Field metabolism and water flux of Sociable Weavers Philetairus socius in the Kalahari Desert

Sociable Weavers Philetairus socius build large communal nests which they occupy year-round. White et al. suggested that use of this large nest complex significantly reduced the energy expenditure of Sociable Weavers during winter, thus lowering their resource requirements at that time. In this study we have used the doubly labelled water technique to examine the hypothesis that Sociable Weavers have a reduced field metabolic rate during the winter. Further, we measured their water influx and compared our findings with data from other desert-adapted birds. The field metabolic rate of Sociable Weavers (mean mass = 25.5 g) in the Kalahari Desert in winter averaged 48.7 ± 10.1 kj per day, a much lower energy expenditure than birds of similar size living in more mesic environments. We suggest that this results from a combination of communal roosting and possibly a reduced basal metabolic rate. The water influx of Sociable Weavers averaged 4.6 ml water per day, one of the lowest values reported for a bird of this size. Our analysis indicates that Sociable Weavers cannot rely on seeds as a food source without another source of water because the seeds do not provide enough water to meet their needs.     

Nest survival and productivity of the critically endangered Sociable Lapwing Vanellus gregarius

The Sociable Lapwing Vanellus gregarius is a critically endangered species, probably declining from 5000 pairs to 500 pairs in 11 years. Fieldwork was conducted at two sites in Kazakhstan, May–August 2004, to identify causes of the species’ decline. In total, 58 nests and a minimum of 36 broods in 16 colonies were found: colonies consisted of 1–8 nests that were on average 154 m apart, with 2.1 km between colonies. Although classified as biparental, the total proportion of time both parents spent incubating was low (77 ± 2% se, n = 13 nests). Daily survival rates (Mayfield method) were very low during incubation (0.943 ± 0.009 se) but high during the chick stage (0.986 ± 0.004 se); incubation and chick‐stage durations were found to be 28.5 and 29 days, respectively, so that the overall probability of any breeding attempt fledging chicks was 0.124 (0.055–0.274 95% confidence interval). A breeding attempt that produced fledglings, fledged 2.2 ± 0.2 se chicks (n = 26) on average. Observed productivity predicted the population decline over the last 11 years well (using the maximum number of nesting attempts per pair of 1.4 that could have occurred in this study, and assuming an adult and first‐year survival rate of 0.74 and 0.60, respectively, based on the means for Northern Lapwing Vanellus vanellus and Golden Plover Pluvialis apricalia). Nest survival during incubation (controlling for colony effects) may have been longer for nests in predominantly Artemisia rather than grass habitat. Mean nest survival for a colony was higher in areas with more bare ground and more nest predators, suggesting that predators were relatively unimportant in nest (egg or chick) mortality, but was lower in areas with high numbers of cattle, suggesting that trampling was important (64% of known‐cause nest failures, n = 11, were trampled). Nests were preferentially sited in areas of Artemisia, where there was greater dung abundance, and probably shorter vegetation, suggesting that highly grazed vegetation is important for nesting. Chicks preferentially selected areas with a lower percentage of bare ground and possibly taller vegetation, suggesting that more vegetated areas are important for chicks. The results suggest that low egg survival due to nesting in areas of high grazer density may be responsible for the Sociable Lapwing's decline. Although grazers may create suitable vegetation for initial nesting, if those grazers remain at high density as in anthropogenic systems then they may reduce nest survival, probably through trampling. Experimentally maintaining grazing early but reducing it later in the breeding season is the logical first step in managing the species to increase egg survival and so to increase productivity.     

Weaver Ants Increase Premature Loss of Leaves Used for Nest Construction in Rhizophora Trees1

Oecophylla ants utilize living leaves when they construct their nests. We investigated how Oecophylla smaragdina nests in southern Thailand affected leaf performance on the mangrove tree Rhizophora mucronata. Leaves used in nests and neighboring leaves showed a higher rate of premature leaf loss compared to control leaves farther from the nests. However, a tree's total cost due to the higher premature leaf loss was estimated to be approximately between 3‐ and 20‐fold lower than the benefit derived from ant protection, detected in a previous study ( Offenberg et al. 2004 ).     

Influencing Western Gorilla Nest Construction at Mondika Research Center

We collected nesting data from 512 fresh nest sites, including 3725 individual nests, of western gorillas at the Mondika Research Site, Central African Republic and Republic of Congo from 1996 through mid-1999. The mean count of nests of weaned individuals is 7.4 per nest site. Nest types included bare earth with no construction (45% of total), partial to full ground construction (34%), and arboreal (21%). Females, blackbacks, and juveniles as a combined age-sex class built significantly more arboreal nests (21% of total) than silverbacks did (2%). Proximate rainfall (independent of temperature) is significantly correlated with nest construction, i.e., as rainfall increased, silverbacks built more ground nests, and non-silverbacks built more ground and arboreal nests. Maximum daily temperature (independent of rainfall) is significantly negatively correlated with nest construction, i.e., as temperature increased, gorillas slept more often on bare earth without constructing a nest. Accordingly, we conclude that although nest building in gorillas may have innate components shared with other great apes, it is a flexible behavioral pattern that in some western populations is often not exhibited. It appears that when gorillas in this population build nests, they do so in response to both wet and cool conditions, and independently of diet, ranging, or group size.     

Aggression persists after ovariectomy in female rats

Aggression occurs not only in males but also in females, however, under different sex-specific stimulus and endocrine conditions. After being housed with males, female rats exhibit frequent and intense aggressive behavior toward unfamiliar rats. However, the female residents primarily attack female intruder rats, while the male residents attack males and not females. Altering the hormonal condition of the intruders can modify the behavior that they provoke from the residents. Castration of the male intruders reduces aggression from male residents, but ovariectomy of the female intruders does not alter the behavior of the female residents. Treatment of the gonadectomized intruders with gonadal steroids significantly alters the response of the male residents. Resident-intruder aggressive behavior depends on the presence of the testes in the male residents but not on the ovaries or on lactation in the female residents. Even 7 weeks after ovariectomy the female residents continue to show aggressive behavior toward female intruders. In the same time period the castrated male residents show a marked decrease in aggressive and sexual behavior.     

Organization and Regulation of Nest Construction Behavior in Metapolybia Wasps

Field observations and experiments revealed that construction behavior of Metapolybia wasps is based on parallel processing and distributed decision making. Sixteen behaviors were used to separate five behavioral groupings: specialized water forager, flexible pulpforager, active builder, active generalist, and idle. The idle category proved to be the source and the sink of the other task groups, although specialist foragers tend to retain their duties or take over other active roles. Nest construction is partitioned into three tasks. Pulp foragers transfer wood-pulp to the nest where other wasps (builders) distribute and process it further. The builders incorporate this material into the nest structure on the basis of individual decisions. Water foragers provide the extra water necessary for both building and pulp collecting. Material exchange takes place on the nest between pairs or in small groups. The duration and frequency of different behaviors, the number of wasps belonging to different behavioral groups, and the different scale of specialization in different groups suggest that the colony-level performance and speed are governed by the activity of the pulp foragers, who receive information about both the water saturation level of the colony and the activity of the builders through local interactions. Several predictions of this hypothesis were supported by disturbing the normal construction behavior through removing or decreasing the number of individuals belonging to different behavioral groups or supplying additional building material.     

模拟增加潜在巢捕食风险对2种鸟类雏鸟生长发育产生不同影响

捕食风险是影响鸟类生活史对策的重要因素之一。为应对捕食风险,鸟类进化出多样的反捕食策略。为探究北热带石灰岩森林地区鸟类生长发育对高巢捕食风险的适应机制,本研究通过利用蛇类模型模拟巢捕食者,增加潜在巢捕食风险,设置实验组,将未放置蛇类模型的实验设置为对照组。测量育雏期内黄腹山鹪莺（Prinia flaviventris）雏鸟与红耳鹎（Pycnonotus jocosus）雏鸟每日的体重、跗跖长与翼长,分别比较分析黄腹山鹪莺雏鸟与红耳鹎雏鸟上述体型特征在实验组与对照组中的生长发育规律。对符合正态分布的各日龄雏鸟生长参数进行t检验,不符合正态分布的参数进行非参数检验（Wilcox秩和检验）并求均值,使用SPSS 26.0统计软件包对雏鸟各日龄参数均值进行Logistic曲线拟合,比较各雏鸟相同生长参数在实验组和对照组实验的“S”发育曲线。结果显示,黄腹山鹪莺雏鸟在实验组的体重、跗跖长与翼长的渐近线分别占成鸟量度的71.57%、94.10%与55.29%,对照组分别占成鸟量度的78.05%、97.49%与55.67%,在实验组和对照组育雏期分别为11.1 d与10.6 d。实验组和对照组黄腹山...     

Maternal Androgens Increase Sibling Aggression,Dominance, and Competitive Ability in the Siblicidal Black-Legged Kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla)

Animals and plants routinely produce more offspring than they can afford to rear. Mothers can favour certain young by conferring on them competitive advantages such as a leading position in the birth sequence, more resources or hormones. Avian mothers create hatching asynchrony within a clutch and at the same time bestow the eggs with different concentrations of androgens that may enhance or counteract the competitive advantage experienced by early-hatching “core” young. In siblicidal birds, core young assume a dominant social position in the nest due to their size advantage and when threatened with starvation fatally attack subdominant later-hatching “marginal” young. A role for maternal androgens in siblicidal aggression has frequently been suggested but never tested. We studied this in the facultatively siblicidal black-headed kittiwake. We found that marginal eggs contain higher instead of lower concentrations of androgens than core eggs. Surprisingly, exposure to experimentally elevated yolk androgens increased sibling aggression and dominance, even though in nature marginal eggs never produce dominant chicks. We propose the “adoption facilitation hypothesis” to explain this paradox. This cliff-nesting colonial species has a high adoption rate: ejected marginal kittiwake chicks frequently fall into other nests containing chicks of similar or smaller size and exposure to yolk androgens might help them integrate themselves into a foster nest.     

Increase in visfatin after weight loss induced by gastroplastic surgery

Objective: The recently described adipokine visfatin is produced in visceral fat and has been suggested to influence insulin resistance. To investigate whether visfatin concentrations are related to changes in body weight, this adipokine was measured in insulin‐resistant severely obese patients before and after gastroplastic surgery. Research Methods and Procedures: Visfatin, interleukin‐6, high‐sensitivity C‐reactive protein, homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA‐IR), and other clinical parameters were assessed in 36 severely obese subjects (28 female; mean age, 43 years) with a median BMI of 44.3 kg/m² (95% confidence interval, 43.3 to 48.1 kg/m²). Results: After surgery, BMI decreased to a median of 31.9 kg/m² (30.1 to 35.1 kg/m²) (p < 0.0001). Median visfatin concentrations increased significantly after weight loss [70.9 ng/mL (61.4 to 75.6 ng/mL) vs. 86.4 ng/mL (79.4 to 89.8 ng/mL); p < 0.0005]. This increase correlated with the decrease of insulin and HOMA‐IR and was associated with a reduction in plasma interleukin‐6 and high‐sensitivity C‐reactive protein concentrations. Discussion: Massive weight loss after gastroplastic surgery is accompanied by an increase in circulating concentrations of the novel adipokine visfatin. This increase correlates with the decrease in plasma insulin concentrations and HOMA‐IR.     

Increase in duration of paradoxical sleep after carotid occlusion in rats

Nonlinear rats, which survived after occlusion of one or two common carotid arteries (N = 30, about 30% survived) were examined. Sham-operated animals formed a control group. In animals with ischemia, the total sleep duration in a three-hour period was substantially increased as compared to control group at the expense of a substantial growth (8-9 times) of paradoxical sleep (PS) phase. In the animals with ischemia, a sharp increase in PS was observed on the first postoperation day, and then PS gradually decreased from the first to the fortieth days. The results suggest the PS involvement in the brain intrinsic reparation functions.     

Early Increase in Nuclear Acidic Protein Synthesis after SV40 Infection

WHEN the replication of density-inhibited cultures of fibroblasts^1,2 is stimulated by a change of medium^3–5, the rate of nuclear acidic protein synthesis^10–13 is immediately increased. We wanted to determine whether the induction of cellular DNA synthesis by an oncogenic virus^6–9 is also preceded by nuclear acidic protein synthesis. We report here the effect of SV40 virus infection of a permissive and a non-permissive cell line on their synthesis of total cellular proteins and nuclear acidic proteins in the first hours after infection.     

Increase in rat soleus myotendinous interface after a 14-d spaceflight

Myotenclinous junctions (MTJs) transmit contractile force from skeletal muscles to tendons. The effects of a 14-d spaceflight on MTJ were studied in the soleus muscle of male adult Sprague Dawley rats by transmission electron microscopy and histomorphometric techniques. We showed that the length of the junctional membrane relative to the muscle fiber diameter increased by 58% after 14 d of spaceflight. This increase accompanies morphological changes at MTJs. The flight MTJs appeared more shredded. The ends of the muscle fibers exhibited T tubule dilatation, swollen mitochondria, Z-disk streaming, loss of myofilaments, a thinning down of subplasmalemmal densities, multivesicular bodies and signs of junctional membrane and basal lamina remodelling. The ultrastructural observations suggest that the increase in myotendinous interface could result from the extracellular matrix spreading into remodelling muscle fiber, whereas the constraints related to unloading were reduced by spaceflight conditions.