Blood circulates through the vascular system to carry oxygen, nutrients and metabolites to
and away from tissues, and as such is a key-component of animal physiology. The impacts …

Chelonians are one of the most imperiled vertebrate taxa on the planet due to changes in
the environment, anthropogenic influences, and disease. Over the last two decades …

Recent advancements in stress physiology, driven by the relevance of the stress response in
animal welfare and conservation, have focused on alternative techniques beyond blood …

Mercury (Hg) is a toxic contaminant present in most aquatic ecosystems. High
concentrations pose serious threats to organisms and to human health. Because previous …

The metabolism of tortoises is influenced by many factors, which in turn also influences the
clinical chemistry parameters in these animals. There are currently limited data available on …

North American box turtles (Terrapene spp.) are a group of terrestrial to semi-aquatic
omnivorous chelonians characterized by a hinged plastron. These species range from the …

Freshwater turtles are long-lived sedentary organisms used as biological sentinels to assess
anthropogenic perturbations in freshwater-ecosystems; notably because pollutants tend to …

The threatened Mojave desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii) exhibits temperature-dependent
sex determination, and individuals appear externally sexually monomorphic until sexual …

Ectothermic organisms often experience considerable variation in their body temperature
throughout the circadian cycle. However, studies focusing on the measurement of …

Blood glucose is vital for many physiological pathways and can be quantified by clinical
chemistry analyzers and in-house point-of-care (POC) devices. Pre-analytical and analytical …