and evolution of the avian H7n9 influenza virus that emerged in humans in China earlier this year.
Working in three Chinese provinces researchers led by Yi Guan Ph d. of the University of Hong kong collected samples from the throats and digestive tracts of chickens ducks geese pigeons and quail.
The researchers compared the differences between the two sets of sequences to reconstruct how the H7n9 virus evolved through various species of birds
According to their analysis domestic ducks and chickens played distinct roles in the genesis of the H7n9 virus infecting humans today.
Within ducks and later within chickens various strains of avian H7n9 H7n7 and H9n2 influenza exchanged genes with one another in different combinations.
Given these results the authors write continued surveillance of influenza viruses in birds remains essential.
#Forest-interior birds may be benefiting from harvested clearingsefforts to conserve declining populations of forest-interior birds have focused largely on preserving the mature forests where birds breed
In an article published recently in the American Ornithologist Union's publication The Auk research wildlife biologist Scott Stoleson of the U s. Forest Service's Northern Research Station suggests that forest regrowth in clearcuts
may be vital to birds as they prepare for fall migration. The study suggests that declines in forest-interior species may be due in part to the increasing maturity and homogenization of forests.
Openings created by timber harvesting may increase habitat for some forest interior birds according to Stoleson.
On four sites on the Allegheny National Forest and private timber inholdings in northeastern Pennsylvania Stoleson set out to learn where the birds spend time after breeding season and
After the breeding season birds sing less stop defending territory and generally wander. Tracking them is challenging at this point in their life cycle Stoleson said.
Between 2005 and 2008 he used constant-effort mist netting to capture songbirds band them determine
and the extent of parasites the birds carried. In 217 days of netting birds over the course of the 4-year study Stoleson netted
and banded a total of 3845 individuals. Of these 2021 individuals representing 46 species were in the postbreeding stage based on physiological criteria.
Stoleson's research concluded birds'use of young forest in the postbreeding season is correlated with better physiological condition for some forest birds
and a dozen other crocodile species enjoy an occasional taste of fruit along with their normal meat-heavy diets of mammals birds and fish.
#Honeyguide birds destroy own species eggs to eliminate competitionlike cuckoos honeyguides are parasitic birds that lay their eggs in other birds'nests
and those of their bee-eater bird hosts hasn't evolved to trick hosts into accepting the imposter egg as one of their own.
Honeyguides are intriguingly odd birds that are best-known for their unique mutually beneficial relationship with humans.
But these African birds also have a dark side. They are unusually vicious parasites whose imposter chicks stab the chicks of their host birds (often little bee-eaters) to death
as soon as they hatch in order to eliminate competition for the host parents'care. The newly published research has shown that this fight for monopoly of the nest also extends to other honeyguides in a battle conducted deep underground in the nest burrows that bee-eaters dig into the roofs of Aardvark holes.
The researchers'curiosity was piqued by their earlier finding that like cuckoo eggs honeyguide eggs resemble those of each of their several host species. Instead of mimicking their colour
Many classic studies have shown that comparable mimicry in cuckoo eggs has evolved to reduce rejection by choosy hosts that eject mismatched eggs from their nests.
It forms part of a wider research programme investigating coevolution between parasitic birds and their hosts in Zambia led by Dr Claire Spottiswoode who adds My colleagues and
and in this case dug many holes into rock-hard soil to reach bee-eater nests and carry out these experiments!
and dispersed by today's larger-bodied animals such as emus or elephants. If these plants are adapted for dispersal by a set of animals that has been missing from Earth's fauna for tens of thousands of years then how can they still be around today?
Naturalists are very comfortable with the idea of animals gaining a biological advantage by choosing to live together in high density'colonies'--such as ant nests or seabird rookeries--in certain parts of the landscape notes Hall.
Australian cycads once coexisted with megafauna that could have dispersed their large heavy seeds--such as giant ground birds bigger then present day emus
Since their potential Australian prehistoric megafaunal dispersers became extinct around 45000 years ago why haven't Australian cycads begun to evolve smaller seeds that would be dispersed more readily by flying birds or possums for example over the interim?
In this case the retrovirus'effect was to trigger an accumulation of a green-blue bile pigment called biliverdin in the eggshell as the egg develops in the hen.
They are commonly found across species of birds including those that lay blue eggs as well as non-blue eggs within a single population like the cuckoo and guillemot.
and patterning across avian species more generally but this remains to be studied. The work was initiated by Professor Olivier Hanotte
#Huge owls need huge treesa study spearheaded by the Wildlife Conservation Society and the University of Minnesota has shown that the world's largest owl
--and one of the rarest--is also a key indicator of the health of some of the last great primary forests of Russia's Far east.
The study found that Blakiston's fish owl relies on old-growth forests along streams for both breeding
The large trees provide breeding cavities for the enormous bird which has a two-meter (six-foot) wingspan.
and nesting characteristics of Blakiston's fish owl in Primorye Russia where they looked at nesting habitat over 20213 square kilometers (7804 square miles).
because they are central to the owls'nesting and foraging behavior. Moreover conservation of Primorye's forests and rivers sustains habitat for many other species:
some of the 12 other owl species found in Primorye; and mammals like the endangered Amur (or Siberian) tiger Asiatic black bear and wild boar.
Listed as Endangered by IUCN Blakiston's fish owl is restricted to riparian areas in Russia China Japan and possibly North korea.
Blakiston's fish owl is a clear indicator of the health of the forests rivers
Retention of habitat for fish owls will also maintain habitat for many other species associated with riparian old-growth forests in the Russian Far east.
Logistical and financial support for this study was provided by the Amur-Ussuri Centre for Avian Diversity with additional funding from the Bell Museum of Natural history Columbus Zoo Conservation Fund Denver Zoological Foundation
Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund Minnesota Zoo Foundation National Aviary National Birds of Prey Trust United states Forest Service-International Programs and the University of Minnesota.
Focusing on the avian flu virus strain H5n1 research published today in the journal PLOS ONE identifies key stages in the poultry trade chain which lead to its transmission to other birds animals and humans.
which act as huge reservoirs for the virus at bird vaccination centres and at cock fighting contests.
Diseases which originate in birds and mammals such as SARS and bird flu represent 60 per cent of outbreaks.
and tended to have fewer babies says the study's first author James Ruff who recently earned his Ph d. at the University of Utah.
When you look at a mouse in a cage it's like trying to evaluate the performance of a car by turning it on in a garage Ruff says.
Potts and Ruff conducted the study with University of Utah biology lab manager Linda Morrison and undergraduates Amanda Suchy Sara Hugentobler Mirtha Sosa and Bradley Schwartz and with researchers Sin
#Bright birds make good mothersfemale blue tits with brightly coloured crowns are better mothers than duller birds according to a new study led by the University of York.
Unlike humans birds can see ultraviolet (UV) light. While the crown of a blue tit looks just blue to us to another bird it has added the dimension of appearing UV-reflectant.
The three-year study of blue tits which also involved researchers from the University of California Davis USA and the University of Glasgow showed that mothers with more UV-reflectant crown feathers did not lay more eggs
but did fledge more offspring than duller females. These brightly coloured mothers also experienced relatively lower levels of stress hormones during arduous periods of chick rearing.
Previous studies have shown that male blue tits prefer mates that exhibit highly UV-reflectant crown feathers.
UV plumage can signal maternal quality in blue tits so a male choosing a brightly coloured female will gain a good mother for his chicks and a less stressed partner.
and investigated the factors that affect breeding success in wild birds. In blue tits (Cyanistes Caeruleus) both sexes exhibit bright UV-reflectant crown feathers.
The birds are socially monogamous with the female solely incubating the eggs and both parents feeding the chicks.
The researchers looked at the relative UV reflectance of the crown feathers of female blue tits
and related this to indices of reproductive success--lay date clutch size and number of chicks fledged--as well as the birds'maternal state.
Dr Arnold said: With up to 14 chicks to care for blue tit mothers in our study were feeding their broods every couple of minutes.
We showed that dowdy coloured females found this level of hard work twice as stressful compared with brighter mothers.
#Increase in woodpecker populations linked to feasting on emerald ash borerthe scourge of forests the emerald ash borer
A recent study based on data collected by citizen scientists suggests that one more adjective might apply at least from a bird's perspective:
and Cornell University scientist Walter Koenig and others document how an EAB invasion fueled a population boom for four species of birds in the Detroit area.
The four species of birds considered in the study Effects of the emerald ash borer invasion on four species of birds included three woodpeckers that are known to forage on EAB-infested ash trees
--the downy woodpecker hairy woodpecker red-bellied woodpecker--as well as the white-breasted nuthatch a common bark-gleaning species that is also a potential predator of EAB.
We can take heart that native woodpecker species are clearly figuring out that EAB is edible
Data used in the study were collected by volunteers for Project Feederwatch a Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Bird Studies Canada project in
which volunteers count birds that visit feeders at backyards nature centers community areas and other locations from November through early April.
The data helps scientists track movements of winter bird populations and long-term trends in bird distribution and abundance.
since 1987 and allowing us to track changes in the abundance and distribution of birds across North america.
The study examined bird populations in an area about 25 miles west of downtown Detroit where EAB was discovered first.
Between the time EAB was detected first in 2002 and 2011 relative numbers of red-bellied woodpeckers
and white-breasted nuthatches increased in abundance scientists found. Populations of downy and hairy woodpeckers initially declined significantly
and then fluctuated however the downy woodpecker was at a significantly higher level relative to control sites during the 2009 bird survey season
and hairy woodpecker populations were significantly higher during the 2011 season. Both for forests and urban trees the emerald ash borer has been devastating said Michael T. Rains Director of the U s. Forest Service's Northern Research Station and Director of the Forest Products Laboratory.
The Forest Service is helping cities and states prepare for and recover from EAB invasion with research on the insect ash trees'resistance to EAB and biological control.
Researchers compared the abundance of the four bird species to their abundance in two sets of sites where the impact of EAB has not yet been severe.
Environmental samples from poultry cages water at two local poultry markets and swans from the residential area were tested also.
and food webs that did not sustain the abundance of large sharks whales seabirds and seals of the modern ocean.
Indeed large marine animals--sharks tunas whales seals even seabirds--mostly became abundant when algae became large enough to support top predators in the cold oceans of recent geologic times.
The researchers led by Sara Jaeger Jeremy Mcrae and Richard Newcomb of Plant and Food Research in New zealand found that for four of the ten odors tested there was indeed a genetic association suggesting that differences in the genetic make-up determine
They are one of the big elements of ecosystems like birds and trees. They are major movers of stuff.
so they are like vultures at a microscale. They move seeds around and have a big impact on
The berry bushes also produce flowers of value to pollinators like butterflies insects and hummingbirds; food for other small and large mammals;
and special benefits to birds. The report said that berries may be sufficiently important to grizzly bear diet
An expedition led by Brent Loken from Simon Fraser University and Dr. Stephanie Spehar from the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh travelled to the East Kalimantan region of Borneo.
An expedition led by Brent Loken from Simon Fraser University and Dr. Stephanie Spehar from the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh travelled to the East Kalimantan region of Borneo.
and co-authors Thomas Ingersoll and Brent Sewall. The study found cumulative declines in regional relative abundance by 2011 from peak levels were 71 percent for little brown bats 34 percent for tricolored bat 30 percent in the federally-listed
To date only three species of the genus Allobates are known from Guyana one of which the Cuckoo frog Allobates spumaponens Kok
This could be similar to Important Bird Areas a global effort to identify and conserve places that are vital to birds and other biodiversity.
In fact Tanzania's Priority Primate Areas were also often rich in bird life underscoring their value to conservation in general.
We believe Priority Primate Areas can be a valuable conservation tool worldwide similar to the successful Important Bird Area concept said the study's lead author Tim Davenport of WCS.
For a developing nation of such global conservation importance like Tanzania priority setting is an essential tool in managing wildlife.
and Distributions U s. Forest Service researchers Andrew Liebhold Laura Blackburn Susan Frankel and partners used spatial data to demonstrate that the distribution of invasive forest pests is focused highly with a particularly large
#Snakes devour more mosquito-eating birds as climate change heats forestsmany birds feed on mosquitoes that spread the West Nile virus a disease that killed 286 people in the United states in 2012 according to the Centers
However rising temperatures threaten wild birds including the Missouri-native Acadian flycatcher by making snakes more active according to University of Missouri biologist John Faaborg.
and seek more baby birds for food said Faaborg professor of biological sciences in MU's College of Arts and Science.
Although our study used 20 years of data from Missouri similar threats to bird populations may occur around the world.
Increased snake predation on birds is an example of an indirect consequence that forecasts of the effects of climate change often do not take into account.
Previous studies using video cameras found that snakes are major predators of young birds. Over the past twenty years fewer young Acadian flycatchers (Empidonax virescens) survived during hotter years according to research by Faaborg
and his colleagues published in the journal Global Change Biology. Survival of young indigo buntings (Passerina cyanea) also decreased during warmer years.
Faaborg suggested that a likely reason for decreased baby bird survival in hot years was an increase in snake activity.
Faaborg his colleagues and his former students collected the data used in the study during two decades of fieldwork.
Low survival in the Ozark nests harms bird numbers in other areas Faaborg said. Birds hatched in the Ozark forest spread out to colonize the rest of the state and surrounding region.
Small fragments of forests in the rest of the state do not support successful bird reproduction
so bird populations in the entire state depend on the Ozarks. In addition to his position in the College of Arts and Science Faaborg is an adjunct professor in the School of Natural resources in MU's College of Agriculture Food and Natural resources.
The American Associate for the Advancement of Science elected Faaborg a fellow in 2001. Story Source:
Overall the chickens purchased at the farmers markets carried higher bacterial loads than the birds purchased at grocery stores.
and that these grassland birds are affected more by rangeland management practices and by the availability of native prairie and vegetation cover at nest sites.
and wind energy companies--who studied how these wind projects influence grassland birds. We had a lot of buy in from stakeholders
and we had an effective oversight committee said Sandercock who studies grassland birds. The research will certainly aid with wind power site guidelines
The researchers studied the birds for seven breeding seasons and captured nearly 1000 total male and female birds around lek sites
which are communal areas where males gather and make calls to attract females. Females mate with the males
What's quite typical for these birds is most of the demographic losses are driven by predation.
The researchers also found that conservation management practices seem to have the strongest effect on the birds Sandercock said.
Prairie chickens are ground-nesting birds and need adequate cover for their nests to survive. Grazing and fire management practices can affect how much nesting cover is available for chickens.
and how it affects prairie chickens and grassland songbirds. Patch-burn grazing involves dividing a pasture into three parts and burning a third of the pasture each year.
Preliminary data shows that patch-burn grazing seems to provide enough cover for ground-nesting birds Sandercock said.
and encoded ASCII letters spelling out RICE OWLS into the bits. Setting adjacent bits to the on state--usually a condition that leads to voltage leaks and data corruption in a 1r crossbar structure--had no effect on the information he said.
#Live from the hens egglike a contortionist twisted the chick is lying in its eggshell brain eyes and beak visible in levels of grey.
The head of the spirally-rolled bird was the main reference point. We have focused on the brain and the vitreous body of the eye as bright and distinctive identifying features.
and point out that H7 influenza has a tendency to become established in bird horse and swine populations and may spillover repeatedly into humans.
Also H7 viruses have the ability to mutate from a low pathogenicity form to a high pathogenicity form in birds a scenario that can lead to large-scale culling and ultimately to human exposure to the virus among poultry workers.
and H7n9 might arguably be more likely than other avian viruses to become human-adapted write the authors.
#Surviving fasting in the coldking penguin chicks survive harsh winters with almost no food by minimising the cost of energy production.
A new study to be presented at the Society for Experimental Biology meeting in Valencia on the 3rd july shows that the efficiency of the mitochondria the power house of the cell is increased in fasted king penguin chicks.
King penguin chicks are socially and morphologically well adapted to harsh environmental conditions however they experience a severe energy challenge during the cold sub-Antarctic winter
and Prof Damien Roussel at the Ecology of Natural and Man-impacted Hydrosystems laboratory in France looked for the first time at how the king penguin chicks'mitochondria in skeletal muscle the main heat producing tissue in birds function during fasting in the winter.
We found that the efficiency of mitochondrial functioning increased in fasted winter-acclimatized king penguin chicks.
This study shows how king penguins are able to produce heat to survive the cold without depleting their energy stores an essential mechanism to survive the cold
which among birds have unrivalled an fasting endurance (up to 5 months). Fasting in the cold represents a bioenergetics trade-off between sparing energy for body maintenance
Rye collaborated on the research with Dong-Hua Chen and Wah Chiu at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston Damian Madan and Zohn Lin at Princeton university Jeremy Weaver at Texas A&m
Rye collaborated on the research with Dong-Hua Chen and Wah Chiu at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston Damian Madan and Zohn Lin at Princeton university Jeremy Weaver at Texas A&m
It already has been detected in dead birds and mosquitoes in at least 10 counties in recent weeks including Sacramento and Yolo.
when they feed on infected birds. In California around the time of the study#2004 and 2005#hundreds of people were sickened by West Nile virus
because unlike their larger bodied relatives in other parts of the country that eat larger prey their diet consists of small mammals birds carrion insects fungi and other plant material.
This new threat may also impact other species already facing declining populations including the wolverine marten great gray owl California spotted owl and Sierra nevada red fox
because unlike their larger bodied relatives in other parts of the country that eat larger prey their diet consists of small mammals birds carrion insects fungi and other plant material.
This new threat may also impact other species already facing declining populations including the wolverine marten great gray owl California spotted owl and Sierra nevada red fox
#Uncertainty over the benefits of feeding birds in winterwild bird populations are thought generally to benefit from being given additional food in winter
and The british Trust for Ornithology (BTO) has found that feeding wild blue tits in winter resulted in less successful breeding during the following spring.
The research published in Scientific Reports revealed that woodland blue tits that were provided with fat balls as a supplementary food during the winter months went on to produce chicks that were smaller of lower body weight and
which had lower survival than the chicks of birds that did not receive any additional food.
Our research questions the benefits of feeding wild birds over winter. Although the precise reasons why fed populations subsequently have reduced reproductive success are unclear it would be valuable to assess
whether birds would benefit from being fed all year round rather than only in winter. More research is needed to determine exactly what level of additional food provisioning and at
what times of year would truly benefit wild bird populations. Dr Kate Plummer lead author of the paper said:
One possibility is that winter feeding may help birds in relatively poor condition to survive and breed.
whether winter feeding is contributing to an overall change in the size of bird populations.
It is estimated that around half of UK householders feed birds in their gardens. This equates to around 50-60 thousand tonnes of bird food provisioned each year
As the wider scientific evidence shows feeding wild birds with appropriate foods delivers a range of positive benefits.
During winter populations of blue tits were left unfed given plain fat balls or given fat balls enriched with Vitamin e--a vitamin commonly present in bird food such as nuts and seeds.
Nest boxes and bird feeders were distributed around the woodland study sites and reproductive success was investigated by checking the nest boxes in the spring to determine the number of eggs laid and the growth and survival of chicks.
Studies elsewhere have shown that feeding wild birds in winter can have almost immediate benefits for survival
and inform the debate around the role that feeding wild birds may play in their population processes.
or beneficial to wild bird populations it is clear that more research is needed to better understand its effects.
#Why are murdered gull chicks, especially on Sundays? Why are murdered gull chicks especially on Sundays? How does man influence the size of gull populations?
These and many other questions are answered in the doctoral thesis of Kees Camphuysen from the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research NIOZ.
Camphuysen will defend his thesis at the University of Groningen on 21 june 2013. Kees Camphuysen has been doing research on seabirds
since 1973 and since 2006 his focus has been on seagulls in the Texel dunes. There he focused special attention on the European herring gull and the lesser black-backed gull.
Since the sixties the number of herring gulls has increased enormously then stabilized and subsequently strongly declined.
The lesser black-backed gull which established itself in The netherlands around 1930 suddenly became much more numerous later
and this species has eclipsed finally the herring gull in numbers. Has the lesser black-backed gull supplanted the herring gull by taking up the best spots
or did it win the competition for food? Or does the decline in herring gulls and the increase of lesser black-backed gulls maybe have nothing to do with each other?
From Camphuysen's research it appears that both gull species have benefited from an expanded food offering caused by people.
Herring gulls have learned to tap food in landfills while lesser black-backed gulls in particular were attracted by the fish waste that was put overboard at sea.
Now that the majority of landfills are covered and the fishing fleets are shrinking both gull species are finding it more difficult to find food.
It seems that the increase and decrease of both species is influenced not directly by each other.
Camphuysen also discovered a remarkable rhythm in the growth of the chicks and also that much more cannibalism took place over the weekend than on weekdays (gull chicks that were pecked to death by adult gulls and sometimes eaten).
It turned out that gulls especially during chick care rely heavily on fish waste thrown overboard from fishing boats.
Bad luck for these birds: at the weekend the fishing fleet is largely in the harbour.
This weekly rhythm is a problem especially in the second half of the chick care period (in July)
when there is barely enough food to be found for the hungry chicks. The fleet is expected to shrink even more in the coming years.
The problem of food shortage will continue to increase as a result but then not only at the weekend.
European policy wherein by-catch may no longer be put overboard will clearly have consequences for both gull species. How they will react to this is difficult to predict.
A strong inland increase of gulls looking for alternative food sources is one of the likely effects.
Camphuysen has equipped also gulls with a GPS data logger so as to be able to see where they look for food.
It emerged that lesser black-backed gulls foraged much further afield than herring gulls. Lesser black-backed gulls also went oftener and further onto the North sea following fishing boats.
One lesser black-backed gull which had three youngsters that were not growing well took a desperate measure
and flew via Hoorn to Amsterdam in order to hang out in the Leidsestraat there. Who knows did she eat chips there or a kebab roll?
She then flew to the north Sea in order to follow a fishing boat far out at sea. The next day her young had grown properly again. http://www. youtube. com/watch?
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