Empirical likelihood confidence intervals for adaptive cluster sampling

Adaptive cluster sampling (ACS) is an efficient sampling design for estimating parameters of rare and clustered populations. It is widely used in ecological research. The modified Hansen-Hurwitz (HH) and Horvitz-Thompson (HT) estimators based on small samples under ACS have often highly skewed distributions. In such situations, confidence intervals based on traditional normal approximation can lead to unsatisfactory results, with poor coverage properties. Christman and Pontius (Biometrics 56:503–510, 2000) showed that bootstrap percentile methods are appropriate for constructing confidence intervals from the HH estimator. But Perez and Pontius (J Stat Comput Simul 76:755–764, 2006) showed that bootstrap confidence intervals from the HT estimator are even worse than the normal approximation confidence intervals. In this article, we consider two pseudo empirical likelihood functions under the ACS design. One leads to the HH estimator and the other leads to a HT type estimator known as the Hájek estimator. Based on these two empirical likelihood functions, we derive confidence intervals for the population mean. Using a simulation study, we show that the confidence intervals obtained from the first EL function perform as good as the bootstrap confidence intervals from the HH estimator but the confidence intervals obtained from the second EL function perform much better than the bootstrap confidence intervals from the HT estimator, in terms of coverage rate.     

Small queens in the ant Ectatomma tuberculatum: a new case of social parasitism

Social parasites exploit the worker force of colonies of other social insects to rear their own young. Social parasitism occurs in several Hymenoptera and is particularly common in several tribes of the ant subfamilies Myrmicinae and Formicinae. Here, we document the occurrence of miniaturized queens (microgynes) in colonies of Ectatomma tuberculatum, an ant belonging to the subfamily Ectatomminae. Behavioral observations and genetic analyses show that microgynes concentrate their reproductive efforts almost exclusively on the production of sexual offspring (microgynes and males), whereas the regular, large queens (macrogynes) produce workers in addition to sexuals. According to mitochondrial and nuclear markers, gene flow between microgynes and macrogynes is extremely limited. Whereas the co-occurrence of microgynes and macrogynes in the related species Ectatomma ruidum constitutes an intraspecific polymorphism associated with alternative dispersal tactics, microgynes found in colonies of E. tuberculatum appear to be a distinct species and to represent the first case of social parasitism in the poneromorph subfamilies of ants.     

Life history costs of olfactory status signalling in mice

Large body size confers a competitive advantage in animal contests but does not always determine the outcome. Here we explore the trade-off between short-term achievement of high social status and longer-term life history costs in animals which vary in competitive ability. Using laboratory mice, Mus musculus, as a model system, we show that small competitors can initially maintain dominance over larger males by increasing investment in olfactory status signalling (scent-marking), but only at the cost of reduced growth rate and body size. As a result they become more vulnerable to dominance reversals later in life. Our results also provide the first empirical information about life history costs of olfactory status signals. Received: 15 December 1999 / Revised: 6 June 2000 / Accepted: 24 June 2000     

Numbers,biomass, and caloric content of the echinoderm fauna of the rocky shores of Barbados

The high-energy windward coasts with narrow rocky intertidal regions (Oistens, River Bay) at Barbados, West Indies, had abundant macroscopic algae (mainly Sargassum sp.) and populations of Holothuria glaberrima Selenka and Echinometra lucunter (Linnaeus), while protected ones with a wide rocky intertidal had sparse macroscopic algae and populations of E. lucunter only. The low-energy leeward coasts with wide rocky intertidal regions (Six Men's Bay, Payne's Bay) had no macroscopic algae in the surf zone and populations of E. lucunter only. Numerical densities of E. lucunter were high in all localities; the highest level of 144 m^-2 was found at Six Men's Bay; numerical densities of H. glaberrima were high at both Oistens and River Bay, the highest level of 36 m^-2 being recorded at River Bay. The caloric density of H. glaberrima at River Bay was 412 kcal m^-2. The highest combined density of H. glaberrima and E. lucunter was at Oistens (632 kcal m^-2, with 254 kcal m^-2 being due to E. lucunter). The highest caloric density of E. lucunter at Six Men's Bay was 482 kcal m^-2. Dependence on suspended food probably restricts H. glaberrima to high-energy environments while E. lucunter has an additional food source through its ability to scrape the rock substratum. E. lucunter may be more efficient in catching drift food. Mortality is suggested to be the basis of the failure of E. lucunter to displace H. glaberrima from the high-energy location.