两种近缘鸟种麻雀和山麻雀的咬合力比较

鸟类的咬合力受食性、种内竞争和捕食压力等多种生态因素的影响,可作为其生态适应特征的重要指标。但目前关于鸟类的咬合力及其影响因素却鲜有研究,为此,我们使用咬合力传感器,对同属的两个近缘鸟种,麻雀(Passer montanus)和山麻雀(P.cinnamomeus)的咬合力进行了比较研究。结果表明,山麻雀(n=12)的咬合力显著大于麻雀(n=59)(t=3.754,P0.01),但山麻雀(t=0.449,P0.05)和麻雀(Z=﹣1.198,P0.05)的雌雄个体间咬合力均无差异,同时,山麻雀的头宽(t=﹣3.713,P0.01)、头高(t=﹣5.405,P0.01)和喙宽(t=﹣6.201,P0.01)均显著大于麻雀。尽管个体的咬合力与其身体各参数指标无显著相关性,但在种间,头和喙的大小可能是影响两者咬合力的重要因素,由于两者的一些生态适应特征可通过头大小和喙型体现,推测两者生境和食性的差异可能是影响其咬合力大小的主要原因。     

头足类角质颚地标点定量初步研究： 以剑尖枪乌贼为例

几何形态测量学是头足类角质颚形态分析的重要研究方法,其中包括地标点法和轮廓线法。虽然地标点类型被划分为三种,但基于地标点法的角质颚形态研究对于地标点的选取与建立并没有一个统一的标准,因此探究可以更好地展示角质颚形态变异程度所需要的地标点以及样本数是十分必要的。为探究不同地标点和样本数对角质颚形态分析的影响,本研究利用2018和2019年捕捞的剑尖枪乌贼(Uroteuthis edulis)角质颚样本,使用R语言LaMBDA包LaSEC函数,对300对角质颚样本分别使用10、20、28个地标点和50、80、100、200、300对样本组合,以探讨不同地标点和样本数方案时表示形态变异的平稳度。研究结果表明,地标点数量会使质心大小结果产生误差;为了更好地展示角质颚的形态变异程度,最终确定研究样本在50对以内时,上颚和下颚采用26个地标点;研究样本为50～300对时采用27个地标点。研究分析认为,基于LaSEC的头足类角质颚地标点和样本定量分析可以拟定表示角质颚形态变异的最佳地标点数量,并通过角质颚形态变异箭头图来明确表示角质颚形态变异的最佳地标点方案,为后续基于地标点法的头足类角质颚形态研究提供科学依据。     

日本海舍氏贝乌贼角质颚形态特征分析

角质颚作为头足类的摄食器官,蕴含丰富的生态信息。根据2018年中国鱿钓船在日本海采集的303尾舍氏贝乌贼（Berryteuthis magister shevtsovi）样本,对其角质颚形态特征进行了分析。主成分分析显示,上头盖长、上喙长和上喙宽可解释舍氏贝乌贼上颚形态特征80.71%的信息,选为上颚的外形表征参数,下头盖长、下脊突长和下喙长可解释形态特征81.57%的信息,选为下颚的外形表征参数。协方差分析表明,舍氏贝乌贼角质颚外形表征参数与胴长和体重的关系均不存在性别间显著性差异。方程拟合和赤池信息准则结果表明,上头盖长与胴长的生长关系最适合用线性方程表示,而上喙长、上喙宽、下头盖长、下脊突长和下喙长与胴长的生长关系均最适用对数方程表示。上头盖长与体重的生长关系最适合用线性方程表示,而上喙长、上喙宽、下头盖长、下脊突长、下喙长与体重的生长关系均最适用对数方程表示。表征参数及其与胴长（或体重）关系式的确定,为后续利用角质颚外形进行种群鉴定和资源评估打下了基础。     

西北印度洋鸢乌贼角质颚色素沉积特性分析

角质颚是头足类主要的摄食器官,蕴含着大量渔业生态学信息。根据2019年3至5月中国灯光罩网渔船在西北印度洋海域采集的1 009尾鸢乌贼(Sthenoteuthis oualaniensis)样本,对其角质颚色素沉积等级进行了划分和判定,分析了色素沉积等级与胴长、体重、性腺成熟度和角质颚形态参数的关系。结果显示,3至5月西北印度洋鸢乌贼角质颚色素沉积等级以2级为主,占总样本的33.87%,色素沉积等级总体上随着月份的增加而增加。鸢乌贼角质颚的色素沉积与胴长、体重和性腺成熟度的关系均存在性别间显著性差异(P <0.05),总体而言雌性个体的沉积速度快于雄性个体。角质颚色素沉积等级与胴长、体重和角质颚外部形态参数均呈正相关,并且都随着性腺成熟度的增加而增加。本研究开展了西北印度洋鸢乌贼角质颚色素沉积研究,确立了鸢乌贼色素沉积等级与胴长、体重、性腺成熟度和角质颚形态参数的关系,并拟合了相关生长方程,为进一步研究鸢乌贼的渔业生态学及合理开发该资源提供了科学依据。     

Pain issues in poultry

This review highlights the possible pain experienced by layer and broiler poultry in modern husbandry conditions. Receptors which respond to noxous stimulation (nociceptors) have been identified and physiologically characterised in many different part of the body of the chicken including the beak, mouth, nose, joint capsule and scaly skin. Stimulation of these nociceptors produces cardiovascular and behavioural changes consistent with those seen in mammals and are indicative of pain perception. Physiological and behavioural experiments have identified the problem of acute pain following beak trimming in chicks, shackling, and feather pecking and environmental pollution. Chronic pain is a much greater welfare problem because it can last for long periods of time from weeks to months. Evidence for possible chronic pain is presented from a variety of different conditions including beak trimming in older birds, orthopaedic disease in broiler and bone breakage in laying hens. Experiments on pain in the chicken have not only identified acute and chronically painful conditions but also have provided information on qualitative differences in the pain experienced as well as identifying a cognitive component providing evidence of conscious pain perception.     

Identification and Characterization of a Distinct Strain of Beak and Feather Disease Virus in Southeast China

Beak and feather disease virus(BFDV) is an infectious agent responsible for feather degeneration and beak deformation in birds. In March 2017, an epidemic of psittacine beak and feather disease(PBFD) struck a farm in Fuzhou in the Fujian Province of southeast China, resulting in the death of 51 parrots. In this study, the disease was diagnosed and the pathogen was identified by PCR and whole genome sequencing. A distinct BFDV strain was identified and named as the FZ strain.This BFDV strain caused severe disease symptoms and pathological changes characteristic of typical PBFD in parrots, for example, loss of feathers and deformities of the beak and claws, and severe pathological changes in multiple organs of the infected birds. Phylogenetic analysis showed that the FZ strain was more closely related to the strain circulating in New Caledonia than the strains previously reported in China. Nucleotide homology between the FZ strain and other 43 strains of BFDV ranged from 80.0% to 92.0%. Blind passage experiment showed that this strain had limited replication capability in SPF Chicken Embryos and DF-1 Cells. Furthermore, the capsid(Cap) gene of this FZ strain was cloned into the p GEX-4 T-1 expression vector to prepare the polyclonal anti-Cap antibody. Western blotting analysis using the anti-Cap antibody further confirmed that the diseased parrots were infected with BFDV. In this study, a PBFD and its pathogen was identified for the first time in Fujian Province of China, suggesting that future surveillance of BFDV should be performed.     

Shh and Fgf8 act synergistically to drive cartilage outgrowth during cranial development

Much of the skeleton and connective tissue of the vertebrate head is derived from cranial neural crest. During development, cranial neural crest cells migrate from the dorsal neural tube to populate the forming face and pharyngeal arches. Fgf8 and Shh, signaling molecules known to be important for craniofacial development, are expressed in distinct domains in the developing face. Specifically, in chick embryos these molecules are expressed in adjacent but non-overlapping patterns in the epithelium covering crest-derived mesenchyme that will give rise to the skeletal projections of the upper and lower beaks. It has been suggested that these molecules play important roles in patterning the developing face. Here, we directly examine the ability of FGF8 and SHH signaling, singly and in combination, to regulate cranial skeletogenesis, both in vitro and in vivo. We find that SHH and FGF8 have strong synergistic effects on chondrogenesis in vitro and are sufficient to promote outgrowth and chondrogenesis in vivo, suggesting a very specific role for these molecules in producing the elongated beak structures during chick facial development.     

DEVELOPMENTAL BASIS OF TOOTHLESSNESS IN TURTLES: INSIGHT INTO CONVERGENT EVOLUTION OF VERTEBRATE MORPHOLOGY

The tooth is a major component of the vertebrate feeding apparatus and plays a crucial role in species survival, thus subjecting tooth developmental programs to strong selective constraints. However, irrespective of their functional importance, teeth have been lost in multiple lineages of tetrapod vertebrates independently. To understand both the generality and the diversity of developmental mechanisms that cause tooth agenesis in tetrapods, we investigated expression patterns of a series of tooth developmental genes in the lower jaw of toothless turtles and compared them to that of toothed crocodiles and the chicken as a representative of toothless modern birds. In turtle embryos, we found impairment of Shh signaling in the oral epithelium and early‐stage arrest of odontoblast development caused by termination of Msx2 expression in the dental mesenchyme. Our data indicate that such changes underlie tooth agenesis in turtles and suggest that the mechanism that leads to early‐stage odontogenic arrest differs between birds and turtles. Our results demonstrate that the cellular and molecular mechanisms that regulate early‐stage arrest of tooth development are diverse in tetrapod lineages, and odontogenic developmental programs may respond to changes in upstream molecules similarly thereby evolving convergently with feeding morphology.     

The cells that secrete the beaks in octopods and squids (Mollusca,Cephalopoda)

A single layer of cell secrets the hard cephalopod beaks. The beccublasts are tall columnar cells that separate the beak from the surrounding buccal muscles, and must serve to attach these muscles to the beak. Within the cell layer there are three types of cells. The first, and most frequently found contain cell-long fibrils. These fibrils may have contractile and tensile properties. Complex trabeculae extend from the beccublasts into the matrix of the beak. The fibrils are attached to these trabeculae and at the other end of the cells they are anchored near to the beccublast-muscle cell interface, closely associated with the muscles that move the beak. The second group of cells contain masses of endoplasmic reticulum the cysternae of which are arranged along the long axis of the cell. These cells also contain dense granules and are probably the major source of beak hard tissue. It is probable that each cell secretes its own column of beak hard tissue. The third group of cells cells contains a mixture of fibrils and secretory tissue. In the beccublast layer there are changes in the proportion of the three types of cells depending upon the region sampled. In the region where growth is most active there are mostly secretory cells, whereas near the biting and wearing tip there are mainly anchoring type cells.