Communication and Cognition in Primate Group Movement

We here review the communicative and cognitive processes underpinning collective group movement in animals. Generally, we identify 2 major axes to explain the dynamics of decision making in animal or human groups or aggregations: One describes whether the behavior is largely determined by simple rules such as keeping a specific distance from the neighbor, or whether global information is also factored in. The second axis describes whether or not the individual constituents of the group have overlapping or diverging interests. We then review the available evidence for baboons, which have been particularly well studied, but we also draw from further studies on other nonhuman primate species. Baboons and other nonhuman primates may produce specific signals in the group movement context, such as the notifying behavior of male hamadryas baboons at the departure from the sleeping site, or clear barks that are given by chacma baboons that have lost contact with the group or specific individuals. Such signals can be understood as expressions of specific motivational states of the individuals, but there is no evidence that the subjects intend to alter the knowledge state of the recipients. There is also no evidence for shared intentionality. The cognitive demands that are associated with decision making in the context of group coordination vary with the amount of information and possibly conflicting sources of information that need to be integrated. Thus, selective pressures should favor the use of signals that maintain group cohesion, while recipients should be selected to be able to make the decision that is in their own best interest in light of all the available information.     

Adventive eriophyoid mites: a global review of their impact, pathways, prevention and challenges

Eriophyoids have high potential as adventive mite species (AMS) because their small size make them difficult to detect, and can be easily distributed in world trade. Economic, social and environmental impact from adventive eriophyoid mites has been significant. Considerable attention has been given to adventive insect species while adventive mites have received little attention and little information is available for eriophyoids. This paper summarizes information on adventive eriophyoid mites, their impact, and the history of some important invasions. The status of adventive species of eriophyoids introduced as biological control agents of weeds is presented. A list of eriophyoid mites reported as invasive species worldwide is given. Pathways of concern and biosecurity actions to reduce the risk of eriophyoid mites are discussed. The need to raise public awareness of the risk and importance of these tiny organisms as AMS is emphasized. Scientific and technical challenges to deal with adventive eriophyoids are discussed.     

Sedge and rush-feeding psyllids of the subfamily Liviinae (Insecta: Hemiptera: Psylloidea): a review

The jumping plant-lice or psyllids belonging to the subfamily Liviinae are reviewed. Nineteen species are recognized in a single genus Lima Latreille. Three new species, craivfordi sp. nov., lobata sp. nov. and manitobensis sp. nov., are described. The identities of the existing species have been widely confused and full lists of synonymies are given where appropriate. It is re-emphasized that the type species of Livia, Psylla juncorum Latreille, is a synonym of Chermes junci Schrank, a point made by Laing (1951) but ignored by subsequent authors. The latter name has priority. A taxonomic key for the identification of the species is given and each species is described, diagnosed and illustrated. Supporting information is given on geographical distribution, host-plant association and general biology. Evolutionary relationships within Livia are discussed.     

Prioritizing regionally rare plant species for conservation using herbarium data

Because the conservation of biodiversity occurs under time and resource constraints, it is necessary to prioritize species most deserving of attention. Natural history collections have been identified as a valuable source of information in applied conservation practice, particularly for species-rich taxa like plants. Here, online herbarium information was combined with a novel, straightforward priority setting approach to screen a large list of rare vascular plant species (n = 418) in Saskatchewan, Canada. Data was quantified to develop priority scores (for a given species) using three key criteria: (1) provincial responsibility in species survival, (2) species local population characteristics, and (3) the anthropogenic threats causing species to be rare. The use of a hierarchy of the three criteria, wherein provincial responsibility was assigned the most weight, resulted in the highest ranking for 13 species that exist only in Saskatchewan and no other Canadian province or territory. The list is a first step in identifying species deserving of conservation attention and/or further study, while the method itself was deemed to be highly relevant to conservation managers and decision makers due to its scale adaptability and fairly minimal resource requirements.     

Differentiation between responses of primary productivity and phosphorus exploitation to species richness

Several studies have shown that ecosystem functioning increases with increasing species richness. Most of these studies examined the effects of species richness on primary productivity. The underlying mechanism that explains this pattern is usually the selection effect. The higher the diversity in plant communities the higher the chance in including a very productive species that dominates the community, or a legume species that brings N into the soil. Less attention has been given so far to the effects of species richness on phosphorus exploitation. The aim of this work was to investigate the effect of species richness on aboveground primary productivity and P accumulation in a plant diversity experiment. For this reason, 14 grassland plant species were grown in containers as monocultures and in mixtures of 2-, 3-, 4-, 8-, 11- and 14-species combinations. Results show that the aboveground phytomass and total P increased with increasing species richness. Complementarity effects, probably through partitioning of resources, were most apparent in the highest levels of species richness, and were observed to be greater for total P in comparison to phytomass. Selection effects generally were greater for phytomass than for total P; they were significantly positive at the 2- to 8-species combinations but close to 0 or negative in the highest levels of species richness. The increases in phytomass and total P at the highest levels of species richness appeared to be caused by the increased performance of intermediate-productive species. Responsible Editor: Tibor Kalapos.     

Documenting Biogeographical Patterns of African Timber Species Using Herbarium Records: A Conservation Perspective Based on Native Trees from Angola

In many tropical regions the development of informed conservation strategies is hindered by a dearth of biodiversity information. Biological collections can help to overcome this problem, by providing baseline information to guide research and conservation efforts. This study focuses on the timber trees of Angola, combining herbarium (2670 records) and bibliographic data to identify the main timber species, document biogeographic patterns and identify conservation priorities. The study recognized 18 key species, most of which are threatened or near-threatened globally, or lack formal conservation assessments. Biogeographical analysis reveals three groups of species associated with the enclave of Cabinda and northwest Angola, which occur primarily in Guineo-Congolian rainforests, and evergreen forests and woodlands. The fourth group is widespread across the country, and is mostly associated with dry forests. There is little correspondence between the spatial pattern of species groups and the ecoregions adopted by WWF, suggesting that these may not provide an adequate basis for conservation planning for Angolan timber trees. Eight of the species evaluated should be given high conservation priority since they are of global conservation concern, they have very restricted distributions in Angola, their historical collection localities are largely outside protected areas and they may be under increasing logging pressure. High conservation priority was also attributed to another three species that have a large proportion of their global range concentrated in Angola and that occur in dry forests where deforestation rates are high. Our results suggest that timber tree species in Angola may be under increasing risk, thus calling for efforts to promote their conservation and sustainable exploitation. The study also highlights the importance of studying historic herbarium collections in poorly explored regions of the tropics, though new field surveys remain a priority to update historical information.     

Ecological potentials of biodiversity modelled from information entropies: Plant species diversity of North-Central European forests as an example

The paper deals with the hypothesis that ecosystems have well-defined potentials of biodiversity. These potentials can be quantified as information entropy of the corresponding ecosystem type. The hypothesis is verified for the diversity of plant species.

A vegetation database of North-Central European forests containing more than 12000 relevés is analyzed computationally. The samples are classified into ecosystem types that are homogeneous with respect to vegetation patterns, ecological site factors, and, implicitly, with respect to ecosystem processes. Growing numbers of relevés are selected randomly from the representatives of different ecosystem types and investigated mathematically.

Shannon information (product of logarithmic species number and evenness) obeys a hyperbolic saturation equation approaching a finite value on infinite area. This asymptotic limit defines the ecological potential of species diversity. Within a given plant-geographical region, it is determined by ecological site factors like climate and soil controlling interrelations between plants. Competition relationships and hence potentials of phytodiversity are altered by management significantly. The curve of evenness versus area size is hump-shaped. Maximum evenness is proportional to the ecological potential of species diversity. The area size where evenness attains its maximum can be interpreted as the minimum area of the respective forest type. The ecological potentials of plant species diversity modelled from information entropies correspond to vegetation patterns consisting of a limited number of plant species. These vegetation patterns are closely related to ecosystem processes like nutrient cycling, plant nutrition, evapotranspiration, microbial processes, or net-primary production. Revealing the relationships between vegetation patterns and ecosystem processes allows scaling functional information from local measurement scales up to regional scales.

It is suggested to explore genetic, proteomic, and species data in order to derive comprehensive ecological potentials of biodiversity on various levels from population to landscape. The expected results could improve the understanding of the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning as well as the sustainability of ecosystem management.     

Inferring phylogenetic relationships avoiding forbidden rooted triplets

To construct a phylogenetic tree or phylogenetic network for describing the evolutionary history of a set of species is a well-studied problem in computational biology. One previously proposed method to infer a phylogenetic tree/network for a large set of species is by merging a collection of known smaller phylogenetic trees on overlapping sets of species so that no (or as little as possible) branching information is lost. However, little work has been done so far on inferring a phylogenetic tree/network from a specified set of trees when in addition, certain evolutionary relationships among the species are known to be highly unlikely. In this paper, we consider the problem of constructing a phylogenetic tree/network which is consistent with all of the rooted triplets in a given set C and none of the rooted triplets in another given set F. Although NP-hard in the general case, we provide some efficient exact and approximation algorithms for a number of biologically meaningful variants of the problem.     

THE KRANZ SYNDROME IN THE GRAMINEAE AS INDICATED BY CARBON ISOTOPIC RATIOS

The Kranz syndrome, as indicated by relatively high ¹³C/¹²C ratios is characteristic of 16 ½ tribes and about ½ of the species of the Gramineae. Data are given for 198 species from 129 genera and 47 tribes, and from at least 6 subfamilies of grasses. This information is correlated with data from the literature on anatomical and physiological characters of both Kranz and non-Kranz grasses. All subfamilies, tribes, and genera seem to be uniformly all Kranz or non-Kranz except the subfamily Panicoideae and the genus Panicum which have both Kranz and non-Kranz species represented.     

ORI-GENE: gene classification based on the evolutionary tree

MOTIVATION: Genome projects have produced large amounts of data on the sequences of new genes whose functions are as yet unknown. The functions of new genes are usually inferred by comparing their sequences with those of known genes, but evaluation of the sequence homology of individual genes does not make the most of the available sequence information. Therefore, new methods and tools for extracting more biological information from homology searches would be advantageous. RESULTS: We have developed a computational tool, ORI-GENE, to analyze the results of sequence homology searches from the perspective of the evolution of selected sets of new genes. ORI-GENE has a graphical interface and accomplishes two important tasks: first, based on the output of homology searches, it identifies species with similar genes and displays their pattern of distribution on the phylogenetic tree. This function enables one to infer the way in which a given gene may have propagated among species over time. Second, from the distribution patterns, it predicts the point at which a given gene may have been first acquired (i.e. its 'origin'), then classifies the gene on that basis. Because it makes use of available evolutionary information to show the way in which genes cluster among species, ORI-GENE should be an effective tool for the screening and classification of new genes revealed by genome analysis. AVAILABILITY: ORI-GENE is retrievable via the Internet at: http://www.rtc.riken.go.jp/jouhou/ORI-GENE.     

The importance of data mining for conservation science: a case study on the wolverine

Assessing the scale of ecological changes that have occurred since the onset of the Anthropocene is challenging. One major problem is that of shifting baselines, whereby the norms we set for judging the state of species, populations, or ecosystems change over time due to incomplete information. Here we show how data mining can be used to fill some of the information gaps fueling shifting baselines. We used as example an elusive species, the wolverine (Gulo gulo), given that information gaps are so prevailing for such species. We applied the concept of data mining to search documents hosted on publicly accessible online repositories and found information about the historical occurrence of wolverines that allowed us to revise their historical range in eastern North America. We found 12 historical accounts attesting the presence of wolverines in various parts of the Maritime Provinces of Canada, of which 11 were new to contemporary science. According to our results, the eastern limit of the historical range of the wolverine should be extended to include the current jurisdictions of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. Biological change is the central paradigm of species status assessments. We show that online repositories of public domain literature can now be critical sources of information to assess biological change, including in the case of elusive species. Data mining constitutes a productive tool to uncover useful knowledge hidden in a sea of digitized historical information, and should thus allow researchers and conservationists to more effectively mitigate the problem of shifting baselines.     

Genetic Variation in Natural Populations of Five Drosophila Species and the Hypothesis of the Selective Neutrality of Protein Polymorphisms

We have studied genetic variation at 30-32 loci coding for enzymes in natural populations of five species of Drosophila. The average proportion of heterozygous loci per individual is 17.7 +/- 0.4%. The average proportion of polymorphic loci per population is 69.2 +/- 2.6% or 49.8 +/- 2.2%, depending on what criterion of polymorphism is used. The following generalizations are advanced: (1) The amount of genetic polymorphism varies considerably from locus to locus. (2) At a given locus, populations of the same species are very similar in the amount and pattern of genetic variation. (3) However, at some loci large differences sometimes occur between local populations of the same species. (4) The amount of variation at a given locus is approximately the same in all five species. (5) When different species are compared, the pattern of the variation is either essentially identical or totally different at a majority of loci. We have tested the hypothesis that protein polymorphisms are selectively neutral by examining four predictions derived from the hypothesis. Our results are at variance with every one of the predictions. We have measured the amount of genetic differentiation, D, between taxa of various degrees of evolutionary divergence. The average value of D is 0.033 for local populations, 0.228 for subspecies, 0.226 for semispecies, 0.538 for sibling species, and 1.214 for morphologically distinguishable species. Our results indicate that a substantial degree of genetic differentiation (22.8 allelic substitutions for every 100 loci) occurs between allopatric populations that have diverged to the point where they might become different species if they were to become sympatric. However, very little additional genetic change is required for the development of complete reproductive isolation. After the speciation process is completed, species continue to diverge genetically from each other.     

Cross modal perception of body size in domestic dogs (Canis familiaris)

While the perception of size-related acoustic variation in animal vocalisations is well documented, little attention has been given to how this information might be integrated with corresponding visual information. Using a cross-modal design, we tested the ability of domestic dogs to match growls resynthesized to be typical of either a large or a small dog to size-matched models. Subjects looked at the size-matched model significantly more often and for a significantly longer duration than at the incorrect model, showing that they have the ability to relate information about body size from the acoustic domain to the appropriate visual category. Our study suggests that the perceptual and cognitive mechanisms at the basis of size assessment in mammals have a multisensory nature, and calls for further investigations of the multimodal processing of size information across animal species.     

mRNA sequence predictions from homologous protein sequences

A model has been developed that permits the prediction of mRNA nucleic acid sequence from the sequences of the translated proteins. The model relies on the information obtained from the comparison of protein sequences in related species to reduce the number of possible codons for those amino acids where mutations are observed. The predictions so obtained have been tested by applying the model to proteins whose mRNA sequences are known. The model's predictions have been found to be 100% accurate if three or more different amino acids are known at a given position and if the protein sequences are restricted to relatively closely related species (within the same class). The use of this model may permit a reduction of the mRNA sequence degeneracy and therefore be helpful in the synthesis of cDNA probes or for the prediction of restriction endonuclease sites. Computer programs have been developed to ease the use of the model.     

Cryopreservation of gametes and embryos of non-domestic species.

Many species of mammals are threatened or endangered. Methods of assisted reproduction that are being used with increasing frequency to produce offspring of domestic animals and humans are often viewed as offering innovative ways to reproduce non-domestic species as well. Uncounted millions of live young of domestic or laboratory species have been produced from gametes and embryos stored at -70 degrees C or below, sometimes for as long as 25 to 35 yrs. Such methods of cryopreservation are now being applied with increasing frequency and urgency to preserve gametes and embryos of non-domestic and threatened species to establish "genome resource banks" or "frozen zoos." But levels of success to produce live young from such cryopreserved gametes or embryos vary considerably from species to species, as well as from individual to individual. It is sometimes thought that differences among species in fundamental characteristics of their gametes may determine the efficacy of cryopreservation and the production of live young. However, it may not be that ineffective cryopreservation is responsible for low success rates. Rather, the limiting factor may be insufficient information and knowledge of the most basic reproductive biology of such non-domestic species. Even standard methods of cryopreservation may be completely adequate to act as a "temporary" expedient to preserve germplasm of non-domestic species to permit time to acquire a fuller understanding of the biology and behavior of non-domestic species.     

Eavesdropping on heterospecific alarm calls: from mechanisms to consequences

Animals often gather information from other species by eavesdropping on signals intended for others. We review the extent, benefits, mechanisms, and ecological and evolutionary consequences of eavesdropping on other species' alarm calls. Eavesdropping has been shown experimentally in about 70 vertebrate species, and can entail closely or distantly related species. The benefits of eavesdropping include prompting immediate anti‐predator responses, indirect enhancement of foraging or changed habitat use, and learning about predators. Eavesdropping on heterospecifics can provide more eyes looking for danger, complementary information to that from conspecifics, and potentially information at reduced cost. The response to heterospecific calls can be unlearned or learned. Unlearned responses occur when heterospecific calls have acoustic features similar to that used to recognize conspecific calls, or acoustic properties such as harsh sounds that prompt attention and may allow recognition or facilitate learning. Learning to recognize heterospecific alarm calls is probably essential to allow recognition of the diversity of alarm calls, but the evidence is largely indirect. The value of eavesdropping on different species is affected by problems of signal interception and the relevance of heterospecific alarm calls to the listener. These constraints on eavesdropping will affect how information flows among species and thus affect community function. Some species are ‘keystone’ information producers, while others largely seek information, and these differences probably affect the formation and function of mixed‐species groups. Eavesdroppers might also integrate alarm calls from multiple species to extract relevant and reliable information. Eavesdropping appears to set the stage for the evolution of interspecific deception and communication, and potentially affects communication within species. Overall, we now know that eavesdropping on heterospecific alarm calls is an important source of information for many species across the globe, and there are ample opportunities for research on mechanisms, fitness consequences and implications for community function and signalling evolution.     

Cliffs Used as Communal Roosts by Andean Condors Protect the Birds from Weather and Predators

The quality and availability of resources influence the geographical distribution of species. Social species need safe places to rest, meet, exchange information and obtain thermoregulatory benefits, but those places may also serve other important functions that have been overlooked in research. We use a large soaring bird that roosts communally in cliffs, the Andean condor (Vultur gryphus), as a model species to elucidate whether roost locations serve as a refuge from adverse weather conditions (climatic refuge hypothesis, CRH), and/or from predators or anthropogenic disturbances (threats refuge hypothesis, TRH). The CRH predicts that communal roosts will face in the opposite direction from where storms originate, and will be located in climatically stable, low precipitation areas. The TRH predicts that communal roosts will be large, poorly accessible cliffs, located far from human-made constructions. We surveyed cliffs used as communal roosts by condors in northwestern Patagonia, and compared them with alternative non-roosting cliffs to test these predictions at local and regional scales. We conclude that communal roosting places provide refuge against climate and disturbances such as, for instance, the threats of predators (including humans). Thus, it is not only the benefits gained from being aggregated per se, but the characteristics of the place selected for roosting that may both be essential for the survival of the species. This should be considered in management and conservation plans given the current scenario of global climate change and the increase in environmental disturbances.     

Proton electron-nuclear double-resonance spectra of molybdenum(V) in different reduced forms of xanthine oxidase

Electron-nuclear double-resonance (ENDOR) spectra of protons coupled to molybdenum(V) in reduced xanthine oxidase samples have been recorded. Under appropriate conditions these protons may be studied without interference from protons coupled to reduced iron-sulfur centers. Spectra have been obtained for the molybdenum(V) species known as Rapid, Slow, Inhibited, and Desulfo Inhibited. Resonances corresponding to at least nine protons or sets of protons are observed for all four species, with coupling constants in the range 0.08-4 MHz. Most of these protons do not exchange when 2H2O is used as solvent. Additional protons giving couplings up to 40 MHz are also detected. These correspond to EPR-detectable protons studied in earlier work. The strongly coupled protons may be replaced by 2H, through appropriate use of 2H2O or of 2H-substituted substrates, with consequent disappearance of the 1H resonances. In most cases the corresponding 2H ENDOR features have also been observed. The nature of the various coupled protons is briefly discussed. Results permit specific conclusions to be drawn about the structures of the Inhibited and Desulfo Inhibited species. In particular, the data indicate that the aldehyde residue of the Inhibited species has been oxidized and that the four protons derived from the ethylene glycol molecule in the Desulfo Inhibited species are not all equivalent. Recent assignments [Edmondson, D.E., & D'Ardenne, S.C. (1989) Biochemistry 28, 5924-5930] of the weakly coupled protons in the latter species appear not to be soundly based. The possibility of obtaining more detailed structural information from the spectra is briefly considered.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)