Confronting ethical challenges in long-term research programs in the tropics

Ecologists and conservation biologists conducting long-term research programs in the tropics must confront serious ethical challenges that revolve around economic inequalities, cultural differences, supporting the local communities as much as possible, and sharing the knowledge produced by the research. In this collective article, researchers share their experiences and perspectives in dealing with the ethical issues that arise during research activities and cannot be ignored.Accepted manuscrip

Wild chimpanzees modify modality of gestures according to the strength of social bonds and personal network size

Primates form strong and enduring social bonds with others and these bonds have important fitness consequences. However, how different types of communication are associated with different types of social bonds is poorly understood. Wild chimpanzees have a large repertoire of gestures, from visual gestures to tactile and auditory gestures. We used social network analysis to examine the association between proximity bonds (time spent in close proximity) and rates of gestural communication in pairs of chimpanzees when the intended recipient was within 10 m of the signaller. Pairs of chimpanzees with strong proximity bonds had higher rates of visual gestures, but lower rates of auditory long-range and tactile gestures. However, individual chimpanzees that had a larger number of proximity bonds had higher rates of auditory and tactile gestures and lower rates of visual gestures. These results suggest that visual gestures may be an efficient way to communicate with a small number of regular interaction partners, but that tactile and auditory gestures may be more effective at communicating with larger numbers of weaker bonds. Increasing flexibility of communication may have played an important role in managing differentiated social relationships in groups of increasing size and complexity in both primate and human evolution

The effects of refuse-feeding on home-range use, group size, and intergroup encounters in the banded mongoose.

The effects of food availability and distribution on population dynamics have been the subject of numerous experimental studies, but no study has quantified the effects of a concentrated supplementary food supply on groups of a social carnivore. We investigated the effects of refuse-feeding at garbage dumps on banded mongoose (Mungos mungo) groups. Garbage dumps represent a reliable, concentrated source of food. Data were collected from three refuse and seven nonrefuse-feeding groups in Queen Elizabeth National Park, Uganda. Groups were located using radiotelemetry, and home-range size and use, group size and population density, and intergroup encounter rate were analysed. Although refuse-feeding groups had home ranges similar in size to those of nonrefuse-feeding groups, their home-range use was more concentrated and their core areas always included the available predictable garbage dumps. Two of the three refuse-feeding groups were larger and denser than other groups. The two groups that shared the same garbage dump had significantly higher intergroup encounter rates than all other groups and their encounters occurred at the shared dump

Why chimpanzee ( Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii ) mothers are less gregarious than nonmothers and males: the infant safety hypothesis.

Socialization of young is an important component of maternal care in social mammals. It is therefore perplexing that female chimpanzees with dependent offspring spend more time alone than females without dependent offspring, and than males. We propose that chimpanzee mothers are less gregarious than nonmothers and males to reduce the risk of injury that aggressive males pose to their offspring. We predict that mothers will associate less with males, associate with fewer males, and reduce mother?infant proximity in the presence of males, and that these effects will reduce with increasing offspring age. We test whether the pattern of gregariousness and mother?offspring proximity support these predictions in the Kanyawara chimpanzee community in Uganda. The probability that a female was found in the presence of males was lower for mothers than nonmothers and increased with offspring age. The probability that a female was found with other females did not differ between mothers and nonmothers. Mother-to-offspring distance was higher when a mother was in an all-female group than in a mixed-sex group and increased with her offspring's age. Mother-to-offspring distance was greatest when there were relatively low numbers of males and relatively high numbers of females in a subgroup. We propose that mothers avoid grouping with males because of the vulnerability of their young, and that the presence of males in a subgroup increases a female's protectiveness of her young. We discuss the implications of our findings and the relevance of fission?fusion group formation to chimpanzee mothers

Caregivers recognize and bias response towards individual young in a cooperative breeding mammal, the banded mongoose

In research on parental care and cooperative breeding an issue is whether caregivers recognize individual young and therefore preferentially care for those young that will maximize inclusive fitness gains. This field study experimentally evaluates whether caregivers within groups of the cooperative breeding banded mongoose (a communal breeding species that produces litters of mixed parentage) exhibit individual recognition and increased responsiveness to the pup to which they are normally associated within a stable escort–pup pairing. A focal pup was presented to its group under controlled circumstances following temporary removal. The focal escort of a specific pup was more responsive to controlled presentation of that pup than other adults (a control escort, other escorts and non-escorts), spending a greater amount of time in close proximity. This study therefore demonstrates individual recognition and increased responsiveness by adult caregivers to associated pups in the banded mongoose. Thus, caregivers may selectively provide care for specific young within a litter, potentially increasing their inclusive fitness

Immunostaining score of DU145 cells (panel A) and SKOV3 cells (panel B) after fixation in 10% NBF for 5 min, 684 hrs or 12 hrs plus 672 hrs in 70% ethanol and stained for PCNA, cytokeratins AE1/AE3 and EGFr.

<p>Data from are from three replicate experiments. Error bars are standard deviations (SD) with <i>n</i> = 3. * <i>p</i> value<0.01.</p

The effects of immunostaining tumor tissue after fixation with alcohol based fixatives compared with 10% NBF.

<p>The specimens were in the various fixatives for 18 to 36</p

Panels I, II and III represent immunostaining for PCNA (×200), cytokeratins AE1/AE3 (×200) and EGFr (×400) respectively of DU145 cells after fixation in 10% NBF for 5 min (A), 684 hrs (B) or 12 hrs followed by transfer to 70% ethanol for 672 hrs (C).

<p>Panels I, II and III represent immunostaining for PCNA (×200), cytokeratins AE1/AE3 (×200) and EGFr (×400) respectively of DU145 cells after fixation in 10% NBF for 5 min (A), 684 hrs (B) or 12 hrs followed by transfer to 70% ethanol for 672 hrs (C).</p