Altruistic Worker Policing in Honey Bees, A Multi-Level Approach

Dissertação de mestrado em Exercício e Saúde em Populações Especiais, apresentada à Faculdade de Ciências do Desporto e Educação Física da Universidade de CoimbraAs atitudes dos alunos face à inclusão de alunos com deficiência nas aulas de educação física surgem como um estudo importante, trazendo desta forma informações vantajosas para a inclusão e por sua vez para o sucesso educativo. Os objetivos principais deste estudo centram-se em investigar as atitudes dos alunos face à inclusão de alunos com deficiência nas aulas de Educação física, e a influência das variáveis “género “presença de colegas da turma com deficiência nas aulas de educação física”, “ano de escolaridade. A amostra é constituída por 458 alunos do ensino regular, da região centro, a frequentarem o 6º ano e o 12º ano de escolaridade, sendo 227 do sexo feminino e 231 do sexo masculino, com idades compreendidas entre 10 e 19 anos (M=14,03; DP=2,25) O instrumento utilizado na recolha de dados para medir as atitudes dos alunos face à inclusão foi o questionário Children‘s Attitudes Towards Integrated Physical Education- Revised (CAIPE-R), Block, 1995, traduzido e adaptado para a população portuguesa por Campos, Ferreira e Block (2013) composta por duas sub escalas de atitudes gerais face às aulas de educação física e atitudes face à alteração de regras. Do presente estudo podemos aferir que relativamente à variável género, as atitudes globais dos alunos do sexo feminino, nas aulas de EF são mais favoráveis face à inclusão de alunos com deficiência, a presença de colegas com deficiência nas aulas de educação física têm atitudes mais favoráveis face à atitude global e o ano de escolaridade, podemos afirmar que os alunos com nível de escolaridade mais baixo apresentam atitudes menos favoráveis face á atitude global e face á alteração das regras. Os resultados obtidos levaram-nos a concluir que de uma forma geral os alunos têm uma melhor atitude face à inclusão de alunos com deficiência nas aulas de EF do que relativamente à alteração de regras. The attitudes towards the inclusion of students with disabilities in physical education appear as an important study, bringing useful information for inclusion and by its time for educational success. The main purposes of this study focuses on investigating the attitudes of students towards the inclusion of peers with disabilities in physical education classes, and ascertain the influence of variables such as, "gender", "presence of classmates with disabilities in physical education classes", and "school grade level". Participants were 458 students, 227 females and 231 males from the central region, of Portugal, at the 6th grade and 12th grade levels,their ages varied between 10 and 19 years old (M=14,03;SM=2,25) The instrument used for collecting data to measure student attitudes towards inclusion was the questionnaire, Children's Attitudes Towards Integrated Physical Education - Revised (CAIPE-R), Block, (1995), translated and adapted for the Portuguese population by Campos, Ferreira and Block (2013). From this study we can infer that, regarding the gender variable, the overall attitudes of female students, in physical education classes, are more favorable towards inclusion of students with disabilities, the presence of classmates with disabilities in physical education classes, have more favorable attitudes with regard to overall attitude and grade level. We can affirm that students at lower grade levels have less favorable attitudes regarding overall attitude and changing the rules. Our results led us to conclude that students have a relatively better attitude towards the inclusion of students with disabilities in physical education classes than toward changing the rules

Digging beneath the surface: incipient nest characteristics across three species of harvester ant that differ in colony founding strategy

Ants exhibit a size-associated colony founding trait that is characterized by the degree to which foundresses rely on internal reserves to raise their first brood of workers (claustrality). The reliance on stored reserves is positively correlated with degree of claustrality (claustral > facultative > semi-claustral) and is variable across species of Pogonomyrmex harvester ants. Three species of harvester ant foundresses that differ in degree of claustrality were observed initiating nests under laboratory conditions over 2 years. P. rugosus is fully claustral, P. salinus is facultative, and P. californicus is semi-claustral. Across species, degree of claustrality was positively associated with mean digging rate and nest depth over the first 3 days of nest initiation, total nest depth, and degree of nest closure. Branching and abundance of peripheral nodes were higher in semi-claustral and facultative nests than in claustral nests. The facultative species dug for the longest time and achieved the greatest tunnel length. Within each species, there were trends associating mass with digging rate, but these were not consistent in all species. There were no intraspecific trends of mass with nest depth. Also within species, a foundress’s mass did not affect her tendency to open or close her nest. These results reveal degree of claustrality is correlated across species with several nest initiation characteristics that together may represent different colony founding syndromes

Dynamics of social queues

Queues formed by social wasps to inherit the dominant position in the nest are analyzed by using a transient quasi-birth-and-death (QBD) process. We show that the extended nest lifespan due to division of labor between queen and helpers has a big impact on nest productivity

Mechanisms of mouse spleen dendritic cell function in the generation of influenza-specific, cytolytic T lymphocytes

We have evaluated the capacity of dendritic ceUs to function as antigen-presenting cells (APCs) for influenza and have examined their mechanism of action. Virus-pulsed dendritic cells were 100 times more efficent than bulk spleen ceUs in stimulating cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) formation. The induction of CTLs required neither exogenous lymphokines nor APCs in the responding T cell population. Infectious virus entered dendritic cells through intraceUular acidic vacuoles and directed the synthesis of several viral proteins. If ultravidet (UV)-inactivated or bromdain-treated viruses were used, viral protein synthesis could not be detected, and there was poor induction of CTLs. This indicated that dendritic cells were not capable of processing noninfectious virus onto major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I molecules. However, UV-inactivated and bromdain-treated viruses were presented efficently to class II-restricted CD4+ T ceils. The CD4+ T cells crossreacted with different strains of influenza and markedly amplified CTL formation. Cell lines that lacked MHC class II, and consequently the capacity to stimulate CD4+ T cells, failed to induce CTLs unless hdper lymphokines were added. Similarly, dendritic cells pulsed with the MHC class I-restricted nucleoprotdn 147-155 peptide were poor stimulators in the absence of exogenous hdper factors. We condude that the function of dendritic cells as APCs for the generation of virus-spedfic CTLs in vitro depends measurably upon: (a) charging class I molecules with peptides derived from endogenously synthesized viral antigens, and (b) stimulating a strong CD4+ helper T cell response

Wolbachia Horizontal Transmission Events in Ants: What Do We Know and What Can We Learn?

While strict vertical transmission insures the durability of intracellular symbioses, phylogenetic incongruences between hosts and endosymbionts suggest horizontal transmission must also occur. These horizontal acquisitions can have important implications for the biology of the host. Wolbachia is one of the most ecologically successful prokaryotes in arthropods, infecting an estimated 50–70% of all insect species. Much of this success is likely due to the fact that, in arthropods, Wolbachia is notorious for manipulating host reproduction to favor transmission through the female germline. However, its natural potential for horizontal transmission remains poorly understood. Here we evaluate the fundamental prerequisites for successful horizontal transfer, including necessary environmental conditions, genetic potential of bacterial strains, and means of mediating transfers. Furthermore, we revisit the relatedness of Wolbachia strains infecting the Panamanian leaf-cutting ant, Acromyrmex echinatior, and its inquiline social parasite, Acromyrmex insinuator, and compare our results to a study published more than 15 years ago by Van Borm et al. (2003). The results of this pilot study prompt us to reevaluate previous notions that obligate social parasitism reliably facilitates horizontal transfer and suggest that not all Wolbachia strains associated with ants have the same genetic potential for horizontal transmission

Diversity and Relatedness Enhance Survival in Colour Polymorphic Grasshoppers

Evolutionary theory predicts that different resource utilization and behaviour by alternative phenotypes may reduce competition and enhance productivity and individual performance in polymorphic, as compared with monomorphic, groups of individuals. However, firm evidence that members of more heterogeneous groups benefit from enhanced survival has been scarce or lacking. Furthermore, benefits associated with phenotypic diversity may be counterbalanced by costs mediated by reduced relatedness, since closely related individuals typically are more similar. Pygmy grasshoppers (Tetrix subulata) are characterized by extensive polymorphism in colour pattern, morphology, behaviour and physiology. We studied experimental groups founded by different numbers of mothers and found that survival was higher in low than in high density, that survival peaked at intermediate colour morph diversity in high density, and that survival was independent of diversity in low density where competition was less intense. We further demonstrate that survival was enhanced by relatedness, as expected if antagonistic and competitive interactions are discriminately directed towards non-siblings. We therefore also performed behavioural observations and staged encounters which confirmed that individuals recognized and responded differently to siblings than to non-siblings. We conclude that negative effects associated with competition are less manifest in diverse groups, that there is conflicting selection for and against genetic diversity occurring simultaneously, and that diversity and relatedness may facilitate the productivity and ecological success of groups of interacting individuals