Winter Distribution,Movements, and Annual Survival of Radiomarked Vancouver Canada Geese in Southeast Alaska

ABSTRACT Management of Pacific Flyway Canada geese (Branta canadensis) requires information on winter distribution of different populations. Recoveries of tarsus bands from Vancouver Canada geese (B. canadensis fulva) marked in southeast Alaska, USA, ≥4 decades ago suggested that ≥83% of the population was non-migratory and that annual adult survival was high (Ŝ = 0.836). However, recovery distribution of tarsus bands was potentially biased due to geographic differences in harvest intensity in the Pacific Flyway. Also, winter distribution of Vancouver Canada geese could have shifted since the 1960s, as has occurred for some other populations of Canada geese. Because winter distribution and annual survival of this population had not recently been evaluated, we surgically implanted very high frequency radiotransmitters in 166 adult female Canada geese in southeast Alaska. We captured Vancouver Canada geese during molt at 2 sites where adults with goslings were present (breeding areas) and 2 sites where we observed nonbreeding birds only. During winter radiotracking flights in southeast Alaska, we detected 98% of 85 females marked at breeding areas and 83% of 70 females marked at nonbreeding sites, excluding 11 females that died prior to the onset of winter radiotracking. We detected no radiomarked females in coastal British Columbia, or western Washington and Oregon, USA. Most (70%) females moved ≤30 km between November and March. Our model-averaged estimate of annual survival (Ŝ = 0.844, SE = 0.050) was similar to the estimate of annual survival of geese marked from 1956 to 1960. Likely <2% of Vancouver Canada geese that nest in southeast Alaska migrate to winter areas in Oregon or Washington where they could intermix with Canada geese from other populations in the Pacific Flyway. Because annual survival of adult Vancouver Canada geese was high and showed evidence of long-term consistency, managers should examine how reproductive success and recruitment may affect the population.     

Mapping of citrullinated fibrinogen B-cell epitopes in rheumatoid arthritis by imaging surface plasmon resonance

Introduction  

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) frequently involves the loss of tolerance to citrullinated antigens, which may play a role in pathogenicity. Citrullinated fibrinogen is commonly found in inflamed synovial tissue and is a frequent target of autoantibodies in RA patients. To obtain insight into the B-cell response to citrullinated fibrinogen in RA, its autoepitopes were systematically mapped using a new methodology.     

New Silurian cooksonias from dolostones of north-eastern North America

New specimens of Cooksonia and Hostinella are described from the Bertie Group of Ontario and New York State, which is dated by faunas as latest Silurian (Přídolí). The rare plant fossils are unusual in that they are preserved in fine-grained, slightly argillaceous dolostones ('waterlime') rather than clastic rocks. At least two species of Cooksonia are present, one with ± globular sporangial morphology close to C. hemisphaerica Lang. Those with ellipsoidal/discoidal sporangia are compared with C. pertoni Lang, C .  paranensis Gerrienne et al . and C. bohemica Schweitzer, the latter represented by a single specimen from the Přídolí of the Czech Republic. However, the paucity of specimens, which prevents assessment of taphonomic influences on shape, combined with the absence of any anatomical features and the gross morphological simplicity of the fossils, precludes specific assignment. Specimens of Hostinella include one in which apices and a lateral basal structure resembling a root are preserved. It is concluded that the Laurentian assemblage of Ontario and New York State is less diverse and disparate than coeval assemblages, which are also preserved in marine rocks. Its preservation in limestones may have been facilitated by the hypersalinity inferred from various sedimentary features, which would restrict the activity of many decomposers.  © 2004 The Linnean Society of London, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society , 2004, 146 , 399–413.     

Respiratory components in acidophilic bacteria that respire on iron

Abstract

Microorganisms capable of aerobic respiration on ferrous ions are spread throughout eubacterial and archaebacterial phyla. Phylogenetically distinct organisms were shown to express spectrally distinct redox‐active biomolecules during autotrophic growth on soluble iron. A new iron‐oxidizing eubacterium, designated as strain Funis, was investigated. Strain Funis was judged to be different from other known iron‐oxidizing bacteria on the bases of comparative lipid analyses, 16S rRNA sequence analyses, and cytochrome composition studies. When grown autotrophically on ferrous ions, Funis produced conspicuous levels of a novel acid‐stable, acid‐soluble yellow cytochrome with a distinctive absorbance peak at 579 nm in the reduced state.

Stopped‐flow spectrophotometric kinetic studies were conducted on respiratory chain components isolated from cell‐free extracts of Thiobacillus ferrooxidans. Experimental results were consistent with a model where the primary oxidant of ferrous ions is a highly aggregated c‐type cytochrome that then reduces the periplasmic rusticyanin. The Fe(II)‐dependent, cytochrome c‐catalyzed reduction of the rusticyanin possessed three kinetic properties in common with corresponding intact cells that respire on iron: the same anion specificity, a similar dependence of the rate on the concentration of ferrous ions, and similar rates at saturating concentrations of ferrous ions     

Saurian Malarial Parasites in Eastern Panama

SYNOPSIS Plasmodium gonatodi sp. nov. is described from Gonatodes albogularis fuscus of eastern Panama. It is characterized by elongate gametocytes and polymorphic schizonts containing 12-46 nuclei when apparently mature. Both proerythrocytes and erythrocytes are commonly parasitized, host cells are hypertrophied and distorted, and their nuclei are displaced. Prematuration sexual stages may be irregularly shaped and larger than mature gametocytes.
Plasmodium diploglossi Aragão and Neiva , 1909 is reported from Mabuya mabouya in eastern Panama, and Plasmodium morulum sp. nov. is described from this host. P. morulum usually parasitizes immature erythrocytes, and is characterized by lenticular or oval to round gametocytes, and schizonts with 14-40 nuclei usually arranged in a globular mass. Host cells are slightly hypertrophied and distorted, and their nuclei are usually displaced. Inoculation of infected blood into clean hosts produces numerous schizonts in white cells as well as in the erythrocyte series.
Pigment in both P. gonatodi and P. morulum , if present, consists of a few minute dark dots which do not meet the polarized light test for hemozoin.     

Differentiating Type i and Type ii Alveolar Cells in Rat Lung by OsO4NaI Staining

The fixing-staining mixture consisted of 1 part of 2% aqueous OsO₄ and 3 parts of 3% Nal in distilled water. Fresh lungs were cut into 2 mm slices and immersed in this solution for 24 hr at room temperature. Controls were fixed in buffered OsO₄ alone. Selective staining of type II alveolar cells was shown by the OsO_t-NaI mixture but was absent in the controls. No additional staining of the sections was required, and the selectivity was readily observable in either paraffin or Araldite sections by light microscopy and in Araldite sections by electron microscopy