Bird excrement

Fig. 9.21 Waier trap in steel girder assembly of a bridge. Salt aerosol, bird excrement, etc., may also find their way into this stagnant water, producing an extremely corrosive fluid...

A common source of organic phosphorus is bone meal (approximately 9-14% P) and bone ash (approximately 18%). The bird excrement guano contains about 2-3% P as ammonium and calcium phosphates. Fresh solid dairy cattle manure has approximately 0.13% P (moisture = 81.7%), and solid swine manure has about 0.33% P (moisture = 71.8%), which will be in both organic and mineral forms. 

Phosphate skin as ivory Various phosphate minerals (e.g. iron phosphates or apatite) that are mixed with clays and sometimes manganese can be derived from decomposition of bird excrement... 

Methane accumulates in coal seams as fire damp formed by anaerobic bacterial decomposition of organic material such as cellulose, and similarly is generated as marsh gas in swamps and water-logged vicinities. It is also liberated by bacterial decomposition of animal and bird excrement (e.g, cow manure and bat guano) and tissue and can be detected ca. in marine surface waters, presumably mainly formed from... 

Uric acid, 2,6,S-trihydroxypmnu an excretory product of purine metabolism in most animals. In some animals, known as uricotelic organisms (birds, reptiles, many insects), it is the main nitrogenous excretory product. U.a. (Af, 168.1, m.p. 400°C) was discovered in urine in 1776 by Scheele, and it can be isolated in quantity from bird excrements (guano) its salts are called urates Humans and the great apes usually excrete U. a. unchanged. In the adult human, 1-3 % of urinary nitrogen is represented by U.a. 

This community, or rather, the lichens in this community are therefore not at all substrate specific in the usual sense, but apparently are very specific for a certain chemical environment. While acknowledging Barkman s (1958) objections to the use of neutrophilous in describing these lichens [ mainly because of point (e) above], I feel that term is the safest to use in the majority of cases, at least until careful studies are done of the nutrient requirements and tolerances of the species. Masse s (1966) study of the correlation of nitrogen content of bird excrement with the distribution of ornithocoprophilous lichens merely confused the issue, since no account was taken of the myriad of other factors which might correlate equally well (calcium and phosphorus, for example). On the other hand, it seems entirely proper to use the terms ornithocoprophilous and coniophilous to refer to communities or even species which seem to be responding positively to the presence of bird excrement and dust, respectively, particularly in areas or on substrates where these lichens do not normally occur. I think the terms nitrophilous or calciphilous imply a knowledge of the requirements of lichens that we do not yet have. 

It is axiomatic that lichens thrive in nutrient-deficient habitats, not necessarily because they prefer them but because they face less competition there. This fact is cited as one reason for their slow growth. What if the nutrient supply were artificially increased Just such an experiment was run by Hakulinen (1966) on four common foliose species on rocks 2 m above the shoreline in Finland. Data for three of these are given in Table l.Physcia caesia showed the same trend. A solution of bird excrement (2 gm per 100 ml) was poured over the thalli at weekly intervals during the summer. Growth was consistently greater than in control plants that received only natural rainfall over the 2-year period. 

Uric acid is found in the urine, blood, and muscle juices of carnivorous animals (herbivorous animals secrete hippuric acid), in the excrement of birds, serpents and insects, and is an oxidation product of the complex nitrogenous compounds of the animal organism. 

Animal manure is the feces, dung, droppings, or excrement of animals and some birds. The term may also be expanded to include contaminated bedding such as straw or wood shavings. 

Oceanic Deposits and Guanos.—Guano.—This valuable natural manure is produced from the excrement of sea-birds, and occasionally of other animals, which has been chemically altered by ex-1 Pietvkowsky, NaMmoiss., 1922, lo, 350. 2 Chemical Age, 1931, p. 2S1. 

Common mynahs are also considered pests where they develop large, communal roosts, which can involve dense aggregations of thousands of birds. These are considered nuisances because of the raucous noise, and the copious excrement that can accumulate. 

Analyses (%) of excrement of bats, birds and mammals (from Hutchinson, 1950)... 

OoooBBKNcx.—Urea does not occur in the vegetable world. It exists pxincipally in the urine of the mammalia also in smaller quantity in the excrements of birds, fishes, and some reptiles in the mammalian blood, chyle, lymph, liver, spleen, lungs, brain, vitreous and ueous humors, saliva, perspiration, bile, milk, amniotic and allaiitoio flui muscular tissue, and m serous fluids (see below). 

Guano, Bird manure. The dried excrements of sea birds (cormorants) and bats from coastal islands of Peru, Chile, West Indies, and Africa. Usually mixed with feathers and bones. Contains about 9% nitrogen, 6% phosphorus, 2% potassium, and 15-20% moisture. Used as fertilizer. 

Uric Acid. 7,9-Dihydro-1 H-purine-2,h,S< M1)-trl-one 8-hydroxyxanthine purine-2,6,8-triol purine-2,6,8-(1H, 3//, (>ll) -trior 2,6,8-trioxypurine. C5HiN4Oi mol wt 168.11. C 35.72%, H 2.40%, N 33.33%, O 28.55%. Discovered by Scheele and independently hy Bergman in 1776. It forms the chief end-product of the nitrogenous metabolism of birds and of scaly reptiles and is found in their excrement present in the urine of all carnivorous animals. Prepn from urea Bills et al. J. Org. Chem. 27, 4633 (1962). Role in biological processes Bishop, Talbott, Pharmacol Revs. 5, 231 (1953). 

Uric Acid, C5H4O3N4, occurs in small quantity in normal urine a man excretes daily about 0.7 grams of the acid. In gout, uric acid is deposited in the joints and under the skin as a difficultly soluble acid salt. It also occurs in the form of urinary calculi in the bladder. The ammonium salt of uric acid is the chief constituent of the excrement of birds and reptiles. The acid is most conveniently prepared from guano or the excrement of snakes. 

Uric acid, a purine derivative found mainly in the excrement of snakes and birds, has the molecular formula CsHnNiiOa- On nitric acid oxidation it breaks down to urea and a hydrated compound called alloxan of formula CijRaNaOit HaO. Alloxan is readily obtained by oxidation of barbituric acid. What is the probable structure of alloxan and uric acid Why is alloxan hydrated ... 

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