Elsevier

Mammalian Biology

Volume 80, Issue 4, August 2015, Pages 285-289
Mammalian Biology

Short Communication
Fluctuating asymmetry as a proxy for oxidative stress in wild boar

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mambio.2015.03.004Get rights and content

Abstract

The study of fluctuating asymmetry (FA) in living organisms has produced contradictory results over the past few decades of research. Though the protocol for measuring FA is firmly established, the sources of FA remain unclear in many cases. Our goal is to examine the relationship between FA and both the concentration of biomarkers of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and body condition in a medium-sized mammal, the European wild boar (Sus scrofa). Using a Partial Least Squares regression (PLSr), we found a positive significant relationship (Stone–Geisser test) between oxidative stress and FA but a negative relationship between oxidative stress and body condition. Our results suggest that FA can be used to assess the physiological costs associated with oxidative stress in mammals.

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Acknowledgements

This work was funded by the PAIDI Research Group RNM18 from Junta de Andalucía. E. Serrano was supported by the postdoctoral program (SFRH/BPD/96637/2013) of the Fundação para a Ciência ea Tecnologia, Portugal.

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