Table 1:
Examples of body condition indices being applied in conservation, including those that reflect resource (e.g. food) acquisition and allocation, such as body mass and measures of fat reserves, as well as haematological, biochemical, and endocrine indices that assess other aspects of physiological condition
| Conservation application | Condition index | Species | References |
|---|---|---|---|
| Assessing habitat quality | Corticosterone | American redstart (Setophaga ruticilla) | Marra and Holberton (1998) |
| Fat score, mass, stored fat, haematocrit, H/L ratio, WBC counts, non-estrified fatty acids, glucose, glycerol, uric acid, β-hydroxybutyrate, and triglycerides | Southwestern willow flycatcher (Empidonax traillii extimus) | Owen et al. (2005) | |
| Assessing habitat requirements | H/L ratio | Eastern yellow robin (Eopsaltria australis) | Maron et al. (2012) |
| Assessing nutritional requirements | Mass, WBC counts, packed cell volume, total plasma protein, serum calcium, albumin, serum phosphorus, uric acid, creatine kinase, and aspartate aminotrasferase | Greater sage grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) | Dyer et al. (2009, 2010) |
| Assessing effects of habitat fragmentation | Corticosterone and mass adjusted for structural body size | Eurasian treecreeper (Certhia familiaris) | Suorsa et al. (2003) |
| Haematocrit | Bats: Artibeus jamaicensis and Artibeus obscurus | Henry et al. (2007) | |
| Haemoglobin, haematocrit, N/L ratio, WBC counts, mean red blood cell volume, mean cell haemoglobin content, mean cell haemoglobin concentration, and red blood cell distribution width | Agile antechinus (Antechinus agilis) | Johnstone et al. (2012a) | |
| Corticosterone and mass adjusted for structural body size | Common toad (Bufo bufo) | Janin et al. (2011) | |
| Assessing effects of ecotourism | Haematocrit, leucocrit, total serum protein, WBC differentials, and total antioxidant capacity to total oxidative status ratio | Southern stingray (Dasyatis americana) | Semeniuk et al. (2009) |
| Corticosterone | Magellanic penguin (Spheniscus magellanicus) | Walker et al. (2005) | |
| Corticosterone and mass adjusted for structural body size | Yellow-eyed penguin (Megadyptes antipodes) | Ellenberg et al. (2007) | |
| Assessing stress due to logging activity | Corticosterone | Northern spotted owl (Strix occidentalis caurina) | Wasser et al. (1997) |
| Assessing effects of oiling on wildlife | Haemoglobin | River otter (Lontra canadensis) | Ben-David et al. (2002) |
For a review of body condition indices used in conservation broadly, see Stevenson and Woods (2006), and for reviews of the use of body condition indices to assess habitat quality in particular, see Johnson (2007), Ellis et al. (2012), and Homyack (2010). Abbreviations: H/L ratio, heterophil to lymphocyte ratio; N/L ratio, neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio; and WBC, white blood cell.