The role of natural earth licks in the ecology of the mountain goat (Oreamnos americanus (Blainville)) was studied during the summers of 1965 and 1966 in the Rocky Mountain Trench of southern B.C. The patterns of movements of the animals were determined as they used the licks and the vegetation, lick soils and blood serum were analyzed with respect to sodium content. The predicated use of licks as suggested by other workers involves the idea that sodium may be the attracting element. The present study examined seasonal and differential patterns of movement, along with periodicity of use, in order to determine the resultant interplay of animal movement and sodium and water content of the vegetation. The goat encounters such additional risks as predation, parasitism, hunting and joint use while using the lick seasonally. Since the goats use the lick differentially in time, each sex is affected to a different degree by the above factors. Differential use also produces characteristic patterns of grouping and molting. Periodicity of use occurred mainly in the afternoon, although distance travelled and complexity of the lick may affect time of entry, length of stay and group size. The frequency of use differed at each lick, with the average time of use by an individual being one to three weeks. Environmental factors such as temperature and weather appear to regulate the movement to and from the lick. Analysis of the vegetation revealed that sodium was extremely low and that potassium was present in sufficient quantities to meet the requirements of the animal. No significant trends were found to exist from spring to fall or due to changes in elevation, as far as sodium and total ash were concerned. Observations indicated that animals select certain licks over others and select sites within a lick. These high licking sites were shown to have a higher sodium content. Newly established licks had a higher sodium content than did old licks, however, highly preferred sites were not always higher in calcium, phosphorus or cobalt. A normal range of serum sodium values was established for the goat but due to the regulatory function of the kidney, changes in serum sodium due to lick use could not be detected. Serum sodium decreased with age. A female with a kid had a low serum value. It appears that the level of deficiency causing the craving is not sufficient to show up in serum analysis. Animals died during trapping operations and a selenium deficiency was suspected. Gross symptoms approximated those attributed to white muscle disease and the vegetation contained selenium in amounts which are known to cause this myopathy. / Science, Faculty of / Zoology, Department of / Graduate

Isotope and dye estimates were made of body fluid compartment sizes in White Leghorn roosters, Glaucous-winged gulls, and in groups of Pekin ducks which were raised on either fresh water or regimes of hypertonic NaCl solution. The gulls and both groups of ducks were observed to have plasma (T-1824 dye) and total body water (H₂³O) volumes larger than thoseof the roosters, whereas the reverse was true for Br⁸² space (extracellular fluid; ECF) measurements. Salt fed ducks showed smaller, but insignificantly different compartment sizes (% body weights) when compared to fresh water raised ducks. The effects of an intravenous injection of hypertonic NaCl on the distribution of body water were compared among birds which differed in their capacity for renal and extra-renal salt elimination. In those birds (gulls, salt water ducks, and fresh water ducks with functional salt glands) which exhibited extra-renal salt secretion, the increase in ECF was significantly greater in response to the intravenous injection of hypertonic NaCl than in those birds (roosters and non-secreting fresh water ducks) which did not utilize the salt glands. The relative amounts and concentrations of the salt load removed by renal and extra-renal routes of elimination were compared. Birds with actively secreting nasal glands voided a major equivalent of the injected NaCl as solutions hypertonic to plasma NaCl levels. Renally eliminated NaCl represented a much smaller portion of the load and was in all cases hypo- or isotonic with plasma ion levels. Isotopically labelled Na²² CI administered concomitantly with the salt load in several of the test birds revealed that a large portion of the labelled sodium chloride was removed by the nasal glands and kidneys before there was equilibration of the injected load with extravascular compartments. A preliminary report is made on the composition and possible source of an excess eye secretion observed in the rearing of saline fed Pekin ducks. The enlarged Harderian glands of these birds were implicated as the source of a fluid several fold hyperkalemic to plasma ion concentrations. The secreted fluid was observed to accumulate and encrust the feathers below the inner canthus of the eye. / Science, Faculty of / Zoology, Department of / Graduate

This investigation examined the influence of two levels of dietary sodium (Na+) intake on intramuscular and extracellular potassium (K+) content. Nine unacclimatized college males exercised. (90 minutes of treadmill walking, 5.6km/hr, 6X grade) in an environmental chamber maintained at 40.1( + .05)°C and 23.5( + . 4) %RH, during two 8-day dietary-acclimation regimens. The first regimen employed a high Na+ diet (399mEq/day), the second a low Na+ diet (98mEq/day); both diets contained 80mEq K+/day. Total body K+ stores increased during the high Na+ diet (+138mEq, 4.1%) and the-low Na+ diet (+114mEq, 3.4%). By day 8 (D8) of both treatments, subjects exhibited a significantly lower (p<.O5) mean heart rate and rectal temperature. Oxygen consumption and sweat rate were unaltered but sweat responsiveness (ml/hr/°c) progressively increased during the acclimation trials. Plasma volume increased +16.3% (D4) and +10.7% (D8) under the high Na+ diet and only +3.0% (D4) and +7.0% (D8) under the low Na+ diet. The low sodium diet was associated with a significantly higher (p<.05) mean heart rate (D3-D5), higher rectal temperature (D3-D6), lower sweat responsiveness (D2) and a delayed plasma volume expansion (D4)--resulting in less effective heat removal. The total content of K+, Na+, and C1- in plasma changed isoosmotically with plasma volume. The diets were associated with equivalent urine K+ excretion, and. during exercise in the heat both diets resulted in significantly decreased urine K+ losses. Muscle K+ and sweat K+ concentrations were not altered by dietary intervention or acclimation trials. Total muscle water-was significantly increased, in accord with Na+ and Cl- increases, on D8 of the low Na+ diet only. It was concluded that dietary intake of Na+, in combination with 8 days. of exercise in the heat and heavy sweating, does not significantly diminish the intramuscular K+ or total body K+ content.

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Renal function of fresh water acclimated Glaucous-winged Gulls, Larus qlaucescens, was studied during infusion of hypotonic and hypertonic NaCl. Two experimental protocols were followed. In one, the closed urine collection system (CCS), ureteral urine was collected using catheters glued over ureteral openings of a supine, previously anesthetized gull. In the other, the open urine collection system (OCS), ureteral urine was collected through a funnel placed in the urodeum of a standing, unanesthetized bird. In both protocols, there was continuous saline infusion of hypotonic (hydration) and hypertonic (LOAD) saline at 0.286 ml⋅min⁻¹. Glomerular filtration rate (GFR) and effective renal plasma flow (ERPF), ml(kg⋅min) ⁻¹, were determined by ¹⁴C-polyethylene glycol (PEG) and ³H-para-aminohippuric acid (PAH) clearances. Plasma vasotocin (PAVT, pg⋅ml⁻¹) was measured. At the end of 4 h hydration with 0.02 M NaCl, urine flow was high but matched infusion rate only in CCS birds (CCS, 0.29 ± 0.05; OCS, 0.17 ± 0.03 ml⋅min⁻¹), GFR (CCS, 5.56 ± 0.85; OCS, 5.36 ± 0.77) and ERPF (CCS, 15.80 ± 1.60; OCS, 14.35 ± 1.65) were high; urine sodium (UNa+) concentration was low (CCS, 15.0 ± 7.3; OCS, 36.4 ± 6.0 mEq⋅1⁻¹), UNa+ excretion was low (CCS, 6.38 ± 4.2; OCS, 5.19 uEq⋅min⁻¹) ; urine/plasma PEG ratio (U/PPEG) was high (CCS, 22.4 ± 4.4, OCS, 39.6 ± 8.5); free water clearance (CH₂O) was positive (CCS, 0.143 ± 0.011; OCS, 0.052 ± 0.019 ml⋅min⁻¹) , and PAVT was low (ccs,14.7 ± 7.4; OCS, 16.1 ± 2.4) in both groups. Immediately following infusion of 5 M NaCl, GFR, ERPF and urine flow increased for about 10 mins. Fifteen minutes later, the GFR of CCS gulls fell to 70% of pre-load values (P < 0.05) and in OCS gulls, GFR and ERPF fell to 64% (P < 0.01) and 61% (P < 0.05). Eighty mins after infusion of 5 M NaCl, the GFR and ERPF of CCS gulls returned to pre-LOAD levels, but remained low in OCS gulls. Twenty-five minutes after salt load, urine flow had fallen to 49% (P < 0.05) and remained low. In OCS gulls, urine flow had fallen to 13% (P < 0.001) after 185 mins. In both CCS and OCS gulls, UNa+ concentration and excretion increased significantly. Sixty minutes after salt load, UNa+ excretion returned to pre-LOAD levels but UNa+ concentration remained high in CCS (111.7 ± 57.5) and OCS (132.8 ± 12.5) gulls. U/PPEG attained 134.3 ± 26.5 in CCS and 181.2 ± 32.4 in OCS gulls. CH₂O fell significantly (P < 0.05) in CCS gulls but remained unchanged in OCS gulls. Mean PAVT increased to 122.5 ± 5.5 in CCS and 96.0 ± 12.6 in OCS gulls. In both CCS and OCS gulls, salt gland secretion was initiated but ceased 60 mins after 5M NaCl infusion, although 60% of the load was retained in the gull. / Science, Faculty of / Zoology, Department of / Graduate