Impacts of Habitat Fragmentation on Northern Bobwhites in the Gulf Coast Prairie Landscape Conservation Cooperative

The northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) has experienced range wide declines over the last several decades, primarily due to loss and fragmentation of habitat. As populations decline, there is a need for understanding factors that impact bobwhite population persistence at local and regional spatial scales. Our goal was to assess changes in land use and their relationship to bobwhite declines at 3 different spatial scales (region, county, and home range) in Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana. We used North American Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) data from 1974-2014 to create abundance maps and trends. At the regional scale, we compared bobwhite abundance with road density (2000, 2010), human population (1970-2010), and land use (1974-2012). We then used the BBS data to identify counties with stable and declining bobwhite abundance, and then compared bobwhite abundance to land use at metapopulation (800-9600 ha) and home range scales (15 ha). Bobwhite populations decreased from 45.93 ± 1.01 birds/count in 1970 to 11.55 ± 0.64 birds/count in 2012. as road density and human population increased. Pasture and other land increased, woodland was relatively stable, and cropland decreased in 2012. At the metapopulation level, declining populations had higher road density, more edge and patch area for pasture, and larger patches of cropland compared to stable populations. At the home range scale, declining populations had significantly fewer, and smaller, woody patches, more herbaceous habitat, and less bare ground. This study demonstrates that while on a small scale managers can provide woody cover and reduce cropland effects to support stable populations, the large-scale drivers of bobwhite decline, namely human population growth and the resulting loss of habitat, will be critical to quail management in the future

Lipidomics and Redox Lipidomics Indicate Early Stage Alcohol-Induced Liver Damage.

Alcoholic fatty liver disease (AFLD) is characterized by lipid accumulation and inflammation and can progress to cirrhosis and cancer in the liver. AFLD diagnosis currently relies on histological analysis of liver biopsies. Early detection permits interventions that would prevent progression to cirrhosis or later stages of the disease. Herein, we have conducted the first comprehensive time-course study of lipids using novel state-of-the art lipidomics methods in plasma and liver in the early stages of a mouse model of AFLD, i.e., Lieber-DeCarli diet model. In ethanol-treated mice, changes in liver tissue included up-regulation of triglycerides (TGs) and oxidized TGs and down-regulation of phosphatidylcholine, lysophosphatidylcholine, and 20-22-carbon-containing lipid-mediator precursors. An increase in oxidized TGs preceded histological signs of early AFLD, i.e., steatosis, with these changes observed in both the liver and plasma. The major lipid classes dysregulated by ethanol play important roles in hepatic inflammation, steatosis, and oxidative damage. Conclusion: Alcohol consumption alters the liver lipidome before overt histological markers of early AFLD. This introduces the exciting possibility that specific lipids may serve as earlier biomarkers of AFLD than those currently being used

Nontargeted lipidomics in nesting females of three sea turtle species in Florida by ultra-high-pressure liquid chromatography–high-resolution tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC–HRMS/MS) reveals distinct species-specific lipid signatures

In recent years, the utility of lipidomics has been recognized in environmental toxicology and biomonitoring efforts due to the ubiquitous nature and importance of lipids in many cellular processes including signal transduction, energy storage, and cellular compartmentalization. Additionally, technological advances in high-resolution mass spectrometry have enabled the rapid expansion of the field, creating a surge in interest in comparative studies of lipid metabolism from a Systems Biology standpoint. Here, we adapted a nontargeted lipidomic approach for the study of plasma samples from nesting female leatherback (Dermochelys coriacea), loggerhead (Caretta caretta), and green (Chelonia mydas) sea turtles in Florida using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography/high-resolution tandem mass spectrometry. We identified 877 lipids in common between the three species, of which the concentrations for 467 lipids were statistically different between two or more group comparisons. Principal component analysis revealed unique lipidomic signatures associated with each species of turtle, including various glycerophosphatidylcholines, glycerophosphatidylethanolamines, triacylglycerols, and oxidized triacylglycerols that were higher in leatherback sea turtles, diacylglycerols and select glycerophosphatidylinositols which were higher in loggerhead sea turtles, and specific plasmanyl-phosphatidylcholines that were higher in green sea turtles. Our results indicate that lipidomic profiling can be a useful tool for studying lipid metabolism and physiology of different species of sea turtles, while establishing baseline data that may be used as reference in future studies for observation of differences in life stages, for following spatial and temporal trends in nesting turtles, and for investigating population dynamics in response to various stressors.Partial funding for sample collection and nightly surveys was provided by The Albert E. and Birdie W. Einstein Fund. The corresponding author would like to acknowledge funding support from the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine startup package.Peer reviewe