In Brazil, the Atlantic Forest has been suffering from deforestation, which has had impacts on its flora, fauna, and microbiota. However, the fungal diversity present in these environments is little ...known and studied. In this study, a total of 90 samples of 45 wild birds (45 feathers and 45 feces) were collected in Ilha da Marambaia, southeastern Brazil. Filamentous fungi isolated from these samples were identified through macroscopic and microscopic characteristics. Some isolates were identified by molecular biology using the PCR technique. Acremonium, Alternaria, Aspergillus, Cunninghamella, Curvularia, Eurotium, Fusarium, Geotrichum, Neosartorya, Pestalotia, Paecilomyces, Penicillium, Rhizopus, Mucor and Syncephalastrum were identified. These results indicate the presence of saprophytic fungi species in the feathers and feces of wild birds of the capture site. Further studies should be conducted to elucidate if the mycobiota profile modifies with anthropization and if it interferes with bird health and environmental recovery.
RESUMO: No Brasil, a Mata Atlântica vem sofrendo com o desmatamento, que tem impactado sua flora, fauna e microbiota. No entanto, a diversidade fúngica presente nesses ambientes é pouco conhecida e estudada. Neste trabalho, um total de 90 amostras de 45 aves silvestres (45 penas e 45 fezes) foram coletadas na Ilha da Marambaia, Sudeste do Brasil. Fungos filamentosos isolados dessas amostras foram identificados por meio de características macroscópicas e microscópicas. Alguns isolados foram identificados por biologia molecular usando a técnica de PCR. Foram identificados Acremonium, Alternaria, Aspergillus, Cunninghamella, Curvularia, Eurotium, Fusarium, Geotrichum, Neosartorya, Pestalotia, Paecilomyces, Penicillium, Rhizopus, Mucor e Syncephalastrum. Esses resultados indicam a presença de espécies de fungos saprofíticos nas penas e fezes de aves silvestres do local de captura. Novos estudos devem ser realizados a fim de elucidar se o perfil da micobiota se modifica com a antropização e se interfere na saúde das aves e na recuperação ambiental.
We tracked departures of European Robins Erithacus rubecula stopping over during spring migration at Skagen, Denmark, and facing a sea crossing of more than 50 km. The Robins stopped over on average ...for 3.8 days (range 1-14 days, n = 15) with departure days being slightly warmer than stopover days (1.5°C warmer, P = 0.003). Departures were concentrated in the evening, on average during astronomical twilight, and toward the northeast (µ = 33.3°, r = 0.499, P = 0.021). The mean northeasterly departure direction is close to the standard migration direction. Most birds probably crossed the sea to Sweden and we observed no obvious reversed departure directions.
Ecological factors affect the level and scaling of avian BMR McNab, Brian Keith
Comparative biochemistry and physiology. Part A, Molecular & integrative physiology,
2009, 2009-Jan, 2009-1-00, 20090101, Letnik:
152, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
The basal rate of metabolism (BMR) in 533 species of birds, when examined with ANCOVA, principally correlates with body mass, most of the residual variation correlating with food habits, climate, ...habitat, a volant or flightless condition, use or not of torpor, and a highland or lowland distribution. Avian BMR also correlates with migratory habits, if climate and a montane distribution is excluded from the analysis, and with an occurrence on small islands if a flightless condition and migration are excluded. Residual variation correlates with membership in avian orders and families principally because these groups are behaviorally and ecologically distinctive. However, the distinction between passerines and other birds remains a significant correlate of avian BMR, even after six ecological factors are included, with other birds having BMRs that averaged 74% of the passerine mean. This combination of factors accounts for 97.7% of the variation in avian BMR. Yet, migratory species that belong to Anseriformes, Charadriiformes, Pelecaniformes, and Procellariiformes and breed in temperate or polar environments have mass-independent basal rates equal to those found in passerines. In contrast, penguins belong to an order of polar, aquatic birds that have basal rates lower than passerines because their flightless condition depresses basal rate. Passerines dominate temperate, terrestrial environments and the four orders of aquatic birds dominate temperate and polar aquatic environments because their high BMRs facilitate reproduction and migration. The low BMRs of tropical passerines may reflect a sedentary lifestyle as much as a life in a tropical climate. Birds have BMRs that are 30–40% greater than mammals because of the commitment of birds to an expensive and expansive form of flight.
Urbanization leads to the biotic homogenization of global avifauna. We hypothesized that urbanization acts as a filter on species traits and, therefore, that urban passerines share biological traits ...explaining their capacity to tolerate urban constraints. We investigated 18 biological traits of passerines related to their general biology, distribution, breeding, and morphometry. In a regional analysis conducted on passerine data from one Swiss and 11 French cities (regional analysis), we identified urban adapters (tolerant species) and urban avoiders (intolerant species), and compared their traits. In a local analysis conducted on passerine data of 13 woodlands located along a short rural-urban gradient, we identified groups of species associated with particular vegetation structures within or particular landscape structures around woodlands. We associated each of these species groups with a tolerance level to urbanization and compared their traits. Regional analysis revealed that urban adapters prefer forest environments, are sedentary, omnivorous, widely distributed, high-nesters with large wingspans. Urban avoiders seem to allocate more energy to reproduction than do urban adapters, to the detriment of adaptation to new environments such as urban areas. Local analysis did not reveal any link between traits and species tolerance levels. At large spatial scales, urbanization seems therefore to act as a filter on species traits. However, the urban constraints that filter species at such large scales do not seem to be the same ones that determine species distribution at local scales. Analyses of traits are powerful tools to understanding regional community composition between urban and rural areas.
Costly interactions between species that arise as a by-product of ancestral similarities in communication signals are expected to persist only under specific evolutionary circumstances. Territorial ...aggression between species, for instance, is widely assumed to persist only when extrinsic barriers prevent niche divergence or selection in sympatry is too weak to overcome gene flow from allopatry. However, recent theoretical and comparative studies have challenged this view. Here we present a large-scale, phylogenetic analysis of the distribution and determinants of interspecific territoriality. We find that interspecific territoriality is widespread in birds and strongly associated with hybridization and resource overlap during the breeding season. Contrary to the view that territoriality only persists between species that rarely breed in the same areas or where niche divergence is constrained by habitat structure, we find that interspecific territoriality is positively associated with breeding habitat overlap and unrelated to habitat structure. Furthermore, our results provide compelling evidence that ancestral similarities in territorial signals are maintained and reinforced by selection when interspecific territoriality is adaptive. The territorial signals linked to interspecific territoriality in birds depend on the evolutionary age of interacting species, plumage at shallow (within-family) timescales, and song at deeper (between-family) timescales. Evidently, territorial interactions between species have persisted and shaped phenotypic diversity on a macroevolutionary timescale.
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•Well-resolved phylogeny of the swallow family using genome-wide UCE data.•Thorough taxon sampling including representatives of the majority of species.•Resolution of previously ...problematic deep nodes in the swallow tree.•Examination of the timing of diversification and historical biogeography.•Phylogeny provides a framework for studying the evolution of nesting and sociality.
Swallows (Hirundinidae) are a globally distributed family of passerine birds that exhibit remarkable similarity in body shape but tremendous variation in plumage, sociality, nesting behavior, and migratory strategies. As a result, swallow species have become models for empirical behavioral ecology and evolutionary studies, and variation across the Hirundinidae presents an excellent opportunity for comparative analyses of trait evolution. Exploiting this potential requires a comprehensive and well-resolved phylogenetic tree of the family. To address this need, we estimated swallow phylogeny using genetic data from thousands of ultraconserved element (UCE) loci sampled from nearly all recognized swallow species. Maximum likelihood, coalescent-based, and Bayesian approaches yielded a well-resolved phylogenetic tree to the generic level, with minor disagreement among inferences at the species level, which likely reflect ongoing population genetic processes. The UCE data were particularly useful in helping to resolve deep nodes, which previously confounded phylogenetic reconstruction efforts. Divergence time estimates from the improved swallow tree support a Miocene origin of the family, roughly 13 million years ago, with subsequent diversification of major groups in the late Miocene and Pliocene. Our estimates of historical biogeography support the hypothesis that swallows originated in the Afrotropics and have subsequently expanded across the globe, with major in situ diversification in Africa and a secondary major radiation following colonization of the Neotropics. Initial examination of nesting and sociality indicates that the origin of mud nesting – a relatively rare nest construction phenotype in birds – was a major innovation coincident with the origin of a clade giving rise to over 40% of extant swallow diversity. In contrast, transitions between social and solitary nesting appear less important for explaining patterns of diversification among swallows.
Abstract
A long-standing hypothesis in evolutionary biology is that the evolution of resource specialization can lead to an evolutionary dead end, where specialists have low diversification rates and ...limited ability to evolve into generalists. In recent years, advances in comparative methods investigating trait-based differences associated with diversification have enabled more robust tests of this idea and have found mixed support. We test the evolutionary dead end hypothesis by estimating net diversification rate differences associated with nest-type specialization among 3224 species of passerine birds. In particular, we test whether the adoption of hole-nesting, a nest-type specialization that decreases predation, results in reduced diversification rates relative to nesting outside of holes. Further, we examine whether evolutionary transitions to the specialist hole-nesting state have been more frequent than transitions out of hole-nesting. Using diversification models that accounted for background rate heterogeneity and different extinction rate scenarios, we found that hole-nesting specialization was not associated with diversification rate differences. Furthermore, contrary to the assumption that specialists rarely evolve into generalists, we found that transitions out of hole-nesting occur more frequently than transitions into hole-nesting. These results suggest that interspecific competition may limit adoption of hole-nesting, but that such competition does not result in limited diversification of hole-nesters. In conjunction with other recent studies using robust comparative methods, our results add to growing evidence that evolutionary dead ends are not a typical outcome of resource specialization. Cavity nesting; diversification; hidden-state models; passerines; resource specialization.
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