Higher Prevalence of than in Small Mammal Species in Central Pennsylvania, United States.

can lead to severe babesiosis in immunosuppressed populations, but due to high numbers of asymptomatic cases, clinical reporting is unable to define its geographic distribution. Although Lyme disease caused by is endemic throughout Pennsylvania (PA), human babesiosis is under recognized, despite sharing the same vector and primary reservoir host. ticks are known to carry throughout PA, but information about pathogen prevalence in small mammal reservoirs remains limited.

Distributed and selective auditory representation of song repertoires in the avian song system.

For many songbirds, the vocal repertoire constitutes acoustically distinct songs that are flexibly used in various behavioral contexts. To investigate how these different vocalizations are represented in the song neural system, we presented multiple song stimuli while performing extracellular recording in nucleus HVC in adult male song sparrows Melospiza melodia, a species known for its complex vocal repertoire and territorial use of song. We observed robust auditory responses to natural song stimuli in both awake and anesthetized animals.

An interspecific comparison using immunofluorescence reveals that synapse density in the avian song system is related to sex but not to male song repertoire size.

Immunofluorescent labeling of synaptic vesicle protein 2 (SV2) and confocal microscopy were employed to assess the role of synapse density in the functioning of the avian song system. Synapse density in premotor nuclei HVC and RA was measured, in both sexes of two species characterized by male-only singing behavior: the zebra finch Taeniopygia guttata, which sings a single, stereotyped song, and the Carolina wren Thryothorus ludovicianus, which sings a large repertoire of different songs. Multiple levels of analyses demonstrate overall similarity of synapse density between nuclei HVC and RA, suggesting that synapse density is regulated uniformly across these regions within individuals.