Spatial and Temporal Analysis of Contact Rates in Female White-Tailed Deer

Abstract: White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) are important game mammals and potential reservoirs of diseases of domestic livestock; thus, diseases of deer are of great concern to wildlife managers. Contact, either direct or indirect, is necessary for disease transmission, but we know little about the ecological contexts that promote intrasexual contact among deer. Using pair-wise direct contacts estimated from Global Positioning System collar locations and joint utilization distributions (JUDs), we assessed habitats in which contacts occur to test whether direct contact rates among female white-tailed deer in different social groups differs among land-cover types. We also tested whether contact rates differed among seasons, lunar phases, and times of day. We obtained locations from 27 female deer for periods of 0.5–17 months during 2002–2006. We designated any simultaneous pair of locations for 2 deer <25 m apart as a direct contact. For each season, we used compositional analysis to compare land-cover types where 2 deer had contact to available land-cover weighted by their JUD. We used mixed-model logistic regression to test for effects of season, lunar phase, and time of day on contact rates. Contact rates during the gestation season were greater than expected from random use in forest and grassland cover, whereas contact rates during the fawning period were greater in agricultural fields than in other land-cover types. Contact rates were greatest during the rut and lowest in summer. Diel patterns of contact rates varied with season, and contact rates were elevated during full moon compared to other lunar periods. Both spatial and temporal analyses suggest that contact between female deer in different social groups occurs mainly during feeding, which highlights the potential impact of food distribution and habitat on contact rates among deer. By using methods to associate contacts and land-cover, we have created beneficial tools for more elaborate and detailed studies of disease transmission. Our methods can offer information necessary to develop spatially realistic models of disease transmission in deer.     

Respiration in the sexuals of the ant Lasius flavus

ABSTRACT. Gynes and males of Lasius flavus Fab. were taken from the nest as they eclosed, and at intervals thereafter until the mating flight, and their respiration was measured. After the mating flight respiration was measured in gynes at various stages of colony foundation. Respiration in gynes rose rapidly to a peak as they began to accumulate food reserves for colony foundation. Subsequently, the respiratory rate declined and remained at a low level until the mating flight and during the claustral phase of colony foundation. Once the colony was well established and the queen actively laying, the respiratory rate returned to that at the beginning of maturation. Males showed smaller changes in their respiratory rates, which were generally higher than those of the gynes. The variation in respiration in males seemed to be due to increasing restlessness as the time of the mating flight approached.     

New Methods for Cultivating,Harvesting, and Purifying Mass Cultures of the Hypotrich Ciliate Euplotes aediculatus1

A new method is described for mass cultivation of Euplotes aediculatus, a hypotrich ciliate containing omikron-symbionts. The ciliate cultures, continuously aerated in Erlenmeyer flasks (5000 ml) with 4500 ml medium, yield densities of 2300 cells/ml which are four to five times higher than cell densities of cultures grown in unaerated Fernbach flasks. Harvesting such cultures involves the application of 25-μm mesh sieves. Cells so concentrated can be purified by using columns or special chambers in which Euplotes migrates towards the cathodes in an electric field (field strength 7 V/cm).