The Effects of Climate Change on Harp Seals (Pagophilus groenlandicus)

Harp seals (Pagophilus groenlandicus) have evolved life history strategies to exploit seasonal sea ice as a breeding platform. As such, individuals are prepared to deal with fluctuations in the quantity and quality of ice in their breeding areas. It remains unclear, however, how shifts in climate may affect seal populations. The present study assesses the effects of climate change on harp seals through three linked analyses. First, we tested the effects of short-term climate variability on young-of-the year harp seal mortality using a linear regression of sea ice cover in the Gulf of St. Lawrence against stranding rates of dead harp seals in the region during 1992 to 2010. A similar regression of stranding rates and North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) index values was also conducted. These analyses revealed negative correlations between both ice cover and NAO conditions and seal mortality, indicating that lighter ice cover and lower NAO values result in higher mortality. A retrospective cross-correlation analysis of NAO conditions and sea ice cover from 1978 to 2011 revealed that NAO-related changes in sea ice may have contributed to the depletion of seals on the east coast of Canada during 1950 to 1972, and to their recovery during 1973 to 2000. This historical retrospective also reveals opposite links between neonatal mortality in harp seals in the Northeast Atlantic and NAO phase. Finally, an assessment of the long-term trends in sea ice cover in the breeding regions of harp seals across the entire North Atlantic during 1979 through 2011 using multiple linear regression models and mixed effects linear regression models revealed that sea ice cover in all harp seal breeding regions has been declining by as much as 6 percent per decade over the time series of available satellite data

Evaluating the Strange Situation Procedure (SSP) to Assess the Bond between Dogs and Humans

<div><p>The Strange Situation Procedure (SSP) is increasingly being used to study attachment between dogs and humans. It has been developed from the Ainsworth Strange Situation Procedure, which is used extensively to investigate attachment between children and their parents. In this experiment, 12 female beagle dogs were tested in two treatments to identify possible order effects in the test, a potential weakness in the SSP. In one treatment (FS), dogs participated together with a ‘familiar person’ and a ‘stranger’. In a control treatment (SS), the same dogs participated together with two unfamiliar people, ‘stranger A’ and ‘stranger B’. Comparisons were made between episodes within as well as between treatments. As predicted in FS, dogs explored more in the presence of the familiar person than the stranger. Importantly, they also explored more in the presence of stranger A (who appeared in the same order as the familiar person and followed the same procedure) than stranger B in SS. Furthermore, comparisons between treatments, where a familiar person was present in FS and stranger A was present in SS, showed no differences in exploration. In combination, these results indicate that the effect of a familiar person on dogs' exploratory behaviour, a key feature when assessing secure attachment styles, could not be tested reliably due to the order in which the familiar person and the stranger appear. It is proposed that in the future only counterbalanced versions of the SSP are used. Alternatively, since dogs reliably initiated more contact with the familiar person compared to the strangers, it is suggested that future studies on attachment in dogs towards humans should focus either on the behaviour of the dog in those episodes of the SSP when the person returns, or on reunion behaviour in other studies, specially designed to address dog-human interactions at this time.</p> </div

The level of physical contact with humans initiated by dog in both treatments.

<p>Time spent in physical contact with person (median proportion of sample points/episode presented together with 95% confidence intervals) during the whole test procedure (episodes (Ep) 1–6) in treatment FS and in treatment SS. F = familiar person, S = stranger, S_A = stranger A and S_B = stranger B.</p

A schematic representation of predictions.

<p>Closed boxes refer to episodes where either F (familiar person) or S (stranger) was present in the room in the FS (familiar stranger) treatment or S_A (stranger A) or S_B (stranger B) was present in the room in the SS (stranger stranger) treatment. The arrows indicate the comparisons that were made. According to our hypothesis, if the ASSP is a reliable method to use when assessing the bond between dogs and humans, dogs should <i>explore</i> (EXP) and <i>play</i> (PLAY) more in the presence of the familiar person and they should show more <i>proximity seeking behaviours</i> (PROX) towards the familiar person.</p

Exploration levels in both treatments during the test.

<p>Level of exploration (median proportion of sample points/episode presented together with 95% confidence intervals) across the whole test procedure (episode (Ep) 1–6) in treatment FS and treatment SS. F = familiar person, S = stranger, S_A = stranger A and S_B = stranger B.</p

Overview of the test area.

<p>The black lines represent the tape on the floor that divided the larger room (room 1) into five zones (1: Near entrance door, 2: Neutral zone, 3 and 4: familiar person's/S_A's zone and stranger's/S_B's zone each containing a chair, 5: Neutral zone containing a rope tug-toy). The entrance door is at the left hand side of the figure and there is a door between room 1 and room 2 shown to the right in the picture. Room 2 was empty and was available to the dogs from episode 4.</p

Episode description.

<p>Episode overview of the protocol used in treatments FS and SS where the dog, a familiar person (F) and a stranger (S) participated in treatment FS and the dog, stranger A (S_A) and stranger B (S_B) participated in treatment SS.</p

Proximity seeking behaviours.

<p>The median proportion of sample points/episode (lower; upper 95% confidence interval) of dogs being oriented towards the door and located near door during episodes 4 (dog alone) and 5 (familiar person present (in treatment FS) or stranger A present (in treatment SS)).</p

Understanding the impacts of anthropogenic sound on beaked whales.

Egy 2012-es egyetemi felmérés volt az alapja a kutatásomnak. Ezen felmérés célja az egyetemre érkező, elsőéves hallgatók informatikai ismereteinek, szokásainak tesztelése. Az itt kapott eredmények azt mutatják, hogy a tanulók nem ismerik a leggyakoribb beviteli eszközökkel, az egér és a billentyűzettel kapcsolatos terminológiát, továbbá nem tudatosan használják azokat. Azóta számos hipotézist állítottam fel és kerestem az okokat, mely mindezek hátterében állhatnak. Egyik ilyen feltételezés, miszerint az informatika tanárok nem rendelkeznek megfelelő szaktudással, illetve motivációval a tárgy oktatása kapcsán. Ennek köszönhetően készítettem egy kérdőívet, amely az informatikatanárok képzettségét, oktatási szokásait, módszereit vizsgálja. Az eredmények tudatában jogosan tehető fel a kérdés. Kiből lesz az informatikatanár?MSc/MAInformatika-könyvtárpedagógia taná