Group foraging, patch exploitation time and the finder's advantage

 We use a combination of the marginal value theorem (MVT) of Charnov (1976), and a group foraging model featuring information sharing to address patch residence in an environment where food occurs in discrete patches. We shall show that among equal competitors the optimal patch time for the individual that finds the food patch is shorter than that for the non-finder among equal competitors, T _E < T _N. This is the case if the patch-finder commences food harvesting in the patch earlier and manages to monopolise a fraction of the prey items (finder's advantage) before the other individuals come to take their benefit. When individuals differ in their food-searching abilities so that some of them (producers) contribute proportionally more to food-searching than others (scroungers), and differ in ability to compete for the food found, a difference emerges between producer and scrounger individuals in the optimal patch time. Within a patch we always have the finder's advantage (T _E < T _N) regardless of phenotype. Between patches a suite of optimal patch times for encountering individuals emerges depending on the performance of producers and scroungers when changing from solitary feeding to feeding in a group. The optimal patch time for individuals that are affected more severely by competition is shorter than that for individuals of the phenotype with better competitive ability. When both phenotypes are affected similarly no difference in optimal patch times emerges. Received: 13 February 1996 / Accepted after revision: 28 September 1996     

Dynamic analysis of a one-prey multi-predator impulsive system with Ivlev-type functional

Considering the Ivlev-type functional response, we develop and analyze a class of one-prey multi-predator system with impulsive effect at different fixed times. Some sufficient conditions ensuring the prey to be extinct are obtained via the Floquent theory and small amplitude perturbation skill. Using the method of comparison involving multiple Laypunov functions, we derive some conditions for the permanence of the system. Numerical simulations of the impulsive system exhibit the rich complex dynamics for the key parameters, such as symmetry-breaking pitchfork bifurcation, periodic doubling bifurcation, chaos, periodic halving cascade and crisis.     

基于非线性破坏准则的边坡稳定性分析

Baker提出的非线性破坏准则是一种广义的岩土体强度准则,常规的M-C强度准则、格里菲斯强度准则以及Hoek-Brown强度准则均为其特例。该准则通过大量的三轴试验引入无量纲强度参数A,n和T,其中A为尺度参数用于控制剪切强度的大小;n为准则曲线的次数用于控制曲率;T为转换参数用于控制准则曲线与σ轴的位置,并反映其无量纲拉伸强度。以Baker非线性强度准则为基础,以极限分析上限法为工具,采用"切线法"思想研究了静、动荷载下边坡的稳定性,将边坡的稳定性问题转化为含多变量的数学优化问题,并给出其最优解。通过算例分析,研究了非线性强度参数对边坡稳定系数与屈服加速度系数的影响。结果表明:边坡稳定系数随无量纲参数A,T的增大而增大;边坡屈服加速度系数随坡高、坡角的增加而降低。     

Comparison between Hansen-Hurwitz and Horvitz-Thompson estimators for adaptive cluster sampling

Thompson (1990) introduced the adaptive cluster sampling design. This sampling design has been shown to be a useful sampling method for parameter estimation of a clustered and scattered population (Roesch, 1993; Smith et al., 1995; Thompson and Seber, 1996). Two estimators, the modified Hansen-Hurwitz (HH) and Horvitz-Thompson (HT) estimators, are available to estimate the mean or total of a population. Empirical results from previous researches indicate that the modified HT estimator has smaller variance than the modified HH estimator. We analytically compare the properties of these two estimators. Some results are obtained in favor of the modified HT estimator so that practitioners are strongly recommended to use the HT estimator despite easiness of computations for the HH estimator.     

What determines selection and abandonment of a foraging patch by wild giant pandas (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) in winter?

Background, aim, and scope  Foraging patches can be described as a nested hierarchy of aggregated resources, implying that study of foraging by wild animals should be directed across different spatial scales. However, almost all previous research on habitat selection by the giant panda has concentrated upon one scale. In this research, we carried out a field study to understand foraging patch selection by giant pandas in winter at both microhabitat and feeding site scales and, for the first time, attempted to understand how long it would stay at the feeding sites before moving on. Materials and methods  The field survey was conducted from November 2002 to March 2003 at Fengtongzhai Nature Reserve (102°48′–103°00′ E, 30°19′–30°47′ N), Baoxing County of Sichuan Province, China, to collect data in both microhabitat and control plots. The microhabitat plots were located by fresh feces or foraging traces left by giant pandas, and the control plots were established to reflect the environment. Within each microhabitat plot, one 1 × 1 m² plot was centralized at the center of each feeding site, in which numbers of old bamboos and old shoots, including eaten and uneaten, were counted, respectively. Results  The results showed that winter microhabitats selected by this species were characteristic of gentle slopes and high old-shoot proportions and that the latter was even higher at feeding sites. Two selection processes, namely, from the environment to microhabitats and from the latter to feeding sites, were found during this species’ foraging patch utilization. Giant pandas preferred to eat old shoots to old bamboo at feeding sites in winter and did not leave unless old-shoot density fell to lower than the average in the environment. Discussion  Both microhabitats and feeding sites selected by giant pandas were characteristic of high old-shoot density, indicating that the preferred food item had a significant influence upon its foraging patch selection. The preference for gentle slopes by giant pandas was presumed to save energy in movement or reflect the need to sit and free its fore-limbs to grasp bamboo culms when feeding but also seemed to be correlated with an easier access to old shoots. The utilization of old shoots at feeding sites was assumed to help maximize energy or nutrient intake during their foraging. Conclusions  The difference between microhabitat plots and control plots and between microhabitats and feeding sites uncovered a continuous selection process from the environment via microhabitats to feeding sites. The utilization of old shoots at feeding sites was parallel to the marginal value theorem. The selection and abandonment of foraging patches by giant pandas was an optimal behavioral strategy adapted to their peculiar food with high cellulose and low protein. Recommendations and perspectives  Our results uncovered the importance of multiple scales in habitat selection research. To further understand the process of habitat selection, future research should pay more attention to resolve the question of how to locate foraging patches under dense bamboo forests by the giant panda, which was traditionally considered to have poor eyesight, although our research has answered what type of habitats the giant panda prefers and when to leave.     

Duration of paternal care in pine engraver beetles: why do larger males care less?

Male pine engravers, Ips pini (Coleoptera: Scolytidae), assist their mates during reproduction by removing the debris that accumulates while females excavate oviposition tunnels in the phloem tissue of host tree bark. Although duration of paternal care and male reproductive success are positively correlated, large males leave their mates and brood sooner than small males. We address two hypotheses to explain the earlier departure of larger males from their breeding galleries: (1) females oviposit most rapidly when paired with large males, thereby reducing the length of time that paternal care increases male reproductive success, (2) larger males have better prospects for future reproduction, and thus leave their galleries in search of new breeding opportunities sooner than smaller males. Contrary to the first hypothesis, when females were paired either with large or small males, there was no effect of male size on their rate of oviposition. Consistent with the second hypothesis, males that initiated breeding galleries were larger than males from the general population. In addition, large males flew farther and faster on flight mills than small males, which may indicate that large males have an advantage in locating suitable breeding sites. Thus, we suggest that large male pine engravers leave their galleries earlier than small males because large individuals have better prospects for future reproduction. Received: 30 November 1997 / Accepted after revision: 23 May 1998     

生态补偿研究中的几个关键问题

生态补偿作为一种处理环境问题的政策工具集,已引起社会各界的广泛关注。但目前主流的生态补偿科斯框架理论性太强,实践者往往无法模仿其构建的假定运行条件,在实践中面临着诸多挑战,使其难以推广与实施。为了促进生态补偿从理论走向实践,本文立足于国际生态补偿理论研究与实践经验,深入分析了生态补偿科斯概念的理论基础以及积极激励与条件性两个核心标准,系统总结了生态补偿科斯概念在实践中面临的自愿性难以完全满足、条件性难以完全遵守、生态系统服务难以完全界定、效率和公平分离等挑战,提出在实践中应考虑生态补偿执行的复杂性与约束性,研究中应关注生态服务的形成与供给机制、生态补偿融资机制与支付机制、补偿对象空间定位、激励方式选择、效率与公平的权衡、泄露、额外性与不正当激励以及中介机构的影响力等关键问题,应力争将生态补偿理论与实践观点一致起来,在理论研究者与实践者之间建立更包容的对话机制。     

赶不上定理及其循环经济理论意义

阐释了在一个正常发展的长时期的宏观经济体系中人均物质消费量永远上升的观点,研究了人均GDP增长速度和物质利用强度变化速度之间的数量关系,根据二者变化速度相对快慢提出和证明了保证人均物质消费量上升的充分必要条件即赶不上定理.利用赶不上定理,论述了循环经济是解决人类经济增长的无限性与自然资源有限性之间的矛盾的根本途径,当人均GDP增长速度为零时进行结构调整必然降低人均物质消费量,引发社会不安定现象;当人均GDP增长速度足够快时,可以大幅度进行结构调整而不降低人均物质消费量.     

管棚预支护条件下水下隧道开挖面三维稳定性分析

为研究管棚预支护条件下水下隧道开挖面稳定性,基于塑性极限分析理论,建立考虑渗流力的管棚预支护条件下隧道开挖面三维稳定性分析模型,并据此确定开挖面的极限支护压力。结合深圳地铁实际工程,采用笔者提出的方法计算得到的开挖面极限支护压力较二维极限平衡法更符合实际情况,该方法的合理性得到验证。进而研究管棚预支护、地下水位和管棚剩余长度对隧道开挖面渗流力的影响。分析结果表明,渗流力对隧道开挖面稳定性有显著影响,渗流力与地下水位呈线性关系;采用管棚预支护能显著减小隧道开挖面处的渗流力,但当开挖面前方管棚剩余长度超过2倍洞径时,再增加管棚长度对减小开挖面渗流力的效果不明显。     

Travel duration,energetic expenditure,and patch exploitation in the parasitic wasp <Emphasis Type="Italic">Venturia canescens</Emphasis>

Foraging animals usually keep track of how costly it is to reach new resource patches and adjust patch residence time and exploitation rate accordingly. There are at least two potential factors, which are not necessarily closely linked, that animals could measure to estimate costs of traveling: the time the forager needs to reach the next patch and the amount of energy it has to invest until arrival. In the parasitoid wasp Venturia canescens, females forage for hosts from which their offspring can develop. Two different types of this parasitoid exist. The thelytokous type lives in anthropogenic habitats where flight is not necessarily linked with foraging. The arrhenotokous type lives under field conditions and shows frequent flight activity. We tested whether the wasps would use time or energy needed to assess patch availability, by either confining them into vials or letting them travel actively in a flight mill between patch visits. Our results show that in thelytokous lines, time is a sufficient cue influencing patch exploitation and an additional effect of the energy needed was not visible. In the arrhenotokous wasps, however, only the number of rounds flown in the mill influenced subsequent behavior, while mere time spent traveling did not. Electronic supplementary material  The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.