Papers by Kathryn E Arnold
Science of The Total Environment, 2020
• Gamebird carcasses analysed for clothianidin in plasma/liver and health parameters • Detectable... more • Gamebird carcasses analysed for clothianidin in plasma/liver and health parameters • Detectable residues of clothianidin rose from 6% pre-sowing, to 89% postsowing • Detection frequency decreased over 30 days for plasma but not for liver. • Faecal parasite load positively associated with clothianidin residue in livers only. • Implications for future biomonitoring studies and agrochemical risk assessments
Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts, 2020
Suggestion for how the use of behavioral endpoints can improve in environmental risk assessment o... more Suggestion for how the use of behavioral endpoints can improve in environmental risk assessment of chemicals.
Science of The Total Environment, Feb 1, 2019
The isolation of antimicrobial resistant bacteria (ARB) from wildlife living adjacent to humans h... more The isolation of antimicrobial resistant bacteria (ARB) from wildlife living adjacent to humans has led to the suggestion that such antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is anthropogenically driven by exposure to antimicrobials and ARB. However, ARB have also been detected in wildlife living in areas without interaction with humans. Here, we investigated patterns of resistance in Escherichia coli isolated from 408 wild bird and mammal faecal samples. AMR and multi-drug resistance (MDR) prevalence in wildlife samples differed significantly between a Sewage Treatment Plant (STP; wastes of antibiotictreated humans) and a Farm site (antibiotic-treated livestock wastes) and Central site (no sources of wastes containing anthropogenic AMR or antimicrobials), but patterns of resistance also varied significantly over time and between mammals and birds. Over 30% of AMR isolates were resistant to colistin, a last-resort antibiotic, but resistance was not due to the mcr-1 gene. ESBL and AmpC activity were common in isolates from mammals. Wildlife were, therefore, harbouring resistance of clinical relevance. AMR E. coli, including MDR, were found in diverse wildlife species, and the patterns and prevalence of resistance were not consistently associated with site and therefore different exposure risks. We conclude that AMR in commensal bacteria of wildlife is not driven simply by anthropogenic factors, and, in practical terms, this may limit the utility of wildlife as sentinels of spatial variation in the transmission of environmental AMR.
Ibis, 2021
Many bird species are vulnerable to environmental change, so knowledge of their diet and its vari... more Many bird species are vulnerable to environmental change, so knowledge of their diet and its variation can help understand population status and flexibility to respond to change. Insectivorous species are predicted to have a flexible diet within and between individuals, which can respond to naturally fluctuating prey abundance, thus allowing opportunistic exploitation of available resources. We analysed the diet of a nocturnal, aerial insectivore, the European Nightjar Caprimulgus europaeus, using high‐throughput metabarcoding. We quantified diet diversity and composition of 130 faecal samples from nests and roosts on a northern breeding site in the UK from 2015 to 2018, and compared differences among individuals and years. Although dominated by moths, diet varied significantly between individual faecal samples and between years and months. Prey species composition varied between years, and was more variable between samples in 2017 than in other years. Faecal samples were significan...
Journal of Animal Ecology, 2020
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which... more This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Bird Study, 2017
Capsule: Providing peanuts on bird feeders was shown to attract more individuals and more species... more Capsule: Providing peanuts on bird feeders was shown to attract more individuals and more species than providing cheese or bread. Aims: To investigate how the provision of different human-derived foods affects visitation rates of urban birds at bird feeders. Methods: A fully replicated study design was set up in parkland, offering a binary choice from three food types (peanuts, bread and cheese), on bird tables. Birds were observed using a scansample method. Results: Peanuts attracted more visits and a greater diversity of species than cheese or bread. This preference was strongest for Blue Tits and Great Tits, whereas Robins visited all food types equally, and Blackbirds preferred cheese. Bread was the most consumed food type when measured in mass, but this could be linked to varying bite sizes. Conclusion: Our results indicate that most birds preferred to visit the most protein-and energyrich food, but that some birds still choose the carbohydrate-rich bread. The findings indicate that peanuts, rather than household scraps like bread and cheese, attract the highest number of bird species as well as individuals to bird tables. The findings are of interest to the public and to organisations providing information on bird feeding for recreational purposes.
Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, Feb 26, 2009
Science of The Total Environment, 2020
HIGHLIGHTS • Exposure of farmland birds to a neonicotinoid seed treatment was characterised. • Tr... more HIGHLIGHTS • Exposure of farmland birds to a neonicotinoid seed treatment was characterised. • Treated cereal seeds were found on the soil surface at all 25 farms surveyed. • 15 species of bird were observed consuming clothianidin-treated seed at seed piles. • Clothianidin was detected in the plasma of 10/11 farmland bird species sampled. • Birds consumed up to 65% of a chronic toxicity estimate for clothianidin.
Science of The Total Environment, 2018
Many wild animals can be adversely affected by trace metals around point sources but little is kn... more Many wild animals can be adversely affected by trace metals around point sources but little is known about the risks to birds across their ranges. Trace metals in the soil are ubiquitously, if heterogeneously distributed, across the world due to natural and anthropogenic sources. Here, we built, parameterized and applied a spatially explicit modelling framework to determine the risks of soil-associated metals to 30 invertebrateconsuming passerine species across their spatial distribution in England and Wales. Our model highlights significant differences in toxicity risks from Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn across the UK distributions of different species; Pb and Zn posed risks to all distributions, with more localised risks to some species of conservation concern from Cd and Cu. No single taxa of invertebrate prey drove avian exposure to metal toxicity. Adults were found to be at higher risk from Pb and Zn toxicity across their distributions than nestlings. This risk was partially driven by diet, with age differences in diets identified. Our spatially national distribution in which the population was at risk. Overall, we determined that for all species studied an average of 32.7 ±0.2 %, 8.0 ±0.1%, 86.1 ±0.1% and 93.2 ±0.1% of the songbird spatial distributions in the UK were characterized at risk of Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn, respectively. Despite some limitations, our spatially explicit model helps in understanding the risks of metals to wildlife and provides an efficient method of prioritising areas, contaminants and species for Environmental Risk Assessments. The model could be further evaluated using a targeted monitoring dataset of metal concentration in bird tissues. Our model can assess and communicate to stakeholders the potential risks of environmental contaminants to wildlife species at a national and potentially international scale.
Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2017
α-Tocopherol is assumed to be the most biologically active dietary antioxidant in vivo, but despi... more α-Tocopherol is assumed to be the most biologically active dietary antioxidant in vivo, but despite its potential importance little is known about its impacts on wild birds. Reproduction is presumed to be costly for parents through several routes, including increased oxidative stress, particularly for bird species producing large clutches. If dietary antioxidants can ameliorate oxidative stress associated with reproduction, mothers supplemented with dietary antioxidants are predicted to be in improved condition and/or invest more resources in reproduction than controls. We provided adult blue tit pairs with an α-tocopherol-enriched or control food supplement during nest building and egg laying, then cross-fostered half broods between treatment groups to test the theory that α-tocopherol-supplemented mothers would invest more in self-maintenance or reproduction than controls. We found that α-tocopherol supplementation had no effect on the maternal condition or reproductive investment. However, effects on nestlings were evident: nestlings from α-tocopherol-supplemented mothers were smaller at hatching. There was no effect on chick fledging mass, fledging success or lipid peroxidation, but the catch-up growth exhibited by chicks from α-tocopherolsupplemented parents may be considered costly. Thus, our results do not provide evidence for a benefit of maternal α-tocopherol supplementation at a biologically relevant dose on either themselves or their offspring. We discuss our findings in terms of ongoing research on the multifaceted roles that dietary 'antioxidants' can have in vivo, and the issues of disentangling their impacts on physiology and behaviour in the wild.
Chemosphere, 2018
Birds eat sewage-contaminated prey containing antidepressants such as fluoxetine. Male starlings ... more Birds eat sewage-contaminated prey containing antidepressants such as fluoxetine. Male starlings sang less to fluoxetine-treated females than to control females. Increased male aggression towards fluoxetine-treated females. First evidence of fluoxetine-induced courtship disruption in a songbird.
The use of human and veterinary pharmaceuticals is increasing. Over the past decade, there has be... more The use of human and veterinary pharmaceuticals is increasing. Over the past decade, there has been a proliferation of research into potential environmental impacts of pharmaceuticals in the environment. A Royal Society-supported seminar brought together experts from diverse scientific fields to discuss the risks posed by pharmaceuticals to wildlife. Recent analytical advances have revealed that pharmaceuticals are entering habitats via water, sewage, manure and animal carcases, and dispersing through food chains. Pharmaceuticals are designed to alter physiology at low doses and so can be particularly potent contaminants. The near extinction of Asian vultures following exposure to diclofenac is the key example where exposure to a pharmaceutical caused a population-level impact on non-target wildlife. However, more subtle changes to behaviour and physiology are rarely studied and poorly understood. Grand challenges for the future include developing more realistic exposure assessments for wildlife, assessing the impacts of mixtures of pharmaceuticals in combination with other environmental stressors and estimating the risks from pharmaceutical manufacturing and usage in developing countries. We concluded that an integration of diverse approaches is required to predict 'unexpected' risks; specifically, ecologically relevant, often long-term and non-lethal, consequences of pharmaceuticals in the environment for wildlife and ecosystems.
Behaviour, 2016
Variation in personality traits is predicted to reflect physiology, but the extent to which varia... more Variation in personality traits is predicted to reflect physiology, but the extent to which variations in stress hormones derive from differences in personality and/or state-dependent factors remains unclear. To investigate this, wild blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus) were briefly brought into captivity and scored for personality and corticosterone (Cort) concentrations. More active females had lower baseline Cort than less active individuals. Exploratory tendency and neophobia did not co-vary with baseline Cort. Stress-induced Cort concentrations were correlated negatively with exploratory tendency and haematocrit, but positively with mass gain in captivity. Therefore, baseline and stress-induced Cort concentrations in wintering blue tits were associated with state-dependent variables, sex, age and personality traits. Key to interpreting the physiology of personality traits seems to be their interactions with other traits that mediate ability to utilise resources, and thus influence ...
Biology letters, Aug 1, 2016
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has been detected in the microbiota of many wildlife species, incl... more Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has been detected in the microbiota of many wildlife species, including long-distance migrants. Inadequately treated wastes from humans and livestock dosed with antimicrobial drugs are often assumed to be the main sources of AMR to wildlife. While wildlife populations closely associated with human populations are more likely to harbour clinically important AMR related to that found in local humans and livestock, AMR is still common in remote wildlife populations with little direct human influence. Most reports of AMR in wildlife are survey based and/or small scale, so researchers can only speculate on possible sources and sinks of AMR or the impact of wildlife AMR on clinical resistance. This lack of quantitative data on the flow of AMR genes and AMR bacteria across the natural environment could reflect the numerous AMR sources and amplifiers in the populated world. Ecosystems with relatively simple and well-characterized potential inputs of AMR can pr...
Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences, 2003
Early nutrition has recently been shown to have pervasive, downstream effects on adult life-histo... more Early nutrition has recently been shown to have pervasive, downstream effects on adult life-history parameters including lifespan, but the underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. Damage to biomolecules caused by oxidants, such as free radicals generated during metabolic processes, is widely recognized as a key contributor to somatic degeneration and the rate of ageing. Lipophilic antioxidants (carotenoids, vitamins A and E) are an important component of vertebrate defences against such damage. By using an avian model, we show here that independent of later nutrition, individuals experiencing a short period of low-quality nutrition during the nestling period had a twofold reduction in plasma levels of these antioxidants at adulthood. We found no effects on adult external morphology or sexual attractiveness: in matechoice trials females did not discriminate between adult males that had received standard-or lower-quality diet as neonates. Our results suggest low-quality neonatal nutrition resulted in a long-term impairment in the capacity to assimilate dietary antioxidants, thereby setting up a need to trade off the requirement for antioxidant activity against the need to maintain morphological development and sexual attractiveness. Such state-dependent trade-offs could underpin the link between early nutrition and senescence.
Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 2010
Anthocyanins in extracts from raspberries and blueberries were analyzed by reversed-phase HPLC co... more Anthocyanins in extracts from raspberries and blueberries were analyzed by reversed-phase HPLC coupled to a high-resolution Exactive Orbitrap mass spectrometer (HR-MS) with a resolution of 100,000, operated with an electrospray source in the positive ionization mode. As consumption of anthocyanin-rich berry extracts has been associated with improved cognitive function, brain extracts from European greenfinches (Carduelis chloris) that had been fed one blackberry daily for a period of 2 weeks were analyzed by both HPLC with traditional tandem MS in the selected reaction monitoring mode and HPLC-HR-MS. Cyanidin-3-O-glucoside was detected in the brain extracts by both methods, but because of its high level of selectivity, HR-MS was ca. 200-fold more sensitive. A further advantage of HR-MS is that unlike MS-SRM it enables both targeted and nontargeted compounds to be detected and much lower limits of detection are achieved without compromising the selectivity of the analysis.
Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 2009
Offspring survival can be influenced by resources allocated to eggs, which in turn may be affecte... more Offspring survival can be influenced by resources allocated to eggs, which in turn may be affected by the environmental factors the mother experiences during egg formation. In this study, we investigated whether experimentally elevated social interactions and number of neighbouring pairs influence yolk composition of collared flycatchers (Ficedula albicollis). Social challenge was simulated by presentation of a conspecific female. Experimental females spent more time near the cage and produced eggs with higher androgen concentration, but local breeding density did not affect yolk androgen level. Moreover, we found that females exposed to more intraspecific interactions and those that bred at higher density produced eggs with smaller yolk. These females may be more constrained in foraging time due to more frequent social encounters, and there might be increased competition for food at areas of higher density. In contrast, the present study did not reveal any evidence for the effect of social environment on yolk antioxidant and immunoglobulin levels. However, we found that yolk lutein and immunoglobulin concentrations were related to the female's H/L ratio. Also, yolk lutein and α-tocopherol levels showed a seasonal increase and were positively related to the female's plasma carotenoid level. Mothers may incur significant costs by transferring these compounds into the eggs, thus only females in good physiological condition and those that lay eggs later, when food is probably more abundant, could allocate higher amounts to the eggs without compromising their defence mechanisms. Our results suggest that environmental circumstances during egg formation can influence conditions for embryonic development.
Behavioral Ecology, 1999
Theory predicts that cooperative breeding should only occur in species in which certain individua... more Theory predicts that cooperative breeding should only occur in species in which certain individuals are constrained from breeding independently by some peculiarity of the species' ecology. Here, we use comparative methods to examine the role of variation in ecology in explaining differences between taxa in the frequency of cooperative breeding. We address three questions. First, does the frequency of cooperative breeding vary at just one phylogenetic level, or across several levels? Second, are differences in the frequency of cooperative breeding among closely-related species correlated with ecology? Last, are ecological differences between ancient lineages important in predisposing certain lineages to cooperative breeding? We find that variation in the frequency of cooperative breeding occurs across all phylogenetic levels, with 40% among families and 60% within families. Also, variation in the frequency of cooperative breeding between closely related species is associated with ecological differences. However, differences in the frequency of cooperative breeding among more ancient lineages are not correlated with differences in ecology. Together, our results suggest that cooperative breeding is not due to any single factor, but is a two step-process: lifehistory predisposition and ecological facilitation. Low annual mortality predisposes certain lineages to cooperative breeding. Subsequently, changes in ecology facilitate the evolution of cooperative breeding within these predisposed lineages. The key ecological changes appear to be sedentariness and living in a relatively invariable and warm climate. Thus, although ecological variation is not the most important factor in predisposing lineages to cooperative breeding, it is important in determining exactly which species or populations in a predisposed lineage will adopt cooperative breeding.
Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences, 2003
Recent behavioural experiments have shown that birds use ultraviolet (UV)-reflective and fluoresc... more Recent behavioural experiments have shown that birds use ultraviolet (UV)-reflective and fluorescent plumage as cues in mate choice. It remains controversial, however, whether such UV signals play a special role in sexual communication, or whether they are part of general plumage coloration. We use a comparative approach to test for a general association between sexual signalling and either UV-reflective or fluorescent plumage. Among the species surveyed, 72% have UV colours and there is a significant positive association between UV reflectance and courtship displays. Among parrots (Psittaciformes), 68% of surveyed species have fluorescent plumage, and again there is a strong positive association between courtship displays and fluorescence. These associations are not artefacts of the plumage used in courtship displays, being generally more 'colourful' because there is no association between display and colours lacking UV reflectance or fluorescence. Equally, these associations are not phylogenetic artefacts because all results remain unchanged when families or genera, rather than species, are used as independent data points. We also find that, in parrots, fluorescent plumage is usually found adjacent to UV-reflective plumage. Using a simple visual model to examine one parrot, the budgerigar Melopsittacus undulatus, we show that the juxtaposition of UV-reflective and fluorescent plumage leads to a 25-fold increase in chromatic contrast to the budgerigar's visual system. Taken together, these results suggest that signals based on UV contrast are of special importance in the context of active sexual displays. We review briefly six hypotheses on why this may be the case: suitability for short-range signalling; high contrast with backgrounds; invisibility to predators; exploitation of pre-existing sensory biases; advertisement of feather structure; and amplification of behavioural signals.
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Papers by Kathryn E Arnold