Mosquitoes of Kudat: species composition and their medical importance(diptera: culicidae)

A survey of mosquito fauna was done to determine the mosquito population and species composition in Kudat. Outdoor human landing catches (HLC) were done from April to June 2015. A total of 4,350 mosquitoes, representing eight genera and 37 species were collected. These include Aedes (Stegomyia), Aedimorphus, Anopheles, Armigeres, Culex, Mansonia, Phagomyia and Uranotaenia. Medical important species are specially noted and discussed. Armigeres (52.7%) was the most abundant, followed by Culex (31.9%), Aedes (9.4%), and Anopheles (4.3%). Armigeres kesseli and Ar. subabaltus were the two most common species. Armigeres annulipalpi and Phagomyia prominens are new records of Sabah

The spatial pattern of soil-dwelling termites in primary and logged forest in Sabah, Malaysia

1. Primary and logged lowland dipterocarp forest sites were sampled for subterranean termites using soil pits located on a grid system in order to detect any patchiness in their distribution. 2. A spatial pattern in termite distributions was observed in the primary and logged sites, but the response differed between soil-feeding and non-soil-feeding termites. 3. Spatial analysis showed that soil-feeding termites were homogeneously distributed in the primary forest but significantly aggregated in the logged forest. This pattern was reversed for non-soil-feeding termites and may result from differences in resource provisioning between the two sites. 4. Gaps in termite distribution comprised a greater area than patches for both feeding groups and sites, but gaps dominated the logged site. 5. A significant association between soil-feeding and non-soil-feeding termite distributions occurred at both sites. This arose from an association between patches in the primary forest and between gaps in the logged forest. 6. Termite spatial pattern was optimally observed at a minimum extent of 64 m and lag of 2 m. 7. The spatially explicit SADIE (Spatial Analysis by Distances IndicEs) analyses were more successful than (non-spatially explicit) multivariate analysis (Canonical Correspondence Analysis) at detecting associations between termite spatial distributions and that of other biotic and abiotic variables

Termite assemblages, forest disturbance and greenhouse gas fluxes in Sabah, East Malaysia

A synthesis is presented of sampling work conducted under a UK government-funded Darwin Initiative grant undertaken predominantly within the Danum Valley Conservation Area (DVCA), Sabah, East Malaysia. The project concerned the assemblage structure, gas physiology and landscape gas fluxes of termites in pristine and two ages of secondary, dipterocarp forest. The DVCA termite fauna is typical of the Sunda region, dominated by Termes-group soil-feeders and Nasutitermitinae. Selective logging appears to have relatively little effect on termite assemblages, although soil-feeding termites may be moderately affected by this level of disturbance. Species composition changes, but to a small extent when considered against the background level of compositional differences within the Sunda region. Physiologically the assemblage is very like others that have been studied, although there are some species that do not fit on the expected body size-metabolic rate curve. As elsewhere, soil-feeders and soil-wood interface-feeders tend to produce more methane. As with the termite assemblage characteristics, gross gas and energy fluxes do not differ significantly between logged and unlogged sites. Although gross methane fluxes are high, all the soils at DVCA were methane sinks, suggesting that methane oxidation by methanotrophic bacteria was a more important process than methane production by gut archaea. This implies that methane production by termites in South-East Asia is not contributing significantly to the observed increase in levels of methane production worldwide. Biomass density, species richness, clade complement and energy flow were much lower at DVCA than at a directly comparable site in southern Cameroon. This is probably due to the different biogeographical histories of the areas

Termite assemblages, forest disturbance and greenhouse gas fluxes in Sabah, East Malaysia.

A synthesis is presented of sampling work conducted under a UK government-funded Darwin Initiative grant undertaken predominantly within the Danum Valley Conservation Area (DVCA), Sabah, East Malaysia. The project concerned the assemblage structure, gas physiology and landscape gas fluxes of termites in pristine and two ages of secondary, dipterocarp forest. The DVCA termite fauna is typical of the Sunda region, dominated by Termes-group soil-feeders and Nasutitermitinae. Selective logging appears to have relatively little effect on termite assemblages, although soil-feeding termites may be moderately affected by this level of disturbance. Species composition changes, but to a small extent when considered against the background level of compositional differences within the Sunda region. Physiologically the assemblage is very like others that have been studied, although there are some species that do not fit on the expected body size-metabolic rate curve. As elsewhere, soil-feeders and soil-wood interface-feeders tend to produce more methane. As with the termite assemblage characteristics, gross gas and energy fluxes do not differ significantly between logged and unlogged sites. Although gross methane fluxes are high, all the soils at DVCA were methane sinks, suggesting that methane oxidation by methanotrophic bacteria was a more important process than methane production by gut archaea. This implies that methane production by termites in South-East Asia is not contributing significantly to the observed increase in levels of methane production worldwide. Biomass density, species richness, clade complement and energy flow were much lower at DVCA than at a directly comparable site in southern Cameroon. This is probably due to the different biogeographical histories of the areas

Author Correction: Vector compositions change across forested to deforested ecotones in emerging areas of zoonotic malaria transmission in Malaysia.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper

Logging cuts the functional importance of invertebrates in tropical rainforest

Invertebrates are dominant species in primary tropical rainforests, where their abundance and diversity contributes to the functioning and resilience of these globally important ecosystems. However, more than one-third of tropical forests have been logged, with dramatic impacts on rainforest biodiversity that may disrupt key ecosystem processes. We find that the contribution of invertebrates to three ecosystem processes operating at three trophic levels (litter decomposition, seed predation and removal, and invertebrate predation) is reduced by up to one-half following logging. These changes are associated with decreased abundance of key functional groups of termites, ants, beetles and earthworms, and an increase in the abundance of small mammals, amphibians and insectivorous birds in logged relative to primary forest. Our results suggest that ecosystem processes themselves have considerable resilience to logging, but the consistent decline of invertebrate functional importance is indicative of a human-induced shift in how these ecological processes operate in tropical rainforests

Mahdottoman geometrian havainnollistaminen 3d-animaatioilla

TIIVISTELMÄ Opinnäytetyön aiheena on Amos Andersonin taidemuseolle M.C. Escherin näyttelyä varten parityönä tehdyt 3d-mallit, sekä niitä varten tehty tausta tutkimus mahdottomista kuvista. Animaatioiden tarkoituksena oli havainnollistaa 3d-mallinnuksin Escherin töissä esiintyviä kuvia mahdottomista kappaleista. Kirjallisessa osiossa on tutkittu kuvien ja näkemisen teori-aa sekä erilaisia tapoja epätodellisten muotojen esittämiseen. Ne on jaettu yhdestä pisteestä näkemiseen, perspektiivikonstruktioihin ja minimaalipintoihin. Työssä selvisi, mihin kuvien illuusiot perustuvat ja, että 3d-grafiikan avulla voidaan luoda havainnollisia malleja vaikeaselkoisista kuvista. Opinnäytetyön liitteenä on valmiit animaatiot sisältävä cd-levy.The subject of this thesis was to create animations of impossible objects made for a M.C. Escher exhibition at Amos Anderson art museum in Helsinki and to do research on this subject. The modeling was done as a pair work with another student. The goal was to produce clarifying 3d-visualizations of impossible objects used by Escher in his artwork. The written part of the thesis deals with theories of perceiving images and different methods to present impossible forms, such as single point perception, perspective constructions and minimal surfaces. The work explains also how people usually react on these kinds of pictures and why. Working with this subject made me aware of different possibilities of 3d-animation as a tool to create depictive graphic models of obscure pictures and what these illusions are based on. A compact disc with all the animations is included in this thesis

Canopy ferns in lowland dipterocarp forest support a prolific abundance of ants, termites, and other invertebrates

The epiphytic Bird's Nest Fern (Asplenium nidus complex) has a large basket-shaped rosette that accumulates leaf litter. We investigated the role of these ferns in supporting invertebrate populations in the primary lowland dipterocarp forest of Danum Valley, Sabah, Malaysia. Ferns were divided into three size classes: large (rosette diameter >60 cm), intermediate (30-60 cm), and small