Energy or information? The role of seed availability for reproductive decisions in edible dormice

The edible dormouse is a specialized seed predator which is highly adapted to the fluctuations of food availability caused by mast seeding of beech and oak trees. Dormice produce young just in time with maximum food availability, and can completely skip reproduction in years with a lack of seeding. Because their decision to reproduce or not in any particular year is made long before the ripe seeds are available, it seems that dormice can anticipate the upcoming mast situation. We tested the hypothesis that the presence of high caloric food in spring affects their reproductive decision. Therefore, we supplementary fed dormice in a field experiment from spring to early summer with sunflower seeds, which also contain a high amount of energy. Supplemental feeding caused significant increases in the proportion of reproducing females and reproductively active males. These results suggest that edible dormice may use the occurrence of an energy rich food resource to predict the autumnal mast situation. Further, our data indicate that the decision to reproduce was not the result of an increased body mass due to the consumption of surplus food, but that sufficient seed abundance acts as an environmental signal to which dormice adjust their reproduction

SERENA:Particle Instrument Suite for Determining the Sun-Mercury Interaction from BepiColombo

International audienceThe ESA-JAXA BepiColombo mission to Mercury will provide simultaneous measurements from two spacecraft, offering an unprecedented opportunity to investigate magnetospheric and exospheric particle dynamics at Mercury as well as their interactions with solar wind, solar radiation, and interplanetary dust. The particle instrument suite SERENA (Search for Exospheric Refilling and Emitted Natural Abundances) is flying in space on-board the BepiColombo Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) and is the only instrument for ion and neutral particle detection aboard the MPO. It comprises four independent sensors: ELENA for neutral particle flow detection, Strofio for neutral gas detection, PICAM for planetary ions observations, and MIPA, mostly for solar wind ion measurements. SERENA is managed by a System Control Unit located inside the ELENA box. In the present paper the scientific goals of this suite are described, and then the four units are detailed, as well as their major features and calibration results. Finally, the SERENA operational activities are shown during the orbital path around Mercury, with also some reference to the activities planned during the long cruise phase

Correction to: SERENA: Particle Instrument Suite for Determining the Sun-Mercury Interaction from BepiColombo

International audienc

Inner southern magnetosphere observation of Mercury via SERENA ion sensors in BepiColombo mission

International audienceIn this study we present the observation of Mercury's inner southern magnetosphere and surrounding regions, never previously explored, as detected by the two ion sensors of the instrument package: 'Search for Exospheric Refilling and Emitted Natural Abundances' (SERENA), named 'Planetary Ion CAMera' (PICAM) and 'Miniaturized Ion Precipitation Analyzer' (MIPA), on board BepiColombo mission during the first Mercury flyby, on 1 st October 2021. Here we show the analysis of the data acquired during this flyby, a glimpse of what we will get from the nominal mission: in particular we observe and describe specific ion features nearby and inside the Hermean environment, like: intermittent high energy signal due to an interplanetary magnetic flux rope; magnetospheric ions with different energy drifting at low altitudes above the planet and determining specific plasma regimes; ion signals detected outside the magnetosphere at low energy

Correction to: SERENA: Particle Instrument Suite for Determining the Sun-Mercury Interaction from BepiColombo (Space Science Reviews, (2021), 217, 1, (11), 10.1007/s11214-020-00787-3)

The original online version of this article was revised because a number of authors had the wrong affiliation number next to their names. © 2021, Springer Nature B.V