Seasonal migration has evolved as an adaptation for exploiting peaks of resource abundance and avoiding unfavourable climatic conditions. Differential migratory strategies and choices of wintering areas by long-distance migratory species may impose varying selective pressures and mortality risks with fitness consequences. Recently developed tracking technologies allow wintering movements of migratory species to be studied.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn this research, women were diagnosed as pregnant based on blood serum samples Raman spectroscopy. Raman spectroscopy is a vibrational technique that provides information on the chemical composition of samples. The Raman techniques have significantly impacted the study of various degenerative diseases, particularly cancer detection, using less invasive methods such as the analysis of blood serum samples.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDespite the first ban on perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) in 2009, it remains unclear whether Europe, a key regulator, has effectively reduced per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in the environment over the past 20 years. This study investigates the levels and temporal trends of 19 PFAS compounds in the livers of 62 Scopoli's shearwaters (Calonectris diomedea) collected from the Mediterranean basin during 2003-2022. Over the past two decades, PFAS concentrations showed an overall significant decrease of 77%.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBody condition in pelagic seabirds impacts key fitness-related traits such as reproductive performance and breeding frequency. Regulation of body condition can be especially important for species with long incubation periods and long individual incubation shifts between foraging trips. Here, we show that body condition of adult Red-billed Tropicbirds () at St Helena Island, South Atlantic Ocean, exhibited considerable variation between years (2013-2017) and between different stages of the breeding cycle.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF