1,263 research outputs found
Uncovering Dangerous Cheats: How Do Avian Hosts Recognize Adult Brood Parasites?
BACKGROUND: Co-evolutionary struggles between dangerous enemies (e.g., brood parasites) and their victims (hosts) lead to the emergence of sophisticated adaptations and counter-adaptations. Salient host tricks to reduce parasitism costs include, as front line defence, adult enemy discrimination. In contrast to the well studied egg stage, investigations addressing the specific cues for adult enemy recognition are rare. Previous studies have suggested barred underparts and yellow eyes may provide cues for the recognition of cuckoos Cuculus canorus by their hosts; however, no study to date has examined the role of the two cues simultaneously under a consistent experimental paradigm. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We modify and extend previous work using a novel experimental approach--custom-made dummies with various combinations of hypothesized recognition cues. The salient recognition cue turned out to be the yellow eye. Barred underparts, the only trait examined previously, had a statistically significant but small effect on host aggression highlighting the importance of effect size vs. statistical significance. CONCLUSION: Relative importance of eye vs. underpart phenotypes may reflect ecological context of host-parasite interaction: yellow eyes are conspicuous from the typical direction of host arrival (from above), whereas barred underparts are poorly visible (being visually blocked by the upper part of the cuckoo's body). This visual constraint may reduce usefulness of barred underparts as a reliable recognition cue under a typical situation near host nests. We propose a novel hypothesis that recognition cues for enemy detection can vary in a context-dependent manner (e.g., depending on whether the enemy is approached from below or from above). Further we suggest a particular cue can trigger fear reactions (escape) in some hosts/populations whereas the same cue can trigger aggression (attack) in other hosts/populations depending on presence/absence of dangerous enemies that are phenotypically similar to brood parasites and costs and benefits associated with particular host responses
Sedimentary pyrite sulfur isotope compositions preserve signatures of the surface microbial mat environment in sediments underlying low-oxygen cyanobacterial mats
The sedimentary pyrite sulfur isotope (delta S-34) record is an archive of ancient microbial sulfur cycling and environmental conditions. Interpretations of pyrite delta S-34 signatures in sediments deposited in microbial mat ecosystems are based on studies of modern microbial mat porewater sulfide delta S-34 geochemistry. Pyrite delta S-34 values often capture delta S-34 signatures of porewater sulfide at the location of pyrite formation. However, microbial mats are dynamic environments in which biogeochemical cycling shifts vertically on diurnal cycles. Therefore, there is a need to study how the location of pyrite formation impacts pyrite delta S-34 patterns in these dynamic systems. Here, we present diurnal porewater sulfide delta S-34 trends and delta S-34 values of pyrite and iron monosulfides from Middle Island Sinkhole, Lake Huron. The sediment-water interface of this sinkhole hosts a low-oxygen cyanobacterial mat ecosystem, which serves as a useful location to explore preservation of sedimentary pyrite delta S-34 signatures in early Earth environments. Porewater sulfide delta S-34 values vary by up to similar to 25 parts per thousand throughout the day due to light-driven changes in surface microbial community activity that propagate downwards, affecting porewater geochemistry as deep as 7.5 cm in the sediment. Progressive consumption of the sulfate reservoir drives delta S-34 variability, instead of variations in average cell-specific sulfate reduction rates and/or sulfide oxidation at different depths in the sediment. The delta S-34 values of pyrite are similar to porewater sulfide delta S-34 values near the mat surface. We suggest that oxidative sulfur cycling and other microbial activity promote pyrite formation in and immediately adjacent to the microbial mat and that iron geochemistry limits further pyrite formation with depth in the sediment. These results imply that primary delta S-34 signatures of pyrite deposited in organic-rich, iron-poor microbial mat environments capture information about microbial sulfur cycling and environmental conditions at the mat surface and are only minimally affected by deeper sedimentary processes during early diagenesis
Effects of climate variation on bird escape distances modulate community responses to global change
Warm thanks to Jacqui Sykoff for substantially improving the readability of former versions of the manuscript. GM was supported by the Hungarian Ministry for Innovation and Technology within the framework of the Thematic Excellence Programme 2020 (TKP2020-IKA-12, TKP2020-NKA-16).. KT was supported by institutional research funding IUT (34-8) of the Estonian Ministry of Education and Research. This paper is a contribution to the project URBILAND (PID2019-107423GA-I00/SRA 1013039/501100011033), funded by the Spanish Research Agency.Climate and land use are rapidly changing environmental conditions. Behavioral responses to such global perturbations can be used to incorporate interspecific interactions into predictive models of population responses to global change. Flight initiation distance (FID) reflects antipredator behaviour defined as the distance at which an individual takes flight when approached by a human, under standardized conditions. This behavioural trait results from a balance between disturbance, predation risk, food availability and physiological needs, and it is related to geographical range and population trends in European birds. Using 32,145 records of flight initiation distances for 229 bird species during 2006-2019 in 24 European localities, we show that FIDs decreased with increasing temperature and precipitation, as expected if foraging success decreased under warm and humid conditions. Trends were further altered by latitude, urbanisation and body mass, as expected if climate effects on FIDs were mediated by food abundance and need, differing according to position in food webs, supporting foraging models. This provides evidence for a role of behavioural responses within food webs on how bird populations and communities are affected by global change.Hungarian Ministry for Innovation and Technology TKP2020-IKA-12
TKP2020-NKA-16Ministry of Education and Research, Estonia 34-8Spanish Research Agency PID2019-107423GA-I00/SRA 1013039/50110001103
Neutron time-of-flight measurements of charged-particle energy loss in inertial confinement fusion plasmas
Neutron spectra from secondary ^{3}H(d,n)α reactions produced by an implosion of a deuterium-gas capsule at the National Ignition Facility have been measured with order-of-magnitude improvements in statistics and resolution over past experiments. These new data and their sensitivity to the energy loss of fast tritons emitted from thermal ^{2}H(d,p)^{3}H reactions enable the first statistically significant investigation of charged-particle stopping via the emitted neutron spectrum. Radiation-hydrodynamic simulations, constrained to match a number of observables from the implosion, were used to predict the neutron spectra while employing two different energy loss models. This analysis represents the first test of stopping models under inertial confinement fusion conditions, covering plasma temperatures of k_{B}T≈1-4 keV and particle densities of n≈(12-2)×10^{24} cm^{-3}. Under these conditions, we find significant deviations of our data from a theory employing classical collisions whereas the theory including quantum diffraction agrees with our data
Genome sequence of an Enterobacter helveticus strain, 1159/04 (= LMG 23733), isolated from fruit powder
We report the draft genome sequence of Enterobacter helveticus strain LMG 23733, isolated from fruit powder. The draft genome assembly for E. helveticus strain LMG 23733 has a size of 4,635,476 bp and a G+C content of 55.9%
Egg Eviction Imposes a Recoverable Cost of Virulence in Chicks of a Brood Parasite
Background: Chicks of virulent brood parasitic birds eliminate their nestmates and avoid costly competition for foster parental care. Yet, efforts to evict nest contents by the blind and naked common cuckoo Cuculus canorus hatchling are counterintuitive as both adult parasites and large older cuckoo chicks appear to be better suited to tossing the eggs and young of the foster parents. Methodology/Principal Findings: Here we show experimentally that egg tossing imposed a recoverable growth cost of mass gain in common cuckoo chicks during the nestling period in nests of great reed warbler Acrocephalus arundinaceus hosts. Growth rates of skeletal traits and morphological variables involved in the solicitation of foster parental care remained similar between evictor and non-evictor chicks throughout development. We also detected no increase in predation rates for evicting nests, suggesting that egg tossing behavior by common cuckoo hatchlings does not increase the conspicuousness of nests. Conclusion: The temporary growth cost of egg eviction by common cuckoo hatchlings is the result of constraints imposed by rejecter host adults and competitive nestmates on the timing and mechanism of parasite virulence.Michael G. Anderson, Csaba Moskát, Miklós Bán, Tomáš Grim, Phillip Cassey and Mark E. Haube
Adsorption of probe molecules in pillared interlayered clays: Experiment and computer simulation
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Implementation of a daylight fluorescence imaging system to autonomously detect biomarkers of extant life in the Atacama Desert
We have integrated a biomarker detection system with a rover for the search for sparse life in extreme environments. The system incorporated a pulsed fluorescence imager, a reagent sprayer, and a surface scraping device for remote detection of fluorescence signals
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