西藏拉萨越冬黑颈鹤家庭群的警戒同步性

以往关于动物警戒行为的研究多以经典随机独立模型为基础,然而,近期一些理论和实证研究则向该模型发出了挑战。根据警戒行为同步性程度的不同,集体警戒可能存在基于模仿的同步警戒和避免重复的协调警戒两种模式。研究了中国雅鲁藏布江自然保护区越冬黑颈鹤家庭群的警戒行为,通过独立样本t检验验证由于年龄和是否携幼所导致的个体警戒水平的差异,通过单因素方差分析比较不同类型家庭群的集体警戒水平,通过配对t检验比较集体警戒的实际观测值和独立假设下的预期值从而确定越冬黑颈鹤家庭群的警戒同步性。结果表明家庭群中的幼年黑颈鹤警戒行为时间显著低于成年黑颈鹤,但幼鹤的存在对成鹤的警戒水平没有显著影响。不同类型黑颈鹤家庭群的集体警戒水平没有差异,但并未如预期表现为同步警戒。警戒行为模式是动物在特定环境中的适应性表现,越冬黑颈鹤生境中不存在落后目标策略的捕食者和高强度的捕食风险,因而可能不足以诱发以降低捕食风险为主要功能的高强度的警戒行为同步性;同时,在资源匮乏的冬季对食物获取的优先性可能也削弱了对同步警戒的需求。     

散放麋鹿的警戒行为模式、警戒距离及其季节差异

警戒行为是动物对生存环境的风险或潜在风险的一种行为反应(Li ma and Zollner,1996;Treves,2000)。近年来关于警戒行为的研究正在成为热点,内容涉及了警戒行为模式、警戒行为与反捕食策略的关系和群体警戒等诸多方面(Li maand Zollner,1996;Beauchamp,2001;Hass andValenzuela     

散放麇鹿的警戒行为模式、警戒距离及其季节差异

警戒行为是动物对生存环境的风险或潜在风险的一种行为反应（Lima and Zollner,1996;Treves。2000）。近年来关于警戒行为的研究正在成为热点,内容涉及了警戒行为模式、警戒行为与反捕食策略的关系和群体警戒等诸多方面（Limaand Zollner,1996;Beauchamp,2001;Hassand Valenzuela,2002）,并形成了两个从不同侧面阐述警戒行为功能和影响因素的重要理论：“个体风险理论”和“群体大小效应理论”（Limaand Dill,1990;Quenette,1990;Roberts,1996;Burgerand Gochfeld,2000）。关于鹿类动物警戒行为的研究只见于狍（Capreolus pygargus,Rebyeta1．,1999）、白尾鹿（Odocoileus virginianus,Lingleand Wilson,2001）和黑尾鹿（Odocoileus hemionus,Lingleand Wilson,2001）。     

青藏高原异地半圈养藏羚警戒行为的适应性研究

行为是反映动物应对环境变化的最直接形式。动物可以根据周围环境条件的变化以及自身的生理状况来调整行为,异地放养是保护珍稀动物的有效方法,但必然会对其行为产生影响。为了探讨藏羚(Pantholops hodgsonii)对异地环境的行为学适应,对异地圈养藏羚的警戒行为进行了不同季节间的比较研究,采用全事件记录法和焦点动物取样法,记录和统计了异地圈养藏羚在冷季和暖季的警戒行为,进而推测其对人类干扰的行为适应性。研究结果表明,雌性和雄性藏羚的警戒时间及警戒比例(警戒时间占全天活动时间的比例)在暖季存在显著差异(警戒时间:Z=4.36,P<0.05;警戒比例:Z=4.559,P<0.05),而在冷季则无差异(警戒时间:Z=0.001,P>0.05;警戒比例:Z=0.0014,P>0.05);而季节差异对雌、雄性藏羚的警戒时间、警戒比例均具有极显著的影响(雄性-警戒时间:F=31.758,P<0.01;警戒比例:F=21.768,P<0.01;雌性-警戒时间:F=14.98,P<0.01;警戒比例:F=11.05,P<0.01);但是季节和性别对藏羚警戒行为的影响没有交互作用(Z=?0.576,P>0.05)。这些结果提示异地圈养藏羚警戒行为的变化可能是对陌生环境适应的结果。     

笼舍和洞穴两种条件下出生的幼年华南虎警戒行为比较

对福建梅花山华南虎繁育研究所分别在笼舍和洞穴环境条件下出生的华南虎Panthera tigris amoyensis幼虎的警戒行为进行了研究。结果显示:幼虎的警戒行为多样;洞穴出生的幼虎警戒性整体高于笼舍出生的幼虎;在笼舍与半散放区连通的环境中,2组幼虎组内在每个测量时间点的警戒距离与逃逸距离差异均有高度统计学意义(警戒距离:df=18,F=5.690,P0.001;逃逸距离:df=18,F=4.875,P0.001),而2组幼虎之间的警戒距离与逃逸距离差异均无统计学意义(警戒距离:df=1,F=7.461,P=0.072;逃逸距离:df=1,F=3.288,P=0.167);2组幼虎的警戒距离与逃逸距离随时间增加分别有不同程度的下降,2组幼虎的警戒距离与时间没有显著相关性(笼舍组:R~2=0.082 0,P=0.235,n=19;洞穴组:R~2=0.084 2,P=0.228,n=19),而逃逸距离与时间显著相关(笼舍组:R~2=0.318 5,P=0.012,n=19;洞穴组:R~2=0.304 9,P=0.014,n=19)。     

獐的警戒行为模式及逃跑起始距离的适应性变化

为了掌握獐(Hydropotes inermis)的警戒行为特征并为重引入项目提供管理依据,以人为干扰源观察獐的警戒反应,发现其警戒模式包括听(hear)或扫视(scan)、盯视(stare)、走开(walk away)、跑开(run away)、吼叫(bark)和压脖(stretch)。利用逃跑起始距离对上海松江野化圈养(自主采食)獐、上海华夏圈养(人工饲喂)獐和江苏盐城野生獐警戒性进行比较,得出人工饲喂獐警戒性最小,野生獐警戒性最大。野化獐警戒性提高,表明可通过降低人类活动和种群密度、扩大区域面积等途径野化提高獐警戒性。     

高山雪鸡繁殖期觅食和警戒行为的性别差异

2004年和2005年的4～7月,采用聚焦取样的方法,观察研究了甘肃省东大山自然保护区和盐池湾自然保护区高山雪鸡(Tetraogallus himalayensis)繁殖期的两性觅食频率和警戒行为。研究表明,无论是繁殖前期还是孵卵期,雌鸟的觅食频率均高于雄鸟,警戒性则低于雄鸟,而且均有显著差异(P<0.05),同性雪鸡在不同时期的差异不显著(P>0.05);高山雪鸡的雄鸟不参与孵卵和育雏,但在雌鸟产卵和孵卵期担任警戒。另外,本文对野生高山雪鸡的警戒行为进行了分类。     

群体规模对越冬灰鹤警戒行为的影响

2005年1—3月,在云南丽江拉市海就群体规模对越冬灰鹤(Grusgrus)警戒行为的影响进行了研究。用扫描取样记录群体的规模和警戒个体的数量、用焦点取样记录群体中个体警戒行为的频次和持续时间,结果显示灰鹤群体和个体的警戒力均随群体规模增加而降低,但集群个体数超过30只后,群体警戒力便不会再下降(P>0.05)、成体的警戒持续时间也会增加(P<0.01);当群体规模超过50只后,成体的警戒频次也会上升(P<0.05)。推测亚成体维持低警戒的群体规模上限值要高于成体,单从警戒行为分析,20—30只个体的集群可能代表越冬灰鹤的最适群体大小。     

獐(Hydropotes inermis)的警戒行为模式及逃跑起始距离的适应性变化

为了掌握獐的警戒行为特征并为重引入项目提供管理依据,以人为干扰源观察獐的警戒反应,发现其警戒模式包括听 (listen) 或扫视 (scan) ,盯视 (stare) ,走开 (walk away) ,跑开 (run away),吼叫 (bark) 和压脖 (stretch) 。利用逃跑起始距离对上海松江圈养 (自由采食) 獐、上海华夏圈养(人工饲喂) 獐和江苏盐城野生獐进行警戒性比较,得出：人工饲喂獐警戒性最小,野生獐警戒性最大。可通过野化训练提高人工饲喂獐的警戒性;人类活动、种群密度、围栏和区域面积可能影响獐的警戒性。     

Conspecific Influences on Vigilance Behavior in Wild Chimpanzees

Diurnal primates rely on visual monitoring behavior to collect various kinds of ecological and social information. Vigilance behavior is monitoring specifically to detect external threats. Previous studies of vigilance behavior were focused mainly on the influence of predation threats, whereas the influences of conspecific factors, such as intragroup threats, have been relatively unstudied. Individual vigilance is predicted to be inversely related to the group size or the number of individuals nearby if the main target of the vigilance is a predation threat and positively related if the main target of the vigilance is a conspecific threat. I studied wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) in Mahale Mountains National Park, Tanzania, and measured the vigilance duration when they are resting on the ground via 2-min focal observation. In both males and females, vigilance duration increased as the number of individuals nearby increased. This result agrees with the idea that the chimpanzees are vigilant toward other group members. In addition, maternal vigilance monitors and protects the safety of dependent offspring as the duration of maternal vigilance was longer when a dependent infant was separated from its mother than when the offspring was in contact with its mother. The results indicate that the vigilance behavior in wild chimpanzees was affected by conspecific factors.     

Copper-Impaired Chemosensory Function and Behavior in Aquatic Animals

Chemosensation is one of the oldest and most important sensory modalities utilized by aquatic animals to provide information about the location of predators, location of prey, sexual status of potential mates, genetic relatedness of kin, and migratory routes, among many other essential processes. The impressive sophistication of chemical communication systems among aquatic animals probably evolved because of the selective pressures exerted by water as a “universal solvent.” Impairment of chemosensation by toxicants at the molecular or cellular level can potentially lead to major perturbations at higher levels of biological organization. We have examined the consequences of metal-impaired chemosensory function in a range of aquatic animals that represents several levels of a typical aquatic ecosystem. In each case, low, environmentally relevant metal concentrations were sufficient to cause chemosensory dysfunction. Because the underlying molecular signal transduction machinery of chemosensory systems demonstrates a high degree of phylogenetic conservation, we speculate that metal-impaired chemosensation among phylogenetically disparate animal groups probably results from a common mechanism of impairment. We propose developing a chronic chemosensory-based biotic ligand model (BLM) that maintains the advantages of the current BLM approach, while simultaneously overcoming known difficulties of the current gill-based approach and increasing the ecological relevance of current BLM predictions.     

Circadian Rhythms,Monoamines and Behavior: Introduction and Overview

Predictions for the phase angle differences (ψ) between the activity rhythm and the zeitgeber for different skeleton photoperiods based on the phase response curve (PRC) and the free-running period (τ) of the field mouse Mus booduga were made. These predictions were based on two assumptions: (i) The PRC for light pulses of 1 h duration and ca 45 lx intensity should resemble the PRC for pulses of 15 min duration and 1000 lx intensity. (ii) One of the two light pulses (LP) constituting the skeleton photoperiod should always impinge upon that zone of the PRC which has a slope of < ?2. Experiments were performed to compare ψ under skeleton and complete photoperiods and also to test the assumptions made in predicting ψ. The results show that the basic oscillation underlying the activity rhythm of the field mouse Mus booduga undergoes a “phase-jump” when two brief light pulses (of 1 h duration) were used to mimic a photoperiod of 20 h. The ψ values obtained for skeleton photoperiods closely match the predicted values. Under complete photoperiods, the experimentally obtained values match the predictions only up to 16 h. We conclude therefore that beyond this photoperiod, two discrete light pulses may not be sufficient to simulate the effect of a complete photoperiod.