scholarly journals Quantification of 27 yolk steroid hormones in seven shrubland bird species: interspecific patterns of hormone deposition and links to life history, development, and predation risk

2019 ◽  
Vol 97 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Merrill ◽  
S.J. Chiavacci ◽  
R.T. Paitz ◽  
T.J. Benson
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Predation Risk ◽  
Steroid Hormones ◽  
High Performance ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Interspecific Variation ◽  
American Robin ◽  
Nestling Development ◽  
Yolk Steroids

Steroid hormones play critical organizational and activational roles during vertebrate development, impacting everything from sexual differentiation to metabolic activity. For oviparous species such as birds, these hormones are transferred from female to egg during follicle maturation, and differences in relative and absolute concentrations of the steroid hormones may reflect differences in life history, developmental, and ecological conditions. Prior work on yolk steroid hormones has focused on a handful of candidate hormones (e.g., testosterone, androstenedione, and corticosterone), but we used high-performance liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectroscopy (LC–MS–MS) to quantify 27 yolk steroids from the eggs of seven shrubland bird species (American Robin, Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766; Brown-headed Cowbird, Molothrus ater (Boddaert, 1783); Brown Thrasher, Toxostoma rufum (Linnaeus, 1758); Eastern Towhee, Pipilo erythrophthalmus (Linnaeus, 1758); Field Sparrow, Spizella pusilla (A. Wilson, 1810); Gray Catbird, Dumetella carolinensis (Linnaeus, 1766); Northern Cardinal, Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758)). In addition to comparing steroid profiles across species, we conducted exploratory analyses to determine how the hormones clustered using a principal component (PC) approach and if PCs were correlated with aspects of egg resources (relative egg size, proportion yolk), life-history traits (embryonic and nestling development speed), and nest-predation risk (daily survival rate (DSR)). We documented substantial interspecific variation in both absolute and proportional endocrine profiles. PCAs indicated that glucocorticoids generally clustered together (PC1), but other classes of steroids did not. PC2 and PC3 strongly covaried with egg resources, DSR, and development speed, suggesting that they reflect adaptive patterns of maternal hormone deposition.

scholarly journals Breeding Biology of Passerines in a Subtropical Montane Forest in Northwestern Argentina

The Condor ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 109 (2) ◽  
pp. 321-333 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sonya K. Auer ◽  
Ronald D. Bassar ◽  
Joseph J. Fontaine ◽  
Thomas E. Martin
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Predation Risk ◽  
Nest Predation ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Life History Strategies ◽  
Temperate Species ◽  
Egg Mass ◽  
Breeding Ecology ◽  
Feeding Rates ◽  
Northwestern Argentina

Abstract The breeding ecology of south temperate bird species is less widely known than that of north temperate species, yet because they comprise a large portion of the world's avian diversity, knowledge of their breeding ecology can contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of the geographic diversity of avian reproductive traits and life history strategies. We provide the first detailed examination of the reproductive strategies of 18 forest passerines of subtropical, northwestern Argentina. Mean clutch sizes were smaller and egg mass was greater than for north temperate birds, but differed among species and nest types, with cavity-nesters having larger clutches than species with open-cup and enclosed nests. Across all species, the average breeding season duration was 50 days; thus, the common perception that southern species have smaller clutch sizes because of longer breeding seasons is not supported in this community. Daily nest predation rates were influenced by nest type, cavity nests suffering the least from predation, as found in north temperate systems. Only females incubated eggs in all but one species, whereas both parents fed and cared for nestlings in all species. Mean nest attentiveness was low compared to north temperate passerines. Mean hourly nestling feeding rates differed among species and were negatively related to nest predation risk. In short, coexisting species in this subtropical forest varied in their life history strategies, in part correlated with variation in nest predation risk, but also differing from north temperate species.

Winter habitat selection by a montane forest bird assemblage: the effects of solar radiation

2001 ◽  
Vol 79 (2) ◽  
pp. 279-284 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel L Huertas ◽  
José A Díaz
Keyword(s):  
Solar Radiation ◽  
Vegetation Structure ◽  
Prey Availability ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Interspecific Variation ◽  
Montane Forest ◽  
Bird Abundance ◽  
Winter Habitat ◽  
Movement Rates

A relationship between sunlight and bird abundance in cold climates may seem intuitive and perhaps obvious. However, there is, surprisingly, little or no evidence to support it. We investigated the effects of solar radiation on the winter abundance of insectivorous birds inhabiting a Mediterranean montane forest with a high frequency of cold, cloudless days. We censused birds by ear in 20 different forest tracts in which we simultaneously quantified a number of variables related to the availability of solar radiation, vegetation structure, arthropod abundance, and altitude. All variables related to solar radiation were reduced to a single principal component that attained high scores for south-facing transects, where many tree trunks received direct sunlight for a long period daily. The abundance of all bird species was positively related to the scores of transects on this component after the effects of vegetation structure, altitude, and prey availability were controlled for. Solar radiation was the main predictor of overall abundance and species richness of bird assemblages. Body mass and diet (insectivorous vs. mixed) explained 94.6% of interspecific variation in the strength of the relationship between solar radiation and bird abundance. We hypothesize that selecting forest sectors with a higher availability of sunlit patches allows birds to improve their winter survival by reducing the metabolic costs of thermoregulation, decreasing movement rates, and (or) increasing the time spent motionless in safe locations.

Experimentally increased costs of parental care are shunted to offspring in species with extended care

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gretchen F. Wagner ◽  
Emeline Mourocq ◽  
Michael Griesser
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Parental Care ◽  
Total Duration ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Life History Strategy ◽  
Experimental Treatment ◽  
Cost Of Care ◽  
Adult Survival ◽  
Supporting Evidence ◽  
Trade Offs

Biparental care systems are a valuable model to examine conflict, cooperation, and coordination between unrelated individuals, as the product of the interactions between the parents influences the fitness of both individuals. A common experimental technique for testing coordinated responses to changes in the costs of parental care is to temporarily handicap one parent, inducing a higher cost of providing care. However, dissimilarity in experimental designs of these studies has hindered interspecific comparisons of the patterns of cost distribution between parents and offspring. Here we apply a comparative experimental approach by handicapping a parent at nests of five bird species using the same experimental treatment. In some species, a decrease in care by a handicapped parent was compensated by its partner, while in others the increased costs of care were shunted to the offspring. Parental responses to an increased cost of care primarily depended on the total duration of care that offspring require. However, life history pace (i.e., adult survival and fecundity) did not influence parental decisions when faced with a higher cost of caring. Our study highlights that a greater attention to intergenerational trade-offs is warranted, particularly in species with a large burden of parental care. Moreover, we demonstrate that parental care decisions may be weighed more against physiological workload constraints than against future prospects of reproduction, supporting evidence that avian species may devote comparable amounts of energy into survival, regardless of life history strategy.

Elevated nest predation risk promotes offspring size variation in birds with prolonged parental care.

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gretchen F. Wagner ◽  
Emeline Mourocq ◽  
Michael Griesser
Keyword(s):  
Predation Risk ◽  
Reproductive Cycle ◽  
Perceived Risk ◽  
Nest Predation ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Size Variation ◽  
Egg Laying ◽  
Offspring Size ◽  
Natural Predation ◽  
Risk Spreading

Predation of offspring is the main cause of reproductive failure in many species, and the mere fear of offspring predation shapes reproductive strategies. Yet, natural predation risk is ubiquitously variable and can be unpredictable. Consequently, the perceived prospect of predation early in a reproductive cycle may not reflect the actual risk to ensuing offspring. An increased variance in investment across offspring has been linked to breeding in unpredictable environments in several taxa, but has so far been overlooked as a maternal response to temporal variation in predation risk. Here, we experimentally increased the perceived risk of nest predation prior to egg-laying in seven bird species. Species with prolonged parent-offspring associations increased their intra-brood variation in egg, and subsequently offspring, size. High risk to offspring early in a reproductive cycle can favour a risk-spreading strategy particularly in species with the greatest opportunity to even out offspring quality after fledging.

The Utilization of Ftir (Fourier Transform Infra-Red) Method Combined with Chemometrics For Authentication of Indonesian Coffee Powder

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Firmansyah A. ◽  
Winingsih W. ◽  
Soebara Y S
Keyword(s):  
Fourier Transform ◽  
Natural Product ◽  
High Performance ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
Attenuated Total Reflectance ◽  
Coffee Bean ◽  
Product Analysis ◽  
Total Reflectance ◽  
And Cluster Analysis

Analysis of natural product remain challenging issues for analytical chemist, since natural products are complicated system of mixture. The most popular methods of choice used for quality control of raw material and finished product are high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), gas chromatography (GC) and mass spectrometry (MS). The utilization of FTIR-ATR (Fourier Transform Infrared-Attenuated Total Reflectance) method in natural product analysis is still limited. This study attempts to expand the use of FTIR spectroscopy in authenticating Indonesian coffee powder.The coffee samples studied were taken from nine regions in Indonesia, namely Aceh Gayo, Flores, Kintamani, Mandheling, Papua, Sidikalang, Toraja, Kerinci and Lampung.The samples in the form of coffee bean from various regions were powdered . The next step conducted was to determine the spectrum using the FTIR-ATR (Attenuated Total Reflectance) using ZnSe crystal of 8000 resolution. Spectrum samples, then, were analyzed using chemometrics. The utilized chemometric model was the principal component analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis (CA). Based on the chemometric analysis, there are similarities between Aceh Gayo coffee with Toraja coffee, Mandailing coffee, Kintamani coffee and Flores coffee. Sidikalang coffee has a similarity to Flores coffee; Papua coffee has a similarity to Sidikalang coffee; Lampung coffee has a similarity to Sidikalang coffee, while Kerinci coffee has a similarity to Papua coffee.

scholarly journals Adsorption Mechanism of Patulin from Apple Juice by Inactivated Lactic Acid Bacteria Isolated from Kefir Grains

Toxins ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 434
Author(s):  
Pascaline Bahati ◽  
Xuejun Zeng ◽  
Ferdinand Uzizerimana ◽  
Ariunsaikhan Tsoggerel ◽  
Muhammad Awais ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscopy ◽  
High Performance ◽  
Apple Juice ◽  
Adsorption Mechanism ◽  
Health Hazard ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Poor Quality ◽  
Potential Health ◽  
Potential Health Hazard ◽  
Kefir Grains

In the food industry, microbiological safety is a major concern. Mycotoxin patulin represents a potential health hazard, as it is heat-resistant and may develop at any stage during the food chain, especially in apple-based products, leading to severe effects on human health, poor quality products, and profit reductions. The target of the study was to identify and characterize an excellent adsorbent to remove patulin from apple juice efficiently and to assess its adsorption mechanism. To prevent juice fermentation and/or contamination, autoclaving was involved to inactivate bacteria before the adsorption process. The HPLC (high-performance liquid chromatography) outcome proved that all isolated strains from kefir grains could reduce patulin from apple juice. A high removal of 93% was found for juice having a 4.6 pH, 15° Brix, and patulin concentration of 100 μg/L by Lactobacillus kefiranofacien, named JKSP109, which was morphologically the smoothest and biggest of all isolates in terms of cell wall volume and surface area characterized by SEM (Scanning electron microscopy) and TEM (transmission electron microscopy). C=O, OH, C–H, and N–O were the main functional groups engaged in patulin adsorption indicated by FTIR (Fourier transform–infrared). E-nose (electronic nose) was performed to evaluate the aroma quality of the juices. PCA (Principal component analysis) results showed that no significant changes occurred between control and treated juice.

scholarly journals A Novel Validated Injectable Colistimethate Sodium Analysis Combining Advanced Chemometrics and Design of Experiments

Molecules ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (6) ◽  
pp. 1546
Author(s):  
Ioanna Dagla ◽  
Anthony Tsarbopoulos ◽  
Evagelos Gikas
Keyword(s):  
Design Of Experiments ◽  
High Performance ◽  
Similarity Index ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Partial Least Square ◽  
Least Square ◽  
Partial Least Square Regression ◽  
Distance Measures ◽  
Linear Regression Models ◽  
Colistimethate Sodium

Colistimethate sodium (CMS) is widely administrated for the treatment of life-threatening infections caused by multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria. Until now, the quality control of CMS formulations has been based on microbiological assays. Herein, an ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to ultraviolet detector methodology was developed for the quantitation of CMS in injectable formulations. The design of experiments was performed for the optimization of the chromatographic parameters. The chromatographic separation was achieved using a Waters Acquity BEH C8 column employing gradient elution with a mobile phase consisting of (A) 0.001 M aq. ammonium formate and (B) methanol/acetonitrile 79/21 (v/v). CMS compounds were detected at 214 nm. In all, 23 univariate linear-regression models were constructed to measure CMS compounds separately, and one partial least-square regression (PLSr) model constructed to assess the total CMS amount in formulations. The method was validated over the range 100–220 μg mL−1. The developed methodology was employed to analyze several batches of CMS injectable formulations that were also compared against a reference batch employing a Principal Component Analysis, similarity and distance measures, heatmaps and the structural similarity index. The methodology was based on freely available software in order to be readily available for the pharmaceutical industry.

scholarly journals Grill Workers Exposure to Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons: Levels and Excretion Profiles of the Urinary Biomarkers

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 230
Author(s):  
Marta Oliveira ◽  
Sílvia Capelas ◽  
Cristina Delerue-Matos ◽  
Simone Morais
Keyword(s):  
Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons ◽  
Aromatic Hydrocarbons ◽  
High Performance ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Fold Increase ◽  
Urinary Biomarkers ◽  
Analysis Model ◽  
Exposed Workers ◽  
Polycyclic Aromatic ◽  
The Impact

Grilling activities release large amounts of hazardous pollutants, but information on restaurant grill workers’ exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) is almost inexistent. This study assessed the impact of grilling emissions on total workers’ exposure to PAHs by evaluating the concentrations of six urinary biomarkers of exposure (OHPAHs): naphthalene, acenaphthene, fluorene, phenanthrene, pyrene, and benzo(a)pyrene. Individual levels and excretion profiles of urinary OHPAHs were determined during working and nonworking periods. Urinary OHPAHs were quantified by high-performance liquid-chromatography with fluorescence detection. Levels of total OHPAHs (∑OHPAHs) were significantly increased (about nine times; p ≤ 0.001) during working comparatively with nonworking days. Urinary 1-hydroxynaphthalene + 1-hydroxyacenapthene and 2-hydroxyfluorene presented the highest increments (ca. 23- and 6-fold increase, respectively), followed by 1-hydroxyphenanthrene (ca. 2.3 times) and 1-hydroxypyrene (ca. 1.8 times). Additionally, 1-hydroxypyrene levels were higher than the benchmark, 0.5 µmol/mol creatinine, in 5% of exposed workers. Moreover, 3-hydroxybenzo(a)pyrene, biomarker of exposure to carcinogenic PAHs, was detected in 13% of exposed workers. Individual excretion profiles showed a cumulative increase in ∑OHPAHs during consecutive working days. A principal component analysis model partially discriminated workers’ exposure during working and nonworking periods showing the impact of grilling activities. Urinary OHPAHs were increased in grill workers during working days.

scholarly journals The earliest example of sexual dimorphism in bivalves—evidence from the astartid Nicaniella (Lower Jurassic, southern Germany)

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Baran Karapunar ◽  
Winfried Werner ◽  
Franz T. Fürsich ◽  
Alexander Nützel
Keyword(s):  
Principal Component Analysis ◽  
Life History ◽  
Shape Analysis ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Sex Change ◽  
Lower Jurassic ◽  
Allocation Of Resources ◽  
Fourier Shape Analysis ◽  
Lower Height ◽  
Male To Female

Abstract Protandrous sex change (sex change from male to female) is one of the diverse sexual expressions exhibited by bivalves, but its expression in the shell is quite rare. Previous studies on living and fossil astartids suggest a relationship between protandrous sex change and the formation of crenulations on the ventral shell margin at later ontogenetic stages. Here we report the formation of such crenulations in the Early Jurassic astartid Nicaniella rakoveci (Kuhn, 1935) from the Amaltheenton Formation at Buttenheim, Franconia. This is the earliest known record of protandrous hermaphroditism in fossil bivalves, predating previous reports by at least 13 Myr. A principal component analysis of linear size measurements and Fourier shape analysis of the shell outlines revealed that the outline of Nicaniella rakoveci specimens varies from subquadrate to subcircular, but this variation is independent of the presence or absence of crenulations and therefore not associated with sex. Crenulated specimens exhibit a lower height/inflation ratio than non-crenulated ones, suggesting that the protandrous females have more inflated valves than the males. The formation of crenulations was probably related to allocation of resources for reproduction. The most likely function of the crenulations was to increase the internal shell volume in the female stage to accommodate more eggs rather than being an adaptation against predation as often assumed for other bivalves. The formation of crenulations is part of the protandrous life history and probably is controlled by a genetic mechanism that is also responsible for sex change.

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