Whales, dolphins or fishes? The ethnotaxonomy of cetaceans in São Sebastião, Brazil

Tree worship is very common worldwide. This field study surveys the ceremonies and customs related to sacred trees in present-day Israel; it includes the results of interviews with 98 informants in thirty-one Arab, Bedouin, and Druze villages in the Galilee. The main results are: 1. Sacred trees were treated as another kind of sacred entity with all their metaphysical as well as physical manifestations. 2. There is not even one ceremony or custom that is peculiar only to a sacred tree and is not performed in other sacred places (such as a saint's grave or a mosque). 3. Few customs, such as: quarrel settling (= Sulkha), leaving objects to absorb the divine blessing and leaving objects for charity) seem to be characteristic of this region, only. 4. In modern times, sacred trees were never recorded, in Israel, as centres for official religious ceremonies including sacrifices, nor as places for the performing of rites of passage. 5. There is some variation among the different ethnic groups: Kissing trees and worshipping them is more common among the Druze although carrying out burials under the tree, leaving water and rain-making ceremonies under them have not been recorded in this group. Passing judgments under the tree is more typical of the Bedouin in which the sacred trees were commonly used as a public social centre. Most of the customs surveyed here are known from other parts of the world. The differences between Muslims and Druze are related to the latter's belief in the transmigration of souls.     

A study of some blood genetic characteristics of Bedouin and non-Bedouin Arabs of Jordan

Blood genetic markers were investigated in a sample of 111 Bedouin and 412 non-Bedouin male Arabs of Jordan. The frequencies of the ABO alleles were similar in these two groups, with a relatively high frequency of the O gene (0.63; 0.61). The frequencies of Rh genes were slightly different in these two groups, with a higher Ro and a lower r in the Bedouins. A sub-sample of a smaller size was investigated for the distribution of haptoglobin types, Tf subtypes and red-cell G6PD (glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase) phenotypes. There was no significant difference in any of the systems between the two populations. No haemoglobin variant was detected. The study confirms the Arab characteristics of Jordanians with a small degree of African admixture.     

International borders and range ecology: The case of Bedouin transborder grazing

Recent research suggests that, under unconstrained human circumstances, pastoral nomads within arid environments have at their disposal means of evading ecological stress that could impel them to cause damage to their grazing and land resources. The Israeli-Egyptian border has imposed a severe constraint upon the range management strategy of the Bedouin whose traditional territory it bisects. The border forced them to exert an increased pressure upon local resources. Considerable damage was thus caused to the perennial vegetation cover (both macrophytes and microphytes) and to the structure of sand dunes on the Egyptian side of the border, with opposite effects on the Israeli side to which the Bedouin had no access. This case study adds a further dimension to the discussion of range management by pastoral nomads in arid and semi-arid areas.     

Seasonal trends in zooplankton densities in Sanyati basin,Lake Kariba: multivariate analysis

Zooplankton of tropical man-made Lake Kariba was studied from July 1985 to January 1987. Seasonal trends in densities of various zooplankters were investigated from density-time graphs. Periods of peak densities were associated with high nutrient fluxes. There was a rainy season peak and a post turn-over peak. This seasonal pattern was confirmed and more elegantly demonstrated after applying cluster and principal component analysis.     

Women as Healers; Women as Clients: The Encounter Between Traditional Arab Women Healers and Their Clients

Interviews conducted with Arab women in Israel who sought treatment from traditional women healers show that such women undergo a change of both a personal and a social nature after the visit. This study enumerates and analyzes the aspects of this change and concludes that visiting traditional Arab women healers constitutes a coping path that empowers clients. Such empowerment, achieved primarily by clients who maintain regular, extended contact with healers, is not social but personal and follows traditional norms without challenging them. This is a model of practical empowerment that derives from the accepted norms of its culture, implying the existence of an empowering agent and an individual who are involved in a process of growth in a social context that embodies numerous restrictions.     

Optimal seasonal timing of univoltine and bivoltine insects

This study examines the optimal seasonal timing of the life cycle for univoltine and bivoltine insects, assuming that resource availability has a peak in the middle of a year and is symmetric around it. Results show that if the growth rate increases in proporrion to the bodyweight, bivoltine life cannot be optimal. If the growth rate is a power function of the bodyweight with a power smaller than unity, a symmetric bivoltine solution can be the optimal provided that the resource availability has a plateau in the middle of the season. If the resource availability has a sharp peak, the optimal pattern is an asymmetric bivoltine solution in which the larval periods of two generations differ in length. The bivoltine life cycle is more likely to be superior to the univoltine one if: growth is fast, suitable growing season is long, biomass loss during nonlarval stages is small, and egg size is small.     

The Biocultural Context of Very High Fertility among the Bekaa Bedouin

This research report explores some of the biocultural dimensions of maximum or near maximum fertility among Bedouin tribes in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon. The Bedouin case substantiates that very high fertility (completed family size [CFS] greater than 8.0) is found among peripheral peoples in frontier situations generated by major political-economic shifts. While the Bedouin maintained high fertility (CFS > 6.5) for approximately sixty years (1899–1960), very high fertility—linked to greater historical reliance on agriculture—was of shorter duration (1934–60). Comparisons with other very high fertility populations indicate that, at the proximate level, maximum fertility is associated with early weaning, low rates of primary sterility, and high rates of marital stability. Results also point to low subadult mortality in Bedouin society. Low mortality is best attributed to the availability of modern medical care facilities and high-quality weaning foods.     

Fine-scale genetic structure and its consequence in breeding aggregations of a passerine bird

The pattern of fine-scale genetic structure in a population may reflect current biological processes of the species, such as natal dispersal, the breeding system and demography. We investigated the spatial distribution of nests and fine-scale genetic structure during two breeding seasons in a population of a weakly territorial, flock-living passerine bird, the vinous-throated parrotbill, Paradoxornis webbianus . Nest distribution was clustered. There were two peaks of egg laying within each breeding season, and spatial clustering of nests was more extreme during the second peak after controlling for breeding density. The patterns of genetic structure during the breeding season varied with parental sex and season. Genetic structure occurred during the second laying peak: males breeding within 200 m of one another at this time were significantly more closely related than males breeding farther apart. However, no apparent genetic structure was detected in males during the first laying peak or among females in either laying peak. These results reveal male-oriented kin affiliation during part of the breeding season in this species. Furthermore, juvenile recruitment into the winter flocks was positively related to this increased relatedness among males via kin affiliation. This study implies that fine-scale genetic structure during the breeding season could be a factor determining individual fitness and may play an important role in our understanding of the evolution of social systems.     

云南拉沙山黑白仰鼻猴交配行为和出生季节

灵长类的交配模式对于了解和掌握雄性的交配策略和社群的稳定机制非常重要,但是目前有关亚洲灵长类交配模式的数据较少;因此,该研究于2011年1—12月,分别采用全事件取样法和焦点动物瞬时扫描取样法收集了拉沙山黑白仰鼻猴群的交配行为和出生数据。猴群全年交配,有2个峰期,一个是繁殖交配高峰期(8一10月);另一个在出生季节,但其非繁殖交配的生物学意义尚不清楚。雌性通过俯卧/注视雄性或跳落邀配。爬跨射精比为8.8,射精交配稀少(11.4%),这说明雄性并非每次交配都射精,因而支持黑白仰鼻猴交配模式的主体为多次爬跨射精或处于从单次爬跨射精到多次爬跨射精连续谱上段的观点。雄性邀配的射精爬跨多于雌性,说明多次爬跨射精不仅是雄性的一个交配策略,而且可以决定交配模式在连续谱的位置。交配时间后延6~7个月,交配频次与婴猴出生率相关。拉沙山猴群出生模式为严格的季节性,这进一步证实了前人的观点。婴猴出生具有一定的同步性,且不同猴群婴猴出生的同步模式不同。     

Changes in testicular and nipple volume related to age and seasonality in Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata), especially in the pre- and post-pubertal periods

We investigated, longitudinally and cross-sectionally, age and seasonal change in both the testis and nipple volume of Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata) in relation to concentration profiles of gonadal steroids: testosterone (T) in males and progesterone (P) in females. Testicular volume (TV) and nipple volume (NV) showed rapid growth at puberty, 4.5 and 3.5 years of age in males and females, respectively, but in both sexes there were precocious individuals. The testis as a whole matures at about 10 years of age. TV change is closely related to T concentration profile. The pattern of TV change is composed of maturation and seasonal effects, with individual variation evident mainly in the latter. Some individuals show a simple pattern consisting of one peak in the breeding season (from summer to winter) and one trough in the non-breeding season. Other individuals exhibit a more complicated pattern composed of two or more peaks and troughs before and during the breeding season. The nipple matures at about 7 years but it is difficult to determine the exact maturational age as there are many confounding factors relating to NV. NV shows seasonal fluctuations similar to that of TV. Many animals have periods of substantial growth whereas others do not. The NV in adults from 10 to 25 years does not appear to change much with age, but animals older than 25 years of age have significantly smaller nipples. Seasonal fluctuation in NV mirrors that of the P level. Considered to be controlled by estrogen and P, the NV is a good indicator of the physiological status of reproduction, with its peak about 2 weeks earlier than that of P, that is, at the mid-follicular phase. NV and P level show a similar pattern in pregnancy; from conception, indicated by a P peak, NV and P concentration first decrease, then they increase until peri-parturition and slowly decrease again until the next breeding season.This revised version was published online in April 2005 with corrections to the cover date of the issue.     

Soft Sedentarization: Bedouin Tourist Stations as a Response to Drought in Egypt’s Eastern Desert

Since the late 1990s, there has been a boom in tourism focused on the Khushmaan Ma’aza Bedouin of Egypt's northern Eastern Desert. While entrepreneurship on the part of a Bedouin, along with growing numbers of potential visitors, has fuelled this growth, a natural drought has pushed large numbers of Bedouin into the tourist trade. Almost no rain fell over the Khushmaan homeland between 1997 and 2005. Historically, such severe droughts compelled households to settle permanently along the Nile Valley, or men to take up temporary jobs in Red Sea coastal cities. The response to this drought is unique. Bedouin have clustered not in towns or villages but in a dozen tourist mahattas (stations) in the desert, where tourists visit for a few hours. The station structures are made of reeds, and two other factors make this sedentarization “soft”. Most Bedouin say they would disperse into the desert if rains return. The capricious trade itself could evaporate due to political events in the region. But is also possible that sustained drought combined with tourism impacts could take Khushmaan culture beyond a tipping point, depriving youth of traditional pastoral education and channeling them toward a permanent settled existence.

Drift and upstream movement in Yuccabine Creek,an Australian tropical stream

Drift and upstream movement were monitored over 14 months in a seasonal upland tropical stream in northeastern Australia. There were distinct seasonal pulses in the drift with variable peak levels in the summer wet season and low more stable levels during the dry season. Drift density ranged from 0.36 to 3.98 animals per m³ (monthly mean = 1.26). There was no correlation between drift density and either benthic density or stream discharge. In the absence of catastrophic drift, drift was dispersive, not depletive in the wet season. A total of 121 taxa were caught in the 14 drift samples. Most taxa had nocturnal maximum drift levels with a peak immediately after sunset, a pattern apparently related to level of light and not temperature. Compensation for drift by upstream-moving nymphs and larvae was least during the wet season and increased during the dry season to a peak of 27% by numbers. Mean compensation was 8.2%. It is suggested that apart from in the wet season when an animal may drift substantial distances, most riffle animals will spend their larval lives in one small stretch of stream.     

Exploring the Seasonality of Reported Treated Malaria Cases in Mpumalanga,South Africa

South Africa, having met the World Health Organisation''s pre-elimination criteria, has set a goal to achieve malaria elimination by 2018. Mpumalanga, one of three provinces where malaria transmission still occurs, has a malaria season subject to unstable transmission that is prone to sporadic outbreaks. As South Africa prepares to intensify efforts towards malaria elimination, there is a need to understand patterns in malaria transmission so that efforts may be targeted appropriately. This paper describes the seasonality of transmission by exploring the relationship between malaria cases and three potential drivers: rainfall, geography (physical location) and the source of infection (local/imported). Seasonal decomposition of the time series by Locally estimated scatterplot smoothing is applied to the case data for the geographical and source of infection sub-groups. The relationship between cases and rainfall is assessed using a cross-correlation analysis. The malaria season was found to have a short period of no/low level of reported cases and a triple peak in reported cases between September and May; the three peaks occurring in October, January and May. The seasonal pattern of locally-sourced infection mimics the triple-peak characteristic of the total series while imported infections contribute mostly to the second and third peak of the season (Christmas and Easter respectively). Geographically, Bushbuckridge municipality, which exhibits a different pattern of cases, contributed mostly to the first and second peaks in cases while Maputo province (Mozambique) experienced a similar pattern in transmission to the imported cases. Though rainfall lagged at 4 weeks was significantly correlated with malaria cases, this effect was dampened due to the growing proportion of imported cases since 2006. These findings may be useful as they enhance the understanding of the current incidence pattern and may inform mathematical models that enable one to predict the impact changes in these drivers will have on malaria transmission.     

Orchard agriculture in the high mountain region of Southern Sinai

Bedouin of the Middle East have been considered to subsist exclusively as nomadic herders. A regional approach to the subsistence economy of Bedouin considers their articulation with agricultural systems. The economy of Jebaliyah Bedouin of the southern Sinai is unusual in that they directly practice both herding and orchard agriculture. A survey of historical records and contemporary data explicates the thesis that Jebaliyah Bedouin were not and are not an isolated and economically autonomous group.     

The Y chromosome pool of Jews as part of the genetic landscape of the Middle East

A sample of 526 Y chromosomes representing six Middle Eastern populations (Ashkenazi, Sephardic, and Kurdish Jews from Israel; Muslim Kurds; Muslim Arabs from Israel and the Palestinian Authority Area; and Bedouin from the Negev) was analyzed for 13 binary polymorphisms and six microsatellite loci. The investigation of the genetic relationship among three Jewish communities revealed that Kurdish and Sephardic Jews were indistinguishable from one another, whereas both differed slightly, yet significantly, from Ashkenazi Jews. The differences among Ashkenazim may be a result of low-level gene flow from European populations and/or genetic drift during isolation. Admixture between Kurdish Jews and their former Muslim host population in Kurdistan appeared to be negligible. In comparison with data available from other relevant populations in the region, Jews were found to be more closely related to groups in the north of the Fertile Crescent (Kurds, Turks, and Armenians) than to their Arab neighbors. The two haplogroups Eu 9 and Eu 10 constitute a major part of the Y chromosome pool in the analyzed sample. Our data suggest that Eu 9 originated in the northern part, and Eu 10 in the southern part of the Fertile Crescent. Genetic dating yielded estimates of the expansion of both haplogroups that cover the Neolithic period in the region. Palestinian Arabs and Bedouin differed from the other Middle Eastern populations studied here, mainly in specific high-frequency Eu 10 haplotypes not found in the non-Arab groups. These chromosomes might have been introduced through migrations from the Arabian Peninsula during the last two millennia. The present study contributes to the elucidation of the complex demographic history that shaped the present-day genetic landscape in the region.     

Trace Element Concentration in Hair Samples as an Indicator of Exposure of Population in the Negev, Israel

The concentration of the toxic elements Ag, As, Cd, Co, Mn, Mo, Pb, Se, and U and the elements Al, Mg, Cu, Fe, and Zn in human hair samples of population living in the north of the Negev Desert in Israel was determined. The study population consisted of three subgroups: Jewish urban population, Bedouin urban population, and Bedouins living in unrecognized villages (the “dispersion”). The main focus is on the differences between these subgroups in an attempt to explore factors responsible for the variation in trace metal contents in hair samples. The results show that the level of several elements, particularly Ag, Mn, and Pb, in the female Bedouin group significantly differed from the other groups in the study. Exploring the reasons for these differences, we concluded that the lifestyle of those women is the main cause. The female Bedouin subgroup is exposed to heavy metals from kitchen utensils, jewelry, and makeup. Therefore, differences in the heavy metal concentration in the hair samples of this group were attributed to the traditional unique lifestyle and social behavior of the females in the Bedouin society.     

Analysis of treponemal disease in North Africa: The case for Bejel in the Sudan,but absence in West North Africa

Although the periostitis in ancient Sudanese Nubians was clearly treponemal in origin, the challenge was to determine if were the same as the variety (Bejel) historically documented in this century. Comparison with known Bejel in Negev Bedouin revealed an indistinguishable character and pattern of disease. This pattern was easily distinguished from the polyostotic pattern of Yaws. Invariable presence of irregular/striated cortical surface striations (in the presence of sabre shin deformity) and absence of dental abnormalities distinguished the lesions from those of venereal syphilis. Bejel has existed in the Sudan for at least 2000 years, but was apparently not present in other areas of North Africa 3000–7000 years ago.     

Temporal pattern of wild ungulate-related traffic accidents in northwest Spain

Wildlife-related accidents are a serious problem in different countries and describing their temporal pattern allows for the development of measures to mitigate them. We described the temporal pattern of wild ungulate-related accidents occurring between January 2006 and December 2010 in the Autonomous Region of Galicia, northwest of Spain. We examined the temporal distribution of the accidents according to months, phenological and hunting seasons, days of the week and time of the day. From the 6,255 wild ungulate-related traffic accidents analysed, 36.5% were related to roe deer Capreolus capreolus and 62.8% were related to wild boar Sus scrofa. The monthly distribution of accidents was not random but follows a characteristic pattern for each species. Roe deer-related accidents have their maximum in April and May, coinciding with the breeding season, followed by July, coinciding with the rut. Wild boar-related accidents have their maximum between October and January, coinciding with the hunting season but also with months with the longest nights. Both roe deer- and wild boar-related accidents showed an increase at weekends, specially on Sundays. During the hunting season, the wild boar-related accidents showed a marked peak on the same day. This weekly pattern was explained by drivers’ behaviour and by hunting. For roe deer, peaks of accidents occurred between 19:00 and 22:00 (about dusk) and between 05:00 and 08:00 (about dawn). For wild boar, 69% of accidents occurred between 18:00 and 23:00, coinciding with dusk and night. This daily pattern of accidents was explained by the behaviour of the species.     

When will the stork arrive? Patterns of birth seasonality in neotropical primates

We review and discuss the ultimate and proximate causes of birth seasonality in Neotropical primates and the seasonal patterns shown by each genus within this group. Our review of the literature shows that most New World monkey populations studied so far show some degree of birth seasonality. Photoperiod is the most important proximate cue used by populations living at relatively high latitudes to time their reproductive events, but almost nothing is known about the proximate factors used by those near the equator. The findings are consistent with the hypothesis that food availability is the most important ultimate cause of birth seasonality. Predation seems to promote birth synchrony in some species (e.g., squirrel monkeys). Multiple regression ANCOVA was used to estimate how the degree of birth seasonality is affected by ecological and life history variables. The ANCOVA model shows that three factors affect the degree of birth seasonality: diet, latitude, and body size. Folivores (howlers) are less seasonal than frugivores and insectivores. The degree of seasonality increases with latitude and shows a humped relationship with body size, peaking at 1.66 kg body mass. This last relationship was expected since small bodied species have to pay a cost (in terms of time lost) by being seasonal on a yearly basis, and large species are buffered against fluctuations in food availability due to their large body mass. To understand which of three alternative birth strategies is followed by each species (reduce energy stress during peak lactation, wean infants during peak food availability, or store reserves during peak energy availability), we compared the location of the birth peak in relation to the peak in food-availability for those populations from which data were available. Most species conform to the typical pattern of births concentrated before the peak in food availability, allowing peak lactation (small-sized species) or weaning (capuchins) to take place before the start of the lean season. The pattern of births of the atelines is consistent with the weaning hypothesis. However, since they give birth during the lean season, this pattern is also consistent with an alternative strategy.