Oviposition behaviour of the grasshopper Zonocerus variegatus

Abstract. 1. Long-term changes in the numbers of Zonocerus at oviposition sites reflect changes in the maturity of the general population.
2. Short-term changes in the numbers of Zonocerus at oviposition sites are associated partly with normal diurnal behaviour in which roosting occurs at night.
3. Immigration of Zonucems , particularly females, into the oviposition site occurs prior to periods of oviposition activity. Emigration follows oviposition.
4. The majority of Zonocerus move upwind into the oviposition site suggesting an odour and/or sound attraction.
5. Periods of intense oviposition activity follow heavy rainfall.     

Common behaviors alterations after extremely low-frequency electromagnetic field exposure in rat animal model

ABSTRACT

Naturally, the presence of electromagnetic waves in our living environment affects all components of organisms, particularly humans and animals, as the large part of their body consists of water. In the present study, we tried to investigate the relation between exposure to the extremely low-frequency electromagnetic field (ELF-EMF) and common behaviors such as body weight, food and water intake, anorexia (poor appetite), plasma glucose concentration, movement, rearing and sniffing in rats. For this purpose, rats were exposed to 40 Hz ELF-EMF once a day for 21 days, then at days 1, 3, 7, 14 and 21 after exposure, any changes in the above-mentioned items were assessed in the exposed rats and compared to the non-exposed group as control. Body weight of irradiated rats significantly increased only a week after exposure and decreased after that. No significant change was observed in food and water intake of irradiated rats compared to the control, and the anorexia parameter in the group exposed to ELF-EMF was significantly decreased at one and two weeks after irradiation. A week after exposure, the level of glucose was significantly increased but at other days these changes were not significant. Movements, rearing and sniffing of rats at day 1 after exposure were significantly decreased and other days these changes did not follow any particular pattern. However, the result of this study demonstrated that exposure to ELF-EMF can alter the normal condition of animals and may represent a harmful impact on behavior.     

基于野外观测检验动物廊道选址模型的准确性——以白头叶猴为例

廊道构建是减少栖息地破碎化负面影响的重要策略之一。目前，已经有许多模型用于动物廊道的选址，而"选址模型是否能准确预测动物迁移的实际发生位置"一直是保护生物学最为关注的问题。最小成本路径模型（LCP）和条件最小成本廊道模型（CMTC）是两种较为常用的廊道选址模型。以白头叶猴（Trachypithecus leucocephalus）为目标物种，分别运用LCP和CMTC模拟生成白头叶猴迁移廊道，将模拟结果与野外观测廊道进行对比，检验两种方法的准确性。结果表明：与野外观测实际廊道相比，LCP模型模拟结果的完全准确率为46.7%，部分准确率为20%，完全不准确率为33.3%；CMTC模型模拟结果的完全准确率为26.7%，其余73.3%为部分准确，无完全不准确的结果；总体上看，CMTC廊道的准确率较LCP高，因而CMTC模型模拟白头叶猴实际迁移廊道位置的准确性优于LCP模型。输入"源"要素类型、阻力面栅格尺度设定、栖息地土地利用类型变化以及动物迁移行为复杂性4个因素是影响该模拟结果准确性的主要原因。     

Human kinesiology

This paper discusses kinesiological aspects of human locomotion in terms of the incomplete morphological adaptation of the body to current lifestyles. Modern instrumentation used for biomechanical analyses is outlined for the most part in the context of human running. Investigations of spatiotemporal and segmental measures by electronic walkways, photography, optoelectronics and angle-angle diagrams are referred to, as is electromyography and direct force measurement. Three commonly identifiable areas of applied kinesiological research, namely sport, industry and medicine, are considered with reference to the prevention, treatment and after-care of injuries whether received on the sporting field, in the work place, or in an automobile accident.     

Ca2+-induced isotropic motion and phosphatidylcholine flip-flop in phosphatidylcholine-cardiolipin bilayers

Ca²⁺ induces a structural change in phosphatidylcholine-cardiolipin bilayers, which is visualised by freeze-fracturing as lipidic particles associated with the bilayer and is detected by ³¹P-NMR as isotropic motion of the phospholipids. In this structure a rapid transbilayer movement of phosphatidylcholine and a highly increased permeability towards Mn²⁺ are observed.     

Issues and developments on the consumer recovery construct

The consumer recovery model has had increasing influence on mental health practices in the United States, Western Europe, and several other countries. However, adoption of the model has reflected political decisions rather than empirical evidence of the validity of the model or its value for treatment services. The recovery construct is poorly defined, and until recently there has been no reliable and valid measure with which to base a research program. We have developed an empirical measure that is well-suited for both research and clinical applications: the Maryland Assessment of Recovery in Serious Mental Ill-ness (MARS). We briefly describe the MARS and present preliminary data demonstrating that recovery is not a simple by-product of traditional outcome do-mains, but seems to be a distinct construct that may have important implications for understanding consumers with serious mental illness and for evaluating the outcome of treatment programs.     

Convergence of visual,haltere, and prosternai inputs at neck motor neurons of Calliphora erythrocephala

Summary Neck muscles of Calliphora erythrocephala, situated in the anterior prothorax, are innervated on each side by 8 motor neurons arising in the brain (cervical nerve neurons, CN1–8) and at least 13 motor neurons arising in the prothoracic ganglion (anterior dorsal and frontal nerve neurons, ADN1,2 and FN1-11). Three prominent motor neurons (CN6 and FN1,2) are described in detail with special emphasis on their relationships with giant visual interneurons from the lobula plate, haltere interneurons, and primary afferents from the prosternal organs and halteres. These sensory organs detect head movement and body yaw, respectively. Neuronal relationships indicate that head movement is under multimodal sensory control that includes giant motion-sensitive neurons previously supposed to mediate the optomotor response in flying flies. The described pathways provide anatomical substrates for the control of optokinetic and yaw-incurred head movements that behavioural studies have shown must exist.     

Wind-sensitive interneurones in the spider CNS (Cupiennius salei ): directional information processing of sensory inputs from trichobothria on the walking legs

Spiders can use air particle movements to localize moving prey. We studied the responses of 32 wind-sensitive interneurones in the hunting spider Cupiennius salei to prey stimuli. Stimulation with a tethered flying fly or with artificial air pulses activated plurisegmental interneurones that responded to changes in air movement velocity and were thus well suited to represent the highly fluctuating air stream typical of prey stimuli. In most interneurones (n = 18) the responses to the stimulation of different legs were not significantly different from each other. Different interneurones had different response characteristics and their latencies largely overlapped suggesting that there is parallel processing of the signals by populations of interneurones with different response characteristics. In two interneurones the number of spikes and the spiking pattern elicited by stimulation of each of the eight legs markedly differed depending on the leg stimulated. These neurones may play an important role in directional information processing. Stimulation of the adjacent legs from front to back or from back to front revealed two interneurones sensitive to the direction of successive stimulation of the legs. These neurones may be able to detect the motion of an air movement source in a preferred direction and thus act as nearfield motion detectors to localize a moving prey item. Accepted: 28 September 1996     

Field test of an automated radio‐telemetry system: tracking local space use of aerial insectivores

Documenting local space use of birds that move rapidly, but are too small to carry GPS tags, such as swallows and swifts, can be challenging. For these species, tracking methods such as manual radio‐telemetry and visual observation are either inadequate or labor‐ and time‐intensive. Another option is use of an automated telemetry system, but equipment for such systems can be costly when many receivers are used. Our objective, therefore, was to determine if an automated radio‐telemetry system, consisting of just two receivers, could provide an alternative to manual tracking for gathering data on local space use of six individuals of three species of aerial insectivores, including one Cliff Swallow (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota), one Eastern Phoebe (Sayornis phoebe), and four Barn Swallows (Hirundo rustica). We established automated radio‐telemetry systems at three sites near the city of Peterborough in eastern Ontario, Canada, from May to August 2015. We evaluated the location error of our two‐receiver system using data from moving and stationary test transmitters at known locations, and used telemetry data from the aerial insectivores as a test of the system's ability to track rapidly moving birds under field conditions. Median location error was ~250 m for automated telemetry test locations after filtering. More than 90% of estimated locations had large location errors and were removed from analysis, including all locations > 1 km from receiver stations. Our automated telemetry receivers recorded 17,634 detections of the six radio‐tagged birds. However, filtering removed an average of 89% of bird location estimates, leaving only the Cliff Swallow with enough locations for analysis of space use. Our results demonstrate that a minimal automated radio‐telemetry system can be used to assess local space use by small, highly mobile birds, but the resolution of the data collected using only two receiver stations was coarse and had a limited range. To improve both location accuracy and increase the percentage of usable location estimates collected, we suggest that, in future studies, investigators use receivers that simultaneously record signals detected by all antennas, and use of a minimum of three receiver stations with more antennas at each station.