A study on giant panda recognition based on images of a large proportion of captive pandas

1. As a highly endangered species, the giant panda (panda) has attracted significant attention in the past decades. Considerable efforts have been put on panda conservation and reproduction, offering the promising outcome of maintaining the population size of pandas. To evaluate the effectiveness of conservation and management strategies, recognizing individual pandas is critical. However, it remains a challenging task because the existing methods, such as traditional tracking method, discrimination method based on footprint identification, and molecular biology method, are invasive, inaccurate, expensive, or challenging to perform. The advances of imaging technologies have led to the wide applications of digital images and videos in panda conservation and management, which makes it possible for individual panda recognition in a noninvasive manner by using image‐based panda face recognition method.
2. In recent years, deep learning has achieved great success in the field of computer vision and pattern recognition. For panda face recognition, a fully automatic deep learning algorithm which consists of a sequence of deep neural networks (DNNs) used for panda face detection, segmentation, alignment, and identity prediction is developed in this study. To develop and evaluate the algorithm, the largest panda image dataset containing 6,441 images from 218 different pandas, which is 39.78% of captive pandas in the world, is established.
3. The algorithm achieved 96.27% accuracy in panda recognition and 100% accuracy in detection.
4. This study shows that panda faces can be used for panda recognition. It enables the use of the cameras installed in their habitat for monitoring their population and behavior. This noninvasive approach is much more cost‐effective than the approaches used in the previous panda surveys.

     

Pollen-based biome reconstruction for southern Europe and Africa 18,000 yr bp

Pollen data from 18,000 ¹⁴C yr bp were compiled in order to reconstruct biome distributions at the last glacial maximum in southern Europe and Africa. Biome reconstructions were made using the objective biomization method applied to pollen counts using a complete list of dryland taxa wherever possible. Consistent and major differences from present‐day biomes are shown. Forest and xerophytic woods/scrub were replaced by steppe, both in the Mediterranean region and in southern Africa, except in south‐western Cape Province where fynbos (xerophytic scrub) persisted. Sites in the tropical highlands, characterized today by evergreen forest, were dominated by steppe and/or xerophytic vegetation (cf. today’s Ericaceous belt and Afroalpine grassland) at the last glacial maximum. Available data from the tropical lowlands are sparse but suggest that the modern tropical rain forest was largely replaced by tropical seasonal forest while the modern seasonal or dry forests were encroached on by savanna or steppe. Montane forest elements descended to lower elevations than today.     

Putative candidate genes for blood pressure control in the SHR.BN-RNO8 congenic substrains

The SHR-Lx congenic strain carrying a differential segment of chromosome 8 of BN and PD origin was recently shown to exhibit a significant decrease in blood pressure as compared to the SHR strain. There were two positional candidate genes for blood pressure control mapped to the differential segment: the rat kidney epithelial potassium channel gene (Kcnj1) and brain dopamine receptor 2 gene (Drd2). Bot these genes were separated into SHR.BN-RNO8 congenic substrains. In this communication, we are presenting the assignment of two further putative candidate genes, which might be involved in blood pressure control to the BN/PD differential segment of the SHR-Lx congenic strain. These are: the gene coding for smooth muscle cell specific protein 22 (Sm22) defined by the D8Mcw1 marker and neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptor gene cluster, defined by the D8Bord1 marker. Moreover, the glutamate receptor gene Grik4 which also maps to the differential segment of the SHR-Lx should be taken into account. The genetic separation of all these putative candidate genes of blood pressure control is being performed by recombinations and subsequent selection using (SHR×SHR-Lx) intercross population.     

The enzyme defect in bovine protoporphyria. Studies with purified ferrochelatase

Ferrochelatase was purified from the livers of normal and protoporphyria cattle by chromatography on Blue Sepharose CL-6B in order to investigate the enzyme defect in this disorder. The increase in specific activity (up to 2900-fold) indicated that the normal and protoporphyria enzymes were purified to a similar degree. The mutant enzyme had catalytic activity which was 10 to 15% of normal ferrochelatase, although the Michaelis constants for protoporphyrin and iron were similar. The molecular mass of the normal and protoporphyria enzyme protein was 40 kDa as evaluated by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). In the presence of 15 mM sodium cholate, gel filtration demonstrated a similar size. However, at a lower concentration of sodium cholate (4 mM) the molecular mass was about 240 kDa, suggesting that the purified enzymes aggregate under this condition. Polyvalent antibodies were raised in rabbits using as antigens purified normal native enzyme and normal 40-kDa protein which had been further purified by preparative SDS-PAGE. In Western blots these antibodies complexed with both the normal and mutant 40-kDa proteins. The amount of 40-kDa protein in normal and protoporphyria mitochondrial fractions was also similar as evaluated by Western blots. These studies indicate that the ferrochelatase defect in bovine protoporphyria probably results from a point gene mutation that causes a minor change in enzyme structure.     

Maturation of locust corpora allata during the reproductive cycle: Effect of reserpine on allatotropic activity,juvenile hormone-III biosynthesis,and oocyte development

Reserpine, at doses of 20–175 μg per g body weight, severely retards oogenesis in newly emerged adult female migratory locusts (Locusta migratoria migratorioides) but does not increase mortality during the first 9 days and only slightly delays somatic growth. Total protein, and hemolymph vitellogenin content particularly, are significantly reduced in reserpine-treated locusts. The synthesis of juvenile hormone III (JH-III) following adult emergence, essential for induction of vitellogenesis and subsequent oogenesis, is dependent on the maturation and activation of the corpora allata (CA). CA of 7- to 8-day-old female locusts, treated with reserpine at day 1 after adult emergence, are only marginally active in vitro and are only slightly stimulated by an allatotropic factor. The basal activity and response of CA from the reserpine-treated locusts resembles that of newly emerged locusts, suggesting that reserpine specifically retards the initial maturation of the locust CA. Recovery of basal CA activity is evident on days 12–13 in reserpine-treated locusts, but responsiveness to the allatotropic factor is not recovered. Starvation of newly emerged females for 3 days and subsequent feeding did not effect ooctye development or CA activity. Cerebral content of the allatotropic factor, assayed on days 7–8, is not reduced by the reserpine treatment.     

Partial purification and characterization of locust allatotropin I

Methanol extracts of locust brains, corpora cardiaca (CC), and suboesophageal ganglia (SOG) were separated by gradient and/or isocratic reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and allatotropic activity monitored in the eluted fractions. A major peak of activity, separated by isocratic separation with 12% 2-propanol, designated allatotropin I, exhibited identical retention times in the three tissue extracts. Doseresponse curves of allatotropin I indicate similar content in brain and CC-equivalents, whereas optic lobes, similarly separated by isocratic HPLC, contain only one-tenth of this amount of allatotropin. Allatotropin I is resistant to boiling and is susceptible to tryptic and chymotryptic digestion. Methanol extracts of thoracic muscle, Malpighian tubules, fat body or ovaries, similarly prepared and boiled, did not exhibit allatotropic activity at high doses of tissue equivalents.