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Several North African wetlands are classified as wetlands of international importance (Ramsar sites and Important Bird Area) because thousands of Shelducks ( Tadorna tadorna) winter in these habitats. However, Shelduck’s patterns of habitat use in these protected wetlands during the wintering season are still hindered by lack of information in arid and semi-arid regions regarding population dynamics and the effects of climate variables. This ornithological survey aims to study population dynamics and temporal patterns of diurnal activities of the Shelduck at two Ramsar and Important Bird Area sites (Chott Tinsilt and Sebkhet Ezzemoul) with respect to the effect of climatic parameters of the habitat in order to deepen our understanding of wintering strategies and habitat use. Populations were weekly censused from 06:00 to 19:00 during the entire wintering season (September 2015–May 2016). Diurnal behavioural activities were monitored at the same rate, and then the variation of time budget was tested using generalized linear model to determine the effects of climate variables and conspecific density dependence. The Shelduck was observed at both sites from the end of November and remained there until the total desiccation of both lakes in early May. Trends of Shelduck’s population dynamics differed between the two sites. Generalized linear models revealed the significant effects of temperature, wind speed and number of snowy days on population dynamics. Feeding was the main diurnal activity of the Shelduck at both sites with 80.2% of time budget at Chott Tinsilt (mainly feeding at lake shores) and 82% at Sebkhet Ezzemoul (mainly feeding in water). The generalized linear models showed that the variation of time budget allocated to different diurnal activities was not density-dependent, but rather it was negatively affected by the increase of air temperature. Significant effects of the interaction between population size and some climatic variables were found and discussed. During the whole wintering season, Chott Tinsilt and Sebkhet Ezzemoul play an important ecological role since they offer a wide-ranging diurnal forging habitat and a shelter for thousands of this waterfowl.

We derive the partition function of the one-body and two-body systems of classical noncommutative harmonic oscillator in two dimensions. Then, we employ the path integral approach to the quantum noncommutative harmonic oscillator and derive the partition function of the both systems at finite temperature.

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Authors' Contribution AN and MJ conceived the idea and executed the project. RBK carried out the genomic work. MZS and MEB assisted in data analysis and interpretation. RBK and MJ assisted in manuscript write up and editing. Key words β-casein, Cholistani cattle, Variants β-casein is second most abundant protein of cow's milk. β-casein gene is highly polymorphic. A1 and A2 are the frequently occurred variants. A1 is recognized as potential cause of several human diseases. It is important to evaluate the A1/A2 β-casein status in milk. Current study was conducted to molecular characterize the exonic regions of β-casein gene and to explore the status of A1/A2 β-casein type in Cholistani cattle breed of Pakistan. Blood samples of Cholistani Cattle were collected from Government Livestock Farm, Jugait Peer, Bahawalpur. Genomic DNA was extracted from whole blood by organic method. PCR primers were designed and optimized according to respective melting temperatures. PRALINE tool, MEGA 6.0 and POPGENE tool were utilized for phylogenetic tree construction and statistical analysis, respectively. Characterization of physical and chemical properties of β-casein protein was performed by ProtParam and SWISS MODEL was utilized for protein model prediction. Sequencing results of amplified PCR products revealed total 9 SNPs including 1 in exonic and 8 in intronic regions of β-casein gene. Results represent the presence of A2 allele in milk of Cholistani Cattle of Pakistan. Multiple sequence alignment represented the presence of MKVLILACLVALALARE and QRAVPVQALLLNQE as highly conserved regions. Phylogenetic analysis revealed the evolutionary relationship among Cholistani cattle of Pakistan, Bos indicus and Bos taurus. β-casein gene is highly polymorphic and A2 allele is present in Cholistani Cattle of Pakistan.