Song ranging by the dusky antbird,Cercomacra tyrannina: ranging without song learning

In a population of dusky antbirds (Cercomacra tyrannina), less aggressive responses to distance-degraded playbacks than to undegraded playbacks of pair duets show that this tropical suboscine passerine uses sound degradation to range distance from singing conspecifics. This is the first example of song-ranging in a species that does not learn songs, supporting the hypothesis that ranging preceded the song learning that occurs in more recently evolved passerine birds (oscines). Both sexes sing and are able to use song degradation to range distance from singers when their sex-specific song is played back. Received: 27 May 1994/Accepted after revision: 24 March 1996     

Female choice on male quantitative traits in lizards — why is it so rare?

Female choice on the basis of male traits has been described in an array of taxa but has rarely been demonstrated in reptiles. In the sand lizard (Lacerta agilis), and possibly in other non-territorial reptiles, a male's contribution to a female's fitness is restricted to his genes. In order to choose males of high genetic quality, females have to trade the fitness gain against the costs of active choice. In a Swedish population of sand lizards, long-lived males sired offspring with higher embryonic survival compared to offspring sired by short-lived males. In spite of this female sand lizards did not mate selectively with older and/or larger males. There appeared to be mo reliable cues to male longevity; age-specific male body size was highly variable. Furthermore, estimates of male nuptial coloration did not covary with ectoparasite load and, hence, females cannot use male coloration as a cue to heritable resistance to pathogenic parasite effects. When cues to male genetic quality are poor, or inaccurate, and males make no parental investment, we predict that female choice will be rare. Sand lizard females mating with many partners lay clutches with higher hatching success. Thus, females may obtain good genes for their young by multiple mating, thereby avoiding costs associated with mate choice.     

Foraging responses of wild house mice to accumulations of conspecific odor as a predation risk

Many predators hunt using the social and waste odors of their prey. It is unknown, however, whether potential prey modify their behavior in response to the risks of predation associated with accumulations of conspecific odor. We examined this question by measuring foraging trade-offs of wild house mice (Mus domesticus) in the field where we increased both predation risk and conspecific odor at artificial food patches in a two-factor design. Mouse giving-up densities (GUDs) were significantly higher in open habitats than in closed habitats but did not differ with the addition of mouse odors. Fine-scale behavioral observations of captive mice confirmed their attraction to the conspecific odor in an enclosure experiment, without any change to the GUD. These results indicate that house mice continue to visit and forage at food patches despite accumulations of predator-attracting odors. This most likely occurs for the social benefits obtained from conspecific odor exploration; however, such behavior may cause mice to become vulnerable to considerable olfactory exploitation by their predators. Future work must therefore focus on how mice trade off the social benefits of investigating odors that also attract their enemies.     

NF-κB and AP-1 as molecular targets for chemoprevention with EGCG, a review

There are multiple lines of compelling evidence, mostly from population-based studies, supporting that green tea consumption is associated with reduced risk of several human malignancies. Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) is a major antioxidant present in green tea. Chemopreventive effects of EGCG have been extensively investigated and well documented. These include inhibition of metabolic activation of carcinogens and/or stimulation of their detoxification, scavenging of reactive oxygen species, induction of apoptosis or differentiation of malignant or transformed cells, suppression of tumor promotion, inhibition of angiogenesis or metastasis, etc. EGCG targets many intracellular signaling molecules and events responsible for malignant transformation or abnormal cell proliferation, and NF-κB and AP-1 appear to be two of most potential targets of EGCG in its exerting chemopreventive activities.     

A test of reproductive skew models in a field population of a multiple-queen ant

Determining the evolutionary basis of variation in reproductive skew (degree of sharing of reproduction among coexisting individuals) is an important task both because skew varies widely across social taxa and because testing models of skew evolution permits tests of kin selection theory. Using parentage analyses based on microsatellite markers, we measured skew among female eggs (n=32.3 eggs per colony, range=20–68) in 17 polygynous colonies from a UK field population of the ant Leptothorax acervorum. We used skew among eggs as our principal measure of skew because of the high degree of queen turnover in the study population. Queens within colonies did not make significantly unequal contributions to queen and worker adult or pupal offspring, indicating that skew among female eggs reflected skew among daughter queens. On average, both skew among female eggs (measured by the B index) and queen–queen relatedness proved to be low (means±SE=0.06±0.02 and 0.28±0.08, respectively). However, contrary to current skew models, there was no significant association of skew with either relatedness or worker number (used as a measure of productivity). In L. acervorum, predictions of the concession model of skew may hold between but not within populations because queens are unable to assess their relatedness to other queens within colonies. Additional phenomena that may help maintain low skew in the study population include indiscriminate infanticide in the form of egg cannibalism and split sex ratios that penalize reproductive monopoly by single queens within polygynous colonies.     

Selection on social traits in greater spear-nosed bats, Phyllostomus hastatus

Many studies assume that selection molds social traits and have investigated the manner in which this occurs, yet very few studies have measured the strength of selection on social traits in natural populations. In this paper, I report results of phenotypic selection analyses on two social traits – the size of social groups and the frequency of group foraging – in Phyllostomus hastatus, the greater spear-nosed bat. I found significant positive directional selection on individual group foraging frequency, but no directional selection on individuals in different-sized social groups. These results have implications for the structure of social groups, cooperative behavior among group mates, and maternal investment strategies. I argue that combining studies of natural selection on wild populations with experiments to identify the agents and mechanisms of selection can do much to increase our understanding of social evolution.     

The two reindeer parasites,Hypoderma tarandi andCephenemyia trompe (Oestridae), have evolved similar olfactory receptor abilities to volatiles from their common host

Summary Using the linked gas chromatographical/electroantennogram (GC/EAG) technique it was revealed that the reindeer warble fly (H. tarandi) was specifically able to sense the same components from reindeer interdigital pheromone gland as the reindeer nose bot fly (C. trompe) another reindeer endoparasite. These two species belong to the same family (Oestridae), but different subfamilies, and the evolution towards an endoparasitic life cycle is thought to have been independent. The development of olfactory abilities to find reindeer from long distances is hypothesized to have taken place through convergent evolution or exists because of their common ancestry.     

长江上游沿江产业带产业结构演进研究

长江上游沿江产业带是一个资源富集,开发潜力巨大的区域,既是长江产业带的重要组成部分,也是西南地区经济发展的重心地带。区域经济的快速发展有赖于区域产业结构的有序演进。本文在分析长江上游沿江产业带产业结构演进背景－产业基础,经济基础,资源基础和宏观环境的基础上,根据国外产业结构演进手一般经验,对本区产业结构演进的历史进程和目前所处阶段进行了分析和判定。     

三门火山盆地的层状矿床及其与盆地形成演化的关系

浙江三门中生代火山——沉积盆地的形成演化可分四个阶段。每一阶段均伴产有不同成因和各具特色的金属矿床,显示了陆相火山作用较为完整的成矿体系。其中层状矿床具有同生和后生的双重特征,多成因,多来源,是较典型的火山沉积——后期热液迭加改造型矿床。本文着重介绍它的主要特征及盆地的形成演化对火山成因矿床的控制。     

三峡库区社区水平乡村路网对森林景观变化的影响

人为扰动是短时空尺度内森林景观变化或用途转换的主要动力,而乡村路网则成为人为扰动拓展的主要通道。基于1992、2002、2014年三峡库区重庆市石柱县西沱镇3期遥感影像和实地调研数据,在ArcGIS平台支持下,研究社区水平乡村路网对森林景观变化的影响。结果表明：1）1992—2014年研究区乡村路网影响域内次生林、退化林地和耕地的动态变化较显著,集中分布在中西部平坦区。1992—2002年乡村路网缓冲区内森林景观整体呈退化趋势,退化类型以次生林→退化林地、次生林→耕地、退化林地→耕地为主,演化量达1 705.91 hm²;2002—2014年乡村路网缓冲区内森林景观主要呈恢复趋势,恢复类型以耕地→退化林地、耕地→次生林、退化林地→次生林和原始林→退化原始林为主,演化量达1 674.52 hm²。2）相比发现,前一时期研究区乡村路网长度的增加和路网材质的提升很大程度上驱动森林景观的退化,而后一时期低等级路段的消失、废弃或利用率的降低则有助于森林景观的恢复,消失路段恢复率近100%。3）研究有助于丰富人们对社区水平乡村路网影响森林景观变化的理解与认识,为生态文明建设中合理规划乡村路网提供科学依据。