Fig. 1From: Rapid identification of species, sex and maturity by mass spectrometric analysis of animal faecesOverview of REIMS workflow. Faecal pellets from four small rodents (BV: bank vole, Myodes glareolus; FV: field vole, Microtus agrestis; HM: house mouse, Mus musculus domesticus; WM: wood mouse, Apodemus sylvaticus) are visually indistinguishable (a) (Rattus norvegicus not included as adult pellets are easily distinguishable by size, being much larger than the others). The faecal pellets are hydrated and burned using a monopolar diathermy electrode (b). Each burn event results in a burst of ion current at the mass spectrometer (c) resulting in a complex mass spectrum (d). Mass spectra of three discrete faecal pellets from one individual (wood mouse), which yielded very similar patterns of ions (e)z`Back to article page