Age‐specific vibrissae growth rates: A tool for determining the timing of ecologically important events in Steller sea lions

Rea, Lorrie D.; Christ, Aaron M.; Hayden, Alison B.; Stegall, Vicki K.; Farley, Sean D.; Stricker, Craig A.; Mellish, Jo‐Ann E.; Maniscalco, John M.; Waite, Jason N.; Burkanov, Vladimir N.; Pitcher, Kenneth W.

doi:10.1111/mms.12221

Cited by 49 publications

(63 citation statements)

References 22 publications

(72 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The age‐specific vibrissae growth rates described for the Steller sea lion, with higher growth rates early in life that slow with age (Rea et al. ), show that vibrissae growth for some otarid species is likely nonlinear. Steller sea lions retain their vibrissae over a long period (Hirons et al.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Calibrating the time span of longitudinal biomarkers in vertebrate tissues when fine‐scale growth records are unavailable

et al. 2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Biological markers (biomarkers) are invaluable and widely adopted in ecology, archaeology, and anthropology. Serially sampling biomarkers along continuously growing inert tissue, such as vibrissae, hair, nail, horn, or baleen, is an ideal method by which to capture the changes in an individual's diet, environment, climate, health, and stress levels. However, there are complications in calibrating the time periods that samples represent. Here, we assess how the choice of model and the input data used affect the prediction of time span. We use the Antarctic leopard seal, Hydrurga leptonyx, as our model, with stable isotope data from the vibrissae of captive and wild animals. We show that for tissues with nonlinear growth, and where fine‐scale data on tissue growth are unavailable, modeling over the life span of the tissue is a simple and easily adopted approach. In this method, growth parameters are derived from surveys of the study population and the shed–replacement cycle to calibrate the time span of the biomarker data. This model performed better than linear and nonlinear models, which use parameters that have been derived from growth measurements documented over short periods relative to the life span of the tissue. These latter approaches performed in a similar fashion to each other as they tended to overestimate the life span of the tissue. Whether growth is linear or nonlinear, not accounting for position‐specific differences in growth (rates or coefficients) and asymptotic length (L∞) resulted in different interpretations of biomarker data across the samples collected from the same individual. In species where metabolically inert tissue grows in a progressive fashion, the ability to account for time‐specific information refines our ability to interpret the biomarker data. We recommend that this approach be adapted for tissue, such as the vibrissae and hair of mammals and the hair of humans, which exhibit the predictable growth.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Calibrating the time span of longitudinal biomarkers in vertebrate tissues when fine‐scale growth records are unavailable

et al. 2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The vibrissae (whiskers) of pinnipeds (Ling 1966) are particularly useful for dietary studies when using SI analysis (e.g., Hirons et al 2001;Greaves et al 2004;Zhao & Schell 2004;Hall-Aspland et al 2005; Lewis et al 2006;Cherel et al 2009;Hindell et al 2012;Walters et al 2014;Rea et al 2015). Vibrissae can be sampled relatively non-invasively and archive ecological information over longer temporal scales at a finer resolution than other tissues, such as blood (Tieszen et al 1983).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Vibrissal growth parameters of southern elephant seals Mirounga leonina: obtaining fine-scale, time‑based stable isotope data

Lübcker¹,

Condit²,

Beltran³

et al. 2016

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Stable isotopes provide a powerful, indirect approach to assess the trophic ecology of individuals on a spatial and temporally integrated basis (especially when combined with telemetry). However, using stable isotopes requires accurate, species-specific quantification of the period of biomolecule deposition in the sampled tissue. Sequentially sampled vibrissae (whiskers) provide a chronology of biogeochemical data, although knowledge of the vibrissal growth is required for temporal interpretations. We sampled vibrissae from southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina, hereafter SES) at Marion Island, southern Indian Ocean to address the following aims: define the prevalence and timing of their vibrissal replacement; determine the vibrissal regrowth rate and temporal resolution of isotopic data captured along the length 1 of sequentially sampled vibrissae; and explore assumptions regarding their vibrissal growth. Contrary to the previously described asynchronous vibrissal shedding pattern of SES, 71.1 % of individuals displayed vibrissal shedding during the annual pelage moult. Furthermore, vibrissa growth ceased once the asymptotic length was reached, and the vibrissae were retained before being replaced. Vibrissae with known growth histories were re-sampled at multiple, known intervals to control for unknown growth starting dates. Vibrissae followed a von Bertalanffy growth function [ ( )( ) ], as the growth rate decreased near the asymptotic length. The resolution of the isotopic data obtainable per 2 mm section ranged from 3.5 days at the vibrissal tip to > 40 days at the base. Using these defined growth rates and shedding patterns, researchers can prudently apply timestamps to stable isotope values along vibrissae.

show abstract

“…The mean felid whisker growth rates of 0.74 mm day −1 (estimated from whisker lengths grown over 185 days) and 0.65 mm day −1 (estimated from whisker lengths grown over 76 days) were within the range of values for laboratory mice (0.3–1.0 mm day −1 ), laboratory rats (0.6–1.5 mm day −1 ), harbor seals (0.075–0.78 mm day −1 ) and Steller sea lions (0.44–0.87 mm day −1 ) . Both whisker growth rates were much higher than those for most pinniped species.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 45%

“…To date, studies of whisker growth rate have been limited to several pinniped species, the southern sea otter ( Enhydra lutris nereis ), and only a few terrestrial species, i.e. laboratory rats ( Rattus norvegicus ) and mice ( Mus domesticus ), stoats ( Mustela ermine ) and Eurasian badgers .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Growth rate and stable carbon and nitrogen isotope trophic discrimination factors of lion and leopard whiskers

Mutirwara

Radloff

Codron

2017

Rapid Comm Mass Spectrometry

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Age‐specific vibrissae growth rates: A tool for determining the timing of ecologically important events in Steller sea lions

Cited by 49 publications

References 22 publications

Calibrating the time span of longitudinal biomarkers in vertebrate tissues when fine‐scale growth records are unavailable

Calibrating the time span of longitudinal biomarkers in vertebrate tissues when fine‐scale growth records are unavailable

Vibrissal growth parameters of southern elephant seals Mirounga leonina: obtaining fine-scale, time‑based stable isotope data

Growth rate and stable carbon and nitrogen isotope trophic discrimination factors of lion and leopard whiskers

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About