Activity and social interactions in a wideranging specialist scavenger, the Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii), revealed by animalborne video collars

Observing animals directly in the field provides the most accurate understanding of animal behaviour and resource selection. However, making prolonged observation of undisturbed animals is difficult or impossible for many species. To overcome this problem for the Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii), a cryptic and nocturnal carnivore, we developed animal-borne video collars to investigate activity patterns, foraging behaviour and social interactions. We collected 173 hours of footage from 13 individual devils between 2013 and 2017. Devils were active mostly at night, and resting was the most common behaviour in all diel periods. Devils spent more time scavenging than hunting and exhibited opportunistic and flexible foraging behaviours. Scavenging occurred mostly in natural vegetation but also in anthropogenic vegetation and linear features (roads and fence lines). Scavenging frequency was inversely incremental with size e.g. small carcasses were scavenged most frequently. Agonistic interactions with conspecifics occurred most often when devils were traveling but also occurred over carcasses or dens. Interactions generally involved vocalisations and brief chases without physical contact. Our results highlight the importance of devils as a scavenger in the Tasmanian ecosystem, not just of large carcasses for which devils are well known but in cleaning up small items of carrion in the bush. Our results also show the complex nature of intraspecific interactions, revealing greater detail on the context in which interactions occur. In addition, this study demonstrates the benefits of using animal-borne imaging in quantifying behaviour of elusive, nocturnal carnivores not previously seen using conventional field methods

The convective storm initiation project

Copyright @ 2007 AMSThe Convective Storm Initiation Project (CSIP) is an international project to understand precisely where, when, and how convective clouds form and develop into showers in the mainly maritime environment of southern England. A major aim of CSIP is to compare the results of the very high resolution Met Office weather forecasting model with detailed observations of the early stages of convective clouds and to use the newly gained understanding to improve the predictions of the model. A large array of ground-based instruments plus two instrumented aircraft, from the U.K. National Centre for Atmospheric Science (NCAS) and the German Institute for Meteorology and Climate Research (IMK), Karlsruhe, were deployed in southern England, over an area centered on the meteorological radars at Chilbolton, during the summers of 2004 and 2005. In addition to a variety of ground-based remote-sensing instruments, numerous rawin-sondes were released at one- to two-hourly intervals from six closely spaced sites. The Met Office weather radar network and Meteosat satellite imagery were used to provide context for the observations made by the instruments deployed during CSIP. This article presents an overview of the CSIP field campaign and examples from CSIP of the types of convective initiation phenomena that are typical in the United Kingdom. It shows the way in which certain kinds of observational data are able to reveal these phenomena and gives an explanation of how the analyses of data from the field campaign will be used in the development of an improved very high resolution NWP model for operational use.This work is funded by the National Environment Research Council following an initial award from the HEFCE Joint Infrastructure Fund

Technical note: Open-paleo-data implementation pilot - The PAGES 2k special issue

Data stewardship is an essential element of the publication process. Knowing how to enact data polices that are described only in general terms can be difficult, however. Examples are needed to model the implementation of open-data polices in actual studies. Here we explain the procedure used to attain a high and consistent level of data stewardship across a special issue of the journal Climate of the Past. We discuss the challenges related to (1) determining which data are essential for public archival, (2) using data generated by others, and (3) understanding data citations. We anticipate that open-data sharing in paleo sciences will accelerate as the advantages become more evident and as practices that reduce data loss become the accepted convention

Constraints on Nucleon Decay via "Invisible" Modes from the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory

Data from the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory have been used to constrain the lifetime for nucleon decay to ``invisible'' modes, such as n -> 3 nu. The analysis was based on a search for gamma-rays from the de-excitation of the residual nucleus that would result from the disappearance of either a proton or neutron from O16. A limit of tau_inv > 2 x 10^{29} years is obtained at 90% confidence for either neutron or proton decay modes. This is about an order of magnitude more stringent than previous constraints on invisible proton decay modes and 400 times more stringent than similar neutron modes.Comment: Update includes missing efficiency factor (limits change by factor of 2) Submitted to Physical Review Letter

Boys are more stunted than girls in Sub-Saharan Africa: a meta-analysis of 16 demographic and health surveys

BACKGROUND: Many studies in sub-Saharan Africa have occasionally reported a higher prevalence of stunting in male children compared to female children. This study examined whether there are systematic sex differences in stunting rates in children under-five years of age, and how the sex differences in stunting rates vary with household socio-economic status. METHODS: Data from the most recent 16 demographic and health surveys (DHS) in 10 sub-Saharan countries were analysed. Two separate variables for household socio-economic status (SES) were created for each country based on asset ownership and mothers' education. Quintiles of SES were constructed using principal component analysis. Sex differentials with stunting were assessed using Student's t-test, chi square test and binary logistic regressions. RESULTS: The prevalence and the mean z-scores of stunting were consistently lower amongst females than amongst males in all studies, with differences statistically significant in 11 and 12, respectively, out of the 16 studies. The pooled estimates for mean z-scores were -1.59 for boys and -1.46 for girls with the difference statistically significant (p < 0.001). The stunting prevalence was also higher in boys (40%) than in girls (36%) in pooled data analysis; crude odds ratio 1.16 (95% CI 1.12–1.20); child age and individual survey adjusted odds ratio 1.18 (95% CI 1.14–1.22). Male children in households of the poorest 40% were more likely to be stunted compared to females in the same group, but the pattern was not consistent in all studies, and evaluation of the SES/sex interaction term in relation to stunting was not significant for the surveys. CONCLUSION: In sub-Saharan Africa, male children under five years of age are more likely to become stunted than females, which might suggest that boys are more vulnerable to health inequalities than their female counterparts in the same age groups. In several of the surveys, sex differences in stunting were more pronounced in the lowest SES groups

South American Spider Mites: New Hosts and Localities

In order to contribute to taxonomic information on Tetranychid mites (Acari: Tetranychidae) in South America, surveys were conducted in Brazil (15 States and the Federal District) and Uruguay (one Department); 550 samples of 120 plant species were collected. Tetranychid mite infestations were confirmed in 204 samples, and 22 species belonging to seven genera of the Bryobiinae and Tetranychinae subfamilies were identified on 58 different host plants. Thirty-six new plant hosts were found in Brazil, South America, and worldwide for the following species: Eutetranychus banksi (McGregor); Mononychellus tanajoa (Bondar); Oligonychus anonae Paschoal; O. mangiferus (Rahman and Sapra); Tetranychus bastosi Tuttle, Baker and Sales; T. desertorum Banks, 1900, T. evansi Baker and Pritchard; T. ludeni Zacher; T. mexicanus (McGregor); T. neocaledonicus André; and T. urticae Koch. Four new localities in Brazil were reported for Eotetranychus tremae De Leon; O. anonae; Panonychus ulmi (Koch); and T. gloveri Baker and Pritchard

Diversity in sound pressure levels and estimated active space of resident killer whale vocalizations

Author Posting. © The Author, 2005. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Springer for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Comparative Physiology A: Sensory, Neural, and Behavioral Physiology 192 (2006): 449-459, doi:10.1007/s00359-005-0085-2.Signal source intensity and detection range, which integrates source intensity with propagation loss, background noise and receiver hearing abilities, are important characteristics of communication signals. Apparent source levels were calculated for 819 pulsed calls and 24 whistles produced by free-ranging resident killer whales by triangulating the angles-of-arrival of sounds on two beamforming arrays towed in series. Levels in the 1-20 kHz band ranged from 131-168 dB re 1μPa @1m, with differences in the means of different sound classes (whistles: 140.2 ± 4.1 dB; variable calls: 146.6 ± 6.6 dB; stereotyped calls: 152.6 ± 5.9 dB), and among stereotyped call types. Repertoire diversity carried through to estimates of active space, with “long-range” stereotyped calls all containing overlapping, independently-modulated high-frequency components (mean estimated active space of 10-16km in sea state zero) and “short-range” sounds (5-9 km) included all stereotyped calls without a high-frequency component, whistles, and variable calls. Short-range sounds are reported to be more common during social and resting behaviors, while long-range stereotyped calls predominate in dispersed travel and foraging behaviors. These results suggest that variability in sound pressure levels may reflect diverse social and ecological functions of the acoustic repertoire of killer whales.Funding was provided by WHOI’s Ocean Ventures Fund and Rinehart Coastal Research Center and a Royal Society fellowship

Role of Scrib and Dlg in anterior-posterior patterning of the follicular epithelium during Drosophila oogenesis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Proper patterning of the follicle cell epithelium over the egg chamber is essential for the <it>Drosophila </it>egg development. Differentiation of the epithelium into several distinct cell types along the anterior-posterior axis requires coordinated activities of multiple signaling pathways. Previously, we reported that <it>lethal(2)giant larvae </it>(<it>lgl</it>), a <it>Drosophila </it>tumor suppressor gene, is required in the follicle cells for the posterior follicle cell (PFC) fate induction at mid-oogenesis. Here we explore the role of another two tumor suppressor genes, <it>scribble </it>(<it>scrib</it>) and <it>discs large </it>(<it>dlg</it>), in the epithelial patterning.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We found that removal of <it>scrib </it>or <it>dlg </it>function from the follicle cells at posterior terminal of the egg chamber causes a complete loss of the PFC fate. Aberrant specification and differentiation of the PFCs in the mosaic clones can be ascribed to defects in coordinated activation of the EGFR, JAK and Notch signaling pathways in the multilayered cells. Meanwhile, the clonal analysis revealed that loss-of-function mutations in <it>scrib/dlg </it>at the anterior domains result in a partially penetrant phenotype of defective induction of the stretched and centripetal cell fate, whereas specification of the border cell fate can still occur in the most anterior region of the mutant clones. Further, we showed that <it>scrib </it>genetically interacts with <it>dlg </it>in regulating posterior patterning of the epithelium.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>In this study we provide evidence that <it>scrib </it>and <it>dlg </it>function differentially in anterior and posterior patterning of the follicular epithelium at oogenesis. Further genetic analysis indicates that <it>scrib </it>and <it>dlg </it>act in a common pathway to regulate PFC fate induction. This study may open another window for elucidating role of <it>scrib/dlg </it>in controlling epithelial polarity and cell proliferation during development.</p