A Low Cost and Labor Efficient Method for Rearing Black Cutworms (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)

The black cutworm, Agrotis ipsilon (Hufnagel), has been and continues to be the subject of many biological and control studies in the north-central states. Interest in this insect can often be traced to its status as a major, but sporadic pest of field com in the region

Great apes and human children rationally monitor their decisions

Several species can detect when they are uncertain about what decision to make –revealed by opting out of the choice, or by seeking more information before deciding. But we do not know whether any nonhuman animals recognize when they need more information to make a decision because new evidence contradicts an already-formed belief. Here we explore this ability in great apes and human children. First, we show that after great apes saw new evidence contradicting a prior belief about which of two rewards was greater, they stopped to look for more information before deciding. They did not just register their own uncertainty, but attempted to resolve the contradiction between their belief and the new evidence, indicating rational monitoring of the decision-making process. Children did the same at five years of age, but not at three. In a second study, participants formed a belief about a reward’s location, but then a social partner contradicted them, by picking the opposite location. This time even three-year old children looked for more information, while apes ignored the disagreement. While apes were sensitive only to the conflict in physical evidence, the youngest children were more sensitive to peer disagreement than conflicting physical evidence.PostprintPeer reviewe

Has the GZK suppression been discovered?

The energy spectra of ultra high energy cosmic rays reported by the AGASA, Fly's Eye, Haverah Park, HiRes, and Yakutsk experiments are all shown to be in agreement with each other for energies below 10^{20} eV (after small adjustments, within the known uncertainties, of the absolute energy scales). The data from HiRes, Fly's Eye, and Yakutsk are consistent with the expected flux suppression above 5\times 10^{19} eV due to interactions of cosmic rays with the cosmic microwave background, the Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuzmin (GZK) "supression," and are inconsistent with a smooth extrapolation of the observed cosmic ray energy spectrum to energies > 5\times 10^{19}$ eV. AGASA data show an excess of events above 10^{20} eV, compared to the predicted GZK suppression and to the flux measured by the other experiments.Comment: Editorial changes, including replacing 'cutoff' by 'supression

Exceptional skull of huayqueriana (mammalia, litopterna, macraucheniidae) from the late miocene of Argentina: Anatomy, systematics, and peleobiological implications

The Huayquerías Formation (Late Miocene, Huayquerian SALMA) is broadly exposed in westcentral Argentina (Mendoza). The target of several major paleontological expeditions in the first half of the 20th century, the Mendozan Huayquerías (badlands) have recently yielded a significant number of new fossil finds. In this contribution we describe a complete skull (IANIGLA-PV 29) and place it systematically as Huayqueriana cf. H. cristata (Rovereto, 1914) (Litopterna, Macraucheniidae). The specimen shares some nonexclusive features with H. cristata (similar size, rostral border of the orbit almost level with distal border of M3, convergence of maxillary bones at the level of the P3/P4 embrasure, flat snout, very protruding orbits, round outline of premaxillary area in palatal view, and small diastemata between I3/C and C/P1). Other differences (e.g., lack of sagittal crest) may or may not represent intraspecific variation. In addition to other features described here, endocast reconstruction utilizing computer tomography (CT) revealed the presence of a derived position of the orbitotemporal canal running below the rhinal fissure along the lateroventral aspect of the piriform lobe. CT scanning also established that the maxillary nerve (CN V2) leaves the skull through the sphenoorbital fissure, as in all other litopterns, a point previously contested for macraucheniids. The angle between the lateral semicircular canal and the plane of the base of the skull is about 26°, indicating that in life the head was oriented much as in modern horses. Depending on the variables used, estimates of the body mass of IANIGLA-PV 29 produced somewhat conflicting results. Our preferred body mass estimate is 250 kg, based on the centroid size of 36 3D cranial landmarks and accompanying low prediction error. The advanced degree of tooth wear in IANIGLA-PV 29 implies that the individual died well into old age. However, a count of cementum lines on the sectioned left M2 is consistent with an age at death of 10 or 11 years, younger than expected given its body mass. This suggests that the animal had a very abrasive diet. Phylogenetic analysis failed to resolve the position of IANIGLA-PV 29 satisfactorily, a result possibly influenced by intraspecific variation. There is no decisive evidence for the proposition that Huayqueriana, or any other litoptern, were foregut fermenters.Fil: Forasiepi, Analia Marta. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales. Provincia de Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales; ArgentinaFil: MacPhee, Ross D. E.. American Museum Of Natural History; Estados UnidosFil: Hernández del Pino, Santiago Ezequiel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales. Provincia de Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales; ArgentinaFil: Schmidt, Gabriela Ines. Provincia de Entre Ríos. Centro de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia de Tecnología a la Producción. Universidad Autónoma de Entre Ríos. Centro de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia de Tecnología a la Producción. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Centro de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia de Tecnología a la Producción; ArgentinaFil: Amson, Eli. Universitat Zurich; SuizaFil: Grohé, Camille. American Museum Of Natural History; Estados Unido

Editorial dossiê - Direitos linguísticos dos surdos: concepções e práticas inclusivas

É com satisfação que apresentamos o Dossiê intitulado “DIREITOS LINGUÍSTICOS DOS SURDOS: CONCEPÇÕES E PRÁTICAS INCLUSIVAS”, constituído de treze artigos inéditos que apresentam discussões e análises pertinentes à área da educação de surdos, buscando enfatizar como critério organizativo das publicações justamente os dois vetores usualmente tomados por objeto de análise nas políticas educacionais: concepções e práticas.

Resting Subtropical Grasslands from Grazing in the Wet Season Boosts Biocrust Hotspots to Improve Soil Health

Effective grazing management in Australia’s semi-arid rangelands requires monitoring landscape conditions and identifying sustainable and productive practice through understanding the interactions of environmental factors and management of soil health. Challenges include extreme rainfall variability, intensifying drought, and inherently nutrient-poor soils. We investigated the impacts of grazing strategies on landscape function—specifically soil health—as the foundation for productive pastures, integrating the heterogenous nature of grass tussocks and the interspaces that naturally exist in between them. At Wambiana—a long-term research site in north-eastern Australia—we studied two soil types, two stocking rates (high, moderate), and resting land from grazing during wet seasons (rotational spelling). Rotational spelling had the highest biocrust (living soil cover), in interspaces and under grass tussocks. Biocrusts were dominated by cyanobacteria that binds soil particles, reduces erosion, sequesters carbon, fixes nitrogen, and improves soil fertility. Rotational spelling with a moderate stocking rate emerged as best practice at these sites, with adjustment of stocking rates in line with rainfall and soil type recommended. In drought-prone environments, monitoring the presence and integrity of biocrusts connects landscape function and soil health. Biocrusts that protect and enrich the soil will support long-term ecosystem integrity and economic profitability of cattle production in rangelands

Island Biogeography of Cryoconite Hole Bacteria in Antarctica's Taylor Valley and Around the World

Cryoconite holes are holes in a glacier's surface caused by sediment melting into the glacier. These holes are self-contained ecosystems that include abundant bacterial life within their sediment and liquid water, and have recently gained the attention of microbial ecologists looking to use cryoconite holes as “natural microcosms” to study microbial community assembly. Here, we explore the idea that cryoconite holes can be viewed as “islands,” in the same sense that an island in the ocean is an area of habitat surrounded by a barrier to entry. In the case of a classic oceanic island, the ocean is a barrier between islands, but in the case of cryoconite holes, the ocean is comprised of impermeable solid ice. We test two hypotheses, born out of island biogeographic theory, that can be readily applied to cryoconite hole bacteria. First, we ask to what extent the size of a cryoconite hole is related to the amount of bacterial diversity found within it. Second, we ask to what extent cryoconite holes exhibit distance decay of similarity, meaning that geographically close holes are expected to harbor similar bacterial communities, and distant holes are expected to harbor more different bacterial communities. To test the island size hypothesis, we measured the sizes of cryoconite holes on three glaciers in Antarctica's Taylor Valley and used DNA sequencing to measure diversity of bacterial communities within them. We found that for two of these glaciers, there is a strong relationship between hole size and bacterial phylogenetic diversity, supporting the idea that cryoconite holes on those glaciers are “islands.” The high biomass dispersing to the third glacier we measured could explain the lack of size-diversity relationship, remaining consistent with island biogeography. To test the distance decay of similarity hypothesis, we used DNA sequence data from several previous studies of cryoconite hole bacteria from across the world. Combined with our Taylor Valley data, those data showed that cryoconite holes have strong spatial structuring at scales of one to several hundred kilometers, also supporting the idea that these dirty holes on glaciers are really islands in the cryosphere