Migratory Routes (migratory + route)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Selenium supplementation enhances the protective response to Toxocara canis larvae in mice

PARASITE IMMUNOLOGY, Issue 8 2008
B. PILARCZYK
SUMMARY The effect of oral and intraperitoneal supply of sodium selenite on the immune response to, and the course of T. canis larvae infection in mice were determined. The number of worms in the host tissue was reduced but the migratory route of larvae was not affected. Selenite (Se) supplementation influences Se retention in the liver, enhanced IL-5 and eosinophil responses and evoked IL-6 production in mice infected with T. canis. The enhanced protection in mice given Se intraperitoneally was associated with high levels of parasite-specific IgE, and enhanced concentration of Th1-related cytokines such IL-12p70, TNF-, and IFN-,. In mice given Se orally, the predominant cytokines produced were IL-10, MCP-1 and IL-6 and these mice had lower protection. In conclusion, Se supplementation increases production of specific cytokines in mice infected with T. canis and increases protection against infection. [source]


Interactions between land use, habitat use, and population increase in greater snow geese: what are the consequences for natural wetlands?

GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY, Issue 6 2005
Gilles Gauthier
Abstract The North American greater snow goose population has increased dramatically during the last 40 years. We evaluated whether refuge creation, changes in land use on the wintering and staging grounds, and climate warming have contributed to this expansion by affecting the distribution, habitat use, body condition, and migration phenology of birds. We also reviewed the effects of the increasing population on marshes on the wintering grounds, along the migratory routes and on the tundra in summer. Refuges established before 1970 may have contributed to the initial demographic increase. The most important change, however, was the switch from a diet entirely based on marsh plants in spring and winter (rhizomes of Scirpus/Spartina) to one dominated by crops (corn/young grass shoots) during the 1970s and 1980s. Geese now winter further north along the US Atlantic coast, leading to reduced hunting mortality. Their migratory routes now include portions of southwestern Québec where corn production has increased exponentially. Since the mid-1960s, average temperatures have increased by 1,2.4°C throughout the geographic range of geese, which may have contributed to the northward shift in wintering range and an earlier migration in spring. Access to spilled corn in spring improved fat reserves upon departure for the Arctic and may have contributed to a high fecundity. The population increase has led to intense grazing of natural wetlands used by geese although these habitats are still largely undamaged. The foraging in fields allowed the population to exceed limits imposed by natural marshes in winter and spring, but also prevented permanent damage because of their overgrazing. [source]


Population structure in the South American tern Sterna hirundinacea in the South Atlantic: two populations with distinct breeding phenologies

JOURNAL OF AVIAN BIOLOGY, Issue 4 2010
Patrícia J. Faria
The South American tern Sterna hirundinacea is a migratory species for which dispersal, site fidelity and migratory routes are largely unknown. Here, we used five microsatellite loci and 799,bp partial mitochondrial DNA sequences (Cytochrome b and ND2) to investigate the genetic structure of South American terns from the South Atlantic Ocean (Brazilian and Patagonian colonies). Brazilian and Patagonian colonies have two distinct breeding phenologies (austral winter and austral summer, respectively) and are under the influence of different oceanographic features (e.g. Brazil and Falklands/Malvinas ocean currents, respectively), that may promote genetic isolation between populations. Results show that the Atlantic populations are not completely panmictic, nevertheless, contrary to our expectations, low levels of genetic structure were detected between Brazilian and Patagonian colonies. Such low differentiation (despite temporal isolation of the colonies) could be explained by demographic history of these populations coupled with ongoing levels of gene flow. Interestingly, estimations of gene flow through Maximum likelihood and Bayesian approaches has indicated asymmetrical long term and contemporary gene flow from Brazilian to Patagonian colonies, approaching a source,sink metapopulation dynamic. Genetic analysis of other South American tern populations (especially those from the Pacific coast and Falklands,Malvinas Islands) and other seabird species showing similar geographical distribution (e.g. royal tern Thalasseus maximus), are fundamental in gaining a better understanding of the main processes involved in the diversification of seabirds in the southern hemisphere. [source]


The orientation system and migration pattern of long-distance migrants: conflict between model predictions and observed patterns

JOURNAL OF AVIAN BIOLOGY, Issue 2 2001
Kasper Thorup
The requirements of the orientation system of naïve long-distance night migrants were analysed by comparing data on Barred Warbler Sylvia nisoria, Marsh Warbler Acrocephalus palustris and Spotted Flycatcher Muscicapa striata with data from a computer model of a clock-and-compass system. These species show, respectively, a rather restricted winter distribution in East Africa, migration through a very narrow corridor in East Africa, and rather widely distributed recoveries in the Mediterranean with more concentrated recoveries south of the Sahara. For all three species, to obtain the observed concentrations either a very high directional migratory concentration was needed in computer simulations to bring the birds successfully to their wintering areas or misorientating individuals would be subjected to a very high mortality. Neither the very high directional concentration nor the high mortality amongst misorientating individuals fit the empirical data sets. On the basis of the present study, the observed patterns seem difficult to explain by a simple clock-and-compass system only, and to account for the exceptionally precise migratory routes shown in this study it is proposed that first-time migrants might be able to use landscape topography on a regional scale in combination with corrections of directional mistakes/wind displacements. [source]


Origins and migratory routes of murine Cajal-Retzius cells

THE JOURNAL OF COMPARATIVE NEUROLOGY, Issue 3 2007
Fernando García-Moreno
Abstract The first layer that appears in the cortical neuroepithelium, the preplate, forms in the upper part of the cortex immediately below the pial surface. In mice, this layer exists between embryonic days (E) 10 and 13, and it hosts different cell populations. Here, we have studied the first cell population generated in the preplate, the Cajal-Retzius cells. There is considerable confusion regarding these cells with respect to both their site of generation and the migratory routes that they follow. This perhaps is due largely to the different opinions that exist regarding their characterization. We have studied the site of origin of these cells, their migratory routes, and the molecular markers that may distinguish them by injecting tracers into early embryos, culturing them in toto for 24 hours, and then performing immunohistochemistry. We found that the Cajal-Retzius cells are most likely generated in the cortical hem by comparing with other cortical or extracortical origins. These cells are generated mainly at E10 and E11, and they subsequently migrate tangentially to cover the whole cortical mantle in 24 hours. From their site of origin in the medial wall of the telencephalon, they spread in a caudorostral direction, following an oblique migratory path toward the lateral part of the neuroepithelium. Prior to the splitting of the preplate, a percentage of the Cajal-Retzius cells that can be distinguished by the expression of reelin do not contain calretinin. Furthermore, there were no early-migrating neurons that expressed calbindin. J. Comp. Neurol. 500:419,432, 2007. © 2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]