scholarly journals Long-term microplastic retention causes reduced body condition in the langoustine, Nephrops norvegicus

2016 ◽  
Vol 218 ◽  
pp. 895-900 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalie A.C. Welden ◽  
Phillip R. Cowie
2010 ◽  
Vol 67 (11) ◽  
pp. 1862-1873 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie Kramer-Schadt ◽  
Jens Christian Holst ◽  
Dankert Skagen

We present a long-term study of epizootics in a migratory fish species that shows major advancements in our understanding of marine disease ecology. On the individual macroscopic level, Ichthyophonus hoferi infections in herring significantly reduced body condition (p < 0.01) and reproductive capacity (gonad weight, p < 0.001). Infection prevalence increased with age (p < 0.001, R adj2  = 0.71). Prevalence in the catches strongly depended on target school size and was thus higher in trawl catches. We found strong seasonality in infection prevalence within years, with peaks in summer and winter. Summer peaks spatially formed an “infectious belt” off the west coast of Norway, consisting of infected fish unable to follow the migration routes to the feeding grounds. Prevalence varied also between years (p ≤ 0.001). Since 1992, it had declined from stock prevalence levels of 10%, down to almost extinction, with another major peak in 1999. The annual peaks could best be associated with strong year classes (Pearson’s r = 0.56), a good overall body condition (r = 0.86), and plastic wintering behaviour.


2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 87 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea G. Locatelli ◽  
Simone Ciuti ◽  
Primož Presetnik ◽  
Roberto Toffoli ◽  
Emma Teeling

2012 ◽  
Vol 33 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 365-372 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Fauvel ◽  
François Brischoux ◽  
Marine Jeanne Briand ◽  
Xavier Bonnet

Long term population monitoring is essential to ecological studies; however, field procedures may disturb individuals. Assessing this topic is important in worldwide declining taxa such as reptiles. Previous studies focussed on animal welfare issues and examined short-term effects (e.g. increase of stress hormones due to handling). Long-term effects with possible consequences at the population level remain poorly investigated. In the present study, we evaluated the effects of widely used field procedures (e.g. handling, marking, forced regurgitation) both on short-term (hormonal stress response) and on long-term (changes in body condition, survival) scales in two intensively monitored populations of sea kraits (Laticauda spp.) in New Caledonia. Focusing on the most intensively monitored sites, from 2002 to 2012, we gathered approximately 11 200 captures/recaptures on 4500 individuals. Each snake was individually marked (scale clipping + branding) and subjected to various measurements (e.g. body size, head morphology, palpation). In addition, a subsample of more than 500 snakes was forced to regurgitate their prey for dietary analyses. Handling caused a significant stress hormonal response, however we found no detrimental long-term effect on body condition. Forced regurgitation did not cause any significant effect on both body condition one year later and survival. These results suggest that the strong short-term stress provoked by field procedures did not translate into negative effects on the population. Although similar analyses are required to test the validity of our conclusions in other species, our results suggest distinguishing welfare and population issues to evaluate the potential impact of population surveys.


1996 ◽  
Vol 127 (4) ◽  
pp. 549-553 ◽  
Author(s):  
O. Mora ◽  
A. Shimada ◽  
F. J. Ruiz

SUMMARYTwo experiments were done in Mexico (1992–93) to determine the response of goats to different periods of feed restriction on liveweight, organ weights and tissue composition. In each, the weight, body condition and daily dry matter intake (DM1) of two groups of 12 female, adult, non-lactating, non-pregnant, Nubian crossbred goats were recorded for 7 weeks (stabilization period; SP), to allow the animals to reach and maintain their liveweight and body condition. At the end of the SP the animals in Expt 1 (RP1) were feed restricted for 18 weeks and for 36 weeks in Expt 2 (RP2). Animals were divided into three groups receiving either 100 (FL1), 80 (FL2) or 60% (FL3) of the levels of DM1 previously observed. At the end of each experimental period all animals were slaughtered, carcass weights were recorded and viscerae were weighed.A sample of the soft tissues was chemically analysed. There were no significant changes in body condition in either experiment (P > 0·05). None of the feeding levels had an effect on carcass weight or the chemical composition of soft tissues (P > 0·05). Liver weights (as a proportion of slaughter weight) were significantly different among goats fed at different feeding levels in both experiments. The results of this study show the adaptation capacity of adult goats to medium and long term malnutrition, and the importance of the liver as a source for the generation of energy and for sustaining protein turnover. This could be especially important for goats grazing in arid and semiarid zones where dry periods can last for months and feed availability is therefore sometimes limited.


Ecology ◽  
2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janet L. Gardner ◽  
Tatsuya Amano ◽  
William J. Sutherland ◽  
Mark Clayton ◽  
Anne Peters

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Franziska Grundler ◽  
Gilles-Eric Séralini ◽  
Robin Mesnage ◽  
Vincent Peynet ◽  
Françoise Wilhelmi de Toledo

Background: Dietary exposure to environmental pollutants in humans is an important public health concern. While long-term fasting interrupts the dietary exposure to these substances, fat mobilization as an energy source may also release bioaccumulated substances. This was, to our knowledge, only investigated in obese people decades ago. This study explored the effects of 10-days fasting on the excretion of heavy metals and glyphosate.Methods: Urinary levels of arsenic, chromium, cobalt, lead, nickel, mercury and glyphosate were measured before and after 10 fasting days in 109 healthy subjects. Additionally, hair analysis was done before and ten weeks after fasting in 22 subjects.Results: Fasting caused a decrease in body weight, and in urinary arsenic (by 72%) and nickel (by 15%) concentrations. A decrease in lead hair concentrations (by 30%) was documented. Urinary mercury levels were unchanged for chromium, cobalt and glyphosate, which were undetectable in most of the subjects. Additionally, fatigue, sleep disorders, headache and hunger were reduced. Body discomfort symptoms diminished four weeks after food reintroduction.Conclusions: The results of this study provide the first insights into the changes in heavy metal excretion caused by long-term fasting. Further studies focusing on the kinetics of efflux between different compartments of the body are needed.Clinical Trial Registration:https://www.drks.de/drks_web/navigate.do?navigationId=trial.HTML&amp;TRIAL_ID=DRKS00016657, identifier: DRKS00016657.


Author(s):  
Julia Nowack ◽  
Christopher Turbill

AbstractMaintaining a high and stable body temperature as observed in endothermic mammals and birds is energetically costly. Thus, it is not surprising that we discover more and more heterothermic species that can reduce their energetic needs during energetic bottlenecks through the use of torpor. However, not all heterothermic animals use torpor on a regular basis. Torpor may also be important to an individual’s probability of survival, and hence fitness, when used infrequently. We here report the observation of a single, ~ 5.5 h long hypothermic bout with a decrease in body temperature by 12 °C in the native Australian bush rat (Rattus fuscipes). Our data suggest that bush rats are able to rewarm from a body temperature of 24 °C, albeit with a rewarming rate lower than that expected on the basis of their body mass. Heterothermy, i.e. the ability to withstand and overcome periods of reduced body temperature, is assumed to be an evolutionarily ancestral (plesiomorphic) trait. We thus argue that such rare hypothermic events in species that otherwise appear to be strictly homeothermic could be heterothermic rudiments, i.e. a less derived form of torpor with limited capacity for rewarming. Importantly, observations of rare and extreme thermoregulatory responses by wild animals are more likely to be discovered with long-term data sets and may not only provide valuable insight about the physiological capability of a population, but can also help us to understand the constraints and evolutionary pathways of different phenologies.


Parasitology ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 137 (2) ◽  
pp. 275-286 ◽  
Author(s):  
STEPHANIE S. GODFREY ◽  
JENNIFER A. MOORE ◽  
NICOLA J. NELSON ◽  
C. MICHAEL BULL

SUMMARYUnderstanding the impacts of endemic parasites on protected hosts is an essential element of conservation management. However, where manipulative experiments are unethical, causality cannot be inferred from observational correlative studies. Instead, we used an experimental structure to explore temporal associations between body condition of a protected reptile, the tuatara (Sphenodon punctatus) and infestation with ectoparasites (ticks and mites). We surveyed tuatara in a mark-recapture study on Stephens Island (New Zealand), which encompassed the pre-peak, peak and post-peak infestation periods for each ectoparasite. Tick loads during the peak infestation period were negatively related to body condition of tuatara. Body condition before the peak was not related to subsequent infestation rates; however, tick loads in the peak were negatively related to subsequent changes in body condition. Mite loads during the peak infestation period were not correlated with body condition of tuatara. Body condition before the peak had no effect on subsequent mite infestation rates, but mite loads of small males during the peak were negatively related to subsequent changes in body condition. Our results suggest that both ectoparasites reduce the body condition of tuatara, which has implications for the long-term conservation management of this host and its parasites.


Author(s):  
R.F. Butterwick ◽  
P. Rowlinson ◽  
T.E.C. Weekes ◽  
D.S. Parker ◽  
D.G. Armstrong

The objectives of the trial were to Investigate the effects of long-term administration of bovine somatotropin (BST) from week 2 and 10 post-partumn on the yields of milk, milk components, body weight, body condition, health and reproductive status during the first lactation of dairy heifers.19 Friesian dairy cows in their first lactation were allocated at calving to one of 3 treatments: Daily subcutaneous Injection of recomblnantly derived bovine somatotropin (25 mg/d) from either week 2 (BST2;n=6) or week 10 (BST10;n=6) of lactation, or injection of buffer solution from week 2 of lactation (C;n=7). Treatments continued until week 42 of lactation, or until 60 days prior to predicted calving date, if this occurred before week 42 of lactation. Initially cows were housed in cubicles and fed ad libitum individually through calan doors, on a diet of concentrate and grass silage (Table 1) on a 60:40 dry matter ratio. In approximately mid-lactation cows were turned out to grass but continued to receive concentrates according to milk yield and body condition. Milk yield was recorded daily and milk composition twice weekly as were live weight and body condition. Health and reproductive status were monitored over the lactation.


1996 ◽  
Vol 1996 ◽  
pp. 174-174
Author(s):  
A.M. Sibbald

Voluntary food intake is generally inversely related to body condition or fatness in mature sheep (Foot, 1972). Since the intake of pelleted diets by housed sheep consists of a number of discrete feeding bouts or 'meals' (e.g. Bermudez et al., 1989), the relatively long-term effect of body condition on intake will be achieved through changes in feeding behaviour at the level of a single meal. The aim of this experiment was to compare the effects of body condition and short-term food restriction on meal patterns in sheep, to investigate the mechanism by which body condition influences daily food intake.


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