Avian influenza without the avian

Southeast Asia, including China, is where most cases of human avian influenza occur. Nearly all the cases involve human contact with poultry. Evidently, higher body temperatures, are required for the virus to successfully replicate to the point where viruses populate the respiratory system. Birds have a slightly higher (~42 C) body temperature than humans (37 C). Gary Ritchison has a fantastic web page explaining avian body temperatures and metabolism.

Recently, a case report described a young adult that traveled from Canada to Beijing for vacation and there the person contracted A H5N1 influenza and died. The individual started feeling sick on December 27 and died January 2, 2014. The kicker is that this person did not have contact with live poultry. How this person came in contact with the virus is currently a mystery. 

A of A H5N1 refers to the serotype and A and B are typical. A is more common in birds and B is more typical of the seasonal influenza that circulate in humans. C also occurs in humans but is not associated with pandemics.  H refers to the hemagglutinin receptor on the virus surface and there are 17 subtypes. N refers to the neuraminidase receptor and there are 10 subtypes. Hemagglutinin determines host range - how many different animals the virus can infect. Neuramindase affects pathogenicity - how sick you get. Avian or human or porcine (pig) refers to the origin of the virus. One interesting property of these viruses is that they can switch hosts and also recombine in a host such that a bird infected with H5N9 and N1H1 can create N5H1.       
Many serotypes of avian influenza circulate around the globe. Within the US, a few serotypes circulate that impacts the poultry industry but not humans directly (yet). Although most cases of influenza occur in se Asia, cases have been reported across Asia and a fewer number in Europe and Africa. There is some worry that H5N1 could reach the US through migratory birds. A few birds, mostly waterfowl and cranes, breed in the far northeast corner of Asia but split their migration between Asia and North America. One example is the Sandhill Crane, some of which breed in Asia, migrate through Alaska and Canada, and winter in Texas. The concern is that these birds will mix with infected birds and pass H5N1 to North American cranes. The good news: H5N1 is also deadly to birds so this decreases the probability that infected birds will make the trip. The bad news: stopover habitat for cranes is decreases and concentrating them at higher densities. 

References:

• CDC: Types of Influenza Viruses
• Clark, L. and J. Hall (2006). "Avian influenza in wild birds: status as reservoirs, and risks to humans and agriculture." Ornithological Monographs 60: 3-29.
• Fraser, C., et al. (2009). "Pandemic Potential of a Strain of Influenza A (H1N1): Early Findings." Science 324(5934): 1557-1561.
• Normile, D. (2006). "AVIAN INFLUENZA: Evidence Points to Migratory Birds in H5N1 Spread." Science 311(5765): 1225-.

MY YEAR OF DARWIN (#YEAROFDARWIN)

12 Jan 2014: "Alas! it ejected some intensely acrid fluid, which burnt my tongue so that I was forced to spit the beetle out, which was lost, as was the third one." Darwin autobiography

Darwin loved hunting and fishing, he loved cavorting with his college buddies. But nothing compared to collecting beetles. This wasn't a casual interest. This involved wading, ripping apart dead trees. There was pride at stake. Collections were a big deal. Eggs, bird skins, beetles, butterflies, and artifacts were to be shown off, compared, envied. Here, in his excitement, Darwin probably threw what was a blister beetle in his mouth to catch third beetle. 

W. Darwin Fox, his second-cousin, introduced Darwin to insect collecting. Once started, he became obsessive and his collection became well known among English naturalists. He received his first acknowledgement in Illustrations of British Insects. He gave up beetle collecting later in life but replaced it with experimentation and documentation. 

My name first appears in print the acknowledgments of:  Robinson, G.R., and Handel, S.N. 1993. Forest restoration on a closed landfill: Rapid addition of new species by bird dispersal. Conservation Biology 7: 271-278. I dug holes in a landfill, measured trees, put together an irrigation system for the site. This was off exit 15W of the NJ turnpike. It's been turned into a parking lot. So it goes. I graduated college and was happy to be doing biology. I learned a ton and I am thankful for Drs. Handel and Robinson. The first and only time that a weapon was pulled on me was while I was working there. Long story. 

Snake! Crow! Marten! Great Tits call out their nest predators

Nests of songbirds are predated by.. well, just about everything. The common nest predators are snakes, larger birds, and many mammals, particularly carnivores. A recent study by T. Suzuki showed that Great Tits (relative of North American chickadees) are able to vocalize the identities of three nest predators. Jar calls are used to identify snakes and they different rates of chicka calls to discriminate between martens and crows. 

Martens are in the weasel family. I don't have a picture of a marten, but below is a road kill mink that I found in Dallas, Pennsylvania.

 

Link to article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2013.10.009

MY YEAR OF DARWIN (#YEAROFDARWIN)

11 Jan 2014: "Henslow used to take his pupils, including several of the older members of the university, field excursions, on foot or in coaches, to distant places, or in a barge down the river, and lectured on the rarer plants and animals which were observed. These excursions were delightful."  Darwin autobiography

Now at Cambridge, Darwin found academics as boring as those at Edinburgh but he loved being out in the field. He also joined a campus hunting club that met after hunts for drinks and gambling. 

Having a field component to courses is an incredibly important aspect. Seeing organisms in their habitat gives lectures context. Plus being in the forest beats being in the classroom. I'm not sure how on-line courses accomplish this type of inspiration and I worry about a student that has never gone to the field.  

At home, temperatures above freezing. Black-capped Chickadees and Song Sparrows were singing. Classes start in two days and I'll be working on lectures most of the day. 

Pike eats baby duck.

I suspect this happens often. I've been out with Louisiana Fish and Wildlife monitoring Wood Duck boxes and there were well over a dozen eggs in each box yet Wood Ducks were not that common. We suspect that alligators were eating some but a large alligator gar could easily capture and eat a duckling. Once you think about it, you might find it amazing that populations of ducks are so large.

If you're interested in ducks and duck populations, check out Ducks Unlimited Waterfowl Migration Map

MY YEAR OF DARWIN (#YEAROFDARWIN)

10 Jan 2014: "I had the bump of reverence developed enough for ten priests" Darwin autobiography

Darwin was leaving medical school at Edinburgh for a BA of divinity at Cambridge. The move was not immediate. He took a year off to catch up on his Greek and to convince himself that becoming a parson was acceptable. Which he did with the help of a private tutor. During this time his father died and there's no discussion of this in the autobiography. 

Later in life, Darwin sent a photograph to German phrenologists. Phrenology is the study of the shape of head and the once-believed link to abilities. Phrenology is classic pseudoscience; science jargon is used and plausible statements are made but there is either no support for these statements or there is contradictory evidence. Other popular practices I consider pseudoscience include homeopathy, subluxation-based chiropractic, chemtrails, bigfoot, intelligent design, and so on. 

When life gets you down

When your report to the state is due, when your NSF grant applications are due, when your classes start in three days and you're not ready, when your children stop talking to you, when your reviews are over due, when the fan in your vehicle breaks and you can't defrost your windows, just look at Aubrey and give her a high five. She loves you all the same.