Mental health and well-being in primatology: Breaking the taboos

We hope to raise awareness of mental health and well-being among primatologists. With this aim in mind, we organized a workshop on mental health as part of the main program of the Winter meeting of the Primate Society of Great Britain in December 2021. The workshop was very well received. Here, we review the main issues raised in the workshop, and supplement them with our own observations, reflections, and reading. The information we gathered during the workshop reveals clear hazards to mental health and suggests that we must collectively acknowledge and better manage both the hazards themselves and our ability to cope with them if we are to avert disaster. We call on institutions and learned societies to lead in seeking solutions for the benefit of primatologists and primatology.     

Drivers affecting habitat use in Afrotropical hipposiderid and pteropodid bats

Assessing how bats respond to habitat attributes requires an integrative approach to reliably predict direct community-level effects. We focused on hipposiderid and pteropodid bats because of their diverse resource use patterns, body size ranges, and dispersal abilities. We combined an array of bat species-level characteristics with key forest stand characteristics that may covary with habitat use. Twelve stations were sampled in the Lomami and Yangambi landscapes, Democratic Republic of the Congo. We investigated whether species-level flight ability of bats and forest stand characteristics can affect bat commuting flights and community-level estimates of both species detection and habitat occupancy. We captured bats for 108 trap-nights. Three sampling events (early evening, middle of the night, and early morning) were replicated for each survey night. Hipposiderids showed an early evening flight peak, while flight activity of pteropodids was constant throughout the night, but increased around the middle of the night. Species capture probability decreased with higher wing loading in hipposiderids and was negatively correlated with higher wing aspect ratio in pteropodids. Forest occupancy of hipposiderids increased along the gradient towards waterways, while pteropodid occurrence was not directly linked to measured forest stand variables. This suggests a consequence of habitat patterns at larger spatial scales, which would need clarifying through additional data collection. We discuss these findings in terms of resource-use strategies of clutter-tolerant and clutter-intolerant species. We argue that the occurrence of specific bat species and their habitat use patterns can serve as surrogate measures of ecosystem health.     

Nutrition, aspects of land use and environment in medieval times in southern Germany: plant macro-remain analysis from latrines (late 11th–13th century a.d.) at the town of Überlingen, Lake Constance

From high medieval courtyards at überlingen, Lake Constance (Bodensee), 17 archaeobotanical samples from seven latrines (11th–13th century) were analysed for plant macrofossils. They contained small amounts of cultivated plants and many well preserved seeds and fruits of wild plants. The most numerous cereal finds were of Triticum spelta followed by Secale cereale. Recorded oil plants were Papaver somniferum and Linum usitatissimum. Cultivated and gathered fruits such as various Prunus species, Pyrus communis and Malus domestica, Rubus sp. and Fragaria vesca were eaten by the people of überlingen. Only one seed of Ficus carica was found which may have been imported; no other imported plants could be recognised. Agrostemma githago and Vaccaria hispanica were prevalent weeds. The presence of the latter probably indicates the cultivation of cereals on the steeper slopes above überlingen. It is shown that in central Europe, V. hispanica became a troublesome weed only around the 12th/13th century A.D. Grassland species—mainly from more or less wet locations—and ruderal plants of nitrogen-rich soils were well represented in the samples and characterize the surrounding area. Electronic Supplementary Material Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at     

A functional analysis of large‐scale temporal shifts from 1970 to 2000 in weed assemblages of sunflower crops in France

Questions: What are the relationships between weed species traits and their change in distribution over a 30‐year period? What does it tell us about factors that have driven shifts in the composition of weed communities? Location: France. Methods: We analysed the links between change in the status of weed species in sunflower crops (decreasing or increasing) and a set of 17 traits using data sets collected in the 1970s and the 2000s, respectively. We analysed the contribution of traits to explain changes in the status of species both individually and in a multivariate way by mean of a clustering of species into functional groups. Results: 69% of the most widespread species had significantly changed their frequency rank status over the last 30 years. Nearly two thirds of the increasing species belonged to a single functional group, out of the five groups identified in this analysis. Overall, the weed flora occurring in sunflower crops has specialised since the 1970s in favour of ‘sunflower mimicking’ functional groups: increasing species were more nitrophilous, more heliophilous, less sensitive to sunflower herbicides and shared a rapid summer life cycle. Conclusions: The individual trait approach gave some indication as to the environmental factors likely to have caused the shift in sunflower weed communities. The functional group approach seemed to outperform direct trait comparisons as it accounted for major traits combinations i.e. cases where a species has a number of favourable traits, but is severely disadvantaged by the possession of one or a few deleterious traits.     

Butterfly diversity and silvicultural practice in lowland rainforests of Cameroon

Butterfly diversity and abundance were sampled across eight 1-ha silvicultural treatment plots in southern Cameroon. The plotsincluded a cleared and unplanted farm fallow, cleared and replanted forestplots, and uncleared forest plots. The replanted plots were line-planted withTerminalia ivorensis, but differed in the degree and methodof clearance. A total of 205 species of butterflies were collected over twodifferent seasons. Several sampling methods were used, including hand collecting andbaited canopy traps. Sites with the greatest degree of disturbance andlowest level of tree cover had the lowest number of individuals and species ofbutterflies. The farm fallow had substantially fewer individuals and species ofbutterflies than the other plots. The replanted plots were intermediate betweenthe farm fallow and uncleared forest in terms of abundance, richness andcomposition. With all three forms of multivariate analysis (Morisita similarityindex clustering, detrended correspondence analysis and two-way indicatorspecies analysis) largest differences were found between the farm fallow anduncleared forest plots. The butterfly fauna of the uncleared forest more closelyapproximated that of the manually cleared plot than that of the mechanicallycleared plot. We found that although, in general, young replanted forest plotsare a poor substitute for native forest, they do provide habitat for some forestspecies and that this may increase over time as the plots mature.     

Managing Soils to Enhance Mycorrhizal Benefits in Mediterranean Agriculture

Abstract

Regions with Mediterranean climates (i.e., with winter rainfall and summer drought) have many different agricultural systems. However, two common features of these regions are the use of rotations of legumes and cereals, and the relatively low levels of use of phosphate fertilizer applied to phosphate-deficient soils. There is potential to increase the efficiency of use of phosphate in these environments by increasing the contribution of vesicular arbuscular (VA) mycorrhizal fungi because legumes respond to mycorrhizal colonization when phosphate is limiting plant growth. The potential to make effective use of the mycorrhizal symbiosis in Mediterranean agriculture depends on developing further understanding of several key relationships between the components of the symbiosis and the soil conditions. First, there is a need to know whether the existing level of colonization of roots by mycorrhizal fungi is less than optimal. To achieve this, a combination of an understanding of the effects of agricultural practices (as they affect the dynamics of populations of the fungi in soil) and a calibrated bioassay to predict the level of colonization of roots in the following season are required. The second relationship required is the interaction between the rate and extent of colonization of roots and the functioning of the mycorrhizas. The impact of agricultural practices on the functioning of the symbiosis also needs to be included in the analysis.     

生物工程专业校企协同人才培养模式的创新与实践

伴随着我国生物工程相关行业的高质量发展，与之相关的人才需求及培养质量也受到广泛关注。为解决高校生物工程专业人才培养工作未能紧密契合行业企业所需等方面的不足，切实发挥专业特色，有效深化校企合作，促使专业建设与产业发展相适应，南京多所高校生物工程专业围绕培养“品行正、学习好、能力强”人才，立足学科比较优势，大力推行并持续优化校企协同人才培养模式，突出科产教融合，注重创新教育教学方法、提质工程实践教育。前期育人成效表明，该模式提升了学生的工程实践能力和综合素养，得到了用人单位和学生等的认可。     

《生命科学前沿》课程思政的教学改革与实践

“课程思政”融入研究生课程体系具有重要意义, “大思政”格局下的课程改革不断推进。《生命科学前沿》是湖南师范大学生物学科的研究生必修课程,致力于普及学科发展前沿。其思政元素较为丰富,是开展课程思政的优秀载体。在分析了目前课程思政教学现状和存在问题的基础上,通过树立思政理念,提升教师开展课程思政的能动性;开展课程思政教学设计,注重课程前沿性和思政元素的有机融合。采用嵌入式课程思政的教学路径,提高课程思政教学效果等具体举措进行改革实践,实现学科前沿知识普及和价值引领相结合。实践证明,将思政内容引入专业课,可以提高学生学习主动性,引导学生树立正确的价值观,实现专业课协同育人的效果。课程思政重在建设,课程内容设计是先决条件,教师是关键,课程管理是基本保障,对课程思政教学改革实践进行反思,以期为相关生物学专业课程思政教学提供参考。     

Surveying trends in radiation oncology medical physics in the Asia Pacific Region

ObjectiveOur study aims to assess and track work load, working conditions and professional recognition of radiation oncology medical physicists (ROMPs) in the Asia Pacific Region over time.MethodsA structured questionnaire was mailed in 2008, 2011 and 2014 to senior medical physicists representing 23 countries. The questionnaire covers 7 themes: education and training including certification; staffing; typical tasks; professional organisations; resources; research and teaching; job satisfaction.ResultsAcross all surveys the response rate was >85% with the replies representing practice affecting more than half of the world’s population. The expectation of ROMP qualifications (MSc and between 1 and 3 years of clinical experience) has not changed much over the years.However, compared to 2008, the number of medical physicists in many countries has doubled. Formal professional certification is only available in a small number of countries. The number of experienced ROMPs is small in particular in low and middle income countries. The increase in staff numbers from 2008 to 2014 is matched by a similar increase in the number of treatment units which is accompanied by an increase in treatment complexity. Many ROMPs are required to work overtime and not many find time for research. Resource availability has only improved marginally and ROMPs still feel generally overworked, but professional recognition, while varying widely, appears to be improving slowly.ConclusionWhile number of physicists and complexity of treatment techniques and technologies have increased significantly, ROMP practice remains essentially unchanged over the last 6 years in the Asia Pacific Region.     

An investigation of coping skills and quality of life among single sole supporting mothers

Recent unprecedented changes to family structures have introduced an increasingly complex role for women in the context of family life and rearing of their children. Presently, single parent families headed by women are a significant demographic factor. This paper reports an investigation exploring the relationship between coping skills and quality of life among single sole supporting mother (N=73). The study identifies high levels of worry and inadequate financial resources as contributing factors towards a reduced perception of quality of life. It also identifies social support as a positive factor that can increase individual perception of quality of life. Although the study considers whether or not single sole supporting mothers aged 30 years and over are better able to cope with being both mother and financial provider than their younger counterparts, there was insufficient evidence to validate this view. Implications of the findings and research methodology for social work, counselling practice and further research are discussed.