Entomophagy in the area surrounding LuiKotale, Salonga National Park, Democratic Republic of the Congo

Recent research has highlighted the importance of edible insects as a protein source in the developed and developing world, both as a traditional food and a more sustainable alternative to conventional livestock. However, there is concern that traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) concerning wild-collected insects is in danger of being lost. The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is a country that encompasses many diverse cultures, many of which are known to include insects in their dietary repertoire, yet data on TEK related to edible insects across this region is scarce. This study records local knowledge and, where possible, scientific identification of the insects consumed by human communities in the area adjacent to LuiKotale, Salonga National Park. Information was gathered using interviews and first-hand observations. A total of 31 edible insects are identified by their local names, and of these 10 are identified to species level. Collection methods are recorded for seven commonly consumed species. This article contributes to the scarce body of research detailing entomophagy in the DRC

Variable use of polyadic grooming and its effect on access to social partners in wild chimpanzees and bonobos

In mammals, allogrooming is prominent in forming and maintaining social and cooperative relationships. Yet an animal's social time is constrained, which may limit its access to a large number of partners. Dunbar (1993, Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 16 (4), 681–694) proposed that human polyadic conversations, which allow access to several social partners simultaneously, evolved as a form of social grooming to circumvent this time constraint. In nonhuman primates, polyadic grooming (PG), in contrast to dyadic grooming, may similarly be a time-efficient way to maintain weak social relationships with many partners which can be important for group level cooperation. It remains unknown whether PG is used to fulfil specific cooperative needs by accessing numerous weakly bonded partners and increasing the number of partners accessed per unit of time. We compared the use and effect of PG between chimpanzees, Pan troglodytes, which are highly territorial and collaborative (especially males), and bonobos, Pan paniscus, which are less territorial and collaborative and in which females are the main co-operators. We carried out focal grooming observations in one bonobo and two chimpanzee communities in the wild. As predicted, chimpanzees engaged in more PG than bonobos. Surprisingly, males engaged in PG more than females in both species. While chimpanzees accessed more partners per minute of grooming than bonobos via dyadic grooming, PG increased the number of partners accessed per minute only in bonobos. Finally, chimpanzees primarily used PG with individuals who were close in rank and frequent grooming partners, whereas bonobos used PG with individuals who were distant in rank, close party associates and frequent grooming partners. We suggest that bonobo males use PG to enhance conspecific social tolerance and mate choice. The overall higher rate of PG in chimpanzees suggests that between-group competition may promote polyadic affiliation, which possibly reinforces group cohesion and coordination. © 2020 The Author

Presence of Alkaloids and Cyanogenic Glycosides in Fruits Consumed by Sympatric Bonobos and the Nkundo People at LuiKotale/Salonga National Park, Democratic Republic of Congo and Its Relationship to Food Choice

The importance of secondary compounds remains poorly studied in wild plants eaten by bonobos (Pan paniscus) and humans. As part of this study, alkaloids and cyanogenic glycosides (cyanide) were investigated in wild fruits consumed by bonobos at LuiKotale in Salonga National Park. In high concentrations, the two components can become toxic. Therefore, we investigated whether the bonobos and the Nkundo people avoid high concentrations of these components in their food. To analyze alkaloids and to detect the presence of cyanogenic glycosides, we used semi-quantitative methods. Of the 75 species of fruit analyzed, 28 species (37%) were revealed to have alkaloids at different proportions and 47 species (63%) were shown to be without alkaloids, 12 species (16%) with low concentrations (+), 14 species (19%) with moderate concentrations (++), and two species (3%) with high concentrations (+++). Of the 75 species, 60 were eaten, of which 46 were consumed only by bonobos, 13 were eaten by both bonobos and the Nkundo people, and one species (Piper guinensis) was eaten only by the Nkundo people. In total, bonobos ate 59 species and the Nkundo people 14 species. Of the 60 species consumed, the majority, i.e., 39 species (65%) did not show the presence of alkaloids, while 11 species (18%) showed a low concentration and 10 species (17%) moderate concentrations. As for cyanogenic glycosides (cyanide), this was detected in only three of the 75 species of fruit analyzed. Two species, Camptostylus mannii and Dasylepsis seretii, belong to the Achariaceae family, with Oncoba welwitschii in the Salicaceae family. The two species of Achariaceae both contain alkaloids and cyanogenic glycosides. No species eaten by the Nkundo contained cyanogenic glycosides. Hence, we infer that bonobos and the Nkundo people both avoid eating fruit species that contain high concentrations of alkaloids and cyanogenic glycosides, and this might have relevance linked to the evolution of seed dispersal

The Berlin Exoplanet Search Telescope II. Catalog of Variable Stars. I. Characterization of Three Southern Target Fields

A photometric survey of three Southern target fields with BEST II yielded the detection of 2,406 previously unknown variable stars and an additional 617 stars with suspected variability. This study presents a catalog including their coordinates, magnitudes, light curves, ephemerides, amplitudes, and type of variability. In addition, the variability of 17 known objects is confirmed, thus validating the results. The catalog contains a number of known and new variables that are of interest for further astrophysical investigations, in order to, e.g., search for additional bodies in eclipsing binary systems, or to test stellar interior models. Altogether, 209,070 stars were monitored with BEST II during a total of 128 nights in 2009/2010. The overall variability fraction of 1.2-1.5% in these target fields is well comparable to similar ground-based photometric surveys. Within the main magnitude range of $R\in\left[11,17\right]$, we identify 0.67(3)% of all stars to be eclipsing binaries, which indicates a completeness of about one third for this particular type in comparison to space surveys.Comment: accepted to A

Multiferroic (Nd,Fe)-doped PbTiO3 ceramics with coexistent ferroelectricity and magnetism at room temperature

We report the structural, dielectric, elastic, ferroelectric and ferromagnetic properties of multiferroic (Nd, Fe)-doped PbTiO3 perovskite ceramics with composition (Pb 0.88 Nd 0.08 )(Ti 0.94 Fe 0.04 Mn 0.02 )O 3 , prepared by different solid state reaction methods: the first one based on a single-stage calcination (Method I) and the second based on a double-stage calcination (Method II). Structural, dielectric and anelastic measurements evidenced a double phase transition for samples prepared by Method I, which has been attributed to phase separation. This phase separation has been confirmed also by TEM and HRTEM investigations. Samples prepared by Method II showed a single phase transition from paraelectric to ferroelectric phase. We found coexistent ferroelectric and ferromagnetic properties, also at room-temperature, but only for ceramics prepared by Method II. The crucial role of calcination process for avoiding phase separation and obtaining homogeneous structures with ferroelectric and ferromagnetic order is underlined

Information transfer efficiency differs in wild chimpanzees and bonobos, but not social cognition

Several theories have been generated to understand the socio-cognitive mechanisms underlying the unique cooperative abilities of humans. The ‘interdependence hypothesis' posits first, that the cognitive dimension of human cooperation evolved in contexts when several individuals needed to act together to achieve a common goal, like when hunting large prey. Second, the more interdependent individuals are, the more likely they are to provide services to conspecifics in other contexts. Alternatively, the ‘social tolerance hypothesis' proposes that higher social tolerance allows conspecifics to cooperate more efficiently and with a wider range of partners. We conducted the first field experimental evaluation of both hypotheses in our closest living relatives by contrasting chimpanzees to the less interdependent but more tolerant bonobos. We compared each species' performance during a cooperative task: informing conspecifics about a danger. We presented Gaboon viper models to 82 individuals from five wild communities. Chimpanzees arriving late at the snake were significantly more likely to have heard a call and less likely to startle, indicating that chimpanzees were better informed about the presence of the threat than bonobos. This stems from clear species differences in how individuals adjusted their calling decisions to the level of information already available. Chimpanzees were more likely to call and produced more alarm calls when they had not yet heard a call, whereas bonobos did so when they already heard a call. Our results confirm the link between interdependence and cooperation performance. These species differences were most likely driven by differences in motivation rather than in cognitive capacities because both species tended to consider audience knowledge in their decision to call. Our results inform theories on the evolution of human cooperation by linking inter-group competition pressure and in-group cooperative motivation and/or capability

ASTEP South: An Antarctic Search for Transiting ExoPlanets around the celestial South pole

ASTEP South is the first phase of the ASTEP project (Antarctic Search for Transiting ExoPlanets). The instrument is a fixed 10 cm refractor with a 4kx4k CCD camera in a thermalized box, pointing continuously a 3.88 degree x 3.88 degree field of view centered on the celestial South pole. ASTEP South became fully functional in June 2008 and obtained 1592 hours of data during the 2008 Antarctic winter. The data are of good quality but the analysis has to account for changes in the point spread function due to rapid ground seeing variations and instrumental effects. The pointing direction is stable within 10 arcseconds on a daily timescale and drifts by only 34 arcseconds in 50 days. A truly continuous photometry of bright stars is possible in June (the noon sky background peaks at a magnitude R=15 arcsec-2 on June 22), but becomes challenging in July (the noon sky background magnitude is R=12.5 arcsec?2 on July 20). The weather conditions are estimated from the number of stars detected in the field. For the 2008 winter, the statistics are between 56.3 % and 68.4 % of excellent weather, 17.9 % to 30 % of veiled weather and 13.7 % of bad weather. Using these results in a probabilistic analysis of transit detection, we show that the detection efficiency of transiting exoplanets in one given field is improved at Dome C compared to a temperate site such as La Silla. For example we estimate that a year-long campaign of 10 cm refractor could reach an efficiency of 69 % at Dome C versus 45 % at La Silla for detecting 2-day period giant planets around target stars from magnitude 10 to 15. This shows the high potential of Dome C for photometry and future planet discoveries. [Short abstract

The secondary eclipses of WASP-19b as seen by the ASTEP 400 telescope from Antarctica

The ASTEP (Antarctica Search for Transiting ExoPlanets) program was originally aimed at probing the quality of the Dome C, Antarctica for the discovery and characterization of exoplanets by photometry. In the first year of operation of the 40 cm ASTEP 400 telescope (austral winter 2010), we targeted the known transiting planet WASP-19b in order to try to detect its secondary transits in the visible. This is made possible by the excellent sub-millimagnitude precision of the binned data. The WASP-19 system was observed during 24 nights in May 2010. The photometric variability level due to starspots is about 1.8% (peak-to-peak), in line with the SuperWASP data from 2007 (1.4%) and larger than in 2008 (0.07%). We find a rotation period of WASP-19 of 10.7 +/- 0.5 days, in agreement with the SuperWASP determination of 10.5 +/- 0.2 days. Theoretical models show that this can only be explained if tidal dissipation in the star is weak, i.e. the tidal dissipation factor Q'star > 3.10^7. Separately, we find evidence for a secondary eclipse of depth 390 +/- 190 ppm with a 2.0 sigma significance, a phase consistent with a circular orbit and a 3% false positive probability. Given the wavelength range of the observations (420 to 950 nm), the secondary transit depth translates into a day side brightness temperature of 2690(-220/+150) K, in line with measurements in the z' and K bands. The day side emission observed in the visible could be due either to thermal emission of an extremely hot day side with very little redistribution of heat to the night side, or to direct reflection of stellar light with a maximum geometrical albedo Ag=0.27 +/- 0.13. We also report a low-frequency oscillation well in phase at the planet orbital period, but with a lower-limit amplitude that could not be attributed to the planet phase alone, and possibly contaminated with residual lightcurve trends.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics, 13 pages, 13 figure

Attractiveness of female sexual signaling predicts differences in female grouping patterns between bonobos and chimpanzees.

Here we show that sexual signaling affects patterns of female spatial association differently in chimpanzees and bonobos, indicating its relevance in shaping the respective social systems. Generally, spatial association between females often mirrors patterns and strength of social relationships and cooperation within groups. While testing for proposed differences in female-female associations underlying female coalition formation in the species of the genus Pan, we find only limited evidence for a higher female-female gregariousness in bonobos. While bonobo females exhibited a slightly higher average number of females in their parties, there is neither a species difference in the time females spent alone, nor in the number of female party members in the absence of sexually attractive females. We find that the more frequent presence of maximally tumescent females in bonobos is associated with a significantly stronger increase in the number of female party members, independent of variation in a behavioural proxy for food abundance. This indicates the need to look beyond ecology when explaining species differences in female sociality as it refutes the idea that the higher gregariousness among bonobo females is driven by ecological factors alone and highlights that the temporal distribution of female sexual receptivity is an important factor to consider when studying mammalian sociality