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.     

State-dependent ideal free distributions

Summary The standard ideal free distribution (IFD) states how animals should distribute themselves at a stable competitive equilibrium. The equilibrium is stable because no animal can increase its fitness by changing its location. In applying the IFD to choice between patches of food, fitness has been identified with the net rate of energetic gain. In this paper we assess fitness in terms of survival during a non-reproductive period, where the animal may die as a result of starvation or predation. We find the IFD when there is a large population that can distribute itself between two patches of food. The IFD in this case is state-dependent, so that an animal's choice of patch depends on its energy reserves. Animals switch between patches as their reserves change and so the resulting IFD is a dynamic equilibrium. We look at two cases. In one there is no predation and the patches differ in their variability. In the other, patches differ in their predation risk. In contrast to previous IFDs, it is not necessarily true that anything is equalized over the two patches.     

The Position of the Fast-Inactivation Gate during Lidocaine Block of Voltage-gated Na+ Channels

Lidocaine produces voltage- and use-dependent inhibition of voltage-gated Na⁺ channels through preferential binding to channel conformations that are normally populated at depolarized potentials and by slowing the rate of Na⁺ channel repriming after depolarizations. It has been proposed that the fast-inactivation mechanism plays a crucial role in these processes. However, the precise role of fast inactivation in lidocaine action has been difficult to probe because gating of drug-bound channels does not involve changes in ionic current. For that reason, we employed a conformational marker for the fast-inactivation gate, the reactivity of a cysteine substituted at phenylalanine 1304 in the rat adult skeletal muscle sodium channel α subunit (rSkM1) with [2-(trimethylammonium)ethyl]methanethiosulfonate (MTS-ET), to determine the position of the fast-inactivation gate during lidocaine block. We found that lidocaine does not compete with fast-inactivation. Rather, it favors closure of the fast-inactivation gate in a voltage-dependent manner, causing a hyperpolarizing shift in the voltage dependence of site 1304 accessibility that parallels a shift in the steady state availability curve measured for ionic currents. More significantly, we found that the lidocaine-induced slowing of sodium channel repriming does not result from a slowing of recovery of the fast-inactivation gate, and thus that use-dependent block does not involve an accumulation of fast-inactivated channels. Based on these data, we propose a model in which transitions along the activation pathway, rather than transitions to inactivated states, play a crucial role in the mechanism of lidocaine action.     

Patch occupancy and abundance of local populations in landscapes differing in degree of habitat fragmentation: a case study of the colonial black‐headed gull,Chroicocephalus ridibundus

Aim This study investigated whether habitat fragmentation at the landscape level influences patch occupancy and abundance of the black‐headed gull, Chroicocephalus ridibundus, and whether the response of the species to environmental factors is consistent across replicated landscape plots. Location Water bodies (habitat patches) in southern Poland. Methods Surveys were conducted in two landscape types (four plots in each): (1) more‐fragmented landscape, in which habitat patches were small (mean size 2.2–6.2 ha) and far apart (mean distance 2.5–3.1 km); and (2) less‐fragmented landscape, in which habitat patches were large (mean size 9.2–16.5 ha) and separated by short distances (mean 0.9–1.4 km). Observations were performed twice in 284 potential habitat patches during the 2007 breeding season. Results Colonies were significantly more frequent and larger in the less‐fragmented landscapes than in the more‐fragmented ones. Probability of patch occupancy and number of breeding birds were positively related with patch size and these relationships were especially strong in the more‐fragmented landscapes. In the less‐fragmented landscapes, the occurrence of black‐headed gulls was negatively related to the distance to the nearest local population, but in the more‐fragmented landscapes such a relationship was not detected. As distance to the nearest habitat patch increased, the probability of the patch occupancy decreased in the more‐fragmented landscapes. Moreover, abundance was negatively influenced by distance to the nearest habitat patch, especially strongly in more‐fragmented landscapes. Proximity of corridors (rivers) positively influenced the occupation of patches regardless of landscape type. The number of islets positively influenced occupancy and abundance of local populations, and this relationship was stronger in the more‐fragmented landscapes. Main conclusions Our results are in agreement with predictions from metapopulation theory and are the first evidence that populations of black‐headed gulls may have a metapopulation structure. However, patch occupancy and abundance were differentially affected by explanatory variables in the more‐fragmented landscapes than in the less‐fragmented ones. This implies that it is impossible to derive, a priori, predictions about presence/abundance patterns based on only a single landscape.     

1991-2017年叶尔羌河流域冰川景观格局时空演变

冰川景观变化是全球环境和气候变化的共同"指示器"。随着全球气候变化加剧，干旱和半干旱地区的冰川景观将进一步变化。科学评估冰川景观格局时空演变特征，为应对冰川景观变化及其影响提供科学参考。基于1991-2017年Landsat TM/ETM+/OLI遥感影像，采用监督分类方法获取叶尔羌河流域冰川景观时空格局及变化数据，利用景观格局指数、质心迁移模型、分形维数等方法分析近26年叶尔羌河流域冰川景观格局时空演变特征。结果表明：（1）1991-2017年叶尔羌河流域冰川斑块面积呈消减趋势，但有所减缓，共减少799.50 km²（-13.09%）。冰川斑块面积消减主要集中在海拔5400-5800 m之间，相较之下，海拔4400 m以下的区域冰川斑块面积消减率最高，达63.68%；不同坡度冰川景观消减率存在差异，陡坡冰川斑块面积消减率最高（15.98%），急陡坡消减率最低（2.87%）；阴阳两坡冰川景观均呈消减趋势，阳坡冰川斑块面积消减速率显著高于阴坡。（2）近26年来，叶尔羌河流域冰川斑块数量、最大斑块指数均减小，而平均形状指数、平均周长面积比、分裂指数均增加，表明冰川景观不断消减，破碎化程度增加。（3）研究期间，叶尔羌河流域冰川景观质心发生迁移，整体呈现东北偏移趋势。（4）通过分形理论对叶尔羌河流域冰川景观空间结构特征进行分析表明，该流域冰川景观消减率略微降低，但仍然处于持续消融状态。     

Edge effects on fauna in fragmented seagrass meadows

Abstract Fragmented habitats are a common occurrence in many marine systems, but remain poorly studied in comparison to their terrestrial counterparts. Here, I show that crustaceans inhabiting fragmented Zostera seagrass meadows show a dramatic response (change in abundance) to patch edges, with 11 out of 12 tests showing greatest abundance at the boundary between sand and seagrass. These patterns occurred on a scale of 0.25–1 m around the patch edge. Changes in seagrass biomass are unlikely to explain this pattern, as seagrass biomass increased smoothly at the patch edge, and did not decline towards patch interiors. In contrast to crustaceans, only a few polychaete taxa responded to the patch edge (9 of 25 tests), and bivalves generally did not show a response (1 of 5 tests). These latter groups are predominantly infaunal, and their lack of response may be partly due to the presence of substantial quantities of seagrass root and rhizome material in the sand habitat, which was defined visually based on the lack of above‐ground seagrass components only.     

Influence of intertree distance on foraging behaviour of Rhagoletis pomonella in the field

Abstract. 1. We tested a prediction from contemporary foraging theory that animals should decrease their allocation of energy to the searching of individual patches when interpatch travel costs decrease.
2. We used individual Rhagoletis pomonella Walsh (Diptera: Tephritidae) females foraging for oviposition sites (= Crataegus fruit) in a host tree which was surrounded by four other trees at varying distances.
3. We found that flies generally invested less search, measured as time spent searching a tree or number of leaves visited on a tree, when neighbouring trees were nearby than when farther away.
4. Under our test conditions, flies appeared to have difficulty locating neighbouring trees at a distance of more than 1.6 m.
5. Our study calls into question the interpretation of search effort by insects within resource patches in the absence of information on interpatch distances.