Conspicuous visual ornaments are frequently incorporated into complex courtship displays that integrate signal com- ponents from multiple sensory modalities. Mature male Schizocosa crassipes （Walckenaer, 1837） wolf ...Conspicuous visual ornaments are frequently incorporated into complex courtship displays that integrate signal com- ponents from multiple sensory modalities. Mature male Schizocosa crassipes （Walckenaer, 1837） wolf spiders wave, arch, and tap their ornamented forelegs in a visual courtship display that simultaneously incorporates seismic components. To determine the importance of modality-specific signal components in female mate choice, we used a signal ablation design and compared the mating frequency of female-male pairs across signaling environments with manipulated modality-specific transmission properties. We found that the successful transmission of isolated visual or seismic signaling was sufficient for mating success; neither sig- naling modality was necessary. Additionally, the environment enabling the successful transmission of composite, multimodal dis- plays yielded the highest mating frequencies. Our results indicate the presence of selection from S. crassipes females for multi- modal courtship and suggest that multimodal signaling may facilitate mating across variable signaling environments. We next ex- plored the influence of ornamentation per se on female choice by phenotypically manipulating males into two groups： （i） intact （brushes present） and （ii） shaved （brushes absent）. We compared the mating frequencies of intact versus shaved males in the presence versus absence of seismic signaling. Males with brushes intact had higher mating frequencies than shaved males, but only under specific signaling conditions - in the presence of seismic signaling. Female choice for male brushes then appears de- pendent on the signaling background, making brushes themselves an unlikely target of direct selection. Our results emphasize the complex nature of female choice, highlighting the potential for both trait interactions and environment-dependent selection [Cur- rent Zoology 59 （2）： 200-209, 2013].展开更多
Anthropogenic activities have become more and more important in characterizing the landscape, but their impacts are still restricted by natural environments. This paper discusses the interactions of anthropogenic acti...Anthropogenic activities have become more and more important in characterizing the landscape, but their impacts are still restricted by natural environments. This paper discusses the interactions of anthropogenic activity, vegetation activity and topography through describing the spatial distribution of land cover and vegetation activity (represented by Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, NDVI) along topographic gradient in a mountainous area of southwestern China. Our results indicate that the existing landscape pattern is controlled by anthropogenic activities as well as topographic factors. Intensive anthropogenic activities mainly occur in areas with relatively low elevation, gentle and concave slopes, as these areas are easy and convenient to attain for human. Because of the destruction by human, some land cover types (mainly grassland and shrub) are only found in relatively harsher environments. This study also finds that topographic wetness index (W) used in other places only reflects runoff generation capacity, but not indicate the real spatial pattern of soil water content in this area. The relationships between NDVI and W, and NDVI and length slope factor (LSF) show that runoff and erosion have complex effects on vegetation activity. Greater values of W and LSF will lead to stronger capacity to produce runoff and transport sediment, and thereby increase soil water content and soil deposition, whereas beyond a certain threshold runoff and erosion are so strong that they would destruct vegetation growth. This study provides information needed to successfully restore native vegetation, improve land management, and promote sustainable development in mountainous areas, especially for developing regions.展开更多
In Guinea, traditional rice varieties are the most widely cultivated in rural areas despite their low yield and high susceptibility to iron toxicity. Moreover, the introduction of new improved varieties tolerant to ir...In Guinea, traditional rice varieties are the most widely cultivated in rural areas despite their low yield and high susceptibility to iron toxicity. Moreover, the introduction of new improved varieties tolerant to iron toxicity poses a serious threat to the preservation of the genetic resources of these traditional varieties, whose genetic diversity remains poorly known. The present study therefore aims at a better valorisation of these local rice cultivars through the evaluation of their agromorphological diversity and the identification of genotypes potentially tolerant or resistant to iron toxicity. Thus, 90 accessions collected in the regions of Kindia and Macenta and six controls susceptible or resistant to iron toxicity (AZUCENA, BOUAKE 189, CK 73, IR64, NERICAL 19 and AURYLUX 6) were evaluated in three replicate alpha lattice designs in two sites (Sérédou and Kilissi) using 16 agromorphological traits. The results showed significant agromorphological variability of the traditional accessions at both sites for all qualitative and most quantitative traits studied. In addition, 30 local cultivars expressed similar or higher grain yields than the resistant or tolerant controls at both sites, of which 12 were found to be stable at both sites. Of the 12 cultivars identified, five were resistant and seven tolerant to iron toxicity. These 12 accessions could be used in the varietal improvement of lowland rice in Guinea Conakry.展开更多
Behavioral predictability,i.e.,short-term intra-individual variability under relatively constant environmental conditions,has only recently begun to gain attention.It is unknown,however,whether predictability of indiv...Behavioral predictability,i.e.,short-term intra-individual variability under relatively constant environmental conditions,has only recently begun to gain attention.It is unknown,however,whether predictability of individuals with distinct mean behavior changes differently as a response to ecological factors such as resource availability.Moreover,the response might be affected by anthropogenic contaminants that are ubiquitous in the environment and that can affect animals' variability in behavior.Here,we investigated the relationship between mean predatory activity and predictability in predatory activity along a prey density gradient in the lynx spider Oxyopes lineatipes.We further examined how this relationship is influenced by insecticides,azadirachtin,and a plant extract from Embelia ribes.We found that all studied variables affected the predictability.In the control and Embelia treatments,that did not differ significantly,the predictability decreased with increasing prey density in a mean behavior-specific way.Individuals with low mean predatory activity were relatively less predictable than were those with high activity from low to moderate prey densities but more predictable at high prey densities.Azadirachtin altered this pattern and the individuals with low predatory activity were less predictable than were those with high predatory activity along the whole gradient of prey density.Our results show that predictability can change along an environmental gradient depending on a mean behavior.The relative predictability of the individuals with distinct mean behavior can depend on the value of the environmental gradient. In addition,this relationship can be affected by anthropogenic contaminants such as pesticides.展开更多
Superspreaders(individuals with a high propensity for disease spread)have played a pivotal role in recent emerging and re-emerging diseases.In disease outbreak studies,host heterogeneity based on demographic(e.g.age,s...Superspreaders(individuals with a high propensity for disease spread)have played a pivotal role in recent emerging and re-emerging diseases.In disease outbreak studies,host heterogeneity based on demographic(e.g.age,sex,vaccination status)and environmental(e.g.climate,urban/rural residence,clinics)factors are critical for the spread of infectious diseases,such as Ebola and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome(MERS).Transmission rates can vary as demographic and environmental factors are altered naturally or due to modified behaviors in response to the implementation of public health strategies.In this work,we develop stochastic models to explore the effects of demographic and environmental variability on human-to-human disease transmission rates among superspreaders in the case of Ebola and MERS.We show that the addition of environmental variability results in reduced probability of outbreak occurrence,however the severity of outbreaks that do occur increases.These observations have implications for public health strategies that aim to control environmental variables.展开更多
Civil infrastructure,especially buildings,are becoming more slender,tall,and multipurpose,creating a need to continuously monitor their health to ensure the safety and security of human lives and assets.While the majo...Civil infrastructure,especially buildings,are becoming more slender,tall,and multipurpose,creating a need to continuously monitor their health to ensure the safety and security of human lives and assets.While the majority of structural health monitoring techniques use measurements from the entire structure,in this study,an output-only damage diagnostic technique using a decentralized concept(subdomain-based)for tall buildings and employing a vector form of the autoregressive moving average with exogenous input(VARMAX)model is proposed,which offers reduced instrumentation and data handling requirements.Unlike other decentralized approaches,this technique predicts more than one DOF at a time so the number of subdomains required for the diagnosis of the complete structure is minimized.The proposed subdomain-based damage diagnostic algorithm works with ambient loads and does not require any correlated numerical models since it is solely based on measured data.The proposed algorithm can identify the time instant of damage,spatial location(s)and characterize the damage intensity.Efforts have been made to account for confounding factors such as environmental and operational variabilities separate from measurement noise to avoid false positive alarms.The effectiveness of the proposed technique is illustrated using synthetic time history responses from a twenty-story framed structure under ambient loading and an experimental study on a ten-story framed structure.Both numerical and experimental investigations confirm the effectiveness of the method and its robustness to environmental/operational variabilities and measurement noise.展开更多
Horsetail (Equisetum arvense L.) is a perennial herb which creates during the life cycle spring and summer stems. The selected species and populations were monitored in the years 2009-2011 in three different natural l...Horsetail (Equisetum arvense L.) is a perennial herb which creates during the life cycle spring and summer stems. The selected species and populations were monitored in the years 2009-2011 in three different natural locations in Laborecká vrchovina (Slovakia). Samples were collected by destructive methods in all three locations. Silicon content was determined in dry biomass by AAS. Silicon content in plants ranged from 21.11 ± 3.24 g·kg-1 to 32.80 ± 8.03 g·kg-1. The highest content of silicon exhibited samples of the September collection. We found that the location and the year in terms of silicon content were not statistically significant. The main sources for statistical variability in the accumulation of silicon were during the collections.展开更多
文摘Conspicuous visual ornaments are frequently incorporated into complex courtship displays that integrate signal com- ponents from multiple sensory modalities. Mature male Schizocosa crassipes （Walckenaer, 1837） wolf spiders wave, arch, and tap their ornamented forelegs in a visual courtship display that simultaneously incorporates seismic components. To determine the importance of modality-specific signal components in female mate choice, we used a signal ablation design and compared the mating frequency of female-male pairs across signaling environments with manipulated modality-specific transmission properties. We found that the successful transmission of isolated visual or seismic signaling was sufficient for mating success; neither sig- naling modality was necessary. Additionally, the environment enabling the successful transmission of composite, multimodal dis- plays yielded the highest mating frequencies. Our results indicate the presence of selection from S. crassipes females for multi- modal courtship and suggest that multimodal signaling may facilitate mating across variable signaling environments. We next ex- plored the influence of ornamentation per se on female choice by phenotypically manipulating males into two groups： （i） intact （brushes present） and （ii） shaved （brushes absent）. We compared the mating frequencies of intact versus shaved males in the presence versus absence of seismic signaling. Males with brushes intact had higher mating frequencies than shaved males, but only under specific signaling conditions - in the presence of seismic signaling. Female choice for male brushes then appears de- pendent on the signaling background, making brushes themselves an unlikely target of direct selection. Our results emphasize the complex nature of female choice, highlighting the potential for both trait interactions and environment-dependent selection [Cur- rent Zoology 59 （2）： 200-209, 2013].
基金the National Natural Science Foundation of China (40621061)the Project of Chinese Academy of Sciences (KZCX2-XB2-02-31) for their financial support
文摘Anthropogenic activities have become more and more important in characterizing the landscape, but their impacts are still restricted by natural environments. This paper discusses the interactions of anthropogenic activity, vegetation activity and topography through describing the spatial distribution of land cover and vegetation activity (represented by Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, NDVI) along topographic gradient in a mountainous area of southwestern China. Our results indicate that the existing landscape pattern is controlled by anthropogenic activities as well as topographic factors. Intensive anthropogenic activities mainly occur in areas with relatively low elevation, gentle and concave slopes, as these areas are easy and convenient to attain for human. Because of the destruction by human, some land cover types (mainly grassland and shrub) are only found in relatively harsher environments. This study also finds that topographic wetness index (W) used in other places only reflects runoff generation capacity, but not indicate the real spatial pattern of soil water content in this area. The relationships between NDVI and W, and NDVI and length slope factor (LSF) show that runoff and erosion have complex effects on vegetation activity. Greater values of W and LSF will lead to stronger capacity to produce runoff and transport sediment, and thereby increase soil water content and soil deposition, whereas beyond a certain threshold runoff and erosion are so strong that they would destruct vegetation growth. This study provides information needed to successfully restore native vegetation, improve land management, and promote sustainable development in mountainous areas, especially for developing regions.
文摘In Guinea, traditional rice varieties are the most widely cultivated in rural areas despite their low yield and high susceptibility to iron toxicity. Moreover, the introduction of new improved varieties tolerant to iron toxicity poses a serious threat to the preservation of the genetic resources of these traditional varieties, whose genetic diversity remains poorly known. The present study therefore aims at a better valorisation of these local rice cultivars through the evaluation of their agromorphological diversity and the identification of genotypes potentially tolerant or resistant to iron toxicity. Thus, 90 accessions collected in the regions of Kindia and Macenta and six controls susceptible or resistant to iron toxicity (AZUCENA, BOUAKE 189, CK 73, IR64, NERICAL 19 and AURYLUX 6) were evaluated in three replicate alpha lattice designs in two sites (Sérédou and Kilissi) using 16 agromorphological traits. The results showed significant agromorphological variability of the traditional accessions at both sites for all qualitative and most quantitative traits studied. In addition, 30 local cultivars expressed similar or higher grain yields than the resistant or tolerant controls at both sites, of which 12 were found to be stable at both sites. Of the 12 cultivars identified, five were resistant and seven tolerant to iron toxicity. These 12 accessions could be used in the varietal improvement of lowland rice in Guinea Conakry.
文摘Behavioral predictability,i.e.,short-term intra-individual variability under relatively constant environmental conditions,has only recently begun to gain attention.It is unknown,however,whether predictability of individuals with distinct mean behavior changes differently as a response to ecological factors such as resource availability.Moreover,the response might be affected by anthropogenic contaminants that are ubiquitous in the environment and that can affect animals' variability in behavior.Here,we investigated the relationship between mean predatory activity and predictability in predatory activity along a prey density gradient in the lynx spider Oxyopes lineatipes.We further examined how this relationship is influenced by insecticides,azadirachtin,and a plant extract from Embelia ribes.We found that all studied variables affected the predictability.In the control and Embelia treatments,that did not differ significantly,the predictability decreased with increasing prey density in a mean behavior-specific way.Individuals with low mean predatory activity were relatively less predictable than were those with high activity from low to moderate prey densities but more predictable at high prey densities.Azadirachtin altered this pattern and the individuals with low predatory activity were less predictable than were those with high predatory activity along the whole gradient of prey density.Our results show that predictability can change along an environmental gradient depending on a mean behavior.The relative predictability of the individuals with distinct mean behavior can depend on the value of the environmental gradient. In addition,this relationship can be affected by anthropogenic contaminants such as pesticides.
基金The authors acknowledge the support of an American Institute of Mathematics SQuaREs grantA.P.was supported by NSF grant DMS-1815750N.S.was supported by a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada(NSERC)Post-doctoral Fellowship.
文摘Superspreaders(individuals with a high propensity for disease spread)have played a pivotal role in recent emerging and re-emerging diseases.In disease outbreak studies,host heterogeneity based on demographic(e.g.age,sex,vaccination status)and environmental(e.g.climate,urban/rural residence,clinics)factors are critical for the spread of infectious diseases,such as Ebola and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome(MERS).Transmission rates can vary as demographic and environmental factors are altered naturally or due to modified behaviors in response to the implementation of public health strategies.In this work,we develop stochastic models to explore the effects of demographic and environmental variability on human-to-human disease transmission rates among superspreaders in the case of Ebola and MERS.We show that the addition of environmental variability results in reduced probability of outbreak occurrence,however the severity of outbreaks that do occur increases.These observations have implications for public health strategies that aim to control environmental variables.
基金This study is being published with the permission of the Director,CSIR-SERC,Taramani,Chennai-600113,Tamilnadu,India.
文摘Civil infrastructure,especially buildings,are becoming more slender,tall,and multipurpose,creating a need to continuously monitor their health to ensure the safety and security of human lives and assets.While the majority of structural health monitoring techniques use measurements from the entire structure,in this study,an output-only damage diagnostic technique using a decentralized concept(subdomain-based)for tall buildings and employing a vector form of the autoregressive moving average with exogenous input(VARMAX)model is proposed,which offers reduced instrumentation and data handling requirements.Unlike other decentralized approaches,this technique predicts more than one DOF at a time so the number of subdomains required for the diagnosis of the complete structure is minimized.The proposed subdomain-based damage diagnostic algorithm works with ambient loads and does not require any correlated numerical models since it is solely based on measured data.The proposed algorithm can identify the time instant of damage,spatial location(s)and characterize the damage intensity.Efforts have been made to account for confounding factors such as environmental and operational variabilities separate from measurement noise to avoid false positive alarms.The effectiveness of the proposed technique is illustrated using synthetic time history responses from a twenty-story framed structure under ambient loading and an experimental study on a ten-story framed structure.Both numerical and experimental investigations confirm the effectiveness of the method and its robustness to environmental/operational variabilities and measurement noise.
基金The work was supported by the Agency of Ministry of Education,Science,Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic,the project:00162-0001(MS SR-3634/2010-11).
文摘Horsetail (Equisetum arvense L.) is a perennial herb which creates during the life cycle spring and summer stems. The selected species and populations were monitored in the years 2009-2011 in three different natural locations in Laborecká vrchovina (Slovakia). Samples were collected by destructive methods in all three locations. Silicon content was determined in dry biomass by AAS. Silicon content in plants ranged from 21.11 ± 3.24 g·kg-1 to 32.80 ± 8.03 g·kg-1. The highest content of silicon exhibited samples of the September collection. We found that the location and the year in terms of silicon content were not statistically significant. The main sources for statistical variability in the accumulation of silicon were during the collections.
