The effect of hunger on the acoustic individuality in begging calls of a colonially breeding weaver bird

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In colonially breeding birds, the ability to discriminate between individuals is often essential. During post-fledging care, parents have to recognize their own offspring among many other unrelated chicks in the breeding colony. It is well known that fledglings and food-provisioning parents of many bird species use contact calls to convey their identity. These calls are also often used as hunger-related signals of need in young birds. Here, we investigate how such calls incorporate signals of need and at the same time act as reliable indicators of each chick's identity.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In a field study, we experimentally manipulated the hunger level of colonially breeding Jackson's golden-backed weaver (<it>Ploceus jacksoni</it>) nestlings close to fledging and investigated its effects on acoustic call parameters. Some acoustic parameters that were related to the time-frequency pattern showed high individuality and were largely unaffected by a nestling's state of hunger. However, the majority of call parameters were significantly affected by hunger. Interestingly, most of these acoustic parameters showed both consistent changes with hunger and high between-individual differences, i.e. potential for individual recognition.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The results indicate that individual recognition processes can be based on static, hunger-independent call parameters, but also on dynamic hunger-related parameters that show high individuality. Furthermore, these signal properties suggest that the assessment of signals of need can be improved if the signal value is referenced to a chick's vocal spectrum.</p

Modélisation des transformations de phase à l'état solide dans les aciers et application au traitement thermique par induction

In the first part of this work a comprehensive model of the continuous hardening of 3D-axisymmetric steel components by induction heating has been developed. In the model, the Maxwell and heat flow equations are solved using a mixed numerical formulation : the inductor and the workpiece are enmeshed with finite elements (FE) but boundary elements (BE) are used for the solution of the electromagnetic equations in the ambient air. This method allows the inductor to be moved with respect to the workpiece without any remeshing procedure. The heat flow equation is solved for the workpiece using the same FE mesh. For the thermal boundary conditions, a net radiation method has been implemented to account for grey diffuse bodies and the viewing factors of the element facets are calculated using a "shooting" technique. These calculations have been coupled to a metallurgical model describing the solid state transformations that occur during both heating and cooling. From the local thermal history, the evolution of the various phase fractions are predicted from TTT-diagrams using an additivity principle. A micro-enthalpy method has been implemented in the heat flow calculations in order to account for the latent heat released by the various transformations. At each time step, the local properties of the material, in particular its magnetic permeability, are updated according to the new temperatures and magnetic field. Special attention has been taken for the description of the boundary conditions associated with the water spraying below the inductor. The heat transfer coefficient has been deduced from the inverse modelling of temperatures measured at various locations of a test piece. This preliminary work has been complemented with measurements of the magnetic permeability of the 42CrMo4 steel from which the workpieces are made. This part of the study also includes dilatometric measurements for the verification of the additivity principle used in the simulation. The model has been applied to three cases of increasing complexity : induction stream heating of a steel cylinder without quenching, stream quenching of a steel cylinder and, finally, stream quenching of a non-cylindrical workpiece. The results of the simulation have been compared with experimental cooling curves, microstructures and hardness profiles. In the second part of this work, the phase transformations that occur in hypoeutectoid steels during heating have been investigated at the scale of the microstructure according to a microscopic approach. Several models have been developed in order to describe the various steps of the austenitisation process : (i) pearlite dissolution, (ii) transformation of ferrite into austenite and homogenization, (iii) grain growth in austenite. In a first approach, each step has been modeled separately. The dissolution of pearlite has been described using a two-dimensional finite element model with a deforming mesh and a remeshing procedure. The diffusion equation has been solved in austenite (γ) for a typical domain representative of a periodic structure of ferrite (α) and cementite (θ) lamellae. The α/γ and θ/γ interfaces are allowed to move with respect to the local equilibrium condition, including curvature effects via the Gibbs-Thompson coefficient. The model has been used to predict the concentration field and the shape of the interface at different stages of the pearlite dissolution. Maps representing the steady state dissolution rate as a function of the temperature and lamellae spacing have been obtained for small values of overheating. The appearance of a non-steady state regime at higher temperature has been discussed. The transformation of ferrite into austenite has been described using a pseudo-front tracking finite volume approach for solving the diffusion equation in a 1D, 2D or 3D domain. At the start of the computation, the volume is made of ferritic particles and austenitic zones resulting from the pearlite dissolution. The model allows to calculate the kinetics of the phase transformation as a function of the temperature and the initial microstructure. Although the comparison of the transformation kinetics with experimental results was quite satisfactory, it appeared that the calculated kinetics were slightly slower. This effect has been attributed to the other alloying elements which are contained in the Ck45 steel used for the experiments. This discrepancy has also been explained by a stereological effect which is due to the calculation in a 2D section instead of a 3D domain as demonstrated by a comparison of 2D and 3D simulations. The austenitic grain growth has been described with two models based respectively on a Monte Carlo technique and a mechanical approach. A methodology for obtaining a correspondence between the simulation time scale and real time has been presented and applied to the Ck45 steel. The value of the exponent n of the grain growth law d = Κ t1/n (where d is the mean diameter and t the time) has been determined for both models. The mechanical model (n=2) turned out to describe perfectly the case of normal grain growth as it occurs in liquid-gas systems. However the results of the Monte Carlo simulation (n=2.3) are in better agreement with the non-ideal behaviour of the Ck45 steel. The influence of the impurities and particles which are present in real materials should be taken into account in both models if a more quantitative agreement is to be obtained. Finally, a combined model coupling the various steps of the austenitisation process has been proposed. It allowed to show that the assumption consisting in dividing the process in three separate steps is valid in most cases. This combined model is a first attempt for a comprehensive modelling of the austenitisation process

Condition-dependent signaling affects male sexual attractiveness in field crickets, Gryllus campestris

The condition dependence of sexually selected traits is an important assumption of sexual selection theory. Several laboratory studies have documented a positive relationship between food availability, body condition, and sexual display. However, these studies might not reflect the resource allocation between body maintenance, reserves, and the sexually selected trait under natural conditions. Further, the effect of condition-dependent signaling on female mate choice has hardly been investigated experimentally in the field. We therefore investigated the effect of food availability on body condition, calling behavior, and sexual attractiveness of male field crickets, Gryllus campestris, under field conditions. Food availability was manipulated for individual males by supplementing food in a confined area close to the burrow. Food-supplemented males showed a significant increase in body condition, whereas the opposite was found in the control males. Males receiving extra food called more frequently, whereas the calling-song characteristics were not affected by the treatment. Further, food-supplemented males attracted more females than did control males, and their higher attractiveness was partly explained by their superior calling rate. Our study thus indicates condition-dependent signaling as an important determinant of the sexual attractiveness of males to females under natural conditio

Disentangling the spatial and temporal causes of decline in a bird population

The difficulties in understanding the underlying reasons of a population decline lie in the typical short duration of field studies, the often too small size already reached by a declining population or the multitude of environmental factors that may influence population trend. In this difficult context, useful demographic tools such as integrated population models (IPM) may help disentangling the main reasons for a population decline. To understand why a hoopoe Upupa epops population has declined, we followed a three step model analysis. We built an IPM structured with respect to habitat quality (approximated by the expected availability of mole crickets, the main prey in our population) and estimated the contributions of habitat-specific demographic rates to population variation and decline. We quantified how much each demographic rate has decreased and investigated whether habitat quality influenced this decline. We tested how much weather conditions and research activities contributed to the decrease in the different demographic rates. The decline of the hoopoe population was mainly explained by a decrease in first-year apparent survival and a reduced number of fledglings produced, particularly in habitats of high quality. Since a majority of pairs bred in habitats of the highest quality, the decrease in the production of locally recruited yearlings in high-quality habitat was the main driver of the population decline despite a homogeneous drop of recruitment across habitats. Overall, the explanatory variables we tested only accounted for 19% of the decrease in the population growth rate. Among these variables, the effects of spring temperature (49% of the explained variance) contributed more to population decline than spring precipitation (36%) and research activities (maternal capture delay, 15%). This study shows the power of IPMs for identifying the vital rates involved in population declines and thus paves the way for targeted conservation and management actions

Varying Responses of Invertebrates to Biodynamic, Organic and Conventional Viticulture

Peer reviewe

Modeling the effects of grassland management intensity on biodiversity

A growing food demand and advanced agricultural techniques increasingly affect farmland ecosystems, threatening invertebrate populations with cascading effects along the food chain upon insectivorous vertebrates. Supporting farmland biodiversity thus optimally requires the delineation of species hotspots at multiple trophic levels to prioritize conservation management. The goal of this study was to investigate the links between grassland management intensity and orthopteran density at the field scale and to upscale this information to the landscape in order to guide management action at landscape scale. More specifically, we investigated the relationships between grassland management intensity, floral indicator species, and orthopteran abundance in grasslands with different land use in the SW Swiss Alps. Field vegetation surveys of indicator plant species were used to generate a management intensity proxy, to which field assessments of orthopterans were related. Orthopteran abundance showed a hump-shaped response to management intensity, with low values in intensified, nutrient-rich grasslands and in nutrient-poor, xeric grasslands, while it peaked in middle-intensity grasslands. Combined with remote-sensed data about grassland gross primary productivity, the above proxy was used to build landscapewide, spatially explicit projections of the potential distribution of orthopteran-rich grasslands as possible foraging grounds for insectivorous vertebrates. This spatially explicit multitrophic approach enables the delineation of focal farmland areas in order to prioritize conservation action

Labolmage: a workstation environment for research in image processing and analysis

Numerous images are produced daily in biomedical research. In order to extract relevant and useful results, various processing and analysis steps are mandatory. The present paper describes a new, powerful and user-friendly image analysis system: Labolmage. In addition to standard image processing modules, Labolmage also contains various specialized tools. These multiple processing modules and tools are first introduced. A one-dimensional gel analysis method is then described. The new concept of ‘normalized virtual one-dimensional gel' is introduced, making comparisons between gels particularly easy. This normalized gel is obtained by compensating for the bending of the lanes automatically; no information loss is incurred in the process. Finally, the model of interaction in a multi-window environment is discussed. Labolmage is designed to run in two ways: interactively, using menus and panels; and in batch mode by means of user-defined macros. Examples are given to illustrate the potentialities of the softwar

Multiphase-Field Modeling of Micropore Formation in Metallic Alloys

A 3D phase-field (PhF) model has been developed to study the formation of micropores constrained to grow within a well-developed solid network. The model accounts for the equilibrium condition at triple (solid-liquid-pore) lines and the partitioning of dissolved gases. Growth of a micropore in a representative volume element taken from X-ray tomography was simulated, which offered the possibility to study the pore evolution in temporal and spatial resolutions that are not possible in experiments

Solute trapping-free massive transformation at absolute stability

Directional transformation of a hypo-peritectic Fe–17.5 at.% Co alloy was studied. Two consecutive phase transformations—solidification (liquid to delta ferrite) and solid-state transformation (δ ferrite to γ austenite)—were observed and compared with theory. In all experiments, the solidification front was planar and in the steady-state, and therefore produced a homogeneous parent phase for the following δ–γ transformation. Depending on the growth conditions, γ transformed from δ as cells or as a plane front. The cell tip radius decreased with growth rate from V = 1–5 μm s−1. At higher velocities, between 7 and 10 μm s−1, the δ/γ interface morphology became planar. In order to explain this morphological transition, volume diffusion-controlled plane front growth and dendrite growth theory was applied. Good agreement was obtained between theory and experiments. It is concluded that plane front stabilization with increasing velocity is due to absolute stability, with a concentration spike at the transformation front. In the steady-state, this leads to composition invariance, typical for massive transformation. Computed interface velocities for quenching in heat treatment, which can be as high as several centimeters per second, show that, in certain cases, the controlling mechanism of massive transformation is steady-state plane front growth with a narrow concentration spike and not complete solute trapping

Thermodynamic assessment of the Cu-Ge binary system

The Cu-Ge binary system was assessed thermodynamically using the CALPHAD method through Thermocalc (R) software package based on the evaluation of all available experimental data from the published literature. The solution phases, including liquid, fcc, hcp and diamond (Ge), were described by the substitutional solution model, of which the excess Gibbs energies were expressed with the Redlich-Kister polynomial. Due to their narrow homogeneity ranges, all intermetallic compounds, epsilon-Cu0.765Ge0.235, theta-Cu0.735Ge0.265 and eta-Cu0.75Ge0.25, were modeled as stoichiometric compounds. A set of self-consistent thermodynamic parameters formulating the Gibbs energies of various phases in the Cu-Ge binary system was obtained finally. A good agreement is achieved between the calculated results and the reported experimental data. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved