Leucocytozoon Infection Does Not Influence the Survival of Boreal Owl Aegolius funereus Nestlings.

Leucocytozoon infection has been observed to impact the reproductive ecology and physiology of avian hosts, but its influence on nestling survival remains unclear. We investigated the effect of Leucocytozoon infection intensity, determined through triplicate PCR sample analyses, on the survival of 256 boreal owl (Aegolius funereus) nestlings during an 8-yr study. Contrary to our expectations, the survival probability of boreal owl nestlings was not influenced by their Leucocytozoon infection intensity. Nestling age and Leucocytozoon infection intensity in male and female parents also did not impact nestling survival. Instead, food abundance and hatching order were the key factors influencing nestling survival. Additionally, we observed a significantly higher Leucocytozoon infection intensity in male parents compared to female parents and nestlings. We suggest a distinct division of parental roles may lead females and nestlings staying within the nest boxes (cavities) to experience lower exposure to potential vectors transmitting blood parasites than their male counterparts. Our study shows that Leucocytozoon disease may not be lethal for boreal owl chicks, exhibiting a below-average infection intensity compared to their male parents.

La infección por Leucocytozoon no influye en la supervivencia de los polluelos de mochuelo boreal Aegolius funereus. Se ha observado que la infección por Leucocytozoon afecta la ecología y fisiología reproductiva de las aves hospedadoras, pero su influencia en la supervivencia de los polluelos aún no está completamente determinada. Se investigó el efecto de la intensidad de la infección por Leucocytozoon, determinada mediante análisis de muestras de PCR por triplicado, sobre la supervivencia de 256 polluelos de mochuelo boreal (Aegolius funereus) durante un estudio de ocho años. Contrariamente a nuestras expectativas, la probabilidad de supervivencia de los polluelos de mochuelo boreal no se vio influenciada por la intensidad de la infección por Leucocytozoon. La edad de los polluelos y la intensidad de la infección por Leucocytozoon en los padres machos y hembras tampoco afectaron la supervivencia de los polluelos. En cambio, la abundancia de alimento y el orden de eclosión fueron los principales factores que influyeron en la supervivencia de los polluelos. Además, se observó una intensidad de infección por Leucocytozoon significativamente mayor en los padres machos en comparación con las hembras y los polluelos. Se sugiere que una clara división de los roles parentales puede llevar a que las hembras y los polluelos que permanecen dentro de las cajas nido (cavidades) experimenten una menor exposición a vectores potenciales que transmitan parásitos sanguíneos en comparación con los individuos adultos masculinos. Nuestro estudio muestra que la enfermedad de Leucocytozoon puede no ser letal para los polluelos de mochuelo boreal, ya que exhiben una intensidad de infección por debajo del promedio en comparación con sus padres machos.

Black Grouse Hissing Calls Show Geographic Variability across the Distribution Area.

The black grouse is a species whose population development requires constant monitoring due to a rapidly declining trend, especially in Central Europe. Variability in the voices of geographically separated populations can aid in counting within individual populations. This has been investigated with the black grouse. However, the variability of the acoustic behavior of black grouse between populations was investigated for the first time. In total, 82 male black grouse were recorded during the lekking season in four countries: the Czech Republic, Scotland, Finland, and Russia. We analyzed recordings of hissing calls, i.e., the non-vocal signal. DFA analysis correctly classified almost 70% of the recordings. The results indicate a certain degree of difference between the grouse populations from the four countries examined. The mean frequency of hissing calls for populations was 1410.71 ± 170.25 Hz, 1473.89 ± 167.59 Hz, 1544.38 ± 167.60 Hz, and 1826.34 ± 319.23 Hz in the Czech Republic, Finland, Russia, and Scotland, respectively. Populations from Scotland and Russia have greater intra-variability compared to grouse from the Czech Republic and Finland, indicating that population density is not the principal factor in the geographical variability of black grouse hissing calls. Range-level differences enhance knowledge and facilitate the assessment of species evolution.

Significance of Intestinal Helminth Infection and Animal Sex for Mercury Concentrations in Two Rodent Species.

We compared the effects of animal gender, species, and intestinal helminth burden on mercury concentrations in rodents. Total mercury concentrations were determined in the liver and kidney tissues of 80 small rodents (44 yellow-necked mice, Apodemus flavicollis, and 36 bank voles, Myodes glareolus) captured in the Ore Mountains (northwest Bohemia, Czech Republic). Overall, 25/80 (32%) of animals were infected by intestinal helminths. The differences in mercury concentration between rodents infected and not infected with intestinal helminths were not statistically significant. Statistically significant differences in mercury concentrations were found only between voles and mice (that were not infected with intestinal helminths). This suggests the differences may be associated with host genetics. Apodemus flavicollis body tissues had significantly lower (P=0.01) mean Hg concentrations (0.032 mg/kg) than Myodes glareolus (0.279 mg/kg), provided that animals were not infected by intestinal helminths; if the animals were infected by intestinal helminths, the difference between both groups was insignificant. The effect of gender in this study was significant only for voles (without helminth infection); for mice (either with or without helminth infection) the differences between genders were not significant. Myodes glareolus males had significantly lower (P=0.03) Hg concentrations in liver and kidney tissues (0.050 mg/kg) than Myodes glareolus females (0.122 mg/kg). These results reveal the importance of considering species and gender when evaluating mercury concentrations.

Forest structure determines nest box use by Central European boreal owls.

Nest boxes represent a popular tool to support secondary cavity-nesting species. Surprisingly, the benefits and limitations of nest boxes for target species in different environments are poorly understood. We performed a 3-years experimental study in two different Central European forests to evaluate nest box use and breeding performance of boreal owl (Aegolius funereus) - a species well known for its readiness to occupy nest boxes. Based on territorial vocalisation, two boreal owl populations 200 km apart were similarly abundant in their environments. However, only the boreal owl population in young restored Norway (Picea abies) and blue (Picea pungens) spruce-dominated forests on mountain plateaus readily occupied nest boxes with the occupancy reaching 8-15%. Nest boxes lost their supporting function for the boreal owl in mature Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris)-dominated forests in the lowland, where the nest box occupancy reached 0-1%. As a result, the population of boreal owls that used nest boxes in the young restored forests produced 10 times more fledglings than the population inhabiting mature Scots pine forests. We explain the differences by the contrasting availability of natural tree cavities between the two study areas being much higher in mature Scots pine forests. For the first time, this study documents differences in nest box use despite similar food availability and population size of the target species. The study provides the findings-related recommendations for deploying nest boxes for boreal owls and points out a general lack of practical guides.

Simplified Procedure for General Synthesis of Monosubstituted Piperazines-From a Batch Reaction Vessel to a Flow (Microwave) Reactor.

We reported a novel simplified synthetic procedure for the preparation of monosubstituted piperazine derivatives which can now be easily prepared in a one-pot-one-step way from a protonated piperazine with no need of introduction of a protecting group. Reactions, proceeding either at room or higher temperatures in common solvents, involve heterogeneous catalysis by metal ions supported on commercial polymeric resins. A general synthetic scheme was successfully applied to afford a wide range of monosubstituted piperazines. Furthermore, we picked up a set of piperazine derivatives and studied the possibilities of microwave acceleration of given synthetic reactions to make them even more efficient. Our research proceeded from a simple batch technique to the construction of a flow microwave reactor prototype and resulted in promising findings which are summarized and discussed in the article.

Acid-base properties, FT-IR, FT-Raman spectroscopy and computational study of 1-(pyrid-4-yl)piperazine.

We report the vibrational spectral analysis was carried out using FT-IR and FT-Raman spectroscopy for 1-(pyrid-4-yl)piperazine (PyPi). Single crystals of PyPi suitable for X-ray structural analysis were obtained. The acid-base properties are also reported. PyPi supported on a weak acid cation-exchanger in the single protonated form and this system can be used efficiently as the solid supported analogue of 4-N,N-dimethyl-aminopyridine. The complete vibrational assignments of wavenumbers were made on the basis of potential energy distribution. The HOMO and LUMO analysis is used to determine the charge transfer within the molecule and with the molecular electrostatic potential map was applied for the reactivity assessment of PyPi molecule toward proton, electrophiles and nucleopholes as well. The stability of the molecule arising from hyper-conjugative interaction and charge delocalization has been analyzed using NBO analysis. The calculated first hyperpolarizability of PyPi is 17.46 times that of urea.

Rapid analysis of carbohydrates in aqueous extracts and hydrolysates of biomass using a carbonate-modified anion-exchange column.

Quantitative liquid-chromatography techniques used to characterize carbohydrates present in biomass samples can suffer from long analysis times, limited analyte resolution, poor stability, or a combination of these factors. The current manuscript details a novel procedure enabling resolution of glucose, xylose, arabinose, galactose, mannose, fructose, and sucrose via isocratic elution in less than 5 min. Equivalent conditions also enable analysis of cellobiose and maltose with a minimal increase in chromatographic run time (ca. 3 and 6 min, respectively). Noted chromatographic performance requires that a commercially available anion-exchange column be modified with carbonate prior to analysis. Analytical performance of a modified column was assessed over a 5-day period via repeated analyses of 4 samples, resulting from aqueous extraction or quantitative saccharification of a potential biofuel feedstock (i.e., corn stover or switchgrass). A simple solid phase extraction procedure was utilized to clean up each sample prior to analysis. Analytical accuracy of the extraction protocol was assessed by evaluation of matrix spike recoveries which typically ranged from 84% to 98%. The instrumental variability of measured concentrations in real samples over the 5-day period was generally less than 5% RSD for all detected analytes, independent of sample type. Finally, it is important to note that the modified column exhibited exceptional stability over approximately 800 injections of biofeedstock-based samples. These data demonstrate that a carbonate-modified anion-exchange column can be employed for rapid determination of carbohydrates in biomass samples of lignocellulosic origin.

Compositional analysis of water-soluble materials in switchgrass.

Any valuation of a potential feedstock for bioprocessing is inherently dependent upon detailed knowledge of its chemical composition. Accepted analytical procedures for compositional analysis of biomass water-soluble extracts currently enable near-quantitative mass closure on a dry weight basis. Techniques developed in conjunction with a previous analytical assessment of corn stover have been applied to assess the composition of water-soluble materials in four representative switchgrass samples. To date, analytical characterization of water-soluble material in switchgrass has resulted in >78% mass closures for all four switchgrass samples, three of which have a mass closure of >85%. Over 30 previously unknown constituents in aqueous extracts of switchgrass were identified and quantified using a variety of chromatographic techniques. Carbohydrates (primarily sucrose, glucose, and fructose) were found to be the predominant water-soluble components of switchgrass, accounting for 18-27% of the dry weight of extractives. Total glycans (monomeric and oligomeric sugars) contributed 25-32% to the dry weight of extractives. Additional constituents contributing to the mass balance for extractives included various alditols (2-3%), organic acids (10-13%), inorganic ions (11-13%), and a distribution of oligomers presumed to represent a diverse mixture of lignin-carbohydrate complexes (30-35%). Switchgrass results are compared with previous analyses of corn stover extracts and presented in the context of their potential impact on biomass processing, feedstock storage, and future analyses of feedstock composition.