Journal
ACTA CHIROPTEROLOGICA
Volume 10, Issue 1, Pages 153-159Publisher
MUSEUM & INST ZOOLOGY PAS-POLISH ACAD SCIENCES
DOI: 10.3161/150811008X331171
Keywords
chiroptera; body condition indices; body mass; Colorado; Eptesicus fuscus; fat; lipid deposition; TOBEC
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Bat researchers have used both morphological indices and total body electric conductivity (TOBEC) as proxies for body condition in a variety of studies, but have typically not validated these indices against direct measurement of body composition. We quantified body composition (total carcass lipids) to determine if morphological indices were useful predictors of body condition in big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus). We also evaluated body composition indirectly by TOBEC using EM-SCAN (R) technology. The most important predictors of body composition in multiple regression analysis were body mass-to-forearm ratio (partial r(2) = 0.82, P < 0.001) followed by TOBEC measurement (partial r(2) = 0.08, P < 0.001) and,to,a minor extent head length (partial r2 = 0.02, P < 0.05). Morphological condition indices alone may be adequate for some studies because of lower cost and effort. Marking bats with passive integrated transponder (PIT) tags affected TOBEC measurements.
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