Observed vibration environment of a panel van for representative urban road conditions

Shock and vibration characteristics of panel van with spring suspension syste

Do epigeal termite mounds increase the diversity of plant habitats in a tropical rain forest in peninsular Malaysia?

The extent to which environmental heterogeneity can account for tree species coexistence in diverse ecosystems, such as tropical rainforests, is hotly debated, although the importance of spatial variability in contributing to species co-existence is well recognized. Termites contribute to the micro-topographical and nutrient spatial heterogeneity of tropical forests. We therefore investigated whether epigeal termite mounds could contribute to the coexistence of plant species within a 50 ha plot at Pasoh Forest Reserve, Malaysia. Overall, stem density was significantly higher on mounds than in their immediate surroundings, but tree species diversity was significantly lower. Canonical correspondence analysis showed that location on or off mounds significantly influenced species distribution when stems were characterized by basal area. Like studies of termite mounds in other ecosystems, our results suggest that epigeal termite mounds provide a specific microhabitat for the enhanced growth and survival of certain species in these species-rich tropical forests. However, the extent to which epigeal termite mounds facilitate species coexistence warrants further investigation

Climate and Species Richness Predict the Phylogenetic Structure of African Mammal Communities

We have little knowledge of how climatic variation (and by proxy, habitat variation) influences the phylogenetic structure of tropical communities. Here, we quantified the phylogenetic structure of mammal communities in Africa to investigate how community structure varies with respect to climate and species richness variation across the continent. In addition, we investigated how phylogenetic patterns vary across carnivores, primates, and ungulates. We predicted that climate would differentially affect the structure of communities from different clades due to between-clade biological variation. We examined 203 communities using two metrics, the net relatedness (NRI) and nearest taxon (NTI) indices. We used simultaneous autoregressive models to predict community phylogenetic structure from climate variables and species richness. We found that most individual communities exhibited a phylogenetic structure consistent with a null model, but both climate and species richness significantly predicted variation in community phylogenetic metrics. Using NTI, species rich communities were composed of more distantly related taxa for all mammal communities, as well as for communities of carnivorans or ungulates. Temperature seasonality predicted the phylogenetic structure of mammal, carnivoran, and ungulate communities, and annual rainfall predicted primate community structure. Additional climate variables related to temperature and rainfall also predicted the phylogenetic structure of ungulate communities. We suggest that both past interspecific competition and habitat filtering have shaped variation in tropical mammal communities. The significant effect of climatic factors on community structure has important implications for the diversity of mammal communities given current models of future climate change

Modeling the Ecological and Phenological Predictors of Fruit Consumption by Gibbons (Hylobates albibarbis)

Understanding the ecological interactions between plant reproductive strategies and frugivore feeding behavior can offer insight into the maintenance of tropical forest biodiversity. We examined the role of plant ecological and phenological characteristics in influencing fruit consumption by the White‐bearded gibbon (Hylobates albibarbis) in Gunung Palung National Park, Indonesian Borneo. Gibbons are widespread across Borneo, highly frugivorous and perform important seed dispersal services. We compare multiple models using information criteria to identify the ecological and phenological predictors that most strongly influence gibbon fruit use of 154 plant genera. The most important predictors of resource use were the overall abundance of a genus and the consistency of fruit availability. Plant genera can maintain constant fruit availability as a result of (1) individual stems fruiting often or (2) stems fruiting out of synchrony with each other (asynchrony). Our results demonstrate that gibbons prefer to feed on plant genera that provide consistent fruit availability due to fruiting asynchrony. Because gibbons feed more often on genera that fruit asynchronously, gibbons are more likely to disperse seeds of plant genera with this reproductive strategy. Research on other frugivorous species is needed to determine whether the results for gibbons are generalizable more broadly. Finally, these results suggest that asynchronously fruiting plant genera may be particularly important for habitat restoration in tropical forests designed for frugivore conservation.RingkasanPemahaman mengenai hubungan interaksi ekologi antara strategi reproduksi tumbuhan dan perilaku makan satwa frugivore (pemakan buah) dapat memberikan pengetahuan lebih mendalam untuk pelestarian keanekargaman hayati hutan tropis. Di dalam studi ini, kami meneliti bagaimana peran karakteristik ekologi dan fenologi pada tumbuhan dapat memengaruhi konsumsi buah oleh Kelampiau berjanggut putih (Hylobates albibarbis) di Taman Nasional Gunung Palung, Kalimantan Barat, Indonesia. Kelampiau tersebar luas di seluruh Kalimantan, satwa yang sangat “frugivorous” dan memiliki peran penting dalam penyebaran biji. Kami membandingkan beberapa model dengan menggunakan kriteria informasi untuk mengidentifikasikan beberapa prediksi ekologi dan fenologi yang paling kuat dalam memengaruhi makanan buah Kelampiau dengan menggunakan 154 jenis tumbuhan. Sumber prediksi yang paling penting digunakan yaitu pada saat melimpahnya ketersediaan buah yang terjadi secara menyeluruh dan konsisten. Jenis tumbuhan dapat mempertahankan ketersediaan buahnya secara konstan sebagai hasil dari 1) individu yang sering berbuah atau 2) batang pada individu yang berbuah diwaktu yang berbeda dengan individu lain dari jenis yang sama (asynchrony). Hasil kami menunjukkan bahwa Kelampiau lebih memilih makan dari jenis tumbuhan yang menyediakan buah secara konsisten, karena adanya asynchrony antar individu di dalam jenisnya. Dikarenakan Kelampiau lebih sering makan dari jenis buah dengan karakteristik asynchrony, maka Kelampiau lebih memungkinkan melakukan penyebaran biji dengan strategi reproduksi tersebut. Penelitian pada spesies frugivorous lainnya diperlukan untuk dapat menentukan apakah hasil dari Kelampiau dapat digeneralisasikan lebih luas lagi. Pada akhirnya, hasil penelitian ini dapat menunjukkan bahwa jenis tumbuhan dengan karakteristik asynchrony mungkin sangat penting untuk pemulihan habitat di hutan tropis yang dikelola untuk konservasi frugivore.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/110616/1/btp12176.pd

Reconciling timber extraction with biodiversity conservation in tropical forests using reduced-impact logging

Over 20% of the world's tropical forests have been selectively logged, and large expanses are allocated for future timber extraction. Reduced-impact logging (RIL) is being promoted as best practice forestry that increases sustainability and lowers CO2 emissions from logging, by reducing collateral damage associated with timber extraction. RIL is also expected to minimize the impacts of selective logging on biodiversity, although this is yet to be thoroughly tested. We undertake the most comprehensive study to date to investigate the biodiversity impacts of RIL across multiple taxonomic groups. We quantified birds, bats and large mammal assemblage structures, using a before-after control-impact (BACI) design across 20 sample sites over a 5-year period. Faunal surveys utilized point counts, mist nets and line transects and yielded >250 species. We examined assemblage responses to logging, as well as partitions of feeding guild and strata (understorey vs. canopy), and then tested for relationships with logging intensity to assess the primary determinants of community composition. Community analysis revealed little effect of RIL on overall assemblages, as structure and composition were similar before and after logging, and between logging and control sites. Variation in bird assemblages was explained by natural rates of change over time, and not logging intensity. However, when partitioned by feeding guild and strata, the frugivorous and canopy bird ensembles changed as a result of RIL, although the latter was also associated with change over time. Bats exhibited variable changes post-logging that were not related to logging, whereas large mammals showed no change at all. Indicator species analysis and correlations with logging intensities revealed that some species exhibited idiosyncratic responses to RIL, whilst abundance change of most others was associated with time. Synthesis and applications. Our study demonstrates the relatively benign effect of reduced-impact logging (RIL) on birds, bats and large mammals in a neotropical forest context, and therefore, we propose that forest managers should improve timber extraction techniques more widely. If RIL is extensively adopted, forestry concessions could represent sizeable and important additions to the global conservation estate – over 4 million km2

Female economic dependence and the morality of promiscuity

This article is made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund. Copyright @ The Author(s) 2014.In environments in which female economic dependence on a male mate is higher, male parental investment is more essential. In such environments, therefore, both sexes should value paternity certainty more and thus object more to promiscuity (because promiscuity undermines paternity certainty). We tested this theory of anti-promiscuity morality in two studies (N = 656 and N = 4,626) using U.S. samples. In both, we examined whether opposition to promiscuity was higher among people who perceived greater female economic dependence in their social network. In Study 2, we also tested whether economic indicators of female economic dependence (e.g., female income, welfare availability) predicted anti-promiscuity morality at the state level. Results from both studies supported the proposed theory. At the individual level, perceived female economic dependence explained significant variance in anti-promiscuity morality, even after controlling for variance explained by age, sex, religiosity, political conservatism, and the anti-promiscuity views of geographical neighbors. At the state level, median female income was strongly negatively related to anti-promiscuity morality and this relationship was fully mediated by perceived female economic dependence. These results were consistent with the view that anti-promiscuity beliefs may function to promote paternity certainty in circumstances where male parental investment is particularly important

Competition can lead to unexpected patterns in tropical ant communities

Ecological communities are structured by competitive, predatory, mutualistic and parasitic interactions combined with chance events. Separating deterministic from stochastic processes is possible, but finding statistical evidence for specific biological interactions is challenging. We attempt to solve this problem for ant communities nesting in epiphytic bird's nest ferns (Asplenium nidus) in Borneo's lowland rainforest. By recording the frequencies with which each and every single ant species occurred together, we were able to test statistically for patterns associated with interspecific competition. We found evidence for competition, but the resulting co-occurrence pattern was the opposite of what we expected. Rather than detecting species segregation—the classical hallmark of competition—we found species aggregation. Moreover, our approach of testing individual pairwise interactions mostly revealed spatially positive rather than negative associations. Significant negative interactions were only detected among large ants, and among species of the subfamily Ponerinae. Remarkably, the results from this study, and from a corroborating analysis of ant communities known to be structured by competition, suggest that competition within the ants leads to species aggregation rather than segregation. We believe this unexpected result is linked with the displacement of species following asymmetric competition. We conclude that analysing co-occurrence frequencies across complete species assemblages, separately for each species, and for each unique pairwise combination of species, represents a subtle yet powerful way of detecting structure and compartmentalisation in ecological communities

Limited carbon and biodiversity co-benefits for tropical forest mammals and birds

The conservation of tropical forest carbon stocks offers the opportunity to curb climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and simultaneously conserve biodiversity. However, there has been considerable debate about the extent to which carbon stock conservation will provide benefits to biodiversity in part because whether forests that contain high carbon density in their aboveground biomass also contain high animal diversity is unknown. Here, we empirically examined medium to large bodied ground-dwelling mammal and bird (hereafter "wildlife") diversity and carbon stock levels within the tropics using camera trap and vegetation data from a pantropical network of sites. Specifically, we tested whether tropical forests that stored more carbon contained higher wildlife species richness, taxonomic diversity, and trait diversity. We found that carbon stocks were not a significant predictor for any of these three measures of diversity, which suggests that benefits for wildlife diversity will not be maximized unless wildlife diversity is explicitly taken into account; prioritizing carbon stocks alone will not necessarily meet biodiversity conservation goals. We recommend conservation planning that considers both objectives because there is the potential for more wildlife diversity and carbon stock conservation to be achieved for the same total budget if both objectives are pursued in tandem rather than independently. Tropical forests with low elevation variability and low tree density supported significantly higher wildlife diversity. These tropical forest characteristics may provide more affordable proxies of wildlife diversity for future multi-objective conservation planning when fine scale data on wildlife are lacking

Why male orangutans do not kill infants

Infanticide is widespread among mammals, is particularly common in primates, and has been shown to be an adaptive male strategy under certain conditions. Although no infanticides in wild orangutans have been reported to date, several authors have suggested that infanticide has been an important selection pressure influencing orangutan behavior and the evolution of orangutan social systems. In this paper, we critically assess this suggestion. We begin by investigating whether wild orangutans have been studied for a sufficiently long period that we might reasonably expect to have detected infanticide if it occurs. We consider whether orangutan females exhibit counterstrategies typically employed by other mammalian females. We also assess the hypothesis that orangutan females form special bonds with particular “protector males” to guard against infanticide. Lastly, we discuss socioecological reasons why orangutan males may not benefit from infanticide. We conclude that there is limited evidence for female counterstrategies and little support for the protector male hypothesis. Aspects of orangutan paternity certainty, lactational amenorrhea, and ranging behavior may explain why infanticide is not a strategy regularly employed by orangutan males on Sumatra or Borneo