Silicification patterns in wheat leaves related to ontogeny and soil silicon availability under field conditions

Plant and Soil - Silicon (Si) accumulation is an important strategy for plant defense against biotic and abiotic stress. Solid amorphous silica (ASi) deposits have been found to protect plants...     

Infant carrying by adult male mangabeys (Cercocebus atys)

Sixty-five interactions where an adult male carried an infant in the proximity of a second male were observed during a 19-mo period in a captive sooty mangabey (Cercocebus atys) social group. The behavior was distributed nonrandomly in both the adult male and infant classes. In all but three of the interactions, the recently deposed alpha male carried an infant in the presence of the newly ascendant dominant male. In the first phase of the study, infants that were carried included the entire unweaned infant cohort (n = 5) born before the rank reversal. The rate of carrying in this class declined as a function of increasing infant age and time since the rank reversal. Infant carrying was not observed in the context of fighting, which was rare, and intermale aggression never preceded the behavior. However, in 40% of the cases, carrying occurred after an infant had been threatened by the dominant male. These results suggest that infant carrying served to protect the infant from aggression rather than to exploit the infant as an agonistic buffer. The data did not unequivocally support the postulate that carrying may be a form of paternal care since paternity could not be assessed. The similar structural and contextual patterns of infant carrying in this species suggest a common origin for triadic male-infant interactions in mangabeys and baboons.     

The microflora of soak water during tempeh production from various beans

The microflora of soak water was studied during the soaking of horsebean, pea, chickpea and soybean for tempeh production. Lactic streptococci dominated the flora in both unacidified and acidified soak water. Coliforms and yeast were found only in unacidified soak water. Growth of micro-organisms in acidified and unacidified soak water resulted in a decrease in pH value of the cooked beans. Microbial acidification during soaking is considered to be important in tempeh production.