Fitness costs of an immune response in the house martin (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Delichon urbica</Emphasis>)

Immune responses constitute a major way for hosts to defend themselves against parasites. Because hosts do not habitually produce strong responses all the time, immune responses might be costly to produce or maintain. We tested experimentally if the production of a response to a challenge with a novel antigen resulted in a cost in terms of fitness using the highly colonial house martin Delichon urbica as a model system. We injected adult breeding birds during laying of the first clutch with either Newcastle disease virus (NDV) or a control injection, and the clutch was subsequently removed to induce relaying. NDV stimulates the non-specific immune system, causing production of antibodies during a period of more than 2 weeks. Accordingly, we found an increase in leukocyte counts in experimental birds compared to controls. Experimental treatment reduced the frequency of re-laying, caused a delay in timing of relaying and a reduction in brood size. Quality of nestlings in terms of body size, body mass and T-cell-mediated immune response did not differ significantly between treatments. Overall, seasonal reproductive success differed significantly between treatments, showing that the production of an immune response by adult birds is costly in terms of future fecundity.     

Changes in feeding mechanisms during early ontogeny in juveniles of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Crepidula fecunda</Emphasis> (Gastropoda,Calyptraeidae)

Feeding in early life stages of the sedentary snail Crepidula is effected both by the use of the radula and by filtering with the gill. The present study is a contribution to the knowledge of the mechanisms of feeding by early juvenile snails of Crepidula fecunda. Experimental observations were made on specimens of known ages as they were fed constant concentrations of microalgae in the presence of a primary biological film on a glass substrate. Feeding activity was filmed under the microscope, and images were digitized for the identification and quantification of feeding structures. A morphological analysis was made of the structures associated with this process. Results showed that the radula was functional beginning in 1-day-old juveniles, and the gill functioned in respiration. Gill function in filter-feeding began in juveniles of 9 days old when dorsal and ventral ciliation had developed, as well as the food pouch. The latter structure begins activity as soon as the gill starts food collection. Osphradia appeared simultaneous with development of the filter feeding capacity by the gill. In their earliest stages after metamorphosis, the young snails begin life by radular scraping of primary biofilms, gradually shifting to filter feeding as the gill developed a critical number of filaments and cilia.     

Reproductive partitioning in communally breeding guira cuckoos,<Emphasis Type="Italic"> Guira guira</Emphasis>

Guira cuckoos, Guira guira, exhibit a rare polygynandrous reproductive system with groups containing several male and female breeders, allowing for important tests of reproductive skew models. Female reproductive strategies involve leaving the group, varying clutch size, egg ejection and infanticide, among others. Here we examined the predictions of reproductive skew models relative to reproductive partitioning among females in groups. We used yolk protein electrophoresis to identify individual females eggs in joint nests. We found that reproductive partitioning favors early-laying females, which lay and incubate more eggs than females that begin laying later. Because the female that lays first tends to switch between repeated nesting bouts, and females do not always contribute eggs to each bout, female reproductive success tends to equalize within groups over time. The pattern of reproductive partitioning differs from that described for anis, another crotophagine joint-nester. We calculated reproductive skew indices for groups in 2 years, for both laying and incubation, as well as an overall population value. These were compared to random skew generated by simulations. Varying degrees of skew were found for different groups, and also across sequential nesting bouts of the same groups. Overall, however, skew did not deviate from random within the population. Nests that reached incubation tended to have lower skew values during the laying phase than nests terminated due to ejection of all eggs followed by desertion. Groups had higher reproductive skew indices in their first nesting bout of the season, and these nests frequently failed. These results illustrate the importance of social organization in determining not only individual, but group success in reproduction, and highlight the flexibility of vertebrate social behavior.Communicated by J. Dickinson     

A nonparametric procedure for analyzing repeated measures of spatially correlated data

Many agricultural, biological, and environmental studies involve detecting temporal changes of a response variable, based on data observed at sampling sites in a spatial region and repeatedly over several time points. That is, data are repeated measures over time and are potentially correlated across space. The traditional repeated-measures analysis allows for time dependence but assumes that the observations at different sampling sites are mutually independent, which may not be suitable for field data that are correlated across space. In this paper, a nonparametric large-sample inference procedure is developed to assess the time effects while accounting for the spatial dependence using a block bootstrap. For illustration, the methodology is applied to describe the population changes of root-lesion nematodes over time in a production field in Wisconsin.     

Assimilation of dietary free amino acids,peptides and protein in post-larval Atlantic halibut (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Hippoglossus</Emphasis><Emphasis Type="Italic">hippoglossus</Emphasis>)

With the aim of improving the formulation of diets for early stages of marine fish, post-larval Hippoglossus hippoglossus (56 days after first feeding; 23 mg dry weight) were tube-fed liquid diets of radiolabelled L-(¹⁴C) free amino acids (FAA diet), peptides (PEPT diet) and protein (PROT diet), in order to compare the kinetics of transfer from gut into the liver and carcass. The test diets were prepared using equal concentrations of amino acids (AA) and fed as a single pulse (0.3 µl, 2.2 µg AA). The PROT diet consisted of methylated-¹⁴C-labelled (mainly lysine) bovine serum albumin (BSA), the PEPT diet was the PROT diet digested with trypsin and the FAA diet consisted of an amino acid mixture based on BSA composition with added ¹⁴C-lysine. The common labelling with ¹⁴C-lysine permitted a comparison of the three diets. Based on dissection and distribution of the tracer in each compartment, the FAA diet was almost completely absorbed 1 h after the tube-feeding; PEPT and PROT diets required more time before they were processed by the digestive tract. The FAA diet was absorbed about eight times as fast as protein and about six times as fast as peptides from the gut. A low retention of label in the liver for all diets at all sampling times suggests that the liver does not store the AA at these absorption rates. The FAA diet had a higher assimilation efficiency (about 90%) than the PEPT diet (about 12%) and PROT diet (about 32%). FAAs, thus, appear to be superior to protein and peptides as a dietary source of amino acids in post-larval Atlantic halibut.     

Method for indirectly defining optimum temperatures of inhabitancy for marine cold-blooded animals

Investigations on the influence of pressure on the activity of alkaline phosphatase of some marine invertebrates from the Baltic Sea were carried out at temperatures between 5° and 55°C. The results obtained indicate that the influence of pressure on alkaline phosphatase activity is modified by temperature. At low temperatures, pressure has a decreasing effect on enzyme activity, while it has an increasing effect at higher temperatures. The gill homogenates of the relatively pressure-resistent bivalves Cyprina islandica and Mytilus edulis show a lower decrease of activity under pressure at low temperatures than the gill-homogenate of Carcinus maenas and a purified enzyme preparation of a homoiothermal animal.     

A Geochemical Survey of Topsoil in the City of Oslo, Norway

The city of Oslo is situated centrally in the Oslo-graben, which is a Permian rift basin consisting of different kinds of volcanic and sedimentary rocks. In the summer of 1998, approximately 300 samples of surface soil (2–3cm) were taken systematically, 1km^–2. The investigated area covers about 500km². Samples were dissolved in 7M HNO₃ and analysed for 29 elements with ICP-AES, mercury with cold-vapour technique (CV-AAS) and arsenic and cadmium with a graphite furnace (GF-AAS). A factor analysis is frequently used to identify relationships among sets of interrelated variables. To describe the covariant relationships among the elements, a factor analysis has been completed. The first factor contains the elements Sc, Fe, Li, Co, Al, Cr, Be, K, Ni, V, Mg, Y, Ba, Zr, Mn and As (listed with decreasing communality). These elements are typical for the minerals in the area and most of these elements have a near normal distribution. Sources for this factor are probably geological. The second factor contains Cd, Hg, P, Zn, Cu, Ba and Pb. They have a log-normal distribution. Road traffic is probably one of the sources contributing to this factor. In Norway studded tyres are used frequently in the winter season which results in large amounts of road dust. Leaded petrol has been a major source for Pb but is not in use any more. Wear and tear of tyres and brakes contribute also to this factor. Other sources contributing to this factor are probably industry, rubbish incineration, crematoria and release of some of these elements from structural material by fire. Factors 3, 4 and 6 with elements such as Ca, Na, La, Ti and Sr probably have geological sources. They are associated with minerals like amphiboles, pyroxenes and feldspars and some of the elements are from sea aerosols. Factor 5 contains Mn, Cd, Zn, As and Pb. Manganese may be derived from many different sources such as rock weathering, windblown dust, agriculture and traffic. Since As and Mn are placed in both factor 1 and 5 they probably have both geological and anthropogenic sources. Concentrations of the elements in the second factor are much higher in the central parts of Oslo, than in the rest of Oslo. The median value of Hg in the centre is 0.48mgkg^–1, which is 8 times higher than that in the rest of the city. Also, the other elements have much higher levels in the centre. The industrial district north-east of the centre also has high values. The distribution of arsenic is regular throughout the whole city, but has a slightly higher level in the centre. Norm values for contaminated land used by the Norwegian authorities are 2mg As kg^–1 and 25mg Cr kg^–1. Of 297 samples, 61% contain more than 25mg Cr kg^–1 and 79% more than 3mg As kg^–1, which is the detection limit of the analysis. These samples will therefore be regarded as contaminated. Factor analysis places these elements in the geological factor. The Norm value of zinc is 150mgkg^–1, and 40% of the samples contain more than this. The Norm value of lead is 150mgkg^–1, and 35% of the samples contain. Road traffic is probably the major source for these elements.