Phonotaxis during walking and flight: are differences in selectivity due to predation pressure?

Female selectivity was tested in Tettigonia viridissima during two different phonotaxis situations; compensated walking and tethered flight. For two of the three temporal parameters that are important for call recognition in T. viridissima, selectivity was similar in the two situations. Selectivity for the third parameter (minimum interval duration between the double pulses) was much higher during walking than during flight: walking females responded only to stimuli with intervals of 28 ms or longer, while call models with intervals of 18 ms were attractive during flight. One interneuron (TN-1) is probably involved in filtering the minimum interval duration. As this neuron is also the most likely candidate for transmitting bat calls during flight, it is suggested that the selectivity differences between walking and flying might be due to the need for detecting predator signals during flight, when TN-1 would be occupied listening for bats. With TN-1 unavailable for song processing during flight, temporal selectivity for the minimum interval duration should be reduced, as was found here.     

SPATIAL MODELLING WITH GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS FOR DETERMINATION OF WATER RESOURCES VULNERABILITY APPLICATION TO AN AREA IN MASSIF CENTRAL (FRANCE)1

ABSTRACT: A method for water resources protection based on spatial variability of vulnerability is proposed. The vulnerability of a water resource is defined as the risk that the resource will become contaminated if a pollutant is placed on the surface at one point as compared to another. A spatial modelling method is defined in this paper to estimate a travel time between any point of a catchment and a resource (river or well). This method is based on spatial analysis tools integrated in Geographical Information Systems (GIS). The method is illustrated by an application to an area of Massif Central (France) where three different types of flow appear: surface flow, shallow subsurface flow, and permanent ground water flow (baseflow). The proposed method gives results similar to classical methods of estimation of travel time. The contribution of GIS is to improve the mapping of vulnerability by taking the spatial variability of physical phenomena into account.     

Contamination by selected chlorinated pesticides in surface waters in Hanoi, Vietnam

Fifteen insecticides, which were banned in Vietnam in the period from 1990 to 1998, were chosen for the investigation of surface water samples in Hanoi and its surroundings. The investigation was focused on an area of approximately 30 by 20 km. Thirty water samples, in total were analysed: 11 samples from the Red river, seven from the Duong river, four from various lakes (West lake, Thuyen Quang, Bay Mau, Ba Mau), six from irrigation canals and two samples from wells. The procedure was repeated in November 1998 and in August 1999. The results showed that the contamination of the banned pesticides was highest in the rivers and then in the irrigation canals, followed by the lakes and wells. These pesticides could hardly be determined in just two drinking water samples (wells) and their concentrations rarely exceeded detection limits (0.05-0.25 ng l(-1)). The mean concentrations of sigmaHCHs (alpha, beta, gamma, delta-HCH) and sigmaDDTs (2,4'-, 4,4'-DDE; 2,4'-, 4,4'-DDD; 2,4'-, 4,4'-DDT) in the rivers were 17.2 +/- 71.8 and 43.7 +/- 79.9 ng l(-1) in the dry season (DS, November 1998), 29.3 +/- 117 and 56.1 +/- 65.6 ng l(-1) in the rainy season (RS, August 1999), respectively. However, the highest concentration of DDTs detected in a river sample (DS): 0.324 microg l(-1) was much lower than their allowable limit of concentration in surface waters, which is accorded with Criteria of Vietnam (1995) (DDTs < 10 microg l(-1)). Moreover, endrin, heptachlor, aldrin were also detected in most of water samples with considerable mean concentrations in rivers: 25.3 +/- 40.5, 17.4 +/- 23.8, 11.0 +/- 9.02 ng l(-1) in the DS and 18.5 +/- 23.2, 19.3 +/- 29.0, 12.8 +/- 8.44 ng l(-1) in the RS, respectively. Heptachlor epoxide (isomer A) and dieldrin were detected in some water samples with lowest concentrations.     

Quality control and quality assurance for particle size distribution measurements at an urban monitoring station in Augsburg, Germany

Long-term observations of atmospheric constituents such as aerosol particles are increasingly needed to assess their impact on climate and human health. In contrast to particle mass concentration (MC), there are currently no standardized quality control (QC) and quality assurance (QA) procedures for the measurement of particle size distribution (PSD). This study describes some fundamental QC and QA procedures associated with the collection and evaluation of a 2 year dataset between 2005 and 2006 at an urban background monitoring site in Augsburg, Germany. The considered parametres include ambient PSD between 3 nm and 10 microm (merged from a twin differential mobility and an aerodynamic particle sizer, TDMPS and APS, respectively) as well as total particle number (TNC), length (LC) and MC determined by independent instruments. The hourly 1st and 0th moment of PSD showed good correlations with the independently measured LC (R(2) = 0.86) and TNC (R(2) = 0.79), respectively, the deviation for LC with 4% and for TNC with 22% being rather small. The volume concentration (3rd moment) of hourly measured PSD and the resultant MC (when assuming a realistic apparent density of 1.5 g cm(-3)) correlated well with the independently measured MC of PM(2.5) or PM(10) (R(2) > 0.86) and showed only small deviation from PM(2.5) (1%) or PM(10) (5%), respectively. The study demonstrates that the described QC and QA measures define both a high accuracy of the PSD measurements and their long-term comparability against data obtained in similar measurement programmes.