Effects of Developmental Conditions on Nestling American Kestrel (\u3cem\u3eFalco Sparverius\u3c/em\u3e) Corticosterone Concentrations

How nestling birds respond to stressful situations may constitute an important survival component that has lasting developmental effects on the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis. As birds are exposed to increasing amounts of potential anthropogenic stressors through land use change, understanding how these factors contribute to HPA development is important. We examined whether conditions experienced during the nestling stage affected free-living American Kestrel (Falco sparverius) HPA activity prior to fledging. Kestrels experienced varying levels of human disturbance around their nest and we classified this environmental exposure as high or low environmental human disturbance based on traffic patterns and land use. We then exposed some broods from high and low disturbance areas to a standardized disturbance protocol. Prior to fledging we collected blood samples from 25-day-old nestlings immediately after capture and 15 min post-capture. Corticosterone (CORT) did not vary with environmental human disturbance levels, disturbance protocol treatment, or with an interaction between environmental human disturbance and disturbance protocol treatment suggesting that nestling kestrels may not perceive external conditions related to human disturbance as stressful or kestrels may acclimate to disturbance. We also compared the relative effects of environmental human disturbance outside the nest cavity, conditions within the nest cavity (brood size), and individual condition (nestling fat scores) on baseline and stress-induced CORT. Baseline CORT did not vary with human disturbance level, brood size or fat score. Fat scores best explained stress-induced CORT with nestlings in better condition displaying elevated CORT. These results suggest that individual variation is more likely to explain HPA development compared to nest conditions or the external environment. This study demonstrates the importance of considering the effects of developmental conditions on the stress response at several scales

Reproductive Failure and the Stress Response in American Kestrels Nesting Along a Human Disturbance Gradient

Human disturbance may be an influential environmental stressor that affects birds across life stages. I examined whether external and endogenous factors including habitat type, habitat quality and individual quality (hereafter quality), or human disturbance affect American Kestrel reproductive success in southwestern Idaho. Specifically, I was interested in how these factors lead to nest failure or abandonment. I also investigated whether elevated corticosterone (CORT) concentrations mediate the relationships among explanatory variables and nest failure. As nestling kestrels may respond to stressors differently from adults, I examined whether conditions experienced during the nestling stage affected nestling American Kestrel (Falco sparverius) hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis activity. I predicted that nestlings in high disturbance areas and those exposed to experimental stress would be sensitized to acute handling stress (i.e. would exhibit high baseline and stress induced CORT levels).To examine these relationships I monitored 89 nest boxes posted along roads with varying amounts of traffic and surrounding development in Southwest Idaho during the 2008 and 2009 breeding seasons. I captured adult birds during the incubation stages and then followed nest fates by checking the boxes at expected hatch dates, and when nestlings were 10 and 25 days old. Nestling kestrels, raised in high and low human disturbance areas were exposed to a chronic stress protocol (CSP). At 25 days of age nestlings were sampled for baseline and stress induced plasma CORT. Twenty six (36%) of 73 nests failed and most (n = 23, 88%) nests failed during incubation. Human disturbance, but not habitat type or quality measures, was negatively associated with kestrel reproductive success. A disturbance score based on traffic patterns and the distance of the nest from the road best predicted kestrel reproductive success (disturbance: β = -1.08, 95% CI: -1.87 - -0.28; distance from road: β = 2.44, 95% CI: 0.54 - 5.42). Adult female kestrels nesting near interstates and busy roads had elevated CORT (χ2 = 6.07, P = 0.01; β = 0.10, 95% CI: 0.02 - 0.19) and nests of females with elevated CORT were less likely to be successful (χ2 = 4.37, P = 0.04; β = -1.09, 95% CI: -2.20 - 0). There was no relationship between adult male CORT and disturbance or success. Nestling CORT did not vary with human disturbance levels (F1, 27 = 1.97, P = 0.17), CSP treatment (F1,27 = 0.00, P = 0.97), or with an interaction between human disturbance and CSP (F1, 27 = 0.00, P = 0.97) suggesting that nestling kestrels do not sense or perceive external conditions related to human disturbance as stressful. Because kestrels are cavity nesters, nestlings may be buffered from external conditions and instead may respond more powerfully to stressors within the nest such as brood size. Brood size at fledging best explained baseline (β = 0.10, 95% CI: -0.03 - 0.28) and stress induced CORT (β = 0.06, 95% CI: -0.06 - 0.19). This study provides evidence that adult but not nestling kestrels respond to human activity with a physiological stress response and this can lead to changes in individual behavior resulting in reproductive failure via abandonment. At a larger scale, this study highlights the adverse affects of human disturbance on seemingly “urban-adapted” organisms such as American Kestrels

Plasma Carotenoid Concentrations of Incubating American Kestrels (\u3cem\u3eFalco sparverius\u3c/em\u3e) Show Annual, Seasonal, and Individual Variation and Explain Reproductive Outcome

In wild birds, the proximate and ultimate factors that affect circulating carotenoid concentrations remain poorly understood. We studied variation in plasma carotenoid concentrations across several scales: annual, seasonal, pair, territory and individual, and evaluated whether plasma carotenoid concentrations explained reproductive outcome of wild American kestrels (Falco sparverius). We sampled plasma carotenoid concentrations of 99 female and 80 male incubating kestrels from April to June in 2008 to 2012. Plasma carotenoid concentrations were explained by an interaction between year and sex, date, and random effects for pair and individual identity. In general, plasma carotenoid concentrations of males were significantly higher than females, but this depended on year. Within a breeding season, earlier nesting kestrels had higher carotenoid concentrations than later nesting kestrels, a pattern that is coincident with seasonal trends in local fitness. Pair and individual identity explained variation in carotenoid concentrations suggesting that carotenoid concentrations of mated birds were correlated, and some individuals consistently maintained higher carotenoid levels than others. Male carotenoid concentrations were positively associated with number of young fledged per pair. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that higher quality individuals have higher carotenoid levels compared to lower quality individuals, despite annual variations in carotenoid availability

Teaching compassion for social accountability: A parallaxic investigation

Background: In an arts integrated interdisciplinary study set to investigate ways to improve social accountability (SA) in medical education, our research team has established a renewed understanding of compassion in the current SA movement. Aim: This paper explores the co-evolution of compassion and SA. Methods: The study used an arts integrated approach to investigate people’s perceptions of SA in four medical schools across Australia, Canada, and the USA. Each school engaged approximately 25 participants who partook in workshops and in-depth interviews. Results: We began with a study of SA and the topic of compassion emerged out of our qualitative data and biweekly meetings within the research team. Content analysis of the data and pedagogical discussion brought us to realize the importance of compassion in the practice of SA. Conclusions: The cultivation of compassion needs to play a significant role in a socially accountable medical educational system. Medical schools as educational institutions may operate themselves with compassion as a driving force in engaging partnership with students and communities. Social accountability without compassion is not SA; compassion humanizes institutional policy by engaging sympathy and care

Effect of annual rainfall and temperature on the selection of habitat and overwintering home range of grassland birds

Objective: To determine the effect of annual precipitation and winter temperature on habitat and winter home range size of two grassland birds in a native grassland of northern Durango, Mexico. Design/methodology/approach: Using telemetry techniques over four consecutive winters (2016-2019), we estimated the home range size (HR; by Kernel method), of Centronyx bairdii and Ammodramus savannarum. Likewise, we estimated the cover of grass, bush, grass, bare ground, dead vegetation, animal excrement and counted the seeds available in the soil (biomass, gr/m2) of the habitat. We compared these dependent variables with non-parametric statistics, with the minimum and maximum annual precipitation (mm) and temperature (°C) of the site. Results: The grassland sparrows used sites with equal coverage of grass, herbaceous plants, shrubs, bare ground, and others (Kruskal-Wallis, p≤0.05). In general, annual rainfall has no effect on the structure and vegetation cover. HR was negatively correlated (Sperman, p≤0.05) with annual rainfall for C. bairdii (rs=-0.90, n=45) and for A. savannarum (rs=-0.80, n=33). When the maximum temperature was higher, both species had a smaller HR. In contrast, when the minimum temperature was low, the HR increased for C. bairdii and decreased for A. savannarum. Study limitations/implications: We demonstrate the importance of considering quantifying the largest number of variables when research is required on the selection and use of grassland bird habitat. Findings/conclusions: This study allows us to increase our knowledge about the winter ecology of grassland birds and demonstrates that environmental variables such as annual rainfall and temperature influence habitat selection of C. bairdii and A. savannarum.Objective: To determine the effect of annual precipitation and winter temperature on the habitat and size of the overwintering home range of two grassland birds in a native grassland in northern Durango, Mexico. Design/ Methodology/ Approach: Using telemetry techniques during four consecutive winters (2016-2019), we estimated the size of the home range (HR; by the Kernel method) of Centronyx bairdii and Ammodramus savannarum. Likewise, the coverage of grassland, scrubland, bare soil, dead vegetation, and animal excrement was estimated and the seeds available in the soil (biomass, g m-2) of the habitat were counted. We correlated these dependent variables with non-parametric statistics, to the minimum and maximum annual rainfall (mm) and temperature (°C) of the site. Results: Grassland sparrows used sites with equitable cover of grass, herbaceous plants, shrubs, bare soil and others (Kruskal-Wallis, p≤0.05). Overall, annual precipitation has no effect on structure and vegetation cover. The HR was negatively correlated (Spearman, p≤0.05) with the annual precipitation for C. bairdii (rs=-0.90, n=45) and for A. savannarum (rs=-0.80, n=33). When the maximum temperature was higher, both species had lower HR. In contrast, when the minimum temperature was low, the HR increased for C. bairdii and decreased for A. savannarum. Study Limitations/ Implications: We demonstrated the importance of considering quantifying the greatest number of variables when research is required on the selection and use of grassland bird habitat. Findings/ Conclusions: This study allowed us to increase our knowledge about the winter ecology of grassland birds and demonstrated that environmental variables such as annual precipitation and temperature influenced the habitat selection of C. bairdii and A. savannarum

mycoCLAP, the database for characterized lignocellulose-active proteins of fungal origin: resource and text mining curation support

Enzymes active on components of lignocellulosic biomass are used for industrial applications ranging from food processing to biofuels production. These include a diverse array of glycoside hydrolases, carbohydrate esterases, polysaccharide lyases and oxidoreductases. Fungi are prolific producers of these enzymes, spurring fungal genome sequencing efforts to identify and catalogue the genes that encode them. To facilitate the functional annotation of these genes, biochemical data on over 800 fungal lignocellulose-degrading enzymes have been collected from the literature and organized into the searchable database, mycoCLAP (http://mycoclap.fungalgenomics.ca). First implemented in 2011, and updated as described here, mycoCLAP is capable of ranking search results according to closest biochemically characterized homologues: this improves the quality of the annotation, and significantly decreases the time required to annotate novel sequences. The database is freely available to the scientific community, as are the open source applications based on natural language processing developed to support the manual curation of mycoCLAP. Database URL: http://mycoclap.fungalgenomics.ca

Investigation of inter- and intraspecies variation through genome sequencing of Aspergillus section Nigri

Aspergillus section Nigri comprises filamentous fungi relevant to biomedicine, bioenergy, health, and biotechnology. To learn more about what genetically sets these species apart, as well as about potential applications in biotechnology and biomedicine, we sequenced 23 genomes de novo, forming a full genome compendium for the section (26 species), as well as 6 Aspergillus niger isolates. This allowed us to quantify both inter-and intraspecies genomic variation. We further predicted 17,903 carbohydrateactive enzymes and 2,717 secondary metabolite gene clusters, which we condensed into 455 distinct families corresponding to compound classes, 49% of which are only found in single species. We performed metabolomics and genetic engineering to correlate genotypes to phenotypes, as demonstrated for the metabolite aurasperone, and by heterologous transfer of citrate production to Aspergillus nidulans. Experimental and computational analyses showed that both secondary metabolism and regulation are key factors that are significant in the delineation of Aspergillus species.Peer reviewe

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Heat-Shock Proteins as a Tool for Measuring Stress in American Kestrels (Falco Sparverius) Nesting Along a Human Disturbance Gradient

Heat-shock proteins (HSPs, also known as stress proteins) are intracellular proteins that prevent cell and protein damage during periods of stress. HSPs have been employed as a measure of stress in a variety of organisms since their discovery in 1962, but their usefulness in field ornithology has only just recently begun to be explored. Human activity impact on wildlife (specifically stress caused by human disturbance) has become an increasingly relevant issue in conservation as human populations expand world-wide. We examined relationships among HSP concentration in blood cells (as a measure of stress), fitness measures (reproduction and physical condition), and human disturbance in American Kestrels. The study was conducted in southwest Idaho during the spring and summer of 2008. We collected blood from adult birds after eggs were layed and from nestlings just about to leave the nest (~23-25 days old). We also recorded measures of size and mass and the number of young produced per pair. Habitat for each nest was given one of three disturbance scores: high, medium, or low (based on human activity near the nest). Blood cells were assayed for total protein content per μl and HSPs per μl were measured by western blot analysis and Kodak Molecular Imaging Software. Results from this study have implications on whether human activities evoke a physiological stress response in breeding adult birds or developing young chicks

Reproductive Failure of a Human-Tolerant Species, the American Kestrel, is Associated with Stress and Human Disturbance

Summary 1. The rapid increase of human activity in wild and developed areas presents novel challenges for wildlife. Some species may use human-dominated landscapes because of favourable resources (e.g. high prey availability along roadsides); however, use of these areas may increase exposure to anthropogenic stressors, such as human disturbance or noise, which can negatively affect reproduction or survival. In this case, human-dominated landscapes may act as an ecological trap. 2. We evaluated whether American kestrel Falco sparverius reproductive failure was associated with human disturbance (traffic conditions and land development) or other common predictors of reproductive outcome, such as habitat and clutch initiation date. Also, we examined relationships among human disturbance, corticosterone (CORT) concentrations and nest abandonment to explore potential mechanisms for stress-induced reproductive failure. 3. Twenty-six (36%) of 73 kestrel nesting attempts failed and 88% of failures occurred during incubation. Kestrels nesting in higher disturbance areas were 9.9 times more likely to fail than kestrels nesting in lower disturbance areas. Habitat and clutch initiation date did not explain reproductive outcome. 4. Females in higher disturbance areas had higher CORT and were more likely to abandon nests than females in lower disturbance areas. There was no relationship between male CORT and disturbance or abandonment. Females spent more time incubating than males and may have had more exposure to anthropogenic stressors. Specifically, traffic noise may affect a cavity-nesting bird’s perception of the outside environment by masking auditory cues. In response, incubating birds may perceive a greater predation risk, increase vigilance behaviour, decrease parental care, or both. 5. Synthesis and applications. Proximity to large, busy roads and developed areas negatively affected kestrel reproduction by causing increased stress hormones that promoted nest abandonment. These results demonstrate that species presence in a human-dominated landscape does not necessarily indicate a tolerance for anthropogenic stressors. Managers should carefully consider or discourage projects that juxtapose favourable habitat conditions with areas of high human activity to decrease risk of ecological traps. Noise mitigation, while locally effective, may not protect widespread populations from the pervasive threat of traffic noise. Innovative engineering that decreases anthropogenic noise at its source is necessary