Intraskeletal bone growth patterns in the North Island Brown Kiwi ( Apteryx mantelli ): Growth mark discrepancy and implications for extinct taxa

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian T. Heck ◽  
Holly N. Woodward
2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 77-86
Author(s):  
Rashid O. Anam ◽  
Cosmas N. Munga ◽  
James R. Gonda

The biology of the sparid, Acanthopagrus berda (goldsilk sea bream) was investigated using catch samples obtained from artisanal fishers at selected fish landing sites in the Marereni and Ngomeni fishing areas on the north coast of Kenya. This species has not previously been studied in Kenya although it forms significant proportions of artisanal fish landings and is also a promising aquaculture species. In order to contribute to knowledge of this species, the length-weight relationship, condition factor and feeding preference for prey items were studied in a total of 751 specimens sampled from July 2013 to July 2014. Length-weight relationships for male and female individuals from both fishing areas were strongly correlated (Males: Marereni - R2 = 0.920, Ngomeni - R2 = 0.983; Females: Marereni - R2 = 0.966, Ngomeni - R2 = 0.941). The condition factor of mixed sexes was not significantly different between the two fishing areas (Marereni 2.15 ± 0.08; Ngomeni 2.05 ± 0.02) at p > 0.05. Gut content analysis recorded a total of 5 taxa in the diet (gastropods, molluscs, detritus, crustaceans and fish). The overall sample was dominated by female individuals with an overall sex ratio of females (405 individuals) to males (338 individuals) of 1:0.8 being significantly different at p < 0.05. The species exhibited isometric and positive allometric growth patterns, indicative of the physiological well-being of this species on the north coast of Kenya. Gonadal maturation occurred throughout the year with peaks in July, August and September. However, more work is needed on the biology, distribution, spawning grounds, behavior, and migration patterns along the Kenyan coast. 


The Condor ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 102 (2) ◽  
pp. 461-465 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kimberly J. Fernie ◽  
David M. Bird

AbstractWe studied nestling American Kestrels (Falco sparverius) in a laboratory setting to determine whether exposure to electromagnetic fields (EMFs) affected their growth. Captive nestlings were raised by their parents under control or EMF conditions similar to those occurring near transmission lines in the wild. Nestlings also were exposed to EMFs as embryos when incubated by their parents. Measurements of body mass, and lengths of tarsi, antebrachia, and feathers were taken every three days after hatching. EMF exposure affected the growth of female and male nestlings. EMF nestlings and fledglings were heavier and had longer tarsi. The periods of maximal weight gain and antebrachial growth were delayed in EMF males compared to controls, although EMF males were heavier and had similarly long antebrachia to controls by 21 days of age. Growth of ninth primaries and central rectrices of nestlings were unaffected by EMF exposure. Growth patterns of male and female kestrel nestlings were similar to those previously reported for this species, although the periods of maximal weight gain and bone growth did not occur earlier in EMF males than females as it did in controls.


1999 ◽  
Vol 77 (2) ◽  
pp. 181-193 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adrian Hailey ◽  
Ian M Coulson

Growth rings were measured in dead African leopard tortoises, Geochelone pardalis, collected in the seasonal tropics of Zimbabwe over an 11-year period. A series of Ford-Walford plots using growth measured from annuli showed that growth fitted a logistic by mass curve best, logistic by length and Gompertz curves less well, and a Bertalanffy curve least well. The Bertalanffy curve, often fitted to growth of chelonians, is characterised by particularly high growth rates of juveniles compared with larger individuals. It is suggested that this growth pattern is likely to be found in species showing a marked decrease in diet quality with size. This hypothesis is supported by a review of growth patterns in chelonians: Bertalanffy curves are associated with an omnivorous (and thus potentially variable) diet and other growth patterns with an obligate carnivorous or herbivorous diet. Geochelone pardalis in Zimbabwe showed significant sexual size dimorphism, the mean asymptotic mass of females being 1.7 times that of males, unlike populations with larger body sizes to the north and south. Annual survival estimated from age-frequency distributions was significantly higher in males (0.80) than in females (0.72), the difference being sufficient to account for the male-biased sex ratio of live animals.


2001 ◽  
Vol 77 (1) ◽  
pp. 141-150 ◽  
Author(s):  
Willard H. Carmean ◽  
G. Hazenberg ◽  
G. P. Niznowski

Stem-analysis data from dominant and codominant trees were collected from 383 plots located in fully stocked, even-aged, undisturbed mature jack pine stands. Separate site index curves were independently formulated for four regions of northern Ontario using the Newnham constrained nonlinear regression model; these formulations were used for comparing regional site index curves at three levels of site index (10 m, 15 m and 20 m).Comparisons showed that no significant differences existed between the four regional curves as well as with previously published site index curves for the North Central Region. Each of the four regions had similar polymorphic height-growth patterns; therefore, data for the four regions were combined and a single formulation was used to develop a polymorphic set of site index curves for all of northern Ontario. We found that poor sites in each region had almost linear height growth up to 100 years breast-height age, but for each region height growth became more curvilinear with increasing site index. The recommended site index curves for northern Ontario are based on a formulation using only data from plots 100 years and less but this formulation was not significantly different from a formulation using only data from plots 80 years and less, or a formulation that included all data from plots older than 100 years breast-height age.Comparisons were made between our northern Ontario curves and other jack pine site index curves for Ontario as well as curves for other areas of Canada and the United States. These comparisons generally showed considerable older age differences. Reasons for these differences are uncertain but could be due to differences in the amount and kind of data used for these other curves, could be due to differences in analytical methods, or could be due to regional differences in climate, soil and topography. Key words: site quality evaluation, polymorphic height growth, regional site index curves, site index prediction equations, comparisons among site index curves.


2013 ◽  
Vol 86 (2) ◽  
pp. 185-199 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Hahnke ◽  
Martin Sperling ◽  
Thomas Langer ◽  
Antje Wichels ◽  
Gunnar Gerdts ◽  
...  

1985 ◽  
Vol 65 (2) ◽  
pp. 319-332 ◽  
Author(s):  
KARIMA A. SHAHIN ◽  
R. T. BERG

Eighteen Double Muscled (DM), 18 Beef Synthetic (SY) and 18 Hereford (HE) bulls, serially slaughtered from approximately 250 to 800 kg liveweight, were used to determine the influence of 'double muscling' and maturity type on bone growth patterns and distribution. Relative to total side bone (TSB), breed types tended to have similar growth coefficients for all bones or bone groups except the vertebral column where HE tended to have a higher growth coefficient than either SY or DM. As TSB increased the proportion of bone in scapula, costae, vertebrae lumbales and os coxae increased (b > 1; P < 0.05), the proportion of bone in humerus, radius et ulna, tibia, carpus and atlas decreased (b < 1; P < 0.05) and the proportion of bones in vertebrae cervicales with atlas, vertebrae thoracicae, sternum and femur remained relatively constant (b = 1; P > 0.05). The appendicular skeleton followed an increasing disto-proximal growth gradient, whereas the vertebrae followed an increasing cranio-caudal gradient. Compared with the more normal breed types, adjusted to the same TSB, DM had proportionately less bone weight in the proximal hindlimb and total long bones, but they had proportionately more bone weight in costae and sternum. The hypodevelopment of bones in the muscular hypertrophied animals followed a disto-proximal gradient which was most pronounced in the proximal pelvic limb. Key words: Cattle, bone growth, bone distribution, double muscling


2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 133-157 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Havlik

Abstract This paper analyses the extent and impact of structural changes on aggregate economic growth that occurred in European economies during the past two decades, focusing on the new EU Member States of Central and Eastern Europe. After presenting some stylised facts related to employment and output restructuring, we use a conventional shift and share analysis in order to evaluate the impact of broader sectoral shifts on GDP growth, focusing on the period 1995–2011. A decomposition of aggregate GDP/GVA growth using the shift and share analysis shows a distinct North-South pattern of growth and restructuring while the previous NMS-OMS divisions are becoming less relevant. In the North, manufacturing and trade have fuelled growth whereas in the South there has been much less structural change. Apart from these differences, our results partly differ from earlier findings of similar analyses for the NMS. Finally, we analyse differentiated impacts of the recent (2008–2011) crisis on structural changes in Europe and find interesting similarities between (groups of) NMS and OMS in terms of both growth patterns and responses to the crisis.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ezgi Mercan ◽  
Richard A. Hopper ◽  
A. Murat Maga

AbstractBackgroundSagittal craniosynostosis (SCS), the most common type of premature perinatal cranial suture fusion, results in abnormal head shape that requires extensive surgery to correct. It is important to find objective and repeatable measures of severity and surgical outcome to examine the effect of timing and technique on different SCS surgeries. The purpose of this study was to develop statistical models of infant (0-6 months old) skull growth in both normative and SCS subjects (prior to surgery). Our goal was to apply these models to the assessment of differences between these two groups in overall post-natal growth patterns and sutural growth rates as a first step to develop methods for predictive models of surgical outcome.Methods and Findings:We identified 81 patients with isolated, non-syndromic SCS from Seattle Children’s Craniofacial Center patient database who had a pre-operative CT exam before the age of six months. As a control group, we identified 117 CT exams without any craniofacial abnormalities or bone fractures in the same age group. We first created population-level templates from the CT images of the SCS and normal groups. All CT images from both groups, as well as the canonical templates of both cohorts were annotated with anatomical landmarks, which were used in a growth model that predicted the locations of these landmarks at a given age based on each population. Using the template images and the landmark positions predicted by the growth models, we created 3D meshes for each week of age up to six months for both populations. To analyze the growth patterns at the suture sites, we annotated both templates with additional semi-landmarks equally spaced along the metopic, coronal, sagittal and lambdoidal cranial sutures. By transferring these semi-landmarks to meshes produced from the growth model, we measured the displacement of the bone borders and suture closure rates. We found that the growth at the metopic and coronal sutures were more rapid in the SCS cohort compared to the normal cohort. The antero-posterior displacement of the semi-landmarks indicated a more rapid growth in the sagittal plane in the SCS model compared to the normal model as well.Conclusions:Statistical templates and geometric morphometrics are promising tools for understanding the growth patterns in normal and synostotic populations and to produce objective and reproducible measurements of severity and outcome. Our study is the first of its kind to quantify the bone growth for the first six months of life in both normal and sagittal synostosis patients.


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