Establishment Of Colonies Research Articles

Effects of honey bee queen exposure to deformed wing virus-A on queen and juvenile infection and colony strength metrics

Varroa destructor and the pathogens they vector have contributed significantly to high annual honey bee colony losses. Deformed wing virus (DWV) is the most prevalent honey bee virus and has been associated with overwintering colony loss. DWV is capable of infecting honey bees at all life stages and castes via horizontal and vertical transmission. Few studies have been conducted to determine the effect that pathogens have on honey bee queen health and performance. Our results suggest that queens may have mechanisms that reduce the establishment of DWV infection following a single exposure event. A queen’s exposure to DWV-A prior to colony establishment did not significantly negatively impact colony strength metrics for two of three queen genotypes tested. Additionally, brood showed little subsequent infection. These findings suggest that when queens experience a single oral or venereal inoculation of DWV-A, vertical transmission may not result in significant brood infection and that overall colony strength may be largely unaffected. Increased colony loss experienced by colonies derived from one queen source indicates that differences in susceptibility exist due to factors that need to be investigated more fully. These findings contribute to a greater understanding of host-pathogen interactions in honey bees and suggest a context-dependent variability on the influence of queen exposure to viruses on colony health.

Alleviating competition increases raptor breeding success: A case study of Jackdaws and Lesser Kestrels

Anthropogenic changes in the natural environment have led to the need to find alternative resources to ensure the persistence of biodiversity. In birds, nest sites can be a limiting resource in stenotopic populations. A method of active protection is the building of nest boxes. However, attractive nest sites attract target species and their competitors. From the species conservation point of view, our target species was the Lesser Kestrel (Falco naumanni), whose populations have recovered owing to the establishment of nest box colonies across Europe. However, they have been out-competed by Jackdaws (Corvus monedula) in recent years. Because corvids are intelligent and aggressive, we had to artificially control the competition from Jackdaws to allow Lesser Kestrels to nest. We aimed to discourage Jackdaws from taking over the studied colony and to ensure the continued breeding of Lesser Kestrels by manipulating access to the nest boxes. Data were collected during three breeding seasons in a Lesser Kestrel nest box colony using two manipulations in which we prevented Jackdaw occupation by closing some of the nest boxes and then gradually opening them. We found a significantly lower probability of Lesser Kestrels nesting and lower breeding performance in the control year than in the years in which access to the boxes was manipulated. The field experiment shows the high efficiency of manipulating the accessibility of nest boxes by closing and opening them at the right time in the context of their occupation by the target species and thus influencing their breeding performance.

Trained Army Nurses in Colonial India: Early Experiences and Challenges.

The paper examines the introduction of trained female nurses for the British army men in colonial India between 1888 and 1920. It discusses the genesis of the Indian Nursing Service (INS), including the background and negotiations leading up to its formation, terms of employment, duties and working conditions of the nursing sisters. The memoir of Catharine Grace Loch, who served as the first Chief Lady Superintendent of the service is used extensively to trace the early experiences and challenges of the nursing sisters. The paper primarily argues that the INS being a new service, the colonial government maintained tight control over its functioning, and extreme conservatism in spending, thus retarding the growth of professional army nursing in India. Secondly, in examining the relations between the sisters and the (male) nursing orderlies, sub-medical and medical officers, the paper argues that the inadequate delineation of the nursing sisters' position in the military medical hierarchy was an important reason for the undermining of their expertise and status. Thirdly, the paper contends that as an all-women service, nursing constituted an important avenue of female agency within the patriarchal colonial establishment, which subjected the sisters to scrutiny both professionally and socially. The paper analyses the resultant conditions and regulations imposed on the sisters - most of them determined by gender and class notions. Finally, the paper discusses the gradual establishment and recognition of the service as an important cornerstone for the health of the army, while highlighting the shortcomings that yet persisted up until 1920.

Replication of Dengue Virus 4 in Plodia interpunctella (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) Larvae Under Laboratory Conditions.

Background: Developing methods for the isolation and replication of dengue virus (DENV), based on nonhematophagous insect models to assess virus-host interaction, would contribute, for instance, to the creation of drugs or vaccines and eventually to the control of the disease. In this regard, nonhematophagous mosquitoes have been used as biological hosts for the isolation of DENV because they are specific and sensitive to a low viral load and viral particles with low infectivity. However, implementation of these models is mainly affected by the complexity of the establishment of the entomological colonies. Materials and Methods: In this study, the susceptibility of DENV-4 infection in Plodia interpunctella larvae was evaluated. Ten larvae, previously inoculated with supernatant from DENV-4-infected C6/36 cells, were processed to determine viral replication by the optical density and 2-ΔΔCt methods at different time intervals (1 and 7 days postinoculation). Results: A prospective increase in viral replication was observed, which did not influence the survival and development of P. interpunctella. Conclusion: These results demonstrate the infectivity of DENV-4 in P. interpunctella, thus becoming an option as a biological model for the study of this etiological agent.

A Sustainable Technique for Colony Multiplication by Eduction of Wild Nests of the Stingless Bee Tetragonula iridipennis Smith

Colony multiplication of stingless bees, Tetragonula iridipennis, largely relies on the eduction of wild colonies from their natural nesting sites in India. During the hiving of wild colonies, colonies were destroyed with the loss of robust wild foragers and built-in storage reserves over the years. The present study was conducted to devise a technique to sustainably multiply the colonies of stingless bees from the wild colony and the colony establishment and development during the eduction process. The annexure hives provided for eduction were accepted in a shorter time (3.25 ± 1.18 days), with the construction of storage pots observed at 7.75 ± 1.59 days after hive acceptance by the bees. The movement of foragers between the wild colony and the annexure hives was noticed for 13.80 ± 4.20 days. The foragers settled in the annexure hives and started foraging after 18.20 ± 2.49 days. The advancing fronts were observed at 26.67 ± 2.58 days after the addition of the laying queen in the established annexure hives. There was a significant increase in the number of inhive workers after the queen seeding in the annexure hives. This technique is the easiest and most sustainable non-destructive way of multiplication of stingless bee colonies without loss in viability of the perennial wild colony.

Effect of Improved Hive Cover Designs on Internal Microclimate and Colony Establishment of West African Honeybees (Apis mellifera adansonii L.) in Awka, Nigeria

Hive cover designs majorly affects the microclimate and colony establishment of African honeybee colonies in Nigeria. It became pertinent therefore to assess the effect of modified hive cover designs on the internal microclimate and colony establishment of West African honeybee (Apis mellifera adansonii L.) Colonies in Awka, Nigeria. Four insulating materials were used to construct the covers of twelve modified frame bar hives and designated: Control (plywood); T1 (warped boards); T2 (PVC) and T3 (foam). Each hive treatment was replicated three times. Data on ambient and hive microclimate as well as the colonization of honeybees’ colonies were observed and reported. The results indicated that the control had the highest temperature (31.86 ºC) while T1 (30.40ºC) had the least. The hive temperature was higher in March, 2023 (32.72°C) while August (29.87°C) had the least. The highest relative humidity (73.18%) was recorded in T1 while the control had the least (64.38%). The hive temperature and relative humidity was significantly affected by hive cover designs and different months of the study period (P<0.05). The highest colonization by African honeybees was observed in the control (100%) but none occurred in T2 (0.00%). Colonization of the Control hives occurred in July, October, and November, 2022 while that of T1 and T3 occurred in December, 2022. Colony establishment of African honeybees was not significantly affected by hive cover designs (p=0.26) and different months of the study period (p=0.24). It was concluded that beekeepers should adopt the insulation of hiver covers with plywood wood since it had 100% colonization of West African honeybees’.

A preliminary assessment of ancient diet and mobility in Archaic period Asia minor: A view from Panormos, near Didyma

The Archaic Period in the Aegean marks the establishment of colonies and settlements in the larger Mediterranean and Black Sea. But little is known of the character of any demic expansion and the character of daily life for non-elites. We report first results of stable carbon and oxygen isotope ratios in tooth enamel from thirteen individuals buried in an Archaic Period necropolis located in western Turkey. We also measured multiple teeth in three individuals, which allow us to consider life events during childhood. Results indicate greater dietary diversity than has been observed in other palaeodiet studies in the region. From a wide range of oxygen values, including individual inter-tooth variation, we suggest that some of the individuals buried at Panormos may have spent some time during childhood outside the Aegean climatic zone, including the Black Sea and the interior of Asia Minor.

Reproductive benefits and reduced investment in parental care behavior associated with reproductive groups of males in Abudefduf troschelii.

Fishes of the family Pomacentridae present a wide diversity of mating systems, ranging from polygyny to promiscuity and from individual territorial defense to the establishment of reproductive colonies of males. The damselfish species Abudefduf troschelii has a reproductive colony mating system, in which males temporarily aggregate in reproductive areas to court and attract females. Males defend an individual territory where they receive eggs and perform paternal care behaviors for their offspring. The present study evaluated the advantages of the colonial mating system in A. troschelii. During an entire reproductive period, in a breeding colony within a rocky reef, we located, marked, geo-referenced, and measured the distances between the territories of all males. We quantified the variance among males in their patterns of paternal care investment, eggs acquired, hatching success, reproductive success, body size, and changes in body coloration. We found that males spatially distributed their nests in groups or independently (i.e., solitary nests). Nesting groups are formed by larger males that show intense nuptial coloration during the entire receptivity period. They are located centrally to the colony and consist of three to six males whose territories overlap. In contrast, small solitary males that fail to acquire or maintain nuptial coloration during the receptivity period establish their nests peripherally to the colony, away from the territories of other males. Our results highlight that the reproductive benefits of colonial nesting are unequal for males, as the spatial distribution of nests within the colony determines the reproductive success of males. Group nesting confers the highest reproductive benefits to males regarding eggs obtained, hatching success, and relative fitness and also enables males to reduce their parental investment in brood care behaviors. The preference of females for oviposition could be associated with greater intrasexual competitiveness, defense ability, body condition, or experience of group-nesting males located at the center of the colony or because their progeny will have a lower probability of predation than they would in solitary nests males.

Regulation of nutrient utilization in filamentous fungi.

Organisms must accurately sense and respond to nutrients to survive. In filamentous fungi, accurate nutrient sensing is important in the establishment of fungal colonies and in continued, rapid growth for the exploitation of environmental resources. To ensure efficient nutrient utilization, fungi have evolved a combination of activating and repressing genetic networks to tightly regulate metabolic pathways and distinguish between preferred nutrients, which require minimal energy and resources to utilize, and nonpreferred nutrients, which have more energy-intensive catabolic requirements. Genes necessary for the utilization of nonpreferred carbon sources are activated by transcription factors that respond to the presence of the specific nutrient and repressed by transcription factors that respond to the presence of preferred carbohydrates. Utilization of nonpreferred nitrogen sources generally requires two transcription factors. Pathway-specific transcription factors respond to the presence of a specific nonpreferred nitrogen source, while another transcription factor activates genes in the absence of preferred nitrogen sources. In this review, we discuss the roles of transcription factors and upstream regulatory genes that respond to preferred and nonpreferred carbon and nitrogen sources and their roles in regulating carbon and nitrogen catabolism. KEY POINTS: • Interplay of activating and repressing transcriptional networks regulates catabolism. • Nutrient-specific activating transcriptional pathways provide metabolic specificity. • Repressing regulatory systems differentiate nutrients in mixed nutrient environments.

US TRANSATLANTIC POLICIES AND US-EU TRANSATLANTIC RELATIONS FROM A HISTORICAL, POLITICAL, ECONOMIC AND SOCIO-CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE

"Relations between the United States and Europe have evolved over centuries, encompassing political, economic, security, and socio-cultural dimensions within their multi-layered processes. The historical dimension of these relations, which began with the discovery of the American continent by Europeans and the establishment of colonies by the British, French, and Dutch in North America, gained significance after the American Revolutionary War from 1775 to 1783, when Europeans lost their influence in North America and the United States was founded. This process is commonly referred to as Europe-US relations or "Transatlantic Relations" (Transatlantic relations). This comprehensive set of relations has endured to the present, involving both bilateral relations between the US and European allies and the relations among international and supranational organizations established by these allies. Throughout history, these transatlantic relations can be divided into distinct periods such as the balance of power era in 19th-century Europe, World War I (1914-1918), the Interwar Period (1919-1939), World War II (1939-1945), the Cold War era (1945-1991), and the post-Cold War era. These historical periods have witnessed periods of conflict as well as cooperation among transatlantic partners, and have persisted to the present day. This study suggests that the transatlantic relations of the US encompass a historical process and that, after World War II, they have been shaped by US interests. However, these relations have also been influenced by the personal attitudes and doctrines of US presidents, as well as political, economic, and socio-cultural developments. Nonetheless, the current state of transatlantic relations reflects mutual interdependence, solidarity, alliance, and cooperation, with the overcoming of challenges. This study examines the historical process, events, and developments, and analyzes bilateral relations in their historical, political, economic, and socio-cultural dimensions."

Theatrical Recycling as Colonial Prequel: The Provocation!, Nootka Sound, and British Columbia’s “First” Play

The 1790 pantomime The Provocation!’s intervention into the Nootka Crisis may signal that what was to crystalize by 1871, when British Columbia entered Canadian Confederation as a settler colony, was already taking shape: the confluence of the development of a series of extractive industries, the establishment of settler colonies, and persistent imperial ambivalence about the territory that would eventually become a Canadian province. Given that the Nootka Sound Crisis is now relatively unknown, this article begins by briefly summarizing the crisis. After describing Nootka Sound and The Provocation!, The Provocation!’s apparent intervention in British diplomacy is discussed. Finally, after outlining how the public appearance of six Cherokee Chiefs at one of The Provocation!’s final performances was deployed by the press, the article addresses how the two plays built on pre-circulating British understandings of Indigeneity and of the Pacific Northwest, recycling and activating these performative and visual genealogies to lay the groundwork for the settler-colonial structures that followed in the nineteenth century.

Filtration of environmentally sourced aquatic media impacts laboratory-colonised Aedes albopictus early development and adult bacteriome composition.

Microorganisms form close associations with metazoan hosts forming symbiotic communities, known as microbiomes, that modulate host physiological processes. Mosquitoes are of special interest in exploring microbe-modulated host processes due to their oversized impact on human health. However, most mosquito work is done under controlled laboratory conditions where natural microbiomes are not present and inferences from these studies may not extend to natural populations. Here we attempt to assemble a wild-resembling bacteriome under laboratory conditions in an established laboratory colony of Aedes albopictus using aquatic media from environmentally-exposed and differentially filtered larval habitats. While we did not successfully replicate a wild bacteriome using these filtrations, we show that these manipulations alter the bacteriomes of mosquitoes, generating a unique composition not seen in wild populations collected from and near our source water or in our laboratory colony. We also demonstrate that our filtration regimens impact larval development times, as well as impact adult survival on different carbohydrate diets.

In vitro Studies on the Biology and Predatory Potential of Commonly Occurring Ant Species in a Selected Agro-ecosystem of the Himalayan Range, India

Four commonly occurring species of queen ants were collected after their nuptial flight from an agroecosystem in Lehri Sarail village of Himachal Pradesh (31°32’03.9”N 76°38’57.7“E) using light traps. Queens named HAC1, HAC2, HAC3, and HAC4 were placed individually in a test tube with water sources. Once the queen started laying eggs, and a few workers emerged, they were transferred to an artificial formicarium. HAC1 and HAC2 were identified as Camponotus compressus, while HAC3 and HAC4 were identified as Polyrhachis thompsoni and Pheidole minor, respectively. In the study period of one year between July 2020 and July 2021, offspring from all colonies were found to be workers. HAC1, HAC2, and HAC4 produced dimorphic workers, the majors and minors. Studies on colony establishment, biology, and behavior were carried out with colonies from HAC1, HAC2, and HAC3, while a colony from HAC4 failed to establish. All species showed similar types of colony founding, nesting, brood management, necrophorosis, and hibernation. C. compressus showed higher fecundity, while percent hatchability was higher in P. thompsoni. Percent pupation and adult emergence were higher in C. compressus and lower in P. thompsoni. P. thompsoni was observed to be more aggressive with a high predation rate, followed by C. compressus. P. minor showed aggressiveness initially but was unable to incapacitate the host larva. Understanding ant biodiversity, biology, behavior, predatory potential, etc., will allow us to use the native ants in the agroecosystem as biological control agents. Methods of rearing ants under the artificial setup described here enable laboratory culturing of ants with biocontrol potential and using ants as model organisms to study the bio-efficacy of agrochemicals and pharmaceutical drugs.

Quorum Sensing Is Required for the Colony Establishment of a Plant Phyllosphere Bacterium Rhodopseudomonas palustris Strain GJ-22.

The phyllosphere presents a hostile environment for many biocontrol agents; however, it is as significant as is the rhizosphere for plant health. Deploying biocontrol bacteria into the phyllosphere can efficiently suppress diseases; however, the lack of knowledge on the phyllosphere adaptive traits of biocontrol bacteria poses challenges. In this study, we demonstrated that Rhodopseudomonas palustris GJ-22 colonizes the phyllosphere by forming cell aggregates. The formation of cell aggregates required the production of exopolysaccharides (EPS), which depended on the function of the rpaI-rpaR quorum sensing (QS) mechanism, mediated by the signaling molecule p-coumaroyl-HSL (pC-HSL). The mutation of the EPS biosynthesis gene Exop1 or the signaling molecule biosynthesis gene rpaI compromised the ability of GJ-22 to tolerate reactive oxygen intermediates (ROIs), such as H2O2, in vitro and to form cell aggregates in vivo. Collectively, the results revealed that QS mediates EPS production and consequently leads to bacterial cell aggregation. IMPORTANCE Quorum sensing is used by various bacteria for coordinating the multiplication of bacterial cells in a group and for modulating the behaviors of surrounding microbial species. Host plants can benefit from this interspecies modulation, as it can disrupt the QS circuits of pathogenic bacteria. Some N-acyl homoserine lactone- (AHL-) producing bacteria that were introduced into the phyllosphere as biocontrol agents may establish AHL-based crosstalk with indigenous microbes to steer the nutritional and microecological conditions toward their own and the host plant's benefit. Here, we showed that biocontrol bacteria introduced into the phyllosphere require a functioning QS circuit to establish colonies and suppress pathogens. Furthermore, our findings provoked a broader investigation into the role of the QS circuit in beneficial microorganism-plant interactions.

“Betwixt Ye Two Rivers”: Trafficking and Colonization in Early Seventeenth-Century Saint Christopher

Abstract Starting in the mid-sixteenth century, European traffickers frequented the Caribbean in search of ships to plunder and gained access to Spanish America's closed markets by seizing captives and smuggling them into underserved ports. For traffickers, these activities depended on alliances with Kalinago populations in the Lesser Antilles, who allowed traffickers to refit their vessels and trade for food, wood, and water. By the 1620s, this political economy of raiding and smuggling led to the establishment of English and French colonies in the Lesser Antilles, which created new markets for bound captives and deepened regional and intercolonial commercial networks. The Lesser Antilles developed into sites of colonization because of their centrality to networks of raiding and informal trade in the Spanish Caribbean.

Transcriptomic dissection of termite gut microbiota following entomopathogenic fungal infection.

Termites are social insects that live in the soil or in decaying wood, where exposure to pathogens should be common. However, these pathogens rarely cause mortality in established colonies. In addition to social immunity, the gut symbionts of termites are expected to assist in protecting their hosts, though the specific contributions are unclear. In this study, we examined this hypothesis in Odontotermes formosanus, a fungus-growing termite in the family Termitidae, by 1) disrupting its gut microbiota with the antibiotic kanamycin, 2) challenging O. formosanus with the entomopathogenic fungus Metarhizium robertsii, and finally 3) sequencing the resultant gut transcriptomes. As a result, 142531 transcripts and 73608 unigenes were obtained, and unigenes were annotated following NR, NT, KO, Swiss-Prot, PFAM, GO, and KOG databases. Among them, a total of 3,814 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified between M. robertsii infected termites with or without antibiotics treatment. Given the lack of annotated genes in O. formosanus transcriptomes, we examined the expression profiles of the top 20 most significantly differentially expressed genes using qRT-PCR. Several of these genes, including APOA2, Calpain-5, and Hsp70, were downregulated in termites exposed to both antibiotics and pathogen but upregulated in those exposed only to the pathogen, suggesting that gut microbiota might buffer/facilitate their hosts against infection by finetuning physiological and biochemical processes, including innate immunity, protein folding, and ATP synthesis. Overall, our combined results imply that stabilization of gut microbiota can assist termites in maintaining physiological and biochemical homeostasis when foreign pathogenic fungi invade.

Decoupling the effects of nutrition, age, and behavioral caste on honey bee physiology, immunity, and colony health.

Nutritional stress, especially a dearth of pollen, has been linked to honey bee colony losses. Colony-level experiments are critical for understanding the mechanisms by which nutritional stress affects individual honey bee physiology and pushes honey bee colonies to collapse. In this study, we investigated the impact of pollen restriction on key markers of honey bee physiology, main elements of the immune system, and predominant honey bee viruses. To achieve this objective, we uncoupled the effects of behavior, age, and nutritional conditions using a new colony establishment technique designed to control size, demography, and genetic background. Our results showed that the expression of storage proteins, including vitellogenin (vg) and royal jelly major protein 1 (mrjp1), were significantly associated with nursing, pollen ingestion, and older age. On the other hand, genes involved in hormonal regulation including insulin-like peptides (ilp1 and ilp2) and methyl farnesoate epoxidase (mfe), exhibited higher expression levels in young foragers from colonies not experiencing pollen restriction. In contrast, pollen restriction induced higher levels of insulin-like peptides in old nurses. On the other hand, we found a strong effect of behavior on the expression of all immune genes, with higher expression levels in foragers. In contrast, the effects of nutrition and age were significant only the expression of the regulatory gene dorsal. We also found multiple interactions of the experimental variables on viral titers, including higher Deformed wing virus (DWV) titers associated with foraging and age-related decline. In addition, nutrition significantly affected DWV titers in young nurses, with higher titers induced by pollen ingestion. In contrast, higher levels of Black queen cell virus (BQCV) were associated with pollen restriction. Finally, correlation, PCA, and NMDS analyses proved that behavior had had the strongest effect on gene expression and viral titers, followed by age and nutrition. These analyses also support multiple interactions among genes and virus analyzed, including negative correlations between the expression of genes encoding storage proteins associated with pollen ingestion and nursing (vg and mrjp1) with the expression of immune genes and DWV titers. Our results provide new insights into the proximal mechanisms by which nutritional stress is associated with changes in honey bee physiology, immunity, and viral titers.

Climate Change Laws: The Catholicon to the Farmer-Herder Crises in Nigeria

Purpose: The weight of overwhelming scientific evidence indicates that human-induced climate change is occurring in Nigeria, with the northern areas of the country faced with massive desertification. This has forced the northern herders down south in search of green pastures and on the farms of southerners who depend on these crops for a living. The resultant incessant clashes, this time with more sophisticated arms and weapons, take their toll in lives and property. The major problem envisaged in this work is the erroneous belief by the Federal Government that the proposed establishment of cattle colonies - Rural Grazing Areas (RUGA) - and National Livestock Transformation Programme (NLTP) will curb the farmer-herder crises.
 Methodology: The study used doctrinal method of research which involve review of existing literature
 Findings: Major findings in this work include that Nigeria has joined very elite countries in the world in enacting climate change laws encapsulated in the Nigeria Climate Change Act, 2021. Effective implementation of this Act therefore remains the nepenthe to the farmer-herder crises in Nigeria.
 Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: The study recommends that the Nigeria Climate Change Act should be fully implemented so that the farmer-herder crises can capsize.

“A Holy Experiment”: Medical Mission Sisters or how Women Religious within the Catholic Church became Doctors*

Drawing on archival sources and adopting a microhistory approach that pays attention to “hidden transcripts,” this article aims to fill a gap in the scholarship on Catholic women and medical missions by analysing the largely overlooked contribution of two women doctors, Agnes McLaren and Anna Dengel, in professionalising the healing ministry of the Catholic Church. In 1925, Dengel founded an international religious congregation, the Society of Catholic Medical Missionaries, with the goal of providing professional health care to women in British India at a time when Church law still forbade Sisters to practise the full scope of medicine. Focusing on the years leading up to the Society's foundation and its early days in India, I highlight the multilayered context of their “holy experiment,” the various hierarchies and discourses within which they operated, and the ways in which as European Catholic women religious they negotiated with the Church patriarchy. Focusing on and advancing a nuanced approach to female religious agency, I demonstrate how their complex marginal positionality vis‐à‐vis both Church hierarchy and British colonial establishment made them paradoxical players whose very terms of subordination gave them possibilities for agency and self‐determination. My analysis of their motivations, ideas, and self‐understanding challenges the standard postcolonial critique of medical missions.

Welfare and Clinical Assessment on Physical Captures Followed by Anesthesia in Apennine Chamois (Rupicapra pyrenaica ornata).

The Apennine chamois (Rupicapra pyrenaica ornata) is one of the rarest subspecies in Italy, listed in Annexes II and IV of the Habitats Directive and currently included as a vulnerable subspecies in the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List. The Maiella National Park population has recently been defined as a source population for reintroduction into other parks. Since collective captures allow for better selection of target animals for the establishment of new colonies, the aim of this study is to evaluate the physiological conditions and animal welfare in free-ranging Apennine chamois after collective physical capture followed by chemical immobilization with medetomidine 0.054 mg ± 0.007, ketamine 2.14 mg ± 0.28, and acepromazine 0.043 mg ± 0.006. Twenty-one Apennine chamois (18 females and 3 males) were captured and translocated for conservation purposes. The effects of capture and anesthesia were evaluated using clinical variables, hematology, serum biochemistry, and venous blood gas analysis, the latter being used in the field for the first time in chamois capture. A risk of metabolic acidosis and capture myopathy was identified, although it did not compromise the survival of 19 chamois, which adapted to novel environments and founded new colonies, as verified through GPS radiocollars. The protocol applied in this study represents an innovative approach to assessing animal physiology and welfare in collective mountain ungulate captures, useful for improving management activities for conservation purposes.