A field-friendly alternative to freeze-drying faeces for glucocorticoid metabolite quantification in animals of different feeding classes.

Monitoring stress-related faecal glucocorticoid metabolite (fGCM) concentrations is a reliable, popular and established approach for understanding wildlife responses to perceived stressors. To maintain fGCM integrity post-defaecation, faecal material must be promptly stored frozen, or dried to prevent continued suspected bacterial enzyme activity. We compare the effectiveness of freeze-drying with other field-friendly drying techniques (food dehydrator and homemade solar oven).

Validating enzyme immunoassays for non-invasive reproductive hormone monitoring in Temminck's pangolin.

Gonadal hormones play a central role in reproductive function and success. As such, quantifying reproductive hormones non-invasively in threatened, vulnerable and endangered wildlife species offers an ideal tool for assessing general and individual reproductive patterns . Whilst the use of faeces as a hormone matrix is often preferred in these cases, the required enzyme immunoassays (EIAs) for measuring faecal androgen (fAM), oestrogen (fEM) and progestagen metabolite (fPM) concentrations must first be validated if a species gets investigated for the first time to ensure biologically relevant patterns can be observed.

All in the Details: A First Assessment for the Viability of Metabarcoding in Diet Composition Analysis of African Wild Dogs ().

DNA metabarcoding is a contemporary technique in diet composition studies and stands to fill key knowledge gaps left by traditional diet analysis methods. For endangered species such as the African wild dog (), the fulfilment of these knowledge gaps presents an opportunity for improved management practices and vulnerability assessments. There are an estimated ~600 African wild dogs remaining in South Africa.

Method development: Assigning sex to African clawless otter spraints and assessing stability of faecal androgen and progestagen metabolites post-defaecation.

Monitoring reproductive physiology in wildlife can be a useful tool for assessing population dynamics for conservation and management purposes. Utilizing non-invasive approaches for this, such as quantifying reproductive hormone metabolites from faeces, can be challenging when defaecation events are not observed, or when cryptic species like African clawless otters () are involved. Additionally, test systems for quantifying hormone metabolites in a species for the first time must first be reliably validated prior to use.

A frog in hot water: the effect of temperature elevation on the adrenal stress response of an African amphibian.

Amphibians, with their unique physiology and habitat requirements, are especially vulnerable to changes in environmental temperatures. While the activation of the physiological stress response can help to mitigate the impact of such habitat alteration, chronic production of elevated glucocorticoid levels can be deleterious in nature. There is no empirical evidence indicating the physiological response of African amphibians to temperature changes, where individuals are unable to emigrate away from potential stressors.