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BackgroundThe western burrowing owl (Athene cunicularia hypugaea) occurs throughout western North America in various habitats such as desert, short-grass prairie and shrub-steppe, among others, where the main threat for this species is habitat loss. Range-wide declines have prompted a need for reliable estimates of its populations in Mexico, where the size of resident and migratory populations remain unknown.ResultsOur objective was to estimate the abundance and density of breeding western burrowing owl populations in Mexican prairie dog (Cynomys mexicanus) colonies in two sites located within the Chihuahuan Desert ecoregion in the states of Nuevo Leon and San Luis Potosi, Mexico. Line transect surveys were conducted from February to April of 2010 and 2011. Fifty 60 ha transects were analyzed using distance sampling to estimate owl and Mexican prairie dog populations. We estimated a population of 2026 owls (95 % CI 1756–2336) in 2010 and 2015 owls (95 % CI 1573–2317) in 2011 across 50 Mexican prairie dog colonies (20,529 ha).ConclusionsThe results represent the first systematic attempt to provide reliable evidence related to the size of the adult owl populations, within the largest and best preserved Mexican prairie dog colonies in Mexico.

The dietary niche breadth of the Burrowing Owl was determined (Athene cunicularia Molina, 1782) in Llano La Soledad, Galeana, Nuevo Leon in northern Mexico, by considering prey type, numerical percentage, weight, weight percentage, frequency of occurrence percentage, and IRI percentage. The study compared data from three winters (2002–2003, 2003–2004, 2004–2005) by analyzing 358 pellets, identifying 850 prey items. Invertebrates constituted 90% of prey items, which mostly included insects (85%); beetles were the most common insects found in pellets (70%). Vertebrates made up 84% of consumed weight, of which 83% were mammals. Most of the mammals were cricetid rodents (41%). Niche breadth based on the numerical and weight percentage confirmed the Burrowing Owl as a generalist species with mean values per year ranging between 0.65 and 0.82. Additionally, there was a strong association between the weight of rodent species in winter. This association was mainly driven by changes in composition and frequency of these prey species during the second winter, probably caused by high annual rainfall. The second season also showed a statistically significant narrower niche (Ro = 0.96) and the smallest overlap (0.45 vs. 0.76) among the three winters.

Chikungunya is a public health problem in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Innate immune response (IIR) possesses enzymatic cleavage of nucleic acids of the agent as an important mechanism of viral counteraction. Oligoadenylate synthetase (OAS) enzymes are key regulators of RNase L to develop IIR against RNA viruses. OAS´ Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) have been related to susceptibility toward RNA-virus diseases. A cross-sectional study was done of 187 patients. OAS1 SNPs (rs1131454), OAS2 SNPs (rs1293762, rs15895, and rs1732778) and OAS3 SNPs (rs2285932 and rs2072136) genes were studied by qPCR in check and symptomatic patients to associate SNPs with susceptibility to disease. Relative risk (RR), Chi2, and Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium indicated p < 0.05 statistical significance. SNPs rs1131454 and rs1293762 showed statistically significant differences between cases and check. Homozygous genotypes GG of rs1131454 and CC of rs1293762 were considered risk factors (RR 1.59; 95% CI 1.19-2.14 and RR 1.91; 95% CI 1.31-2.78, respectively). Heterozygous genotypes GA of rs1131454 and AC of rs1293762 were protective factors (RR 0.67; 95% CI 0.48-0.94 and RR 0.56; 95% CI 0.37-0.83, respectively). Moreover, rs1293762 was statistically significant in allelic frequencies between cases and checks, with A allele a protective factor (RR = 0.55; 95% CI 0.39-.078) and C allele a susceptibility factor (RR = 1.80; 95% CI difference (p < 0.05) in the allelic frequencies between cases and checks, with A allele as protection factor (RR = 1.28-2.54). Our results add to previously reported evidence of susceptibility of certain populations with specific OAS-family SNPs against CHIKV.