Ponderosa pine needles (PN) induce abortion in cattle and bison when eaten, primarily during the last trimester of gestation (James et al., 1989; Short et al., 1992; Panter et al., 1992a). Factors including the gestation stage, dose, duration, animal condition, environmental stress, and nutritional status all influence abortion incidence. brachyptera), Columbia ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa subsp. Abortions were induced when lodgepole pine and common juniper containing 0.7 and 2.5% ICA, respectively, were experimentally fed to pregnant cows, inducing abortions in 9 and 3.5 days, respectively (Gardner et al., 1998a). Lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) and juniper (Juniperus communis) also contain isocupressic acid and cause abortions in cattle (Gardner et al., 1998). Isocupressic acid (ICA), the abortifacient compound in Ponderosa pine needles and two ICA derivatives, succinyl and acetyl ICA. Abortions were induced when lodgepole pine and common juniper containing 0.7% and 2.5% ICA, respectively, were experimentally fed to pregnant cows, inducing abortions in 9 and 3.5 days, respectively (Gardner et al., 1998). However, one metabolite, tetrahydroagathic acid, can be detected in the serum of poisoned animals for longer than 72 hours. Pollen is produced by the male cone. Xenoestrogens may exist in the system at levels that do not elicit strong or detectable estrogenic effects individually, but it has been shown that these have additive effects and several xenoestrogens in the system can act together to induce estrogenic activity [67]. 2B). Trees, like all living organisms, employ a variety of strategies for reproducing. Calves born after 260 days' gestation have a good prognosis for survival if given colostrum and supplemented for a few days until lactation in the dam improves. Similar labdane resin acids are present in broom snakeweed, but the putative abortifacient and toxic components have not been fully elucidated. There is huge animal variation in response to poisoning. Southwestern ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa subsp. Isocupressic acid metabolites include imbricatoloic acid, agathic acid, dihydroagathic acid, and tetrahydroagathic acid (Figure 51.7). Redwoods commonly grow in clusters of clone-related individuals (known as a fairy ring) that sprouted from a fire-killed tree. Histologically, affected animals had nephrosis, vacuolation of basal ganglia neuropil with patchy perivascular and myelinic edema, and skeletal myonecrosis. 20 The greatest response from ingestion of pine needles occurs when … Interestingly, many plants contain unique adaptations for coping with fires of mixed severity, even severe fires. Although the exact epigenetic mechanisms by which early-life exposures to androgen and estrogen mimetics continue to be investigated, one exciting possibility is that modifications occur in the developing resident stem/progenitor cells and these changes can go on to alter subsequent development in later life [70]. (B) Observed and reconstructed area-burned from early 1916 to 2004 for 16 ecoprovinces in the western United States. The death of the calf and/or the cow from the abortion is believed to be the result of the prematurity and complications, and not necessarily related to any toxic effects from pine needles. Other related labdane acids (agathic acid, imbricatoloic acid, and dihydroagathic acid) that are found in ponderosa pine needles at low levels may also contain abortifacient properties based on their similar chemical structure to ICA. Because plants are immobile, it is important that they have ways to disperse their pollen and seeds away from the parent plant to minimize inbreeding. The top 5 cm of a soil from a ponderosa pine forest located on the San Francisco Peaks in northern Arizona (35°N latitude and 111°W longitude) was collected. Under normal grazing conditions, intoxication from these other diterpene acids rarely occurs. The soil is classified as a Mollic Eutroboralf, contains 1.11% carbon, 0.07% nitrogen, and has a soil water holding capacity of approximately 37%. Other genera and species have also been implicated in abortions, such as Monterey cypress (Parton et al., 1996), Korean pine (Kim et al., 2003), common juniper, lodgepole pine (Gardner et al., 1998), and other juniper species (Gardner et al., 2010; Welch et al., 2011a). No toxicity has been demonstrated from ICA or ICA derivatives; however, the abietane-type resin acids present in PNs, and found in high concentrations in the new growth tips, were shown to be toxic and abortifacient at high doses when administered orally to cattle and toxic in goats and hamsters, causing nephrosis, edema of the central nervous system, myonecrosis, and gastroenteritis (Stegelmeier et al., 1996). Metabolism studies using homogenates of bovine liver determined that ICA is rapidly metabolized to agathic acid and dihydroagathic acid with a t½ of 15 min (Gardner et al., 1999). Ponderosa pine develops deep taproots (up to 50 cm in watered soils in the first growing season). Various animals such as squirrels and jays commonly eat pine seeds and disperse them. The male cones, also known as catkins, are present only during the spring of the year when they are producing pollen.