Sensory Ecology of Water Detection by Bats: A Field Experiment

Bats face a great risk of dehydration, so sensory mechanisms for water recognition are crucial for their survival. In the laboratory, bats recognized any smooth horizontal surface as water because these provide analogous reflections of echolocation calls. We tested whether bats also approach smooth horizontal surfaces other than water to drink in nature by partly covering watering troughs used by hundreds of bats with a Perspex layer mimicking water. We aimed 1) to confirm that under natural conditions too bats mistake any horizontal smooth surface for water by testing this on large numbers of individuals from a range of species and 2) to assess the occurrence of learning effects. Eleven bat species mistook Perspex for water relying chiefly on echoacoustic information. Using black instead of transparent Perspex did not deter bats from attempting to drink. In Barbastella barbastellus no echolocation differences occurred between bats approaching the water and the Perspex surfaces respectively, confirming that bats perceive water and Perspex to be acoustically similar. The drinking attempt rates at the fake surface were often lower than those recorded in the laboratory: bats then either left the site or moved to the control water surface. This suggests that bats modified their behaviour as soon as the lack of drinking reward had overridden the influence of echoacoustic information. Regardless of which of two adjoining surfaces was covered, bats preferentially approached and attempted to drink from the first surface encountered, probably because they followed a common route, involving spatial memory and perhaps social coordination. Overall, although acoustic recognition itself is stereotyped and its importance in the drinking process overwhelming, our findings point at the role of experience in increasing behavioural flexibility under natural conditions.     

A New Slide Holder for Immune Staining

The construction of a Perspex slide holder for use in immune staining is described. The apparatus allows large numbers of slides to be stained at once and makes the procedure less tedious than it would otherwise be.     

A new slide holder for immune staining

The construction of a Perspex slide holder for use in immune staining is described. The apparatus allows large numbers of slides to be stained at once and makes the procedure less tedious than it would otherwise be.     

Birds' tails do act like delta wings but delta-wing theory does not always predict the forces they generate

Delta-wing theory, which predicts the aerodynamics of aircraft like the Concorde, is the conventional explanation for the way in which a bird's tail operates in flight. Recently, doubt has been cast on the validity of applying a theory devised for supersonic aircraft to the small tails of slow-flying birds. By testing delta-wing models and birds' tails behind bodies with wings, I empirically show that the tails of birds produce lift in a very similar way to conventional delta-wing models. Both Perspex and birds' tail models produce lift similar to that predicted by delta-wing theory when narrowly spread and at low angles of attack. However, when widely spread and at high angles of attack, both tails and Perspex models produce much less lift than predicted, owing to vortex breakdown after which the assumptions of delta-wing theory are violated. These results indicate that birds' tails can be regarded as delta wings but that the theory predicting the forces produced by delta wings can only be applied within acceptable limits (i.e. tails spread less than 60 degrees and at angles of attack of less than 20 degrees).     

Circadian rhythms in the blowfly, Phormia terraenovae: the period in constant light

ABSTRACT. Locomotor activity of individual blowflies, Phormia (=Protophormia) terraenovae R.D. (Diptera, Calliphoridae), was recorded by means of running wheels made of Perspex (plexiglass). At various intervals after hatching, flies were placed in the wheel in continuous light (120 lx). The period of the free-running rhythm was often shorter than 24 h initially, but lengthened later and stabilized after 15–20 days at values around or above 25 h. The mean period was independent of age in both sexes. Within a range from 2 to 2000lx the period did not depend in a systematic way on intensity of illumination; no activity could be recorded below 1 lx.     

Quantitative Histochemistry; Design and Use of a Simple Microcell for Standardized Incubation on the Slide

Avoidance of stain variation among mounted sections incubated in small volumes of fluid can be overcome by the construction and use of a microcell. Perspex rings of appropriate diameter are attached to small Perspex rectangles to form wells, small trip bars being also attached. to the rectangles to simplify subsequent manipulation. The wells are filled with incubation fluid, and slides bearing frozen sections are held in position with small rubber bands. With certain dehydrogenases formazan production by this method is uniformly greater than that produced by incubation in drops of solution. In the case of the moderately active enzyme, 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase, the volume of the incubation mixture was not critical between 65 and 270 μl.     

A method to record circadian plant movements, with application to Oxalis leaf rhythms

A transducer was developed to record the circadian movement of the individual leaflets in Oxalis regnellii Mig. The method can easily be adapted to measure other kinds of plant movements as well. It is based on the detection of the shadow each leaflet casts on the small side of a specially formed Perspex plate. The light is guided through the Perspex and collected by a phototransistor, which provides an electrical signal that is proportional to the light intensity falling onto it. The output signal can be made a linear function of the leaf angle. This equipment was used in experiments to study the coupling between the 3 leaflets in Oxalis . Pulses of 4 h of red light were given to one of the leaflets, the two others were shielded from the light. A phase response curve was determined for each leaflet, but there was no significant difference in the phase response between the 3 leaflets. Experiments were also made in which the 3 leaflets were separated physically by cuts along the petiole between the pulvini. In this case ultradian oscillations were observed.     

Bulk Handling Racks for Free-Floating Serial Sections, Especially Suitable for Nauta Staining

Staining racks, each containing 20 shallow compartments, were constructed by drilling 1.5 cm holes in 8 × 11 cm sheets of 1 mm thick Darvic, an unplasticised polyvinyl-chloride compound, and cementing fibre-glass gauze of 1.3 mm mesh size to one surface. Sections were placed serially—one to each compartment—in the racks, and stacks of up to 9 racks were clamped by Perspex (methyl methacrylate) nuts and bolts, and side clamps. Thus, sections could be handled easily and kept in strict serial order, even in bulk. For Nauta staining, brains had to be gelatin embedded before sectioning. By storing sections in groups of 4 in ice-cube trays, evenly spaced series could be selected for placement in the racks. As many as 160 sections were taken together through all stages of the Nauta method, the timing of critical stages being controlled by taking 4 to 6 free-floating sections, together with the racks, through the various solutions.     

High-resolution three-dimensional images from confocal scanning laser microscopy. Quantitative study and mathematical correction of the effects from bleaching and fluorescence attenuation in depth

Three-dimensional images can be assembled by piling up consecutive confocal fluorescent images obtained by confocal scanning laser microscopy. The present work was based on three-dimensional (50-microns-deep) images at high (x, y) resolution obtained with an MRC-500 after en bloc staining of thick slices of rat liver by chromomycin A3 for nuclear DNA. The results of studies on bleaching, fluorescence excitation and emission intensities at various depths of histologic preparations are described. These effects could be evaluated separately by acquiring piled-up ("brick-stepping") and non-piled-up ("side-stepping") (x, y) images at consecutive depths and also (x, z) images. Empirical equations allowed the fitting of experimental plots of bleaching versus time, at different laser intensities and at different depths, and of fluorescence emission intensity versus depth. The main conclusions were that under our experimental conditions: (1) there was no attenuation by depth of the fluorochrome penetration, (2) there was no attenuation of the exciting beam intensity up to at least 50 microns deep, (3) there was an attenuation of the fluorescence emission intensity by depth, (4) bleaching happened equally on all planes above and below any confocal plane being studied, and (5) the fluorescence bleaching half-life was independent of depth. A mathematical correction scheme designed to compensate for bleaching and for attenuation of fluorescence emission in depth is presented. This correction is required for obtaining three-dimensional images of better quality, for optimal three-dimensional image segmentation and for any quantitative analysis based upon voxel-discretized emission intensities (gray levels)--e.g., estimating, by confocal image cytometry, textural chromatin parameters and nuclear DNA amounts.     

The behaviour of 14C profiles in Helianthus seedlings

Summary The log. ¹⁴C activity/distance profile in the stems of Helianthus seedlings consists of two main parts: region 1, the linear advancing front and region 2, which is also linear but with a less steep slope. As the front passes down the stem, the slope of region 1 remains constant but the amplitude of the front becomes attenuated. The attenuation increases with temperature. The apparent velocity of the profile, which can be derived from the position of the front, is also temperature dependent. Small amounts of ¹⁴C occur in the stem ahead of the profile; these amounts increase with a rise of temperature. Region 2 behaves differently: its slope decreases steadily with time but it is insensitive to temperature. The behaviour of this region is dependent on the movement of tracer into an immobile fraction as well as on the longitudinal movement of tracer in the translocation stream.     

Response of rhizosphere microbial communities associated with Antarctic hairgrass (<Emphasis Type="Italic"> Deschampsia antarctica</Emphasis><Emphasis Type="Underline">)</Emphasis> to UV radiation

The response of rhizosphere microbial communities associated with natural populations of Deschampsia antarctica growing on Léonie Island (67°36S, 68°21W, Antarctic Peninsula) to UV radiation was investigated. UV radiation was controlled in the field using Perspex VA screens (UV-B opaque) which transmit little radiation below 380 nm but allow penetration of approximately 92% of radiation above 400 nm, and Perspex OXO2 screens (UV-B transparent) which transmit approximately 70% of radiation at 280 nm, rising to 90% at 300 nm and above. Reducing ambient UV radiation altered the phenotypic profile of the rhizosphere microbial community. This alteration was expressed as enhanced carbohydrate and carboxylic acid utilisation by the rhizosphere micro-organisms. It is hypothesised that ambient levels of UV radiation indirectly affect rhizosphere micro-organisms by influencing the quality or quantity of root exudates.     

Long distance dispersal and the fate of a gene from the colonization front

There is an increasing recognition that long distance dispersal (LDD) plays a key role in establishing spatial genetic structure during colonization. Recent works, focused on short distance dispersal, demonstrated that a neutral mutation arising at the colonization front can either ‘surf’ with the wave front and reach high frequencies or stay near its place of origin at low frequencies. Here, we examine how LDD, and more generally the shape of the dispersal kernel, modifies this phenomenon and how the width of the colonization corridor affects the fate of the mutation. We demonstrate that when LDD events are more frequent, the ‘surfing phenomenon’ is less frequent, probably because any alleles can get far ahead from the colonization front and preclude the invasion by others alleles, thus leading to an attenuation of the diversity loss. We also demonstrate that the width of the colonization corridor influences the fate of the mutation, wide spaces decreasing the probability of invasion. Overall, the genetic structure of diversity resulted not only from LDD but also particularly from the shape of the dispersal kernel.     

Social Influence on Early Foraging of Domestic Chicks (Gallus gallus) in a Near-to-Nature Procedure

The aim of this study was to investigate the social influence of single chicks with different foraging experience on the behaviour of their group members during the first days after hatching. In contrast to the duplicate cage procedure normally used in social learning studies, four naïve group members could freely interact with a tutor or a control chick in an enriched 20-m² test arena. This arena contained two types of food caches with differently coloured food. The tutor was 3 d older than its group members and was trained to feed from one of the two food cache types, whereas the control chick was not familiar with the characteristics of the test arena and was either of the same age or 3 d older than its group members. During the first 9 d after hatching, the foraging activity of 32 chick groups was tested in 15 trials per group. Groups with a 3 d older but inexperienced control chick had the least foraging success whilst groups with a naïve control chick of the same age compared more favourably with the groups with experienced tutors than with groups that included older control chicks. In a second experiment, a tutor compartment was introduced into the test arena in order to compare a situation of unrestricted contact possibilities with the duplicate cage procedure in which tutor and bystanders are separated by a Perspex divider. The tutor compartment was opened for some test groups, allowing free interaction between tutor and naïve chicks. Those chicks which could only watch the tutor through the Perspex developed a preference for the tutor’s food type and discovered this food type as fast as the chicks of groups with unrestricted interactions. However, a relatively large proportion of groups (3 out of 8) did not develop successful foraging behaviour at all, whereas the successful groups showed longer feeding latencies during the subsequent trials than groups which had unrestricted contact with their tutor. This indicates an inhibiting effect of the duplicate cage procedure. It is concluded that when testing chicks of a few days of age, a distinction should be made between (i) the social influence on food particle preferences and (ii) the social influence on learning where to find food. This is important for generalizations taken from duplicate cage procedures without any environmental enrichment, as this restrictive setting only allows detection of food particle preferences.     

An hypothesis for survival of spermatozoa via encapsulation during plane front freezing

Plane front freezing presents the possibility of encapsulating individual cells in the ice phase. The cells may also be pushed ahead of the plane front ice interface, as is always the case for conventional dendritic freezing, where the cells are pushed ahead of the thickening dendrite arms. Cells which are encapsulated during freezing are exposed to hypotonic liquid (pure water) initially upon thawing, while cells which are pushed into the last liquid to freeze are exposed to hypertonic liquid upon thawing. Some exposure to hypertonic intercellular liquid prior to freezing may be required to build up the salt and CPA content in the intracellular liquid and thereby avoid intracellular ice formation at the given cooling rate. Encapsulation of cells by a plane front ice interface should result in three regions of cell survival in the sample: an initial region of cell death due to intracellular ice formation, a final region of cell death due to overexposure to hypertonic intercellular liquid, and an intermediate region of cell survival, where neither damage mechanism has operated to a lethal level. An advantage of plane front freezing over dendritic freezing is that the regions of cell survival and death should be geometrically separate in the sample, rather than mixed at the dendritic microstructural level, as is the case for dendritic freezing. Samples containing populations with very high or very low survival rates for spermatozoa could be obtained by simply cutting up the frozen sample.     

Reduction of infarct size by orally administered des-aspartate-angiotensin I in the ischemic reperfused rat heart

Occlusion of the left main coronary artery for 45 min caused sizable infarct scaring of the left ventricular wall in the rat heart at 14 days post-reperfusion. Daily oral administration of des-aspartate-angiotensin I (DAA-I) for 14 days attenuated the area of the infarct scar and transmurality. The attenuation was dose-dependent and biphasic; maximum effective dose was 1524 nmol/kg, and doses higher than this were progressively inactive. The exact mechanism of the biphasic attenuation is not known, and receptor down-regulation by internalization, which has been implicated in a similar biphasic nature for the anticardiac hypertrophic action of DAA-I, could be a likely cause. Indomethacin (101 μmol/kg, i.p.), administered sequentially after the daily oral dose of DAA-I (1524 nmol/kg), completely inhibited the attenuation at 14 days post-reperfusion, indicating that prostaglandins may be involved in transducing the attenuation. The present findings support earlier indications that DAA-I exerts protective actions in cardiovascular pathologies in which angiotensin II is implicated. It is suggested that DAA-I exerts the cardioprotective action by acting on the same indomethacin-sensitive angiotensin AT₁ receptor. Although similar array of protective actions are also seen with another endogenous angiotensin, angiotensin-(1–7), the present findings demonstrate for the first time the ability of an endogenous angiotensin to reduce the infarct size of an ischemic-reperfusion injured rat heart.     

The influence of environmental change on the behaviour of sheltered dogs

The majority of sheltered dogs are overlooked for purchase because they are considered undesirable by potential buyers. Many factors may determine a dog's appeal, although of interest here are the dog's behaviour and cage environment which can influence its desirability. People prefer dogs which are at the front rather than the back of the cage, quiet as opposed to barking, and alert rather than non-alert. Potential buyers also prefer dogs which are held in complex as opposed to barren environments. This study examined the behaviour of sheltered dogs in response to environmental change, to determine whether it influenced dog behaviour in ways that could be perceived as desirable to potential dog buyers, and/or had any effect upon the incidence of dogs purchased from the shelter. One hundred and twenty dogs sheltered by the Ulster Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals were studied over a 4-h period. The dogs' position in the cage, vocalisation, and activity were investigated in response to increased human social stimulation, moving the dog's bed to the front of the cage, or suspending a toy from the front of the dog's cage. Social stimulation resulted in dogs spending more time at the front of the enclosure, more time standing, and slightly more time barking. Moving the bed to the front of the cage encouraged dogs to this position, but did not influence activity or vocalisation. Suspending a toy at the front of the pen exerted no effect on dog behaviour, although its presence in the pen may help to promote more positive perceptions of dog desirability. The incidence of dogs purchased from the rescue shelter increased whenever the dogs' cages were fitted with a bed at the front of the pen, whenever the dogs were subjected to increased regular human contact, and whenever a toy was placed at the front of the enclosure. Findings highlight the important role that cage environment can play in shaping the behaviour of sheltered dogs and influencing whether or not an animal will become purchased.