Do deposed adult male Sichuan snub-nosed monkeys Rhinopithecus roxellana roam as solitary bachelors or continue to interact with former band members?

Dispersal patterns exhibited by group-living animals play an important role in individual reproductive success and survival,as well as population and social dynamics(Greenwood,1980;Isbell and van Vuren,1996;Kappeler and van Schaik,2002).Dispersing individuals may emigrate voluntarily,or they may be forcibly evicted by other individuals(Pusey and Packer,1987;Clobert et al.,2001).One cause of individual dispersal is when an extra-group male compels another male to leave a group of females.This phenomenon has ...     

Visual ecology: exploring the relationships between ecological quality and aesthetic preference

High ecological quality and an attractive environment are usually two primary goals of landscape design. Understanding the relationships between ecological quality and visual aesthetic preference is needed to reach the two goals simultaneously. However, previous work has not provided definite answers regards these relationships. The current study took place in the riparian zone of Xuzhou, China, to check ecological quality using the qualitat del bosc de ribera (or riparian forest quality) index, and visual aesthetic preference using pictures as surrogates, which were assessed by undergraduate students. Regression analysis revealed a U-shaped distribution of ecological quality in relation to visual aesthetic preference, which indicated that, with higher ecological quality, the visual aesthetic preference could be higher or lower, and a lower ecological quality implied a medium visual aesthetic preference. In addition, enhancing the cover quality (introducing more native plants and reducing man-made elements) of riparian vegetation was an efficient way to align the ecological goal with a visually pleasing landscape.     

Changes in anthropometrical data of the Hungarian child and adult population during the last thirty years based on family studies conducted by the Department of Forensic Medicine at Budapest

Studies of the Hungarian child and adult population have revealed striking changes over the past thirty years with respect to body height and body mass, an observation, which has also been confirmed by other investigations (Gyenis & Joubert 2003, Maródi et. al. 2002). Based on these deviations the authors were interested in the variability of some anthropometrical head measures, which are of particular importance for forensic anthropological questions concerning face reconstruction (Editorial 2001, Jayprakash et. al. 2001, Szilvdssy & Kritscher 1997, Szilvdssy et al. 1997). The majority of such reconstruction methods, however, do not take into consideration the process of secular trend. It is the aim of this study to improve the anthropological basis for exact reconstruction methods by elaboration of temporal changes of face, head and body measures of the Hungarian population collected during the past thirty years. For this data from 2353 adults and 861 children investigated in 1974, and 869 adults 287 children investigated between 1994 and 2004 are available.     

Aesthetic issues in spatial composition: effects of position and direction on framing single objects

Artists who work in two-dimensional visual media regularly face the problem of how to compose their subjects in aesthetically pleasing ways within a surrounding rectangular frame. We performed psychophysical investigations of viewers' aesthetic preferences for the position and facing direction of single, directed objects (e.g. people, cars, teapots and flowers) within such rectangular frames. Preferences were measured using two-alternative forced-choice preference judgments, the method of adjustment, and free choice in taking photographs. In front-facing conditions, preference was greatest for pictures whose subject was located at or near the center of the frame and decreased monotonically and symmetrically with distance from the center (the center bias). In the left- or right-facing conditions, there was an additional preference for objects to face into rather than out of the frame (the inward bias). Similar biases were evident using a method of adjustment, in which participants positioned objects along a horizontal axis, and in free choice photographs, in which participants were asked to take 'the most aesthetically pleasing picture' they could of everyday objects. The results are discussed as affirming the power of the center and facing direction in the aesthetic biases viewers bring to their appreciation of framed works of visual art (e.g. Alexander, 2002; Arnheim, 1988).     

景观资源美学评价的理论与方法

随着自然环境的不断破坏,景观已经不再是取之不尽,用之不竭的资源,人类开始把它放到与其它资源同等重要的战略地位.景观资源评价是其可持续利用和保护的前提.在论述美学、审美及景观内涵的基础上,阐述了审美心理学机制和审美途径,比较了传统与现代景观审美研究的方法,讨论了景观审美的重要理论(如柏拉图主义、康德学说、移情论、格式塔学派、马克思美学理论、Appleton理论),研究了景观评价方法的四大学派两大阵营(专家学派、心理物理学派、认知学派、经验学派、景观环境科学及景园文化),分析了国内外景观评价的成功实践.研究表明,景观评价历史发展以专家学派与感知学派竞争为特色,专家学派在景观管理中居于主导地位,而心理感知学派在研究领域处于支配地位,它们都认为景观质量决定于景观生物物理特性与人的感知判断;未来的景观资源评价仍表现出专家学派和感知学派共同主导、各自探索的特点;景观资源信息化与视觉时空动态模拟将冲击传统景观评价,而现代科技的发展将帮助迎接这些挑战.作者提出了21世纪景观评价的新特征: ①学派兼容并蓄,不断走向融合;②多学科交叉,注重量化评价;③强调环境信息,重视生态价值;④现代科技普遍应用,景观信息动态智能化;⑤景观模拟逼真化,主观感受现场化;⑥关注历史内涵,景观文化地位上升.     

环境审美的生物学基础和文化影响及其设计应用

人类的环境审美既受到在长期进化中形成的生物本能的影响,同时也受到文化发展的影响。环境审美的生物学基础认为能够满足人类生存和繁衍的环境就是美的,由此形成了栖息地理论、瞭望—庇护理论、认知理论和信息处理理论,其特点是形式和内容的完美统一。文化对于人类环境审美的影响主要表现在：1）对于生物学基础的调整和改变;2）文化的变化导致环境审美情趣的变化;3）对于同一审美对象,个体和小群体的美感体验存在差异。生物学基础和文化发展之间也存在着相互作用,二者总是综合起来共同影响人们的环境审美,因此在环境设计中必须同时重视二者的作用,才能设计出具有“家园感”的环境作品。     

Perception of native grassland in southeastern Australia

Summary Native grasslands are considered to be one of Australia's most threatened ecosystems, yet relatively little is known about human preferences and attitudes that contribute to continued degradation of these landscapes. In a study conducted in southeastern Australia, landholders were asked to assess the agricultural, ecological and aesthetic value of native grasslands and other rural landscapes depicted in colour photographs. The results confirm low preference for treeless landscapes. Landholders' preferences for native grassland on their own property appeared most closely related to the perceived agricultural and aesthetic value of the grassland scene. This paper discusses the implication of these findings for programmes seeking to protect native grasslands on private properties.
Key words environmental attitudes, native grasslands, perception.     

Patchwork, Pastoralists, and Perception: Dune Sand as a Valued Resource Among Herders of Inner Mongolia

Scholars have rarely reflected upon dune sand in any context other than that of environmental hazard. Yet recent anthropological research conducted among ethnic Mongol herders in the Keerqin Sandy Lands of Northeast China indicates that native inhabitants exhibit a surprising degree of tolerance, appreciation, and even preference for dune sand at specific spatio-temporal scales. Survey data, gathered primarily through the use of photographic prompts and pile sort exercises during household interviews, reveal that many residents even regard dune sand as the constituent element of a distinctive home environment and cherished way of life. This research underscores the relevance of perception to the policies and practices of human resource management. It also calls into question the authority with which officials and scholars in China and elsewhere indiscriminantly depreciate the various social utilities of dune sand in stock-herding populations.     

Random Mind: Towards an Appreciation of Openness in Individual,Society and Anthropology

Gregory Bateson laid stress on treating anthropology as a ‘non‐specialist’ subject which would draw upon, and hence illuminate the interdependence of, all the human sciences in its endeavour to tackle what he called the `vast intricacies' of socio‐cultural complexity. What was called for was an ‘abductive’ project which would qualitatively or aesthetically identify certain vital `patterns' which connected different arenas of human experience. By this means, anthropology could hope to disinter specific sociological and psychological laws. In the manner of Bateson, this paper sets out to describe and isolate one such law: the random workings of the individual human mind. These workings are considered abductively across a range of different but related discourses: ethnographic, aesthetic, political and moral. It is argued that to appreciate the randomness of the individual mind is to gain important insight not only into the diversity of human culture and society but also the singularity of human being. An appreciation of human randomness and its ramifications, it is concluded, may serve as the basis not only of explanation but also a sense of moral value and beauty in anthropological analysis.     

Confrontation of the Cybernetic Definition of a Living Individual with the Real World

The cybernetic definition of a living individual proposed previously (Korzeniewski, 2001) is very abstract and therefore describes the essence of life in a very formal and general way. In the present article this definition is reformulated in order to determine clearly the relation between life in general and a living individual in particular, and it is further explained and defended. Next, the cybernetic definition of a living individual is confronted with the real world. It is demonstrated that numerous restrictions imposed on the cybernetic definition of life by physical reality imply a number of particular properties of life that characterize present life on Earth, namely: (1) a living individual must be a dissipative structure (and therefore a low-entropy thermodynamic system out of the state of equilibrium); (2) spontaneously-originated life must be based on organic compounds; (3) evolutionarily stable self-dependent, free-living individuals must have some minimal level of complexity of structure and function; (4) a living individual must have a record of identity separated from an executive machinery; (5) the identity of living individuals must mutate and may evolve; (6) living individuals may collect and accumulate information in subsequent generations over very long periods of time; (7) the degree of complexity of a living individual reflects the degree of complexity of its environment (ecological niche) and (8) living individuals are capable of supple adaptation to varying environmental conditions. Thus, the cybernetic definition of a living individual, when confronted with the real physical world, generates most of the general properties of the present life on Earth.     

Who Are We Feeding? Asymmetric Individual Use of Surplus Food Resources in an Insular Population of the Endangered Egyptian Vulture Neophron percnopterus

Supplementary feeding stations, or “vulture restaurants”, are common conservation management tools. While a number of studies have investigated the consequences of surplus food on the population dynamics of scavengers, relatively little is known about the effects of such practices at the individual level. Within the long-term monitored breeding population of Canarian Egyptian vultures (Neophron percnopterus majorensis) we investigated individual bird’s patterns of use of a supplementary feeding station at Fuerteventura (Canary Islands), over the course of breeding (2001, 2002; 2004-2011) and non-breeding seasons (2000-2010). Our results show that during the breeding season the individual use of the supplementary feeding station was inversely related to the distance to the breeding territory, which suggests the existence of central-place foraging constraints. In addition, larger birds of poor body-condition and individuals that ultimately failed to fledge young were detected more frequently at the feeding station. During the non-breeding season, and because most breeding birds abandoned the breeding territories, the overall abundance of Egyptian vultures at the feeding station grew. Moreover, the only variable increasing the probability of presence of individuals was poor body condition so that birds with lower wing residual visited the feeding station more frequently. Supplementary feeding may benefit individuals who would otherwise have been subject to selective pressures. From our results it follows that this conservation strategy must be used with caution because it can have consequences on an individual level and thus potentially affect the viability of endangered populations.     

中国园林生态学发展综述

运用文献计量等方法对已有科研成果进行统计分析,结果表明:中国近50年园林生态学科领域科研发展经过了起步探索(1962-1981)、缓慢发展(1982-2001)、快速发展(2002-2011)3个时期,园林生态学作为生态学一个新的分支学科,于20世纪90年代末初见端倪,作为一门新兴独立的应用生态学分支学科于21世纪初已基本形成.中国园林生态学领域的研究包括园林生态系统中生物与环境相互作用关系问题、人与环境相互作用关系问题以及园林生态系统与其他生态系统之间相互作用关系问题.当代园林生态研究主要有生态效益研究、生物与环境研究、人的需求与行为研究、生态规划与生态管理研究4个方面,目前园林生态学研究主要侧重生物与环境研究和生态效益研究,两方面的研究成果占总体研究成果的76.3％.不同研究方面也有各自的侧重点,如生物与环境研究侧重对植物的研究,生态效益研究侧重净化环境、水土保持和防灾减灾,生态规划与生态管理研究则侧重生态规划与设计.对四个研究方面的论文主题词检索和高频主题关键词的分布进行统计,结果显示,研究的热点有多样性、群落、水土保持、防灾避险、净化环境、生态规划与设计等.对CNKI中4个研究方面成果中获基金资助项目论文进行统计(不排重),总体成果中基金项目论文所占比重为10.8％,国家和地方基金是园林生态学科研基金资助的主要来源,基金论文比例之和达到85.4％,且国家和地方基金资助论文较多的是“生态与环境研究”和“生态效益研究”,合计占基金论文79.1％.SCI-E中收录的文献基金论文率为47.1％,是CNKI数据库收录的文献基金论文率的4.3倍,且国际基金是基金论文的主要资助来源之一,说明中国园林生态学领域部分科研成果得到国际学界关注.基于CNKI相关主题词统计,“园林生态学”的研究成果只有“景观生态学”的1％,“城市生态学”的8.3％,“园林生态学”学科系统理论研究在相关生态学科研究中所占比重很低,其理论和方法研究还较薄弱.今后在进一步完善学科理论体系、持续开展生态效益和园林植物研究的同时,为更好地研究和解决人-自然复合生态系统问题,提供更多的科学理论支撑,还需拓展交叉生态心理学或环境心理学等其他相关理论,更多地关注人与环境互相作用关系以及生态规划与生态管理等方面的研究,既使环境更好地满足人的行为需求,也使人认识到改变一些行为能更好地保护环境.     

Towards a framework for the study of the neural correlates of aesthetic preference

Aiming to provide a tentative framework for the study of the neural correlates of aesthetic preference, we review three recent neuroimaging studies carried out with the purpose of locating brain activity associated with decisions about the beauty of visual stimuli (Cela-Conde et al., 2004; Kawabata and Zeki, 2004; Vartanian and Goel, 2004). We find that the results of the three studies are not in line with previous neuropsychological data. Moreover, there are no coincidences among their results. However, when they are mapped on to Chatterjee's (2003) neuropsychological model of aesthetic preference it becomes clear that neuroimaging data are not contradictory, but complementary, and their interpretation is enriched. The results of these studies suggest that affective processes have an important role in aesthetic preference, and that they are integrated with cognitive processes to reach a decision regarding the beauty of visual stimuli. Future studies must aim to clarify whether certain methodological procedures are better suited to study any of the particular cognitive operations involved in aesthetic preference, and ascertain the extent to which the proposed framework is compatible with the aesthetic appreciation of musical stimuli.     

Personal Meaning and the Transformation of a Mental Image

It is generally accepted that the reflection of reality in human consciousness is by no means an exact photographic reproduction of reality. "An image is the reflection of an object, and an object is reflected in an image in just the same guise as it exists in the real life relation between it and the subject" (Rubinshtein, 1957. P. 230). Thus, an element of personal, subjective partiality, the reflection of not only phenomena or objective relations themselves but also of their meaning for the person and their relation to his needs (Rubinshtein, 1959. P. 124; Leont'ev, 1977; Vilyunas, 1983; etc.), is necessarily present in a mental image. Personal meaning is also a component of individual consciousness; in it the partiality of that consciousness finds expression, a partiality conditioned by the link between that consciousness and the subject's need and motivational sphere and the reality of his life in the world (Leont'ev, 1977. Pp. 152-53). The objects and phenomena of reality are presented to us in direct perception and in our imagination in a form that is "colored" by the personal meaning they have for us as a result of their objective place in our life activity and their relation to the realization of our needs. It is not always possible to differentiate between objective content and personal relation even in reflection. Often, the meaning of an object cannot be separated from the object itself and examined impartially, from the sidelines, so to speak. This is most patently in evidence in the example of one's perception of other people, especially those who are very familiar.     

基于景感生态学认知的生态环境损害问题辨析

环境污染和生态破坏行为削弱生态系统服务,也会造成美学价值的下降。景感生态学从物理感知与心理认知出发探究生态系统服务特点,有助于剖析生态环境损害特征。从生态环境损害鉴定评估角度,结合案例对恶臭物质污染、噪声污染、光污染等生态环境损害问题的内涵进行分析,并对生态环境损害典型案例中造成的美感、视觉、听觉、味觉、嗅觉、触觉、风感、方向感和心理反应等负面影响进行了研判。研究发现,大多生态环境损害行为都会破坏生态系统美学价值,给人类感知造成较大冲击;在发现和处理生态环境损害事件过程中,按照人类感知类型汇集的居民感觉信息是一种重要的数据来源。总之,采用景感生态学的研究方法既有利于加强人们对生态系统服务的理解,从而提升保护生态的动力,也有利于抵制生态环境损害行为。     

An Assessment of Toxic Substances Pollution in the Hong Kong Marine Environment

The Environmental Protection Department (EPD) of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government (HKSARG) commissioned a consultancy study in 1999 to better understand the potential sources, fates, and existing pollution state of toxic substances in Hong Kong's marine environment. A desk-top survey and assessment was first performed on a comprehensive initial list of 556 toxic substances. A Preliminary Priority Toxic Substances List (PPTSL) of 135 chemicals was established, consisting of heavy metals, inorganic compounds, organo-metallic compounds, and trace organics. A territory-wide baseline field sampling and laboratory analysis exercise was then undertaken during 2001–2002 to determine the level of these PPTSL chemicals in the potential pollution sources (effluent discharges, stormwater discharges, air deposition) and the receiving marine environment (water, sediment, biota). A draft Priority Toxic Substances List (PTSL) was developed, taking into account chemicals detected in the local marine environment and those listed under the Stockholm Convention, the Rotterdam Convention, and the International Maritime Organization's Harmful Antifouling System Convention. The draft PTSL chemicals were subject to ecological and incremental human health risk assessments. Based on the risk assessment results, 17 Chemicals of Potential Concern (COPC) for Hong Kong's marine environment were identified, most of which were heavy metals in the sediment. The study findings suggest that Hong Kong's marine environment is not widely polluted with chemicals present at concentrations of toxicological concern. Although a number of potentially problematic pollutants (COPC) were identified, they are confined to a few “hot spots” and are unlikely to pose a territory-wide risk. Based on the study recommendations, the EPD initiated in 2004 a toxic substances monitoring program to keep the COPC in the marine environment under close surveillance.     

Fusarium toxins in bread cereals of the land Brandenburg in the years 2000 to 2004 — Comparison of integrated and ecological cultivation

Over a period of five years (2000–2004), wheat and rye samples of integrated and ecological cultivation in the land Brandenburg were analyzed by HPLC for theFusarium toxins deoxynivalenol and zearalenone. In the years 2000, 2001, 2003 and 2004 the contamination generally was lower than in the year 2002. In the five years of testing, the contamination byFusarium toxins was significantly less frequent and lower in cereals of ecological cultivation than in cereals of integrated cultivation. Presented at the 27^th Mykotoxin-Workshop, Dortmund, Germmany, June 13–15, 2005 Financial support: The Ministry of rural development, environment and consumer protection of the land Brandenburg     

The idea of environment in a historical perspective of human population

The history of environment in human terms is the history of knowing... and of not knowing... about the nature and extent of human interactions with that environment. In recent human history, those interactions (with the environment and among people) have accelerated dramatically. Human-environment relationships are complicated by that acceleration and by the resulting increases in levels of complexity. The acceleration requires a re-definition, in global terms, of what environment means and a greatly increased awareness on the part of individual people of the changes in the interaction patterns and of the resulting changes in environment, both in perception and in reality. A transcendent awareness could radically change the forms of human institutions, especially those of law and ethics. Such changes might then allow humans to temper their exchanges with and impacts on the environment.     

Synergistic selection between ecological niche and mate preference primes diversification

The ecological niche and mate preferences have independently been shown to be important for the process of speciation. Here, we articulate a novel mechanism by which ecological niche use and mate preference can be linked to promote speciation. The degree to which individual niches are narrow and clustered affects the strength of divergent natural selection and population splitting. Similarly, the degree to which individual mate preferences are narrow and clustered affects the strength of divergent sexual selection and assortative mating between diverging forms. This novel perspective is inspired by the literature on ecological niches; it also explores mate preferences and how they may contribute to speciation. Unlike much comparative work, we do not search for evolutionary patterns using proxies for adaptation and sexual selection, but rather we elucidate how ideas from niche theory relate to mate preference, and how this relationship can foster speciation. Recognizing that individual and population niches are conceptually and ecologically linked to individual and population mate preference functions will significantly increase our understanding of rapid evolutionary diversification in nature. It has potential to help solve the difficult challenge of testing the role of sexual selection in the speciation process. We also identify ecological factors that are likely to affect individual niche and individual mate preference in synergistic ways and as a consequence to promote speciation. The ecological niche an individual occupies can directly affect its mate preference. Clusters of individuals with narrow, differentiated niches are likely to have narrow, differentiated mate preference functions. Our approach integrates ecological and sexual selection research to further our understanding of diversification processes. Such integration may be necessary for progress because these processes seem inextricably linked in the natural world.     

Exploring Responses to Art in Adolescence: A Behavioral and Eye-Tracking Study

Adolescence is a peculiar age mainly characterized by physical and psychological changes that may affect the perception of one''s own and others'' body. This perceptual peculiarity may influence the way in which bottom-up and top-down processes interact and, consequently, the perception and evaluation of art. This study is aimed at investigating, by means of the eye-tracking technique, the visual explorative behavior of adolescents while looking at paintings. Sixteen color paintings, categorized as dynamic and static, were presented to twenty adolescents; half of the images represented natural environments and half human individuals; all stimuli were displayed under aesthetic and movement judgment tasks. Participants'' ratings revealed that, generally, nature images are explicitly evaluated as more appealing than human images. Eye movement data, on the other hand, showed that the human body exerts a strong power in orienting and attracting visual attention and that, in adolescence, it plays a fundamental role during aesthetic experience. In particular, adolescents seem to approach human-content images by giving priority to elements calling forth movement and action, supporting the embodiment theory of aesthetic perception.