Divorce in common murres (Uria aalge): relationship to parental quality

Behavioral precursors of 12 divorces were examined in 30 color-banded pairs of common murres (Uria aalge) over six breeding seasons. Common murres are long-lived seabirds that typically return each year to the same mate and nest site in dense colonies. At least one parent is present continuously from egg lay to chick fledging. Murres, therefore, have considerable opportunities to compare their mates parental behavior with that of several familiar neighbors. Previous reproductive success was lower for divorcing birds than for reuniting pairs. As predicted by the better option hypothesis, there were clear choosers (seven females and five males) that initiated divorce by moving to a new birds site or by courting a new partner at their current site. Choosers improved their reproductive success after the divorce, whereas their previous partners, the victims did not. Yearly divorce rates (average 8.2% per year) were significantly correlated with yearly mortality rates. Divorces appear to be opportunistic: pairs divorced after varying numbers of reproductive failures with the immediate precursor usually being the disappearance (death) of a murre from a successful neighboring site. In contrast to the delays experienced by victims, choosers formed new pairs quickly and laid their eggs no later than reuniting pairs. Prior to the divorce, victims fed their chicks less often than choosers, and some engaged in other behaviors that compromised egg or chick survival. These observations suggest that deficiencies in parental behavior were precursors to the divorce. This report is one of the first cases where reproductive failure of divorcing pairs has been linked to deficits in the parental behavior of the subsequent divorce victim.Communicated by C. Brown     

Thermoluminescence as a tool for monitoring ozone-stressed plants

The effect of ozone (6 h, various concentrations from 0 to 350 ppb) on barley (Hordeum vulgare L., cv. Bomi) and tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum L., cv. Yellow Cherry) leaves was investigated in parallel by thermoluminescence (TL) and fluorescence (FL) methods. Several significant changes were found in TL glow curves measured after excitation by one single turnover flash at +2 degree C in the temperature range from 2 to 170 degree C immediately after ozone exposure. Contrary to TL, ozone induced only negligible changes in FL parameters F0, FM and Fv/FM. Measurements done 24 h after ozone exposure showed partial recovery of ozone-induced changes. The extent of recovery was not the same in different parts of TL curves. Fluorescence parameters were not significantly changed. The results demonstrate that TL parameters are more sensitive to ozone than conventially used FL parameters F0, FM and Fv/FM. Moreover, TL measurements seem to give information not only about the PSII electron transport, but also about the extent of oxidative damage and membrane lipid peroxidation. It is concluded, that TL can be a highly informative tool for monitoring the impact of ozone on plants.     

Dietary intake of PCDD/F by small children with different food consumption measured by the duplicate method

The dietary intake of PCDD/F by 42 small children, 21 boys and 21 girls in the age range 14-47 months, with different food consumption behaviour living in urban and rural areas of Germany was measured by the duplicate method with a 7 day sampling period from May to September 1998. The PCDD/F-levels in the food duplicates were in the range 39.2-325 fg I-TEq/g(dry weight) (median: 90.7; arithmetic mean: 96.6) and the doses were in the range 0.681-5.43 with a median of 1.56 and an arithmetic mean (AM) of 1.60 pg I-TEq/(kg(body weight) x d). Children living in an urban industrialized area with food consumption including products from the family owned vegetable gardens or the surrounding area and/or products from domestic animals showed no statistically significant different concentrations in the food duplicates or in the dietary intake of PCDD/F, calculated as I-TEq, than children living in a rural area with similar food consumption behavior or than children consuming exclusively food from the supermarket.     

Decrease of PCDD/F levels in human blood from Germany over the past ten years (1989-1998)

744 whole blood samples of normal subjects from Germany collected in 1989-1998 have been analyzed for polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDD) and dibenzofurans (PCDF) by capillary gas chromatography/high resolution mass spectrometry. Over the examined time period a continuous decrease of the PCDD/F concentrations in human blood was observed. The mean levels found were 43.7 pg I-TEq/g (lipid basis) in 1989 and 20.7 pg I-TEq/g (lipid basis) in 1996/98 [median: 42.2 and 19.4]. The reduction to about the half was found for most congeners. Each one-year subset of the collective and the entire collective shows a positive correlation of the PCDD/F blood levels with age for most of the congeners, the sum values and the calculated toxicity equivalents. For statistical evaluation a multiplicative model was used: Concentration = A x Age(B). The correlation is mostly pronounced for lower chlorinated PCDD and for 2,3,4,7,8-PentaCDF. The PCDD/F concentrations in human blood in relation to the year of examination and the age of the subjects can be described by a linear model: I-TEq [pg/g (lipid basis)] = 6176 - 3.097 x Year + 0.6482 x Age or by a multiplicative model: I-TEq [pg/g(lipid basis)] = 10(89.08-0.04415 x Year + 0.008468 x Age).     

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