Towards a standardized use of hematology studies of wild vertebrates

Ethics and conservation status of many species make it imperative to use non-lethal sampling techniques. Blood samples are a versatile source of information in wild vertebrates with great potential in veterinary studies, ecology and eco-toxicology. Benefit from this potential requires knowledge of the law on the use of experimental animals and standardize the process of collecting, analyzing and publishing of hematological results. This, along with some practical recommendations and examples of the use of the use of hematology field studies, is the result of a recently published in the journal Science of the Total Environment review. This work is the result of a collaboration between the researcher Alberto Veiga Maceda linked to Biodiversity Research Institute (IRBio), but now a Marie Curie researcher at the Cardiff School of Biosciences, Professor Ginés Viscor at the department of animal physiology faculty biology (UB) and researchers Jordi Figuerola (Doñana Biological Station, EBD-CSIC), Albert Martinez-Silvestre (Recovery Center Amphibians and Reptiles of Catalonia, CRARC), Nicola Ferrari (University of Milan) and Mário Pacheco (Centro environmental and marine studies, CESAM).
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