Presence of kin-biased social associations in a lizard with no parental care: the eastern water dragon (Intellagama lesueurii)

Numerous studies have observed kin-biased social associations in a variety of species. Many of these studies have focused on species exhibiting parental care, which may facilitate the transmission of the social environment from parents to offspring. This becomes problematic when disentangling whether kin-biased associations are driven by kin recognition, or are a product of transmission of the social environment during ontogeny, or a combination of both. Studying kin-biased associations in systems that lack parental care may aid in addressing this issue. Furthermore, when studying kin-biased social associations, it is important to differentiate whether these originate from preferential choice or occur randomly as a result of habitat use or limited dispersal. Here, we combined high-resolution single-nucleotide polymorphism data with a long-term behavioral data set of a reptile with no parental care to demonstrate that eastern water dragons (Intellagama lesueurii) bias their nonrandom social associations toward their kin. In particular, we found that although the overall social network was not linked to genetic relatedness, individuals associated with kin more than expected given availability in space and also biased social preferences toward kin. This result opens important opportunities for the study of kinship-driven associations without the confounding effect of vertical transmission of social environments. Furthermore, we present a robust multiple-step approach for determining whether kin-biased social associations are a result of active social decisions or random encounters resulting from habitat use and dispersal patterns

Eastern water dragons modify their social tactics with respect to the location within their home range

Animals may modify their behaviour towards conspecifics to manage social conflict that arises due to group living. Given that social conflict is likely to vary through space, we would expect individuals to adjust their social behaviour, accordingly, across their home range. This, however, remains to be explicitly investigated. Here, we used a longitudinal behavioural data set on eastern water dragons, Intellagama lesueurii, a social reptile, to investigate the extent to which social tactics (individual patterns of long-term social preferences and avoidances) vary across individuals' home ranges. We found that expression of both social tactics increased within the core home range, which also coincided with increased population density and frequency of agonistic displays. Furthermore, we found that the magnitude of this spatial behavioural shift was sex dependent, with females exhibiting a greater increase in both social tactics than males. Together, our results illustrate that dragons modify their social tactics across space, highlighting the importance of accounting for the spatial dimension when studying social behaviour. Our observations further suggest that spatial social plasticity may be key to balancing costs associated with increased social conflict. We encourage new studies to test this link, which may provide important insight into the adaptive significance of spatial social plasticity

Enviro_data_master

File includes environmental variables for Eastern Water Dragon nests and randomly sampled points at Roma Street Parklands. Data is displayed as follows: Nest (1 = presence, 0 = absence), ID of nest or random point, latitude, longitude, compass aspect of the point or nest sampled, slope in degrees, canopy cover, soil compactness (kg/cm), soil type of the nest, top soil, mother of the nest (if known), and season the nest was collected

Maternal_excursions

File includes data for maternal excursions for Eastern Water Dragons at Roma Street Parklands. Data is as follows: ID of nest, maternal ID, total area of mothers 95% KUD (home range), proportion of sand in that home range, proportion of loam in that home range, number of points sampled in home range, number of loam points sampled in home range, number of sand points sampled in home range, nest soil type, excursion behaviour of mother (1 = nesting excursion, 0 = no excursion), length of the excursion, log transformed length of excursion, and log10 transformed length

nest depth

Includes nest depth measurements for Eastern Water Dragons at Roma street Parklands over 2016-2017 nesting seasons

Clutch size

Nesting data from 2016-2017 from Eastern Water Dragons at Roma Street Parklands. File includes Nest (1 presence), name of the nest, latitude, longitude, slope measured in degrees, canopy cover, soil compactness (kg/cm), soil type, top soil type, clutch size, mother of the clutch (if known), and season nest was found

European badger habitat requirements in the Netherlands – combining ecological niche models with neighbourhood analysis

European badger populations in the Netherlands suffered strong declines in the 1900s, becoming endangered in the 1980s. Despite mitigation actions, recovery of the population has been slow. Here, we use ecological niche modelling, relating 1515 badger sett (burrow) localities to data on topographic, groundwater table, soil type and land-cover variables, to investigate the factors defining badger habitat suitability. Niche modelling of mobile animals such as badgers is challenging, as relevant features that determine habitat suitability surrounding animal sightings or burrow locations are often unaccounted for. In this study, habitat properties of the entire home range of individuals were incorporated via neighbourhood analysis on land-cover variables. The neighbourhood analysis was applied at different spatial scales, to assess maximum model fit at the scale most representative of badger home-range area in the Netherlands, which was approximately 3.6 km2. Our results showed that marine and river clay render highly unsuitable habitat for badgers. Grassland and maize crops presence, typically reported as driving factors, had little effect on badger distribution in the Netherlands. Instead, moderate vegetation cover, remoteness from urban infrastructures and low groundwater tables resulted in optimal conditions. We conclude that food availability is not a limiting factor for badgers in the Netherlands, but rather appropriate soil conditions for sett digging and non-urban landscapes with sufficient cover for hideout determine their distribution. Our predictions indicate suitable areas that are not currently colonized. The results presented have important implications for management and conservation strategies in the Netherlands. Furthermore, we provide a useful general approach for niche modelling of mobile animals

Data from: Maternal nesting behaviour in city dragons: a species with temperature-dependent sex determination

Urban environments present some of the greatest challenges to species survival. This is particularly true for species that exhibit thermally sensitive traits, such as temperature-dependent sex determination (TSD). This is because urban environments not only present species with entirely novel ecosystems, but species will also experience increased temperatures. These temperature increases may result not only in offspring mortality, but also skewed population sex ratios. To persist in cities, urban dwellers with TSD will therefore need to adjust the temperature of the nesting environment, either through phenotypic plasticity or rapid evolution through natural selection. Here, we investigate the nesting ecology of a long-lived, urban dwelling reptile, the eastern water dragon (Intellagama lesueurii), to understand how a TSD species may respond to urban environments. Based on data collected from 72 nests over 2 nesting seasons, we show that city dragons not only dug significantly deeper nests than previously observed across their natural riparian habitat, but also nested in novel substrates. Furthermore, we observed a behaviour not previously described in this species, where mothers travel outside of their core home range to nest. This excursion behaviour potentially represents a greater maternal investment and is linked to the selection of specific microhabitats

Until the Last Fallen Soldieris Buried : The Second World War, Remembrance and Community in St Petersburg and Leningrad oblast

Avhandlingen undersöker minnespraktiker kring andra världskriget i S:t Petersburg med omnejd, en stad som under namnet Leningrad 1941–44 var belägrad av tyskarna i över två år. På fronterna runt den omringade staden rasade under drygt två år hårda strider. Skogarna och myrarna där är fortfarande fulla av spår av kriget och marken gömmer kvarlevor av de soldater som fick sätta livet till under striderna. Avhandlingens empiriska fokus är den rörelse som arbetar för att dessa soldater till slut ska få en begravning och kunna identifieras. I avhandlingen speglas olika aspekter av verksamheten: vikten av ett namn, begravningarna, gemensamhetsskapandet, platsen och krigets spår i landskapet. Sökandet sätts också in i en större samhällelig kontext. Minnet av kriget är en viktig källa till stolthet i Ryssland, och segerdagen 9 maj har hög officiell status och stor folklig uppslutning. Det stora lidandet och uppoffringen bidrar till att göra kriget heligt, både då och nu. Det finns en föreställning om att de nu levande har skyldigheter mot det förflutna – en plikt att minnas. Sökarbetet är en komplex kamp mellan identifikation med och kritik av bärande nationella myter. Avhandlingen utforskar spänningsfältet minne och glömska och undersöker hur minnet av andra världskriget får bestående och ritualiserad mening, samt hur meningsskapandet förändras över tid och i olika sammanhang.In this dissertation commemorative practices in St Petersburg and Leningrad oblast relating to the Second World War are investigated. The city of Leningrad was besieged by the Germans for more than two years 1941–44 and on the fronts around the city raged fierce battles. The woods and bogs here are still full of traces from the war, and the ground hides the remains of fallen soldiers. The empirical focus of the dissertation is the Russian voluntary movement working to find, bury, and if possible identify these soldiers. Different aspects of the activity are investigated: the importance of a name, the funerals, community building, the place, and the traces of war in the landscape. The search for fallen soldiers is related to a wider societal context. The war is an important source of national pride in Russia, and Victory Day May 9th is a holiday with high official status as well as popular enthusiasm. The suffering and sacrifice from the war contributes to making it sacred, both then and now. There is a widespread idea that the now living have obligations to the past – a duty to remember. The search activity is a complex struggle between identification with and critique of national myths. The dissertation explores the tension between memory and forgetting, and investigates how the memory of the Second World War is imbued with lasting and ritualised meaning, and how meaning is changed over time and in different contexts