Men’s Perception of Raped Women: Test of the Sexually Transmitted Disease Hypothesis and the Cuckoldry Hypothesis

Rape is a recurrent adaptive problem of female humans and females of a number of non-human animals. Rape has various physiological and reproductive costs to the victim. The costs of rape are furthermore exaggerated by social rejection and blaming of a victim, particularly by men. The negative perception of raped women by men has received little attention from an evolutionary perspective. Across two independent studies, we investigated whether the risk of sexually transmitted diseases (the STD hypothesis, Hypothesis 1) or paternity uncertainty (the  cuckoldry hypothesis, Hypothesis 2) influence the negative perception of raped women by men. Raped women received lower attractiveness score than non-raped women, especially in long-term mate attractiveness score. The perceived attractiveness of raped women was not influenced by the presence of experimentally manipulated STD cues on faces of putative rapists. Women raped by three men received lower attractiveness score than women raped by one man. These results provide stronger support for the cuckoldry hypothesis (Hypothesis 2) than for the STD hypothesis (Hypothesis 1). Single men perceived raped women as more attractive than men in a committed relationship (Hypothesis 3), suggesting that the mating opportunities mediate men’s perception of victims of rape. Overall, our results suggest that the risk of cuckoldry underlie the negative perception of victims of rape by men rather than the fear of disease transmission

A brief overview of the long-term changes of fish fauna in the Slovak-Hungarian section of the Danube River

Description of the fish fauna was completed by way of literary review, field experience, and some rare species have been found in the catches of commercial fishermen. Suitable publications and reports are available from the 18th century. The upper part of the Slovak-Hungarian section of the Danube is aggrading and anabranching, while its lower part is a wandering sinuous channel. The native fish fauna includes 54 species, while the alien fish fauna contains 23 species, 11 of which are exotic in Europe. Two species, Huso huso and Acipenser stellatus are practically extinct from the Middle Danube region. This river stretch is heavily modified, and the historical changes of the fish fauna were evaluated in conjunction with human impacts

Influence of the twilight period and different sampling methods on catch of Gobiids (Gobiidae) at four locations in the inshore parts of the Danube River

The aim of this work was to compare the efficiency of two different methods for fish sampling and to assess the influence of the twilight period on the catch of gobiids along the Danube River in Serbia. The samplings were performed by electrofishing and beach seining in inshore parts of the Danube River with water depth up to 120 cm at four locations: Novi Sad, Belgrade, Tekija, and Prahovo, in October 2012 and September 2013. At each location, the samplings were performed at 17:30, 18:30, 19:30 and 20:30. Totally, 539 gobiids were caught. The highest number of specimens (218) was registered at Tekija, while lower numbers were registered at Belgrade (192) and Prahovo (117), and only 12 specimens were caught at Novi Sad. The catch of the round goby Neogobius melanostomus and monkey goby Neogobius fluviatilis was more efficient by beach seining than by electrofishing, whereas the catch of the tubenose goby Proterorhinus semilunaris was more efficient by electrofishing. Both methods had similar efficiency in catching the bighead goby Ponticola kessleri and racer goby Babka gymnotrachelus. The species diversity and number of the caught specimens were the highest at 18:30. All five species were recorded at Belgrade, Tekija and Prahovo, while only the monkey goby and racer goby were caught at Novi Sad. The methods used in this study showed good efficiency in catching gobiids, especially at dusk. Even though these methods are difficult to apply in certain habitats, they could be highly relevant in the regular monitoring of gobiids along the inshore parts of rivers

Influence of the diel period and different sampling methods on catch of gobiids at four locations in the inshore part of the Danube River

Some recent data show that five gobiid species have spread outside their native range and expanded their distribution area in Serbia along the rivers Danube, Tisza, Sava,and Velika Morava. These are: monkey goby Neogobius fluviatilis, racer goby Neogobius gymnotrachelus, bighead goby Neogobius kessleri,round goby Neogobius melanostomus, and tubenose goby Proterorhinus semilunaris. The aim of this study was to compare the efficiency of two different methods for fish sampling, as well as to assess influence of the diel period on catch of gobiids in the Serbian stretch of the Danube River. During October 2012 and September 2013, the sampling was performed by electrofishing and beach seining in four riverside locations of the Danube River,as follows: at NoviSad (river km 1257), Belgrade(river km 1173),Tekija (river km 956),and Prahovo (river km 862),with the water depth being of up to120cm. At each location,the sampling was performed at 17:30,18:30,19:30 and 20:30. A total of 551 gobies were caught. The highest number of specimens (238) was registered at Tekija,followed by the sites at Belgrade(192) and Prahovo (109), and only 12 specimens caught at NoviSad.The catch of the round goby and monkey goby was more efficient by beach seining than by electrofishing, while the catch of the tubenose goby was more efficient by electrofishing. Both methods had similar efficiency in terms of the catch of the bighead goby and racer goby.The species diversity and the number of caught specimens were the highest at 18:30.All five species were recorded at the sites of Belgrade,Tekija and Prahovo,while only the monkey goby and racer goby were caught at NoviSad. The methods used in this study showed good efficiency in catch of gobiids, especially at dusk. Despite the difficulty in using these methods in certain habitats, we assume that they could be highly relevant in the regular monitoring of gobiids along the inshore parts of the rivers

Influence of the twilight period and different sampling methods on catch of Gobiids (Gobiidae) at four locations in the inshore parts of the Danube River

The aim of this work was to compare the efficiency of two different methods for fish sampling and to assess the influence of the twilight period on the catch of gobiids along the Danube River in Serbia. The samplings were performed by electrofishing and beach seining in inshore parts of the Danube River with water depth up to 120 cm at four locations: Novi Sad, Belgrade, Tekija, and Prahovo, in October 2012 and September 2013. At each location, the samplings were performed at 17:30, 18:30, 19:30 and 20:30. Totally, 539 gobiids were caught. The highest number of specimens (218) was registered at Tekija, while lower numbers were registered at Belgrade (192) and Prahovo (117), and only 12 specimens were caught at Novi Sad. The catch of the round goby Neogobius melanostomus and monkey goby Neogobius fluviatilis was more efficient by beach seining than by electrofishing, whereas the catch of the tubenose goby Proterorhinus semilunaris was more efficient by electrofishing. Both methods had similar efficiency in catching the bighead goby Ponticola kessleri and racer goby Babka gymnotrachelus. The species diversity and number of the caught specimens were the highest at 18:30. All five species were recorded at Belgrade, Tekija and Prahovo, while only the monkey goby and racer goby were caught at Novi Sad. The methods used in this study showed good efficiency in catching gobiids, especially at dusk. Even though these methods are difficult to apply in certain habitats, they could be highly relevant in the regular monitoring of gobiids along the inshore parts of rivers

Sturgeons in large rivers: detecting the near‑extinct needles in a haystack via eDNA metabarcoding from water samples

Sturgeon populations are declining worldwide and are the target of extensive conservation efforts. Addressed in several pieces of legislation, sturgeons have received considerable attention as flagship or umbrella species. Despite the need for a better understanding of the distribution and population status, the use of traditional sampling methods failed in the past, thereby hampering reliable assessments, a prerequisite for conservation. Here, we describe the development and application of an environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding approach for detecting rare sturgeons in large rivers. Exemplarily, we developed a reference database for five native Danube sturgeons (Acipenser stellatus, Acipenser gueldenstaedtii, Acipenser ruthenus, Acipenser nudiventris, and Huso huso) and two nonnative species (Acipenser baerii and Acipenser transmontanus), assessed these ex situ, and used eDNA as a detection tool along the entire length of the Danube (Europe, ~ 2850 km) and major tributaries. In ex situ analyses, all assays yielded positive amplifications for the assessed sturgeon species. In the Danube, the presence of A. ruthenus was confirmed at 14 of 29 sites (48.3%), and in 2 of 18 tributary sites (11.1%), providing the first comprehensive large-scale biogeographical snapshot of this species. Relative number of reads assigned to A. ruthenus varied between 0 and 2.5%, with sites registering positive detections being clustered in 3 sections of the Danube. Our findings enabled us to confirm the advantages of eDNA monitoring over traditional sampling methods for comprehensive whole-river snapshot studies of sturgeons conducted on a large geographical scale, and therefore we consider it to be a promising approach for application in conservation measures, fisheries management, scientific studies, and adaptive management plans for sturgeons on a global scale

Back from the Brink: The Holocene History of the Carpathian Barbel <i>Barbus carpathicus</i>

<div><p>As a result of specific adaptations and habitat preferences strongly rheophilic fish species may show high levels of endemism. Many temperate rheophilic fish species were subjected to a series of range contractions during the Pleistocene, and then successfully expanded during the Holocene, colonising previously abandoned areas. The Carpathian barbel (<i>Barbus carpathicus</i> Kotlík, Tsigenopoulos, Ráb et Berrebi 2002) occurs in the montane streams in three basins of the main Central European rivers in the northern part of the Carpathian range. We used genetic variation within 3 mitochondrial and 9 microsatellite loci to determine a pattern of postglacial expansion in <i>B. carpathicus</i>. We found that overall genetic variation within the species is relatively low. Estimate of time to the most recent common ancestor (tMRCA) of mitochondrial sequences falls within the Holocene. The highest levels of genetic variation found in upper reaches of the Tisa river in the Danube basin suggest that glacial refugia were located in the south-eastern part of the species range. Our data suggest that the species crossed different watersheds at least six times as three genetically distinct groups (probably established in different expansion episodes) were found in northern part of the species range. Clines of genetic variation were observed in both the Danube and Vistula basins, which probably resulted from subsequent bottlenecks while colonizing successive habitats (south eastern populations) or due to the admixture of genetically diverse individuals to a previously uniform population (Vistula basin). Therefore, <i>B. carpathicus</i> underwent both demographic breakdowns and expansions during the Holocene, showing its distribution and demography are sensitive to environmental change. Our findings are important in the light of the current human-induced habitats alterations.</p> </div

Spatial distribution of clusters detected in an assignment test performed in TESS.

<p>Solid green line – border between clusters when K = 2, dashed line – borders of the 3^rd cluster for K=3.</p

Statistical parsimony network of mitochondrial haplotypes, and the distribution of haplotypes in current range of <i>Barbus carpathicus</i>.

<p>Statistical parsimony network of mitochondrial haplotypes, and the distribution of haplotypes in current range of <i>Barbus carpathicus</i>.</p