A study on giant panda recognition based on images of a large proportion of captive pandas

1. As a highly endangered species, the giant panda (panda) has attracted significant attention in the past decades. Considerable efforts have been put on panda conservation and reproduction, offering the promising outcome of maintaining the population size of pandas. To evaluate the effectiveness of conservation and management strategies, recognizing individual pandas is critical. However, it remains a challenging task because the existing methods, such as traditional tracking method, discrimination method based on footprint identification, and molecular biology method, are invasive, inaccurate, expensive, or challenging to perform. The advances of imaging technologies have led to the wide applications of digital images and videos in panda conservation and management, which makes it possible for individual panda recognition in a noninvasive manner by using image‐based panda face recognition method.
2. In recent years, deep learning has achieved great success in the field of computer vision and pattern recognition. For panda face recognition, a fully automatic deep learning algorithm which consists of a sequence of deep neural networks (DNNs) used for panda face detection, segmentation, alignment, and identity prediction is developed in this study. To develop and evaluate the algorithm, the largest panda image dataset containing 6,441 images from 218 different pandas, which is 39.78% of captive pandas in the world, is established.
3. The algorithm achieved 96.27% accuracy in panda recognition and 100% accuracy in detection.
4. This study shows that panda faces can be used for panda recognition. It enables the use of the cameras installed in their habitat for monitoring their population and behavior. This noninvasive approach is much more cost‐effective than the approaches used in the previous panda surveys.

     

Impact of the Arundo scale Rhizaspidiotus donacis (Hemiptera: Diaspididae) on the weight of Arundo donax (Poaceae: Arundinoideae) rhizomes in Languedoc southern France and Mediterranean Spain

Arundo donax L. (Poaceae) is native to Mediterranean Europe and invasive in the Rio Grande Basin of North America. Rhizomes from nine sites in France and Spain infested with a candidate control agent, the armoured scale Rhizaspidiotus donacis (Hemiptera: Diaspididae) weighed 50% less than those from nine sites without scale.     

The effect of pulse repetition rate on the delay sensitivity of neurons in the auditory cortex of the FM bat,Myotis lucifugus

1. Echo delay is the primary cue used by echolocating bats to determine target range. During target-directed flight, the repetition rate of pulse emission increases systematically as range decreases. Thus, we examined the delay tuning of 120 neurons in the auditory cortex of the bat, Myotis lucifugus, as repetition rate was varied. 2. Delay sensitivity was exhibited in 77% of the neurons over different ranges of pulse repetition rates (PRRs). Delay tuning typically narrowed and eventually disappeared at higher PRRs. 3. Two major types of delay-sensitive neurons were found: i) delay-tuned neurons (59%) had a single fixed best delay, while ii) tracking neurons (22%) changed their best delay with PRR. 4. PRRs from 1-100/s were represented by the population of delay-sensitive neurons, with the majority of neurons delay-sensitive at PRRs of at least 10-20/s. Thus, delay-dependent neurons in Myotis are most active during the search phase of echolocation. 5. Delay-sensitive neurons that also responded to single sounds were common. At PRRs where delay sensitivity was found, the responses to single sounds were reduced and the responses to pulse-echo pairs at particular delays were greater than the single-sound responses. In facilitated neurons (53%), the maximal delay-dependent response was always larger than the best single-sound responses, whereas in enhanced neurons (47%), these responses were comparable. The presence of neurons that respond maximally to single sounds at one PRR and to pulse-echo pairs with particular echo delays at other PRRs suggests that these neurons perform echo-ranging in conjunction with other biosonar functions during target pursuit.     

Phosphorylation of K+ channels in the squid giant axon. A mechanistic analysis

Protein phosphorylation is an important mechanism in the modulation of voltage-dependent ionic channels. In squid giant axons, the potassium delayed rectifier channel is modulated by an ATP-mediated phosphorylation mechanism, producing important changes in amplitude and kinetics of the outward current. The characteristics and biophysical basis for the phosphorylation effects have been extensively studied in this preparation using macroscopic, single-channel and gating current experiments. Phosphorylation produces a shift in the voltage dependence of all voltage-dependent parameters including open probability, slow inactivation, first latency, and gating charge transferred. The locus of the effect seems to be located in a fast 20 pS channel, with characteristics of delayed rectifier, but at least another channel is phosphorylated under our experimental conditions. These results are interpreted quantitatively with a mechanistic model that explains all the data. In this model the shift in voltage dependence is produced by electrostatic interactions between the transferred phosphate and the voltage sensor of the channel.     

菊头幅出生后下丘听神经元反应特性的演化

实验在出生后1周到6周的幼年和成年鲁氏菊头蝠(Rhinolophusrouxi)上进行。结果发现,出生第1周的动物下丘听神经元对超声刺激反应的最佳频率低,潜伏期长,阈值高。它们的平均值分别为:31.24±14.08千赫,16.56±3.83毫秒和74.24±6.22dB。同时,调谐曲线宽阔,Q10-dB值小,其均值为2.34±0.96。随着周令增长,上述特性逐渐改变。到第6周时,最佳频率的均值发展到70.16±19.16千赫,最佳频率分布峰值也移至75—85千赫的高频段,反应潜伏期均值降至8.12±1.86毫秒,阈值均值降至32.82±26.36dB,已出现相当多具有非常陡削调谐曲线的神精元,Q10-dB值在20以上者占到80％,有的高达100以上,已接近成年动物。     

On the structure and biological properties of decarbamoylsaxitoxin

The acid hydrolysis product of saxitoxin is shown to be decarbamoylsaxitoxin by spectral characterization and its reconversion to saxitoxin by carbamoylation. Natural and resynthesized saxitoxin are identical in chromatographic and spectral properties and in their potencies in blocking the sodium channel in squid giant axon. The hydrolysis product, decarbamoylsaxitoxin, exhibits 20% of the potency of saxitoxin in the squid axon system. These results confirm the structure of the hydrolysis product and its biological activity relative to saxitoxin.     

Host Response to Sarisodera hydrophila Wouts and Sher, 1971

The histopathology of two populations of Sarisodera hydrophila Wouts and Sher, 1971 was examined on Salix lasiolepis Benth. (willow), Populus fremontii Wats. (cottonwood), and Lyonothamnus floribundus Gray (ironwood) using light microscopy as well as scanning and transmission electron microscopy. Sarisodera hydrophila induces formation of a single uninucleate hypertrophied cell (giant cell) which varies only slightly among the three hosts. The giant cell is enclosed by the root stele and contacts phloem, vascular cambium, and xylem. The single hypertrophied nucleus of the giant cell is ameboid or lobulate in shape, generally with a single nucleolus. The cell is characterized by a wall which is separated into two distinct regions about 2 μm and 13 μm thick; the thicker region occurs adjacent to the nematode head. Cell wall ingrowths, such as those associated with host responses to certain other plant-parasitic nematodes, were not observed in giant cells induced by S. hydrophila. However, a high frequency of pit fields with plasmodesmata occurred in the thinner portion of the cell wall which is adjacent to vascular elements. Roots of the three hosts simultaneously infected with S. hydrophila and Meloidogyne sp. resulted in adjacent responses characteristic of each nematode, supporting the view that the specific type of host response is a function of the nematode rather than the host. The varying expressions of host responses among Heteroderoidea may be useful in testing congruency with existing interpretations of phylogeny.     

Successful artificial insemination in the giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) at ueno zoo

Successful breeding of the giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) following artificial insemination was achieved at the Ueno Zoo in 2 consecutive years (1985 and 1986). The first cub, born in June 1985, unfortunately died 43 hours after birth from being crushed by the mother panda; the second cub, born in June 1986, has been growing in good health. Electroejaculation and artificial insemination procedures were performed after immobilization with diazepam (0.1 mg/kg) and ketamine HCL (4.0–5.0 mg/kg). Semen of the male panda was collected by electroejaculation using a rectal probe with a diameter of 2.0 cm and with eight rings as electrodes. Stimulation of the male was given with 3 V (30–40 mA) over a 5-sec period with 5-sec intervals. The female panda exhibited estrus between late February and early March in 1985 and also between mid-january and early February 1986. Increased excretion of urinary total estrogen showed coincidentally at maximum behavioral estrus, and a gradual rise of pregnanediol level was followed by artificial insemination. The gestational length for the first pregnancy was 110 days and that of the second 121 days.