Cornell Laboratory Research Articles

Use of whistles for acoustic classification of delphinids (odontoceti: Delphinidae) in the Western South Atlantic Ocean.

This study focuses on the acoustic classification of delphinid species at the southern continental slope of Brazil. Recordings were collected between 2013 and 2015 using towed arrays and were processed using a classifier to identify the species in the recordings. Using Raven Pro 1.6 software (Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY), we analyzed whistles for species identification. The random forest algorithm in R facilitates classification analysis based on acoustic parameters, including low, high, delta, center, beginning, and ending frequencies, and duration. Evaluation metrics, such as correct and incorrect classification percentages, global accuracy, balanced accuracy, and p-values, were employed. Receiver operating characteristic curves and area-under-the-curve (AUC) values demonstrated well-fitting models (AUC ≥ 0.7) for species definition. Duration and delta frequency emerged as crucial parameters for classification, as indicated by the decrease in mean accuracy. Multivariate dispersion plots visualized the proximity between acoustic and visual match data and exclusively acoustic encounter (EAE) data. The EAE results classified as Delphinus delphis (n = 6), Stenella frontalis (n = 3), and Stenella longirostris (n = 2) provide valuable insights into the presence of these species between approximately 23° and 34° S in Brazil. This study demonstrates the effectiveness of acousting classification in discriminating delphinids through whistle parameters.

Listening for the Ivory-billed Woodpecker: Sonic geography and the making of extinction knowledge.

If an apparently extinct bird calls in a forest, and there are people there to hear it-to record it, even-is it still extinct? The Ivory-billed Woodpecker was last 'officially' seen in the United States in 1944, but its extinction continues to be a subject of intense debate between conservation authorities, scientists, and grassroots activists. Tensions peaked around 2005, when scientists from the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology announced their rediscovery of the species. However, their evidence received significant challenge from other ornithologists, and this apparent rediscovery has since been generally dismissed. In 2021, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service recommended the ivorybill be declared officially extinct. Still, many people continue to trawl the Southeastern forests in search of ivorybills. In this article, I investigate the methods, debates, and results of efforts to locate this species, with a focus on sound. In doing so, I explore the interconnected roles of sound and space in the making of extinction knowledge. Sonic search methods of listening, sounding, and translating are core ways that searchers attempt to attune to, communicate with, and establish evidence of ivorybills. Additionally, sonic search practices are critical spaces of negotiation and contestation between different searchers, between searchers and ivorybills, and between searchers and skeptics. Ultimately, this article argues that sonic geographies affect the production of extinction knowledge, and vice versa-extinction knowledge making practices produce distinct sonic geographies.

Can Biodiversity Data Scientists Document Volunteer and Professional Collaborations and Contributions in the Biodiversity Data Enterprise?

The collection, archiving and use of biodiversity data depend on a network of pipelines herein called the Biodiversity Data Enterprise (BDE) and best understood globally through the work of the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). Efforts to sustain and grow the BDE require information about the data pipeline and the infrastructure that supports it. A host of metrics from GBIF, including institutional participation (member countries, institutional contributors, data publishers), biodiversity coverage (occurrence records, species, geographic extent, data sets) and data usage (records downloaded, published papers using the data) (Miller 2021), document the rapid growth and successes of the BDE (GBIF Secretariat 2022). Heberling et al. (2021) make a convincing case that the data integration process is working. The Biodiversity Information Standards' (TDWG) Basis of Record term provides information about the underlying infrastructure. It categorizes the kinds of processes*1 that teams undertake to capture biodiversity information and GBIF quantifies their contributions*2 (Table 1). Currently 83.4% of observations come from human observations, of which 63% are of birds. Museum preserved specimens account for 9.5% of records. In both cases, a combination of volunteers (who make observations, collect specimens, digitize specimens, transcribe specimen labels) and professionals work together to make records available. To better understand how the BDE is working, we suggest that it would be of value to know the number of contributions and contributors and their hours of engagement for each data set. This can help the community address questions such as, "How many volunteers do we need to document birds in a given area?" or "How much professional support is required to run a camera trap network?" For example, millions of observations were made by tens of thousands of observers in two recent BioBlitz events, one called Big Day, focusing on birds, sponsored by the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology and the other called the City Nature Challenge, addressing all taxa, sponsored jointly by the California Academy of Sciences and the Natural History Musuems of Los Angeles County (Table 2). In our presentation we will suggest approaches to deriving metrics that could be used to document the collaborations and contribution of volunteers and staff using examples from both Human Observation (eBird, iNaturalist) and Preserved Specimen (DigiVol, Notes from Nature) record types. The goal of the exercise is to start a conversation about how such metrics can further the development of the BDE.

Shifting boundaries: taxonomy and site‐based conservation

Shifting boundaries: taxonomy and site‐based conservation

Profile of Paul L. McEuen

In 1965, engineer Gordon Moore predicted that the number of transistors in an integrated circuit would double every two years. This prediction, known as Moore’s Law, has been proven accurate and spurred semiconductor research toward miniaturization. Moore’s Law, however, is starting to plateau. According to Cornell University physicist and National Academy of Sciences member Paul L. McEuen, this plateau presents an opportunity. Over his career, McEuen has worked with silicon devices and studied and fabricated next-generation inorganic and organic materials, such as gallium arsenide and carbon nanotubes. He and others are combining silicon electronics with these novel materials and deploying them in different technological niches. McEuen’s Inaugural Article (1) takes this work a step further by using heterogenous materials in a wireless electronic sensor system that is so small it can barely be seen by the naked eye. Fig. 1. Paul L. McEuen. Image credit: Susan Wiser (photographer). Fig. 2. An OWIC on a fingertip. Image credit: Alejandro Cortese (Cornell University, Ithaca, NY). McEuen grew up in Oklahoma and developed an interest in science and technology from a young age. When he was 13 years old, McEuen experienced an epiphany that would foreshadow his career in science. “I had saved up about $200,” McEuen says, “and bought a telescope to look at stars and planets.” After a few hours, however, he got bored. “Stars and planets don’t do very much,” he adds. So McEuen trained his telescope on a nearby wasp that had settled atop a soda can. “It was stunning,” he recalls. “The wasp looked like an amazing, fantastical machine. I was just blown away. So much complexity in such a small package; that, I think, is when I started to understand that ‘small’ was the way for me.” Now, his Cornell laboratory’s motto, “anything, as long as it’s small,” reflects this early …

The Synthetic Experiment: E. B. Titchener’s Cornell Psychological Laboratory and the Test of Introspective Analysis

Beginning in 1 9a0, a major thread of research was added to E. B. Titchener's Cornell laboratory: the synthetic experiment. Titchener and his graduate students used introspective analysis to reduce a perception, a complex experience, into its simple sensory constituents. To test the validity of that analysis, stimulus patterns were selected to reprodiuce the patterns of sensations found in the introspective analyses. If the original perception can be reconstructed in this way, then the analysis was considered validated. This article reviews development of the synthetic method in E. B. Titchener's laboratory at Cornell University and examines its impact on psychological research.

Multiresidue screening of milk withheld for sale at dairy farms in central New York State

Many of the drugs commonly used in lactating dairy cows result in residues in the milk, prohibiting its sale for human consumption. Milk withheld for sale because of drug treatment or from cows with high somatic cell counts is commonly called “waste milk.” One-third of dairy farms in the United States use waste milk to feed preweaned dairy calves. Limited information is currently available on the effect of this practice on the selection and dissemination of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Pooled waste milk samples were collected from 34 dairy farms in central New York State with the objective of detecting the presence and quantity of drug residues in these samples. Samples were collected and refrigerated using ice packs and then stored at 4°C upon arrival at the Cornell laboratory (Ithaca, NY). Screening for β-lactam, tetracycline, and sulfonamide residues in the milk was performed using commercial enzyme-linked receptor-binding assay (SNAP) tests (Idexx Laboratories Inc., Westbrook, ME). Samples with a positive SNAP test were selected for screening using a multiresidue liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method. The SNAP tests revealed that 75, 14.3, and 7.1% of waste milk samples (n=34) contained β-lactam, tetracycline, and sulfamethazine residues, respectively. Of the samples sent for LC-MS/MS (n=28), half had detectable quantities of drug residues. The most prevalent drugs detected by LC-MS/MS were ceftiofur (39.2%; mean ± SE concentration=0.151±0.042μg/mL), penicillin G (14.2%; mean ± SE concentration=0.008±0.001µg/mL), and ampicillin (7.1%; mean ± SE concentration=0.472±0.43µg/mL). In addition, one sample had detectable concentrations of oxytetracycline and one sample had detectable concentrations of sulfadimethoxine. These results provide insight on drug residues present in waste milk from select farm in upstate New York, and additionally indicate the need for additional studies targeting on-farm treatments that could degrade drug residues present in waste milk and reduce the potential effects on the biosphere from the disposal and use of waste milk as a feed source.

Population Status and Habitat Associations of the King Rail in the Midwestern United States

The migratory population of the King Rail (Rallus elegans) has declined dramatically during the past 50 years, emphasizing the need to document the distribution and status of this species to help guide conservation efforts. In an effort to guide King Rail breeding habitat protection and restoration, a landscape suitability index (LSI) model was developed for the Upper Mississippi River and Great Lakes Region Joint Venture (JV). To validate this model, 264 sites were surveyed across the JV region in 2008 and 2009 using the National Marshbird Monitoring protocol. Two other similarly collected data sets from Wisconsin (250 sites) and Ohio (259 sites) as well as data from the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology's eBird database were added to our data set. Sampling effort was not uniform across the study area. King Rails were detected at 29 sites with the greatest concentration in southeastern Wisconsin and northeastern Illinois. Too few detections were made to validate the LSI model. King Rail detection sites tended to have microtopographic heterogeneity, more emergent herbaceous wetland vegetation and less woody vegetation. The migrant population of the King Rail is rare and warrants additional conservation efforts to achieve stated conservation population targets.

Symposium 18: Citizen Science in Ecology: the Intersection of Research and Education

Symposium 18: Citizen Science in Ecology: the Intersection of Research and Education

Obituary

Obituary

E-line: A new crystal collimator beam line for source size measurements at CHESS

A new X-ray beam line has been constructed at cornell high energy synchrotron source (CHESS) to measure the vertical and horizontal source size of the positron particle beam. The cornell laboratory of elementary particle physics (LEPP) operates the storage ring (CESR) for X-ray generation for the CHESS user community by circulating electrons and their antimatter counterpart positrons in counter-rotating beams. As the laboratory reduces the emittances of particle beams to increase X-ray brilliance, there has been an increasing need for diagnostic tools to measure and monitor source size. A beam line front end that accesses the positron synchrotron light has been fitted with an experimental chamber and apparatus of compact design capable of horizontal and vertical source size measurement using the “crystal collimator” technique, and an additional setup for vertical beam position monitoring using a luminescence-based X-ray video beam position monitoring system. The crystal collimators each consist of two Si(2 2 0) crystals in a dispersive (+,+) arrangement that diffract X-rays to a fluorescent material coated on a view port observed with a CCD camera. Measurements of the positron vertical beam size using the crystal collimation method at E-line are compared with measurements of visible synchrotron light at a remotely located dedicated port on the storage ring.

Not just for the birds: archiving massive data sets

Among the 7,000 bird species whose songs are recorded at the Cornell Laboratory of ornithology's Macaulay Library, the prothonotary warbler doesn't seem like a standout. Referring to the sharp way the bird punctuates every high-pitched tweet, the sound is very high-frequency and bursty. Accuracy is paramount for Grotke and his colleagues, who are converting the world's largest animal recording collection from analog to digital to preserve as much information as possible for future scientists. Since 1999, they've digitized one-third of the collection and amassed 4 terabytes (Tbytes) of data. The sound collection dates back to 1929. Macaulay Library engineers are engaged in a particularly dramatic race against time, but they aren't alone in their need to preserve massive amounts of information. From high-energy physics to climate science to biology, new instruments are gathering more experimental data that need to be retained for the long term. Meanwhile, other scientists need to retain results from huge computer simulations. All around the world, data is being lost. To preserve its collections, the Macaulay Library is blazing a trail that others will have to follow

A comparison of plucked feathers versus blood samples as DNA sources for molecular sexing

Feathers are increasingly collected as a nondestructive source of DNA for avian genetic research. Although feather samples are not optimal in some important ways than more robust blood or tissue samples, feather sampling requires less training for field workers, results in shorter handling times for the organism, generates no hazardous wastes, and requires simpler storage procedures. Along with these largely positive attributes comes a set of challenges, particularly the relatively low copy number of DNA present in feather samples. We compared the utility and reliability of feathers to the more traditional blood samples as sources of DNA for polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based molecular sexing of Black-capped Chickadees (Poecile atricapilla). DNA from 102 individuals was extracted separately from both single rectrices and from blood samples, and the sex of each bird was then determined using standard PCR-based methods. We found complete agreement between sex determinations based on feather versus blood DNA extractions. Slight variations in lab protocols were necessary to obtain consistent results from these two DNA sources; and we briefly discuss other sources of error that could occur in feather-based molecular sexing studies. This controlled comparison of feather versus blood samples demonstrates that plucked rectrices provide a highly reliable source of DNA for molecular sexing of wild birds. SINOPSIS Se esta incrementando la modalidad de usar plumas como una fuente no destructiva de ADN para llevar a cabo investigacion genetica en aves. Aunque las muestras tomadas de plumas, en algunas instancias no son optimas que muestras mas robustas como sangre y tejido, el uso de estas no requiere adiestramiento especial, toman menos tiempo en la manipulacion del ave, no generan desperdicios peligrosos y requieren un almacenaje sencillo. Aunque hay atributos positivos en el uso de plumas, tambien existe el problema de obtener una muestra baja de ADN. Examinamos la utilidad y confiabilidad de muestras de plumas en comparacion con tecnicas mas tradicionales como obtencion de muestras de sangre como una fuente de ADN para el sexado de Poecile atricapilla utilizando PCR. A tales efectos se extrajo ADN, de rectrices, de 102 individuos y un numero similar de muestras de sangre para determinar el sexo usando PCR. Encontramos resultados similares con ambos metodos. Sin embargo, fueron necesarios pequenas variaciones en el protocolo de laboratorio para obtener resultados consistentes, de ambas fuentes de ADN. Discutimos algunas fuentes de error que pueden ocurrir cuando se utilizan plumas para la determinacion del sexo utilizando tecnicas moleculares. Este estudio demuestra que las rectrices son una fuente confiable para obtener buenas muestras de ADN y poder determinar el sexo en aves silvestres.

Geographical and seasonal gradients in hatching failure in Eastern Bluebirds Sialia sialis reinforce clutch size trends

Eggs untended during the laying phase can lose viability if exposed to high temperatures, such as those common at lower latitudes and late in the nesting season. The egg‐viability hypothesis states that constraints on viability during the laying phase could account for latitudinal and seasonal gradients in clutch size. We used 7 years’ worth of data collected by volunteers (The Birdhouse Network, co‐ordinated by the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology) to look simultaneously at populations across the temperate breeding range of Eastern Bluebirds Sialia sialis in order to test three predictions of the egg‐viability hypothesis: the probability of hatching failure decreases at higher latitude and increases later in the season, and that these trends are strongest among large clutches. The overall average number of unhatched eggs relative to the total number of eggs laid was similar to that found by other studies (7.8%; range 6.8–8.9% annually; n = 32 567 eggs from 7231 nests from 530 study sites). Using generalized linear mixed models that controlled for the non‐independence of eggs within a clutch, we found that the ‘per‐egg’ probability of hatching failure was highest late in the season, highest at lower latitudes, and highest for both small (three‐egg) and large (six‐egg) clutches. The seasonal and geographical gradients in egg hatching failure reinforce documented seasonal and geographical trends in clutch size. Loss of egg viability prior to incubation currently provides the most parsimonious and consistent explanation of the observed patterns of hatching failure. However, alternative explanations for large‐scale patterns, particularly those not consistent with the egg‐viability hypothesis, warrant further research into other causes of hatching failure, such as microbes and infertility (related to extra‐pair mating). Our results demonstrate that investigating causes of variation in demography among local populations across a geographical gradient provides a potential means of identifying selection pressures on life‐history traits.

Preserving Visual Recordings at a Library of Animal Behavior: Part 1: From Submitted Media to Archival MastersMicrofilm Media and Technology in a Digital World

In the year 2000, the directors of the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology decided to add moving images to their Library of Natural Sounds. By that time, the sound library had been building for more than 70 years and had become the world's largest archive of animal sounds. The decision to add video and film to the world-renowned audio archive expanded the mission of the Library toward the archival of animal behavior recordings writ large. The new multimedia archive was renamed the Macaulay Library, after our principal patrons Linda and William Macaulay, and was re-branded as a medium-agnostic resource for zoological natural history recordings.

Notes and Double Knocks from Arkansas

In the search for ivory-billed woodpeckers ( Campephilus principalis ) in the Big Woods region of eastern Arkansas [“Ivory-billed woodpecker ( Campephilus principalis ) persists in continental North America,” Reports, 3 June, p. [1460][1]], our unattended digital autonomous recording units (ARUs) recorded over 17,000 hours of ambient sound at 153 sites between 18 December 2004 and 31 May 2005. Review and analysis of these recordings are ongoing, and a full account will be published when analyses are complete. Here we briefly describe examples of the possible nasal “kent” notes and “doublek-nock” display drums mentioned in our Report and provide them as supporting online material (SOM) ([1][2]). ![Figure][3] A painting of the ivory-billed woodpecker and the device used to record its calls.CREDITS: (PAINTING) LARRY CHANDLER; (PHOTO) SUSAN SPEAR, CORNELL LABORATORY OF ORNITHOLOGY On four different mornings in January 2005, a single ARU in the White River National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) recorded a sequence of kent-like vocalizations. The four sequences, which lasted 8 to 41 s and contained between 11 and 26 notes, are extremely similar; the recording of 29 January (audio S2) is typical of them. In the same area, experienced observers have heard blue jays ( Cyanocitta cristata ) produce atypical notes resembling these ARU recordings. Quantitative comparisons of these kent-like sounds with sounds of known ivory-bills (SOM text; audio S1), white-breasted nuthatch ( Sitta carolinensis ), and the most kent-like notes of blue jay in the collection of the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology's Macaulay Library indicate that the notes recorded by the ARU are most similar to those of ivory-bills. Sounds that are strikingly similar to the double knocks of other Campephilus woodpeckers (SOM text; audio S3) were recorded by ARUs in several areas of the White River and Cache River NWRs. One recording (audio S4), made 1.3 km from the site of the kent-like notes discussed above at 0645 local time on 24 January, includes a low-amplitude, apparently distant double knock followed 3.5 s later by a higher-amplitude, apparently closer double knock. Although the sequence and cadence of this recording match an exchange between two individuals of a Campephilus woodpecker, the relative amplitude of the separate strikes in each double knock is atypical (SOM text). Additional descriptions and discussion of our acoustic data are available at [www.birds.cornell.edu/ivory/field/listening][4]. Further acoustic monitoring and field observation (including intensive efforts to record a large sample of the vocal repertoire of local blue jays) are planned for the areas where these recordings were made. 1. [↵][5]The SOM is available on Science Online at . [1]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.1114103 [2]: #ref-1 [3]: pending:yes [4]: http://www.birds.cornell.edu/ivory/field/listening [5]: #xref-ref-1-1 View reference 1 in text

Extensible bioacoustical analysis software: Two examples

Two extensible software tools for bioacoustical analysis have been developed by the Bioacoustics Research Program at the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology. Each tool provides a framework for sound visualization and analysis, supporting both manual selection and automatic detection of acoustic events in arbitrarily long recordings, manual annotation and automatic measurement of properties of these events, and management of the created acoustic metadata. The acoustic events of interest might include animal vocalizations and/or anthropogenic sounds. Simple examples of measurable event properties include duration, total energy, and spectrum. More advanced measurements might classify sounds according to the species or individuals that produced them, or estimate the location of a vocalizing animal. Both software tools can be extended in various ways, including the addition of new detectors and measurements. It has been found that this extensibility adds great value to the tools by allowing them to be readily adapted for new applications by bioacousticians or others with programming ability. It has also been found that such tools greatly facilitate the development of new detection and measurement algorithms by allowing prototype algorithms to be rapidly evaluated. Several case studies are presented that illustrate these principles. [Work supported in part by NSF.]

Dynamics of a novel pathogen in an avian host: Mycoplasmal conjunctivitis in house finches

In early 1994, a novel strain of Mycoplasma gallisepticum (MG)—a poultry pathogen with a world-wide distribution—emerged in wild house finches and within 3 years had reached epidemic proportions across their eastern North American range. The ensuing epizootic resulted in a rapid decline of the host population coupled with considerable seasonal fluctuations in prevalence. To understand the dynamics of this disease system, a multi-disciplinary team composed of biologists, veterinarians, microbiologists and mathematical modelers set forth to determine factors driving and influenced by this host–pathogen system. On a broad geographic scale, volunteer observers (“citizen scientists”) collected and reported data used for calculating both host abundance and disease prevalence. The scale at which this monitoring initiative was conducted is unprecedented and it has been an invaluable source of data for researchers at the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology to track the spread and magnitude of disease both spatially and temporally. At a finer scale, localized and intensive field studies provided data used to quantify the effects of disease on host demographic parameters via capture–mark–recapture modeling, effects of host behavior on disease and vice-versa, and the biological and genetic profiles of birds with known phenotypic characteristics. To balance the field-based component of the study, experiments were conducted with finches held in captivity to describe and quantify the effects of experimental infections on hosts in both individual and social settings. The confluence of these various elements of the investigation provided the foundation for construction of a general compartmentalized epidemiological model of the dynamics of the house finch–MG system. This paper serves several purposes including (i) a basic review of the pathogen, host, and epidemic cycle; (ii) an explanation of our research strategy; (iii) a basic review of results from the diverse multi-disciplinary approaches employed; and (iv) pertinent questions relevant to this and other wildlife disease studies that require further investigation.

Scientific knowledge and attitude change: The impact of a citizen science project

This paper discusses the evaluation of an informal science education project, The Birdhouse Network (TBN) of the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology. The Elaboration Likelihood Model and the theory of Experiential Education were used as frameworks to analyse the impact of TBN on participants’ attitudes toward science and the environment, on their knowledge of bird biology, and on their understanding of the scientific process. The project had an impact on participants’ knowledge of bird biology. No statistically significant change in participants’ attitudes toward science or the environment, or in participants’ understanding of the scientific process, could be detected. The results suggest that projects must make explicit to participants the issues that they are experiencing. In addition, the results suggest that more sensitive measures need to be designed to assess attitude change among environmentally aware citizens.

Ultrasound evaluation of abnormal umbilical cord coiling in second trimester of gestation as a predictor of adverse pregnancy outcome

TRIMESTER OF GESTATION AS A PREDICTOR OF ADVERSE PREGNANCY OUTCOME MLADEN PREDANIC, SRIRAM C. PERNI, STEPHEN T. CHASEN, REBECCA N. BAERGEN, FRANK A. CHERVENAK, Cornell University, Obstetrics and Gynecology, New York, New York, Weill Medical College of Cornell University, Obstetrics and Gynecology, New York, New York, Weill Medical College of Cornell University, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, New York, New York OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the antenatal umbilical cord coiling index (aUCI) obtained during the fetal anatomical survey in the second trimester as a predictor of adverse antenatal and perinatal events. STUDY DESIGN: Four hundred and twenty-five consecutive women who had a routine fetal anatomical survey in second trimeseter were evaluated for umbilical cord coiling index. aUCI was correlated with adverse antenatal and perinatal events, such as: small for gestational age (SGA), mode of delivery (interventional vs noninterventional), presence of meconium stained amniotic fluid, presence of non-reassuring fetal status (NRFS) in labor, and low Apgar scores (6 or less) at 1 and 5 minutes. RESULTS: A total of 294 patients had adequate ultrasound images and all antenatal and labor data to meet the study inclusion criteria. The aUCI above 90%ile and below 10%ile were recognized as hyperand hypocoiled umbilical cords in 10.5% and 9.2% of cases, respectively. Abnormal coiling was significantly associated with SGA neonates at birth (P = .043) and NRFS in labor (P = .007), whereas a trend toward a higher incidence of interventional deliveries and meconium stained amniotic fluid in labor was observed, but statistically nonsignificant (Table). No statistical difference for low Apgar scores between compared groups was noted. CONCLUSION: Abnormal umbilical cord coiling, detected at the fetal ultrasound anatomical survey in the second trimester, can be potentially employed as a predictor of adverse antenatal or perinatal events.