Age- and Sex-Related Variations in Clear Calls of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Papio ursinus</Emphasis>

Changes in vocalizations during ontogeny can in principle be related to three factors: growth, maturation, and experience, i.e., learning. While learning is a prerequisite for the proper development of speech, it hardly appears to play a role in the development of the species-typical vocal behavior of nonhuman primates. Nonetheless, subjects of different age and sex often exhibit prominent variation in the structure of their vocalizations. We investigated ontogenetic changes and the emergence of sex-related differences in the acoustic structure of Chacma baboon (Papio ursinus) clear calls. We recorded the vocalizations emitted by individuals separated from the rest of the group or from particular individuals, in a group of baboons in the Moremi Wildlife Reserve, Botswana. We analyzed calls from 58 baboons of both sexes and all age classes. While the structure of the call appeared to be fixed from birth, call duration, the distribution of energy, and the fundamental frequency of the calls, including modulation, varied with age and sex of the caller. We discuss how body size may explain the variations. Some of the variables exhibited a different profile of variation with age between the sexes, with significant differences becoming apparent around puberty. The emergence of these sexual differences may be explained by the onset of sexual dimorphism in body size and mass. To which degree the hormonal status contributes to variation in the calling remains to be investigated.     

Food consumption and utilization by 6th-instar larvae of spruce budworm, Choristoneura fumiferana: a comparison on three Picea (spruce) species

The effects of tree species, shoot age, and sex of larvae on food consumption and utilization were investigated in a factorial experiment. Diets prepared from lyophilized and powdered current-year shoots, from two age classes (sample dates) of Picea glauca (Moench) Voss, Picea rubra, Sarg., and Picea mariana (Mill.) B.S.P., were evaluated for eight performance criteria. All factors had significant effects on all criteria except for tree species on assimilation efficiency, shoot age on development time, and sex on net growth efficiency. Eight of the possible 24 two-factor interactions and one of the possible eight three-factor interactions were significant. Food utilization efficiencies and relative growth rate were in the low and moderate characterization limits for immature arthropods; relative consumption rates were high. The higher performance values on Picea glauca were related to this species greater vulnerability to spruce budworm. Performance criteria of similar larvae on an artificial diet were compared with those on the foliage-diets.

---

Résumé L'auteur a déterminé la quantité d'aliments utilisées, à 22±0,5 °C, par des larves de Tordeuse des bourgeons de l'épinette parvenues à leur sixième stade de développement qui s'étaient nourries d'un régime artificiel et d'aiguilles de l'année en cours lyophilisées et réduites en poudre, prélevées à deux dates différentes, à 10 jours d'intervalle, et provenant d'épinettes blanchés (Picea glauca [Moench] Voss), d'épinettes rouges (Picea rubra Sarg.) et d'épinettes noires (Picea mariana [Mill.] B.S.P.). Les femelles ont invariablement ingéré une quantité significativement plus importante de tous les régimes que les mâles, consommant 24% de plus d'aiguilles d'épinette noire et 73% de plus d'aiguilles d'épinette blanche.Les femelles prenaient en général plus de temps pour parvenir au stade de chrysalide et avaient un taux d'utilisation des aliments significativement plus élevé. L'efficacité nette de la croissance chez les deux sexes ne présentait toutefois aucune différence significative. La performance des larves ayant ingéré des aiguilles provenant de deux classes d'âge différait de façon significative mais non pas uniforme d'un régime à l'autre: les aiguilles d'épinette blanche plus récentes donnaient une performance généralement plus élevée contrairement aux aiguilles plus jeunes d'épinette rouge et d'épinette noire. Les larves ingéraient une quantité significativement plus élevée, avaient un taux de consommation et de croissance supérieur et augmentaient davantage leur biomasse avec des aiguilles d'épinette blanche. L'efficacité d'utilisation des aliments et le taux de croissance relatif étaient de faibles à modérément faibles pour un lépidoptère arboricole phyllophage; la vitesse d'ingestion relative était élevée. La qualité des aiguilles des trois essences d'épinettes était faible. Les aiguilles d'épinette blanche permettaient aux larves d'avoir une performance significativement plus élevée, performance mesurée à partir de plusieurs critères, alors que les aiguilles d'épinette rouge et d'épinette noire donnaient une performance égale. La supériorité des performances obtenues avec l'épinette blanche explique la plus grande vulnérabilité de cette essence à la Tordeuse des bourgeons de l'épinette.

     

Species richness and resilience of forest communities: combined effects of short-term disturbance and long-term pollution

Recovery of the species richness of plant communities after experimental disturbances of various severities were studied in spruce forests polluted by atmospheric entry of SO₂ and heavy metals from a copper smelter. In the three toxic load zones (impact, buffer, and background), 60 experimental “pit-and-mound” complexes (sized 1 m × 2 m, 20 complexes in each zone) were created. Colonization of disturbed areas by vascular plants was observed during a 6-year period after the disturbance. The results showed that the recovery processes were affected by disturbance severity and that the recovery differed significantly among the communities. In all of the zones, species richness increased rapidly after mild disturbance. In degraded communities, levelling of differences in the rate of colonization after mild and severe disturbances was observed. The highest colonization rate was found in the communities of background zone, while the lowest was found in the heavily degraded communities of impact zone. The disturbances significantly increased the species diversity of communities in all zones and caused a certain reversion of degraded communities to previous stage of anthropogenic succession. Mild disturbance promoted the greatest increase in the diversity indices. The study results indicate that recovery rate of species richness of plant communities is determined by the duration of negative effect of disturbances. Recovery also depends significantly on the magnitude and endurance of positive effect of disturbances. The studied communities differed significantly in these parameters. The study results also suggest that short-term disturbances can significantly modify the process of transformation of plant communities by atmospheric pollution. On the other hand, long-term pollution can considerably modify the response of forest communities to disturbances. The results also conclude that the resilience of communities does not exclusively depend on their species richness.     

Copper-chelatin: isolation from various eucaryotic sources.

Bovine factor V was treated with highly purified neuraminidase to yield asialo factor V. Different preparations of factor V were found to exhibit heterogeneity with respect to the content of sialic acid, which ranged from 5% to 12%. The activity of asialo factor V in accelerating blood coagulation was found to be significantly greater than native factor V; thus, sialic acid is not essential for activity but may modulate its function. Asialo-factor V was 3.8 times more stable as calculated from the thermal decay constant at 37 °C. when compared to unmodified factor V.The increase in activity of factor V by thrombin was biphasic after removal of all sialic acid residues. The binding of asialo-factor V to phosphatidyl ethanolamine, as, characterized both by kinetics and by sucrose density gradient ultracentrifugation, resulted in an inactive complex. Double immunodiffusion shows that the sialic acid component of factor V is not necessary for its antigenicity.     

Cold-regulated proteins with potent antifreeze and cryoprotective activities in spruces (Picea spp.)

Antifreeze proteins (AFPs) were obtained from intercellular spaces of spruce needles Picea abies (L.) Karst. and Picea pungens Engelm. by vacuum infiltration with ascorbic acid, followed by centrifugation to recover the infiltrate. As shown by sodium dodecyl sulphate–polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS–PAGE), apoplastic proteins are accumulated in these spruce species as a group of 5–9 polypeptide bands. These proteins have a molecular mass of 7–80 kDa. The spruce AFPs have the ability to modify the growth of ice and thermal hysteresis, TH, caused by these AFPs was close to 2.0 °C at a concentration of 400 μg/ml. The antifreeze activity of proteins from these winter-hardy coniferous species showed a positive correlation with the concentration of proteins after cold acclimation of needle tissues. Apoplastic proteins from winter spruce needles exhibited antifreeze activity, whereas no such activity was observed in extracts from summer needles. When we examined the possible role of spruce AFPs in cryoprotection, we found that lactate dehydrogenase, LDH, activity was higher after freezing in the presence of AFPs compared with bovine serum albumin. Amino-terminal sequence comparisons indicated that a 27-kDa protein from both P. abies and P. pungens was similar to some pathogenesis-related proteins namely chitinases, also from conifer species. These results show that spruces produce AFPs that are secreted into the apoplast of needles. The accumulation of AFPs in extracellular spaces caused by seasonal cold acclimation during winter indicates that these proteins may play a role in the acquisition of freezing tolerance of needle cells in coniferous species.     

The influence of natural disturbances on developmental patterns in Acadian mixedwood forests from 1946 to 2008

We used dendrochronological analyses to identify periods of natural disturbance and resulting growth responses in 32 mixed species stands in the Acadian forest. Stands represented five different development patterns, based upon 1946 softwood (SW) content (70–80%, termed SW versus 30–60%, termed mixedwood (MW)) and change in SW content from 1946 to 2006: SW-stable, SW-declining, MW-fluctuating, MW-stable, and MW-declining. Standardized growth chronologies were developed from 1163 increment cores sampled from balsam fir (Abies balsamea), red spruce (Picea rubens), yellow birch (Betula alleghaniensis), and sugar maple (Acer saccharum). Growth chronologies clearly identified three spruce budworm (Choristoneura fumiferana) outbreaks from 1914 to 1921, 1954 to 1961, and 1975 to 1984, and birch dieback from 1938 to 1948. Stand developmental patterns were caused by species characteristics and multiple interacting disturbances, resulting in mortality, growth reductions, releases, and establishment of new cohorts. Balsam fir was present in all stands, but its tendency to establish and release from advanced regeneration following budworm-caused mortality resulted in cyclical proportions of fir in the canopy. Red spruce was less vulnerable to spruce budworm and longer lived, allowing them to persist and better withstand disturbance. Periodic growth index values less than 0.9 for fir and spruce were correlated with mortality of softwoods caused by defoliation, which resulted in release and growth index values >1.1 for sugar maple. Our results demonstrated substantial variation in mixedwood development patterns over a 60-year period within a small (45 km) area.     

Gel filtration and absorption spectroscopic investigations on humic substances from organic fertilizers

Summary Three organic fertilizers: a farmyard manure (FYM), humified poplar barks (PBF) and spruce barks (SBF) were investigated by means of chemical analysis and by the study of humic substances extracted by 0.1M sodium pyrophosphate (pH=10.0). The organic carbon content and the C/N ratio were higher in SBF, probably as a consequence of the short fermentation period (5 months). Yields of organic substances removed by three consecutive extractions with Na₄P₂O₇ solution were in the order: PBF>FYM>SBF. Nominal molecular weight distribution of total extracts was studied using Sephadex G type gels; TRIS buffer (pH=9.0) was the eluant, since the use of water produced complex gel-solute interactions. It was shown that SBF had a higher content of small size particles than the other two products which exhibited quite similar elution curves. Slopes of log A(absorbance)vs log plots and ratio of absorbances at 465 and 665 nm (E₄/E₆) of fractions containing particle of lower size were the steepest and the highest, respectively.     

Isolation and chemical characterization of a melanoma-associated proteoglycan antigen

Many melanoma-associated antigens have been identified by monoclonal antibodies. One of these monoclonal antibodies, O₁-94-45, binds only to melanomas, nevus cells, some astrocytomas, and fetal epitheloid cells. There are approximately 100,000 cell surface antigens per melanoma cell with an association constant of 3 × 10⁸m^?1. The antigen is efficiently extracted from the membrane only in the presence of detergent and is, therefore, bound by hydrophobic forces. However, it is also shed into the culture supernatant during normal cell growth. The two components of the O₁-95-45 antigen are a chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan (CSP, >500,000 Da) and a glycoprotein gp260 (260,000 Da, pI 6.9). CSP contains chondroitin sulfate and N-linked and O-linked oligosaccharides. Only N-linked saccharides were associated with gp260. The antigenic site is expressed on both components and is heat-sensitive. Since the CSP was converted to gp260 by chondroitinase, the protein cores of the two molecules are the same or similar. For more detailed study the O₁-95-45 antigen was purified by immunoaffinity chromatography. The amino acid composition of the purified antigen was relatively polar with an unusually high Leu content and low Lys content. Initial attempts to sequence the antigen were unsuccessful probably due to a blocked N-terminus. CSP and gp260 were partially separated by gel filtration chromatography, and both were found to carry the O₁-95-45 antigenic determinant. Three other monoclonal antibodies were found to bind the purified antigen at a site or sites different from the O₁-95-45 epitope and one other monoclonal antibody may bind at the same site. Two of these antibodies were used for a double determinant immunoassay.     

Communication of gender from human breath odors: Relationship to perceived intensity and pleasantness

During five consecutive daily test sessions, 10 men and women rated the relative intensity and pleasantness of breath odors from 14 males and 19 females on a no-oral-hygiene regimen. In addition, the likely gender of the donor of each odor was also estimated. The breath odors of males were rated, on the average, as more intense and less pleasant than the breath odors of females. Women consistently gave lower pleasantness ratings to the odors than did men. Both the male and female judges assigned the breath odors to the correct gender classes at a frequency unlikely due to chance, although the females were more accurate in this regard. An inverse relation between breath odor intensity and pleasantness was noted. Systematic changes in the rated intensity and pleasantness of the odors were present across the 5 days of the study period. These data suggest that differences exist between the breath odors of men and women, and that humans, like many other mammals, may be capable of assessing gender from oral odors. However, such assignments conceivably reflect the strategy of assigning stronger and less pleasant odors to the male category, and weaker and less unpleasant odors to the female category, regardless of the true sex of the odor donor.