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Reproductive Endocrinology of the Florida Manatee (Trichechus Manatus Latirostris): Estrous Cycles, Seasonal Patterns and Behavior

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Reproductive Endocrinology of the Florida Manatee (Trichechus Manatus Latirostris): Estrous Cycles, Seasonal Patterns and Behavior REPRODUCTIVE ENDOCRINOLOGY OF THE FLORIDA MANATEE (TRICHECHUS MANATUS LATIROSTRIS): ESTROUS CYCLES, SEASONAL PATTERNS AND BEHAVIOR By ISKANDE LIEVE VANDEVELDE LARKIN A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2000 To Roger Reep, for inspiring and encouraging me; my mom, for reminding me I have what it takes; and my husband, who has shown me how to appreciate what life offers. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I thank my committee members for guiding me through this process and providing unique perspectives that broadened my learning and introduced me to new ideas and ways of thinking. Roger Reep was a very reassuring mentor that proved to be the calm in the midst of many storms. Tim Gross provided the bulk of my guidance in radioimmunoassays and technical support, without which this project could not have been accomplished. I thank Tom Vickroy for being there to answer questions at a moment’s notice and remind me to look at things objectively. Dan Odell and John Eisenberg were figures of inspiration to learn about new species, scientific subjects and perspectives I otherwise would have neglected. Bob Bonde was an ever-cheerful face and allowed me to join him in the field to meet wild manatees for the first time. Bob always kept me up to date on new observations in the field and allowed me to attend many small meetings and workshops on manatees. Last but not least, Lynn Lefebvre was there when I needed her to step in and join the committee cheerfully. I would like to give a special thanks to all the people and the many organizations that came together in helping me accomplish this study because they saw the importance in learning more about manatee reproduction. I thank our lab technician, Maggie Stoll, who spent a whole year getting up at the wee hours of the morning to collect fecals for me. At Homosassa Springs State Wildlife Park, I thank Tom Linley for allowing us to conduct our study there, Sally Lieb for trusting that not iii all graduate students are made the same, and the staff for being so friendly. Randy Runnels and staff at SeaWorld Florida provided as much help as possible despite their busy schedules. Mark Barringer and staff at the Living Seas in Epcot went above and beyond any of my hopes and expectations by collecting all of the samples from each of their three males for the duration of the study time. I thank Dr. Dave Murphy and Debbie Halin for collecting samples from their manatees at Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa for as long as they were able. Dr. Greg Bossart, Dr. Maya Menchaca, Nerva and staff at Miami Seaquarium were very helpful with their advice and calls to update me on the status of their animals and collections of samples. I am sorry we did not have enough funds to analyze the many samples they collected for this study. I would like to extend the same apology to Jessica Koelsch at Mote Marine Laboratories who provided boundless energy in collecting many samples from the wild manatees in Sarasota Bay. Finally, I would like to thank the many veterinary students, teachers and volunteers that that joined me in my behavioral observations, fecal collections and lab work. Seeing their excitement in my work was most rewarding. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS........................................................................................iii LIST OF TABLES.................................................................................................viii LIST OF FIGURES..................................................................................................ix ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………………..….xiv 1 INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND REVIEW............................................1 Introduction...........................................................................................................1 Objectives..........................................................................................................2 Hypotheses........................................................................................................3 Background Review..............................................................................................5 Conservation......................................................................................................5 Evolution...........................................................................................................6 Distribution.......................................................................................................9 Manatee Reproduction.....................................................................................10 Other Mammalian Reproductive Patterns.........................................................14 Elephant Reproduction.....................................................................................21 Seasonality......................................................................................................29 General mammalian patterns........................................................................29 Seasonality in Sirenians...............................................................................32 Measurement of Hormones..............................................................................33 Captive Versus Wild Conditions......................................................................34 2 FECAL RADIOIMMUNOASSAY VALIDATION FOR THE FLORIDA MANATEE.............................................................................................................36 Introduction.........................................................................................................36 Materials and Methods........................................................................................38 Subjects...........................................................................................................38 Fecal Collections.............................................................................................40 Experiment One: Gut Transit Time Collections................................................41 Experiment Two: Fecal Handling Collections..................................................43 Experiment Three: Plasma and Necropsy Collections......................................44 Radioimmunoassay..........................................................................................45 v 17b-estradiol...............................................................................................47 Progesterone................................................................................................48 Testosterone.................................................................................................49 Analysis of Hormonal Parameters....................................................................51 Results.................................................................................................................53 Experiment One: Fecal Marker/Gut Transit Times...........................................53 Experiment Two: Fecal Handling....................................................................54 Experiment Three: Fecal Comparisons with Plasma and Tissue Samples.........55 Plasma and fecal..........................................................................................55 Fecal and necropsy tissue.............................................................................58 Experiment Four: A Comparison of Gender, Location, Age and Individuals....59 Gender and location.....................................................................................59 Age..............................................................................................................61 Discussion...........................................................................................................62 Experiment One: Fecal Marker/Gut Transit Time............................................62 Experiment Two: Fecal Handling....................................................................65 Experiment Three: Fecal Comparisons with Plasma and Tissue Samples.........67 Experiment Four: A Comparison of Gender, Location, Age and Individuals....70 Conclusions.........................................................................................................72 3 SEASONAL AND ESTROUS PATTERNS OF THE FLORIDA MANATEE....94 Introduction.........................................................................................................94 Methods..............................................................................................................97 Experiment Five: Fecal Collections for Estrous Cycle Data.............................97 Experiment Six: Fecal Collections for Seasonality Data...................................98 Analysis...........................................................................................................98 Results.................................................................................................................99 Experiment Five: Individual Hormone Profiles and Estrous Patterns................99 Individual hormone profiles.........................................................................99 Estrous patterns..........................................................................................100 Experiment Six: Seasonality..........................................................................103 Seasonality at different locations................................................................103
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