Plumage Bacterial Assemblages in a Breeding Wild Passerine: Relationships with Ecological Factors and Body Condition

Microorganisms have been shown to play an important role in shaping the life histories of animals, and it has recently been suggested that feather-degrading bacteria influence the trade-off between parental effort and self-preening behavior in birds. We studied a wild breeding population of great tits (Parus major) to explore habitat-, seasonal-, and sex-related variation in feather-degrading and free-living bacteria inhabiting the birds' yellow ventral feathers and to investigate associations with body condition. The density and species richness of bacterial assemblages was studied using flow cytometry and ribosomal intergenic spacer analysis. The density of studied bacteria declined between the nest-building period and the first brood. The number of bacterial phylotypes per bird was higher in coniferous habitat, while bacterial densities were higher in deciduous habitat. Free-living bacterial density was positively correlated with female mass; conversely, there was a negative correlation between attached bacterial density and female mass during the period of peak reproductive effort. Bacterial species richness was sex dependent, with more diverse bacterial assemblages present on males than females. Thus, this study revealed that bacterial assemblages on the feathers of breeding birds are affected both by life history and ecological factors and are related to body condition.     

黄喉鹀的羽色与雄鸟质量相关性分析

在国内首次利用光纤光谱仪对鸟类的羽色进行量化和分析.对黄喉鹀Emberiza elegans雌、雄鸟羽色的差异以及雄鸟羽色与雄鸟质量的相关性分析结果表明,黄喉鹀雌、雄鸟在人眼看来相同的黄色羽和白色羽部分,在紫外光色度上却存在显著差异,雄鸟紫外光色度高于雌鸟;雄鸟的质量与脸部黑色羽的亮度、可见光色度和色调呈显著正相关,雌...     

Lifetime Number of Mates Interacts with Female Age to Determine Reproductive Success in Female Guppies

In many species, mating with multiple males confers benefits to females, but these benefits may be offset by the direct and indirect costs associated with elevated mating frequency. Although mating frequency (number of mating events) is often positively associated with the degree of multiple mating (actual number of males mated), most studies have experimentally separated these effects when exploring their implications for female fitness. In this paper I describe an alternative approach using the guppy Poecilia reticulata, a livebearing freshwater fish in which females benefit directly and indirectly from mating with multiple males via consensual matings but incur direct and indirect costs of mating as a consequence of male sexual harassment. In the present study, females were experimentally assigned different numbers of mates throughout their lives in order to explore how elevated mating frequency and multiple mating combine to influence lifetime reproductive success (LRS) and survival (i.e. direct components of female fitness). Under this mating design, survival and LRS were not significantly affected by mating treatment, but there was a significant interaction between brood size and reproductive cycle (a correlate of female age) because females assigned to the high mating treatment produced significantly fewer offspring later in life compared to their low-mating counterparts. This negative effect of mating treatment later in life may be important in these relatively long-lived fishes, and this effect may be further exacerbated by the known cross-generational fitness costs of sexual harassment in guppies.     

Communal Relationships in a Social Spider Mite, Stigmaeopsis longus (Acari: Tetranychidae): An Equal Share of Labor and Reproduction between Nest Mates

The social spider mite, Stigmaeopsis longus (Saito), builds web‐nests and shares resources with fellow nest members. It does not show any distinct morphological castes. In this study, we observed whether there is any division of labor in reproductive and non‐reproductive tasks. Under experimental conditions, female density per nest did not affect per capita fecundity, even though the nest area allocated to an individual female, in which it feeds and oviposits, decreased with increased female density. Video observations on the behavior of either one or two females showed that there were no differences between these situations in the time budgets of all behaviors, nor in the nest‐weaving behavior of females. Furthermore, detailed behavioral analyses between the two situations suggested that S. longus females share reproduction and labor evenly with their nest mates, probably mediated through physical or chemical communication. Therefore, we concluded that the sociality of this mite species should be categorized as communal.     

Relationships between Binding Quality of Meat and Myofibrillar Proteins

The viscosity change of myosin A concentrated solution with or without other components was measured as the incubation time elapsed at 30°C.

The viscosity of myosin A solution increased, but that of F-actin solution did not. The shear stress at 0.04 sec^?1 was not increased to 1.0 dyne/cm² in the former, but in the latter was below 0.5 dyne/cm².

The viscosity of myosin B solution increased slightly, but that of native tropomyosin-free myosin B solution decreased remarkably. In both the shear stress at 0.04 sec^?1 was greater than or equal to 15 dynes/cm².

The speed of the viscosity increase in the presence of 3 mm pyrophosphate and 3 mm MgCl₂ was higher in concentrated solution of myosin B than in that of native tropomysin-free myosin B. The shear stress at 0.04 sec^?1 after 6 hr at 30°C was 11.5 and 8.2 dynes/cm², respectively.

The effect of native tropomyosin and actin on the viscosity change was discussed.     

The Value of Animal Behavior in Evaluations of Restoration Success

Animals are key members of ecosystems, contributing to processes like pollination, seed dispersal, and herbivory. Incorporating measures of animal behavior into evaluations of restoration success will provide critical information that is not available from animal species composition and richness estimates derived from the documentation of species presence and absence. Behavioral studies will (1) allow comparisons of the habitat quality of target and reference sites based on behaviors that have fitness consequences for organisms; (2) provide valuable information about reasons for differences in habitat quality; (3) identify critical resources that make a site suitable or not for particular species; and/or (4) provide information on the mechanisms through which species contribute to ecosystem functions. When resources for the evaluation of restoration success are available, practitioners should carefully consider the costs and benefits of the different variables they could quantify. In some cases, it may be more important to compare the behavior of one or a few critical animal species that contribute to ecosystem function rather than try to document the presence or absence of all species.     

Relationships between Blood Parasites, Mating Success and Phenotypic Cues in Male Sage Grouse Centrocercus urophasianus

In lek breeding Sage Grouse Centrocercus urophasianus in easternCalifornia, male mating success is strongly correlated withindividual differences in lek attendance, and in the rate andacoustic quality of courtship display, suggesting that theseprovide cues by which females choose mates. Increased lek attendanceand high display rates are also associated with elevated metabolicexpenditure. This paper examines the hypothesis that the abilityto commit energy to display is related to the incidence of bloodparasites. A single hematozoan genus, Haemoproteus, was foundin 37.5% of 184 Sage Grouse sampled over a five year period.Parasitism varied across years and increased through the breedingseason. However, no measure of display performance or matingsuccess was significantly correlated with decreased parasiteload among adult males. Several additional lines of evidence,including numerically low infection intensities, the absenceof detectable effects of parasites on hematocrit and erythrocyteproduction, and the seasonal distribution of parasite incidenceallsuggested that infections were unlikely to impact male courtshipdisplay. Alternative factors maintaining individual variationin male display performance in this population are also evaluated.     

Costs and Benefits of Subadult Plumage in Mute Swans: Testing Hypotheses for the Evolution of Delayed Plumage Maturation

In some avian species, young birds capable of reproducing diminish their prospects of doing so by molting into a subadult plumage that accurately signals their subadult status. Several hypotheses have been proposed to explain the evolution of delayed plumage maturation, but testing them usually has involved interspecific comparisons that are hard to interpret. Mute swans (Cygnus olor) exhibit two phenotypes that differ in whether the birds have a gray subadult plumage (SAP phenotype) or molt immediately into an all white adult plumage (AP phenotype). The AP phenotype results from a recessive allele on the X chromosome; both phenotypes occur in the same population and even in the same brood. We compared costs and benefits of both phenotypes in mute swans on the Chesapeake Bay in 1972-1980 and on Long Island Sound in 1982-1989. Swans with the SAP phenotype had higher survival rates from hatching to fledging than AP swans. In the fall, when AP cygnets began to molt into their white plumage, their parents often attacked and drove them off while allowing SAP cygnets from the same brood to remain on their territories for several more months. SAP males had higher survival rates during their first 2 yr of life than AP males, but AP swans bred at a younger age than SAP swans. The only proposed hypothesis for the evolution of delayed plumage maturation that can explain its occurrence in mute swans is the status-signaling hypothesis. This hypothesis argues that males with subadult plumage honestly advertise their age and subordinate status while AP swans are cheaters and engaging in dishonest communication. SAP males acquire a longer period of parental care, suffer less aggression from older birds, and increase their survival but forgo the opportunity to breed at an early age. This is a unique example of how a single gene resulted in either honest or dishonest communication, changed a bird's relationship with its parents and potential mates, and altered the bird's chances to survive and to reproduce.     

荒漠伯劳巢址选择和繁殖成功

2011年5～7月对甘肃安西极旱荒漠国家级自然保护区(N40°21'～40°22',E96°13'～96°14',海拔1 306 m)荒漠伯劳(Lanius isabellinus)巢址选择和繁殖成功进行研究。调查了58巢的巢址因子,巢主要位于营巢树主枝上,巢距地面高度多为2.0～2.5 m。主成分分析结果表明,巢距地面高度、营巢树高度、营巢树胸径和营巢处树干直径是影响荒漠伯劳巢址选择的主要因素,这也是荒漠伯劳适应繁殖地大风天气的结果。既调查巢址数据又明确繁殖情况的49个巢中,红柳(Tamarix ramosissima)(5棵)上巢的繁殖成功率明显高于沙枣(Elaeagnus angusifolia)(43棵)和胡杨(Populus euphratica)(1棵)上的巢,原因可能是红柳郁闭度大。已知窝卵数和繁殖情况的30个巢中,窝卵数分别为2(1巢)、4(7巢)、5(18巢)、6(4巢)。卡方检验结果表明,窝卵数和繁殖成功率之间差异不显著(χ2=3.921,df=3,P0.05)。发现的63个巢中跟踪监测了54个巢(包括调查巢址数据的和未调查巢址数据的)的繁殖情况,54巢中37巢繁殖成功,成功率为68.52%。所有繁殖失败的巢均为产卵阶段或育雏早期阶段由于同类的破坏而导致繁殖失败,繁殖失败巢的数量随着相邻最近巢的距离的增加而减少,因而,繁殖失败可能与种群密度以及种内竞争有关。     

鸟类羽毛色素的合成机理与调控机制

鸟类作为色彩最丰富的陆生脊椎动物,其体表覆盖着颜色多样的羽毛,在伪装、择偶、信号识别等多方面具有重要功能,因此羽毛颜色引起了研究者的极大兴趣。羽毛颜色总体分为由化学物质产生的色素色和由物理结构产生的结构色,其中常见色素有两大类。根据近年来对羽毛色素的研究进展,本文总结了黑色素和类胡萝卜素的类型、合成途径、获取途径以及相关基因,为深入研究羽毛色素合成、代谢的分子调控机制提供科学依据。     

Territory Quality and Plumage Morph Predict Offspring Sex Ratio Variation in a Raptor

Parents may adapt their offspring sex ratio in response to their own phenotype and environmental conditions. The most significant causes for adaptive sex-ratio variation might express themselves as different distributions of fitness components between sexes along a given variable. Several causes for differential sex allocation in raptors with reversed sexual size dimorphism have been suggested. We search for correlates of fledgling sex in an extensive dataset on common buzzards Buteo buteo, a long-lived bird of prey. Larger female offspring could be more resource-demanding and starvation-prone and thus the costly sex. Prominent factors such as brood size and laying date did not predict nestling sex. Nonetheless, lifetime sex ratio (LSR, potentially indicative of individual sex allocation constraints) and overall nestling sex were explained by territory quality with more females being produced in better territories. Additionally, parental plumage morphs and the interaction of morph and prey abundance tended to explain LSR and nestling sex, indicating local adaptation of sex allocation However, in a limited census of nestling mortality, not females but males tended to die more frequently in prey-rich years. Also, although females could have potentially longer reproductive careers, a subset of our data encompassing full individual life histories showed that longevity and lifetime reproductive success were similarly distributed between the sexes. Thus, a basis for adaptive sex allocation in this population remains elusive. Overall, in common buzzards most major determinants of reproductive success appeared to have no effect on sex ratio but sex allocation may be adapted to local conditions in morph-specific patterns.     

Bateman's Principle in Cooperatively Breeding Vertebrates: The Effects of Non-breeding Alloparents on Variability in Female and Male Reproductive Success

The sex-specific slopes of Bateman's gradients have importantimplications for understanding animal mating systems, includingpatterns of sexual selection and reproductive competition. Intersexualdifferences in the fitness benefits derived from mating withmultiple partners are expected to yield distinct patterns ofreproductive success for males and females, with variance indirect fitness predicted to be greater among males. These analysesassume that typically all adults are reproductive and that failureto produce offspring is non-adaptive. Among some species ofcooperatively breeding birds and mammals, however, non-breedingadult alloparents are common and may comprise the majority ofindividuals in social groups. The presence of a large numberof non-breeding adults, particularly when coupled with greatersocial suppression of reproduction among females, may alterthe relative variance in direct fitness between the sexes, therebygenerating an apparent contradiction to Bateman's Paradigm.To explore quantitatively the effects of non-breeding alloparentson variance in reproductive success, we used genetic estimatesof parentage and reproductive success drawn from the literatureto calculate the relative variability in direct fitness forfemales and males in alloparental and "other" societies of birdsand mammals. Our analyses indicate that in mammals and, to alesser extent, in birds, variability in direct fitness is greateramong females in species characterized by the presence of non-breedingalloparents. These data suggest that social interactions, includingsocial suppression of reproduction, are powerful determinantsof individual direct fitness that may modify sex-specific patternsof reproductive variance from those described by Bateman.     

白尾梢虹雉国内首次人工饲养繁殖成功

探讨了白尾梢虹雉人工引种的环境,管理,育雏,雏鸟羽毛生长等过程。     

簇毛麦的利用价值和染色体操作

簇毛麦是小麦的一个野生近缘种,蛋白质和赖氨酸含量高,抗逆性和抗病性强,特别是对小麦白粉病的绝大多数生理小种表现免疫或高抗,是小麦品种改良中的一种潜在的抗性基因源。本文详细介绍了簇毛麦研究的历史和现状、簇毛麦染色体形态学、生化标记、分子细胞遗传学、分子标记等识别技术,以及簇毛麦与小麦组其它染色体组的关系。     

Winter Plumage Coloration in Male American Goldfinches: Do Reduced Ornaments Serve Signaling Functions in the Non‐Breeding Season?

The signaling role of sexual ornaments that are displayed during the mating season is well known for many species, but dimorphisms that occur in the non‐breeding season have received much less attention, particularly when individuals only partially express their breeding condition during reproductively inactive periods. I assessed variation in the expression of colorful breeding and non‐breeding plumages in male American goldfinches (Carduelis tristis), a species in which males molt out of their colorful breeding ornaments in the fall but still display reduced carotenoid‐ and melanin‐based sexual dichromatism during the winter. I found that variability in the saturation of carotenoid‐based plumage pigmentation did not differ significantly between the breeding and non‐breeding seasons. Moreover, the area of melanin coloration in the cap was more variable in winter than when it is fully displayed during breeding. I also detected a significant positive correlation between the extent of melanin coloration during the winter and the saturation of non‐breeding carotenoid‐based plumage. Because of such variation in and correlated expression of these two color ornaments in winter, it is conceivable that male goldfinches display these hints of non‐breeding coloration for use as conspecific social or sexual signals. Natural selection pressures like predation and energetic demands are traditionally thought of as factors that restrict sex ornaments to breeding times alone, but this should not preclude animals from simply reducing their exaggerated features during winter and finding an expression optimum that balances signal costs and value. Such ‘remnant’ winter ornaments might be expected to evolve not only in animals that live in large non‐breeding groups (e.g. status‐signaling systems) but also in those where mates begin associating before breeding onset.     

簇毛麦的利用价值和染色体操作

簇毛麦是小麦的一个野生近缘种,蛋白质和赖氨酸含量高,抗逆性和抗病性强,特别是对小麦白粉病的绝大多数生理小种表现免疫或高抗,是小麦品种改良中的一种潜在的抗性基因源。本文详细介绍了簇毛麦研究的历史和现状、簇毛麦染色体形态学、生化标记、分子细胞遗传学、分子标记等识别技术,以及簇毛麦与小麦组其它染色体组的关系     

Relationships between iron and vanadium metabolism: The exchange of vanadium between transferrin and ferritin

The study of possible relationships between iron and vanadium metabolism (E. Sabbioni and E. Marafante, Proc. XIth Int. Conf. Biochem., 13-5-R122, Toronto, Canada) was extended to the vanadium in the biochemical mechanisms which involve the exchange of iron between transferrin and ferritin. The transfer of vanadium between transferrin and ferritin was investigated using ⁴⁸V radiotracer and gel filtration technique. ⁴⁸V labelled human transferrin and horse spleen ferritin, ⁴⁸V plasma from rats injected with ⁴⁸VO²⁺, unlabelled rat liver cytosol, and plasma were used as sources of the two proteins for their incubation under different conditions. The results show that the equilibrium:

occurs in vitro at physiological pH under the conditions of this experiment. No transfer of vanadium between the two proteins, however, occurs when they are incubated simply in a buffer at pH = 7.4. The maximum transfer was observed when transferrin and ferritin were mixed in their natural environments such as plasma and liver cytosol. This suggests that the exchange of the vanadium between the two proteins is affected by biochemical factors which are present in the body. A brief evaluation of the significance on the very low amounts of the element exchanged between the two proteins is also presented     

鹌鹑羽色遗传的研究及应用

鹌鹑的羽色主要有野生型、白色型、深色型、褐色型、黑白镶嵌型、褐白镶嵌型、黄色型、红色型和紫色型等,目前已发现大约有26个基因座与鹌鹑的羽色有关。这些基因座多数位于常染色体上,有5 个基因座位于Z染色体上,有4 个基因座存在有复等位基因系列。多数基因座的等位基因呈显隐性关系,少数表现为等显性或不完全显性。有5个基因座的显性羽色突变基因如黄羽、银色羽、白羽、孵化黑羽和亮绒羽在纯合状态下具有致死或半致死效应。羽色标记在鹌鹑育种和生产以及科学研究中已发挥了重要作用,作者就今后加强鹌鹑羽色标记研究提出了一些建议。 Abstract:The main plumage traits including wild-type,white,dark black,brown,dark-white inlays,brown-white inlays,yellow,red and purple have been reported,which are related to 26 loci.The majority of the loci are at the autosome and five loci at the Z chromosome.Four loci have multiple allelic series.The dominance or recessive relation are shown between allele of the most loci and few of them show allelic equivalence or incompletely dominance.There are five dominant plumage color mutations,such as yellow,silver,white,black at hatch and light down are lethal or semi-lethal in the homozygous state.These plumage color marker have played an important part in the breeding and production of quails and research fields.Some proposals are put forward in terms of strengthening the study of plumage color marks of quails.