圈养白头叶猴春季昼夜活动节律

2008 年3 ～5 月,采用瞬时扫描法,对上海动物园5 只白头叶猴的行为进行24 h 昼夜连续观察。结果表明:春季圈养白头叶猴一天的活动起于06∶ 00 左右,结束于18∶ 00 或18∶ 30。白天白头叶猴的主要行为为休息、取食和移动,平均频次依次是13.79 次、4.75 次和2.18 次。夜间的主要行为为休息、移动和抓挠,平均频次依次是22.13 次、0.43 次和0.26 次。不同个体昼夜活动节律差异很大。其中,移动、理毛、玩耍和其它行为的差异显著。夜间无理毛和玩耍行为,移动行为在夜间21∶ 00, 00 ∶ 30, 03∶00 和04∶ 30 出现高峰。在22∶ 30, 01∶ 00, 02∶ 00, 03∶ 30, 04∶ 30 和05∶30 则出现抓挠高峰。这预示白头叶猴夜间休息时处于一个“轻睡眠”状态。同时,雌雄白头叶猴昼夜移动行为差异显著。     

Resource partitioning in sympatric langurs and macaques in tropical rainforests of the central Western Ghats, south India

In a competitive sympatric association, coexisting species may try to reduce interspecific interactions as well as competition for similar resources by several ecological and behavioral practices. We studied resource utilization of three sympatric primate species namely, lion-tailed macaques (Macaca silenus), bonnet macaques (M. radiata) and Hanuman langurs (Semnopithecus entellus) in a tropical rainforest of the central Western Ghats, south India. We studied resource use, tree-height use, foraging height, substrate use when consuming animal prey and interspecific interactions. The results revealed that across the year, there was very limited niche overlap in diet between each species-pair. Each primate species largely depended on different plant species or different plant parts and phenophases from shared plant species. Primate species used different heights for foraging, and the two macaque species searched different substrates when foraging on animal prey. We also recorded season-wise resource abundance for the resources shared by these three primate species. While there was low dietary overlap during the dry season (a period of relatively low resource abundance), there was high dietary overlap between the two macaque species during the wet season (a period of high resource abundance for the shared resources). We observed only a few interspecific interactions. None of these were agonistic, even during the period of high niche overlap. This suggests that the sympatric primate species in this region are characterized by little or no contest competition. Unlike in some other regions of the Western Ghats, the lack of interspecific feeding competition appears to allow these primates, especially the macaques, to remain sympatric year-round.     

Dietary breadth and resource use of François' langur in a seasonal and disturbed habitat

Previous studies of Trachypithecus species indicated that they were selective feeders that concentrated on relatively few food species/items. From January to December 2005, I quantified potential food availability and the food species/items eaten by five groups of François' langur (Trachypithecus francoisi) in the Mayanghe Nature Reserve (MNR), People's Republic of China. These langurs fed on 164 species, of which the top ten accounted for 51% of all feeding records. Langurs consumed more species (91) in the spring than in other seasons (73 summer, 75 autumn, and 67 winter), and only 38 species were consumed in all seasons. Nontree food species, such as bushes and lianas, accounted for 47% of the total feeding records and for a majority (68%) of the feeding records in winter. The annual diet consisted of leaves (64% of feeding records), fruit and seed (32%), and other nonfoliage items (4%); the langurs switched from being more folivorous in spring (93%) and summer (79%) to being more frugivorous in autumn (53%) and winter (56%). There was no correlation between the proportion of feeding records and the food availability in the most frequently consumed species, indicating that these langurs were selective feeders; there were significant correlations between consumption and abundance in both the entire set of 112 food species and the set of 86 infrequently consumed species, indicating that foods that are more available are eaten more frequently. It appeared that in the seasonal and disturbed habitat, feeding decisions and diet composition of the langur may be driven more by food availability, and less by animal's selectivity, than at other sites. The results indicate that François' langur copes with habitat alterations by broaden its dietary breadth; this has implications for the adaptive significance of dietary breadth, and has implications for future conservation strategies for species which exist in degraded habitats. Am. J. Primatol. 73:1176–1187, 2011. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The evolution of centipede venom claws – Open questions and possible answers

The maxilliped venom claw is an intriguing structure in centipedes. We address open questions concerning this structure. The maxillipeds of fossil centipedes from the Carboniferous (about 300 million years old) have been described, but not been depicted previously. Re-investigation demonstrates that they resemble their modern counterparts. A Jurassic geophilomorph centipede (about 150 million years old) was originally described as possessing a rather leg-like maxilliped. Our re-investigation shows that the maxilliped is, in fact, highly specialized as in modern Geophilomorpha. A scenario for the evolution of the centipede maxilliped is presented. It supports one of the two supposed hypotheses of centipede phylogeny, the Pleurostigmophora hypothesis. Although this hypothesis appears now well established, many aspects of character evolution resulting from this phylogeny remain to be told in detail. One such aspect is the special joint of the maxilliped in some species of Cryptops. Cryptops is an in-group of Scolopendromorpha, but its maxilliped joint can resemble that of Lithobiomorpha or even possess a mixture of characters between the both. Detailed investigation of fossils, larger sample sizes of extant species, and developmental data will be necessary to allow further improvements of the reconstruction of the evolutionary history of centipedes.     

栖息地质量对黑叶猴活动时间分配的影响

2005 年9 月至2006 年8 月,在广西弄岗国家级自然保护区和扶绥珍贵动物保护区各选择一群黑叶猴作为研究对象,采用瞬时扫描取样法收集相关的行为数据。通过比较两个地理种群活动时间分配的数据来探讨栖息地质量对黑叶猴活动时间分配的影响。结果表明:生活在低质量栖息生境的黑叶猴猴群较生活在高质量栖息生境的猴群花费更多的时间休息和觅食,而用于移动和社会活动的时间相应减少。分析表明,栖息地质量的差异所造成的食物可获得性以及食物组成的差异可能是影响黑叶猴群活动时间分配差异的重要因素。虽然不同活动的峰值在日活动节律中出现的时间存在差异,但总的日活动节律在不同地理种群中表现出相同的趋势,即早晨和下午出现两个明显的觅食高峰,而中午则是长时间的休息;移动的高峰通常发生在觅食高峰之前。     

广西扶绥黑叶猴活动节律和日活动时间分配

2002 年8 月至2003 年7 月,对生活在完全被周围农田隔离的石山中的一群黑叶猴的昼夜活动节律和日活动时间分配进行研究。采用以群为单位的焦点动物观察法和连续记录法,每月对猴群连续10 d 跟踪观察。结果表明:3 月至10 月,黑叶猴的昼夜活动节律由8 个环节组成,11 月至2 月由9 个环节组成,移动、觅食和休息在活动节律中重复出现,晒太阳仅出现在11 月至翌年2 月。休息占黑叶猴日活动时间的比例最大,其次是觅食、移动、晒太阳和理毛。黑叶猴的日活动时间分配具有明显的月变化规律,相关性分析表明,环境温度、栖息地的食物丰富度和光照强度是影响黑叶猴日活动时间分配的主要因素。进一步分析认为,黑叶猴的活动时间分配体现了叶食性灵长类的特点,更体现了黑叶猴对北热带喀斯特石山环境的适应特点。     

中国石山叶猴生态学研究进展

喀斯特石山是一类特殊环境,生存在喀斯特石山的动物形成特殊的行为机制以适应这一特殊的环境.石山叶猴是仅分布于喀斯特石山地区的珍稀濒危灵长类动物,属疣猴亚科乌叶猴属的一个种组,包括黑叶猴(Trachypithecus francoisi)、白头叶猴(T.leucocephalus)、德氏叶猴(T.delacouri)、金头...     

A eustatically driven calciturbidite sequence from the Dinantian II of the Eastern Rheinisches Schiefergebirge

Summary The Gladenbach Formation is an approximately 30 m thick, well-segregated calciturbidite sequence, restricted to the H?rre belt of the eastern Rheinisches Schiefergebirge. It is middle Tournaisian in age (lowerPericyclus Stage, lower cd II of the German Culm zonation) and is an equivalent of the Liegende Alaunschiefer. The sequence is composed predominantly of minor turbiditic fining-upward cycles. Cycles start with massive calciturbidite beds. They are composed of fine-grained intraclastic-bioclastic grainstone/packstone, more or less ooid-bearing in the top of the formation, and/or radiolarian-rich packstone. Cycles continue with platy, dense limestones consisting of radiolarian-rich wackestone/packstone and microlithoclastic-microbioclastic wackestone/packstone. Different types of shales finish the fining-upward development. Minor cycles can be grouped into several 4th order cycles, composing a single 3rd order cycle. Towards the top, abundance of resedimented platform components, like ooids, calcareous smaller foraminifers, echinoderms, brachiopods, bryozoans and critical conodont genera, increases. Simultaneously, the thickness of the minor cycles decreases. This indicates a transgressive phase, characterized by increasing over-production of carbonate on platform realms and a correlated increase in the frequency of resedimentation events in the basin. The transgression corresponds to the well-documented global eustatic transgression of the Lowercrenulata andisosticha-uppercrenulata Zone of the conodont chronology. Thus, the Gladenbach Formation is interpreted as a transgressive systems tract/highstand systems tract. The Liegende Alaunschiefer is the time-equivalent, starved basin facies. Predominating hemipelagic calciturbidites of the lower Gladenbach Formation derive from the deeper shelf slope or from an intrabasinal swell, which might constitute a flexural bulge in front of the shelf slope. Turbidite sediments from the upper part of the formation derive from shelf-edge sands and the upper shelf slope. The source might be related to the ancient Devonian reef complex of Langenaubach-Breitscheid in the southwest.     

Sequence stratigraphy of an Upper Pennsylvanian,Midcontinent cyclothem from north America (Iola Limestone,Kansas and Missouri,USA)

Summary The Iola Limestone is the open-marine, carbonate portion of a Midcontinent cyclothem. It represents the transgressive and highstand systems tracts of a stratigraphic sequence. The sequence begins with a type 1 sequence boundary at the base of the Chanute Shale, which underlies the Iola. This surface can be recognized by the presence of a paleosol and as much as 15 m of incision. Part of the Chanute is probably an estuarine valley-fill package and represents the lowstand systems tract. The lowest member of the Iola Limestone is the Paola Limestone Member. Its base is sharp and locally has a thin shell lag. This contact is the transgressive surface and represents the onset of open-marine, clear-water carbonate sedimentation. It is a ravinement surface cut by a winnowing environment that appears as a ‘kink’ in the base-level surface. Landward of this ‘kink’, sediment accumulated to a subaerial base-level, but seaward of it sediment did not accumulate above a subtidal threshold probably controlled by wave base. Facies formed during regression also show the influence of a ‘kink’ in base-level. The Paola itself is the lower part of the transgressive facies tract. Overlying the Paola is the Muncie Creck Shale Member; its lower part is black and fissile, contains phosphate nodules, no unequivocally benthic fossils, and no discernible trace fossils. However, this facies is not present everywhere; in much of southeastern Kansas and just north of Kansas City, Missouri, it has been removed by submarine erosion. The only clues that this facies was ever deposited are reworked diagenetic phosphate nodules that occur as a lag on a hardground on top of the Paola. Where black shale and the immediately overlying, relatively unfossiliferous gray shale have been preserved, they are overlain by a shelly lag that incorporates bored and encrusted micritic cobbles-strong evidence of reworking. This erosional surface is interpreted as the maximum flooding surface. Such an interpretation suggests that the black shale formed during sea-level rise and coastal transgression rather than at sea-level highstand. This is further supported by geochemical properties of Midcontinent black shales. Overlying the maximum flooding surface are a thin gray shale (within the Muncie Creek) and the Raytown Lime-stone Member. In southern Kansas, the limestone contains an extensive phylloid-algal mound. In the subsurface, the elongate Raytown mound is perpendicular to the outcrop belt; it directly overlies a Precambrian structural element called the Bourbon arch, suggesting subtle tectonic control. In northern Missouri and in Nebraska, the upper Raytown contains carbonate tidal-flat deposits. The existence of these two facies suggests that the Raytown was deposited while base-level was stable rather than during base-level drop. The aggradational algal mound built into a positive sea-floor feature and did not shift position through the duration of the cycle. Progradational carbonate tidal flats had the chance to develop in the northern part of the field area; if base-level had been dropping, rapid regression would likely not have permitted accumulation of this facies at the top of the limestone. Coarse-grained deposits, an oncolite in southern Kansas and bioclastic packstones and grainstones in northern Kansas, indicate that the mound aggraded up to a subtidal base-level, presumably controlled by wave base. The carbonate tidal flats, on the other hand, filled accommodation space up to a subaerial base-level as they prograded out over this surface. There must have been two base-levels—one subtidal and the other subaerial—connected by the previously mentioned base-level ‘kink’ at the coastline. The Lane Shale, typically gray-green and silty, overlies the Iola. In a core from northern Missouri, the Lane Shale directly overlying the Raytown contains clay slickensides and a breccia of ‘fitted’ carbonate clasts, indicating subaerial exposure and qualifying the base of the Lane Shale as the top boundary of the Iola sequence. In northwestern Missouri, the Iola changes from a relatively clay-free limestone to mostly dark-gray, calcareous mudrocks with thin shell stringers. This represents a part of the basin dominated by clastic input. Stratigraphic interpretation implies that the Muncie Creek black shale formed during accommodation space increase and shoreline transgression. This is consistent with recent geochemical studies of Midcontinent black shales. This lithology formed as inland peat swamps underwent ravinement and organic matter was flushed onto the shelf. An influx of nutrients and plant material made available by sea-level rise and transgression while sediment was trapped in nearshore accommodation space was the primary cause of sediment starvation and anoxia in the basin.