Effects of body size on goose behavior: lesser snow goose and Ross\u27s goose

Body size is highly variable among geese, both at intra- and interspecific levels. Interspecific variation in several behaviors has been attributed to differences in body size in geese: incubation constancy, tendency to maintain family units, and time spent foraging. Body size has important physiological implications for birds, mostly because mass-specific metabolic rate is greater for birds of smaller mass. The Body-size Hypothesis predicts that smaller species deplete their energy reserves at relatively faster rates than do larger species. Hypotheses and conclusions concerning effects of body size on waterfowl behavior often are based on comparisons of species that confront different climates, habitat types, and food resources, and migrate variable distances with different energetic costs. Accordingly, I controlled for such variation by comparing the behavior and physiology of lesser snow geese (hereafter snow geese) and Ross\u27s geese, which are closely related and highly sympatric throughout the annual cycle. I found that incubation constancies of both species averaged 99%. The defeathered ventral area was positively related to clutch volume and inversely related to prolactin levels in female Ross\u27s geese, but not in female snow geese; moreover, prolactin levels and body condition were inversely related in Ross\u27s geese, but not in snow geese. I documented that 5 of 5 female snow geese and 1 of 5 female Ross\u27s geese possessed fully-developed brood patches. In winter, I documented that Ross\u27s geese spent more time feeding than did snow geese. All these findings, except that for incubation constancy, were consistent with predictions of the Body-size Hypothesis. Finally, I studied effects of intraspecific body size variation on goose behavior by studying movements and behavior of snow geese in southwest Louisiana. I found that both adult and juvenile snow geese from coastal marshes had larger bodies and bills than did those from rice-prairie habitats. Adult snow geese from coastal marshes spent more time feeding than did those in rice-prairies, whereas the opposite was true for juveniles. I conclude that snow geese in southwest Louisiana segregate into coastal marsh and rice-prairie habitats by body morphometrics, but move too frequently between the 2 habitats to be considered separate populations

Fourteen sequence variants that associate with multiple sclerosis discovered by meta-analysis informed by genetic correlations

To access publisher's full text version of this article, please click on the hyperlink in Additional Links field or click on the hyperlink at the top of the page marked FilesA meta-analysis of publicly available summary statistics on multiple sclerosis combined with three Nordic multiple sclerosis cohorts (21,079 cases, 371,198 controls) revealed seven sequence variants associating with multiple sclerosis, not reported previously. Using polygenic risk scores based on public summary statistics of variants outside the major histocompatibility complex region we quantified genetic overlap between common autoimmune diseases in Icelanders and identified disease clusters characterized by autoantibody presence/absence. As multiple sclerosis-polygenic risk scores captures the risk of primary biliary cirrhosis and vice versa (P = 1.6 x 10(-7), 4.3 x 10(-9)) we used primary biliary cirrhosis as a proxy-phenotype for multiple sclerosis, the idea being that variants conferring risk of primary biliary cirrhosis have a prior probability of conferring risk of multiple sclerosis. We tested 255 variants forming the primary biliary cirrhosis-polygenic risk score and found seven multiple sclerosis-associating variants not correlated with any previously established multiple sclerosis variants. Most of the variants discovered are close to or within immune-related genes. One is a low-frequency missense variant in TYK2, another is a missense variant in MTHFR that reduces the function of the encoded enzyme affecting methionine metabolism, reported to be dysregulated in multiple sclerosis brain.Swedish Research Council Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation AFA Foundation Swedish Brain Foundatio

dryad-data-skarfur-2019

The data are comprised of total nests numbers of cormorant in Iceland 1994-2015, proportion of juveniles in september surveys, recruitment stocks of cod and saithe (from the Icelandic Marine Research Institute), as well as mean monthly temperatures for January and February (Stykkisholmur, Iceland) and finally the climate indices sub-polar gyre index (SPG-I; Berx and Payne), NAO (Hurrel) and Atlantic Multi-decadal Oscillation index AMO (Trenberth)

Data from: Numbers and distribution of the Great Cormorant in Iceland: limitation at the regional and metapopulation level

We studied a metapopulation of great cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo) in Iceland, using complete aerial censuses of nests in 25 years during 1975–2015. Age composition was estimated in 1998–2014 by ground surveys in September and February. Brood size was estimated from aerial photographs in 2007–2015. Weather, food, breeding habitat, and density were considered as explanatory variables when examining numerical and distributional changes in the cormorant metapopulation. In 1975–1990 total nest numbers changed little, very low numbers about 1992 were followed by an annual increase of 3.5% in 1994–2015. Total nest numbers were positively correlated with estimates of spawning stocks of cod and saithe and inversely related to the subpolar gyre index (SPG‐I). During the increase in 1994–2015, average colony size at first increased and then declined. Habitat use also changed: the proportion of nests on small rocky islets (skerries) at first declined, from 69% to 44% in 1995–2003 and then increased again to about 58% in 2012–2014. Habitat changes were probably a response to changed patterns of human disturbance. Breeding density, as nests per km2 sea <20 m deep, was rather uniform among five defined regions in 1975–1996. Thereafter, densities became much higher in two sheltered regions with kelp forests and in one mostly exposed region. A second exposed region remained low and in the third nest numbers declined markedly. Thus, carrying capacity was higher in sheltered regions where cormorant breeding had historically been depressed by human disturbance. Brood size varied little among regions but declined with the years from about 2.5 to 1.8. The proportion of juveniles in September (fecundity) declined in 1998–2015 from over 0.4 to 0.3 and was inversely correlated with year and nest numbers, if outlier years were excluded, suggesting resource limitation. Survival of juvenile cormorants in September–February was estimated at 0.471 ± 0.066 SE. Commercial fish stocks and climate indices were not correlated with the proportion of juveniles. Annual survival of adults (breeding and nonbreeding) was estimated from nest counts and age composition 1999–2014, as 0.850 ± 0.026 SE and showed no trend in 1998–2014. We conclude that the metapopulation of cormorants in Iceland was resource‐limited at two levels: fecundity at the regional and winter survival at the total level

Liberal supporter with his placard at the Liberal campaign launch Malvern Town Hall, Melbourne, Victoria, 1983 [picture] /

Title devised by cataloguer based on information supplied by vendor, see file 05/551.; Part of the Andrew Chapman Campaign photograph collection, 1975-2004.; Inscriptions: signed "A Chapman"--In pencil lower right verso.; Also available in an electronic version via the Internet at: http://nla.gov.au/nla.pic-vn4222293; Purchased from the photographer Andrew Chapman, 2007.; Exhibited: Campaign, Old Parliament House, Canberra, 15 February to 15 April 2007

Large-scale whole-genome sequencing of the Icelandic population.

To access publisher's full text version of this article click on the hyperlink at the bottom of the pageHere we describe the insights gained from sequencing the whole genomes of 2,636 Icelanders to a median depth of 20×. We found 20 million SNPs and 1.5 million insertions-deletions (indels). We describe the density and frequency spectra of sequence variants in relation to their functional annotation, gene position, pathway and conservation score. We demonstrate an excess of homozygosity and rare protein-coding variants in Iceland. We imputed these variants into 104,220 individuals down to a minor allele frequency of 0.1% and found a recessive frameshift mutation in MYL4 that causes early-onset atrial fibrillation, several mutations in ABCB4 that increase risk of liver diseases and an intronic variant in GNAS associating with increased thyroid-stimulating hormone levels when maternally inherited. These data provide a study design that can be used to determine how variation in the sequence of the human genome gives rise to human diversity