Journal
ANIMAL CONSERVATION
Volume 13, Issue 3, Pages 256-264Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-1795.2009.00329.x
Keywords
biometric indices; Emys marmorata; habitat alteration; health condition; immunocompetence; phenotypic plasticity
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Funding
- MEC-FPU
- CSU Chico Department of Biological Sciences
- CSU Chico Research Foundation
- [MCI-CGL2008-02119/BOS]
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Many authors have addressed the relationship between body condition and ecological parameters in a wide range of studies, suggesting a better fitness in those individuals with higher values of body condition. However, body size and body condition of individuals can vary significantly at the intraspecific level between geographic locations, which is usually explained by phenotypic plasticity or local adaptation. We suggest that a higher body condition per se might not be a good indicator of physiological health status, particularly when comparing populations inhabiting places with different levels of habitat alteration. We examined two populations of the western pond turtle Emys marmorata in the northern part of California's Central Valley, and found that individuals inhabiting a water pollution control plant located on the valley floor had significantly larger body size and higher body condition than those inhabiting an unaltered natural habitat in the foothills. However, turtles from the water pollution control plant did not show a better health status, estimated by comparisons between two immune system variables: T-cell-mediated immune response and heterophil/lymphocyte ratio. Parameters such as body size and body condition might be misleading indicators of health condition, particularly when they are used to estimate health status of populations from habitats with different levels of alteration. We emphasize the importance of using physiological methods in assessing the conservation state of wildlife populations, rather than relying on biometric indices that might miss important effects of alteration.
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