Do female rainbow kribs choose males on the basis of their apparent aggression and boldness? A non-correlational mate choice study

Abstract: Consistent between-individual differences in behaviour, known as personality differences, are heritable and have consequences for individual survival and reproductive success. Therefore, it is likely that personality differences are not just under natural but also under sexual selection. Indeed, the recently developed idea that individuals choose their mate based on its personality finds empirical support. However, most studies on mate choice based on personality traits are correlative pioneering work and there is a paucity of experimental studies that test for causality by disentangling personality measures from other, potentially correlated traits that may be important during mate choice. Here, we tested female preference for the apparent level and consistency of either male aggression (measured as mean distance of approach towards an animated opponent, manipulated by locating males at a fixed distance) or male boldness (measured as activity under a simulated predation threat, manipulated using a gradient in ambient water temperature) in a bi-parental West African cichlid, Pelvicachromis pulcher. Females could observe the apparent behaviour of paired stimulus males and were allowed to choose between the two stimulus males in a subsequent choice test. We found no direct effect of male apparent aggression/boldness on female choice, but an indirect effect such that female preference for the apparently bold male increased with increasing within-male pair contrast in their apparent level of boldness. Our results indicate females consider male boldness per se during mate choice, suggesting male boldness is sexually selected in our study species. Significance statement: Ever since Darwin introduced the concept of sexual selection, female choice has been studied extensively. However, the hypothesis that consistent between-individual differences in behaviour (known as personality differences) affect mate choice is relatively new. Correlative studies support this idea but provide only suggestive evidence. Here, we used behavioural manipulations in order to disentangle male behaviour from other, potentially correlated male traits, allowing us to test for causality between female choice and personality differences in male aggression and boldness (both in level and consistency of behaviour) in a bi-parental cichlid. We found no overall female preference for male apparent behaviour, but female preference for the bold-appearing male increased with increasing between-male contrast in apparent boldness. Our results indicate a causal link between female choice and male boldness. In future, behavioural manipulations using a temperature gradient could provide further valuable insights

Covariation and repeatability of male mating effort and mating preferences in a promiscuous fish

Although mate choice by males does occur in nature, our understanding of its importance in driving evolutionary change remains limited compared with that for female mate choice. Recent theoretical models have shown that the evolution of male mate choice is more likely when individual variation in male mating effort and mating preferences exist and positively covary within populations. However, relatively little is known about the nature of such variation and its maintenance within natural populations. Here, using the Trinidadian guppy (Poecilia reticulata) as a model study system, we report that mating effort and mating preferences in males, based on female body length (a strong correlate of fecundity), positively covary and are significantly variable among subjects. Individual males are thus consistent, but not unanimous, in their mate choice. Both individual mating effort (including courtship effort) and mating preference were significantly repeatable. These novel findings support the assumptions and predictions of recent evolutionary models of male mate choice, and are consistent with the presence of additive genetic variation for male mate choice based on female size in our study population and thus with the opportunity for selection and further evolution of large female body size through male mate choice

Past changes in the vertical distribution of ozone – Part 1: Measurement techniques, uncertainties and availability

Abstract. Peak stratospheric chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) and other ozone depleting substance (ODS) concentrations were reached in the mid- to late 1990s. Detection and attribution of the expected recovery of the stratospheric ozone layer in an atmosphere with reduced ODSs as well as efforts to understand the evolution of stratospheric ozone in the presence of increasing greenhouse gases are key current research topics. These require a critical examination of the ozone changes with an accurate knowledge of the spatial (geographical and vertical) and temporal ozone response. For such an examination, it is vital that the quality of the measurements used be as high as possible and measurement uncertainties well quantified. In preparation for the 2014 United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)/World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Scientific Assessment of Ozone Depletion, the SPARC/IO3C/IGACO-O3/NDACC (SI2N) Initiative was designed to study and document changes in the global ozone profile distribution. This requires assessing long-term ozone profile data sets in regards to measurement stability and uncertainty characteristics. The ultimate goal is to establish suitability for estimating long-term ozone trends to contribute to ozone recovery studies. Some of the data sets have been improved as part of this initiative with updated versions now available. This summary presents an overview of stratospheric ozone profile measurement data sets (ground and satellite based) available for ozone recovery studies. Here we document measurement techniques, spatial and temporal coverage, vertical resolution, native units and measurement uncertainties. In addition, the latest data versions are briefly described (including data version updates as well as detailing multiple retrievals when available for a given satellite instrument). Archive location information for each data set is also given.We would like to thank the different agencies that support missions with instruments that measure stratospheric ozone profiles (ESA, NASA, NOAA, JAXA, NICT, CSA, SNSB, CNES, NSO, NIES, MOE, Eumetsat). We also would like to thank the different national and international agencies that fund groundbased measurements and several databases where ground-based measurements are stored and made accessible (NDACC, WOUDC, SHADOZ). The atmospheric chemistry experiment (ACE) is a Canadian-led mission mainly supported by the Canadian Space Agency and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. SCIAMACHY is jointly funded by Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. Work at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory was performed under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The IMK data analysis was co-funded by DLR under contract 50 EE 0901. Publication of this article was funded by the University of Colorado Boulder Libraries Open Access Fund and the SPARC-Office.This paper was originally published in Atmospheric Measurement Techiques, 7, 1395-1427, doi:10.5194/amt-7-1395-2014, 2014

Search for flavour-changing neutral currents in processes with one top quark and a photon using 81 fb⁻¹ of pp collisions at \sqrts = 13 TeV with the ATLAS experiment

A search for flavour-changing neutral current (FCNC) events via the coupling of a top quark, a photon, and an up or charm quark is presented using 81 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data taken at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Events with a photon, an electron or muon, a b-tagged jet, and missing transverse momentum are selected. A neural network based on kinematic variables differentiates between events from signal and background processes. The data are consistent with the background-only hypothesis, and limits are set on the strength of the tqγ coupling in an effective field theory. These are also interpreted as 95% CL upper limits on the cross section for FCNC tγ production via a left-handed (right-handed) tuγ coupling of 36 fb (78 fb) and on the branching ratio for t→γu of 2.8×10−5 (6.1×10−5). In addition, they are interpreted as 95% CL upper limits on the cross section for FCNC tγ production via a left-handed (right-handed) tcγ coupling of 40 fb (33 fb) and on the branching ratio for t→γc of 22×10−5 (18×10−5). © 2019 The Author(s

Search for heavy resonances decaying into a Z or W boson and a Higgs boson in final states with leptons and b-jets in 139 fb−1 of pp collisions at s√ = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

This article presents a search for new resonances decaying into a Z or W boson and a 125 GeV Higgs boson h, and it targets the νν¯¯¯bb¯¯, ℓ+ℓ−bb¯¯, or ℓ±νbb¯¯ final states, where ℓ = e or μ, in proton-proton collisions at s√ = 13 TeV. The data used correspond to a total integrated luminosity of 139 fb−1 collected by the ATLAS detector during Run 2 of the LHC at CERN. The search is conducted by examining the reconstructed invariant or transverse mass distributions of Zh or Wh candidates for evidence of a localised excess in the mass range from 220 GeV to 5 TeV. No significant excess is observed and 95% confidence-level upper limits between 1.3 pb and 0.3 fb are placed on the production cross section times branching fraction of neutral and charged spin-1 resonances and CP-odd scalar bosons. These limits are converted into constraints on the parameter space of the Heavy Vector Triplet model and the two-Higgs-doublet model

Search for resonances decaying into photon pairs in 139 fb−1 of pp collisions at √s = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Searches for new resonances in the diphoton final state, with spin 0 as predicted by theories with an extended Higgs sector and with spin 2 using a warped extra-dimension benchmark model, are presented using 139 fb−1 of √s = 13 TeV pp collision data collected by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC. No significant deviation from the Standard Model is observed and upper limits are placed on the production cross-section times branching ratio to two photons as a function of the resonance mass

Search for boosted diphoton resonances in the 10 to 70 GeV mass range using 138 fb−1 of 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for diphoton resonances in the mass range between 10 and 70 GeV with the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is presented. The analysis is based on pp collision data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb−1 at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV recorded from 2015 to 2018. Previous searches for diphoton resonances at the LHC have explored masses down to 65 GeV, finding no evidence of new particles. This search exploits the particular kinematics of events with pairs of closely spaced photons reconstructed in the detector, allowing examination of invariant masses down to 10 GeV. The presented strategy covers a region previously unexplored at hadron colliders because of the experimental challenges of recording low-energy photons and estimating the backgrounds. No significant excess is observed and the reported limits provide the strongest bound on promptly decaying axion-like particles coupling to gluons and photons for masses between 10 and 70 GeV

Search for flavour-changing neutral current interactions of the top quark and the Higgs boson in events with a pair of τ-leptons in pp collisions at s√ = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A search for flavour-changing neutral current (FCNC) tqH interactions involving a top quark, another up-type quark (q = u, c), and a Standard Model (SM) Higgs boson decaying into a τ-lepton pair (H → τ+τ−) is presented. The search is based on a dataset of pp collisions at s√ = 13 TeV that corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb−1 recorded with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Two processes are considered: single top quark FCNC production in association with a Higgs boson (pp → tH), and top quark pair production in which one of top quarks decays into Wb and the other decays into qH through the FCNC interactions. The search selects events with two hadronically decaying τ-lepton candidates (τhad) or at least one τhad with an additional lepton (e, μ), as well as multiple jets. Event kinematics is used to separate signal from the background through a multivariate discriminant. A slight excess of data is observed with a significance of 2.3σ above the expected SM background, and 95% CL upper limits on the t → qH branching ratios are derived. The observed (expected) 95% CL upper limits set on the t → cH and t → uH branching ratios are 9.4×10−4(4.8+2.2−1.4×10−4) and 6.9×10−4(3.5+1.5−1.0×10−4), respectively. The corresponding combined observed (expected) upper limits on the dimension-6 operator Wilson coefficients in the effective tqH couplings are Ccϕ < 1.35 (0.97) and Cuϕ < 1.16 (0.82)

Evidence for the charge asymmetry in pp → tt¯ production at s√ = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Inclusive and differential measurements of the top–antitop (tt¯) charge asymmetry Att¯C and the leptonic asymmetry Aℓℓ¯C are presented in proton–proton collisions at s√ = 13 TeV recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. The measurement uses the complete Run 2 dataset, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb−1, combines data in the single-lepton and dilepton channels, and employs reconstruction techniques adapted to both the resolved and boosted topologies. A Bayesian unfolding procedure is performed to correct for detector resolution and acceptance effects. The combined inclusive tt¯ charge asymmetry is measured to be Att¯C = 0.0068 ± 0.0015, which differs from zero by 4.7 standard deviations. Differential measurements are performed as a function of the invariant mass, transverse momentum and longitudinal boost of the tt¯ system. Both the inclusive and differential measurements are found to be compatible with the Standard Model predictions, at next-to-next-to-leading order in quantum chromodynamics perturbation theory with next-to-leading-order electroweak corrections. The measurements are interpreted in the framework of the Standard Model effective field theory, placing competitive bounds on several Wilson coefficients