scholarly journals Odour-based natal nest recognition in the zebra finch ( Taeniopygia guttata ), a colony-breeding songbird

2010 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 184-186 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara A. Caspers ◽  
E. Tobias Krause
Keyword(s):  
Zebra Finch ◽  
Olfactory Cues ◽  
Special Importance ◽  
Passerine Birds ◽  
Natal Nest ◽  
Nest Recognition ◽  
Safe Place ◽  
Olfactory Receptor Genes ◽  
Nest Odour ◽  
First Time

Passerine birds have an extensive repertoire of olfactory receptor genes. However, the circumstances in which passerine birds use olfactory signals are poorly understood. The aim of this study is to investigate whether olfactory cues play a role in natal nest recognition in fledged juvenile passerines. The natal nest provides fledglings with a safe place for sleeping and parental food provisioning. There is a particular demand in colony-breeding birds for fledglings to be able to identify their nests because many pairs breed close to each other. Olfactory orientation might thus be of special importance for the fledglings, because they do not have a visual representation of the nest site and its position in the colony when leaving the nest for the first time. We investigated the role of olfaction in nest recognition in zebra finches, which breed in dense colonies of up to 50 pairs. We performed odour preference tests, in which we offered zebra finch fledglings their own natal nest odour versus foreign nest odour. Zebra finch fledglings significantly preferred their own natal nest odour, indicating that fledglings of a colony breeding songbird may use olfactory cues for nest recognition.

Smelling home: a good solution for burrow-finding in nocturnal petrels?

2002 ◽  
Vol 205 (16) ◽  
pp. 2519-2523 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesco Bonadonna ◽  
Vincent Bretagnolle
Keyword(s):  
Olfactory System ◽  
Visual Cues ◽  
Zinc Sulphate ◽  
Olfactory Cues ◽  
Nocturnal Activity ◽  
Complete Darkness ◽  
Visual Guidance ◽  
Nest Recognition ◽  
Return Home ◽  
Nesting Habits

SUMMARY Many burrowing petrels are able to return to their nests in complete darkness. The well-developed anatomy of their olfactory system and the attraction that food-related odour cues have for some petrel species suggest that olfaction may be used to recognize the burrow. In contrast,surface-nesting petrels may rely on visual cues to recognise their nest. We performed experiments on nine species of petrel (with different nesting habits) rendered anosmic either by plugging the nostrils or by injecting zinc sulphate onto the nasal epithelium. Compared with shamtreated control birds,we found that anosmia impaired nest recognition only in species that nest in burrows and that return home in darkness. Therefore, petrels showing nocturnal activity on land may rely on their sense of smell to find their burrows, while petrels showing diurnal activity or surface nesters may disregard olfactory cues in favour of visual guidance.

scholarly journals New records of feather mites (Acariformes: Astigmata) from non-passerine birds (Aves) in Brazil

Check List ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 2000 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luiz Gustavo de Almeida Pedroso ◽  
Fabio Akashi Hernandes
Keyword(s):  
Geographical Distribution ◽  
New Records ◽  
Mite Species ◽  
Species Level ◽  
Passerine Birds ◽  
New Genera ◽  
Undescribed Species ◽  
Feather Mites ◽  
Feather Mite ◽  
First Time

We present the results of our investigation of feather mites (Astigmata) associated with non-passerine birds in Brazil. The studied birds were obtained from roadkills, airport accidents, and from capitivity. Most ectoparasites were collected from bird specimens by washing. A total of 51 non-passerine species from 20 families and 15 orders were examined. Of them, 24 species were assessed for feather mites for the first time. In addition, 10 host associations are recorded for the first time in Brazil. A total of 101 feather mite species were recorded, with 26 of them identified to the species level and 75 likely representing undescribed species; among the latter samples, five probably represent new genera. These records allowed the first inference about the host and mite association of many species, as well as the first discussion about the geographical distribution of some feather mite taxa along the host distribution.

Can larval snapper, Pagrus auratus, smell their new home?

2012 ◽  
Vol 63 (10) ◽  
pp. 898 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. A. Radford ◽  
C. J. Sim-Smith ◽  
A. G. Jeffs
Keyword(s):  
Chemical Cues ◽  
Fish Larvae ◽  
Good Evidence ◽  
Artificial Seawater ◽  
Olfactory Cues ◽  
Seagrass Habitat ◽  
Pagrus Auratus ◽  
Temperate Fish ◽  
First Time ◽  
Mussel Habitat

The ability to find a suitable settlement habitat after a pelagic larval period represents a significant challenge to marine settlement-stage larvae, and the mechanisms by which they achieve this are poorly understood. There is good evidence that olfactory cues are used by some coral reef fish larvae to locate suitable settlement habitats; however, the same understanding is lacking for marine temperate fish. Here we show for the first time that the larvae of an important commercial and recreational marine temperate fish, Pagrus auratus, can use olfactory cues to orient to appropriate settlement habitat. Using pairwise choice experiments, naive hatchery reared fish were offered water collected from a range of habitats in the Kaipara Harbour, an important nursery area for P. auratus. Larvae selected to swim towards water taken from over seagrass beds, their preferred settlement habitat, than water taken from the harbour entrance, Asian date mussel habitat, artificial seawater or artificial seawater in which seagrass had been soaked. The preference by the fish for water from the seagrass habitat over artificial seawater in which seagrass had been soaked strongly suggests that chemical cues from sources other than seagrass, such as from prey or conspecifics present in the seagrass habitat, may also be involved.

scholarly journals Are Olfactory Cues Involved in Nest Recognition in Two Social Species of Estrildid Finches?

PLoS ONE ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 7 (5) ◽  
pp. e36615 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Tobias Krause ◽  
Barbara A. Caspers
Keyword(s):  
Olfactory Cues ◽  
Nest Recognition ◽  
Social Species

Aristotle's Use of Medicine as Model of Method in his Ethics

1957 ◽  
Vol 77 (1) ◽  
pp. 54-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Werner Jaeger
Keyword(s):  
Historical Consciousness ◽  
Special Importance ◽  
Political Art ◽  
Greek Philosophy ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Right ◽  
First Time ◽  
Source Of Information

Philosophy, in general, moves in a sphere of abstraction, and its statements claim to be necessary and of universal validity. The reader therefore expects them to appeal directly to his reason, and he does not normally reflect much on the time and historical conditions that determined what the philosopher took for granted. It is only in this age of historical consciousness that we have come to appreciate these factors more readily, and the great thinkers of the past appear to us more or less closely related to the culture of their age. The writings of Plato and Aristotle in particular are for us an inexhaustible source of information about Greek society and civilisation. This is true also in regard to the relation of Greek philosophy to the science of its time, and this is of special importance for our understanding. That relation can be traced throughout Aristotle's logical, physical, and metaphysical works; but the influence of other sciences and arts is no less evident in his ethics. In this paper I propose to examine the numerous references to medicine that occur in the Nicomachean Ethics. They are mostly concerned with the question of the best method of treating this subject. The problem of the right method is always of the utmost importance for Aristotle. The discussion of it begins on the first page of the Ethics, where he tries to give a definition of the subject of this course of lectures and attributes it to a philosophical discipline that he calls ‘politics’. He does so in agreement with the Platonic tradition. We can trace it back to one of the dialogues of Plato's first period, the Gorgias, in which the Platonic Socrates for the first time pronounces his postulate of a new kind of philosophy, the object of which ought to be the care of the human soul (φυχῆς θεραπεία). He assigns this supreme task to ‘political art’, even though it does not fulfil this function at present.

scholarly journals Rickettsial infection in ticks infesting wild birds from two eco-regions of Argentina

2016 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 378-382 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fernando Sebastián Flores ◽  
Francisco Borges Costa ◽  
Santiago Nava ◽  
Luiz Adrián Diaz ◽  
Marcelo Bahia Labruna
Keyword(s):  
Passerine Birds ◽  
Human Pathogens ◽  
Rickettsial Infection ◽  
Rickettsia Parkeri ◽  
Rickettsia Species ◽  
Potential Vector ◽  
Zonotrichia Capensis ◽  
Polymerase Chain ◽  
First Time ◽  
Amblyomma Tigrinum

Abstract Several tick-borne Rickettsia species are recognized human pathogens in Argentina. Here we evaluated rickettsial infection in ticks collected on passerine birds during 2011-2012 in two eco-regions of Argentina. The ticks were processed by molecular analysis through polymerase chain reaction (PCR) detection and DNA sequencing of fragments of two rickettsial genes, gltA and ompA. A total of 594 tick specimens (532 larvae and 62 nymphs), representing at least 4 species (Amblyomma tigrinum, Ixodes pararicinus, Haemaphysalis juxtakochi, Haemaphysalis leporispalustris), were evaluated. At least one A. tigrinum larva, collected on Coryphospingus cucullatus in Chaco Seco, was infected with Rickettsia parkeri, whereas at least 12 larvae and 1 nymph of I. pararicinus, collected from Troglodytes aedon, Turdus amaurochalinus, Turdus rufiventris, C. cucullatus and Zonotrichia capensis, were infected with an undescribed Rickettsia agent, genetically related to several rickettsial endosymbionts of ticks of the Ixodes ricinus complex. R. parkeri is a recognized human pathogen in several American countries including Argentina, where a recent study incriminated A. tigrinum as the potential vector of R. parkeri to humans. Birds could play an important role in dispersing R. parkeri-infected A. tigrinum ticks. Additionally, we report for the first time a rickettsial agent infecting I. pararicinus ticks.

scholarly journals Juvenile socio-ecological environment shapes material technology in nest-building birds

2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 892-901 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexis J Breen ◽  
Keren E Lovie ◽  
Chloé Guerard ◽  
Sophie C Edwards ◽  
Jasmine Cooper ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Early Life ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
Ecological Environment ◽  
Nest Construction ◽  
Zebra Finches ◽  
Material Technology ◽  
Natal Nest ◽  
Animal Material ◽  
First Time ◽  
Unrelated Adult

Abstract Variation in animal material technology, such as tool use and nest construction, is thought to be caused, in part, by differences in the early-life socio-ecological environment—that is, who and what is around—but this developmental hypothesis remains unconfirmed. We used a tightly controlled developmental paradigm to determine whether adult and/or raw-material access in early life shape first-time nest construction in laboratory-bred zebra finches Taeniopygia guttata at sexual maturity. We found that juvenile access to both an unrelated adult and raw material of one color led to a majority preference (75%) by novice builders for this color of material over that for either natal-nest or novel-colored material, whereas a lack of juvenile access to both an unrelated adult and raw material led to a 4- and nearly 3-fold reduction in the speed at which novice builders initiated and completed nest construction, respectively. Contrary to expectation, neither the amount of time juveniles nor their adult groupmate spent handling the raw material appear to drive these early-life effects on zebra finches’ first-time nest construction, suggesting that adult presence might be sufficient to drive the development of animal material technology. Together these data show that the juvenile socio-ecological environment can trigger variation in at least two critical aspects of animal material technology (material preference and construction speed), revealing a potentially powerful developmental window for technological advancement. Thus, to understand selection on animal material technology, the early-life environment must be considered.

scholarly journals The Ecology of the Zebra Finch Makes It a Great Laboratory Model but an Outlier amongst Passerine Birds

Birds ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 60-76
Author(s):  
Simon C. Griffith ◽  
Riccardo Ton ◽  
Laura L. Hurley ◽  
Callum S. McDiarmid ◽  
Hector Pacheco-Fuentes
Keyword(s):  
Zebra Finch ◽  
Agricultural Production ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Laboratory Model ◽  
Passerine Birds ◽  
Model Species ◽  
Research Areas ◽  
In Captivity ◽  
Avian Biology ◽  
Future Work

Zebra Finches have become the most widely researched bird species outside of those used in agricultural production. Their adoption as the avian model of choice is largely down to a number of characteristics that make them easy to obtain and use in captivity. The main point of our paper is that the very characteristics that make the Zebra Finch a highly amenable laboratory model species mean that it is by definition different from many other passerine birds, and therefore not a good general model for many research areas. The Zebra Finch is likely to be particularly resilient to the effects of stress early in life, and is likely to show great flexibility in dealing with a wide variety of conditions later in life. Whilst it is tempting for researchers to turn to species such as the Zebra Finch, that can be the focus of manipulative work in the laboratory, we caution that the findings of such studies may confound our understanding of general avian biology. The Zebra Finch will remain an excellent species for laboratory work, and our paper should help to direct and interpret future work in the laboratory and the field.

scholarly journals Analysis Of Constructions And Building Materials Of Architectural Monuments Of Khiva

2020 ◽  
Vol 02 (12) ◽  
pp. 160-169
Author(s):  
Durdieva G. ◽  
◽  
Zargarov A. ◽  
Salaev E. ◽  
Saburov K. ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Building Materials ◽  
Special Importance ◽  
History Of Construction ◽  
Depth Analysis ◽  
History Of ◽  
First Time

In this article, the methods of construction of minarets of Khiva, architectural composition, building materials, history of construction, devices of aboveground and underground parts, which are of special importance in the ancient Khorezm architecture, are described in scientific sequence and in-depth analysis for the first time. Much of this information is being inserted into scientific circulation for the first time.

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