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The aim of present study was to estimate population dynamics of house sparrow and house crow in district Sargodha, Pakistan. This study was conducted from November, 2010 to March, 2011. Population comparison of house sparrows with sex differentiation and house crows without sex differentiation were conducted in rural (98 Chak 'N' and Morre 125 Chak Shaheenabad) and urban (Cheema colony and Awan colony) areas. During this study period, a total 5617 from rural and 3929 birds from urban sampling sites were counted. A statistically significant difference was observed between both populations. In rural areas 2998 house sparrows (1433 male and 1565 female), while 1873 sparrows (848 male and 1025 female were observed from urban study points and significant difference was observed between house sparrows population. Throughout the study period, from rural check points 2619 house crows, while 2056 crows were observed from urban study areas. The present study is very useful in prediction of population dynamics of bird's spp. in other ecological regions of Pakistan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to assess the concentrations of trace metals (Zn, Pb, Cu, Mn, Cd and Co) in different organs (i.e., liver, kidney, muscles, lungs, stomach, bones, and feathers) of house sparrow (Passer domesticus) and black kite (Milvus migrans), from different areas of Sargodha, Punjab, Pakistan. Zn, Pb, Cu, Mn, Cd and Co were significantly higher in black kite as compared to those measured for house sparrow. Bioaccumulation trends of studied trace metals into different tissue were specific-specific Zn was higher in bones (23.5 mg/kg), Mn in stomach (4.8 mg/kg), Pb in liver (4.3 mg/kg), Cu in bones (0.9 mg/kg), Cd in liver (11.2 mg/kg) and Co in feathers (1.9 mg/kg) of black kite. However, Zn was higher in feathers (14.7 mg/kg), Mn in stomach (2.7 mg/kg), Pb in lungs (4.6 mg/kg), Cu in bones (0.63 mg/kg), Cd in liver (6.14 mg/kg), and Co in muscles (2.5 mg/kg) of house sparrow. The present study would be helpful to understand the concentration of heavy metals in birds regarding biomagnifications and bioaccumulation in bird and its organs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Benzimidazole is a synthetic anthelmintic against which nematode resistance especially in Haemonchus contortus, is emerging at a alarming speed. The mechanism of benzimidazole resistance appears to involve mutations in the gene encoding ß-tubulin isotype 1 (ß-tubulin-1). The present study was carried out to find out the variation existing in ß-tubulin-1 which is directly involved with drug binding capacity involving microtubules polymerization. DNA of adult nematode H. contörtus was extracted, amplified and sequenced. Out of 50 worms investigated, 37 showed benzimidazole susceptible gene while 13 were resistant indicating single nucleotide mutation at amino acid 200 TTC/TAC. In addition, 12 worms showed several regions of consistent difference indicating single nucleotide polymorphism (SNPs) at various positions in coding region. It has been concluded that resistant alleles conferring anthelmintic resistance is prevalent in the local population of H. contortus of north-east Punjab, Pakistan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]