Methylmercury is a toxic form of mercury which persists in food webs for long periods of time and biomagnifies up successive trophic levels. Shorebirds breeding in the Arctic are exposed to methylmercury, derived from both natural and anthropogenic sources, when they ingest their invertebrate prey. Populations of many shorebird species are believed to be declining and one hypothesis for these d...

Genetic monitoring is becoming an increasingly effective tool for determining population stability in endangered species. Evaluating trends in genetic diversity allows conservation managers to identify serious declines and possible extinction risks for threatened populations. Here we used microsatellite analyses to assess the stability of one of the largest known breeding populations of the end...

Tuck, Stephanie A., and John E. Remmers. Mechanical properties of the passive pharynx in Vietnamese potbellied pigs. I. Statics. J Appl Physiol 92: 2229–2235, 2002. First published October 19, 2001; 10.1152/japplphysiol. 00761.2001.—The static mechanical properties of the passive pharynx were investigated in Vietnamese pot-bellied pigs by using an isolated upper airway preparation. During gener...

Quasispecies variants and recombination were studied longitudinally in an emergent outbreak of beak and feather disease virus (BFDV) infection in the orange-bellied parrot (Neophema chrysogaster). Detailed health monitoring and the small population size (<300 individuals) of this critically endangered bird provided an opportunity to longitudinally track viral replication and mutation events occ...

—The genus Sporophila (Emberizidae) comprises species of small finches characterized by marked sexual dichromatism, which in birds is positively associated with extent of female bias in parental care. We analyzed differences in parental care in Tawny-bellied (S. hypoxantha) and Rusty-collared (S. collaris) seedeaters. We video-recorded nest activity during incubation and when young were 2–4 and...

1. The presence/absence of a species at a particular site is the simplest form of data that can be collected during ecological field studies. We used 13 years (1990-2002) of survey data to parameterize a stochastic patch occupancy model for a metapopulation of the yellow-bellied marmot in Colorado, and investigated the significance of particular patches and the influence of site quality, networ...

The ‘dear enemy phenomenon’ (DEP) is a form of neighbour–stranger discrimination in which resident territorial individuals respond less agonistically to intrusions by known neighbouring conspecifics than they do to strangers. We tested philopatric female yellow-bellied marmots (Marmota flaviventris) for the presence of DEP. We hypothesized that dominant females discriminated between the anal gl...

Conservation of habitat for flagship species, such as birds, aids in the protection of biodiversity in critical ecosystems. Extensive mats of macroalgae stimulated by nutrient input to estuaries threaten critical successes in conservation made by legislation that reduces habitat destruction. Macroalgae can cover intertidal mudflats that are key foraging grounds for obligate visual foragers such...