Seasonal effects on reconciliation in Macaca Fuscata Yakui

Dietary composition may have profound effects on the activity budgets, levelof food competition, and social behavior of a species. Similarly, in seasonally breeding species, the mating season is a period in which competition for mating partners increases, affecting amicable social interactions among group members. We analyzed the importance of the mating season and of seasonal variations in dietary composition and food competition on econciliation in wild female Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata yakui) on Yakushima Island, Japan. Yakushima macaques are appropriate subjects because they are seasonal breeders and their dietary composition significantly changes among the seasons. Though large differences occurred between the summer months and the winter and early spring months in activity budgets and the consumption of the main food sources, i.e., fruits, seeds, and leaves, the level of food competition and conciliatory tendency remained unaffected. Conversely,conciliatory tendency is significantly lower during the mating season than in the nonmating season. Moreover, conciliatory tendency is lower when 1 or both female opponents is in estrous than when they are not. Thus the mating season has profound effects on reconciliation, whereas seasonal changes in activity budgets and dietary composition do not. The detrimental effects of the mating season on female social relationships and reconciliation may be due to the importance of female competition for access to male partners in multimale, multifemale societies

TRY plant trait database – enhanced coverage and open access

Plant traits—the morphological, anatomical, physiological, biochemical and phenological characteristics of plants—determine how plants respond to environmental factors, affect other trophic levels, and influence ecosystem properties and their benefits and detriments to people. Plant trait data thus represent the basis for a vast area of research spanning from evolutionary biology, community and functional ecology, to biodiversity conservation, ecosystem and landscape management, restoration, biogeography and earth system modelling. Since its foundation in 2007, the TRY database of plant traits has grown continuously. It now provides unprecedented data coverage under an open access data policy and is the main plant trait database used by the research community worldwide. Increasingly, the TRY database also supports new frontiers of trait‐based plant research, including the identification of data gaps and the subsequent mobilization or measurement of new data. To support this development, in this article we evaluate the extent of the trait data compiled in TRY and analyse emerging patterns of data coverage and representativeness. Best species coverage is achieved for categorical traits—almost complete coverage for ‘plant growth form’. However, most traits relevant for ecology and vegetation modelling are characterized by continuous intraspecific variation and trait–environmental relationships. These traits have to be measured on individual plants in their respective environment. Despite unprecedented data coverage, we observe a humbling lack of completeness and representativeness of these continuous traits in many aspects. We, therefore, conclude that reducing data gaps and biases in the TRY database remains a key challenge and requires a coordinated approach to data mobilization and trait measurements. This can only be achieved in collaboration with other initiatives

No pain-no gain: The complex art of soft x-ray laser target design and analysis

We review our methodologies in the design and analysis of soft x-ray laser experiments. We convolve large-scale 2-D hydro code output with detailed atomic data bases in a kinetics code with 1-D or 2-D line transfer. The time and space dependent level population data is then post processed further with a beam transport code, including refraction, to predict actual experimental results. While mysteries do remain, we present many examples that show how this complex modeling procedure is crucial in explaining experimental results. 23 refs., 8 figs., 1 tab

Electron stimulated desorption of the metallic substrate at monolayer coverage: Sensitive detection via 193 nm laser photoionization of neutral aluminum desorbed from CH sub 3 O/Al(111)

A fortuitous overlap between the gain profile of the 193 nm ArF excimer laser and the Al autoionizing transition {sup 2}S{sub 1/2} (512753 cm{sup {minus}1}) {l arrow} {sup 2}P{sup 0}J has been exploited in the direct observation of substrate metal atoms in an electron simulated desorption (ESD) process from the monolayer adsorbate system CH{sub 3}O/Al(111). The identity of the mass 27 photoion was established as Al{sup +} by (1) isotopic substitution of {sup 13}C in the methanol employed for methoxy formation, and (2) tunable laser scans utilizing the {sup 2}DJ (J=3/2, 5/2) intermediate levels at {approximately}32436 cm{sup {minus}1} and a 248 nm ionization step. An ESD yield of {approximately}{times}10{sup {minus}6} Al atoms/(electron at 1 keV) was established by comparison with a sputtering experiment in the same apparatus. Velocity distributions measured for the desorbed Al species showed some differences in comparison with methoxy velocity data: a slightly lower peak velocity and a significantly less prominent high-velocity component. 10 refs., 4 figs

Velocity distribution of laser photoionized neutrals ejected from methanol-dosed aluminium(111) by electron-stimulated desorption

Nonresonant multiphoton ionization at 193 nm wavelength was employed for efficient detection of electron-stimulated neutral desorption from Al(111) dosed with methanol to produce monolayer methoxide coverage. Velocity spectra were measured by the flight time from the crystal surface to the focal region of the laser beam with a pulsed primary electron beam of 3 keV and the sample at 300 K. Either the C{sup +} or HCO{sup +} photofragment indicated the same non-Boltzmann velocity spectrum for the neutral parent precursor with a peak kinetic energy of {approximately}0.1 eV. Identical distributions were obtained when the cleaned crystal was pre-oxidized with O{sub 2} prior to methanol dosing. As the crystal temperature was raised, photoion signal from the HCO{sup +} fragment declined steadily, while C{sup +} increased until {approximately}550 K. The total cross section for loss of parent signal with dose of 3 keV electrons was measured to be 2{plus minus}1 {times} 10{sup {minus}17}cm{sup {minus}2}. 19 refs., 4 figs