a stress indicator in Common Buzzards and could therefore lay the foundation for future studies providing new insights for animal welfare research in Buzzards.

Description

This article belongs to the Special Issue titled 'Behavioural Endocrinology: Applications for Wildlife Management'.
DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT : All raw data is provided in the Appendix A and Supplementary Materials.
SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL : TABLE S1: Results of blood examination (n = 6) in female (F1, F2, F3) and male (M1, M2, M3) animals, TABLE S2: Results of X-rays for female (F1, F2, F3) and male (M1, M2, M3) animals (n = 6).

Keywords

Hormone, Behavior, Rehabilitation, Animal welfare, Bird of prey, Wildlife, Corticosterone, Fecal glucocorticoid metabolite (fGCM), Stress, Common buzzards (Buteo buteo), Enzyme immune assays (EIA), SDG-03: Good health and well-being, SDG-15: Life on land

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG-03:Good heatlh and well-being
SDG-15:Life on land

Citation

Grundei, L.-L.; Wolf, T.E.; Brandes, F.; Schütte, K.; Freise, F.; Siebert, U.; Touma, C.; Pees, M. Validation of Fecal Glucocorticoid Metabolites as Non-Invasive Markers for Monitoring Stress in Common Buzzards (Buteo buteo). Animals 2024, 14, 1234. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani14081234.