The Art of Sorting: Using Venn Diagrams to Learn Science Process Skills

In this article, the author describes activities that have been proven to teach young learners to sort and classify objects that contain more than one attribute. The activities require that students employ the use of sorting hoops and attribute blocks to create Venn diagrams, the assembly of which requires practice. The author also describes crosscurricular uses of these learning tools.     

Environmental enrichment for zoo bears

The high incidence of stereotypic behaviors in zoo bears (van Keulen-Kromhout: International Zoo Yearbook 18:177–186, 1978) suggests that the environment of these animals lacks essential stimuli for guiding normal behavior. Three experiments investigated ways in which bear husbandry procedures can be altered to promote normal behavior. In experiments 1 and 2, honey-filled logs were given to a sloth (Melursus ursinus), American black (Ursus americanus), and brown bear (Ursus arctos) to determine 1) the role of food in stimulating investigatory behavior, 2) the rate of habituation to manipulable objects introduced into the exhibit, and 3) effects on locomotory behaviors. Results show specific and general habituation to the introduced objects that can be counteracted by refilling the logs with honey and by providing multiple logs in the exhibit. Investigatory activity directed toward honey-logs replaces pacing and walking in the sloth bear and is most effective in doing so when the log is novel. Experiment 3 examined the behavioral effects of feeding an American black bear in three different ways: 1) once daily in the den, 2) once daily with supplemental food from a mechanical feeder, and 3) once daily with food hidden in the exhibit in manipulatable objects. The latter method reduced stereotypic pacing from a median of 150 min/day to 20 min/day; the mechanical feeder method had no such effect. The results of a survey of 67 zoos concerning the diet and manner of feeding these three species of bears, as well as Asian black bears (Ursus thibetanus) are presented. Results are discussed with respect to the ways in which husbandry procedures can be improved to stimulate functional foraging and feeding behavior in confined bears.     

Competition for nectar resources does not affect bee foraging tactic constancy

1. Competition alters animal foraging, including promoting the use of alternative resources. It may also impact how animals feed when they are able to handle the same food with more than one tactic. Competition likely impacts both consumers and their resources through its effects on food handling, but this topic has received little attention. 2. Bees often use two tactics for extracting nectar from flowers: they can visit at the flower opening, or rob nectar from holes at the base of flowers. Exploitative competition for nectar is thought to promote nectar robbing. If so, higher competition among floral visitors should reduce constancy to a single foraging tactic as foragers will seek food using all possible tactics. To test this prediction, field observations and two experiments involving bumble bees visiting three montane Colorado plant species (Mertensia ciliata, Linaria vulgaris, Corydalis caseana) were used under various levels of inter- and intra-specific competition for nectar. 3. In general, individual bumble bees remained constant to a single foraging tactic, independent of competition levels. However, bees that visited M. ciliata in field observations decreased their constancy and increased nectar robbing rates as visitation rates by co-visitors increased. 4. While tactic constancy was high overall regardless of competition intensity, this study highlights some intriguing instances in which competition and tactic constancy may be linked. Further studies investigating the cognitive underpinnings of tactic constancy should provide insight on the ways in which animals use alternative foraging tactics to exploit resources.     

Profitability, encounter rates, and prey choice of African lions

The prey preferences of African lions (Panthera leo) in SerengetiNational Park, Tanzania, were examined in three ways. First,lion encounter rates with prey types were measured and comparedwith a random sample of the prey population. Lions encounteredmore wart hogs (Phacochoerus aethiopicus), Grant's gazelles(Gazella granti), wildebeests (ConnochaeUs taurinus), and zebras(Equus burchelli) than expected. Second, preferred prey typesof lions were identified using conditional logit analysis. Lionspreferred to hunt small prey groups, groups that were closerthan 200 m, and groups that contained wart hogs, wildebeests,or zebras. Third, a risk-minimization optimal foraging modeland a rate-maximization model were used to predict lion preferences.The foraging theory models predict that preferences should changewith season and with lion group size. Qualitative support wasfound for most of these predictions.     

Forest fragments become farmland: Dietary Response of wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) to fast-changing anthropogenic landscapes

Behavioral flexibility, including an ability to modify feeding behavior, is a key trait enabling primates to survive in forest fragments. In human-dominated landscapes, unprotected forest fragments can become progressively degraded, and may be cleared entirely, challenging the capacity of primates to adjust to the changes. We examined responses of wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) to major habitat change: that is, clearance of forest fragments for agriculture. Over 7 years, fragments in Bulindi, Uganda, were reduced in size by 80%. We compared the chimpanzees’ diet at the start and end of this period of rapid deforestation, using data derived mainly from fecal analysis. Similar to other long-term study populations, chimpanzees in Bulindi have a diverse diet comprising over 169 plant foods. However, extensive deforestation seemed to impact their feeding ecology. Dietary changes after fragment clearance included reduced overall frugivory, reduced intake of figs (Ficus spp.; formerly a dietary “staple” for these chimpanzees), and reduced variety of fruits in fecal samples. Nevertheless, the magnitude of most changes was remarkably minor given the extent of forest loss. Agricultural fruits increased in dietary importance, with crops accounting for a greater proportion of fruits in fecal samples after deforestation. In particular, cultivated jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus) became a “staple” food for the chimpanzees but was scarcely eaten before fragment clearance. Crops offer some nutritional benefits for primates, being high in carbohydrate energy and low in hard-to-digest fiber. Thus, crop feeding may have offset foraging costs associated with loss of wild foods and reduced overall frugivory for the chimpanzees. The adaptability of many primates offers hope for their conservation in fragmented, rural landscapes. However, long-term data are needed to establish whether potential benefits (i.e. energetic, reproductive) of foraging in agricultural matrix habitats outweigh fitness costs from anthropogenic mortality risk for chimpanzees and other adaptable primates.     

A hybrid behavioural rule of adaptation and drift explains the emergent architecture of antagonistic networks

Ecological processes that can realistically account for network architectures are central to our understanding of how species assemble and function in ecosystems. Consumer species are constantly selecting and adjusting which resource species are to be exploited in an antagonistic network. Here we incorporate a hybrid behavioural rule of adaptive interaction switching and random drift into a bipartite network model. Predictions are insensitive to the model parameters and the initial network structures, and agree extremely well with the observed levels of modularity, nestedness and node-degree distributions for 61 real networks. Evolutionary and community assemblage histories only indirectly affect network structure by defining the size and complexity of ecological networks, whereas adaptive interaction switching and random drift carve out the details of network architecture at the faster ecological time scale. The hybrid behavioural rule of both adaptation and drift could well be the key processes for structure emergence in real ecological networks.     

Patch assessment in foraging flocks of European starlings: evidence for the use of public information

A field experiment was carried out to determine whether group-foragingstarlings (Sturnus vulgaris) use public information to helpthem estimate the quality of an artificial resource patch anddepart accordingly. Three kinds of information are potentiallyavailable in a group: patch-sample information, pre-harvestinformation, and public information. These three types of informationcan be combined into four patch assessment strategies: (1) patch-samplealone; (2) patch-sample and pre-harvest; (3) patch-sample andpublic; and (4) patch-sample, pre-harvest, and public. Dependingon the foraging environment we presented to the starlings, eachassessment strategy made a unique set of predictions concerningthe patch departure decisions of pairs of birds based on differencesin their foraging success. The environment was manipulated intwo ways: by altering the variability in patch quality and bychanging compatibility, the ease with which individual birdscould simultaneously acquire both patch-sample and public information.Our observations on patch persistence and departure order demonstratethat the starlings used a combination of patch-sample and publicinformation, but not pre-harvest information, to estimate thequality of the experimental patch. Moreover, our results suggestthat starlings use public information only when it is easilyavailable and ignore it under incompatible conditions. Thisstudy provides the first evidence of public information usein a patch assessment problem.     

Identification of phytochemical components from Aerva lanata (Linn.) medicinal plants and its in-vitro inhibitory activity against drug resistant microbial pathogens and antioxidant properties

This study aimed to determine the phytochemical components, microbial inhibitory effectiveness and antioxidant properties of Aerva lanata plant extracts. The whole plant showed various medicinal applications in folklore and traditional medicine in various parts of the world. The organic extracts such as ethanol, ethyl acetate, chloroform, acetone, water and methanol were subjected for various phytochemical analysis and confirmed for the existence of flavonoids, glycosides, terpenoids and alkaloid containing components. Alternatively, the extracts were performed for the antibacterial activities against the microbial pathogens and antioxidant properties. Results indicated that, the solvent extracts showed prominent activity against the tested strains. The MIC concentrations of plant were detected from 5 mg/ml to 40 mg/ml. The plant extract was highly effective against E. coli and E. aerogenes and the MIC was 5 mg/ml. In addition, the extracts noted promising antioxidant activities. The antioxidant activities were dose dependent manner. In conclusion, A. lanata extracts showed that significant major phytochemicals and effective antioxidant and anti-microbial properties.     

Influence of virgin queen honeybees (Apis mellifera) on queen rearing and foraging

ABSTRACT. Virgin queens are as effective as mated laying queens at inhibiting colonies from rearing queens but not from producing queen cell cups. Colonies without brood produce fewer queen cell cups than similar colonies that have brood. Colonies without queens forage much less and collect less pollen than with either a mated or virgin queen. Colonies with virgin queens forage as much as those with mated queens but collected less pollen.