Wintering Areas and Recovery Rates of Brünnich’s Guillemots Uria lomvia Ringed in the Svalbard Archipelago

We mapped wintering areas and estimated the recovery rates of Brünnich’s guillemots (thick-billed murres) ringed in Svalbard during 1954–98. Recoveries were reported from Iceland, Greenland, and Newfoundland. An intensive hunt occurs annually off Greenland and Newfoundland, and more than 95% of the recovered birds were reported as shot. Birds recovered as immatures differed from birds recovered as adults in their temporal and spatial distribution. Immatures were more exposed to hunting because they arrived at the hunting areas earlier in the autumn and formed a higher proportion of the population in hunting areas farthest away from Svalbard. The recovery rate of birds ringed in Svalbard as chicks was comparable to the recovery rate reported from Canada. Interestingly, no Svalbard birds have ever been recovered in the southern part of the Barents Sea or along the Norwegian coast, suggesting that these areas are not important to the Svalbard population. The distribution of winter recoveries of birds ringed in Svalbard was compared to the winter recovery areas of Brünnich’s guillemots ringed elsewhere in the North Atlantic. Only birds ringed in Svalbard have been recovered in Iceland in winter.On a cartographié les aires d’hivernage des guillemots de Brünnich (marmettes de Brünnich) bagués au Svalbard de 1954 à 1998, et estimé leurs taux de recapture. Des recaptures ont été signalées en Islande, au Groenland et à Terre-Neuve. Durant la chasse intensive qui a lieu chaque année au large du Groenland et de Terre-Neuve, 95 % des oiseaux recapturés auraient été abattus au fusil. Les oiseaux recapturés en tant qu’immatures différaient dans leur distribution temporelle et spatiale de ceux recapturés en tant qu’adultes. Les immatures étaient plus exposés à la chasse parce qu’ils arrivaient dans les zones de chasse plus tôt à l’automne et qu’ils formaient une plus grande proportion de la population dans les zones de chasse les plus éloignées du Svalbard. Le taux de recapture des oiseaux bagués au Svalbard en tant qu’oisillons se comparait à celui rapporté pour le Canada. Fait intéressant, aucun oiseau du Svalbard n’a jamais été recapturé dans la partie méridionale de la mer de Barents ou le long de la côte norvégienne, ce qui laisse à penser que ces régions ne sont pas importantes pour la population du Svalbard. On a comparé la distribution des oiseaux recapturés en hiver et qui avaient été bagués au Svalbard aux aires de recapture hivernale des guillemots de Brünnich bagués ailleurs dans l’Atlantique Nord. Seuls des oiseaux bagués au Svalbard ont été recapturés en Islande en hiver

Marine Birds in the Marginal Ice Zone of the Barents Sea in Late Winter and Spring

We recorded the distribution and abundance of marine birds in the northern Barents Sea from 27 February to 8 March 1987 and from 20 to 31 May 1988. Birds were more abundant in waters associated with pack ice than in open water away from pack ice. Within the pack ice, thick-billed murres (Uria lomvia) were the most commonly encountered birds in both periods. Murre densities in the pack ice north of the zone proximate to the ice edge were positively correlated with distance of birds present. In spring, we found more birds along a well-defined ice edge than were present either in open water or in leads in the pack ice within 5 nautical miles of the ice edge. Transects along the ice edge revealed little correlation in abundance between species, or within species when coverage was repeated during the same day. We conclude that the birds showed considerable specificity of habitat choice within the habitat divisions that we recognized and that avian patches were of short duration. We need information on the distribution, abundance and movements of prey patches if we are to understand the changing distribution patterns of the birds.Du 27 février au 8 mars 1987 et du 20 au 31 mai 1988, on a procédé à un relevé de la distribution et de l'abondance des oiseaux marins dans la partie septentrionale de la mer de Barents. Les oiseaux étaient plus abondants dans les eaux associées à la banquise que dans l'eau libre située loin de la banquise. La marmette de Brünnich (Uria lomvia) est l'oiseau que l'on retrouvait le plus souvent dans le périmètre de la banquise au cours des deux périodes de l'étude. La densité de marmettes sur la banquise, au nord de la zone proche de la lisière de glace, était corrélée de façon positive avec l'éloignement de la lisière de glace. Les grands chenaux étaient plus fréquemment occupés par les brunettes que les petits chenaux, et les oiseaux y étaient présents en plus grand nombre. Au printemps, on trouvait plus d'oiseaux le long d'une lisière de glace bien définie qu'on en trouvait soit dans l'eau libre, soit dans des chenaux présents dans la banquise à moins de cinq milles marins de la lisière de glace. Des transects longeant la lisière de glace n'ont révélé qu'une faible corrélation entre l'abondance des diverses espèces, ou au sein d'une même espèce lorsque le relevé était répété au cours de la même journée. On en conclut que les oiseaux manifestaient une grande spécificité dans le choix de leur habitat au sein des divisions de l'habitat établies par nous et que les regroupements aviens étaient de courte durée. Si l'on veut comprendre l'évolution des schémas de distribution des oiseaux, on doit avoir plus de renseignements sur la distribution, l'abondance et les mouvements des regroupements de proies

A quantitative ring recovery analysis of migration in European Water Rails Rallus aquaticus

The Water Rail Rallus aquaticus is generally regarded as a facultative migrant in which migration patterns vary geographically. However, quantitative analyses of migration directions and how migration distances vary across Europe are hitherto lacking. We analysed recoveries of Water Rails ringed in Europe and tested for a general migration direction in this material. From previous literature descriptions we predicted birds to migrate farther the longer north and east they breed. More than half of the birds included in the data set were ringed in Germany (48%) and Hungary (12%) and most winter recoveries came from SW coastal Europe. We found that the migratory direction in autumn was strongly oriented towards SW with no effect of latitude or longitude of the breeding site. There were no differences in migration direction between old (2Y+) and young (1Y) birds, or between males and females, although sample sizes were admittedly small in the latter comparison. As predicted, migration distances were positively correlated with both latitude and longitude of breeding sites. We encourage more trapping and ringing of Water Rails breeding and wintering across Europe in order to improve the ring recovery data. The use of modern tracking devices like light-level geolocators also has a high potential of improving our understanding of migratory ecology in this secretive species

Label-free quantitative proteomic analysis of the oral bacteria Fusobacterium nucleatum and Porphyromonas gingivalis to identify protein features relevant in biofilm formation

Background The opportunistic pathogens Fusobacterium nucleatum and Porphyromonas gingivalis are Gram-negative bacteria associated with oral biofilm and periodontal disease. This study investigated interactions between F. nucleatum and P. gingivalis proteomes with the objective to identify proteins relevant in biofilm formation. Methods We applied liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry to determine the expressed proteome of F. nucleatum and P. gingivalis cells grown in biofilm or planktonic culture, and as mono- and dual-species models. The detected proteins were classified into functional categories and their label-free quantitative (LFQ) intensities statistically compared. Results The proteomic analyses detected 1,322 F. nucleatum and 966 P. gingivalis proteins, including abundant virulence factors. Using univariate statistics, we identified significant changes between biofilm and planktonic culture (p-value ≤0.05) in 0,4% F. nucleatum, 7% P. gingivalis, and 14% of all proteins in the dual-species model. For both species, proteins involved in vitamin B2 (riboflavin) metabolism had significantly increased levels in biofilm. In both mono- and dual-species biofilms, P. gingivalis increased the production of proteins for translation, oxidation-reduction, and amino acid metabolism compared to planktonic cultures. However, when we compared LFQ intensities between mono- and dual-species, over 90% of the significantly changed P. gingivalis proteins had their levels reduced in biofilm and planktonic settings of the dual-species model. Conclusions The findings suggest that P. gingivalis reduces the production of multiple proteins because of the F. nucleatum presence. The results highlight the complex interactions of bacteria contributing to oral biofilms, which need to be considered in the design of prevention strategies.publishedVersio