{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,26]],"date-time":"2026-09-26T22:01:47Z","timestamp":1790460107074,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":82,"publisher":"Wiley","issue":"16","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,7,12]],"date-time":"2020-07-12T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1594512000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["onlinelibrary.wiley.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Ecology and Evolution"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2020,8]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title><jats:p>Reliable age estimation is an essential tool to assess the status of wildlife populations and inform successful management. Aging methods, however, are often limited by too few data, skewed demographic representation, and by single or uncertain morphometric relationships. In this study, we synthesize age estimates in southern sea otters <jats:italic>Enhydra lutris nereis<\/jats:italic> from 761 individuals across 34\u00a0years of study, using multiple noninvasive techniques and capturing all life stages from 0 to 17\u00a0years of age. From wild, stranded, and captive individuals, we describe tooth eruptions, tooth wear, body length, nose scarring, and pelage coloration across ontogeny and fit sex\u2010based growth functions to the data. Dental eruption schedules provided reliable and identifiable metrics spanning 0.3\u20139\u00a0months. Tooth wear was the most reliable predictor of age of individuals aged 1\u201315\u00a0years, which when combined with total length, explained &gt;93% of observed age. Beyond age estimation, dental attrition also indicated the maximum lifespan of adult teeth is 13\u201217\u00a0years, corresponding with previous estimates of life expectancy. Von Bertalanffy growth function model simulations of length at age gave consistent estimates of asymptotic lengths (male <jats:italic>L<jats:sub>oo<\/jats:sub><\/jats:italic>\u00a0=\u00a0126.0\u2012126.8\u00a0cm, female <jats:italic>L<jats:sub>oo<\/jats:sub><\/jats:italic>\u00a0=\u00a0115.3\u2012115.7\u00a0cm), biologically realistic gestation periods (<jats:italic>t<\/jats:italic><jats:sub>0<\/jats:sub>\u00a0=\u00a0115\u00a0days, <jats:italic>SD<\/jats:italic>\u00a0=\u00a010.2), and somatic growth (male <jats:italic>k<\/jats:italic>\u00a0=\u00a01.8, <jats:italic>SD<\/jats:italic>\u00a0=\u00a00.1; female <jats:italic>k<\/jats:italic>\u00a0=\u00a02.1, <jats:italic>SD<\/jats:italic>\u00a0=\u00a00.1). Though exploratory, we describe how field radiographic imaging of epiphyseal plate development or fusions may improve aging of immature sea otters. Together, our results highlight the value of integrating information from multiple and diverse datasets to help resolve conservation problems.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1002\/ece3.6493","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,7,13]],"date-time":"2020-07-13T06:06:55Z","timestamp":1594620415000},"page":"8592-8609","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1002\/crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":20,"title":["Robust age estimation of southern sea otters from multiple morphometrics"],"prefix":"10.1002","volume":"10","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9895-1458","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Teri E.","family":"Nicholson","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Monterey Bay Aquarium Monterey CA USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Karl A.","family":"Mayer","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Monterey Bay Aquarium Monterey CA USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Michelle M.","family":"Staedler","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Monterey Bay Aquarium Monterey CA USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8584-6368","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Tyler O.","family":"Gagn\u00e9","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Monterey Bay Aquarium Monterey CA USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Michael J.","family":"Murray","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Monterey Bay Aquarium Monterey CA USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Marissa A.","family":"Young","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Monterey Bay Aquarium Monterey CA USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Joseph A.","family":"Tomoleoni","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"U.S. Geological Survey Western Ecological Research Center Santa Cruz CA USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3314-839X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Martin Tim","family":"Tinker","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"U.S. Geological Survey Western Ecological Research Center Santa Cruz CA USA"},{"name":"Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Long Marine Laboratory University of California Santa Cruz CA USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5725-1773","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Kyle S.","family":"Van Houtan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Monterey Bay Aquarium Monterey CA USA"},{"name":"Nicholas School of the Environment Duke University Durham NC USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"311","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,7,12]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_2_10_2_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/molbev\/msz101"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_3_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1469\u20107998.2000.tb00622.x"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_4_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2307\/3802207"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_5_1","volume-title":"Model selection and inference: A practical information theoretic approach","author":"Burnham K. 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