DOI: 10.5061/dryad.3r2280gsc
title: Data for: Using faecal cortisol metabolites to assess adrenocortical activity in wild-living Alpine marmot Marmota marmota: A biological validation experiment

description: Faecal cortisol/corticosterone metabolites (FCMs) have become increasingly
 popular as an easy-to-sample, non-invasive and feedback-free alternative
 to assess glucocorticoid (GC) levels, key components of the neuroendocrine
 stress response and other physiological processes. While FCMs can be a
 powerful aid, for instance, for gaining insights into ecological and
 evolutionary processes, as well as to assess animal welfare or impacts of
 anthropogenic stressors on wildlife populations, this method comes with
 specific challenges. Because GCs are heavily metabolized before excretion,
 it is critical to validate the enzyme immunoassays (EIAs) used to measure
 FCMs. Additionally, because species may differ in metabolite profiles,
 assay validation must be performed separately for each focal species.
 Despite this, the use of unvalidated assays remains widespread. We
 performed a biological validation experiment to test a set of EIAs to
 measure FCMs and adrenocortical activity in free-living Alpine marmots
 Marmot marmota. We capitalised on capture and handling as part of a
 relocation project of marmots under the assumption that capture, and
 handling represent a stressful event and tracked changes in FCM levels
 over the following 48 hours. Faeces samples collected at capture were
 assumed to return baseline FCM levels. Out of three EIAs tested, only the
 11-oxoetiocholanolone ‘72T’ EIA, detected an increase in FCM levels about
 18 hours after capture. This result paves the way for future studies using
 FCMs to investigate adrenocortical activity in this species.
description: See Publication: Zenth et al., 2024 In Ecology and
 Evolution:  <strong>Using faecal cortisol
 metabolites to assess adrenocortical activity in wild-living Alpine marmot
 <em>Marmota marmota</em>: A biological validation
 experiment</strong>
description: # Data for: Using faecal cortisol metabolites to assess adrenocortical
 activity in wild-living Alpine marmot Marmota marmota: A biological
 validation experiment
 [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.3r2280gsc](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.3r2280gsc) ## Description of the data and file structure Data used for the Analysis for the article “Using faecal cortisol metabolites to assess adrenocortical activity in wild-living Alpine marmot *Marmota marmota*: A biological validation experiment” published in Ecology and Evolution (2024). **Principal Investigator:** Friederike Zenth, [friederike.zenth@wildlife.uni.freiburg.de](mailto:friederike.zenth@wildlife.uni.freiburg.de) ### Files and variables #### File: FMC\_marmot\_validation\_simplified.csv **Description:** Data used for the Analysis for the article “Using faecal cortisol metabolites to assess adrenocortical activity in wild-living Alpine marmot *Marmota marmota*: A biological validation experiment” published in Ecology and Evolution (2024). ##### Variables * animal_id: unique identifier for each study animal. * sex: sex of the study animal (male/female). * age: age class of the study animal (subadult &lt; 3 years old; adult &gt;= 3 years old). * t.sample: time of sample collection (e.g., defecation) measured in hours post-stress event (e.g., capture). * fcm_72T: concentration of faecal cortisol metabolites measured with an 11-oxoetiocholanolone enzyme-immunoassay (EIA) “72T” in ng/g (Möstl et al., 2002). * fcm_37e: concentration of faecal cortisol metabolites measured with an 5α-pregnane-3β,11β,21-triol-20 EIA in ng/g (Touma et al., 2003). ## Code/software Csv. file which can be viewed in Microsoft Excel or R 4.3.1 (R Core Team 2023) in RStudio 2023.09.1+494 (Posit Team 2023).