Studies of birds that use stable isotopes as dietary tracers require estimates of how quickly stable isotopes in tissues are replaced by isotopes derived from the diet. However, isotopic turnover rates in animals in general, and birds in particular, are poorly understood. We established the turnover rates of '3C in tissues of grown Japanese Quail (Coturnixjaponica) by switching the diet of an experimental group from a wheat-based (C3) diet to a corn-based (C4) diet and sampled tissues periodically for 212 days. An exponential model described patterns of isotopic turnover in all tissues. Turnover rates for quail tissues were ranked liver > blood > muscle > bone collagen with the half life of carbon ranging from 2.6 days in liver to 173.3 days in bone collagen. A similar diet-switch experiment was conducted on captive American Crows (Corvus brachyrhynchos) and feather samples were assayed isotopically. Stable isotope values of crow feathers reflected diet during periods of growth. We suggest that stable isotope analysis could be used to determine relative contributions of endogenous and exogenous nutrient sources for feather growth and egg production in captive and wild birds.

Assessing Avian Diets Using Stable Isotopes I: Turnover of 13C in Tissues

▪ Abstract Natural ecological disturbance creates habitats that are used by diverse groups of birds. In North America, these habitats or ecosystems include grasslands or prairies, shrublands, savannas, early successional forests, and floodplains. Whereas the extent of all natural habitats has diminished significantly owing to outright loss from agriculture and development, the suppression of disturbance by agents such as fire and flooding has led to further losses. Accordingly, the abundances of many bird species adapted to disturbance-mediated habitats have declined as well. In North America, these declines have been more severe and common than those of species associated with less frequently disturbed habitats such as mature or closed-canopy forests. Field studies consistently reveal the direct role of disturbance and successional processes in structuring avian habitats and communities. Conservation strategies involving the management of disturbance through some combination of flooding, application of f...

https://www.jstor.org/stable/info/2678641

The role of disturbance in the ecology and conservation of birds

: Selective review and synthesis of the technical literature on copper and copper salts in the environment and their effects primarily on fishes, birds, mammals, terrestrial and aquatic invertebrates, and other natural resources. The subtopics include copper sources and uses; chemical and biochemical properties; concentrations of copper in field collections of abiotic materials and living organisms; effects of copper deficiency; lethal and sublethal effects on terrestrial plants and invertebrates, aquzatic organisms, birds, and mammals, including effects on survival, growth, reproduction, behavior, metabolism, carcinogenicity, mutagenicity, and teratogenicity; proposed criteria for the protection of human health and sensitive natural resources; and recommendations for additional research.

Copper Hazards to Fish, Wildlife, and Invertebrates : A Synoptic Review

Key issues in rigorous accuracy assessment of land cover products

Survey Errors and Survey Costs

Winter Diets and Nutrition of Midcontinental Lesser Snow Geese

Time-activity budgets for fall-migrating lesser snow geese (Anser caerulescens) were studied at DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) during 1976-77. Temperature, wind speed and direction, time of day, seasonal period, and habitat type significantly affected time spent in various activities. Geese spent about 13% of each 24-hour day feeding, primarily on waste corn. Feeding was most intense in early morning and late afternoon. Differences in feeding activity among seasonal periods were evidently caused by changes in weather conditions, food availability, and goose population size. Less than half of an esti- mated 500 metric tons of corn required by the geese during fall was potentially available within refuge boundaries. Although ample corn was available within 8 km of the refuge, fall harvest and plowing caused large seasonal fluctuations in availability of waste corn.

http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/3808550.pdf

Resource use and behavior of migrating snow geese1

Poult survival is key to understanding annual change in wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) populations. Survival of eastern wild turkey poults (M. g. silvestris) 0-4 weeks posthatch was studied in southcentral Iowa during 1994-97. Survival estimates of poults were calculated based on biweekly flush counts and daily locations acquired via radiotelemetry. Poult survival averaged 0.52 ± 0.14% (x ± SE) for telemetry counts and 0.40 ± 0.15 for flush counts No within-vear or across-vear differences were detected between estimation techniques More than 72% (n - 32) of documented poult mortality occurred ≤14 days posthatch and mainmalian predation accounted for 92.9% of documented mortality. If mortality agents are not of concern e suggest biologists conduct 4-week flush counts to obtain poult survival estimates for use in population models and development of harvest recommendations.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/3802501.pdf

Wild turkey poult survival in southcentral Iowa

In 1972 and 1973 we collected 1,339 clutches of eggs of anhingas (Anhinga anhinga) and 17 species of waders (herons, egrets, bitterns, ibises, and storks). We analyzed the eggs for organochlorine residues and compared shell thickness of these eggs and others collected since 1946 (and now in museum collections) with shell thickness of eggs collected before the widespread use of organochlorine pesticides. The overall frequency of residue occurrence was higher in eggs from the Great Lakes region, then in those from the Northern Atlantic Coast, Southern Atlantic Coast, Inland, and Gulf Coast regions. Residue concentrations also were usually higher in eggs from the Northern Atlantic Coast and Great Lakes than in those from the other three regions, but there was no consistent pattern among those three regions. Among species, the highest residue frequencies and concentrations were usually in eggs of great blue herons (Ardea herodias), wood storks (Mycteria americana), black-crowned night herons (Nycticorax nycticorax), and great egrets [Casmerodius albus). Lowest frequencies and concentrations were usually in eggs of white ibises (Eudocimus albus), glossy ibises {Plegadis falcinellus), least bitterns (Ixobrychus exilis), green herons {Butorides striatus), and yellow-crowned night herons (Nyctanassa violacea). Eggshells were significantly thinner in one or more regions for post1946 samples of anhinga, great blue heron, black-crowned night heron, and wood stork. We detected no significant change in the other species. Residues of organochlorine and heavy metal pollutants occur commonly in environmental samples, and these pollutants have been associated with adverse effects in numerous avian species (Cooke 1973; L. F. Stickel 1973; W. H. Stickel 1975; Ohlendorf et al. 1978a, 1978cf). The affected species are usually terminal consumers (i.e., at the top of the food chain), generally those feeding on aquatic organisms (primarily fish) or birds. Certain herons have been included in general surveys of organochlorine residues in fish-eating birds in the United States and Canada (Keith 1966; Vermeer and Reynolds 1970; Anderson and Hickey 1972; Baetcke et al. 1972). Such residues and their possible effects in herons and related wading birds also have 'Present address: Iowa Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit, Iowa State University, Ames 50010. been studied at more restricted localities (Causey and Graves 1969; Greenberg and Heye 1971; Faber et al. 1972; Flickinger and Meeker 1972; Vermeer and Risebrough 1972; Lincer and Salkind 1973). Brown pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis) and double-crested cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus) also have been studied (see Ohlendorf et al. 1978d for review), but we found no published information on occurrence or effects of pollutant residues in anhingas (Anhinga anhinga) before beginning our study. Populations of black-crowned night herons (Nycticorax nycticorax) (see Ohlendorf et al. 1978a for review), great blue herons (Ardea herodias), reddish egrets (Dichromanassa rufescens), American bitterns (Botaurus lentiginosus), wood storks (Mycteria americana), white-faced ibises (Plegadis chihi), and white ibises (Eudocimus albus), have apparently declined, at least in some regions (Bull 1964; Peterson 1969; Wallace 1969, 1977; Bond 1971; Arbib 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976; Ogden 1975, 1978; McWhirter and Beaver 1977). In 1972, we began a study to determine: (1) geographic differences in the occurrence of environmental pollutants in anhingas and waders in the eastern United States; (2) differences in environmental pollutant concentrations among those species nesting at the same localities; and (3) whether eggshell thickness had changed since the widespread use of organochlorine pesticides began in the mid-1940's. The wader species included in our study were: great blue heron, green heron (Butorides striatus), little blue heron (Florida caerulea), cattle egret (Bubulcus ibis), reddish egret, great egret (Casmerodius albus), snowy egret (Egretta thula), Louisiana heron (Hydranassa tricolor), black-crowned night heron, yellow-crowned night heron (Nyctanassa violacea), least bittern (Ixobrychus exilis), American bittern, wood stork, glossy ibis (Plegadis falcinellus), white-faced ibis, white ibis, and roseate spoonbill (Ajaia ajaja). Our success in collecting eggs of these species varied widely: we were not able to collect any eggs of the reddish egret in either year of our study, and we collected only one clutch of American bittern eggs, but eggs of some other species were collected easily. A summary of the results of our study has already been published (Ohlendorf et al. 1978c). A few minor errors in residue frequencies that appeared in that paper are corrected here in Table 2.

Environmental pollutants and eggshell thickness: Anhingas and wading birds in the eastern United States

Organochlorine residues in eggs of Alaskan seabirds

Handle everyday research tasks with reliable, citation-backed results

Your personal Research Agent to handle research tasks with citation-backed results

Popular Tasks used by Researchers

How can I help with your research?

Meet SciSpace

Get more enhanced response by uploading the PDFs you want me to reference.

No relevant PDFs in your library

SciSpace is the AI research assistant for academics. Run systematic literature reviews on 280M+ papers, and write papers with cited sources. Trusted by 1M+ students, PhDs & researchers.

SciSpace | AI for Research

Analyze PDFs

Code & Manuscripts

Funding & Grants

Literature & Patents

Medical & Clinical Data

Systematic Review

Visualize & Present

Web & Data

Build a Google Scholar-like website for your research.

Build a website

Create charts and images for your research

Create a Chart

Write a paper for submission to a journal

Draft a manuscript

Patent Search

Design eye-catching scientific posters in minutes.

Scientific Poster Generation

Systematic Literature Review

One task is running at the moment. Your messages will be shown right after.

Drag and drop or click here to browse

Loved by <highlight>1 million+</highlight> researchers

Extract a list of specific topics and their sources from unstructured text

Topics

Compare and analyze relevant papers that matches with your search

Papers

Get insights from PDFs and bookmarked papers from your library

My library

Recent searches

Try searching for:

Catch AI-generated content in scholarly and non-scholarly content

{ai} Detector

Ai Writer

Get PDF Summaries, highlighted text explanations 

Chat with PDF

Effortlessly create in-text citations and bibliographies in APA and 2,500 other formats

Citation generator

Get explanations, summaries, and answers on academic papers

Ease up your research workflow with {scispace}'s cohort of exciting AI tools

Elevate your academic writing skills and convey your ideas the way you want

Paraphraser

Explore our range of reading and writing tools

Your file is being prepared and should be ready in a few minutes. If it's a large file, it might take a bit longer. You can close this window, and we'll email you the file when it's done.

You have reached a maximum limit of <strong>{limit}</strong> columns in the table. Remove at least <strong>1</strong> column to add or create another one.

Erwin E. Klaas

Author Tools

Chat about Author