ABSTRACT
Birds that migrate long distances between breeding and wintering grounds are challenged to find adequate stopover sites that can provide a high-quality source of nutrition in order to refuel quickly and continue on their migratory journeys. Wild fruits are a well-documented component in the diets of many passerines during autumn migration. Thus, fruit availability and the proliferation of shrubs that bear low-quality fruits at important stopover sites may dictate the quality of food resources available for refuelling birds and present a conservation concern. We profiled plasma metabolites of two migratory passerine species at two different stopover sites near the south shore of Lake Ontario during the peak of autumn migration. We also measured diversity, availability and nutritional quality of fruits present at these sites. Site explained most of the variation in plasma triglyceride for both bird species, but was less important than other confounding variables for explaining concentrations of plasma ß-hydroxybutyrate and plasma uric acid concentrations. Site differences in fat deposition, as indicated by plasma triglyceride, may in part be explained by the large differences in diversity and availability of high-quality fruits between the two sites. Our results suggest that abundant, lipid-rich native fruits with high-energy density are associated with increased fat deposition during autumn stopovers for some species, although other factors, such as proximity to the Lake Ontario shoreline and the opportunities to refuel in the surrounding landscape, are likely to play a role in stopover site use by birds. It is possible that local site characteristics that influence growing conditions may impact the quality of fruits produced by a plant species, altering the availability of critical nutrients for avian consumers.
ABSTRACT
Bile salt aggregates incorporate aqueous-insoluble photochromic compounds. The photochromism of a spiropyran (1, 1',3',3'-trimethyl-6-nitrospiro[2H-1]-benzopyran-2,2'-indoline) and a diarylethene derivative (2, 1,2-bis(2,4-dimethyl-5-phenyl-3-thienyl)-3,3,4,4,5,5-hexafluoro-1-cyclopentene) was quantified in different bile salt aggregates. These aggregates act as efficient hosts to solubilize aqueous insoluble photochromic compounds where either both isomers are nonpolar, for example, 2, or compounds where one isomer is hydrophobic and the other is more polar, for example, 1. Methodology was developed to determine molar absorptivity coefficients for solutions containing both isomers and to determine the photoconversion quantum yields under continuous irradiation. The methods were validated by determining parameters in homogeneous solution, which were the same as previously reported. In the case of the colored isomer of 1, the molar extinction coefficient in ethanol at 537 nm ((3.68 ± 0.03) × 10(4) cm(-1) M(-1)) was determined with higher precision. The quantum yields for the photoconversion between the isomers of 2 were shown to be the same in cyclohexane and in the aggregates of sodium cholate (NaCh), deoxycholate (NaDC), and taurocholate (NaTC), showing that bile salt aggregates are not sufficiently rigid to affect the equilibrium between the two possible conformers of the colorless form. In contrast, for 1 the quantum yields for the conversion from the colorless to the colored isomer were higher in bile salts than in ethanol, and the quantum yield was highest in the more hydrophobic aggregates of NaDC, followed by NaCh and then NaTC. The structure of the bile salt had no effect on the quantum yield for the conversion of the colored to the colorless isomer of 1, but these values were higher than in ethanol. For all three bile salts, the absorption maximum for the colored form of 1 suggested that this isomer was located in an environment that is more polar than ethanol.
