Search results for "Birds"
showing 10 items of 291 documents
Maternal antibody transmission and breeding densities in the Black-headed Gull Larus ridibundus
2004
1. The offspring of avian species, especially those of colonial breeders, are exposed to a number of pathogens immediately after birth. The chick's immune system is, at that early stage still immature and inefficient. As a consequence, diseases can have a strong impact on chick survival.2. The ability of mothers to transmit passive immunity in terms of antibodies of their own acquired immunity to their chicks is probably an essential pathway to enhance the chick survival. Since the production of antibodies is costly, females are expected to adjust the transmission of passive immunity to the local disease environment.3. We found that in Black-headed Gulls (Larus ridibundus L.) yolk antibody …
Tracing the origin of vagrant Siberian songbirds with stable isotopes: The case of Yellow-browed Warbler (Abrornis inornatus) in Fennoscandia
2019
Vagrant birds are mesmerizing birdwatchers worldwide, but the nature of vagrancy and the true origin of the vagrants are poorly known. To Western Europe, the massive Siberian land mass delivers most of the vagrant songbirds, e.g. Yellow-browed Warbler (YBW) (Abrornis inornatus, formerly Phylloscopus inornatus). In this study we used stable hydrogen isotope ratios in tail feathers ( 2 Hf ) from two ringing stations in northern Fennoscandia in an attempt to link vagrant YBW to potential regions of origin. We could do this thanks to a collection of samples from nestling and breeding adult YBW in Central Siberia. Compared with the nestling samples, the Fennoscandian 2 Hf data indicated origins …
The role of maternal effects in host-parasite interactions: examination of the development of the immune defense in a colonial seabird, the black-leg…
2004
One of the main aims of evolutionary biology is to understand the mechanisms responsible for the phenotypic variation on which natural selection can act. Maternal effects occur when a mother's phenotype or her environment influence her offspring's phenotype. Despite the importance of such effects for the ecology of host-parasite interactions, their role has been relatively neglected to date. In this thesis, we examined how mothers influence the immune defense of their young in an environment that varies in space and time. This work has primarily focused on a colonial seabird, the black-legged kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla). Using this model, we have first shown that specific maternal antibodi…
The first inventory of birds of prey in sicilian museum collections (Italy)
2020
Natural History Museums are places of scientific dissemination and informal education, and have a fundamental role in scientific research and in preserving the historical heritage of a territory and its biodiversity. The island of Sicily, thanks to its geographic position as an inter-continental bridge in the Mediterranean, presents a notable ornithological diversity, with both sedentary species and species that migrate between Africa and Europe. For this reason, and thanks to a strong hunting tradition, Sicilian collections also depict the avifaunal assemblage historically present in the region, particularly for birds of prey, the group we focus on because of its particular ecological char…
Species distributions models may predict accurately future distributions but poorly how distributions change: A critical perspective on model validat…
2023
Aim: Species distribution models (SDMs) are widely used to make predictions on how species distributions may change as a response to climatic change. To assess the reliability of those predictions, they need to be critically validated with respect to what they are used for. While ecologists are typically interested in how and where distributions will change, we argue that SDMs have seldom been evaluated in terms of their capacity to predict such change. Instead, typical retrospective validation methods estimate model's ability to predict to only one static time in future. Here, we apply two validation methods, one that predicts and evaluates a static pattern, while the other measures change…
Behavioural thresholds of blue tit colour vision and the effect of background chromatic complexity
2020
Vision is a vital attribute to foraging, navigation, mate selection and social signalling in animals, which often have a very different colour perception in comparison to humans. For understanding how animal colour perception works, vision models provide the smallest colour difference that animals of a given species are assumed to detect. To determine the just-noticeable-difference, or JND, vision models use Weber fractions that set discrimination thresholds of a stimulus compared to its background. However, although vision models are widely used, they rely on assumptions of Weber fractions since the exact fractions are unknown for most species. Here, we test; i) which Weber fractions in lo…
Data from: Large birds travel farther in homogeneous environments
2019
Aim: Animal movement is an important determinant of individual survival, population dynamics, and ecosystem structure and function. Yet it is still unclear how local movements are related to resource availability and the spatial arrangement of resources. Using resident bird species and migratory bird species outside of the migratory period, we examined how the distribution of resources affect the movement patterns of both large terrestrial birds (e.g., raptors, bustards, hornbills) and waterbirds (e.g., cranes, storks, ducks, geese, flamingos). Location: Global Time Period: 2003 - 2015 Major taxa studied: Birds Methods: We compiled GPS tracking data for 386 individuals across 36 bird specie…
Non-wild-type cryptococcosis in a child with multivisceral organ transplant who owned bird pets.
2020
Cryptococcosis is the third most common invasive fungal infection in solid-organ transplant recipients, although it is rarely reported in transplanted children. It typically appears as a late-onset infection with central nervous system or pulmonary involvement. We present a case of cryptococcosis caused by a non-wild strain in a 10-year-old child who owned two pet birds, and review the existent literature.
Data and code for manuscript: Increasing human environmental footprint does not lead to biotic homogenization of forest bird communities in northern …
2023
R-code and data for replicating statistical analyses used in the study: Increasing human environmental footprint does not lead to biotic homogenization of forest bird communities in northern USA. This study examined how forest loss and increased human domination in the state of Minnesota in the USA were associated with diversity of forest birds using bird count data.
Śląskie uniwersalia onimiczne na przykładzie nazw geograficznych pochodzących od nazw ptaków
2022
Przedmiotem artykułu są nazwy geograficzne Śląska pochodzące od nazw ptaków. Analizie zostały poddane polskie i niemieckie nazwy odapelatywne obiektów zamieszkanych i niezamieszkanych, a także oronimy i hydronimy. Nazwy gatunków ptaków ukazane są jako uniwersalne podstawy nazw geograficznych w obu językach. W części analitycznej opisane są poszczególne nazwy, ich lokalizacja, pierwsze zapisy, a także znaczenia realne i symboliczne ich apelatywnych podstaw nazwotwórczych. Analiza wyraźnie pokazuje, że tendencje nazewnicze w obu językach są podobne. Zdecydowana większość to nazwy topograficzne, charakteryzujące teren ze względu na występowanie na nim pewnych gatunków fauny (na przykład najczę…