Remotely collected genetic information has been used in other animals to examine population structure and movements
(Baker et al. 1993, Witteveen et al. 2009), examine genetic diversity (Schmidt et al. 2009), determine sex ratios (Curtis et al. 2007), and estimate abundance (Palsbøll et al. 1997, Woods et al. 1999). Other studies have used remote biopsy darts to collect tissues to test AZD1208 for contaminants (Ross et al. 2000, Wiig et al. 2000), conduct stable isotope and fatty acid analyses (Hooker et al. 2001, Witteveen et al. 2009), and estimate individual ages (Herman et al. 2008, 2009; Pauli et al. 2011). A number of commercial manufacturers produce biopsy darts, particularly for use on cetaceans. However, many of these darts require the use of a crossbow, which is unwieldy in a helicopter. In autumn 2010, we field tested two of these types of biopsy
darts on polar bears and found that neither were particularly well suited for darting polar bears from a helicopter. The darts were drab in color, making them difficult to recover. Darts had no marking ability, making it difficult to identify individuals that had previously been sampled; and most darts required landing of the helicopter for retrieval. Our objective was to develop and test a variety of biopsy darting systems for remote sampling of polar bears from a helicopter. We required a dart that, when fired from a helicopter, could simultaneously dye-mark individuals to avoid resampling, was brightly colored to aid in retrieval, could float to allow for sampling bears in the water, and was magnetic to aid in remote retrieval of darts in areas where it would be unsafe to land BMN 673 mouse a helicopter
(e.g., thin ice). We provide details and success rates of these biopsy systems, and examine their ability to provide genetic and sex identification, fatty acid signatures, and quantify adipose lipid content. Our study area was the spring-time sea ice of the southern Beaufort Sea adjacent to northern Alaska along with the coastline, barrier islands, and inland areas within approximately 30 km of the coast of Alaska between Barrow, Alaska and the Canadian border (Fig. 1). We darted adult and subadult polar bears in autumn 2010 and spring and autumn 2011 (Fig. 1). To minimize disturbance of family groups, we did not dart dependent cubs. During the spring we used a Hughes 500 helicopter, and in autumn we used a Bell 206 Tacrolimus (FK506) LongRanger helicopter. In autumn 2010, we used Pneu-dart, Inc. (Williamsport, PA) type C biopsy darts (PD, Table 1), and punched biopsy darts (PC, Table 1) developed by Palmer Cap-Chur Equipment, Inc. (Douglasville, GA) both fired from a Pneu-dart model 196 rifle. We typically fired PD and PC darts at power settings 3 and 4, respectively. The PD darts included an internal biopsy needle that was 23 mm long. We spray painted the body of the PD darts fluorescent orange to aid in recovery. The PC darts consisted of a punched biopsy head screwed onto a 10 mL aluminum dart body.
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