Local Environment but Not Genetic Differentiation Influences Biparental Care in Ten Plover Populations

Peer reviewe

Parental cooperation in a changing climate: fluctuating environments predict shifts in care division

Aim: Parental care improves the survival of offspring and therefore has a major impact on reproductive success. It is increasingly recognized that coordinated biparental care is necessary to ensure the survival of offspring in hostile environments, but little is known about the influence of environmental fluctuations on parental cooperation. Assessing the impacts of environmental stochasticity, however, is essential for understanding how populations will respond to climate change and the associated increasing frequencies of extreme weather events. Here we investigate the influence of environmental stochasticity on biparental incubation in a cosmopolitan ground-nesting avian genus. Location: Global. Methods: We assembled data on biparental care in 36 plover populations (Charadrius spp.) from six continents, collected between 1981 and 2012. Using a space-for-time approach we investigate how average temperature, temperature stochasticity (i.e. year-to-year variation) and seasonal temperature variation during the breeding season influence parental cooperation during incubation. Results: We show that both average ambient temperature and its fluctuations influence parental cooperation during incubation. Male care relative to female care increases with both mean ambient temperature and temperature stochasticity. Local climatic conditions explain within-species population differences in parental cooperation, probably reflecting phenotypic plasticity of behaviour. Main conclusions: The degree of flexibility in parental cooperation is likely to mediate the impacts of climate change on the demography and reproductive behaviour of wild animal populations.</p

Non-breeding distribution, density and population structure of American Avocet (Recurvirostra americana, Gmelin 1789) in Marismas Nacionales, Nayarit, Mexico

The Marismas Nacionales wetland system (Nayarit, Mexico) is a Site of International Importance as designated by the Western Hemispheric Shorebird Reserve Network. The American Avocet (Recurvirostra americana) is one of the most numerous shorebirds in the area; nevertheless, there is little information about its overwintering stay at Marismas Nacionales, despite part of the site being decreed as a Biosphere Reserve. In order to clarify some aspects of American Avocet winter ecology, we used transects and scanning sampling method during the winter: to determine distribution and abundance in the Marismas Nacionales (2010-2011), as well as density and population structure in one of the sectors of the Biosphere Reserve (2011-2013). The American Avocet win­tering population in the Biosphere Reserve was calculated to be about 26,000 individuals (5.7% of the world’s population), but approximately 36% of avocet wintering population in Marismas Nacionales was outside of the reserve, also there was a certain preference for some wetlands. Evidence suggests that spring migration starts during the first weeks of March. We observed some spatial segregation between sexes, but our results, although valid, are inconclusive because of difficulties in sexing individuals in the field. In spite of local changes in these wetlands, American Avocet winter population has apparently been relatively stable over the last twenty years. Therefore, Marismas Nacionales remains a key wetland for American Avocet in North America

Antiepileptic Drug Exposure in Infants of Breastfeeding Mothers With Epilepsy

There is limited information on infant drug exposure via breastfeeding by mothers who are receiving antiepileptic drug therapy. To provide direct, objective information on antiepileptic drug exposure through breast milk. This prospective cohort study was conducted between December 2012 to October 2016, with follow-up in children until 6 years of age at 20 sites across the United States. Data were collected via an observational multicenter investigation (Maternal Outcomes and Neurodevelopmental Effects of Antiepileptic Drugs [MONEAD]) of outcomes in pregnant mothers with epilepsy and their children. Pregnant women with epilepsy who were aged 14 to 45 years, had pregnancies that had progressed to less than 20 weeks' gestational age, and had measured IQ scores of more than 70 points were enrolled and followed up through pregnancy and 9 postpartum months. Their infants were enrolled at birth. Data were analyzed from May 2014 to August 2019. Antiepileptic drug exposure in infants who were breastfed. The percentage of infant-to-mother concentration of antiepileptic drugs. Antiepileptic drug concentrations were quantified from blood samples collected from infants and mothers at the same visit, 5 to 20 weeks after birth. Concentrations of antiepileptic drugs in infants at less than the lower limit of quantification were assessed as half of the lower limit. Additional measures collected were the total duration of all daily breastfeeding sessions and/or the volume of pumped breast milk ingested from a bottle. A total of 351 women (of 865 screened and 503 eligible individuals) were enrolled, along with their 345 infants (179 female children [51.9%]; median [range] age, 13 [5-20] weeks). Of the 345 infants, 222 (64.3%) were breastfed; the data collection yielded 164 matching infant-mother concentration pairs from 138 infants. Approximately 49% of all antiepileptic drug concentrations in nursing infants were less than the lower limit of quantification. The median percentage of infant-to-mother concentration for all 7 antiepileptic drugs and 1 metabolite (carbamazepine, carbamazepine-10,11-epoxide, levetiracetam, lamotrigine, oxcarbazepine, topiramate, valproate, and zonisamide) ranged from 0.3% (range, 0.2%-0.9%) to 44.2% (range, 35.2%-125.3%). In multiple linear regression models, maternal concentration was a significant factor associated with lamotrigine concentration in infants (Pearson correlation coefficient, 0.58; P < .001) but not levetiracetam concentration in infants. Overall, antiepileptic drug concentrations in blood samples of infants who were breastfed were substantially lower than maternal blood concentrations. Given the well-known benefits of breastfeeding and the prior studies demonstrating no ill effects when the mother was receiving antiepileptic drugs, these findings support the breastfeeding of infants by mothers with epilepsy who are taking antiepileptic drug therapy

The effects of environmental variables on total incubation (%) and female share of incubation (%).

<p>Analysis for the full day (0–24 h), daytime (6–18 h) and night (18–6 h) data are shown separately.</p><p><u>Notes.</u></p><p>The full models included time period, ambient temperature, breeding site (mainland, island) and time period × temperature as fixed terms. The effect of temperature was estimated separately for each population by a random slope term. Nest ID was in the models as a random intercept term to control for pseudoreplication. Temperature was a second degree orthogonal polynomial. The significance of each predictor was assessed by eliminating it from the full model and comparing the fit of the two models using likelihood ratio test. Population effect was tested in two ways: (i) by removing the random intercept and slope term from the model, (ii) by replacing the random intercept and slope term with a random intercept term in the full model and removing this term. Temperature was tested by removing temperature, period × temperature and the random slope term for temperature from the model. The slope difference for temperature between populations was tested by removing the random slope term and keeping only the random intercept term in the model. The quadratic effect of temperature was tested by replacing the second degree orthogonal polynomial term with a linear term.</p