Torpor use during gestation and lactation in a primate

Torpor is an energy-saving mechanism that allows endotherms to overcome energetic challenges. Torpor should be avoided during reproduction because of potential incompatibility with offspring growth. To test if torpor can be used during gestation and lactation to compensate for food shortage, we exposed reproductive female grey mouse lemurs (Microcebus murinus), a heterothermic primate, to different levels of food availability. Torpor use was characterised by daily skin temperature profiles, and its energetic outcome was assessed from changes in body mass. Food shortage triggered torpor during the end of the gestation period (n = 1), ranging from shallow in response to 40% food restriction to deep daily torpor in response to 80% restriction. During the early period of lactation, females fed ad libitum (n = 2) or exposed to a 40% restriction (n = 4) remained normothermic; but 80% food restricted females (n = 5) gave priority to energy saving, increasing the frequency and depth of torpor bouts. The use of torpor was insufficient to compensate for 80% energetic shortage during lactation resulting in loss of mass from the mother and delayed growth in the pups. This study provides the first evidence that a heterothermic primate can use torpor to compensate for food shortages even during reproduction. This physiological flexibility likely evolved as a response to climate-driven fluctuations in food availability in Madagascar.     

APPLICATIONS OF FUZZY LOGIC IN THE DESIGN OF VEGETATED WATERWAYS UNDER UNCERTAINTY1

ABSTRACT: Two methods for analyzing uncertainty are described and compared in terms of their applicability for designing vegetated waterways. The first approach uses First and Second Order Analysis and the second employs Fuzzy Logic. The two methods were used to evaluate the uncertain parameters in the Manning formula, which is used for calculating the velocity of water flow in vegetated channels. Results indicate that both approaches can provide the designer with an indication of reliability of the estimates, a way of selecting a design option which meets a specified probability of success, as well as a means of comparing the relative importance of uncertainty in various input parameters. Also, the two methods have the common advantage of being simple and requiring less data about the uncertain parameters compared to the more comprehensive stochastic approaches. Although the Fuzzy Logic approach appears to provide a more conservative design because of its slightly higher variance, compared with the First and Second Order Analysis, both methods have proven to be reliable and suitable to deal with uncertainty.     

Assessment of occupational exposure to diesel fumes--parameter optimization of the thermal coulometric measurement method for carbon

'Elemental' carbon (EC) is used as a surrogate to assess occupational exposure to diesel soot. EC thermal analysis needs complete desorption of organic compounds from the soot particles prior to analysis in order to minimize positive interferences and artefacts. The desorption of the organic compounds can be considered as the major step which influences the reliability of the EC determination. A systematic study was carried out to investigate the different parameters of influence such as desorption temperature, desorption duration, heating rate and type of the sample on the desorption efficiency. It was found that temperature and duration are the major parameters of influence on the desorption efficiency. The influence of the sample load can be seen as a measure of the pyrolysis susceptibility of the sample. An optimized temperature program is proposed.     

Influence of social factors on sex ratio at birth,maternal investment and young survival in a prosimian primate

Summary In order to determine whether social factors influence sex ratio at birth in lesser mouse lemurs, experiments were conducted during 5 successive breeding periods on 51 females. At the beginning of the breeding season, females were either isolated (I) or grouped (G) in heterosexual groups with an increasing number of females (2, 3 or 4). To ensure mating, I females were introduced in a group only during the oestrous period. After mating, both I and G females were isolated during pregnancy and lactation. Reproductive capacities of females in terms of oestrus occurrences (n = 324), impregnations (n–210), pregnancies (n = 136) or abortions (n = 38) or litter sizes (1–3 young) were affected neither by age and parity of females nor by group housing prior to conception. G females produced significantly more sons than daughters (67% males for 189 newborn) while females living alone except during the mating period demonstrated a significant inverse tendency (39.6% males for 96 newborn). Distribution of sexes in litters was statistically different from random and varied according to the shift of sex ratio at birth. In G females, the shift in the sex ratio towards males was consistent across the different groups, independent of the number of females living together, suggesting that the presence of only 1 female is sufficient to induce a bias in the sex ratio. No correlation was found between infant survival at weaning and age, parity or group housing of the mother. The maternal investment allocated to male or female newborn was similar provided the litter contained at least 1 male. In litters without males, growth and survival of female infants were significantly less. These results on sex ratio bias in captive female mouse lemurs agree with directions of bias predicted by the local resource competition model for facultative sex ratio adjustment (Clark 1978). Nevertheless, the pattern observed in mouse lemurs appears to be independent of the nutritional state of the female and of differential maternal investment.