Reciprocal preening and food sharing in colour-polymorphic nestling barn owls.

Barn owl (Tyto alba) siblings preen and offer food items to one another, behaviours that can be considered prosocial because they benefit a conspecific by relieving distress or need. In experimental broods, we analysed whether such behaviours were reciprocated, preferentially exchanged between specific phenotypes, performed to avoid harassment and food theft or signals of hierarchy status. Three of the results are consistent with the hypothesis of direct reciprocity. First, food sharing was reciprocated in three-chick broods but not in pairs of siblings, that is when nestlings could choose a partner with whom to develop a reciprocating interaction. Second, a nestling was more likely to give a prey item to its sibling if the latter individual had preened the former. Third, siblings matched their investment in preening each other. Manipulation of age hierarchy showed that food stealing was directed towards older siblings but was not performed to compensate for a low level of cooperation received. Social behaviours were related to melanin-based coloration, suggesting that animals may signal their propensity to interact socially. The most prosocial phenotype (darker reddish) was also the phenotype that stole more food, and the effect of coloration on prosocial behaviour depended upon rank and sex, suggesting that colour-related prosociality is state dependent

Chemical and spectroscopic characterization of humic acids extracted from the bottom sediments of a Brazilian subtropical microbasin

International audienceHumic substances (HS) perform a fundamental role in aquatic environments, exhibiting different levels of reactivity in retaining metal ions and organic pollutants. Also, they control the primary production of these ecosystems and act in the carbon sequestering process. In order to improve our understanding vis-à-vis the structural and functional features of HS from aquatic systems, this study aimed to chemically and spectroscopically characterize humic acids (HA) isolated from bottom sediment samples of a stream in a Brazilian subtropical microbasin by elemental analysis, and infrared (FT-IR), ultraviolet and visible (UV-Vis) and solid-state 13C nuclear magnetic resonance (CP-MAS 13C NMR) spectroscopies, thermogravimetry (TG), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Although all samples originated from the same environment, the data showed that the HA have distinct chemical and spectroscopic properties, and that the location and characteristics of the sampling points from which the sediments were collected played an important role in the differences observed. Furthermore, vascular plant matter is probably the main contributor to these samples

Magnetization And Specific Heat In U 1-xla Xga 2 And Magnetocaloric Effect In Uga 2

We have investigated the properties of the ferromagnetic series U1-x Lax Ga2. The magnetization results show a reduction of μeff and of Tc when x is increased. The electronic coefficient γ of the specific heat increases to a maximum of 260 mJUmol K2 at x=0.75. This behavior is probably consequence of delocalization of 5f electrons, causing enhancement of the density of states. For x=0.9 the ordering disappears and a non-Fermi-liquid behavior is observed. U Ga2 also presented a significant magnetocaloric effect of Δ Smag =-3.5 Jkg K at 120 K and H=7 T which can be modified by chemical pressure. © 2005 American Institute of Physics.9710Andeev, A.V., Belov, K.P., Deriagin, A.V., Levitin, R.Z., Menovsky, A., (1979) J. Phys. Colloq., 4, p. 82Da Silva, L.M., Gandra, F.G., Rojas, D.P., Cardoso, L.P., Medina, A.N., (2002) Physica B, 312-313, p. 906Tran, V.H., Kaczorowski, D., Roisnel, T., Tróc, R., Noel, H., Bouŕe, F., Andŕ, G., (1995) Physica B, 205, p. 24Gandra, F.G., Rojas, D.P., Shlyk, L., Cardoso, L.P., Medina, A.N., (2001) J. Magn. Magn. Mater., 226, p. 1312Barbara, B., (1973) J. Phys. (Paris), 34, p. 1039Sechovsky, V., Havela, L., Svoboda, P., (1986) J. Less-Common Met., 121, p. 163Segal, E., Wallace, W.E., (1975) J. Solid State Chem., 13, p. 201Radwanski, R.J., Kim-Ngan, N.H., (1995) J. Magn. Magn. Mater., 140, p. 1373Zapf, V.S., Dickey, R.P., Freeman, E.J., Sirvent, C., Maple, M.B., (2002) Phys. Rev. B, 65, p. 024437Pecharsky, V.K., Gschneider Jr., K.A., (1997) Phys. Rev. Lett., 78, p. 4494Pecharsky, V.K., Gschneider Jr., K.A., (1997) Phys. Rev. Lett., 78, p. 4494Plackowski, T., Junod, A., Bouquet, F., Sheikin, I., Wang, Y., Jezÿowski, A., Mattenberger, K., (2003) Phys. Rev. B, 67, p. 184406Svobodaa, P., Sechovsky, V., Menovsky, A.A., (2003) Physica B, 339, p. 177Gama, S., Coelho, A.A., De Campos, A., Carvalho, A.M.G., Gandra, F.G., Von Ranke, P.J., De Oliveira, N.A., Phys. Rev. Lett

Universality and scaling study of the critical behavior of the two-dimensional Blume-Capel model in short-time dynamics

In this paper we study the short-time behavior of the Blume-Capel model at the tricritical point as well as along the second order critical line. Dynamic and static exponents are estimated by exploring scaling relations for the magnetization and its moments at early stage of the dynamic evolution. Our estimates for the dynamic exponents, at the tricritical point, are $z= 2.215(2)$ and $\theta= -0.53(2)$.Comment: 12 pages, 9 figure

Convergence of the critical attractor of dissipative maps: Log-periodic oscillations, fractality and nonextensivity

For a family of logistic-like maps, we investigate the rate of convergence to the critical attractor when an ensemble of initial conditions is uniformly spread over the entire phase space. We found that the phase space volume occupied by the ensemble W(t) depicts a power-law decay with log-periodic oscillations reflecting the multifractal character of the critical attractor. We explore the parametric dependence of the power-law exponent and the amplitude of the log-periodic oscillations with the attractor's fractal dimension governed by the inflexion of the map near its extremal point. Further, we investigate the temporal evolution of W(t) for the circle map whose critical attractor is dense. In this case, we found W(t) to exhibit a rich pattern with a slow logarithmic decay of the lower bounds. These results are discussed in the context of nonextensive Tsallis entropies.Comment: 8 pages and 8 fig

Aedes (Stegomyia) aegypti L. e a culicideofauna associada em área urbana da região sul, Brasil

Foram mostrados alguns aspectos sobre a ecologia de 11 espécies de Culicidae que procriam em recipientes, em uma área urbana do Sul do Brasil. Os mais variados tipos de recipientes foram listados como eficientes criadouros para larvas de culicídeos. Aedes aegypti apareceu como espécie recém-introduzida e limitada somente a duas áreas da cidade. As espécies predominantes foram: Culex quinquefasciatus, Culex coronator, Aedes aegypti, Aedes fluviatilis e Limatus durhamii.Some aspects of the ecology of eleven species of Culicidae that were found breeding in recipients in an urban area of Southern Brazil are presented. A great variety of recipients were listed as efficient breeding sites. Apparently Aedes aegypti has been recently introduced into the region and was limited to two areas of the city. Culex quinquefasciatus, Cx. coronator, Ae. aegypti, Ae. fluviatilis e Limatus durhamii were the predominant species