Familiarity affects social network structure and discovery of prey patch locations in foraging stickleback shoals

Numerous factors affect the fine-scale social structure of animal groups, but it is unclear how important such factors are in determining how individuals encounter resources. Familiarity affects shoal choice and structure in many social fishes. Here, we show that familiarity between shoal members of sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus) affects both fine-scale social organization and the discovery of resources. Social network analysis revealed that sticklebacks remained closer to familiar than to unfamiliar individuals within the same shoal. Network-based diffusion analysis revealed that there was a strong untransmitted social effect on patch discovery, with individuals tending to discover a task sooner if a familiar individual from their group had previously done so than if an unfamiliar fish had done so. However, in contrast to the effect of familiarity, the frequency with which individuals had previously associated with one another had no effect upon the likelihood of prey patch discovery. This may have been due to the influence of fish on one another's movements; the effect of familiarity on discovery of an empty ‘control’ patch was as strong as for discovery of an actual prey patch. Our results demonstrate that factors affecting fine-scale social interactions can also influence how individuals encounter and exploit resources.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

The Faculty Notebook, April 2018

The Faculty Notebook is published periodically by the Office of the Provost at Gettysburg College to bring to the attention of the campus community accomplishments and activities of academic interest. Faculty are encouraged to submit materials for consideration for publication to the Associate Provost for Faculty Development. Copies of this publication are available at the Office of the Provost

Receptor uptake arrays for vitamin B12, siderophores and glycans shape bacterial communities

Molecular variants of vitamin B12, siderophores and glycans occur. To take up variant forms, bacteria may express an array of receptors. The gut microbe Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron has three different receptors to take up variants of vitamin B12 and 88 receptors to take up various glycans. The design of receptor arrays reflects key processes that shape cellular evolution. Competition may focus each species on a subset of the available nutrient diversity. Some gut bacteria can take up only a narrow range of carbohydrates, whereas species such as B.~thetaiotaomicron can digest many different complex glycans. Comparison of different nutrients, habitats, and genomes provide opportunity to test hypotheses about the breadth of receptor arrays. Another important process concerns fluctuations in nutrient availability. Such fluctuations enhance the value of cellular sensors, which gain information about environmental availability and adjust receptor deployment. Bacteria often adjust receptor expression in response to fluctuations of particular carbohydrate food sources. Some species may adjust expression of uptake receptors for specific siderophores. How do cells use sensor information to control the response to fluctuations? That question about regulatory wiring relates to problems that arise in control theory and artificial intelligence. Control theory clarifies how to analyze environmental fluctuations in relation to the design of sensors and response systems. Recent advances in deep learning studies of artificial intelligence focus on the architecture of regulatory wiring and the ways in which complex control networks represent and classify environmental states. I emphasize the similar design problems that arise in cellular evolution, control theory, and artificial intelligence. I connect those broad concepts to testable hypotheses for bacterial uptake of B12, siderophores and glycans.Comment: Added many new references, edited throughou

Wild redfronted lemurs (Eulemur rufifrons) use social information to learn new foraging techniques

Recent research has claimed that traditions are not a unique feature of human culture, but that they can be found in animal societies as well. However, the origins of traditions in animals studied in the wild are still poorly understood. To contribute comparative data to begin filling this gap, we conducted a social diffusion experiment with four groups of wild redfronted lemurs (Eulemur rufifrons). We used a ‘two-option’ feeding box, where these Malagasy primates could either pull or push a door to get access to a fruit reward to study whether and how these two behavioural traits spread through the groups. During a pre-training phase, two groups were presented with boxes in which one technique was blocked, whereas two groups were presented with unblocked boxes. During a subsequent unconstrained phase, all four groups were confronted with unblocked boxes. Nearly half of the study animals were able to learn the new feeding skill and individuals who observed others needed fewer unsuccessful task manipulations until their first successful action. Animals in the two groups with pre-training also discovered the corresponding alternative technique but preferred the seeded technique. Interestingly, animals in the two groups without pre-training discovered both techniques, and one group developed a group preference for one technique whereas the other did not. In all groups, some animals also scrounged food rewards. In conclusion, redfronted lemurs appear to use social information in acquiring a novel task, and animals in at least in one group without training developed a group preference for one technique, indicating that they have the potential to develop behavioural traditions and conformity

Indonesia against the trend? Ageing and inter-generational wealth flows in two Indonesian communities

Indonesian family systems do not conform to the prevailing image of Asian families, the predominant arrangements being nuclear and bilateral, with an important matrilineal minority. This paper considers the strength of family ties in two communities, focussing particularly on inter-generational flows of support to and from older members. Data are drawn from a longitudinal anthropological demography that combines ethnographic and panel survey methods. Several sources of variation in family ties are detailed, particularly the heterogeneity of support flows - balanced, upward, and downward - that co-exist in both communities. Different norms in each locale give sharply contrasting valuations of these flows. The ability of families to observe norms is influenced by the effectiveness of networks and by socio-economic status

Live Blogging- Digital Journalism's Pivotal Platform? A case study of the production, consumption, and form of Live Blogs at Guardian.co.uk

This article describes and analyses the production, consumption, and form of Live Blogs at a popular UK newspaper website and contributes to related debates in journalism studies. Qualitative research interviews with journalists and editors, a reader survey, content analysis, and web metrics were used to obtain data about production practices, product outcomes, and the consumption stage of the product lifecycle. The study finds that Live Blogs are a popular daily component of the news site, used increasingly to cover serious breaking news. Although rarely authored exclusively on location, they may utilise more original sources than traditional online hard news formats. Their frequent updates mean factual verification is cursory, but compensatory factors, including their attribution practices, contribute to a positive evaluation of their objectivity by readers. Live Blogs—with their timeliness, navigational simplicity, and bite-sized content units—suit readers’ consumption of news in the workplace. Live Blogs may increase online news readers’ interest in public-affairs content, and their inclination to participate. This study contradicts some existing scholarship on sourcing practices, content preferences, and immediacy in online news, while supporting the observation that news is increasingly consumed at work. It makes the novel suggestions that Live Blogging is uniquely suited to readers’ at-work news consumption patterns and that the format provides journalists with a means to manage the competing demands of their elite and mass publics

Determining key research areas for healthier diets and sustainable food systems in Viet Nam

Vietnamese food systems are undergoing rapid transformation, with important implications for human and environmental health and economic development. Poverty has decreased, and diet quality and undernutrition have improved significantly since the end of the Doi Moi reform period (1986-1993) as a result of Viet Nam opening its economy and increasing its regional and global trade. Yet poor diet quality is still contributing the triple burden of malnutrition, with 25 percent stunting among children under age 5, 26 percent and 29 percent of women and children, respectively, anemic, and 21 percent of adults overweight. Agricultural production systems have shifted from predominantly diverse smallholder systems to larger more commercialized and specialized systems, especially for crops, while the ‘meatification’ of the Vietnamese diet is generating serious trade-offs between improved nutrition and sustainability of the Vietnamese food systems. The food processing industry has developed rapidly, together with food imports, resulting in new and processed food products penetrating the food retail outlets, trending towards an increase in the Westernized consumption patterns that are shifting nutrition-related problems towards overweight and obesity and, with it, an increase of non-communicable disease-related health risks. While regulatory policies exist across the food system, these are not systematically implemented, making food safety a major concern for consumers and policy makers alike. Where data exists, it is not easy to aggregate with data from across food system dimensions, making it difficult for Viet Nam to make an informed analysis of current and potential food system trade-offs. In our research, we reviewed existing literature and data, and applied a food systems framework to develop an initial food systems profile for Viet Nam and to identify a comprehensive set a of research questions to fill current data gaps identified through the review. Insights on these would provide the comprehensive evidence needed to inform policy makers on how to develop new food systems policies for Viet Nam, and further refine and improve existing policies to achieve better quality diets and more sustainable food systems in Viet Nam. Based on these, we then engaged with stakeholders to develop research priorities in the Viet Nam context and identified 25 priority research questions. This paper aims to stimulate such reflections by clearly outlining key areas for research, government policy, and development programs on priority investment to build the evidence base around inclusive food systems interventions that aim to result in healthier diets and more sustainable food systems for Viet Nam

Configuring of extero- and interoceptive senses in actions on food

This paper reviews all the published evidence on the theory that the act of selecting a piece of food or drink structurally coordinates quantitative information across several sensory modalities. The existing data show that the momentary disposition to consume the item is strengthened or weakened by learnt configurations of stimuli perceived through both exteroceptive and interoceptive senses. The observed configural structure of performance shows that the multimodal stimuli are interacting perceptually, rather than merely combining quantities of information from the senses into the observed response