Dataset Information

Post mortem findings and their relation to AA amyloidosis in free-ranging Herring gulls (Larus argentatus).

ABSTRACT: Since the late 1990s, high mortality and declining populations have been reported among sea birds including Herring gulls (Larus argentatus) from the Baltic Sea area in Northern Europe. Repeated BoNT type C/D botulism outbreaks have occurred, but it remains unclear whether this is the sole and primary cause of mortality. Thiamine deficiency has also been suggested as a causal or contributing factor. With this study, we aimed to investigate gross and microscopic pathology in Herring gulls from affected breeding sites in Sweden in search of contributing diseases. Herring gulls from Iceland served as controls. Necropsies and histopathology were performed on 75 birds, of which 12 showed signs of disease at the time of necropsy. Parasites of various classes and tissues were commonly observed independent of host age, e.g. oesophageal capillariosis and nematode infection in the proventriculus and gizzard with severe inflammation, air sac larid pentastomes and bursal trematodiasis in pre-fledglings. Gross and microscopic findings are described. Notably, amyloidosis was diagnosed in 93 and 33% of the adult birds from Sweden and Iceland, respectively (p<0.001), with more pronounced deposits in Swedish birds (p<0.001). Gastrointestinal deposits were observed in the walls of arteries or arterioles, and occasionally in villi near the mucosal surface. Amyloid was identified within the intestinal lumen in one severely affected gull suggesting the possibility of oral seeding and the existence of a primed state as previously described in some mammals and chickens. This could speculatively explain the high occurrence and previously reported rapid onset of amyloidosis upon inflammation or captivity in Herring gulls. Amyloid-induced malabsorbtion is also a possibility. The Herring gull SAA/AA protein sequence was shown to be highly conserved but differed at the N-terminus from other avian species.

SUBMITTER: Jansson DS

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5832234 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Post mortem findings and their relation to AA amyloidosis in free-ranging Herring gulls (Larus argentatus).

Jansson Désirée S DS Bröjer Caroline C Neimanis Aleksija A Mörner Torsten T Murphy Charles L CL Otman Faruk F Westermark Per P

PloS one 20180301 3

Since the late 1990s, high mortality and declining populations have been reported among sea birds including Herring gulls (Larus argentatus) from the Baltic Sea area in Northern Europe. Repeated BoNT type C/D botulism outbreaks have occurred, but it remains unclear whether this is the sole and primary cause of mortality. Thiamine deficiency has also been suggested as a causal or contributing factor. With this study, we aimed to investigate gross and microscopic pathology in Herring gulls from af ...[more]

PMID: 29494674

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Project description:Urban populations of herring gulls (Larus argentatus) are increasing and causing human-wildlife conflict by exploiting anthropogenic resources. Gulls that breed in urban areas rely on varying amounts of terrestrial anthropogenic foods (e.g., domestic refuse, agricultural and commercial waste) to feed themselves. However, with the onset of hatching, many parent gulls switch to sourcing more marine than anthropogenic or terrestrial foods to provision their chicks. Although anthropogenic foods may meet chick calorific requirements for growth and development, some such foods (e.g., bread) may have lower levels of protein and other key nutrients compared to marine foods. However, whether this parental switch in chick diet is driven by chicks' preference for marine foods, or whether chicks' food preferences are shaped by the food types provisioned by their parents, remains untested. This study tests whether chick food preferences can be influenced by their provisioned diet by experimentally manipulating the ratio of time for which anthropogenic and marine foods were available (80:20 and vice versa) in the rearing diets of two treatment groups of rescued herring gull chicks. Each diet was randomly assigned to each of the 27 captive-reared chicks for the duration of the study. We tested chicks' individual food preferences throughout their development in captivity using food arrays with four food choices (fish, cat food, mussels and brown bread). Regardless of the dietary treatment group, we found that all chicks preferred fish and almost all refused to eat most of the bread offered. Our findings suggest that early-life diet, manipulated by the ratio of time the different foods were available, did not influence gull chicks' food preferences. Instead, chicks developed a strong and persistent preference for marine foods, which appears to match adult gulls' dietary switch to marine foods upon chick hatching and may reinforce the provisioning of marine foods during chick development. However, whether chicks in the wild would refuse provisioned foods, and to a sufficient extent to influence parental provisioning, requires further study. Longitudinal studies of urban animal populations that track wild individuals' food preferences and foraging specialisations throughout life are required to shed light on the development and use of anthropogenic resource exploitation.

Project description:Herring gulls (Larus argentatus) are opportunistic feeders, resulting in contaminant exposure depending on area and habitat. We compared contaminant concentrations and dietary markers between two herring gull breeding colonies with different distances to extensive human activity and presumed contaminant exposure from the local marine diet. Furthermore, we investigated the integrity of DNA in white blood cells and sensitivity to oxidative stress. We analyzed blood from 15 herring gulls from each colony-the urban Oslofjord near the Norwegian capital Oslo in the temperate region and the remote Hornøya island in northern Norway, on the Barents Sea coast. Based on d13 C and d34 S, the dietary sources of urban gulls differed, with some individuals having a marine and others a more terrestrial dietary signal. All remote gulls had a marine dietary signal and higher relative trophic level than the urban marine feeding gulls. Concentrations (mean ± standard deviation [SD]) of most persistent organic pollutants, such as polychlorinated biphenyl ethers (PCBs) and perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS), were higher in urban marine (PCB153 17 ± 17 ng/g wet weight, PFOS 25 ± 21 ng/g wet wt) than urban terrestrial feeders (PCB153 3.7 ± 2.4 ng/g wet wt, PFOS 6.7 ± 10 ng/g wet wt). Despite feeding at a higher trophic level (d15 N), the remote gulls (PCB153 17 ± 1221 ng/g wet wt, PFOS 19 ± 1421 ng/g wet wt) were similar to the urban marine feeders. Cyclic volatile methyl siloxanes were detected in only a few gulls, except for decamethylcyclopentasiloxane in the urban colony, which was found in 12 of 13 gulls. Only hexachlorobenzene was present in higher concentrations in the remote (2.6 ± 0.42 ng/g wet wt) compared with the urban colony (0.34 ± 0.33 ng/g wet wt). Baseline and induced DNA damage (doublestreak breaks) was higher in urban than in remote gulls for both terrestrial and marine feeders. Environ Toxicol Chem 2022;41:2466-2478. © 2022 The Authors. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of SETAC.

Dataset Information

Post mortem findings and their relation to AA amyloidosis in free-ranging Herring gulls (Larus argentatus).

Publications

Post mortem findings and their relation to AA amyloidosis in free-ranging Herring gulls (Larus argentatus).

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