Adrenal analysis for critique of the social stress theory in natural populations of a montane vole

Summary The vole,Eothenomys smithi, in highlands of Shikoku was studied to disclose ups and downs of adrenal activities under the influence of the breeding level in natural populations. It has proved that the vole's adrenal in both sexes may be much more strongly by rise and fall of the fertility as well as by shift of the age structure in populations than the rat's. Therefore, as for perhaps all kinds of small mammals, we consider necessary to follow a pertinent procedure to avoid thoroughly these sources of error in studies to draw any conclusion for or against theChristian's theory. The present data analysed by such a method failed to afford any confirmative proofs; the fact that the pregnancy rate was increased in parallell to the density is against his view. However, never the whole content of the theory has been invalidated by these results.     

An approach to the edge effect in proof of the validity ofDice's assessment lines in small-mammal censusing

A second fieldwork for the sake of solving the edge-effect subject was carried out in almost the same ways and plans in summer of 1971 in succession to that of 1970. It was found out that the population density was reduced to two-thirds, but the data were sufficient to form the subsequent conclusions:

1. The initial population estimated by the removal census method turned out to be well compatible with the numbers of survivals and emigrants of marked voles calculated byJolly 's method.
2. The natural, entire home ranges of both sexes reached by determining observed range length and width with 24 voles, selected on rigid conditions, agreed with those of the range-conservative type in 1970 in both acreage and elliptic shape.
3. In the majority of the select specimens, considered to reveal the natural ranges, the random distribution in number of captures per station within range was proved by means of I_σ so far as such capture density as treated here is concerned. On the ground of the empirical evidence, the above range size approached by the routine observational method could be made surprisingly accordant with the range size in terms of r-values calculated byWierzbowska 's method.
4. From these proofs, the validity ofDice 's assessment lines makes evident, and besides, it could be further substantiated by use ofMarten 's notion of mouse-equivalents through the mediation ofWierzbowska 's method.
5. Consequently, I have largely come to the conclusion thatDice 's assessment lines stand on justifiable basis from theoretical and empirical angles.

     

Inquiry into effects of prebaiting on removal census in a vole population

A field work with two plots of grid, a snap trap being set on each station spaced 5 m apart, was executed in the summer of 1968 to evaluate prebaiting in census trapping by comparing the result in one plot, prebaited for three days, with that in the other not prebaited. Since the population was as high as some 230 per acre on the average in density and formed of the vole, Microtus montebelli, alone, sufficient samples were gathered irrespective of the plot size as small as 50×50 m. Owning to the circumstances, multiple collisions inflicted so intense influence on sampling especially in the prebaited plot that z-equation for census adjusted to the effect was well applicable to the data in either plot. In sampling, the fact that small voles are apt to be caught later than large voles was statistically evidenced in either sex, and yet any proof that males tend to be caught prior to females was not offered. It was ascertained in either plot that the daily catch was realized according to the same rule through the whole period of trapping in both external belt and internal square within the plot; hence it follows that no considerable immigration occurred. One of the beneficial effects of prebaiting is sure to be that the probability of capture was markedly enhanced in the prebaited plot, and a second is supposed, though inconclusively, to be that a good sampling could be executed consistently through the census period giving rise to no inordinate catches perhaps due to heterogeneous sampling as was seen in earlier days in the not prebaited plot. The supposition has derived from the condition that most of the whole population is trappable, which is established by interrelation among population density, size of home range and trap spacing. It was suggested that the effect of prebaiting should be evaluated from the view-point of the interrelation, because the basic utility of prebaiting consists in that it may help to our utlimate purpose to estimate the whole population.     

Temporal patterns of food-availability and their effect onTribolium populations

1. The effects of two temporal food-availability regimes were examined on populations of flour beetles (Tribolium): (1) Food given once only and never renewed; (2) Food added in fixed intervals.
2. In Case 1 there was a single peak in population size (and biomass) followed by a slow decline. The amount of biomass and numbers of adults produced were inversely related to the number of adult founders.
3. In Case 2, the production of adults and biomass was not proportional to the amount of food; thus food was not the limiting factor in the experimental populations. The effect of medium conditioning may have been important in limiting population growth.
4. Differences in productivity among the strains in Case 2 reflected their relative genetic variability following different mating systems in their past history.
5. A measure of the food cost of maintaining 1g of biomass for 1 day (MC) is suggested. All strains showed a rather uniform MC, approximately 0.1g flour/1g biomass/day, except in the growth phase when most of the biomass was larval biomass. During this phase, food is utilized not only for metabolism but also for building new tissues, and the energy requirement must be higher.

     

Relationships of latitude,altitude, and body size to litter size and mean annual production of offspring inPeromyscus

Litter size was positively correlated with latitude and altitude but not with production of offspring or with body size in Peromyscus. Increased litter size in northern populations probably reflects shortening the breeding season by climate and not a greater mortality rate at northern latitudes compared to southern latitudes. Production of offspring was negatively correlated with body size but not with latitude, altitude, or litter size. This is probably due to larger species living longer and taking longer to mature.     

Effects of predator removal on vertebrate prey populations: birds of prey and small mammals

We studied the effects of removal of breeding nomadic avian predators (the kestrel, Falco tinnunculus and Tengmalm's owl, Aegolius funereus) on small mammals (voles of the genera Microtus and Clethrionomys and the common shrew, Sorex araneus) during 1989–1992 in western Finland to find out if these predators have a regulating or limiting impact on their prey populations. We removed potential breeding sites of raptors from five manipulation areas (c. 3 km² each), whereas control areas had nest-boxes in addition to natural cavities and stick-nests. Densities of small mammals were monitored by snap-trapping in April, June, and August, and densities of mammalian predators (the least weasel, Mustela nivalis nivalis, the stoat, M. erminea and the red fox, Vulpes vulpes) by snow tracking in early spring and late autumn. The yearly mean number of raptor breeding territories was 0.2–1.0 in reduction areas and 3.0–8.2 in control areas. Breeding raptors alone did not regulate prey populations in the long term, but probably caused short-term changes in the population dynamics of both the main prey, the sibling vole (Microtus rossiaemeridionalis) and an alternative prey (the common shrew). The densities of an alternative prey, the bank vole (Clethrionomys glareolus) decreased in raptor reduction areas, most likely due to increased least weasel predation pressure in the absence of breeding avian predators.     

Quantitative evaluation of temporal similarity in abundance of animal species

Summary A quantitative method is suggested for measuring the similarity of seasonal abundance patterns of different animal species. The method was applied to two sets of field data and produced biologically meaningful and interesting results.     

Monthly changes in the gain and loss of growth in weight of children living in Guatemala.

Monthly increments of weight growth for a sample of 246 Guatemala City private school children are analyzed for the presence of a seasonal pattern in rates of growth. Neither a seasonal pattern nor any other periodic rhythm is found. It is observed that a significantly greater number of children aged 5.0 to 6.9 years experience their minimum annual growth rate during the dry season, with up to 60% of them losing or not gaining weight in any one month. Patterns of diet, exercise and disease cannot explain this trend. A possible association between minimum weight growth and maximum growth in height is discussed.     

Aspects of interspecific interaction betweenReithrodontomys megalotis andMicrotus montanus in one acre enclosures

1. Two one acre enclosures were cleared of all resident rodents, and then, one enclosure was seeded with founder populations of Reithrodontomys megalotis (grid M) and the other with Reithrodontomys megalotis plus Microtus montanus (grid I). Founder populations consisted of eight animals for each species introduced and a sex ratio of 1∶1.
2. Five parameters were measured for a period of one year. Data collection was started in September 1971, and ended in September 1972; enumeration was conducted twice a month for three days.
3. The five parameters measured were: (1) population density through time and individual growth rates; (2) reproduction; (3) survival of age and sex classes; (4) sex ratio; and (5) sizes of home ranges.
4. There were no significant differences in three out of the five parameters studied. Density estimates along with individual growth rates were not significantly different between the grids. Reproduction, including breeding season and efficiency of reproductive effort, showed no or very little variation due to interspecific interaction. Home range sizes did not appear to be significantly different between the grids. Survival of juvenile males on grid I seemed lower and juvenile males from grid I were significantly smaller although possibly younger than those of grid M. The sex ratio of grid I was significantly different from the expected 1∶1 ratio.
5. It is postulated that Reithrodontomys megalotis may regulate their density by alteration of their sex ratios.

     

Evolution of litter size

Theories on the evolution of litter size among organisms were reexamined. The competition theories, including that based on the r−K-selection hypothesis, could not explain well why low-fecundity strategies have often evolved in stressful environments such as mountain streams, deep sea and the antarctic, where interspecies competition is considered to be lax. The theory, based on Itô's (1980) concept of the procurability of food by the young, was considered to have greater generality because it could explain not only the above-mentioned cases but also those where small litter size is observed in habitats with high species diversity (where interspecific competition may be keen), such as tropical rain forest. Examination of the process of selection of high-fecundity and low-fecundity genotypes also suggested that the procurability of food by the young can best explain the evolution of low-fecundity. The concept of density-induced dispersal and a distinction between density-dependent and density-independent predation pressures should be incorporated into our discussions on the evolution of reproductive rates.     

Effects of grouping and fighting on the reproductive tracts of male white-footed mice (Peromyscus leucopus)

Summary Adult, male white-footed mice (Peromyscus leucopus) were subjected to a variety of social situations ranging from isolation during the 20 day experimental period to constant contact with both females and other adult males. Contacts included grouping (three or four males per cage) and exposure to fighters (once daily for 20 minutes). The following measurements were recorded: weights of the body, testes, epididymides, vesicular glands, vesicular gland tissue (wet and dry), seminal fluid of the vesicular gland, adrenal glands, and baculum; spermatozoan reserves of the testes and epididymides. Grouping significantly affected both the weight and spermatozoan reserves of the testes and epididymides, as well as both the tissue and seminal fluid weight of the vesicular glands. The results suggested a graded effect of all treatments on the reproductive tract. In order of magnitude of the associated response, from none to greatest, the treatments may be ranked as follows: pairing with females, isolating, handling, fighting, and grouping. All reproductive parameters measured showed this general ranking, suggesting that the response to the various treatments was similar and differed only quantitatively. The results further suggested decreased secretion of LH and testosterone, although measurements of testosterone did not substantiate this conclusion. The lack of significant effects of grouping on adrenal gland weights strengthened the argument that adrenal involvement is not a necessary adjunct to the suppression of the reproductive tract in groupedPeromyscus, but the adrenal may be involved if contacts between males result in overt fighting.     

Investigation into the edge effect by use of capture-recapture data in a vole population

A substantial explication of the edge effect has been attempted by use of capture-recapture data for a vole population (Microtus montebelli), gathered intwo plots of 100×100 m or less during 12 days, cheked twice daily, in August 1970; the sample was quite sufficient for the aim. The edge effect as guessed by increased catch per trap is usually suspected to ensue from range-settlers in the outside boundary strip of a plot and immigrants. But by a theoretical analysis I could attain a tentative conclusion that no increased catch per trap will occur unless any invasion takes place. Then it follows that, apart from the effect of invasion, the role of the adjoining outside settlers in the edge effect is essentially required to be studied in the light of knowledge on the truth of size and shift in home range. The variation in range behavior for 183 adult voles, captured 6 times or more, could be grouped into eight types, of which the range-conservative type possessed 52% of the sample and the group of the type was justly utilized for giving averages of range size. Besides, it was seen from the observed frequency of types that a considerable number of immigrants onto the census plot were induced perhaps being allured by trap baits, but the majority of them proved to be assigned to the voles that have their ranges inside the assessment line ofDice ; the rest referable to effective immigrants was only a few (7%). I could perceive no reason such as disproves the idea ofDice 's additional boundary strip. Viewed from maps of ingress shift of ranges, the effect of ingress must have been greater in the outer trap rows than in the inner within the plot, so that it might well be called edge effect in general; such effect, however, is seen gradually diminishing toward the center, and hence it is almost unlikely that one should find any clear-cut intra-plot assessment lines demarcating such an inner square as quite free from edge effects. Averages of observed range length and width (ORL and ORW), as reliable measures for the true range size, were determined from the above group of specimens; as a result, the remarkable concept of elliptic range shape was established by regarding ORL as long axis and ORW as short one, and, directly from these averages, the mean range sizes worked out at 0.04 for females and 0.09 for males in acreage which proved to be surprisingly well agreeable with those of isotope-revealed ranges for voles given byGodfrey (1954) andAmbrose (1969). The catchability for marked voles () was estimated by the maximum likelihood method by use ofJolly 's formulae (1965), but that for unmarked ones () was made by the regression census formula; as a result it was shown that the population was clearly of π>p type and that the trap-experience that voles underwent one month or more ago can make them retain as high catchability as π.     

A field study of the effect of prebaiting on censusing by the capture-recapture method in a vole population

Populations of the vole, Clethrionomys rufocanus, in a lowland woodlot of Hokkaido were studied for the presence of effects of prebaiting on censusing by the capture-recapture method. A grid of 121 live-traps, spaced 5 m apart, was laid out on each of two plots, one of which alone was prebaited three days long. Owing to very high densities and great trap-efficiency, sufficient and favourable samples could be available for statistical analysis, except the trend of delayed catch for young in sampling. The population on either plot, however, proved to be markedly variable in catchability of unmarked animals in the course of trapping; while the probability of recapture was counted as invariable on the average from day to day, the recapture frequency was different between juveniles, subadults and adults. Needless to say, the catchability was distinctly greater for marked voles than for unmarked ones, whether prebaited or not, through the trapping period, except that the first-day catchability for unmarked ones on the prebaited plot seems not to be significantly lower than that for marked ones. Consequently, it turns out that the prebaiting has almost never helped to eliminate the important bias induced by differential trap-response of marked and unmarked animals; its contribution is only that the catchability for unmarked ones is slightly higher on the part of the prebaited plot on earlier days of the period. In accordance with the heterogeneous catchability, the Γ-form distribution analogous to the geometric could be applied with thorough fitness to the capture frequency in order to estimate the whole populations. The fact that the estimates are reliable, being not at any rate underestimates, was further confirmed by the result of a follow-up work conducted by means of the removal method with wider trap-spacing which brought forth distinct underestimation chiefly referable to unexposure to traps of the partial populations. The subject of unexposure was discussed by laying stress on the relation between minimum range length and trap-spacing.     

Relationships between body size,reproductive traits,and food resource in three species of tropical flesh flies

Intra- and inter-specific comparisons in progeny size and clutch size were used to identify possible selection pressures acting on three sympatric species of ovoviviporous flesh flies. Both progeny and clutch sizes increased with body weight of the female parent in all species. There was no evidence for a simple trade-off between the two traits. In one species, the larger the female adult the smaller the relative biomass of larvae per clutch (total weight of larvae/body weight of female parent). Female flies produced similar progeny and clutch sizes over successive batches. Variation in progeny size did not influence either larval survival or duration of larval and pupal development. However, larger first instar larvae tended to form larger pupae in two of the species. The experiments testing the effect of progeny size on pupal weight under limited food conditions suggest a selective advantage for larger progeny size.     

香溪河流域一条一级支流河岸林凋落物季节动态

对神农架南坡的一条一级支流河岸林的凋落物进行了一年的连续收集研究。结果表明：凋落物干重年输入量为438．72g／m^2,其中树叶凋落物是凋落物的主要成分,占整个凋落物年产量的84％。凋落物的输入明显存在季节性的时间格局。凋落物在秋季的产量占全年产量的75％,春季占6．2％,夏季占13．6％,冬季为5．5％。凋落物组成中,树叶和花果的产量显示出季节变化的趋势;枝条的产量并未显示出明显的季节趋势。在秋季,树叶的产量占全年树叶总量的83％;枝条最高值出现于秋季,产量占全年总员的29％;花果在整个凋落物中所占比重分小,最高值出现在夏季,占年产量的63％。着生藻类的密度月际间的变化较大,存在着显著的差异。最大值与最小值的出现月份与凋落物最大、最低值的出现月份相同。通过统计分析表明,着生藻类的密度变化与凋落物和树叶凋落物的动态具有明显的相关性。     

布氏田鼠雄性的优势地位

在实验条件下对雄性成年布氏田鼠（Microtus brandti）相遇后的优势地位及生理指标的研究结果表明：布氏田鼠雄性之间存在严格的等级关系;优势雄鼠生理指标中睾丸重量和血清睾酮激素含量高于从属雄鼠,而血清中皮质醇激素的含量低于从属雄鼠。优势雄鼠的探究、攻击和修饰等行为频次显著高于从属雄鼠,而从属雄鼠在跳跃频次上多于优势雄鼠。随着观察时间的延长,不论优势个体还是从属个体,其探究频次都呈现明显的下降趋势,其他行为的频次则没有显著差异。相关性检验说明,除攻击行为可以作为判断区分雄鼠等级的依据之外,修饰行为也可以作为判断的依据。     

A possible discrepancy between the exposed and the whole population depending on range-size and trap-spacing in vole populations

Population Ecology - From a field study for the vole population (Clethrionomys rufocanus) in Hokkaido in the late summer of 1965, it has been proved that the range length may decrease from 25 to 18...