Birds / en Hummingbirds enter overnight hibernation-like state to save energy for long trip south: 缅北强奸 research /news/hummingbirds-enter-overnight-hibernation-state-save-energy-long-trip-south-u-t-research <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Hummingbirds enter overnight hibernation-like state to save energy for long trip south: 缅北强奸 research</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2023-04/hummingbirdbannerfinal.jpeg?h=cd5835b5&amp;itok=h8lH6rdC 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/2023-04/hummingbirdbannerfinal.jpeg?h=cd5835b5&amp;itok=_Aecsw49 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/2023-04/hummingbirdbannerfinal.jpeg?h=cd5835b5&amp;itok=vqEL_8oq 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2023-04/hummingbirdbannerfinal.jpeg?h=cd5835b5&amp;itok=h8lH6rdC" alt="A hummingbird"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>Christopher.Sorensen</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2021-12-15T10:41:12-05:00" title="Wednesday, December 15, 2021 - 10:41" class="datetime">Wed, 12/15/2021 - 10:41</time> </span> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/alexa-battler" hreflang="en">Alexa Battler</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/breaking-research" hreflang="en">Breaking Research</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/birds" hreflang="en">Birds</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/biology" hreflang="en">Biology</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/graduate-students" hreflang="en">Graduate Students</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/research-innovation" hreflang="en">Research &amp; Innovation</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/u-t-scarborough" hreflang="en">缅北强奸 Scarborough</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Hummingbirds鈥 metabolisms are so fast that they face an ever-looming threat颅颅: running out of energy and dropping dead. That鈥檚 why the birds evolved a physiological trick, an ability at the centre of&nbsp;a new study&nbsp;by researchers at the University of Toronto&nbsp;Scarborough鈥檚&nbsp;<a href="https://www.welchbiology.com/">Welch Lab</a>&nbsp;and Western University.&nbsp;</p> <p>It鈥檚 called&nbsp;torpor 鈥&nbsp;a state similar to hibernation, in which a hummingbird's body temperature drops 20 degrees or more and their metabolic rate slows by up to 95 per cent. The researchers suggest hummingbirds&nbsp;use this ability strategically.&nbsp;</p> <p>鈥淭hey're basically shutting off at night and then just waking up in the morning like they arose from the dead,鈥 says&nbsp;<strong>Erich Eberts</strong>, a PhD candidate at 缅北强奸 Scarborough and lead author of the study into torpor and hummingbirds.&nbsp;<a href="https://elifesciences.org/articles/70062">The paper</a>&nbsp;was published this month in the journal&nbsp;<em>ELife</em>.&nbsp;</p> <p>Eberts spent three years trying to determine the rules of torpor 鈥 that is, when and how much energy a hummingbird has when it goes into that state.&nbsp;He was shocked at how clear the numbers were.</p> <p>鈥淚 wondered if he would observe enough instances of torpor to tell what the patterns were,鈥 says&nbsp;<strong>Kenneth Welch</strong>, associate professor in the department of biological sciences. 鈥淎bout halfway through that first summer, he was getting birds going into torpor almost every night. But not long after, he said, 鈥楾he birds are suddenly doing something very different.鈥欌</p> <figure role="group" class="caption caption-drupal-media"> <div> <div class="field field--name-field-media-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/2023-04/torpor-crop.jpeg" width="750" height="275" alt="Hummingbird torpor"> </div> </div> <figcaption><em>Like hibernation, torpor involves severely lowering metabolism and temperature. Unlike hibernation, torpor is short-term (photo courtest of Erich Eberts)</em></figcaption> </figure> <p>In fact, torpor in hummingbirds does appear to follow rules 鈥 seasonal ones. In early and mid-summer, when male hummingbirds stay light and agile to defend their turf and court mates, they use torpor to survive so-called 鈥渆nergy emergencies.鈥 The researchers鈥 study determined this emergency state kicks in when their fat levels drop below five per cent of their body mass.</p> <p>鈥淭hese data help simplify this almost nebulous question of when hummingbirds use torpor; it's when they hit this emergency level of fat during the night,鈥 Eberts says. 鈥淏ut the really interesting part was that the five-per-cent threshold essentially disappeared in late summer right before the migration period.鈥</p> <p>The study found that when it鈥檚 time to migrate, the birds will enter torpor at high body-fat ratios, even up to 40 per cent. By eating more during the day and using torpor at night, the birds can better prepare for the journey south.&nbsp;Researchers have previously observed hummingbirds fattening up before migration, but whether it was due to torpor was unconfirmed.</p> <p>鈥淗ummingbirds can use torpor in different contexts to support their seasonal energy demands. It's this really versatile energy manipulation mechanism,鈥 Eberts says.&nbsp;鈥淲e were also able to show that they can fatten up more if they use the torpor more.鈥</p> <p>Eberts studied 16 male ruby-throated hummingbirds (female birds only rarely&nbsp;enter torpor during nesting to keep chicks warm) in the vivarium at the&nbsp;Advanced Facility for Avian Research at Western University with co-author Chris Guglielmo, a professor in&nbsp;Western's department of biology.&nbsp;Before the birds went to sleep, he used a QMR machine, which works like an MRI that generates numbers instead of images, to measure body fat. The birds were then placed in&nbsp;a respirometry chamber to measure oxygen use and how quickly they used their fat. A steep drop in metabolism and body temperature indicated they were entering torpor.</p> <p>The study suggests that torpor is more than an emergency fail-safe 鈥 hummingbirds can use it to meet different energy needs.</p> <p>"If evolution has solved this problem of dealing with energy emergencies in different animals, then maybe we can learn about flexibility in the rules for drastically shutting down metabolism," Welch says.&nbsp;"From the human-centered perspective, we'd love to be able to put astronauts into torpor for, say, their journey to Mars."</p> <p>Eberts is now looking into the effect temperature has on the five-per-cent fat threshold hypothesis. He鈥檚 also examining whether ages and sexes of hummingbirds impact their use of torpor. &nbsp;</p> <p>鈥淭here's somewhat of a debate on how common torpor is in birds in general, so considering the flexibility of torpor use is important for more broadly understanding the scope of torpor use in other animals,鈥 he says.</p> <p>The study was supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, Human Frontier Science Program, Canada Foundation for Innovation and Ontario Research Fund.</p> <p><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen frameborder="0" height="422px" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/446351256?h=f0d51108ec" width="750px"></iframe></p> <p height="422px" width="750px"><a href="https://vimeo.com/446351256">The Versatility of Torpor-use in Ruby-throated Hummingbirds</a>&nbsp;from&nbsp;<a href="https://vimeo.com/user120323509">Deniz Kaya</a>&nbsp;on&nbsp;<a href="https://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Wed, 15 Dec 2021 15:41:12 +0000 Christopher.Sorensen 301244 at Common agricultural pesticide may be putting hummingbirds at risk: 缅北强奸 study /news/common-agricultural-pesticide-may-be-putting-hummingbirds-risk-u-t-study <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Common agricultural pesticide may be putting hummingbirds at risk: 缅北强奸 study</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/GettyImages-1301435373.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=ff1YYIn4 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/GettyImages-1301435373.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=QkRUobul 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/GettyImages-1301435373.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=cyVwD2Pw 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/GettyImages-1301435373.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=ff1YYIn4" alt="&quot;&quot;"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>Christopher.Sorensen</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2021-02-18T13:26:32-05:00" title="Thursday, February 18, 2021 - 13:26" class="datetime">Thu, 02/18/2021 - 13:26</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">Researchers at 缅北强奸 Scarborough discovered that a common insecticide can slow the metabolism of ruby-throated hummingbirds by as much as 25 per cent in the hours after exposure (photo by mlharing via Getty Images)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/don-campbell" hreflang="en">Don Campbell</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/breaking-research" hreflang="en">Breaking Research</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/birds" hreflang="en">Birds</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/biology" hreflang="en">Biology</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/research-innovation" hreflang="en">Research &amp; Innovation</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/sustainability" hreflang="en">Sustainability</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/u-t-scarborough" hreflang="en">缅北强奸 Scarborough</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Hummingbirds need an incredible amount of energy to flap their wings 50 times per second to maintain hovering flight. Their metabolism is so supercharged&nbsp;that if they were human-sized&nbsp;they would consume energy at a rate more than 10 times that of an Olympic marathon runner.&nbsp; &nbsp;</p> <p>But a new University of Toronto study has found that a common agricultural pesticide might be slowing down the crucial physiological process that makes hummingbirds so unique.</p> <p><img class="migrated-asset" src="/sites/default/files/UofT78868_Ken_Welch-5.jpg" alt></p> <p>Researchers in Associate Professor&nbsp;<strong>Ken Welch</strong>鈥檚 lab in the department of biology at 缅北强奸 Scarborough discovered that a common insecticide 鈥 which is chemically related to the nicotine found in tobacco 鈥 can slow the metabolism of ruby-throated hummingbirds by as much as 25 per cent in the hours after exposure.</p> <p>鈥淲e don鈥檛 know exactly why it goes down 鈥 whether the chemical is disrupting the metabolic processes or because they simply feel sick as a result of exposure 鈥 but they definitely show a reduced metabolic rate during the first few hours after ingesting it,鈥 says Welch.</p> <p>Neonicotinoid pesticides, introduced in the 1990s and now the most common type of insecticide in the world, are effective at killing insects because they can be transported to every part of a sprayed plant including the leaves, stems, roots, flowers, nectar and fruit. They can also persist in the soil and the plant for more than a year. However, the effects of pesticide concentrations in wild birds are just beginning to be understood.</p> <p>Welch says that hummingbirds may be especially prone to the negative effects of exposure because they encounter the&nbsp;pesticides in a number of ways, including through spraying, eating contaminated insects&nbsp;and, especially, drinking the contaminated nectar of sprayed plants.</p> <p>He says it鈥檚 also clear that hummingbirds are being exposed to these chemicals in the wild, pointing to recent research where the chemical was found in hummingbirds that lived near sprayed blueberry crops in B.C.鈥檚 Fraser Valley. The research, by Welch鈥檚 collaborators at Environment and Climate Change Canada, found the chemical in the nectar of blueberry plants up to a year after it was sprayed, and also in the urine samples of hummingbirds collected during the spring and summer.</p> <p>It begs the question about the long-term effects of chronic exposure.</p> <p>鈥淲e only looked at the first few hours after exposure, but theoretically there could be a long-term impact on the central nervous system,鈥 says Welch, a renowned expert on hummingbirds.</p> <p>He explains that the pesticide works by essentially paralyzing an insect鈥檚 ability to breathe and move through disruption&nbsp;of the&nbsp;nervous system.</p> <p>鈥淲e could assume that those potential risks also exist for hummingbirds through long-term exposure. At the moment, we just don鈥檛 know. It would require more research.鈥</p> <p>The study, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-82470-3">published in the journal&nbsp;<em>Scientific Reports</em></a>, which received funding from Environment and Climate Change Canada and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), raises important policy considerations. While all outdoor uses of several neonicotinoid pesticides were banned in Europe in 2018 to protect wild bees, they are still commonly used in North America.</p> <p>At the very least, Welch says some consideration&nbsp;should be given to when the pesticide is sprayed, especially during periods when vertebrates or important pollinators are active to reduce the chances of exposure.&nbsp;</p> <p>鈥淚f hummingbirds are skipping their normal foraging behaviour because of a dip in their metabolic rate, it could put them in an energy bottleneck,鈥 he says.</p> <p>鈥淚f they鈥檙e already low on energy, and then they are exposed to this pesticide, that hummingbird may very well find itself in an energetic crisis not too long after.鈥&nbsp;</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Thu, 18 Feb 2021 18:26:32 +0000 Christopher.Sorensen 168426 at