Song Thrush Research Articles

Description and Molecular Characterization of Two Species of Avian Blood Parasites, with Remarks on Circadian Rhythms of Avian Haematozoa Infections.

Simple SummaryThe diversity of avian blood parasites is remarkable, and they are often found in co-infections, which is a challenge for wildlife parasitology research. Co-infections not only make parasite morphological and molecular identification difficult, but also might influence the infection dynamics and disease manifestation. This study investigated blood parasites infections in a Eurasian blackbird (Turdus merula) and a Song thrush (Turdus philomelos). A new Lankesterella species was found and described. The molecular characterization of this parasites as well as Splendidofilaria mavis, an avian filarioid nematode, was developed. As several blood infections were present in co-infection, we used this opportunity to investigate the daily changes in the parasite intensity seen in the blood of these birds. A peak of the Plasmodium matutinum parasitemia was seen during the daytime. Leucocytozoon spp. showed some parasitemia peaks close to the evening and night. Trypanosoma spp. and S. mavis parasitemia increased during the night. Data about daily variation of Haemoproteus, Lankesterella, and S. mavis parasites were obtained for the first time. No pattern in parasitemia dynamics was identified in Haemoproteus and Lankesterella infections.Avian blood parasites are remarkably diverse and frequently occur in co-infections, which predominate in wildlife. This makes wildlife pathogen research challenging, particularly if they belong to closely related groups, resulting in diagnostic problems and poor knowledge about such infections as well as the patterns of their co-occurrence and interactions. This is particularly true due to the periodicity (circadian rhythms) of parasitemia, which means that different parasitemia and parasite stages might be found throughout the day. We analysed blood samples from a Eurasian blackbird (Turdus merula) and a Song thrush (Turdus philomelos). This study aimed to describe a new avian Lankesterella species and molecularly characterize and redescribe Splendidofilaria mavis, a common avian filarioid nematode. Additionally, it was possible to investigate the circadian rhythms of the avian blood parasites belonging to Plasmodium, Haemoproteus, Leucocytozoon, and Trypanosoma, which occurred in co-infection in the same avian host individuals. Different circadian rhythms were seen in different parasites, with Plasmodium sp. peaks occurring at midday, Leucocytozoon spp. peaks mainly during the evening and night, and Trypanosoma spp. and microfilariae peaks at midnight. No periodicity was seen in Haemoproteus and Lankesterella species infections. The time of parasitemia peaks most likely coincides with the time of vectors’ activity, and this should be beneficial for transmission. Knowledge about the circadian rhythms is needed for better understanding patterns in host-parasite interactions and disease transmission.

Functional complementarity of seed dispersal services provided by birds and mammals in an alpine ecosystem

Abstract Endozoochory is an important ecosystem function that, in temperate and boreal regions, is carried out mainly by birds and mammals. Due to their different quantitative and qualitative contributions to seed dispersal, these animals usually differ in their effectiveness as seed dispersers. However, there is still little information about how spatio‐temporal differences in frugivory between birds and mammals may create complementarity in their seed dispersal services. We investigated the complementarity of seed dispersal services provided by avian and mammalian seed dispersers of bilberry Vaccinium myrtillus in an alpine ecosystem, the Tatra Mountains (Poland). We collected bird droppings and mammal scats containing bilberry seeds in coniferous forests and alpine meadows. Birds were identified by DNA barcoding techniques while mammals were visually assigned in the field. We analysed the effects of habitat, microhabitat and timing of seed dispersal on the quantitative contributions of each species to the total seed rain and conducted ex situ germination experiments to assess the quality of the seed dispersal services. At least 13 bird and three mammal species dispersed bilberry seeds in the Tatra Mountains. Two species of thrushes—song thrushes Turdus philomelos and fieldfares T. pilaris, brown bears Ursus arctos and red foxes Vulpes vulpes were the most effective dispersers. Quantitative and qualitative contributions to seed dispersal differed between birds and mammals. Mammals, particularly brown bears, dispersed the majority of bilberry seeds in both habitats. The total seed rain provided by birds and mammals differed according to the habitat, microhabitat and timing of seed dispersal. Birds dispersed most seeds in the middle of the fruiting season and within the forest, while seed dispersal by mammals peaked in the upper meadows and at the end of the season. Seeds defecated by birds had higher probability to germinate as their droppings contained less seeds and were defecated in more suitable microhabitats than seeds defecated by mammals. Synthesis. Despite differences in the quantity and quality of seed dispersal, both bird and mammal species are effective bilberry dispersers. Complementary seed dispersal by these two groups guarantees the arrival of bilberry seeds to different microhabitats suitable for germination and during the entire fruiting season, maximizing the chances of bilberry seedling recruitment.

Stories at War: Images of Algerian Women From Colonial Accounts to the Life Story of Fadhma Amrouche

This article aims to discuss and analyse a wide array of stories produced in nineteenth century French Algeria and told by different actors about native Algerian women. While some of these stories were written as true-to-life war testimonies about Algerian women told from multifarious angles and perspectives, others were produced in the form of phantasmagorical image-stories about native women as told by Orientalist artists and colonialist photographers. Moving away from these colonial male narratives, the article discusses in juxtaposition the story of the women of Algeria as told by French feminist Hubertine Auclert in her book Les Femmes arabes en Algérie, and a counter story to hers written by Fadhma Aït Mansour Amrouche, as the story of her life, Histoire de ma vie. Bringing these two contrasting sets of stories into discussion and scrutiny will enable us to evaluate the extent to which native women were central to the French conquest and to the French feminists’ agenda of ‘saving them’ from their barbaric people and ways of life. The article aims to discuss the intricacies of such missions and assess the extent to which native Algerian women were saved by their colonisers.

Preserving wintering frugivorous birds in agro‐ecosystems under land use change: Lessons from intensive and super‐intensive olive orchards

Abstract Fleshy fruit production is becoming more intensive worldwide, but how this affects frugivorous birds is poorly known. In the Mediterranean region, intensive and super‐intensive olive orchards are fast expanding, potentially affecting millions of wintering songbirds. Here, we test the idea that intensification may benefit frugivorous birds, at least locally, due to increased fruit availability, while negatively affecting the wider wintering bird community due to intensive management, structural simplification and landscape homogenisation. We estimated olive abundance and surveyed birds in early, mid‐ and late winter, at traditional, intensive and super‐intensive orchards in southern Portugal. We used Hierarchical Modelling of Species Communities to relate species richness, prevalence and abundance to management intensity, winter period, olive availability and landscape context, and evaluated the role of frugivory in modulating observed responses. Olive availability was much higher throughout the winter in more intensive than in traditional orchards, both in trees and on the ground. Frugivorous bird abundance was higher in more intensive orchards, and the most abundant frugivorous species (blackcap, song thrush, robin) were positively affected by olive availability and/or increasing landscape cover by olive orchards, while intensification level had relatively minor effects after accounting for other variables. Non‐frugivorous richness and abundance were higher in traditional orchards, and many non‐frugivorous species had lower prevalence in more intensive orchards or were negatively affected by landscapes dominated by olive cultivation. Synthesis and applications. While negatively affecting the wider bird community, our results suggest that olive farming intensification can contribute to sustaining large numbers of frugivorous birds in the Mediterranean region. As frugivorous birds are not seen as damaging by olive farmers, there is an opportunity to promote their conservation in intensive and super‐intensive orchards, which requires management to increase habitat heterogeneity, and to reduce risks such as mortality associated with mechanical harvest and contamination with pesticide residues. Overall, we recommend that efforts to manage farmland biodiversity should consider the impacts and conservation opportunities of fruit crop intensification.

Characterization of Campylobacter spp. Strains Isolated From Wild Birds in Turkey.

Turkey is an important stopover site for many migrating birds between Europe, Asia and Africa. Campylobacter spp. are frequently found in wildlife, in particular waterfowl, and distinct strains are disseminated within this reservoir. In this study, 183 wild birds of hunting areas in Turkey were collected and thermophilic Campylobacter spp. from cloacal swabs were isolated at a prevalence of 5.2% from song thrushes (6/116) and 93% from Eurasian coots (41/44). After PCR species differentiation and flaA restriction profiles determination, C. jejuni and C. coli strains were further investigated by whole genome sequencing. PCR target amplification of the ceuE gene, commonly used for C. coli species-identification was inefficient and even hampered in one isolate. A close look on the ceuE sequence revealed that various mismatches in the ceuE oligo annealing sites caused less efficient diagnostic detection. All C. coli isolates belonged to the environmental clade II and clade III, for which thirty-six novel MLST types were identified. Further single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) analysis showed a high genomic divergence between the C. coli isolates. High variability was also implicated for putative plasmid-located genes detected in 51% of the C. coli isolates. Distinct gene variants in clades II and III C. coli were identified by a k-mer analysis. After substracting k-mers in common with C. coli clade I database, 11 and 35 distinct genes were identified in clades II and III isolates, mainly involved in surface structures and modifications as well as signal transduction, suggesting niche adaptation of C. coli strains in wild birds. All strains were susceptible against (fluoro-)quinolones, erythromycin, tetracycline, gentamicin and only one isolate was resistant against streptomycin, suggesting that the sensitive phenotype was due to absence of selective pressure and niche separation in wild birds in Turkey. We conclude that Campylobacter spp. isolates from wildlife and environmental sources are still scarce in the databases and that there is a need for more studies on thermophilic Campylobacter spp. from different places all over the world in order to complement our understanding on dissemination and adaptation to distinct niches of this global food-borne pathogen.

Corsino: One of Balzac’s Early Drafts in Prose

Around 1820–1821, a young and not quite experienced Balzac writes a short story in prose, a draft which will remain unfinished and which we know as Corsino. It is one of Balzac’s experimental texts in prose (Sténie ou les Erreurs philosophiques; Une heure de ma vie; Agathise; Falthurne) revealing his artistic quest and announcing some important traits to be found in his later official works. Corsino is influenced by Balzac’s philosophical lectures and reflections present in his notes known as Discours sur l’immortalité de l’âme from 1818, where the topics such as religion, God, morality, science, epistemology, materialism, or scepticism are discussed.

Sex-dependent risk-taking behaviour towards different predatory stimuli in the collared flycatcher

Prey animals may react differently to predators, which can thus raise plasticity in risk-taking behaviour. We assessed the behavioural responses of nestling-feeding collared flycatcher (Ficedula albicollis) parents towards different avian predator species (Eurasian sparrowhawk, long-eared owl) and a non-threatening songbird (song thrush) by measuring the latency to resume feeding activity. We found that the sexes differed in their responses towards the different stimuli, as males resumed nestling-provisioning sooner after the songbird than after the predator stimuli, while latency of females was not affected by the type of stimulus. Parents breeding later in the season took less risk than early breeders, and mean response also varied across the study years. We detected a considerable repeatability at the within-brood level across stimuli, and a correlation between the latency of parents attending the same nest, implying that they may adjust similarly their risk-taking behaviour to the brood value. Repeated measurements at the same brood suggested that risk-taking behaviour of flycatcher parents is a plastic trait, and sex-specific effects might be the result of sex-specific adjustments of behaviour to the perceived environmental challenge as exerted by different predators. Furthermore, the nest-specific effects highlighted that environmental effects can render consistently similar responses between the parents.

Lead concentration in game migratory upland bird meat: Influence of ammunition impacts and health risk assessment

Consumption of Pb-contaminated game meat is a concern for the population, as it poses a potential risk to consumer health. Thus, this study is aimed at determining Pb content in muscle tissue of migratory birds, evaluating the influence of the use of Pb ammunition on the content of this element in migratory upland game bird meat, and estimating the health risk arising from consumption thereof. Breast muscle of common woodpigeon (Columba palumbus) (n = 27), European turtle-dove (Streptopelia turtur) (n = 21) and song thrush (Turdus philomelos) (n = 35) were analyzed. Pb concentrations in breast muscle were 3.4; 0.98 and 0.82 mg/kg ww in common woodpigeon, European turtle-dove and song thrush, respectively. Risk assessment was performed using a benchmark dose, and margin of exposure (MOE) and plug in estimator (PI) were calculated. The estimated mean and 95th percentile Pb-intake for an extreme consumption (90 meals per year) werepar 0.045–0.079 and 0.083–0.14 μg/kg bw per day for adult and child consumers, respectively. Risk assessment showed that consumption of meat from common woodpigeon, European turtle-dove and song thrush hunted using traditional hunting methods for these species in Spain does not pose a significant health risk to adult and child consumers. Nonetheless, a particularly high risk occurs when animals carry excessive Pb concentrations, i.e. when they show a high number of impacts, in which case they would not be suitable for consumption and would need to be discarded. Future research is required to further improve the food safety of game meat in the domestic environment of hunters and their households, who are the primary consumers of this type of meat.

Sex-specific differences in spring migration timing of Song Thrush Turdus philomelos at the Baltic coast in relation to temperatures on the wintering grounds

Environmental factors influencing the timing of bird migration frequently affect age and sex groups differently. We applied discriminant functions to determine the sex of adult Song Thrushes ringed during spring migration in 1968–2019 at Hel on the Polish Baltic coast. We aimed to determine any differences between the sexes in the timing of spring migration and changes in protandry, and to identify any relationships between migration timing and temperatures at the wintering grounds. We analysed relationships between the date of migration and the year and monthly mean minimum temperatures in December–February by sex, using multiple quantile regression for q10, q50 and q90 of spring passage. On average males migrated six days before females. Spring protandry increased over 1968–2019 and with warm winters. The sexes responded differently to winter temperatures, likely because of the species’ mating strategy. For males the warmer the winter, especially in February, the earlier spring migration began and the later it ended, prolonging its duration. The influence of February’s temperature on the beginning of males’ migration is likely explained by selective pressure for their early arrival to establish territories. The later end of their arrival with a warm winter might reflect more low-quality males surviving, and migrating later than high-quality males, than with cold winters. For females December and January temperatures had no effect on the beginning and the end of spring migration; but the warmer the February, the earlier migration started and the later it ended. Females probably benefitted from improved conditions in a warm February in two ways: early-arriving females maximized their breeding success with a chance to raise a second brood, and late-arriving females maximized their chances of surviving migration by prolonging fuelling and stopovers, which extended females’ arrivals.

Sourire en coin, ou les ruses de l'autodérision par Gilles Archambault

Reviewed by: Sourire en coin, ou les ruses de l'autodérision par Gilles Archambault Ritt Deitz Archambault, Gilles. Sourire en coin, ou les ruses de l'autodéRision. Boréal. 2020. ISBN 978-2-7646-2633-7. Pp. 124. This short quasi-memoir opens as an 86-year-old Archambault arrives to vacation in Saint-Malo. One of Québec's most prolific living storytellers, Archambault introduces us to a young woman he has met at the train station, "Kim," who shares a taxi and then a meal with Archambault, who has reserved a hotel room near where she is to meet up with an elderly woman in her charge. As it turns out, these characters— [End Page 224] "Kim" in particular—are creations of the narrator himself, who, early in the book, makes it clear that the book is not going to be about his adventure in France late in life, but rather about his own writerly life as a whole: "Je suis bien allé à Saint-Malo. J'ai bien attendu longuement un taxi. Kim, toutefois, n'a jamais existé" (16). The Saint-Malo setting serves mostly to open and close the story, allowing Archambault periodically to bring "Kim" and two other imaginary characters he has created (the elderly pianist "Lydia" and a young admirer and academic, "Pierre") into his short chapters otherwise devoted to revisiting aspects of his own life as a writer. He shares this directly with the reader just as he begins his actual reminiscing, hinting at what the book itself is ultimately likely to be about: "Parfois, la nuit, avant de succomber au sommeil, je repense à Kim. Pendant deux ou trois minutes, je me dis que j'aurais pu faire de Saint-Malo le lieu d'une sorte d'adieu au roman" (31). Many of Archambault's reflections seem designed to disabuse the reader of ideas about the romance of a writerly life. Pierre, whom Archambault has imagined meeting in a jazz club, wants to talk with his idol about literature and his scholarly work, which the writer finds misguided. "Il ajoute que son travail porte plus précisément sur les écrivains du "je", dont je suis à son avis une convaincante incarnation," says the narrator. "Pourquoi ne s'intéresse-t-il pas plutôt aux filles?" (20–21). Archambault develops the self-deprecation more at length throughout his short chapters. Memories of having discovered literature following a modest upbringing in Southwest Montreal lead to reflections on authors themselves—there are complete chapters, for instance, on Balzac and Stendhal, but most of the writers are contemporary. Archambault portrays his own prolific output as the result of a natural work ethic: "Pourquoi ai-je publié avec tant de régularité?" (33). Mostly, it's because he has not learned to say no: "Tout au long de ma vie, j'ai été superactif" (81). Archambault dwells regularly on death, but in ways that have more to do with the meaning of his work and legacy than with any personal anguish. As he puts it rather concisely: "Il est possible que ma vie d'écriture ne soit tout compte fait qu'une assez pitoyable odyssée. Si c'est le cas, qu'y puis-je? Il est trop tard pour reculer" (80). For Archambault, the imminence of death seems no excuse for giving up just yet. Ritt Deitz University of Wisconsin, Madison Copyright © 2021 American Association of Teachers of French

The Winged Creatures of The Waves and Virginia Woolf’s Figurations of “The One”

When she originally conceived The Waves, Virginia Woolf declared that "It is to be a love story: she is finally to let the last great moth in." The unlikely association of this novel with a "love story" is illuminated only when the text's nonhuman figuration is brought into play. Woolf's consideration of the real-life behaviors of winged creatures, namely moths and birds, facilitates the novel's revision of romantic convention. This revision manifests in the bird sections of the novel's famous interludes, where the depiction of Song Thrush feeding behavior brushes against echoes of nineteenth-century romance poetry. The as-yet unexplored link between the interludes and Woolf's discussion of Christina Rossetti and Alfred Tennyson in A Room of One's Own reveals Woolf's invention of a new approach to the romantic ideal of "the one."

Été 85 réal. par François Ozon

Reviewed by: Été 85 réal. par François Ozon Levilson C. Reis Ozon, François, réal. Été 85. Int. Félix Lefèbvre, Benjamin Voisin, Philippine Velge. Mandarin, 2020. After the poignantly realist mise-en-scène of the sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Church in Grâce à Dieu (2018), Ozon returns to his idiosyncratic fantasy-driven cinematic universe in his adaptation of Aidan Chamber's gay teen romance, [End Page 285] Dance on my Grave (1982). However, in a faithful replication of the novel's narrative, the film's protagonist-narrator manages to defamiliarize us by framing the story of his summer fling with the prosecution of his desecration of his Jewish boyfriend's grave. Using diegetic voice-over to frame the story, Alex introduces the 18-year-old David Gorman (Benjamin Voisin), who saved him from drowning when the sailboat he had borrowed from his friend Chris capsized. In Ozon's love stories there is always a dark cloud looming ahead. Right after their first date, while walking down Tréport's beachwalk, David and Alex come to the rescue of a drunk young man whom they take out of harm's way. The next morning, Alex finds out that David did not get home until 4 a.m., three hours after they parted ways, which raises the question of David's faithfulness. Meanwhile, Alex meets Kate, an English au-pair girl, who just wants to practice her French. Later that day, David gifts Alex a motorcycle helmet, and they ride together to the local carnival. The roller-coaster ride, the bumper-car ride, the shooting game, the cotton candy, and candied apple stand for the "thousand" outings they would have. Alex comes across Chris, who blames him for the condition of his sailboat. A brawl ensues, and Alex and David get injured. They flee before the police arrive. Back at David's, they get their shirts off to tend to their bruises, and end up in bed together for the first time. In his voice-over narrative, Alex confesses: "Ce fut la plus belle nuit de ma vie." Afterward, David accuses Alex of always talking about death. Yet, it is David who insists on the making a macabre pact: "Celui de nous deux qui mourra le premier, l'autre s'engage à aller danser sur sa tombe"—a point that has a causal effect on the plot. Shying away from confrontation, Alex ends up giving in. David's meeting of Kate, the au-pair Alex had previously met on the beach, provides the story's turning point. As Alex foreshadows: "Ce fut le commencement de la fin." Alex gets jealous, leading to the break-up scene and David's fatal motorcycle accident as he sets out after Alex. He still has to fulfill his promise to dance on David's grave but, before, he wishes, with Kate's help, to cross-dress to see his fiancé's body at the morgue. While fulfilling his part of the pact, he gets caught dancing on David's grave. This brings us back to the film's narrative frame, as Alex appears before a judge to be sentenced to 140 hours of community service. One particular day, after picking up garbage at the beach, he recognizes the drunk young man they had rescued; but, this time, could he prevent history from repeating itself? Levilson C. Reis Otterbein University (OH) Copyright © 2021 American Association of Teachers of French

Narrating the Final Loss: Scenes from the Maternal Deathbed in Gabrielle Roy's Le temps qui m'a manqué and Francine Noël's La femme de ma vie

Narrating the Final Loss:Scenes from the Maternal Deathbed in Gabrielle Roy's Le temps qui m'a manqué and Francine Noël's La femme de ma vie Julie Rodgers AS ADALGISA GIORGIO REMARKS in her introduction to Writing Mothers and Daughters, "the mother-daughter dyad is still the dominant structuring principle of female identity in Western cultures."1 Prominent feminist theorists such as Nancy Chodorow and Adrienne Rich have illustrated in great detail the impact of this unique female-to-female relationship on the daughter's psychological and sexual development and, moreover, her own relationship to motherhood.2 It is generally agreed, however, that far from being an unproblematic cathexis, the mother-daughter bond is wrenchingly complex, so much so that Phyllis Chesler has labeled it "woman's stormiest love affair."3 In the field of literary studies, proponents of écriture féminine such as Luce Irigaray and Hélène Cixous view maternal symbiosis as a core feature of the daughter's text.4 Indeed, so pervasive is the presence of the mother in the daughter's narrative that Marianne Hirsch has identified a distinct genre of matrilineal literature, namely "the mother-daughter plot,"5 in which the daughter, via writing, is always thinking back through the mother in some respect. Lori Saint-Martin develops this concept further, arguing that the relationship between mother and daughter must be viewed as a powerful dynamic "qui se trouve à la source même de l'écriture au féminin et qui surdétermine les structures narratives et même, dans une certaine mesure, le langage."6 For scholars of matrilineal literature, the daughter's text emerges as an important space for maternal reconciliation in the aftermath of a rupture from the mother.7 Unsurprisingly, then, a large body of mother-daughter writing is posthumous in nature (occurring after the mother's death) and characterized by a need, on the part of the daughter, to return to the mother and atone for previous conflicts. Indeed, according to Annick Houel, one could even argue that the mother's death is a necessary condition for reparative mother-daughter writing. In her essay on the death of the mother in women's writing in French, Houel observes that "les filles ne peuvent pas dire leur amour pour la mère que celle-ci une fois morte."8 In this respect, the maternal deathbed emerges as a pivotal incident in the daughterly text, serving both as a site of relational [End Page 40] renegotiation as well as a highly condensed metaphor for the fundamental mother-daughter anxieties. Judith Kegan Gardiner unpacks the rich symbolism of the maternal deathbed scene in women's writing, arguing that the dying mother often represents the oppressive aspects of institutional motherhood and 'traditional' womanhood that the daughter, quite literally, wishes to bury. Moreover, Kegan Gardiner highlights the mother's passing as a threshold moment that allows mother and daughter, perhaps for the first time "at least fleetingly to feel themselves […] as interdependent yet separate identities."9 It is widely agreed among grief scholars that, due to the unique and often intense nature of the mother-daughter bond, the death of the mother gives rise to a markedly distinct form of bereavement on the part of the daughter. For Moss et al., the daughter's grief for the mother remains largely transitional instead of ever reaching a point of resolution, with the emphasis on the need to maintain a continuing bond with the deceased mother.10 Similarly, Martha Robbins, in her study of bereaved daughters, argues that, in terms of the daughter's experience of grief, the actual physical death of the mother is eclipsed by a deeper sense of loss, that of the mother-daughter relationship itself.11 This loss, in turn, leads to an ongoing process of bereavement whereby the daughter becomes fixated on reconstructing the mother. Hope Edelman supports this view in her study of motherless daughters, arguing that, when a mother dies, a daughter's mourning never completely ends. The daughter's longing for the mother, she writes, never dissipates but, rather, "hovers at the edge of her awareness, ready to surface at any time, in any...

Variation in winter thrush abundance during the hunting season in southern Europe: the importance of hunting–free reserves

We analysed variations in the abundance of the song thrush (Turdus philomelos) and the blackbird (T. merula) in the hunting season in hunting areas and hunting–free reserves. After controlling for habitat, we found that the abundance of song thrushes (hunted species) was lower in hunting areas than in reserves during the hunting season. This effect was not found for the blackbird (non–hunted species). This finding indicates hunting–free reserves have a positive effect on song thrush conservation. Further research is crucial to determine the traits that should be promoted in this type of reserve in order to improve their efficiency.

Structural and proteomic analyses of vitelline membrane proteins of blackbird (Turdus merula) and song thrush (Turdus philomelos)

In this study, we aimed to perform structural and proteomic analysis of the vitelline membrane (VM) of two species birds belonging to the family Turdidae: blackbird (Turdus merula) and song thrush (Turdus philomelos). We performed structural analyses using scanning electron microscopy. The VM proteins were identified and compared to the best-known chicken VM proteins. According to our results, VM of both species has a typical three-layered structure: the outer layer, inner layer, and the continuous membrane between them. An unusual observation was the finding of “convexity” formed by the inner layer in blackbird. The role of these convex structures is not known, but they can be typical for the species and can be used in their identification. In addition, we identified two proteins in the VM of both species of birds, of which U3KEZ1 FICAL was not previously identified in any other bird species, and the U3JXV8 FICAL protein was confirmed only once in cockatiel parrot VM. The function of these proteins is not exactly known, but their structure shows similarities to the SERPIN proteins that are involved in microbiological defense, i.e., they are immune proteins. This study contributes to the current knowledge about the structure and composition of proteins of VM, especially because similar analyses have never been performed for Turdidae family. Knowledge of the structure and specific proteins of blackbird and song thrush VM can be beneficial in research on ecology and bird biology and also helpful in developing noninvasive and nongenetic identification methods.

Single dead trees matter: Small-scale canopy gaps increase the species richness, diversity and abundance of birds breeding in a temperate deciduous forest

Canopy gaps produced by natural disturbances are an important source of structural and functional heterogeneity within forest ecosystems. However, the effect of natural, small-scale canopy gaps, caused by the mortality of a single tree or a group of trees, on bird assemblages has not been adequately addressed in temperate deciduous forests. We studied the effects of small-scale canopy gaps on the breeding birds of old-growth deciduous forests in the Carpathians (SE Poland). Our hypothesis was that such small gaps and the adjacent closed-canopy forest would differ in bird richness, diversity and relative abundance. Breeding bird assemblages were surveyed using point counts in 30 canopy gaps (mean area 301 m2 ± 228 SD, range: 37–970 m2) and in 30 control plots situated in the adjacent closed-canopy forest. The species richness, diversity and relative abundance of birds were significantly higher in the gaps than in the control plots and were correlated with the number of large snags. Collared Flycatcher Ficedula albicollis and White-backed Woodpecker Dendrocopos leucotos occurred more frequently in the gaps than in the control plots. Eurasian Treecreeper Certhia familiaris, Blackcap Sylvia atricapilla, Song Thrush Turdus philomelos and Eurasian Nuthatch Sitta europaea were more abundant in the gaps than in the control plots. The species richness of cavity- and ground-nesters was higher and these birds were more abundant in the gaps than in the control plots. The presence/absence of a gap and the number of large snags recorded in it explained 35.4% and 52.7% of the deviance in the total number of species and the total number of individual birds, respectively. Our results indicate that even small-scale canopy gaps, in combination with the large snags recorded in them resulting from the death of a single tree or group of trees, affect bird assemblages in deciduous forests as measured by the occurrence or abundance of individual species or community indices. We suggest that treefall gaps, which are heterogeneous structures, mediate the spatial distribution of bird territories within a stand and are crucial for the biodiversity of temperate deciduous forests.

Emerging helminthiases of song thrush (Turdus philomelos) in Central Europe.

Turdus philomelos is a common Western Palearctic thrush species of forests and agricultural landscapes, where it relies on the presence of hedgerows, patches of trees, and shrubs. In the present study, we address long-term changes in component communities of trematodes in T. philomelos across the timespan of over half a century. Based on our preliminary observations, we hypothesized that component communities of trematodes in T. philomelos in the study area are more diverse and species-rich compared with several decades ago. In the 1961-2019, we performed full-body necropsies of T. philomelos, which originated from the southern Czech Republic, and examined them for the presence of trematodes. We compared the trematode species richness and diversity of the analyzed component communities. The number of trematode species per host steadily increased in time in adult females and males. In juveniles, the highest numbers of trematode species per host were reached already in 1961-1990, then dropped and slowly raised up again in the latter time periods. The newly accumulated evidence suggests that trematodes with intermediate hosts previously restricted to T. philomelos wintering grounds increased in abundance in the study area. Some of them (Morishitium polonicum, Psilotornus confertus) sporadically appeared in juveniles or first-year birds, from which they were previously completely absent. Some of the spreading species, such as Lutztrema attenuatum, are present in high prevalence and high intensities of infection. Yet unknown part of observed changes could be related to changes in food composition; however, direct evidence for changes in T. philomelos diet is lacking despite clear evidence for a decline in earthworms in agricultural landscapes.

Fruit and berry plants of forest belts as a factor of species diversity of ornithofauna during the breeding season and autumn migration period

During migration, the availability of food that affects the success of bird movements, the nature and timing of their movements, is critical for many bird species. The relationship between migration routes and the ripening of fruit and berry plants along the route is important. Four types of forest belts were studied: wind-blown maple-ash, latticed maple-linden, dense oak-maple-linden, wind-blown oak-maple-poplar. During the study 43 bird species were identified consuming 9 major fruit and berry plant species: Sambucus nigra, Prunus spinosa, Crataegus laevigata, Rosa canina, Prunus padus, Sorbus aucuparia, Rhamnus cathartica, Morus nigra, Prunus cerasus. The highest average number of birds feeding in forest belts (4.14 ind./km) was registered in oak-maple-linden dense forest belts, while the lowest number (1.48 ind./km) was recorded in wind-blown maple-ash ones. Maple-linden latticed forest belts characterize the best index data of α-diversity of birds. In the summer-autumn diet, succulent fruit are the most important: Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) – 11.8% of the total number of birds observed to feed on this food resource, Greenfinch (Chloris chloris) – 11.3%, Chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs) – 9.3%, Song thrush (Turdus philomelos) – 7.3%, Hawfinch (Coccothraustes coccothraustes) – 7.1%, Blackbird (Turdus merula) – 5.4%. 42 species of birds were observed to feed on black elderberry. More than half (51.2%) of the species composition of birds feeding on fruit and berry plants were migratory birds. Consequently, juicy berries are an important food during bird migrations.

Findings of overground nests of rodents in the Ukrainian Beskids (upper course of the Dnister)

Materials are collected and generalised on the overground nesting activity of 4 rodent species under conditions of the north Carpathian taiga: the red squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris), the edible dormouse (Glis glis), the hazel dormouse (Muscardinus avellanarius), and the harvest mouse (Micromys minutus). The locality is characterised by a combination various habitats. Common and unique variants of nests of these species are described, particularly the arrangement by the hazel dormouse of its own nests in nests of the Eurasian wren and song thrush, an unusual nest of the red squirrel, and the nesting of the edible dormouse in an abandoned dress.

Effects of forest structure on the interaction between avian hosts, dipteran vectors and haemosporidian parasites

BackgroundForest habitats are important biodiversity refuges for a wide variety of bird species. Parasitism may modulate host species presence and abundance, and parasite effects can change according to forest management practices. Such processes are not well studied in vector-borne avian haemosporidians. We analyzed the effects of forest management on bird-dipteran-haemosporidian interactions, using seven common bird species in managed and unmanaged beech forest habitats in northeastern Germany. We assumed that forest structural heterogeneity affects parasite population parameters in avian hosts (i.e., prevalence and parasitemia), through its effect on the condition of the avian host but also through varying vector abundances.ResultsParasite prevalence was high (about 80%) and homogeneous across different beech forest categories (i.e., young, old, unmanaged) and for all bird species, except Erithacus rubecula (35%). Parasitemia varied across bird species but not across forest categories within each avian species (lowest parasitemia were found in E. rubecula, Turdus merula, and Turdus philomelos). In our study system, we found that vector abundance was not the main driver of parasite dynamics. We found that forest structure affects parasite infection probability directly and potentially host condition via available resources that have to be used either to combat infections (i.e., high parasitemia) or to maintain a good body condition.ConclusionsThe effects of each of the predictors were bird species-specific, and we found that Diptera vectors were not the foremost influence in our host-vector-parasite system. Effects of forest habitat variables indicated that for most bird species in this study, habitat regulation of infection probability was more likely (i.e., E. rubecula, Fringilla coelebs, Sylvia atricapilla), whereas for Parus major habitat characteristics impacted first individuals' body condition and subsequently the probability of infection. Our findings emphasize the need of species-specific analyses and to use continuous forest structural parameters (e.g., the proportion of gap, south facing aspect) to better understand habitat and land use effects on host-vector-parasite dynamics.