Are male orangutans a threat to infants? Evidence of mother-offspring counter strategies to infanticide in Bornean orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus wurmbii)

Sexually selected infanticide by males is widespread in primates. Female primates employ a variety of strategies to reduce infanticide risk. While infanticide has never been directly observed in wild orangutans (Pongo spp.), their slow life history makes infants vulnerable to infanticide. The mating strategies of female orangutans include polyandrous and postconceptive mating that may serve to increase paternity confusion, an infanticide avoidance strategy. Here, we investigate whether female orangutans alter their social interactions with males as another infanticide avoidance strategy. We hypothesize that females with younger offspring avoid males and that the distance between mother and offspring decreases in the presence of males. We use long-term behavioral data collected between 1994 and 2016 from Bornean orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus wurmbii) in Gunung Palung National Park, Indonesia, to test whether the sexual selection hypothesis for infanticide helps explain aspects of orangutan social behavior. We found that mothers with offspring 6 yr. old and females without offspring. In addition, the distance between a mother–offspring dyad showed a statistically significant decrease in the presence of males, but not females. Our results are consistent with the hypothesis that female orangutans employ strategies to reduce infanticide risk in their social interactions. Because orangutans have a high fission–fusion dynamic, they have flexibility in manipulating social interactions as a counter-infanticide strategy. Our results suggest that infanticide by males is a selective pressure shaping female orangutan social behavior.Accepted manuscrip

Estimation of linkage disequilibrium in a sample of the United Kingdom dairy cattle population using unphased genotypes

The association between genetic marker alleles was estimated for two regions of the bovine genome from a random sample of 50 young dairy bulls born in the United Kingdom between 1988 and 1995. Microsatellite marker genotypes were obtained for six markers on chromosome 2 and seven markers on chromosome 6, spanning 38 and 20 cM, respectively. Two different methods, which do not require family information, were used to estimate population haplotype frequencies. Haplotype frequencies were estimated for pairs of loci using the expectation-maximization algorithm and for all linked loci using a Bayesian approach via a Markov chain-Monte Carlo algorithm. Significant (P = 0.0007) linkage disequilibrium was detected between pairs of loci in syntenic groups (that is, loci in the same linkage group), extending to about 10 cM. No significant linkage disequilibrium was detected between markers in nonsyntenic regions. Given the observed level of linkage disequilibrium, mapping methods based on population-wide association might provide a better resolution than traditional quantitative trait loci mapping methods in the U.K. dairy cattle population and may reduce the required sample sizes of the experiments

Engineering verification of the biomass production chamber

The requirements for life support systems, both biological and physical-chemical, for long-term human attended space missions are under serious study throughout NASA. The KSC 'breadboard' project has focused on biomass production using higher plants for atmospheric regeneration and food production in a special biomass production chamber. This chamber is designed to provide information on food crop growth rate, contaminants in the chamber that alter plant growth requirements for atmospheric regeneration, carbon dioxide consumption, oxygen production, and water utilization. The shape and size, mass, and energy requirements in relation to the overall integrity of the biomass production chamber are under constant study

Effects of space shuttle launches STS-1 through STS-9 on terrestrial vegetation of John F. Kennedy Space Center, Florida

Space Shuttle launches produce a cloud containing hydrochloric acid (HCl), aluminum oxide (Al203), and other substances. Acidities of less than 0.5 pH have been measured routinely in association with the launch cloud. In an area of about 22 ha regularly exposed to the exhaust cloud during most Shuttle launches, acute vegetation damage has resulted from the first nine Shuttle launches. Changes include loss of sensitive species, loss of plant community structure, reduction in total cover, and replacement of some species by weedy invaders. Community level changes define a retrogressive sequence. One-time impacts to strand and dune vegetation occurred after launches of STS-8 and STS-9. Acute vegetation damage occurred especially to sensitive species. Within six months, however, recovery was nearly complete. Sensitivity of species to the launch cloud was partially predicted by previous laboratory studies. Far-field acidic and dry fallout from the cloud as it rises to stabilization and moves with the prevailing winds causes vegetation spotting. Damage from this deposition is minor; typically at most 1% to 5% of leaf surface area is affected. No plant mortality or community changes have occurred from far-field deposition

NASA newsletters for the Weber Student Shuttle Involvement Project

Biweekly reports generated for the Weber Student Shuttle Involvement Project (SSIP) are discussed. The reports document the evolution of science, hardware, and logistics for this Shuttle project aboard the eleventh flight of the Space Transportation System (STS-41B), launched from Kennedy Space Center on February 3, 1984, and returned to KSC 8 days later. The reports were intended to keep all members of the team aware of progress in the project and to avoid redundancy and misunderstanding. Since the Weber SSIP was NASA's first orbital rat project, documentation of all actions was essential to assure the success of this complex project. Eleven reports were generated: October 3, 17 and 31; November 14 and 28; and December 12 and 17, 1983; and January 3, 16, and 23; and May 1, 1984. A subject index of the reports is included. The final report of the project is included as an appendix

Possible male infanticide in wild orangutans and a re-evaluation of infanticide risk

Infanticide as a male reproductive tactic is widespread across mammals, and is particularly prevalent in catarrhine primates. While it has never been observed in wild orangutans, infanticide by non-sire males has been predicted to occur due to their extremely long inter-birth intervals, semi-solitary social structure, and the presence of female counter-tactics to infanticide. Here, we report on the disappearance of a healthy four-month-old infant, along with a serious foot injury suffered by the primiparous mother. No other cases of infant mortality have been observed at this site in 30 years of study. Using photographic measurements of the injury, and information on the behavior and bite size of potential predators, we evaluate the possible causes of this injury. The context, including the behavior of the female and the presence of a new male at the time of the injury, lead us to conclude that the most likely cause of the infant loss and maternal injury was male infanticide. We suggest that in orangutans, and other species where nulliparous females are not preferred mates, these females may be less successful at using paternity confusion as an infanticide avoidance tactic, thus increasing the likelihood of infanticide of their first-born infants.Published versio

Mood-congruent false memories persist over time

In this study we examined the role of mood-congruency and retention interval on the false recognition of emotion laden items using the Deese/Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm. Previous research has shown a mood-congruent false memory enhancement during immediate recognition tasks. The present study examined the persistence of this effect following a one-week delay. Participants were placed in a negative or neutral mood, presented with negative-emotion and neutral-emotion DRM word lists, and administered with both immediate and delayed recognition tests. Results showed that a negative mood state increased remember judgments for negative-emotion critical lures, in comparison to neutral-emotion critical lures, on both immediate and delayed testing. These findings are discussed in relation to theories of spreading activation and emotion enhanced memory, with consideration of the applied forensic implications of such findings

The role of attention in immediate emotional false memory enhancement

Two experiments examined the effect of reduced attentional resources on false memory production for emotionally valenced stimuli using the Deese/Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm. Prior research has demonstrated that emotional information is often better remembered than neutral information and that enhanced memory for emotional information is dependent on either automatic or controlled neural processing (Kensinger & Corkin, 2004). Behavioral studies designed to reduce attention resources at encoding have supported neuroimaging findings that indicate high arousal negative stimuli rely more on automatic processing but positive high arousal stimuli rely more on controlled processing. No study has yet examined the attentional resources required to produce emotionally valenced false memories. In Experiment 1, negative, positive, and neutral DRM lists were studied under full or divided attention (DA) conditions, and in Experiment 2, negative and neutral DRM lists were studied under fast (20 ms) or slow (2,000 ms) presentation conditions. Under DA and speeded presentation conditions, higher false memory recognition rates were found for negative compared with positive (Experiment 1) and neutral (Experiments 1 and 2) critical lures. This is the first demonstration of which we are aware that suggests negative false memories are associated with automatic neural processing, whereas positive and nonvalenced neutral false memories are associated with more controlled processing

A temporal and spatial study of invertebrate communities associated with hard-bottom habitats in the South Atlantic Bight

Species composition, biomass, density, and diversity of benthic invertebrates from six bard-bottom areas were evaluated. Seasonal collections using a dredge, trawl, and suction and grab samplers yielded 432, 525, and 845 taxa, respectively. Based on collections wltb the different gear types, species composition of invertebrates was found to change bathymetrically. Inner- and mlddle-shelf sites were more similar to each other in terms of invertebrate species composition than they were to outer-shelf sites, regardless of season. Sites on the inner and outer shelf were grouped according to latitude; however, results suggest that depth is apparently a more important determinant of invertebrate species composition than either season or latitude. Sponges generally dominated dredge and trawl collections in terms of biomass. Generally, cnidarians, bryozoans, and sponges dominated at sites In terms of number of taxa collected. The most abundant smaller macrofauna collected in suction and grab samples were polychaetes, amphipods, and mollusks. Densities of the numerically dominant species changed botb seasonally and bathymetrically, with very few of these species restricted to a specific bathymetrlc zone. The high diversity of invertebrates from hard-bottom sites is attributed to the large number of rare species. No consistent seasonal changes in diversity or number of species were noted for individual stations or depth zones. In addition, H and its components showed no definite patterns related to depth or latitude. However, more species were collected at middle-shelf sites than at inner- or outer-shelf sites, which may be related to more stable bottom temperature or greater habitat complexity in that area. (PDF file contains 110 pages.