Influence of visual targets and landmarks on honey bee foraging and waggle dancing

Animals use diverse sensory stimuli to navigate their environment and to recognize rewarding food sources.Honey bees use visual atributes of the targeted food source,such as its color,shape,size,direction and distance from the hive,and the landmarks around it to navigate during foraging.They transmit the location information of the food source to other bees if it is highly rewarding.To investigate the relative importance of these attributes,we trained bees to feeders in two different experiments.In the first experiment,we asked whether bees prefer to land on(a)a similar feeder at a different distance on the same heading or on(b)a visually distinct feeder located at the exact same location.We found that,within a short foraging range,bees relied heavily on the color and the shape of the food source and to a lesser extent on its distance from the hive.In the second experiment,we asked if moving the main landmark or the feeder(visual target)influenced recruitment dancing for the feeder.We found that foragers took longer to land and danced fewer circuits when the location of the food source,or a major landmark associated with it,changed.These results demonstrate that prominent visual atributes of food sources and landmarks are evidently more reliable than distance information and that foraging bees heavily utilize these visual cues at the later stages of their journey.     

Selected Natural Materials in History

1 Technology of natural materials Early man used conveniently shaped stones as tools. ＂Workshop＂ areas have been found with large numbers of stones, some showing signs of being worked. However, organic materials like wood will decay under normal wet conditions in the presence of oxygen, so we won＇t find the same sort of evidence for wooden tools. It is safe to assume that early man used sticks as probes and clubs, and maybe even for making some sort of nestlike protection against the elements and predators, since we see chimpanzees and other animals doing this sort of thing. So wood, and ahnost certainly other plant materials such as fibrous leaves, and bone and other materials gleaned from dead animals, would be used from the earliest times. We need to know this in order to establish the idea that Man can be expected to have a long history of the use and manipulation of natural materials. This needs skills in choosing materials for certain uses on the basis of their mechanical properties, whether those properties are to do with the ease of shaping the material or the effectiveness of that material in use. Occasionally the material was chosen simply because it was readily available. If we find that a particular material was always used for a certain job, it＇s reasonable to deduce that Man was exerting materials selection criteria through experience.     

Mercury concentrations in Irish headwater lake catchments

An estimated 215,000 tonnes of mercury (Hg) have been emitted to the atmosphere from anthropogenic sources since the nineteenth century, igniting widespread environmental monitoring owing to its toxicity. The environmental fate of Hg is strongly determined by catchment characteristics, especially soil organic matter. In this study, concentrations and pools of Hg were determined for lakes and soils in upland peat-dominated catchments in Ireland to assess controls of aquatic Hg and soil response to changes in emissions. Headwater lakes in upland coastal regions were surveyed for water chemistry and total Hg (THg) during spring 2008. In addition, a sub-set of lakes (n = 5) were repeatedly sampled during 2009–2011, and their surface soils collected for Hg analysis, including a short (30 cm) peat core to assess temporal Hg fluxes using radiometric ²¹⁰Pb dating. Peat cores indicated a significant decrease in Hg deposition since the 1980s, in broad agreement with other ‘background’ regions. Total Hg was correlated with total organic carbon (TOC) in the survey and intensive study lakes (r = 0.70 and 0.45), indicative of the strong affinity of Hg to organic matter. At the intensive lakes, monomethylmercury (MMHg) made up 3.3 % of mean THg and exhibited a positive correlation with total SO₄ ^2? (r = 0.55). Further, both THg and MMHg were significantly correlated with conductivity (r = 0.48 and 0.54, respectively) potentially owing to marine inputs, and negatively correlated with pH (r = ?0.59 and ?0.56 respectively). Significant differences in THg (and MMHg) were observed between the five lakes, the highest concentrations (4.45 and 0.16 ng L^?1, respectively) tended to be associated with TOC in lakes and occurred at sites in the northwest, characterized by higher levels of soil organic matter (peat) and soil moisture relative to the other sites. In contrast, surface soil pools of THg ranged between 13.6 and 20.8 μg m^?2 across study sites and did not vary significantly, but were typical of global background regions. Nonetheless, the organic rich soils that dominate Ireland are a natural sink for THg, and peat harvesting for energy production may release long-term stores of Hg from deeper soil layers.     

Cryptic introductions and the interpretation of island biodiversity

Species with cryptic origins (i.e. those that cannot be reliably classed as native or non‐native) present a particular challenge to our understanding of the generation and maintenance of biodiversity. Such species may be especially common on islands given that some islands have had a relatively recent history of human settlement. It is likely that select island species considered native might have achieved their current distributions via direct or indirect human actions. As an example, we explore the origins of eastern bluebirds (Sialia sialis bermudensis) on the island of Bermuda. Considered native to the island and a distinct subspecies, this population has diverged in morphology relative to mainland North America. Using microsatellite markers and simulation of island colonization, we show that the Bermuda population of bluebirds is the likely result of a single colonization event that occurred during the 1600s, making this a cryptic invader. To our knowledge, this is one of the youngest examples of a terrestrial vertebrate cryptic invader. We suggest that the eastern bluebird is not an isolated case of cryptic invader on either Bermuda or elsewhere and that caution be exercised when studying present‐day distributions of organisms.     

Comparison of the Hematological Profile of Elite Road Cyclists during the 2010 and 2012 GiroBio Ten-Day Stage Races and Relationships with Final Ranking

Cycling stage races are strenuous endurance events during which exercise-induced variations in hematological parameters are consistently observed. However, specific literature on such changes is scarce and published data have been derived from small samples of athletes. The aims of this study were: (1) to determine the hematological response to middle-term strenuous endurance; and (2) to determine whether a relationship exists between the athlete-specific hematological profile and final placement in a cycling stage race. The study population was male professional cyclists (n = 253) competing in the 2010 (n = 144) and 2012 (n = 109) GiroBio 10-day stage races. Blood draws taken before the start of the race, at mid-race, and at end-race were performed in strict compliance with academic and anti-doping pre-analytical warnings. Blood chemistry included white blood cell, red blood cell, hemoglobin concentration, hematocrit, mean corpuscular volume (MCV), mean hemoglobin content (MCH), mean corpuscular hemoglobin content (MCHC), platelets, and reticulocyte relative and absolute counts. Compared to baseline values, erythrocyte, hemoglobin, hematocrit, MCHC, platelet and reticulocyte counts were all consistently lower at mid-race, but returned to normal by race-end, while leukocytes were increased in the final phase. MCV increased during both events. MCH increased in the first part to then return to baseline in the 2012 race. The calculated OFF-score consistently decreased in the first half of the race before increasing, but remained lower than the baseline value. The trends of variation in hematological parameters were substantially similar in both events. There was an inverse, albeit weak, relationship between placement and erythrocyte, platelet, hemoglobin, hematocrit and OFF-score values in the 2010, but not in the 2012 race. In conclusion, the data confirm that, in this large series of elite road cyclists, the strenuous effort a rider sustains during a stage race induces appreciable changes in the hematological profile.     

Macrophage inhibitory cytokine‐1 is associated with cognitive impairment and predicts cognitive decline – the Sydney Memory and Aging Study

Higher levels of macrophage inhibitory cytokine‐1, also known as growth differentiation factor 15 (MIC‐1/GDF15), are associated with adverse health outcomes and all‐cause mortality. The aim of this study was to examine the relationships between MIC‐1/GDF15 serum levels and global cognition, five cognitive domains, and mild cognitive impairment (MCI), at baseline (Wave 1) and prospectively at 2 years (Wave 2), in nondemented participants aged 70–90 years. Analyses were controlled for age, sex, education, Framingham risk score, history of cerebrovascular accident, acute myocardial infarction, angina, cancer, depression, C‐reactive protein, tumor necrosis factor‐α, interleukins 6 and 12, and apolipoprotein ε4 genotype. Higher MIC‐1/GDF15 levels were significantly associated with lower global cognition at both waves. Cross‐sectional associations were found between MIC‐1/GDF15 and all cognitive domains in Wave 1 (all P < 0.001) and between processing speed, memory, and executive function in Wave 2 (all P < 0.001). Only a trend was found for the prospective analyses, individuals with high MIC‐1/GDF15 at baseline declined in global cognition, executive function, memory, and processing speed. However, when categorizing MIC‐1/GDF15 by tertiles, prospective analyses revealed statistically significant lower memory and executive function in Wave 2 in those in the upper tertile compared with the lower tertile. Receiver operating characteristics (ROC) analysis was used to determine MIC‐1/GDF15 cutoff values associated with cognitive decline and showed that a MIC‐1/GDF15 level exceeding 2764 pg/ml was associated with a 20% chance of decline from normal to MCI or dementia. In summary, MIC‐1/GDF15 levels are associated with cognitive performance and cognitive decline. Further research is required to determine the pathophysiology of this relationship.