Ranging of songs with the song type on use of different cues in Carolina wrens: effects of familiarity

Male territorial song birds are usually spaced far apart and most often hear conspecific song after it has been degraded by propagation through the environment. Their ability to use the degradation of songs to assess the distance of a singing rival without approaching (called ranging) presumably increases the efficiency of defending a territory. In order to assess degradation in a song the receiver needs to compare the characteristics of the received song to its characteristics at the source or at different distances. Earlier experiments on ranging in species with song repertoires have suggested that prior familiarity with the particular song type is necessary for ranging. Here I show that male Carolina wrens (Thryothorus ludovicianus) can use either temporal or spectral characteristics for ranging song types which they were unlikely to have heard previously. Playbacks consisting of only one song prevented subjects' close-range experience with the loudspeaker, and flights beyond the loudspeaker provided direct evidence for over-assessment of distance when songs were degraded. Because ranging of songs was not affected by the degree of familiarity with the song type, this experiment provides no evidence that song repertoires hinder ranging in Carolina wrens, as suggested by Morton's ranging hypothesis. Instead, at least approximate ranging of songs is evidently possible by assessment of degradation in general features of a species' songs. Received: 9 August 1996 / Accepted after revision: 15 February 1997     

Demonstration of Line Transect Methodologies to Estimate Urban Gray Squirrel Density

Sciurus carolinensis ) have been labor intensive and costly, I demonstrate the use of line transect surveys to estimate gray squirrel density and determine the costs of conducting surveys to achieve precise estimates. Density estimates are based on four transects that were surveyed five times from 30 June to 9 July 1994. Using the program DISTANCE, I estimated there were 4.7 (95% CI = 1.86–11.92) gray squirrels/ha on the Clemson University campus. Eleven additional surveys would have decreased the percent coefficient of variation from 30% to 20% and would have cost approximately $114. Estimating urban gray squirrel density using line transect surveys is cost effective and can provide unbiased estimates of density, provided that none of the assumptions of distance sampling theory are violated.     

Monitoring Environmental Impact in the Upper Sonoran Lifestyle: A New Tool for Rapid Ecological Assessment

Characterized by expensive housing, high socioeconomic status, and topographic relief, Upper Sonoran Lifestyle communities are found primarily along the Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) in the Phoenix, Arizona metro area. Communities like these sprawl into the wildlands in the United States Southwest, creating a distinct urban fringe. This article, through locational comparison, introduces and evaluates a new field assessment tool for monitoring anthropogenic impact on soil–vegetation interactions along the well-maintained multi-use recreational trails in Upper Sonoran Lifestyle region. Comparing data from randomly selected transects along other multi-use trails with data from a control site revealed three key indicators of anthropogenic disturbances on soil–vegetation interactions: soil disturbance, vegetation disturbance, and vegetation density. Soil and vegetation disturbance displayed an average distance decay exponent factor of −0.60, while vegetation density displayed a reverse decay average of 0.60. Other important indicators of disturbance included vegetation type, biological soil crusts, and soil bulk density. The predictive ability of this new field tool enhances its applicability, offering a powerful rapid ecological assessment method for monitoring long-term anthropogenic impact in the Upper Sonoran Lifestyle, and other sprawling cities along the WUI.     

Causes of change in nitrophytic and oligotrophic lichen species in a Mediterranean climate: impact of land cover and atmospheric pollutants

With the aim of determining the main drivers of changes in nitrophytic and oligotrophic macro-lichen communities in an industrial region with a Mediterranean climate, we considered both land-cover types and atmospheric pollutants. We determined the relation between the abundance of nitrophytic and oligotrophic species with environmental factors considering the distance of influence of land-cover types. The results showed that oligotrophic species decreased in the proximity of artificial areas, barren land and agricultural areas, associated with higher concentrations of NO₂ and Zn, and Ti, probably dust of industrial and agricultural origin. Nitrophytic species were positively related to all the mentioned land-cover types, and with higher concentrations of Fe and N. Magnesium, probably from ocean aerosols, was negatively related to oligotrophic species and positively to nitrophytic.     

移动Ad hoc网络路由协议的安全性分析与对策

移动Ad hoc网络是一种自组织、多跳的无线网络,由于其独特性能使移动Adhoc网络面临着比现有网络具有更大的安全挑战,其中路由安全对该网络的安全性起着关键性的作用。在介绍移动Ad hoc网络主要路由协议及其特点的基础上,笔者深入研究了移动Ad hoc网络路由协议中存在的黑洞、拒绝服务等安全漏洞;详细分析了几种主要的Ad hoc路由协议的安全性增强方案;根据不同路由协议的特点,分别提出了利用单向散列链改进距离矢量路由协议安全性的两种方案;分析了一种用于改善源路由协议安全性的方案的可行性。最后,指出了移动Ad hoc网络路由协议安全性问题的进一步改进和研究方向。     

Effect of food location and quality on recruitment sounds and success in two stingless bees,<Emphasis Type="Italic"> Melipona mandacaia</Emphasis> and<Emphasis Type="Italic"> Melipona bicolor</Emphasis>

It is unclear whether stingless bees in the genus Melipona (Hymenoptera, Apidae, Meliponini) can reliably encode the distance to a food source through recruitment sounds produced inside the nest, in part because the sound features correlated with distance also vary with food quality. We therefore trained marked foragers of two species, Melipona mandacaia and M. bicolor, to feeders at different distances and to different sucrose concentrations at the same distance. In both species, foragers successfully recruited to a rich 2.5-m food source and produced pulsed recruitment sounds in which pulse duration was significantly and positively correlated with distance to the rich food source. When returning from poorer food sources (0.6–1.5 m), foragers of both species decreased sound production, producing shorter sound pulses and longer sound interpulses than they did for 2.5 m food located at the same distance. Thus the temporal structure of M. mandacaia and M. bicolor recruitment sounds varies with distance and food quality. However, nestmates were not recruited by performances for poorer food sources (0.6–1.5 m), whose sucrose concentration was sufficiently low to affect recruitment sounds. Surprisingly, the interphase (the time between behavioral phases that communicate location) also increases with decreasing food quality in the closely related honeybees (Apis), suggesting a potential homology in the effect of food quality on the recruitment systems of Apis and Melipona. We explore the evolutionary implications of these similarities.Communicated by M. Giurfa     

电解铝厂氟化物对周围农作物的影响评价

通过对某电解铝厂周围的大气环境及农作物中氟化物含量的监测,分析评价电解铝生产过程中排放的氟化物对其农作物的影响,并提出氟化物的治理措施及建议。     

Predicting local population distributions around a central shelter based on a predation risk-growth trade-off

Animals face trade-offs between predation risk and foraging success depending on their location in the landscape; for example, individuals that remain near a common shelter may be safe from predation but incur stronger competition for resources. Despite a long tradition of theoretical exploration of the relationships among foraging success, conspecific competition, predation risk, and population distribution in a heterogeneous environment, the scenario we describe here has not been explored theoretically. We construct a model of habitat use rules to predict the distribution of a local population (prey sharing a common shelter and foraging across surrounding habitats). Our model describes realized habitat quality as a ratio of density- and location-dependent mortality to density-dependent growth. We explore how the prey distribution around a shelter is expected to change as the parameters governing the strength of density dependence, landscape characteristics, and local abundance vary. Within the range of parameters where prey spend some time away from shelter but remain site-attached, the prey density decreases away from shelter. As the distance at which prey react to predators increases, the population range generally increases. At intermediate reaction distances, however, increases in the reaction distance lead to decreases in the maximum foraging distance because of increased evenness in the population distribution. As total abundance increases, the population range increases, average population density increases, and realized quality decreases. The magnitude of these changes differs in, for example, ‘high-’ and ‘low-visibility’ landscapes where prey can detect predators at different distances.     

关于增设轿厢与井道壁距离检验项目的思考

国家质检总局2013年底公告要求《电梯监督检验和定期检验规则——曳引与强制驱动电梯》（TSG T7001-2009）（以下简称《检验规则》）附件C中增加了轿厢与井道壁距离的检验项目,这一内容的修改是考虑电梯使用人员的保护需要,同时对电梯定期检验工作也提出了新的要求。本文全面论述了增加轿厢与井道壁距离检验项目的必要性,提出了检验方法和合格条件,为电梯检验工作提供了参考。     

关于卫生防护距离问题的探讨

本文通过水泥厂粉尘卫生防护距离的计算实例，比较、分析了国标推荐的两种计算方法的结果．表明ＧＢ／Ｔ１３２０１－９１计算较ＧＢ３８４０－８３结果偏高．进一步分析说明，ＧＢ３８４０－８３方法缺点在于当污染源等效半径超过２００ｍ时，缺少最大防护距离与规化源强间的对应数据．而ＧＢ／Ｔ１３２０１－９１方法的缺点在于未考虑污染源与居住区的空间关系．