Postgraduate Student Profile
Jim Clapp
Email: james.clapp@ncl.ac.uk
Research Interests
I’m a practicing Veterinary Surgeon. In 2004 I gained a Masters in Environmental Toxicology and Pollution Monitoring. My wish to develop the use of bird urine as a biomonitor of environmental changes led to me enrolling as a self funded part time PhD student at Newcastle University. Currently I am writing up my thesis.
Following on from my thesis I am researching using avian urine to measure numerous hormones in birds funded by ASAB (Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour) in collaboration with Tom Smulders and Mick Dunn. I am also involved with a DEFRA funded project in collaboration with Tim Boswell to measure stress responses in broiler breeders under restrictive diets.
My interest in measuring stress responsiveness in regard to farm animal welfare, has led me to co-ordinate a joint research project between Newcastle University (Catherine Douglas) and the University of Cumbria (David Woodcock). This involves concurrently measuring saliva cortisol and testing for cognitive bias between different cattle rearing systems.
Project
Avian urine from free-living birds: A non-invasive sampling method to bio-monitor environmental pollution and stress.
The analysis of urine (urinalysis) for monitoring bodily functions and exposures is highly valued in man and other mammals. The end product of nitrogen metabolism in birds is uric acid, which being sparingly soluble dictates that solid urate spheres are excreted by the avian urinary system. Approximately 5% of each urate sphere by mass is serum albumin derived from the bird’s blood stream, where this protein is the major carrier of blood borne substances. The main constituent of avian urate spheres is uric acid, which across diverse bird species is consistently 65% of the sphere’s mass. This constant value allows for the hypothesis that the various sequestered substances in samples of urate spheres can be quantified against uric acid content. In this respect the analysis of avian urate spheres represents an ideal method to measure blood borne substances without the need to take blood samples. Avian urinalysis represents a widely available non-invasive sampling method in birds that would enhance their use as bio-monitors and allow pre-emptive assessment of environmental changes.
My thesis reports on measuring heavy metals and the stress hormone corticosterone in avian urine, from birds exposed to heavy metal pollution and stress.
