scholarly journals Winter feeding of birds increases productivity in the subsequent breeding season

2008 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 220-223 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gillian N Robb ◽  
Robbie A McDonald ◽  
Dan E Chamberlain ◽  
S. James Reynolds ◽  
Timothy J.E Harrison ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Breeding Season ◽  
Reproductive Performance ◽  
Food Supplementation ◽  
Additional Food ◽  
Bird Population ◽  
The Public ◽  
Bird Populations ◽  
Extra Food ◽  
Scale Experiment ◽  
First Time

Supplementary food given to birds can have contemporary effects by reducing the risk of starvation, increasing survival and altering movements and reproductive performance. There is, however, a widely held perception that birds benefit from extra food over winter, but that it is better that they ‘look after themselves’ during breeding. Here we describe a landscape-scale experiment showing for the first time that the effects of increasing food availability only during the winter can be carried over to the subsequent breeding season. Even though food supplementation stopped six weeks prior to breeding, birds living on sites provisioned over winter had advanced laying dates and increased fledging success compared with birds living on unprovisioned sites. Thus, supplemental feeding of wild birds during winter, in a manner mimicking householders provisioning in gardens and backyards, has the potential to alter bird population dynamics by altering future reproductive performance. With levels of bird feeding by the public continuing to increase, the impacts of this additional food supply on wild bird populations may be considerable.

Variation in the fertility of ewes during the joining period and its modification by prior contact with rams

1975 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 577 ◽  
Author(s):  
TW Knight ◽  
CM Oldham ◽  
DR Lindsay ◽  
JF Smith
Keyword(s):  
Breeding Season ◽  
Western Australia ◽  
Reproductive Performance ◽  
Low Fertility ◽  
The Third ◽  
Lower Fertility ◽  
The Difference ◽  
High Level ◽  
First Time ◽  
Embryonic Death

The reproductive performance of ewes mated for the first time in the first, second and third 2 weeks of joining was determined in 19,666 Merino ewes from 46 commercial flocks in the south of Western Australia. The percentage of ewes failing to lamb was higher for ewes mated in the first 2 weeks of joining than in ewes mated for the first time in the second 2 weeks (8.4%, P < 0.001). This difference was not associated with the age of the ewes, but it was related to the stage of the breeding season (19.2%, P < 0.001, in October–November; 4.1%, P < 0-01, in February–March). The difference resulted from the lower fertility of the ewes mated in the first period and was not associated with either an adverse ram/oestrous-ewe ratio or low fertility of the rams early in the joining period. The data on returns to service suggested that the low fertility of the ewes in the first 2 weeks of joining was associated with a low level of fertilization and/or a high level of early embryonic death. Placing vasectomized rams with the ewes for 2–4 weeks before joining reduced this difference in fertility between ewes mated in the first and the second 2 weeks of joining. The fertility of maiden ewes improved from the first to the third 2 weeks of joining. Older ewes were more fertile when mated in the second 2-week segment than in the first, but those mating for the first time in the third 2 weeks were least fertile of all.

Drivers of population change in common farmland birds in Germany

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 335-354 ◽  
Author(s):  
MALTE BUSCH ◽  
JAKOB KATZENBERGER ◽  
SVEN TRAUTMANN ◽  
BETTINA GERLACH ◽  
RAINER DRÖSCHMEISTER ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Breeding Season ◽  
Population Change ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Weather Conditions ◽  
Population Trends ◽  
Mixed Effect ◽  
Bird Population ◽  
Bird Populations ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Farmland Bird

SummaryFarmland bird populations in Germany are declining at a higher speed than species inhabiting other habitats. We studied potential causes for bird population changes based on data from standardised German breeding bird monitoring schemes. We related population trends to covariates describing the changes in the agricultural landscape in Germany, weather conditions during the breeding season and for some migratory species, conditions at stopover and wintering sites. Linear mixed effect models were used to analyse effect strength at species level and conclusions are drawn for the overall group of farmland bird species. The area of grassland and fallow land was shown to have the strongest positive effects and the area of maize and rapeseed the strongest negative effects on farmland bird population trends. The results obtained also indicate that despite the consistent influence of weather conditions during the breeding season, land-use changes had a stronger impact on bird populations than weather. Conditions at Sahel wintering sites did not show a consistent effect on population trends. Based on these findings the study quantitatively underpins and ranks key factors shaping farmland bird populations in Germany.

DNA fragmentation and morphometric studies in sperm of stallions supplemented with maca (Lepidium meyenii)

Zygote ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
Emanuele D’Anza ◽  
Sara Albarella ◽  
Giacomo Galdiero ◽  
Simona Tafuri ◽  
Chiara Del Prete ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Dna Fragmentation ◽  
Breeding Season ◽  
Sperm Count ◽  
Sperm Concentration ◽  
Food Supplementation ◽  
Sperm Dna Fragmentation ◽  
Economic Management ◽  
Lepidium Meyenii ◽  
The Andes ◽  
Length Width

Summary The reproductive performances of livestock play an essential role in the economic management of the farm. The improvement of semen quantity and quality through the use of food supplements that lack substances which are forbidden in animal feeding, or that may have detrimental effects, is an important goal. Maca (Lepidium meyenii) is a plant that has been used for centuries in the Andes for nutrition and fertility enhancement in humans and animals. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of food supplementation of stallions with maca during the breeding season on spermatozoa parameters such as DNA fragmentation and shape, which are two predictive indexes of spermatozoa functionality. For this purpose, ejaculate volume, semen gel-free volume, sperm concentration and motility, total sperm count, sperm DNA fragmentation and sperm head parameters (length, width, perimeter, area, shape factor, roughness) were measured in four stallions. Maca food supplementation in stallions during breeding reduced the percentage of spermatozoa with fragmented DNA, increased significantly sperm concentration and exerted an elongation of the spermatozoa head, a condition that is believed to improve spermatozoa functionality, suggesting that food supplementation of maca could be useful in horse breeding during the breeding season.

scholarly journals Effects of management system on beef heifer growth and reproductive performance

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Parker A Henley ◽  
Frank A Ireland ◽  
Igor F Canisso ◽  
J Lannett Edwards ◽  
Daniel W Shike
Keyword(s):  
Development Strategy ◽  
Breeding Season ◽  
Reproductive Performance ◽  
Body Condition Score ◽  
Pregnancy Rates ◽  
Fescue Toxicosis ◽  
Soybean Hulls ◽  
Randomized Design ◽  
Condition Score ◽  
Calf Performance

Abstract This study evaluated the effect of heifer development system on body weight (BW), body condition score (BCS), fescue toxicosis symptoms, reproductive performance, and subsequent calf growth of fall-calving beef heifers. Angus × Simmental heifers [n = 399; 240 ± 20.0 kg initial BW; age = 252 ± 20 d] were stratified by BW and BCS and assigned to 1 of 12 groups in each of the 2 production years. The study utilized a stratified randomized design. Pens were randomly assigned to 4 treatments: drylot (DL) development (fed ad-libitum diet consisting of 90% hay and 10% DDGS on a dry matter basis), grazing endophyte-infected fescue supplemented daily (2.3 kg as-fed/heifer/d; 50:50 mix of soybean hulls and DDGS; E+/S), grazing endophyte-infected fescue and supplemented from the midpoint of treatment period until breeding (4.5 kg as-fed/heifer/d; 50:50 mix of soybean hulls and DDGS; E+/LS), and grazing novel endophyte-infected fescue with no supplement (NE+/NS). Treatments ceased on d 168 [time of artificial insemination (AI)] and heifers were commingled and managed as a group through second breeding season. Heifers in DL had greatest (P ≤ 0.05) BW and BCS from d 28 until d 254. Furthermore, E+/S heifers had greater (P ≤ 0.05) BW and BCS than both E+/LS and NE+/NS from d 28 until d 168. On d 56 and 84, E+/LS heifers had lower (P ≤ 0.05) BW and BCS compared to NE+/NS, but on d 148 treatments reranked and E+/LS remained at a greater (P ≤ 0.05) BW and BCS compared to NE+/NS through the first breeding season. Drylot heifers had greatest (P ≤ 0.05) percentage cycling and percentage of mature BW at AI (66.6%) and had greater (P ≤ 0.05) AI and overall pregnancy rates compared to E+/LS and NE+/NS. The E+/S (55%) and E+/LS (53.7%) heifers were developed to a greater (P &lt; 0.01) percentage of mature BW than NE+/NS (49.3%). A greater (P ≤ 0.02) percentage of DL and E+/S heifers were pregnant at the end of the first breeding season (89.3 and 85.1%; respectively) compared to NE+/NS (61.5%). In summary, DL heifers had the greatest BW and BCS at AI, percentage cycling, and AI pregnancy rate. However, this strategy did not result in differing overall pregnancy rates between DL, E+/S, and E+/LS and there were no differences in milk production, rebreeding reproductive performance, and calf performance between all treatments. Finally, the poorest AI and overall pregnancy rates of the NE+/NS heifers suggests this is not a viable development strategy for fall-born heifers.

scholarly journals Increased summer food supply decreases non-breeding movement in black-legged kittiwakes

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 20190725 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shannon Whelan ◽  
Scott A. Hatch ◽  
David B. Irons ◽  
Alyson McKnight ◽  
Kyle H. Elliott
Keyword(s):  
Breeding Season ◽  
Food Supply ◽  
Light Level ◽  
Food Supplementation ◽  
Reproductive Phenology ◽  
Rissa Tridactyla ◽  
Breeding Behaviour ◽  
Unlimited Supply ◽  
Migration Phenology ◽  
Carry Over

Individual condition at one stage of the annual cycle is expected to influence behaviour during subsequent stages, yet experimental evidence of food-mediated carry-over effects is scarce. We used a food supplementation experiment to test the effects of food supply during the breeding season on migration phenology and non-breeding behaviour. We provided an unlimited supply of fish to black-legged kittiwakes ( Rissa tridactyla ) during their breeding season on Middleton Island, Alaska, monitored reproductive phenology and breeding success, and used light-level geolocation to observe non-breeding behaviour. Among successful breeders, fed kittiwakes departed the colony earlier than unfed controls. Fed kittiwakes travelled less than controls during the breeding season, contracting their non-breeding range. Our results demonstrate that food supply during the breeding season affects non-breeding phenology, movement and distribution, providing a potential behavioural mechanism underlying observed survival costs of reproduction.

“Satisfied with the Ruins of Berlin”: The German Capital’s Image in Soviet Graphics of 1945

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (6) ◽  
pp. 564-575
Author(s):  
Irina I. Rutsinskaya
Keyword(s):  
Visual Art ◽  
Visual Image ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
The Public ◽  
Historical Justice ◽  
Public Consciousness ◽  
Post War ◽  
The One ◽  
First Time ◽  
The City

An artist who finds themselves in the last days of a war in the enemy’s defeated capital may not just fix its objects dispassionately. Many factors influence the selection and depicturing manner of the objects. One of the factors is satisfaction from the accomplished retribution, awareness of the historical justice triumph. Researchers think such reactions are inevitable. The article offers to consider from this point of view the drawings created by Soviet artists in Berlin in the spring and summer of 1945. Such an analysis of the German capital’s visual image is conducted for the first time. It shows that the above reactions were not the only ones. The graphics of the first post-war days no less clearly and consistently express other feelings and intentions of their authors: the desire to accurately document and fix the image of the city and some of its structures in history, the happiness from the silence of peace, and the simple interest in the monuments of European art.The article examines Berlin scenes as evidences of the transition from front-line graphics focused on the visual recording of the war traces to peacetime graphics; from documentary — to artistry; from the worldview of a person at war — to the one of a person who lived to victory. In this approach, it has been important to consider the graphic images of Berlin in unity with the diary and memoir texts belonging to both artists and ordinary soldiers who participated in the storming of Berlin. The combination of verbal and visual sources helps to present the German capital’s image that existed in the public consciousness, as well as the specificity of its representation by means of visual art.

Opening the Public Accessibility to the Wreckage of the RMS Titanic: Some Ethical Reflections

2021 ◽  
pp. 245592962110534
Author(s):  
Alberto Frigerio
Keyword(s):  
Public Access ◽  
The Public ◽  
Ethical Approaches ◽  
Ethical Reflections ◽  
First Time

In 2021, Ocean Gate Expeditions allowed people to visit the remains of the RMS Titanic. While this is not the first time that the site has been accessed for touristic aims, this case has, once again, opened the debate about the ethics of such experiences. The key dilemma is if permitting the public access to a natural graveyard, such as the wreck of the Titanic, should be considered as an acceptable practice or an immoral act that must be banned. Notwithstanding the sensitive arguments raised against the organization of similar initiatives, the visit to the RMS Titanic seems to be a valuable and legitimate practice according to diverse ethical approaches.

The 1912 Duma Elections: The State, the Opposition and the Clergy

Orthodoxia ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 111-124
Author(s):  
F. A. Gayda
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
Election Campaign ◽  
Difficult Situation ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Press ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Russian Empire ◽  
First Time ◽  
The Church

This article deals with the political situation around the elections to the State Duma of the Russian Empire in 1912 (4th convocation). The main actors of the campaign were the government, local administration, liberal opposition and the clergy of the Orthodox Russian Church. After the 1905 revolution, the “official Church” found itself in a difficult situation. In particular, anti-Church criticism intensified sharply and was expressed now quite openly, both in the press and from the rostrum of the Duma. A consequence of these circumstances was that in this Duma campaign, for the first time in the history of Russian parliamentarianism, “administrative resources” were widely used. At the same time, the authorities failed to achieve their political objectives. The Russian clergy became actively involved in the election campaign. The government sought to use the conflict between the liberal majority in the third Duma and the clerical hierarchy. Duma members launched an active criticism of the Orthodox clergy, using Grigory Rasputin as an excuse. Even staunch conservatives spoke negatively about Rasputin. According to the results of the election campaign, the opposition was even more active in using the label “Rasputinians” against the Holy Synod and the Russian episcopate. Forty-seven persons of clerical rank were elected to the House — three fewer than in the previous Duma. As a result, the assembly of the clergy elected to the Duma decided not to form its own group, but to spread out among the factions. An active campaign in Parliament and the press not only created a certain public mood, but also provoked a political split and polarization within the clergy. The clergy themselves were generally inclined to blame the state authorities for the public isolation of the Church. The Duma election of 1912 seriously affected the attitude of the opposition and the public toward the bishopric after the February revolution of 1917.

Police Powers and Public Meetings

1937 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 175-181
Author(s):  
E. C. S. Wade
Keyword(s):  
Search And Seizure ◽  
Public Order ◽  
The Public ◽  
Police Powers ◽  
The Past ◽  
Public Meetings ◽  
Police Action ◽  
The Right ◽  
First Time

Apart from the passage through Parliament at the end of last year of the Public Order Act, the Courts have in the past few years interpreted police powers on several occasions in the direction of restricting liberty. No excuse is therefore required for examining once again in this Journal a topic, one aspect of which was discussed in the last number. The case of Elias v. Pasmore [1934] 2 K. B. 164 raised important questions as to the right of the police to search premises in the course of making an arrest on a warrant. That case recognized for the first time the validity on such an occasion of a search, which resulted in the discovery of documents (not being documents in the possession of the person named in the warrant) containing evidence of an offence committed by any person, even though the search and seizure were illegal as regards other documents discovered on that occasion. This protection for police action only extends to the actual documents which are evidence of the commission of a crime; but it matters not that the crime is one alleged to have been committed by some one other than the person in the course of arresting whom the search is being made.

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