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Articles by Ronald C. Ydenberg in JoVE

 JoVE Immunology and Infection

Vigilância da gripe aviária com FTA Cards: Métodos de campo, de Biossegurança, e questões de transporte Resolvido


JoVE 2832 8/02/2011

1Resource Ecology Group, Wageningen University, 2Section for Zoonotic Ecology and Epidemiology, School of Natural Sciences, Linnaeus University, 3Centre for Wildlife Ecology, Simon Fraser University

Um método para preservar, detectar e seqüência de RNA a partir de vírus da gripe aviária foi validado e estendido usando naturais amostras de fezes de pássaros. Esta técnica elimina a necessidade de manter uma corrente fria e manipulação de vírus infeccioso e podem ser aplicados em uma instalação de 96 poços de alto rendimento.

Other articles by Ronald C. Ydenberg on PubMed

Timing Games in the Reproductive Phenology of Female Pacific Salmon (Oncorhynchus Spp.)

We use a game-theoretic framework to investigate the reproductive phenology of female kokanee (Oncorhynchus nerka). As in the other semelparous species of Pacific salmon, females construct nests in gravel, spawn with males, bury their fertilized eggs, and defend their nest sites until they die several days later. Later-breeding females may reuse previous nest sites, and their digging behavior is thought to subject previously buried eggs to mortality. Using game-theoretic models, we show that females can reduce this risk by allocating resources to longevity (the period between arrival and death) as opposed to eggs. Waiting before territory settlement is also expected if it allows females to conserve energy and delay senescence. The models demonstrate how these costs and benefits interact to select for a seasonal decline in longevity, a well-known phenomenon in the salmonid literature, and a seasonal decline in wait duration. Both of these predictions were supported in a field study of kokanee. Female state of reproductive maturity was the most important proximate factor causing variation in longevity and wait duration. With more than 30% of territories being reused, dig-up is likely an important selective force in this population.

Western Sandpipers Have Altered Migration Tactics As Peregrine Falcon Populations Have Recovered

The presence of top predators can affect prey behaviour, morphology and life history, and thereby can produce indirect population consequences greater and further reaching than direct depredation would have alone. Raptor species in the Americas are recovering since restrictions on the use of dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) and the implementation of conservation measures, in effect constituting a hemisphere-wide predator-reintroduction experiment, and profound effects on populations of their prey are to be expected. Here, we document changes in the behaviour of western sandpipers (Calidris mauri) at migratory stopover sites over two decades. Since 1985, migratory body mass and stopover durations of western sandpipers have fallen steadily at some stopovers in the Strait of Georgia, British Columbia. Comparisons between years, sites and seasons strongly implicate increasing danger from the recovery of peregrine falcons (Falco peregrinus) as a causal factor. A decade-long ongoing steep decline in sandpiper numbers censused on our study site is explained entirely by the shortening stopover duration, rather than fewer individuals using the site. Such behavioural changes are probably general among migratory shorebird species, and may be contributing to the widespread census declines reported in North America.

Interannual Differences in the Relative Timing of Southward Migration of Male and Female Western Sandpipers (Calidris Mauri)

In the shorebird subfamily Calidridinae, one of the parents shortens parental care and initiates southward migration before the other. We estimated the difference in passage date between male and female western sandpipers (Calidris mauri) at their first major stopover on the southward migration from breeding areas in Alaska, in 18 years between 1978 and 2000. Overall, adult females preceded adult males by 1.22 days. A novel finding was that among juveniles, which migrate approximately a month later than adults, females preceded males by similar magnitude (1.14 days). There was wide variation among years, however, and males actually preceded females in years with late hatch. We relate these findings to hypotheses for female-first southward migration in sandpipers.

Regulation of Stroke Pattern and Swim Speed Across a Range of Current Velocities: Diving by Common Eiders Wintering in Polynyas in the Canadian Arctic

Swim speed during diving has important energetic consequences. Not only do costs increase as drag rises non-linearly with increasing speed, but speed also affects travel time to foraging patches and therefore time and energy budgets over the entire dive cycle. However, diving behaviour has rarely been considered in relation to current velocity. Strong tidal currents around the Belcher Islands, Nunavut, Canada, produce polynyas, persistent areas of open water in the sea ice which are important habitats for wildlife wintering in Hudson Bay. Some populations of common eiders Somateria mollissima sedentaria remain in polynyas through the winter where they dive to forage on benthic invertebrates. Strong tidal currents keep polynyas from freezing, but current velocity can exceed 1.5 m s(-1) and could influence time and energy costs of diving and foraging. Polynyas therefore provide naturally occurring flume tanks allowing investigation of diving strategies of free ranging birds in relation to current velocity. We used a custom designed sub-sea ice camera to non-invasively investigate over 150 dives to a depth of 11.3 m by a population of approximately 100 common eiders at Ulutsatuq polynya during February and March of 2002 and 2003. Current speed during recorded dives ranged from 0 to 1 m s(-1). As currents increased, vertical descent speed of eiders decreased, while descent duration and the number of wing strokes and foot strokes during descent to the bottom increased. However, nearly simultaneous strokes of wings and feet, and swim speed relative to the moving water, were maintained within a narrow range (2.28+/-0.23 Hz; 1.25+/-0.14 m s(-1), respectively). This close regulation of swim speed over a range in current speed of 1.0 m s(-1) might correspond to efficient muscle contraction rates, and probably reduces work rates by avoiding rapidly increasing drag at greater speeds; however, it also increases travel time to benthic foraging patches. Despite regulation of average swim speed, high instantaneous speeds during oscillatory stroking can increase dive costs due to drag. While most diving birds have been considered either foot or wing propelled, eider ducks used both wing and foot propulsion during descent. Our observations indicate that the power phase of foot strokes coincides with the transition between upstroke and downstroke of the wings, when drag is greatest. Coordinated timing between foot and wing propulsion could therefore serve to maintain a steadier speed during descent and decrease the costs of diving. Despite tight regulation of stroke and swim speed patterns, descent duration and total number of foot and wing strokes during descent increase non-linearly with increasing current velocity, suggesting an increase in energetic costs of diving.

The Effect of Personality on Social Foraging: Shy Barnacle Geese Scrounge More

Animals foraging in groups can either search for food themselves (producing) or search for the food discoveries of other individuals (scrounging). Tactic use in producer-scrounger games is partly flexible but individuals tend to show consistency in tactic use under different conditions suggesting that personality might play a role in tactic use in producer-scrounger games. Here we studied the use of producing and scrounging tactics by bold and shy barnacle geese (Branta leucopsis), where boldness is a personality trait known to be repeatable over time in this species. We defined individuals as bold, shy or intermediate based on two novel object tests. We scored the frequency of finding food patches (the outcome of investing in producing) and joining patches (the outcome of investing in scrounging) by bold and shy individuals and their feeding time. Shy individuals had a higher frequency of joining than bold individuals, demonstrating for the first time that personality is associated with tactic use in a producer-scrounger game. Bold individuals tended to spend more time feeding than shy individuals. Our results highlight the importance of including individual behavioural variation in models of producer-scrounger games.

Winter Body Mass and Over-ocean Flocking As Components of Danger Management by Pacific Dunlins

We compared records of the body mass and roosting behavior of Pacific dunlins (Calidris alpina pacifica) wintering on the Fraser River estuary in southwest British Columbia between the 1970s and the 1990s. 'Over-ocean flocking' is a relatively safe but energetically-expensive alternative to roosting during the high tide period. Fat stores offer protection against starvation, but are a liability in escape performance, and increase flight costs. Peregrine falcons (Falco peregrinus) were scarce on the Fraser River estuary in the 1970s, but their numbers have since recovered, and they prey heavily on dunlins. The increase has altered the balance between predation and starvation risks for dunlins, and thus how dunlins regulate roosting behavior and body mass to manage the danger. We therefore predicted an increase in the frequency of over-ocean flocking as well as a decrease in the amount of fat carried by dunlins over these decades.

Interactions Between Rate Processes with Different Timescales Explain Counterintuitive Foraging Patterns of Arctic Wintering Eiders

To maximize fitness, animals must respond to a variety of processes that operate at different rates or timescales. Appropriate decisions could therefore involve complex interactions among these processes. For example, eiders wintering in the arctic sea ice must consider locomotion and physiology of diving for benthic invertebrates, digestive processing rate and a nonlinear decrease in profitability of diving as currents increase over the tidal cycle. Using a multi-scale dynamic modelling approach and continuous field observations of individuals, we demonstrate that the strategy that maximizes long-term energy gain involves resting during the most profitable foraging period (slack currents). These counterintuitive foraging patterns are an adaptive trade-off between multiple overlapping rate processes and cannot be explained by classical rate-maximizing optimization theory, which only considers a single timescale and predicts a constant rate of foraging. By reducing foraging and instead digesting during slack currents, eiders structure their activity in order to maximize long-term energetic gain over an entire tide cycle. This study reveals how counterintuitive patterns and a complex functional response can result from a simple trade-off among several overlapping rate processes, emphasizing the necessity of a multi-scale approach for understanding adaptive routines in the wild and evaluating mechanisms in ecological time series.

Evolution and Connectivity in the World-wide Migration System of the Mallard: Inferences from Mitochondrial DNA

ABSTRACT:

Variable and Complex Food Web Structures Revealed by Exploring Missing Trophic Links Between Birds and Biofilm

Ecology Letters (2012) ABSTRACT: Food webs are comprised of a network of trophic interactions and are essential to elucidating ecosystem processes and functions. However, the presence of unknown, but critical networks hampers understanding of complex and dynamic food webs in nature. Here, we empirically demonstrate a missing link, both critical and variable, by revealing that direct predator-prey relationships between shorebirds and biofilm are widespread and mediated by multiple ecological and evolutionary determinants. Food source mixing models and energy budget estimates indicate that the strength of the missing linkage is dependent on predator traits (body mass and foraging action rate) and the environment that determines food density. Morphological analyses, showing that smaller bodied species possess more developed feeding apparatus to consume biofilm, suggest that the linkage is also phylogenetically dependent and affords a compelling re-interpretation of niche differentiation. We contend that exploring missing links is a necessity for revealing true network structure and dynamics.

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