Parasitoid-induced mortality of Araneus omnicolor (Araneae, Araneidae) by Hymenoepimecis sp. (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae) in southeastern Brazil

All species included in the Polysphincta genus-group develop as ectophagous parasitoids of active spiders, killing their hosts prior to pupation. However, little information regarding natural history and ovipositing behavior of most species are available. In this study we inspected 85 webs of Araneus omnicolor to evaluate the frequency of parasitism and host size preferences of the wasp Hymenoepimecis sp. We also described the web characteristics of normal and parasitized spiders and the wasp ovipositing behavior. About 41% of the adult females of A. omnicolor inspected were parasitized. The highest incidence of parasitism was observed among relatively small females while no egg or larva was found in large individuals. Araneus omnicolor builds a strong web composed of an orb and barrier threads, where the spider rests within a curled leaf. The parasitoid larva builds its cocoon within this refuge, and modified cocoon webs were not observed. The ovipositing behavior of Hymenoepimecis sp. was very similar to that of Hymenoepimecis argyraphaga parasitizing Leucauge argyra, including the position of the sting, the killing of a previously attached larva, and the expelling of the egg from the base of the ovipositor.     

Secondary analysis of time of day on simulated driving performance

PROBLEM: Age and gender are frequently controlled for in studies of driving performance, but the effects of time of day or circadian cycles on performance are often not considered. Previous research on time of day effects of simulated driving is contradictory and provides little guidance for understanding the impact of these variables on results. METHODS: Using driving simulator data from 79 subjects ages 18 to 65, this paper focuses on the impact of age, gender, and time of day on the simulated driving performance of subjects who self-selected the time of participation. RESULTS: Time of day effects were consistently evident for drivers' speed overall and across different simulated environments. Drivers in the late afternoon period consistently drove significantly slower than drivers in other time periods. Age and gender affected speed such that women and those participants 50 and older tended to drive more slowly. Time of day also had an effect on reaction time and on speed variability measures. Gender did not have significant effects on reaction time or variability measures, but age effects were present. SUMMARY: Taken together, the results suggest that time of day effects should be considered as part of simulated driving performance, and that interactions between time of day and other variables, notably age, should be controlled for as part of future research. IMPACT ON INDUSTRY: Implications of these findings on current efforts for older driver testing are discussed.     

重金属在河口区潮汐界面与盐度界面响应规律研究

河口潮汐、盐度、悬浮颗粒物特征因影响化学物质在水体与其他介质之间分配行为,使得咸淡水生物利用度上产生差别,造成咸淡水水质基准标准的差异.重金属如铜,锌,铅,镉和铬等指标由于广泛分布在淡水及海水中,在较高的浓度下可具毒性效应,是现行《地表水环境质量标准》(GB 3838-2002)和《海水水质标准》(GB 3097-1997)常规监测项目.本研究以大辽河口为例,探索这些重金属指标在咸淡水河口区衔接情况和响应规律.首先,基于生物、化学和地质地理相似性确定潮汐界面(TCI)和河海边界(FSI)的位置,划分为潮汐淡水区及混合区.其次,分析了一个潮汐周期内重金属指标的变化特征,以及潮汐淡水区及混合区内盐度和悬浮颗粒物对分配系数Kd的影响,结果表明砷、镉和铬等指标更易受盐度的影响,而锌、铜、铅和镍等指标更易受悬浮颗粒物和潮汐状态的影响.最后,结合潮汐状态和分配系数研究结果,根据这些指标在TCI和FSI的变化趋势,归纳为两类响应规律:第一类如砷、镉和铬等指标,这类指标在FSI具有明显的突变点;第二类如锌、铜、铅和镍等指标,从TCI开始发生变化.两类指标在水相-沉积相-颗粒相介质的分配行为表明颗粒相和沉积相具有相似的变化趋势,尤其颗粒相中的重金属浓度,取决于悬浮颗粒物的浓度,指标响应差异主要存在于水相中.通过本研究识别出易受不同环境因子(如盐度和SS)控制的敏感指标,提出需关注河口本身特征造成的指标背景差异的必要性,将有助于我国现行水质标准制定、修订工作的实施和开展.     

锈蚀钢筋混凝土圆柱抗震性能的试验研究

对不同锈蚀程度的钢筋混凝土圆柱进行低周反复试验,研究了不同轴压比下的钢筋锈蚀率对钢筋混凝土圆柱滞回曲线、骨架曲线、刚度、延性及耗能能力的影响;给出了试件累积耗能、屈服荷栽、极限荷栽、荷栽最大值和位移延性系数与钢筋锈蚀率和轴压比的关系.研究表明,随着钢筋锈蚀率和轴压比的增大,试件的滞回曲线趋于干瘪,骨架曲线下降段变陡,试...     

基于静态特征和动态行为的火灾检测模型

为实时准确地检测视频监控的火灾信号,减少火灾误报,提出1种基于静态特征和动态行为的火灾检测方法.利用改进的Faster RCNN检测模型,根据可疑火灾区域的颜色特征和空间特征对其进行目标检测和特征降维,与传统的Faster RCNN相比平均检测精度提升5％;利用ILSTM对连续帧中的特征进行累加,对短期内是否发生过火灾...     

事故车辆影响下的城市三车道道路交通流仿真

为探究事故车辆对城市三车道道路交通影响机制,首先,分析考虑事故车辆的城市三车道道路交通流特征;然后,构建左车道优先且考虑主动抢道和被动抢道行为的元胞自动机交通流模型;最后;研究事故持续时间td变化时事故车辆分别位于M道和R道的城市道路交通流演化.结果 表明:事故车辆会形成交通瓶颈,呈现上游车辆聚集下游车辆稀疏的时空特征...     

Use of USLE/GIS Methodology for Predicting Soil Loss in a Semiarid Agricultural Watershed

The Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) is an erosion model to estimate average soil loss that would generally result from splash, sheet, and rill erosion from agricultural plots. Recently, use of USLE has been extended as a useful tool predicting soil losses and planning control practices in agricultural watersheds by the effective integration of the GIS-based procedures to estimate the factor values in a grid cell basis. This study was performed in the Kazan Watershed located in the central Anatolia, Turkey, to predict soil erosion risk by the USLE/GIS methodology for planning conservation measures in the site. Rain erosivity (R), soil erodibility (K), and cover management factor (C) values of the model were calculated from erosivity map, soil map, and land use map of Turkey, respectively. R values were site-specifically corrected using DEM and climatic data. The topographical and hydrological effects on the soil loss were characterized by LS factor evaluated by the flow accumulation tool using DEM and watershed delineation techniques. From resulting soil loss map of the watershed, the magnitude of the soil erosion was estimated in terms of the different soil units and land uses and the most erosion-prone areas where irreversible soil losses occurred were reasonably located in the Kazan watershed. This could be very useful for deciding restoration practices to control the soil erosion of the sites to be severely influenced.     

Sexual selection on mature male parr of masu salmon (Oncorhynchus masou): does sneaking behavior favor small body size and less-developed sexual characters?

In many salmonid species, males exhibit morphological dimorphism associated with alternative mating behaviors. ”Precocious males” have a small body size with little or no development of sexual characters and adopt sneaking to gain access to females, while ”migratory males” of large body size and well-developed secondary sexual characters fight. We quantified selection on precocious male parr of masu salmon (Oncorhynchus masou) under simulated natural conditions to examine the contribution of morphology to sneaking success. In contrast to the prediction that sneaking behavior favors small body size, we detected selection favoring relatively large body size for sneaking success. This selection pressure was caused by the dominance hierarchy within parr and may have been facilitated by indifference of dominant migratory males to parr. Unlike the secondary sexual characters exhibited by migratory male salmon, such as the hooked snout and humped back, no morphological characters other than body size contributed to the reproductive success of masu salmon parr. This non-contribution may have been responsible for the lack of development of sexual characters in precocious males. Received: 15 November 1999 / Accepted: 20 May 2000     

Soil erosion vulnerability under scenarios of climate land-use changes after the development of a large reservoir in a semi-arid area

Climate and land-use/cover changes (LUCC) influence soil erosion vulnerability in the semi-arid region of Alqueva, threatening the reservoir storage capacity and sustainability of the landscape. Considering the effect of these changes in the future, the purpose of this study was to investigate soil erosion scenarios using the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) model. A multi-agent system combining Markov cellular automata with multi-criteria evaluation was used to investigate LUCC scenarios according to delineated regional strategies. Forecasting scenarios indicated that the intensive agricultural area as well as the sparse and xerophytic vegetation and rainfall-runoff erosivity would increase, consequently causing the soil erosion to rise from 1.78 Mg ha^?1 to 3.65 Mg ha^?1 by 2100. A backcasting scenario was investigated by considering the application of soil conservation practices that would decrease the soil erosion considerably to an average of 2.27 Mg ha^?1. A decision support system can assist stakeholders in defining restrictive practices and developing conservation plans, contributing to control the reservoir's siltation.     

Trust,political orientation,and environmental behavior

A growing body of large-N cross-national studies has identified key predictors of environmental behavior. Adopting a social dilemma perspective, where individuals must choose collective over self-interest to act pro-environmentally, integrated national datasets for 30 countries are used to examine the effects of generalized trust, trust in government, leftism, and post-materialism on three types of environmental behavior (intended action, informal action, and formal action). At the individual level, all predictors but institutional trust have significant positive effects on each type of behavior. Institutional trust is associated with greater willingness to make economic sacrifice for the environment and with less frequent informal environmental behavior, but it is unrelated to formal behavior. However, at the country level, the effect of trust is limited to intended behavior and depends on the type of trust. Individuals in countries with higher generalized trust averages are less willing to sacrifice for the environment, and those in countries with higher averages of institutional trust are more willing to do so.