Abstract
Faecal hormone metabolite analysis offers a non-invasive alternative to blood sampling that is particularly relevant to wild animal populations. It has been used for reproductive and adrenal hormone monitoring in captive wombats, but no information exists on its accuracy when sample storage is delayed or on whether variation exists within samples. This study aimed to quantify the effect of storage delay and intrasample variation on faecal metabolite concentrations of testosterone, progesterone and corticosterone in southern hairy-nosed wombats. For all metabolites, intrasample variance was 15% or less of total variance. Delays in storage significantly changed metabolite concentrations, with progesterone showing a progressive decrease over time (0–72 h: t24 = 2.14, P = 0.05), testosterone showing a significant increase after 6-h delay (0–6 h: t21 = 2.83, P = 0.01), and corticosterone showing an initial increase (0–6 h: t48 = 3.60, P = 0.001), followed by a reduction to original concentrations by 72 h (0–72 h: t48 = 0.91, P = 0.38). Although changes caused by storage delays may not obscure large hormonal fluctuations, this study outlines the importance of immediate storage and consistent sampling to allow the most accurate results to be obtained.
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