Abstract
Bioindicators of wildlife health are useful tools for studying the viability of various organisms and populations, and can include a range of phenotypic variables, such as behavior, body size, and physiological parameters, such as circulating hormones and nutrients. Few studies have investigated the utility of total plasma protein as a predictor of environmental or nutritional variation among birds, as well as variation across different habitats and life-history stages. Here, we examined relationships between plasma protein and season, urbanization, sex, body condition, molt status, and disease state in House Finches (Haemorhous mexicanus). We sampled blood from House Finches across three seasons (winter, summer, and fall 2021) and measured plasma protein levels using a Bradford assay. We also collected data including condition, sex, and poxvirus infection state at capture, as well as fecal samples to assess gut parasitism (coccidiosis). During the fall season, we also estimated molt status, as number of actively growing feathers. We found a significant relationship between circulating protein levels and capture site, as well as novel links to molt state and pox presence, with urban birds, those infected with pox, and those in more intense molt having higher protein levels. Our results support the hypotheses that plasma protein concentration can be indicative of a bird’s body molt and degree of habitat urbanization, although future work is needed to determine why protein levels were higher in virus-infected birds.
Zusammenfassung
Variation des Plasmaproteinspiegels beim Hausgimpel ( Haemorhous mexicanus ): Auswirkungen von Jahreszeit, Krankheitszustand und Urbanisierung
Bioindikatoren für die Gesundheit von Wildtieren sind nützliche Instrumente zur Untersuchung der Überlebensfähigkeit verschiedener Organismen und Populationen und können eine Reihe von phänotypischen Parametern wie Verhalten, Körpergröße und physiologische Parameter, z. B. im Blut zirkulierende Hormone und Nährstoffe, umfassen. Nur wenige Studien haben den Nutzen des Gesamtplasmaproteinspiegels als Indikator für umwelt- und ernährungsbedingte Variation unter Vögeln sowie Unterschiede über verschiedene Lebensräume und -stadien hinweg untersucht. In dieser Studie haben wir die Beziehungen zwischen dem Plasmaproteinspiegel und Jahreszeit, Urbanisierung, Geschlecht, Körperkondition, Mauser- und Krankheitszustand beim Hausgimpel (Haemorhous mexicanus) beleuchtet. Es wurden Blutproben vom Hausgimpel über drei Jahreszeiten (Winter, Sommer, Herbst 2021) entnommen und der Plasmaproteinspiegel mithilfe eines Bradford-Tests gemessen. Weiterhin sammelten wir Daten zu Körperkondition, Geschlecht und Grad der Pockenvirusinfektion beim Fang sowie Kotproben, um den Befall mit Darmparasiten (Kokzidiose) zu beurteilen. Weiterhin schätzten wir während der Herbstsaison den Mauserzustand ein, d. h. die Anzahl an aktiv wachsenden Federn. Wir fanden eine signifikante Beziehung zwischen dem zirkulierenden Proteinspiegel und dem Fangort sowie neue Zusammenhänge zwischen dem Mauserzustand und vorhandenen Pockenviren, wobei Vögel in der Stadt, mit Pockenviren infizierte Vögel und Vögel, die sich in einer intensiveren Mauser befanden, einen höheren Proteinspiegel aufwiesen. Unsere Ergebnisse unterstützen die Hypothese, dass der Plasmaproteinspiegel einen Hinweis auf den Mauserstatus der Vögel und den Grad der Verstädterung ihres Habitats bieten kann, wenn auch noch zukünftige Untersuchungen benötigt werden, um festzustellen, warum der Proteinspiegel bei Vögeln mit einer Virusinfektion höher war.
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Data availability
The datasets generated during and analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the National Science Foundation DEB-1832016, Central Arizona-Phoenix Long-Term Ecological Research Program (CAP LTER), and Barrett, The Honors College. We thank Dr. Karen Sweazea and Danny Jackson for input on the manuscript. We would also like to thank the South Mountain Environmental Education Center for graciously allowing us to conduct this research at their facilities. Finally, we would like to thank all of the undergraduate students who helped in this effort, Kathryn DePinto, Ian Sheedy, George Amacher, Elise Crawford-Paz Soldán, Preston Moskal, C. J. Writer, Jake Mitrius, Danielle Pais, Amanda Wrona, Cassie Rueda, Madison Hatcher, and Lauren West, as well as graduate students Victor Penha and Jamie Casseus. The experiments conducted comply with the current law of the United States of America, in which they were performed.
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Drake, D.J., McGraw, K.J. Variation in plasma protein levels in House Finches (Haemorhous mexicanus): effects of season, disease state, and urbanization. J Ornithol 164, 629–638 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-023-02062-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-023-02062-y