拟环纹豹蛛的视觉距离和颜色选择

为了探明拟环纹豹蛛（Pardosa pseudoannulata）的视觉距离与环境颜色选择情况,通过采用死果蝇(Drosophila melanogaster)和拟环纹豹蛛为试验材料,自制试验设备,分别测定了拟环纹豹蛛的视觉距离（3 cm、4 cm、5 cm、6 cm、7 cm）和其对红、橙、黄、绿颜色的选择。第一组试验中,在拟环纹豹蛛饥饿的情况下,观察记录其对不同距离下果蝇的选择停留时间,以此来确定它们的视觉距离。第二组试验中,观察记录拟环纹豹蛛对不同颜色的选择停留时间,以此来确定它们的环境颜色选择情况。第一组试验结果表明,拟环纹豹蛛在视觉上可以感知距离,它们的视觉对于3cm,4cm,5cm,6cm这4个距离的果蝇都具有敏感性。拟环纹豹蛛对距离3 cm和距离4 cm的果蝇的视觉敏感性相近且最好,对距离5 cm和距离6 cm的果蝇仍具有视觉敏感性,且敏感性相近,但对距离5cm比距离4cm的果蝇的偏爱选择指数明显下降（P<0.05）,说明敏感性显著下降,对距离7 cm以上果蝇的视觉感知几乎不存在。通过拟环纹豹蛛选择停留在有果蝇处的标准曲线y=-9.6770x 118.74,R2=0.8378和选择停留在无果蝇处的标准曲线y=9.6750x-18.729,R2=0.8377,可知随着果蝇距离的增加,拟环纹豹蛛视觉的感知性逐渐减弱,甚至消失,说明果蝇的距离与拟环纹豹蛛视觉的敏感性呈负相关的关系。第二组拟环纹豹蛛对颜色选择的试验中,通过计算出拟环纹豹蛛对4种颜色的偏爱选择指数,即红色为35.40%±1.60%,绿色36.03%±1.60%,黄色18.01%±1.60%,橙色10.56%±1.60%,得出拟环纹豹蛛对黄色和橙色的敏感性显著低于对红色和绿色的敏感性（P<0.05）,它们对红色和绿色最敏感,说明拟环纹豹蛛对不同波长的光色敏感性存在差异。     

Considering the Influence of Nonadaptive Evolution on Primate Color Vision

Color vision in primates is variable across species, and it represents a rare trait in which the genetic mechanisms underlying phenotypic variation are fairly well-understood. Research on primate color vision has largely focused on adaptive explanations for observed variation, but it remains unclear why some species have trichromatic or polymorphic color vision while others are red-green color blind. Lemurs, in particular, are highly variable. While some species are polymorphic, many closely-related species are strictly dichromatic. We provide the first characterization of color vision in a wild population of red-bellied lemurs (Eulemur rubriventer, Ranomafana National Park, Madagascar) with a sample size (87 individuals; N_{X chromosomes} = 134) large enough to detect even rare variants (0.95 probability of detection at ≥ 3% frequency). By sequencing exon 5 of the X-linked opsin gene we identified opsin spectral sensitivity based on known diagnostic sites and found this population to be dichromatic and monomorphic for a long wavelength allele. Apparent fixation of this long allele is in contrast to previously published accounts of Eulemur species, which exhibit either polymorphic color vision or only the medium wavelength opsin. This unexpected result may represent loss of color vision variation, which could occur through selective processes and/or genetic drift (e.g., genetic bottleneck). To indirectly assess the latter scenario, we genotyped 55 adult red-bellied lemurs at seven variable microsatellite loci and used heterozygosity excess and M-ratio tests to assess if this population may have experienced a recent genetic bottleneck. Results of heterozygosity excess but not M-ratio tests suggest a bottleneck might have occurred in this red-bellied lemur population. Therefore, while selection may also play a role, the unique color vision observed in this population might have been influenced by a recent genetic bottleneck. These results emphasize the need to consider adaptive and nonadaptive mechanisms of color vision evolution in primates.     

Feeding Ecology of Guerezas in the Kakamega Forest,Kenya: The Importance of Moraceae Fruit in Their Diet

Eastern black-and-white colobus (Colobus guereza), or guerezas, have long been considered to be one of the most folivorous primates. I conducted a study of the feeding ecology of two guereza groups (T and O) over an annual cycle in the Kakamega Forest of western Kenya. I found that the annual diets of both groups comprised mostly of leaves (T: 48%, O: 57%) though fruit (T: 44%, O: 33%) also accounted for a substantial portion of the diet. In the six months when fruit was most abundant, fruit consumption constituted an average of 58% of T-group's monthly diet and 42% of O-group's monthly diet. In contrast to most previous studies of colobines, in which seeds were the primary fruit item consumed, almost all of the fruit eaten by guerezas at Kakamega consisted of whole fruits. At least 72% of the whole fruits consumed by T-and O-groups were whole fruits from trees in the Moraceae family, which dominates the tree family biomass at Kakamega. Unlike at sites where guerezas consumed fruit primarily when young leaves were scarce, at Kakamega guerezas ate fruit in accordance with its availability and irrespective of the availability of young leaves. My findings demonstrate that guerezas are more dietarily flexible than was previously known, which may help to explain why the species can survive in such a wide variety of forested habitats across equatorial Africa.     

The Importance of Considering the Behavioral Form of Reconciliation in Studies of Conflict Resolution

Reconciliation is the most extensively studied conflict resolution mechanism in animal societies. However, despite the extensive literature on this topic, behaviors considered to represent postconflict affiliation have not been consistent across studies of reconciliation. Critically, reconciliation is usually defined as postconflict contact affiliation, e.g., grooming, and the importance of including interopponent distance regulation is often neglected. Moreover, to date, no study has simultaneously investigated different behavioral forms of reconciliation. We tested in two groups of wild Barbary macaques (Macaca sylvanus) the relative importance of postconflict close proximity and grooming in the mediation of two important costs of aggression: damage to the opponent’s social relationship and elevated postconflict anxiety. We provide evidence that close-proximity approaches function to resolve conflicts: Close-proximity approaches reduced the victim’s postconflict anxiety and were predicted by the quality of the social relationship with the opponent. Moreover, postconflict grooming alone, although predicted by the quality of the opponent’s social relationship, did not influence the victim’s elevated postconflict anxiety. Our results suggest that interopponent distance regulation plays an important role in reconciling the costs of aggression in Barbary macaques. We advocate that further efforts should be made to test which behaviors play a role in conflict resolution in different species. This is important because even closely related species may differ in the function of behaviors that superficially appear to be rather similar. Moreover, the choice of behaviors used to study conflict resolution determines the frequency with which reconciliation is observed and can thus bias comparisons across species.     

The Behavioral Ecology of Family Planning

Family planning is the usual modern route to producing a small family. Can human behavioral ecology provide a framework for understanding family planning behavior? Hillard S. Kaplan (Yearb. Phys. Anthropol. 39:91–135) has proposed a general theory of human parental investment based on the importance of skills development in children. As modern, skills-based, competitive market economies are established, parental investment strategies would be predicted to become oriented toward producing increasingly competitive offspring in a pattern of coordinated investment in their embodied capital—in other words, skills training along with good health to ensure their long-term productivity. Parental embodied capital and resources are also expected to be associated with motivation to produce competitive offspring. The basic parental investment trade-off between quality and quantity should predict greater investment in fewer children and the adoption of family planning behavior. Data on family planning in two ethnic groups in Northeast India (Khasi and Bengali) currently experiencing early-phase transition into modern market economies from very different social and ecological baselines are examined within this analytical framework. The results show a mixture of strategies in conjunction with family planning that involve decreased as well as increased investment in the embodied capital of children among Bengali and a divergence of investments in education and health among Khasi. These mixtures of strategies provide some insight into the motivations to use family planning in the face of economic transition, given differing local cultural and ecological conditions and the opportunity structures they provide.     

The Behavioral Ecology of Intermittent Locomotion

Most physiological and ecological approaches to animal locomotionare based on steady state assumptions, yet movements of manyanimals are interspersed with pauses lasting from millisecondsto minutes. Thus, pauses, along with changes in the durationand speed of moves, form part of a dynamic system of intermittentlocomotion by which animals adjust their locomotor behaviorto changing circumstances. Intermittent locomotion occurs ina wide array of organisms from protozoans to mammals. It isfound in aerial, aquatic and terrestrial locomotion and in manybehavioral contexts including search and pursuit of prey, matesearch, escape from predators, habitat assessment and generaltravel. In our survey, animals exhibiting intermittent locomotionpaused on average nearly 50% of their locomotion time (range6–94%). Although intermittent locomotion is usually expectedto increase energetic costs as a result of additional expenditurefor acceleration and deceleration, a variety of energetic benefitscan arise when forward movement continues during pauses. Endurancealso can be improved by partial recovery from fatigue duringpauses. Perceptual benefits can arise because pauses increasethe capacity of the sensory systems to detect relevant stimuli.Several processes, including velocity blur, relative motiondetection, foveation, attention and interference between sensorysystems are probably involved. In animals that do not pause,alternative mechanisms for stabilizing the perceptual fieldare often present. Because movement is an important cue forstimulus detection, pauses can also reduce unwanted detectionby an organism's predators or prey. Several models have attemptedto integrate energetic and perceptual processes, but many challengesremain. Future advances will require improved quantificationof the effects of speed on perception.     

The Causes and Consequences of Color Vision

The ability to see colors is not universal in the animal kingdom. Those animals that can detect differences in the wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum glean valuable sensory information about their environment. They use color vision to forage, avoid predators, and find high-quality mates. In the past, the colors that humans could see clouded scientists’ study of animals’ color perception. Leaving that bias behind has led to new insights about how and why the color vision of animals evolved. This paper provides a brief introduction to color vision, the genetics of color vision in humans, what colors other animals see, and how scientists study color vision. We examine the consequences of having color vision, including speciation, loss of olfactory capabilities, and sexual selection.     

Candidate OP Phyla: Importance,Ecology and Cultivation Prospects

OP phyla were created in the domain bacteria, based on the group of 16S rRNA gene sequences recovered from the Obsidian Pool. However, due to the lack of cultured representative it is referred to as candidate phyla. Wider ecological occurrence was predicted for the OP phyla, especially OP3, OP10 and OP11. Recently, members of phylum OP5 and OP10 were cultured, providing clues to their cultivation prospects. At last the bioprospecting potentials of the OP members are discussed herein.     

The Ecological Complexities of Biological Control: Trophic Cascades, Spatial Heterogeneity, and Behavioral Ecology

Biological control can be considered an intentional induction of a trophic cascade, whereby the addition of herbivores’ natural enemies or other habitat manipulations effectively enhance natural enemy populations, lead to reduced herbivore populations or feeding damage, and indirectly improve or protect plant health, agricultural yield, or the condition of some other biotic population or community of interest to man. The following set of papers (Denno et al., 2008; Ram et al., 2008; Stuart and Duncan, 2008; Spence et al. 2008) offer insights into the broad- and fine-scale factors that ultimately contribute to the success of biological control efforts. Many of the ideas herein were presented and discussed during a special session at the 2007 Annual Meeting of the Society of Nematologists. The goal of this session was to examine explicitly the ramifications of spatial and temporal heterogeneity in the context of effective biological control. The biological focus was primarily on interactions involving entomopathogenic nematodes (EPN), although many of the authors’ conclusions are applicable to other types of nematodes, soil fauna and natural enemies in general.     

The Human Behavioral Ecology of Contemporary World Issues

Human behavioral ecology (HBE) began as an attempt to explain human economic, reproductive, and social behavior using neodarwinian theory in concert with theory from ecology and economics, and ethnographic methods. HBE has addressed subsistence decision-making, cooperation, life history trade-offs, parental investment, mate choice, and marriage strategies among hunter-gatherers, herders, peasants, and wage earners in rural and urban settings throughout the world. Despite our rich insights into human behavior, HBE has very rarely been used as a tool to help the people with whom we work. This article introduces a special issue of Human Nature which explores the application of HBE to significant world issues through the design and critique of public policy and international development projects. The articles by Tucker, Shenk, Leonetti et al., and Neil were presented at the 104th annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association (AAA) in Washington, D.C., in December 2005, in the first organized session of the nascent Evolutionary Anthropology Section (EAS). We conclude this introduction by summarizing some theoretical challenges to applying HBE, and ways in which evolutionary anthropologists can contribute to solving tough world issues.

The Behavioral Ecology of Shellfish Gathering in Western Kiribati,Micronesia 1: Prey Choice

Focusing on contemporary shellfish exploitation among several atoll communities in Kiribati, Micronesia, this paper examines the relationship between human foragers and their invertebrate prey via the prey choice or diet breadth model derived from optimal foraging theory. Shellfish, like many other reef organisms, are relatively sedentary and predictable, but these characteristics make them susceptible to over-harvesting. The research reveals that shellfish gatherers are foraging in a manner that matches the predictions of optimal foraging theory. The work adds to our understanding of optimal foraging decisions in atoll settings by critically evaluating the depiction of atoll dwellers as conservationists.

外生菌根菌的分子生态学：分子标记基因、遗传个体及生态意义

外生菌根真菌与很多植物形成互利共生关系,在营养物质交换和碳循环等方面起着关键性的作用,是森林生态系统的重要组成部分。近期生物技术的发展使得人们对外生菌根菌的群体遗传学和分子生态学有了更加深入的认识。本文介绍了一些常用的鉴定外生菌根菌的分子标记,并对每种分子标记的特点及其适用范围进行了讨论。文中总结了几种常用的鉴定未知外生菌根菌的方法,指出了一些在研究外生菌根菌过程中需要克服的内在困难,其中之一就是很多外生菌根菌不可以人工培养,所以人们缺少对其地下部分分布规律和动态变化的了解。在寄主专一性、物种多样性和丰富度、遗传个体大小、繁殖方式等方面,近期对外生菌根菌的分子生物学研究已经获得了很多重要的结果。作者讨论了这些研究成果对于今后开展外生菌根菌研究的重要意义以及在森林生态系统保育方面的潜在应用价值。     

The Ecology and Evolution of Fruit Odor: Implications for Primate Seed Dispersal

Primates are now known to possess a keen sense of smell that serves them in various contexts, including feeding. Many primate species are frugivorous and provide essential seed dispersal services to a variety of plants. Studies of pollination ecology, and recently seed dispersal ecology, indicate that animal mutualist behavior exerts selection pressures that drive changes in flower and fruit traits. As a result, the use of olfaction in in primate feeding ecology may have affected the evolution of fruit odor in species that rely on primate seed dispersal. However, this hypothesis is seldom tested. Here, we summarize the available information on how primates may have affected the evolution of fruit odor. We ask what the chemistry of primate fruit odor may look like, what information fruit odor may convey, whether there are geographical differences in fruit odor, and what other factors may affect the odor of fruits consumed by primates. We identify many gaps in the available data and offer research questions, hypotheses, and predictions for future studies. Finally, to facilitate standardization in the field, we discuss methodological issues in the process of odor sampling and analysis.     

Urinary Detection of Hydroxycinnamates and Flavonoids in Humans after High Dietary Intake of Fruit

The determination of the abilities of flavonoids, hydroxycinnamates and phenolics to scavenge free radicals in vitro suggests potent combined antioxidant activities of fruits, vegetables, beverages and grains. However, the key question of uptake in humans has only recently been approached consistently. The study described here demonstrates the uptake of hydroxycinnamates, for the first time, and other phenolic components, applying an HPLC method for their detection in the urine of subjects consuming levels of specific fruit equivalent to an approximate intake of 25 mg flavonol glycosides.     

The Major Histocompatibility Complex and Primate Behavioral Ecology: New Tools and Future Questions

Since the serendipitous discovery of the effect of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) on mate choice in laboratory mice nearly 40 yr ago, there has been sustained interest in the role that MHC genes may play in vertebrate sexual behavior. However, the challenges posed by MHC genotyping have long hampered progress in this area. We briefly introduce the documented links between MHC and behavior, before presenting an overview of the genotyping methods that were available before the introduction of new sequencing technologies. We then clarify why next-generation sequencing represents a major breakthrough in MHC genotyping by reviewing the recent successes —and pitfalls— of pioneer studies applying these techniques, before envisioning their revolutionary implications for future MHC studies in evolutionary ecology and primatology. We hope that our practical guidance to the design of MHC-based projects will promote and facilitate the integration of a MHC component into the research agendas of primatologists.     

Behavioral Ecology of Coyotes: Social Organization,Rearing Patterns,Space Use,and Resource Defense

Two groups of coyotes in which genealogical relationships were known were studied in the Grand Teton National Park, outside of Jackson, Wyoming, U.S.A., from 1977–1982. One group, a pack consisting of parents and some non-dispersing and non-breeding offspring, defended a territory and the food (mainly elk carrion) contained within it, especially during winter, and also had helpers at den sites (5 of 6 were males). The other group, a mated resident pair, all of whose young dispersed during the first year of life, did not defend a territory and never had helpers at dens. Delayed dispersal and retention of some offspring as helpers was related to the presence of an abundant, clumped, and defendable winter food resource. Dispersing yearlings suffered higher mortality than did non-dispersing individuals. Litter size was the same for the pack and resident pair; litter size was not significantly correlated with number of adults in the group or with the number or percentage of pups that survived to 5–6 months of age. The presence of pack helpers was not significantly correlated with pup survival, although there was a positive correlation (r^s = +0.37) between the number of adults attending a den(s) and pup survival. Helpers rarely fed pups and their presence had no appreciable effect on juvenile weight. Helpers partook in den-sitting (pup-guarding), but they did not reduce the amount of time that parents spent at den sites. Helpers also actively initiated and took part in territorial and food defense. The proportion of times that pack members initiated defense was inversely related to intruder density (r = –0.94).