The breeding ecology of the painted redstart

The Painted Redstart (Setophaga picta) is a conspicuous bird of those southwestern riparian habitats with dense overstories, thick undergrowth, and permanent or semi-permanent water. Although the bird is easily observed because of its persistent calling, singing, and acrobatic tactics, its general behavior and breeding biology are not well known. Bent (1953) gives a brief account of the life history of this species, and Brandt (1951) and Marshall (1957) discuss the peculiar tail-fanning behavior that these birds so frequently exhibit. Verner and Willson (1969)) in their extensive review of reproductive patterns of North American passerines, indicate no references for the Painted Redstart. The purpose of this study is to provide information on the behavior, breeding habits, and life history of this species at the northern edge of its breeding range. Further, the taxonomic status of the Painted Redstart has not been totally resolved (Parkes 1961; Phillips et al. 1964)) and field studies may supply valuable information to help resolve this problem. The American Redstart (Setophaga ruticillu) is much better known than the Painted Redstart because of the studies by Hickey (1940) on territoriality, those of Baker (1944) and Sturm (1945) on nesting activities, and the varied works by Ficken (1961, 1962, 1963, 1965) and Ficken and Ficken ( 1965, 1967)

The Ecology and Evolution of Spatial Memory in Corvids of the Southwestern USA: The Perplexing Pinyon Jay

The corvids of the southwest possess many adaptations for the harvest, transport, caching and recovery of pine seeds. However, there is a large degree of between-species variation in the distribution of these traits. These corvids have a well-accepted phylogeny (Hope, 1989), live within close proximity to one another and have relatively well-known natural histories. They therefore present an excellent opportunity to apply the comparative method (Kamil, 1988) to the study of these species differences (Balda et al., 1997). The comparative method for the study of adaptation and evolution of behavioral traits begins with a careful study of the natural histories of the study species which should reveal how a particular trait (or suite of traits) is utilized, and provide some information about the selective pressure and potential fitness which differentially influence the trait in the different species. Species differences (and similarities) in the use of the trait can be attributed to the ecology and/or phylogeny of the species. Two processes are particularly powerful in these types of investigations, convergence and divergence. Convergence leads to similarities among distantly related species owing to the influence of similar ecological constraints. Divergence leads to differences among closely related species that correlate with the influence of different ecological constraints. The strongest support for the evolution of a trait or set of traits is found when one can find patterns of convergence between distantly related groups and divergence between similar groups for a single suite of traits. Here, we examine the natural history of the various southwestern corvids with particular attention paid to the traits involved in seed harvest, caching and cache recovery

Quantifying the effect of temperature on decoupling anthocyanins and sugars of the grape (Vitis vinifera L. 'Maturana Tinta de Navarrete')

The objective of this work consists of the quantification of decoupling anthocyanin:sugar ratio produced by higher temperature on Vitis vinifera L. 'Maturana Tinta de Navarrete'. Two vineyards were studied in two different climatic areas during a 3-year period (2010-2012). The average Winkler index during the three years in the two studied areas was 1364 °C and 1619 °C, respectively. This implies a difference of 1.3 °C for the mean temperature between both areas from April to October. Both total anthocyanins and the anthocyanins:sugars ratio decreased, significantly, in the warmer area during the three years. The highest anthocyanin sugars decoupling occurred in the warmest year (2012) and the lowest in the coolest year (2010). Given that the grape ripening begins in August, it could be concluded that the above decoupling is higher as higher is the temperature in August. For further research, it would be very interesting to study the anthocyanins : sugar ratio at different times from veraison onwards

Pairing patterns and fitness in a free-ranging population of pinyon jays: What do they reveal about mate choice.

Pairing in 141 pairs of Pinyon Jays (Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus ) was assortative for age, but was random for bill length and body weight. Assortative pairing for age may be favored because similar-aged partners produced slightly more young than dissimilar-aged ones and their young survived longer than young from dissimilar-aged pairs. Large jays appear to have the highest genetic quality because they lived longer and body size was heritable. Genetic quality of a mate, however, may be negated if phenotypic properties of partners are not compatible

Reducing the pH of wine by increasing grape sunlight exposure: a method to mitigate the effects of climate warming

The objective of this work was reducing the pH of wine through manipulating grape exposure. Two different training systems (VSP = vertical shoot positioning and free cordon) combined with leaf thinning treatments were performed within a commercial vineyard in order to modify bunch exposition levels to the sunlight radiation during 2010 and 2011 years. Leaf thinning and trellis systems involved significant differences in the pH of wine during the two years: the pH of wine decreased when the bunch exposure was increased in the vineyard. Manipulating grape exposure is a valuable tool in order to modify the pH of wine

Delaying berry ripening through manipulating leaf area to fruit ratio

The viticulture practices have always been focused on the production of grapes with higher sugar level, and this tendency has been pronounced by the climate change. The objective consists on delaying berry ripeness by decreasing the ratio between the leaf area and yield, performing intense trimming treatments after berry set and establishing the consequences on grapevine productivity in the following years. Severe shoot trimming with two different intensity treatments were done during a 3-year period (2010-2012). Phenological, vegetative and productive parameters were examined. Veraison date was delayed around twenty days. Regarding the same harvesting date, the trim treatments had lower soluble solids level (15 % reduction), lower pH (0.1-0.3) and less total anthocyanin content (10-27 % reduction). The trim effect was also reflected in berry weight; as a consequence of that, bunch size and yield were also reduced by around 9 and 15 %. Overall, single trim treatment was superior to double trim treatment because it can achieve the same results in delayed ripening, reduced °Brix, pH and production but with a smaller reduction in anthocyanin content and without having any negative impact on following years.

Patterns of movement and orientation during caching and recovery by Clark’s nutcrackers, \u3ci\u3eNucifraga columbiana\u3c/i\u3e

Clark’s nutcrackers regularly store large numbers of pine seeds and remember the locations of the cached seeds. Although they are very accurate, they do make some errors during recovery. In an attempt to determine whether any behaviours during caching predicted the occurrence of errors during recovery, we videotaped Clark’s nutcrackers while they cached and recovered seeds under laboratory conditions. We used the videotapes to develop complete, quantitative descriptions of caching and recovery behaviour, with an emphasis on body orientation and directions of movement. During caching, the birds showed the greatest change in their orientation and direction following cache creation. During cache recovery, in contrast, body orientation changed most following successful recovery of a seed. When orientation while making a cache was compared with orientation when recovering the same cache, orientations were similar more often than would be expected by chance. However, this consistency of direction was not related to the accuracy of cache recovery, indicating that such consistency is not necessary for accurate cache recovery. The location in which the birds chose to place their caches was the only variable that predicted the location of probes during recovery

Patterns of movement and orientation during caching and recovery by Clark’s nutcrackers, \u3ci\u3eNucifraga columbiana\u3c/i\u3e

Clark’s nutcrackers regularly store large numbers of pine seeds and remember the locations of the cached seeds. Although they are very accurate, they do make some errors during recovery. In an attempt to determine whether any behaviours during caching predicted the occurrence of errors during recovery, we videotaped Clark’s nutcrackers while they cached and recovered seeds under laboratory conditions. We used the videotapes to develop complete, quantitative descriptions of caching and recovery behaviour, with an emphasis on body orientation and directions of movement. During caching, the birds showed the greatest change in their orientation and direction following cache creation. During cache recovery, in contrast, body orientation changed most following successful recovery of a seed. When orientation while making a cache was compared with orientation when recovering the same cache, orientations were similar more often than would be expected by chance. However, this consistency of direction was not related to the accuracy of cache recovery, indicating that such consistency is not necessary for accurate cache recovery. The location in which the birds chose to place their caches was the only variable that predicted the location of probes during recovery

Reducing the Sugar and pH of the Grape (Vitis vinifera L. cvs. ‘Grenache’ and ‘Tempranillo’) Through a Single Shoot Trimming

Many vineyards all over the world can easily produce high potential alcohol levels, but the importanceof the sugar content in berries has been changing over the past few years. The objective of this work wasto reduce the sugar and pH of the grapes, delay berry ripening by decreasing the ratio between the leafarea and yield, perform an intense trimming treatment after berry set and establish the consequences forgrapevine productivity in the following year. Severe shoot trimming was done over a three-year period(2010 to 2012). Phenological, vegetative and productive parameters were examined. The date of véraisonwas delayed by about 20 days. On the same harvesting date, the trim treatment had lower soluble solids(12% to 15 % reduction), lower pH (0.1 to 0.3) and a lower total anthocyanin content (10% reduction). Thetrim effect was also reflected in berry weight; as a consequence, bunch size and yield were also reduced byaround 10%. If the trim treatment does not reduce the leaf area to fruit ratio below 0.50 m2/kg, there is nonegative impact on vine capacity in the next year

Does Seed-Caching Experience Affect Spatial Memory Performance by Pinyon Jays?

Food-storing birds use spatial memory to find previously cached food items. Throughout winter, pinyon jays (Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus) rely heavily on cached pinyon pine (Pinus edulis) seeds. Because of a recent severe drought, pinyon pine trees had not produced a significant seed crop for several years. Therefore, 1- and 2-year-old birds never had the opportunity to cache and recover seeds and birds 4 or more years of age had not recovered seeds in 3 years. This study examined whether natural but extreme variability in experience might result in differences in abstract spatial memory ability during a non-cache recovery test of spatial memory. Three groups of jays were tested for spatial memory ability in an open room analog of the radial arm maze. Two of the groups were 8 months old: young/minimally experienced birds which had 2 months of experience in the wild, while young/experienced birds had 5 months of experience in their natural habitat. The third group, adult, consisted of birds more than 3 yr old, with at least 3 yr of experience in their natural habitat. This was the only group with experience caching pine seeds. All three groups performed equally and well above chance. This suggests that spatial memory is fully developed by 8 months of age and is not affected by extensive experience in the wild