Competitive Asymmetries in the Use of Supplementary Food by the Endangered Iberian Lynx (Lynx pardinus)

Background: As a conservation tool, supplementary feeding programs may be directed to specific individuals or sectors of the target population whose productivity or survival is thought to be limited by food scarcity. However, the use of supplemental food by different sex and age classes has received little attention. We studied individual variation in the access of the endangered Iberian lynx (Lynx pardinus) to supplementary food. Methodology/Principal Findings: From 5349 pictures taken with automatic cameras placed in 25 feeding stations, we identified 28 individuals whose sex and age were known. All individuals known to live in areas subjected to supplementation regularly visited feeding stations. Food consumption was not proportional to expected variations in energy demand within sex and age classes. Food consumption by males was higher than by females, and increased with age, in agreement with a despotic distribution. Food consumption also increased with lynx body mass, and this pattern held for individuals sharing the same breeding territories. The access of inferior competitors increased with the number of feeding stations available within lynx territories. Conclusions/Significance: All lynx exposed to food supplementation made a regular use of extra food but individuals predicted to be competitively dominant visited stations more frequently than subordinates of the same breeding territory. Our results suggest that insufficient provision of supplementary food could restrict the access of juveniles, or even adult females, to feeding stations. Limited consumption by these target individuals may compromise the efficiency of the supplementary feeding programme at the population level, in endangered species that, as the Iberian lynx, exhibit marked sexual dimorphism in body size.Peer reviewe

Helminth Communities of Owls (Strigiformes) Indicate Strong Biological and Ecological Differences from Birds of Prey (Accipitriformes and Falconiformes) in Southern Italy

We compared the helminth communities of 5 owl species from Calabria (Italy) and evaluated the effect of phylogenetic and ecological factors on community structure. Two host taxonomic scales were considered, i.e., owl species, and owls vs. birds of prey. The latter scale was dealt with by comparing the data here obtained with that of birds of prey from the same locality and with those published previously on owls and birds of prey from Galicia (Spain). A total of 19 helminth taxa were found in owls from Calabria. Statistical comparison showed only marginal differences between scops owls (Otus scops) and little owls (Athene noctua) and tawny owls (Strix aluco). It would indicate that all owl species are exposed to a common pool of 'owl generalist' helminth taxa, with quantitative differences being determined by differences in diet within a range of prey relatively narrow. In contrast, birds of prey from the same region exhibited strong differences because they feed on different and wider spectra of prey. In Calabria, owls can be separated as a whole from birds of prey with regard to the structure of their helminth communities while in Galicia helminths of owls represent a subset of those of birds of prey. This difference is related to the occurrence in Calabria, but not Galicia, of a pool of 'owl specialist' species. The wide geographical occurrence of these taxa suggest that local conditions may determine fundamental differences in the composition of local communities. Finally, in both Calabria and Galicia, helminth communities from owls were species-poor compared to those from sympatric birds of prey. However, birds of prey appear to share a greater pool of specific helmith taxa derived from cospeciation processes, and a greater potential exchange of parasites between them than with owls because of phylogenetic closeness

Reduction of CD68+ macrophages and decreased IL-17 expression in intestinal mucosa of patients with inflammatory bowel disease strongly correlate with endoscopic response and mucosal healing following infliximab therapy

Antibodies against tumor necrosis factor represent an effective therapy for patients with inflammatory bowel disease. Despite their successful results, the exact mechanism by which infliximab suppresses intestinal inflammation is still a matter of debate. In this study, we used a translational approach to identify the key mechanisms associated with resolution of mucosal inflammation induced by infliximab

Defective erythroid maturation in gelsolin mutant mice

Background During late differentiation, erythroid cells undergo profound changes involving actin filament remodeling. One of the proteins controlling actin dynamics is gelsolin, a calcium-activated actin filament severing and capping protein. Gelsolin-null (Gsn-/-) mice generated in a C57BL/6 background are viable and fertile.1 Design and Methods We analyzed the functional roles of gelsolin in erythropoiesis by: (i) evaluating gelsolin expression in murine fetal liver cells at different stages of erythroid differentiation (using reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction analysis and immunohistochemistry), and (ii) characterizing embryonic and adult erythropoiesis in Gsn-/- BALB/c mice (morphology and erythroid cultures). Results In the context of a BALB/c background, the Gsn-/- mutation causes embryonic death. Gsn-/- embryos show defective erythroid maturation with persistence of circulating nucleated cells. The few Gsn-/- mice reaching adulthood fail to recover from phenylhydrazine-induced acute anemia, revealing an impaired response to stress erythropoiesis. In in vitro differentiation assays, E13.5 fetal liver Gsn-/- cells failed to undergo terminal maturation, a defect partially rescued by Cytochalasin D, and mimicked by administration of Jasplakinolide to the wild-type control samples. Conclusions In BALB/c mice, gelsolin deficiency alters the equilibrium between erythrocyte actin polymerization and depolymerization, causing impaired terminal maturation. We suggest a non-redundant role for gelsolin in terminal erythroid differentiation, possibly contributing to the Gsn-/- mice lethality observed in mid-gestation