Search results for "Columbidae"

Telomere erosion varies with sex and age at immune challenge but not with maternal antibodies in pigeons

2018

International audience; Conditions experienced early in life have profound impact on adult fitness, and telomere erosion could be a key mechanism in this process. In particular, early exposure to parasites is a frequent phenomenon in young vertebrates, which is associated with several short- and long-term costs such as telomere erosion. However, the timing of exposure to parasites during ontogeny and maternal antibodies can strongly modulate the costs of immunity, and could differentially affect telomere erosion. Here, we compared the effects of an early or late immune challenge on telomere erosion rate in male and female young feral pigeons (Columba livia) having received or not maternal a…

Survival cost of an early immune soliciting in nature.

2009

8 pages; International audience; If immune functions confer obvious benefits to hosts, life-history theory assumes that they also induce costs, leading to trade-offs between immunity and other fitness components. However, whether substantial fitness costs are associated with immune systems in the wild is debatable, as numerous factors may influence the costs and benefits associated with immune activation. Here, we explore the survival cost of immune deployment in postfledging birds. We injected Eurasian collared dove nestlings (Streptopelia decaocto) with antigens from Escherichia coli, and examined whether this immune challenge affected survival after fledging. To assess survival, birds we…

Is maternal thyroid hormone deposition subject to a trade-off between self and egg because of iodine?

2021

ABSTRACT Maternal hormones constitute a key signalling pathway for mothers to shape offspring phenotype and fitness. Thyroid hormones (THs; triiodothyronine, T3; and thyroxine, T4) are metabolic hormones known to play crucial roles in embryonic development and survival in all vertebrates. During early developmental stages, embryos exclusively rely on exposure to maternal THs, and maternal hypothyroidism can cause severe embryonic maldevelopment. The TH molecule includes iodine, an element that cannot be synthesised by the organism. Therefore, TH production may become costly when environmental iodine availability is low. This may yield a trade-off for breeding females between allocating the …

Colonisation and diversification of the Zenaida dove (Zenaida aurita) in the Antilles: phylogeography, contemporary gene flow and morphological diver…

2013

12 pages; International audience; Caribbean avifaunal biogeography has been mainly studied based on mitochondrial DNA. Here, we investigated both past and recent island differentiation and micro-evolutionary changes in the Zenaida Dove (Zenaida aurita) based on combined information from one mitochondrial (Cytochrome c Oxydase subunit I, COI) and 13 microsatellite markers and four morphological characters. This Caribbean endemic and abundant species has a large distribution, and two subspecies are supposed to occur: Z. a. zenaida in the Greater Antilles (GA) and Z. a. aurita in the Lesser Antilles (LA). Doves were sampled on two GA islands (Puerto Rico and the British Virgin Islands) and six…

Heterozygosity-fitness correlations in adult and juvenile Zenaida Dove, Zenaida aurita.

2013

10 pages; International audience; Understanding how fitness is related to genetic variation is of crucial importance in both evolutionary ecology and conservation biology. We report a study of heterozygosity-fitness correlations in a wild, noninbred population of Zenaida Doves, Zenaida aurita, based on a sample comprising 489 individuals (382 adults and 107 juveniles) typed at 13 microsatellite loci, resulting in a data set comprising 5793 genotypes. In both adults and juveniles, and irrespective of sex, no evidence was found for an effect of either multilocus or single-locus heterozygosity on traits potentially related to fitness such as foraging tactic, competitive ability, and fluctuatin…

Neurons in the pigeon caudolateral nidopallium differentiate Pavlovian conditioned stimuli but not their associated reward value in a sign-tracking p…

2016

AbstractAnimals exploit visual information to identify objects, form stimulus-reward associations, and prepare appropriate behavioral responses. The nidopallium caudolaterale (NCL), an associative region of the avian endbrain, contains neurons exhibiting prominent response modulation during presentation of reward-predicting visual stimuli, but it is unclear whether neural activity represents valuation signals, stimulus properties, or sensorimotor contingencies. To test the hypothesis that NCL neurons represent stimulus value, we subjected pigeons to a Pavlovian sign-tracking paradigm in which visual cues predicted rewards differing in magnitude (large vs. small) and delay to presentation (s…

Effects of an earth-strength magnetic field on pineal melatonin synthesis in pigeons

1987

EMG activity of pigeon oesophagus in vivo.

1982

At rest, the pigeon cervical oesophagus, which is entirely smooth muscle, shows electric activity. This activity consists of bursts of spikes with frequency increasing in the oral-aboral direction. The bursts are un-phase locked, and there are no slow waves (E.C.A.). The surgical transection of the oesophageal muscular wall does not affect the electric activity even in a disconnected segment. After asphyxia electric activity persists, whereas the aboral gradient of frequency disappears. Therefore, the electric activity is thought to be myogenic in origin, and the frequency gradient nervous in origin. Atropine and neostigmine administration suggests that the cholinergic system modulates the …

Involvement of purinergic nerves in the NANC inhibitory junction potentials in pigeon oesophageal smooth muscle.

2004

1. Electrical field stimulation (EFS) (0.5 ms in train of 2-32 Hz for 300 ms) in smooth muscle of pigeon oesophagus, in the presence of atropine (1 microm) and guanethidine (1 microm), elicited an inhibitory response consisting of a transient hyperpolarization (inhibitory junction potential, IJP) associated with muscle relaxation. 2. Sodium nitroprusside (SNP, 100 microm) induced hyperpolarization correlated to mechanical relaxation. 3. The nitric oxide (NO) synthase inhibitor N(omega)-nitro-l-arginine (from 0.1 to 100 microm) caused a concentration-dependent reduction of electromechanical response to EFS indicating a role for NO in this response. 4. Apamin (1 microm) reduced both IJP and r…

Non-adrenergic non-cholinergic nerve-mediated inhibitory control of pigeon oesophageal muscle.

1996

Pigeon oesophageal smooth muscle in vitro has spontaneous electromechanical activity. In the presence of atropine and guanethidine, electrical field stimulation evokes a transient TTX-sensitive response comprising inhibition of electric bursting activity and muscular relaxation. This NANC inhibitory response was analysed using the K+ channel blockers TEA and apamin, TEA perfusion (0.1-5 mM) induced a concentration-dependent reduction in amplitude of EFS-evoked relaxation. Responses to higher stimulation frequencies were more sensitive to TEA than those to lower ones. The maximum reduction in amplitude (29% of control) was obtained on 30 Hz EFS evoked responses during 5 mM TEA perfusion. In …