Ultrastructural analysis of odontocete cochlea

The morphological study of the Odontocete organ of Corti including possible pathological features resulting from sound over-exposure, represent a key conservation issue to assess the effects of acoustic pollution on marine ecosystems. Through the collaboration with stranding networks belonging to 26 countries, 150 ears from 13 species of Odontocetes were processed. In this dissertation, we present a standard protocol to 1) compare the ultrastructure of the cochlea in several Odontocete species and 2) investigate possible damage as a consequence of sound exposure, using scanning (SEM) and transmission (TEM) electron microscopy, and immunohistochemistry. In a preliminary study, computerized tomography scans were performed before decalcification with ears of 15 odontocete species, proposing a set of standard measurements which classified very well the species. In addition, the constant ratio between measurements of inner and middle ear structures contributed to confirm the active role of the odontocete middle ear in sound reception mechanism. We established a decalcification protocol using the fast commercial decalcifier RDO® and EDTA (Ethylendiaminetetraacetic acid). Although further experiments should be conducted to assess the suitability of using one or the other method (because the number of samples treated with EDTA was comparatively small), RDO® at specific dilutions decreased the decalcification time of cetacean ear bones with control of the decalcification endpoint, helping a faster access to inner structures. The complementary use of electron microscopy and immunofluorescence allowed the description in odontocetes of new morphological features of tectorial membrane, spiral limbus, spiral ligament, stria vascularis, hair cells and their innervation. Furthermore, this study revealed qualitative and quantitative morphological characteristics of the organ of Corti in high-frequency hearing species, including 1) an outer hair cell (OHC) small length, 2) a thick cuticular plate in OHC, and a thick reticular lamina, 3) robust cup formation of the Deiters cell body, 4) the high development of cytoskeleton in Deiters and pillar cells and 5) the basilar membrane high stiffness. Interestingly, all these features, including a common molecular design of prestin, are also shared by echolocating bats, suggesting a convergent evolution in echolocating species. The presence of scars among hair cell rows, the pattern of stereocilia imprints in the tectorial membrane and the condition of fibrocytes II and IV were criteria suitable to determine or discard possible acoustic trauma, despite the numerous artefacts that rapidly develop as a consequence of tissue autolysis. Consequently, matching the preliminary approximation of the cochlear frequency map with the damaged region would bring information on the sound source that would have triggered a possible lesion.Postprint (published version

Advances in Sensors, Big Data and Machine Learning in Intelligent Animal Farming

Animal production (e.g., milk, meat, and eggs) provides valuable protein production for human beings and animals. However, animal production is facing several challenges worldwide such as environmental impacts and animal welfare/health concerns. In animal farming operations, accurate and efficient monitoring of animal information and behavior can help analyze the health and welfare status of animals and identify sick or abnormal individuals at an early stage to reduce economic losses and protect animal welfare. In recent years, there has been growing interest in animal welfare. At present, sensors, big data, machine learning, and artificial intelligence are used to improve management efficiency, reduce production costs, and enhance animal welfare. Although these technologies still have challenges and limitations, the application and exploration of these technologies in animal farms will greatly promote the intelligent management of farms. Therefore, this Special Issue will collect original papers with novel contributions based on technologies such as sensors, big data, machine learning, and artificial intelligence to study animal behavior monitoring and recognition, environmental monitoring, health evaluation, etc., to promote intelligent and accurate animal farm management

Origins of Human Language

This book proposes a detailed picture of the continuities and ruptures between communication in primates and language in humans. It explores a diversity of perspectives on the origins of language, including a fine description of vocal communication in animals, mainly in monkeys and apes, but also in birds, the study of vocal tract anatomy and cortical control of the vocal productions in monkeys and apes, the description of combinatory structures and their social and communicative value, and the exploration of the cognitive environment in which language may have emerged from nonhuman primate vocal or gestural communication

Animal Welfare Assessment

This Special Issue provides a collection of recent research and reviews that investigate many areas of welfare assessment, such as novel approaches and technologies used to evaluate the welfare of farmed, captive, or wild animals. Research in this Special Issue includes welfare assessment related to pilot whales, finishing pigs, commercial turkey flocks, and dairy goats; the use of sensors or wearable technologies, such as heart rate monitors to assess sleep in dairy cows, ear tag sensors, and machine learning to assess commercial pig behaviour; non-invasive measures, such as video monitoring of behaviour, computer vision to analyse video footage of red foxes, remote camera traps of free-roaming wild horses, infrared thermography of effort and sport recovery in sport horses; telomere length and regulatory genes as novel biomarkers of stress in broiler chickens; the effect of environment on growth physiology and behaviour of laboratory rare minnows and housing system on anxiety, stress, fear, and immune function of laying hens; and discussions of natural behaviour in farm animal welfare and maintaining health, welfare, and productivity of commercial pig herds

The phonology and morphology of Wadi Ramm Arabic

The study is subdivided into key sections that consider the following aspects: major melodic and prosodic phonological features, acoustic analysis of consonants and vowels, major morphological features and grammatical categories, relationship with North West Arabian Bedouin group, and basic thematic lexicon. The dialect has been noted for its retention of conservative linguistic features that have disappeared from other urban, rural, and Bedouin Jordanian dialects (such as: ʕAmmāni, Ṣalṭi, Maʕāni, ʕAjlōn, Bani Ḥassan, Bani Ṣaxar, ʕAjārmah, ʕAbbādi, Ġawārnih) as well as the Bedouin dialects of the north Arabian type (including ʕAnizi, Šammari, and Syro-Mesopotamian [Cantineau’s Groups A, B, and C]), such as: the regular occurrence of the glottal stop [Ɂ] after final stressed [a] in pause, variable levels of vowel raising (especially buṣalah pattern), the gahawah syndrome, [guttural] opacity to monophthongization, iambic stress CaCáC, the use of the preposition fi to the exclusion of bi-, third person masculine singular pronominal suffix -ah, third person feminine singular suffix allomorphs (-ih/ah), the form of plural demonstratives (ḥaḏ̣aḷḷ ‘these’, haḏ̣aḷḷāk ‘those’), absence of the final -n in the imperfect, second person feminine singular, second/third person masculine plural. WR Arabic shows parallels with the Negev Bedouin and the Ḥwēṭāt dialects, maintaining a conservative consonant system, lack of affrication of /g/ and /k/, retention of gender distinction in the second/third person plural inflections, productivity of the Form IV verb, absence of voice distinction through internal vowel change, and sharing a number of typical lexical entries. This suggests that WR Arabic falls under the greater non-homogenous North West Arabian type of Bedouin dialects. Though WR Arabic distinguishes itself from the Negev in the absence of the b-imperfect and the absence of vowel harmony in the verb Form I in the imperfect, the typological mapping of the Eastern-Western classification establishes that WR Arabic is closer to the Negev type (Western branch) than the Ḥwēṭāt type

The evolutionary ecology of complex signalling systems in ungulates - diversity and flexibility in a changing world

Understanding the ultimate and proximate causes of signal diversity, complexity, and flexibility is a key issue in the study of animal communication. In this thesis, I investigated the factors affecting inter- and intraspecific variation in the visual and acoustic displays of wild ungulates, by adopting a two-pronged approach based on (1) comparative analyses with phylogenetic controls, and (2) playback experiments in the field. Comparative analyses provided the opportunity to test the validity of functional hypotheses proposed to explain the extreme diversity of sexual signals observed across ungulates (Chapter 2 and Chapter 3). Playback experiments, on the other hand, allowed for a fine-scale examination of (i) the adaptive significance of complex vocalizations (Chapter 4); and of (ii) the impact of anthropogenic disturbance on the flexibility of antipredator signalling systems (Chapter 5). In Chapter 2, I used the comparative method to identify the evolutionary drivers of courtship display complexity in male bovids and cervids. Specifically, I tested the role of multiple selection pressures in shaping the evolution of elaborate gestural signals. I found that the size of gestural repertoires (intended as a proxy for complexity) was positively correlated with the potential for male polygyny, and with the number of sympatric, closely-related heterospecifics. These patterns point to sexual selection and species recognition as the main promoters of complexity in courtship displays. Moreover, my results showed that larger male body mass was associated with smaller gestural repertoires, possibly due to energetic constraints imposed to movements in very large species. In Chapter 3, I asked why sexual dimorphism in two morphological signalling traits, namely colouration and pelage ornaments, is absent in a large number of highly polygynous bovids, contrary to expectations from sexual selection theory. I therefore tested whether lack of dimorphism could be explained by unsustainable fitness costs of ornamentation from sex-biased predation in species forming social groups containing multiple males and females (“mixed-sex herds”). Supporting this interpretation, I found that morphological dimorphism was promoted by intense male mating competition, but reduced by the propensity of sexual aggregation. Hence my results indicate that social integration in mixed-sex herds likely represents a powerful evolutionary force limiting the acquisition of dimorphic ornaments, in direct contrast with the positive drive exerted by sexual selection. In Chapter 4, I examined the adaptive value of the complex roaring display of male impala antelopes (Aepcyeros melampus). The roaring display is a signal of territorial advertisement, and consists of combinations of snorts and grunts. However, similar snorts are also used in isolation as alarm calls. Using playback experiments, I therefore focused on (i) establishing whether alarm and “advertisement” snorts where indeed the same calls; and on (ii) examining the function of snorts in the roaring display. I found that male impala reacted with similar risk-aversive responses to both alarm and “advertisement” snorts, indicating equivalence in the message conveyed by the two calls (as also supported by acoustic analyses). By contrast, grunts elicited aggressive behaviour. Roaring displays (snorts + grunts) also triggered aggressive reactions; the presence of the snorts, however, decreased the latency of male impala to respond appropriately to the following grunts. This suggests that snorts, which are originally alarm calls, have acquired a secondary role in roaring displays as “attention-grabbing elements” to the grunting component. My results therefore indicate that vocal complexity can also evolve via the co-option of pre-existing calls for secondary, derived functions. In Chapter 5, I aimed at determining whether human shields against natural predators along the borders of the Maasai Mara National Reserve (Kenya) could have reduced the alarm call responsiveness of two common antelopes, the topi (Damaliscus lunatus) and the Thomson’s gazelle (Eudorcas thomsonii). Contrary to my predictions, I found that both topi and gazelles showed stronger rather than weaker alert reactions to playbacks of conspecific alarm calls in areas exposed to human disturbance. I propose that this could be explained by the eventual association of alarm calls with low-intensity but unpredictable threats linked with human activities, which require careful evaluation by receivers. In summary, these four studies highlight how various social, ecological, and anthropogenic factors have contributed to the diversification of ungulate signalling phenotypes, and might provide useful insights to evaluate the effects of global changes on the behaviour of wild ungulate populations

Making Speech-Matter: Recurring Mediations in Sound Poetics and its Contemporary Practice

This thesis produces a critical and creative space for new forms of sound poetics. Through a reflective process combining theoretical research and poetic practice – performances, text-scores and installations – the thesis tests the contemporary terms of intermedial poetics and sound poetry, establishing a conceptual terminology for speech-matter. Beginning with a study of 1960s sound poet Henri Chopin and his relation to the tape machine, I argue that this technological mediation was based on a poetics of analogue sound hinged on bodily engagement. Social and physical properties of the tape machine contribute to a mode of practice that negotiates the body, machine, and effort. Exploring Michel Serres’s concept of parasitic noise and the relation of interference to lyric appeal, via the work of Denise Riley and Hannah Weiner, I understand sound poetics as a product of lyrically active noise. Through an analysis of radio address, a conceptual link is drawn between lyric poetry and technological mediation, which posits the radiophonic as a material effect of transmission and also a mode of hailing. This is tested through sound poems that are investigative of distortion and echo. Addressing the conceptual limits of Intermedia, a new critical model is established for a poetics of sound operating in present-day media technologies. This alternative model, based on a concept of milieu, is a means of negotiating a poem’s materiality and context, in order to posit a work’s multiple connections and transmissions. This model is tested through the text and installation work of Caroline Bergvall, and subsequently realised in my own gallery installation that investigates links between sound, milieu and archive. Through this research into mediated speech, new platforms for intermedial sound poetics are produced. This project offers a model for practice-based research that produces knowledge of speech-matter by way of the ‘black box’ of poetic practice