SREL Reprint #2086
Total body electrical conductivity (TOBEC): a tool to estimate lean mass and nonpolar lipids of an aquatic organism?
Robert U. Fischer1, Justin D. Congdon2, and Matthew Brock3
1Eastern Illinois University, Zoology Department, Charleston, Illinois 61920
2Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, Drawer E, Aiken, South Carolina 29802
3Duke University, Biology Department, Durham, North Carolina 27706
Discussion: Results from our validation of the TOBEC technique, as well as other validation studies (Castro et al., 1990; Ruby, 1991; Walsberg, 1988), illustrate that the TOBEC method can be used to accurately predict lean body mass, and in some cases, NPL in various organisms. Compared to systematic destructive sampling of animals to determine lipid cycles, the TOBEC technique will allow individuals to be studied through time. For bluegill, the error in estimating NPL from TOBEC readings must certainly be less than those that result from the destructive sampling of bluegills with unknown resource and energy allocation histories. Thus, if lipids are an important source of energy for reproduction or overwintering, as they are in many temperate animals, the magnitude of changes in lipid levels that occur annually will certainly be large enough to make the TOBEC technique acceptable for determine lean body mass and NPL of aquatic organisms.
SREL Reprint #2086
Fischer, R.U., J.D. Congdon, and M. Brock. 1996. Total body electrical conductivity (TOBEC): a tool to estimate lean mass and nonpolar lipids of an aquatic organism? Copeia 2:459-462.
This information was provided by the University of Georgia's Savannah River Ecology Laboratory (srel.uga.edu).