Nest platforms increase aggressive behavior in common loons

Artificial manipulations of habitat, such as those that incorporate adding nesting boxes or platforms for birds, often enhance the breeding success of threatened animals. However, such alterations are likely to have unintended behavioral and ecological effects that might negatively impact the target species or others in its community. We conducted a controlled study to investigate the effect of artificial nesting platforms on aggressive behavior and reproductive success of male common loons (Gavia immer). Males residing on territories to which platforms were added produced longer territorial "yodels" (reflecting willingness to escalate a contest), experienced increased levels of confrontation and aggression with territorial intruders, and experienced increased rates of territorial displacement by intruders. Surprisingly, males of treatment territories also experienced lower productivity. Therefore, in addition to providing novel empirical support of sequential assessment models of animal contests that predict contest escalation with increasing resource quality, this study is one of a few to show that tools used to mitigate habitat loss can negatively impact reproductive fitness in a threatened species.     

Light at night reduces digestive efficiency of developing birds: an experiment with king quail

The Science of Nature - Gravity is very important for many organisms, including web-building spiders. Probably the best approach to study the relevance of gravity on organisms is to bring them to...     

Magnetic compass orientation in birds and its physiological basis

A current model suggests that magnetoreception of compass information starts with light-dependent primary processes. Light-dependency of magnetoreception is supported by behavioral experiments with homing pigeons and caged migratory birds. Three passerine species showed normal orientation under dim monochromatic light from the blue-green range of the spectrum, while they were disoriented under yellow and red light. A sevenfold increase in intensity and pre-exposure to specific wavelengths caused changes in behavior. The behavioral data indicate a complex relationship between the wavelength of light and magnetoreception, suggesting the involvement of more than one type of receptors. Extracellular recordings from the nucleus of the basal optic root and the tectum opticum identified units that responded to changes in magnetic North. Each unit showed a peak in a distinct spatial direction, so that the input of these units, processed collectively and integrated, would indicate compass directions.     

Importance of set-aside for breeding birds of open farmland in Finland

The set-aside obligation under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) brought widespread benefits for wild farmland species. Shortly after it was abolished in 2008, the national political process in Finland replaced it with a targeted agri-environment scheme for environmental fallow. Though potentially highly valuable, the value of the current scheme for securing biodiversity is yet to be confirmed. This study evaluates the importance of set-asides established under CAP to all birds of open farmland based on national monitoring data from 2001 to 2006. The set-aside fields supported 25-40% more species and held 60-105% more pairs of birds typical of open farmland in comparison with cereal fields within a similar landscape setting. The estimated effect of set-aside presence in farmland on the studied bird species is large enough to trigger considerable changes in bird populations on the national scale. The relevance of the results to the novel agri-environment scheme is discussed.     

土壤中汞胁迫对牧草生理生化的影响

研究紫花苜蓿、披碱草、高羊茅三种牧草,在10个浓度梯度汞胁迫条件下发芽率、植株高度、过氧化物酶与过氧化氢酶活性、丙二醛与脯氨酸含量、可溶性蛋白及可溶性糖含量生理生化指标的变化情况。旨在探索土壤中汞对牧草的影响机理,反映土壤中汞含量富集过多后对草原的影响。     

Coadaptive changes in physiological and biophysical traits related to thermal stress in web spiders

Web spiders are considered to have expanded their habitats from dim to bright environments during the evolutionary history. Because they are sedentary predators exposed to the sun, they may have developed a suite of adaptive traits to cope with thermal stress. We examined the critical thermal maximum, spectral reflectance of solar energy by the body surface, and surface–volume ratio (SVR) for 11 spider species. Analysis of the four genera having a pair of species inhabiting both bright and dim environments showed that species in bright environments exhibited higher lethal temperatures, but spectral reflectance and SVR did not differ. Independent contrasts using the 11 species indicated that critical thermal maximum was positively correlated with spectral reflectance and spectral reflectance was negatively correlated with SVR. These results suggest that physiological tolerance to high temperatures and a biophysical mechanism to reduce heat gain evolved jointly during the history of habitat expansion in araneoid spiders.     

Cd2+胁迫下中肋骨条藻细胞内多胺的生理响应

通过室内添加Cd2+培养中肋骨条藻(Skeletonema costatum),开展了Cd2+胁迫对中肋骨条藻生长的影响及藻细胞内超氧化物歧化酶(SOD)、二胺氧化酶(DAO)、多胺氧化酶(PAO)的活性以及丙二醛(MDA)和各形态多胺含量变化的实验,以探究多胺对于海洋微藻在重金属胁迫下的响应及生理作用.结果显示,Cd2+对中肋骨条藻的生长产生胁迫作用,且Cd2+浓度越大对藻细胞生长的抑制作用越强.Cd2+胁迫下中肋骨条藻细胞内MDA含量略有升高,SOD活性显著降低,DAO和PAO活性分别增强.随着Cd2+胁迫作用的增强,藻细胞内游离态腐胺(Put)、亚精胺(Spd)、精胺(Spm)含量先降低后升高;结合态Put、Spd和Spm含量先升高后降低;束缚态Put、Spm和Spd含量及Put总量和Spm总量升高.表明Cd2+胁迫会导致中肋骨条藻细胞产生氧化损害,同时细胞内DAO和PAO活性的增强以及游离态Put、束缚态Spd和Spm、Put总量和Spm总量的升高可能会增强藻细胞抵抗Cd2+胁迫的能力.     

Analyzing REDD+ as an experiment of transformative climate governance: Insights from Indonesia

This paper contributes to an emerging body of literature on policy experimentation and governance transformation processes. We use the example of REDD+ as consisting of policy experiments in an emerging domestic policy domain to understand obstacles to transformations in forest and climate governance. We ask two interlinked questions: to what extent did the establishment of the REDD+ Agency challenge ‘business as usual’ in Indonesia’s forest and climate policy arena?; and what does this mean for a transformation away from policies and governance that enable deforestation and forest degradation? We draw on the transformation literature to better understand the role of REDD+ to achieve a transformative shift in climate governance. As an experiment of transformative climate governance, the study of REDD+ provides important insights for other forest or climate programs. Our analysis shows that the REDD+ Agency was successful in some extend in introducing an alternative governance mechanism and in shaking the governance structures but we also note that some of the key actors thought that greater ownership was achieved when the REDD+ Agency was dissolved and the mandate was returned to the ministries. We conclude that policy experimenting is a process, and while the creation of novel policies and their experimentation is important, also their assimilation may lead to new opportunities.     

Nest excavation in ants: group size effects on the size and structure of tunneling networks

Collective digging activity was studied in the ant Messor sancta Forel in laboratory conditions and with a two dimensional set-up. We analyzed the digging dynamics and topology of tunneling networks excavated by groups of workers ranging from 50 to 200 individuals over 3 days. In all conditions, the dynamics of excavated sand volume were clearly non-linear. Excavation began with an exponential growth and after 3 days reached a saturation phase in which activity was almost totally stopped. The final volume of sand excavated was positively correlated with the number of workers. At the end of the experiments, the two-dimensional tunneling networks were mapped onto planar graphs where the vertices represent small chambers or intersections between tunnels and the edges represent tunnels. We found that all the networks belonged to a same topological family and exhibited several striking invariants such as the distribution of vertex degree that follows a power law. When increasing the number of ants, some changes occurred in the network structure, mainly an increase in the number of edges and vertices, and the progressive emergence of enlarged and highly connected vertices.     

Light-dependent magnetoreception in birds: interaction of at least two different receptors

Passerine migrants require light from the blue-green part of the spectrum for magnetic compass orientation; under yellow light, they are disoriented. European robins tested under a combination of yellow light and blue or green light showed a change in behavior, no longer preferring their seasonally appropriate migratory direction: in spring as well as in autumn, they preferred southerly headings under blue-and-yellow and northerly headings under green-and-yellow light. This clearly shows that yellow light is not neutral and suggests the involvement of at least two types of receptors in obtaining magnetic compass information, with the specific interaction of these receptors being rather complex.     

Neurophysiological and behavioral development in birds: Song learning as a model system

The avian song system is a particularly good model for studying the behavioral and physiological aspects of animal development. One seemingly trivial but very important reason for this is that the sound spectrograph enables sounds to be described, measured and analyzed objectively and in detail. Secondly, birdsong is one of the few behaviors which is performed by a separate chain of brain regions and is therefore relatively easy to investigate neurophysiologically. Work on song also provides a clear illustration of the subtle way in which birds are influenced by their internal and external environments during development.     

UASB反应器中产甲烷菌对温度胁迫的响应

采用间歇培养方式探讨了升流式厌氧污泥床(UASB)反应器中不同营养类型产甲烷菌对温度胁迫的响应规律.研究结果表明,产甲烷螺旋菌(Methanospirillum)是该反应器的主要氢营养型产甲烷菌,而主要乙酸营养型产甲烷菌为产甲烷丝状菌(Methanosaeta).在35℃条件下,氢营养型和乙酸营养型产甲烷菌的累计甲烷产量分别为24.7,11.7mL,而最大产甲烷速率分别为0.74,0.18mL/h.当温度从35℃分别降低至30,25,20,15℃时,导致氢营养型产甲烷菌的累计产甲烷量分别减少了14.2%,34.0%,47.0%,57.5%,而乙酸营养型产甲烷菌的累计产甲烷量分别减少了5.1%,23.9%,45.3%,95.7%.由此可见,在20~30℃时氢营养型产甲烷菌对温度胁迫更加敏感,而在15℃以下时乙酸营养营养型产甲烷菌对温度胁迫更加敏感.     

Comparison of physiological responses to oxidative and .heavymetal stress in seedlings of rice paddy, Oryza sativa L.

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Light-dependent magnetoreception in birds: the effect of intensity of 565-nm green light

 In a previous study, Australian silvereyes tested in autumn under monochromatic 565-nm green light at intensities of 2.1 and 7.5 mW m^–2 preferred their normal northerly migratory direction, whereas they showed a significantly different tendency towards northwest at 15.0 mW m^–2. Repeating these experiments in spring with silvereyes migrating southward, we again observed well-oriented tendencies in the migratory direction at 2.1 and 7.5 mW m^–2. At 15.0 mW m^–2, however, the birds once more preferred northwesterly directions, i.e. their response under this condition proved to be independent of the migratory direction. This contradicts the interpretation that monochromatic green light of this high intensity leads to a rotation of compass information; instead, it appears to produce sensory input that causes birds to give up their migratory direction in favor of a fixed direction of as yet unknown origin. Received: 3 April 2000 / Accepted in revised form: 19 June 2000     

Optical properties of the uropygial gland secretion: no evidence for UV cosmetics in birds

Ultraviolet (UV) reflectance of the plumage is common in birds and plays an important role in sexual signalling. Recently, it has been proposed that birds are able to modify plumage UV reflectance by the application of uropygial gland secretion. Based on a survey of the optical properties of this secretion from 51 species belonging to 12 avian orders, we show that two main types of uropygial secretions exist, one predominantly found in passerines and one in non-passerines, both reducing relative UV reflectance of a white background (Teflon™ tape). We quantified how each type of secretion (exemplified by blue tit and mallard) affected feather UV reflectance. Both secretions reduced overall brightness and relative UV reflectance of white mallard feathers but hardly affected the reflectance of UV/blue blue tit crown feathers. According to models of avian colour vision, changes in reflectance due to application of the secretion were at or below the discrimination threshold of most birds. We conclude that the uropygial secretion is unlikely to play a major role in modifying plumage UV reflectance. However, the optical properties of the uropygial secretion may have been selected to interfere as little as possible with visual signaling through plumage reflectance. Electronic supplementary material  The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Cognitive skills and bacterial load: comparative evidence of costs of cognitive proficiency in birds

Parasite-mediated selection may affect the evolution of cognitive abilities because parasites may influence development of the brain, but also learning capacity. Here, we tested some predictions of this hypothesis by analyzing the relationship between complex behaviours (feeding innovations (as a measure of behavioural flexibility) and ability to detect foreign eggs in their nests (i.e. a measure of discriminatory ability)) and abundance of microorganisms in different species of birds. A positive relationship would be predicted if these cognitive abilities implied a larger number of visited environments, while if these skills favoured detection and avoidance of risky environments, a negative relationship would be the prediction. Bacterial loads of eggshells, estimated for mesophilic and potentially pathogenic bacteria (i.e. Enterococcus, Staphylococcus and Enterobacteriaceae), were used as a surrogate of probability of contact with pathogenic bacteria. We found that bird species with higher feeding innovation rates and rejection rates of experimental brood parasitic eggs had higher density of bacteria on their eggshells than the average species. Since the analysed groups of microorganisms include pathogenic bacteria, these results suggest that both feeding innovation and ability to recognize foreign eggs are costly and highlight the importance of parasite-mediated selection in explaining the evolution of cognitive abilities in animals.     

Negative effects of Microcystis blooms on the crustacean plankton in an enclosure experiment in the subtropical China

IntroductionCyanobacteria(i .e .Microcystis aeruginosa) blooms arefrequently associated withchanges of zooplanktoncommunity.Fewzooplanktons can use bloom-formingMicrocystisdirectlybecause of nutritional deficiencies ( Arnold, 1971 ) ,inedibility( Webster …