Small populations of endangered species can be impacted by genetic processes such as drift and inbreeding that reduce population viability. As such, conservation genetic analyses that assess population levels of genetic variation and levels of gene flow can provide important information for managing threatened species. The São Paulo Marsh Antwren (Formicivora paludicola) is a recently-described...

Predicting the spatial foci of zoonotic diseases is a major challenge for epidemiologists and disease ecologists. Migratory birds are often thought to be responsible for introducing some aviozoonotic pathogens such as West Nile and avian influenza viruses to a local area, but most information on how bird movement correlates with virus prevalence is anecdotal or indirect. We report that the prev...

Studies on the factors determining parasite richness in hosts are typically performed using data compiled for various sets of species from disparate habitats. However, parasite transmission is embedded within local trophic networks, and proper comparisons among host species of the drivers of parasite richness should ideally be conducted among hosts belonging to the same local network. Here, we ...

Prey have evolved anti-predator defences that reduce or eliminate the risk of predation. Predators often reproduce at specific sites over many years causing permanent threats to local prey species. Such prey may respond by moving elsewhere thereby reducing local population abundance, or they may stay put and adjust their behavior to the presence of predators. We tested these predictions by anal...

Minnesota contains many areas of good raptor breeding habitat. The open agricultural lands, hardwood forests, coniferous forests, wetlands and combinations of these habitats provide the diversity and productivity necessary to support many species of hawks, owls, and falcons as well as the Bald Eagle and the Osprey. Additionally, the fall and spring migrations funnel thousands of birds through t...

Although Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato (s.l.) are found in a great diversity of vertebrates, most studies in North America have focused on the role of mammals as spirochete reservoir hosts. We investigated the roles of birds as hosts for subadult Ixodes pacificus ticks and potential reservoirs of the Lyme disease spirochete B. burgdorferi sensu stricto (s.s.) in northwestern California. Overa...

Imagine you are in your backyard, bird watching with friends. Your eyes look upward, scanning the trees and sky. What birds would expect to find? do think they might like? Consider how environment searching within (your backyard) gives clues about where for birds. likely scan but unlikely ground. The also what like. You probably them be small brown (like a robin) if live North America, or perha...

When insect activity is limited at low temperature, birds may be comparatively more important pollinators than insects for flowering plants. It has been thought that many large-flowered Rhododendron species are pollinated by local birds in the Himalayan regions because most of these species flower in spring at high elevation with cool atmospheric temperature. However, experimental evidence for ...

Studies report that urban areas may not provide breeding habitat for interior-forest birds, but some residential neighborhoods do have sufficient vegetation to serve as forest birds and even specialists. The authors investigated the occurrence of three specialists, pileated woodpeckers, summer tanagers, northern parulas, during season in two suburban Gainesville, Florida, found all species occu...

Changaram wetland is an important stopover ground for migratory shorebirds, gulls, terns, and other waterbirds in the western coast of Kerala it encompasses major habitats like exposed mudflats, mangrove fringes, agroecosystem. A total 77 species (shorebirds, large wading birds, terns) including long distance migrants, local resident were encountered our survey carried out during 2018 2019. Ten...