The behaviour of Dutch fresh water ecologists in response to environmental concern

Due to the rise of environmental concern ecologists have been asked for advice more frequently since the late 1960s. This article discusses how the changing relationship between ecologists and society has affected the behaviour of one particular group of ecologists, namely Dutch fresh water ecologists, by focussing on their behaviour towards job market control and public interest activities. The analysis has been based on interviews with 65 Dutch fresh water ecologists together with an analysis of their publications.In contrast with American ecologists, Dutch fresh water ecologists have made little effort to control their job market by formal arrangements such as formulating a code of ethics and certification procedures. Secondly, Dutch fresh water ecologists generally conceive of their own role in contributing to the solution of environmental problems in relation to that of the environmentalists by doing good research and reliable advisory work. Although a significant number of researchers also address lay publics by writing popular articles and/or holding lectures, only a minority actively participates in environmental politics.     

Advanced sub social behaviour in the scorpionHeterometrus fulvipes Brunner (Arachnida)

Scorpions arc generally non-social, solitary animals that interact with conspecifics at birth, courtship or predation only. The present study reports the presence of advanced sub social behaviour inHeterometrus fulvipes Brunner and evaluates the importance of its burrowing as a cause for such social behaviour.Heterometrus fulvipes constructed deep angular burrows at the base of plants. Burrows provided (i) protection against predation, (ii) increased availability of food and (iii) ideal microclimate for year round activity of the scorpions. No cannibalism was observed in laboratory maintained colonies. The risk of predation and the difficult by immatures to dig tunnels during dry soil conditions may have forced the mother and offspring to live together in the burrow for longer durations. The cohabitation of relative offsprings transforms the burrow into a nest. The members of a colony exhibits division of labour for nest expansion and in foraging. The mother communicates with the immatures through “Buzz” sound and may provide premasticated food. There is food sharing also among colony members. All these behaviours indicate the presence of advanced sub social behaviour inHeterometrus fulvipes.     

Biology of the stingless beePlebeia remota (Holmberg): observations and evolutionary implications

Summary The genusPlebeia has a special significance for the study of social evolution of stingless bees: morphologically primitive, its species display a wealth of behavioural evolution, especially with respect to the oviposition process. We comparePlebeia remota with the few other members of the genus studied so far.Related to its subtropical geographical range, brood production is seasonal (there is no brood in the colony in colder months), and adult workers occur as summer and winter bees. The nest is in tree cavities, and the involucrum is absent or restricted to the winter period. Brood cells are arranged in horizontal combs, and new cells are built completely synchronously. Each series consists of up to 50 cells, their number being mainly dependent on colony size. Construction speed is remarkably constant, allowing 4–6 batches per 24 hours. Cell building and provisioning are activities of a small group of specialized workers.The oviposition cycle follows the classical subdivisions for stingless bees. During the patrolling phase a worker may offer a trophic egg in a most remarkable way: while retreating backward from the queen she bends the abdomen under thorax and head, and lays an egg on the comb. This egg is eaten by the queen or a worker.The provisioning, oviposition and operculation of all cells occur simultaneously, each cell is provisioned by 4–9 workers. Localization of a cell by the queen may be facilitated by its characteristic guard, which defends the cell against the approaching queen. The degree of synchronization within a batch is very high: the duration per cell lasts 420–950 sec, the batch of up till 50 cells needs only 557–1160 sec. Operculation is done by a worker that was not involved in the previous steps.Males are generally produced by the queen. Several male producing cycles per year occur. In orphan colonies laying workers give rise to males, and in queenright colonies workers may occasionally reproduce as well.Division of labour follows the general pattern for stingless bees; however, cell building and provisioning are activities of a specialized group of workers.     

The flow of jelly within a honeybee colony

Summary The flow of jelly from 100 nurse bees to the members of two normal-sized colonies was measured during one night. To follow the flow, nurses were injected with ¹⁴C-phenylalanine. They incorporated this label into the protein of their hypopharyngeal (brood food) glands and their own body protein. When they were allowed trophallactic contacts during the investigation period a loss of label and a shift away from the abdomen was observed, indicating protein synthesis in the hypopharyngeal glands from previously stored protein. Very young larvae were fed less frequently than older ones. Younger workers received larger amounts of jelly than older ones, but considerable amounts were given to foragers. Drones behaved similarly. Between one-third and one-half of the distributed jelly was given to imagines; 10% and 16% of all workers received radioactive jelly from 100 nurses in the two colonies during one night. Thus, jelly is a very important food for adult honey bees. There was a remarkable exchange of label within the class of nurses themselves that is interpreted as communication within the social system.Abbreviation dpm decays per minute     

Fitness costs of worker specialization for ant societies

Division of labour is of fundamental importance for the success of societies, yet little is known about how individual specialization affects the fitness of the group as a whole. While specialized workers may be more efficient in the tasks they perform than generalists, they may also lack the flexibility to respond to rapid shifts in task needs. Such rigidity could impose fitness costs when societies face dynamic and unpredictable events, such as an attack by socially parasitic slavemakers. Here, we experimentally assess the colony-level fitness consequences of behavioural specialization in Temnothorax longispinosus ants that are attacked by the slavemaker ant T. americanus. We manipulated the social organization of 102 T. longispinosus colonies, based on the behavioural responses of all 3842 workers. We find that strict specialization is disadvantageous for a colony''s annual reproduction and growth during slave raids. These fitness costs may favour generalist strategies in dynamic environments, as we also demonstrate that societies exposed to slavemakers in the field show a lower degree of specialization than those originating from slavemaker-free populations. Our findings provide an explanation for the ubiquity of generalists and highlight their importance for the flexibility and functional robustness of entire societies.     

湖南蓝山县端午药市的瑶药调查

中国南方一些少数民族地区民间“端午药市”流传至今,体现了民族医药的独具特色及其深远影响。为了解瑶族端午药市交易现状和发掘民族医药传统知识,采用民族植物学等方法对湖南省蓝山县端午药市进行调查,完成包括基原、地方名、药用部位、用途和用法、出现频度等内容的药用植物编目。结果表明:蓝山县端午药市药用植物种类丰富,共收集鉴定103科 222属262种,药用植物种类广泛分布于各科和各属中,其中种类较多的科有五加科(11种)、茜草科(11种)、菊科(11种)、百合科(10种)、唇形科(9种)、蝶形花科(8种)、芸香科(7种)。药市药浴植物畅销且种类多样,达94种,占总数的35.9%,体现瑶族在治疗疾病上以预防保健为主的理念。经统计药市上均未被国家药典和地方标准收录的药用植物有131种,占总数的50.2%,成为发掘新药源、新用途的潜在资源。对端午药市售药者年龄的调查发现,售药者的年龄主要集中在50～59岁间,占总人数的67%,40岁以下的仅占总人数的3%,可见民族药用传统知识的传承存在传承人老龄化、潜在传承人数量锐减的现象。此外,还对药市交易药用植物的种类组成和民族药用特色进行分析,探讨了端午药市对药用传统知识保护与传承的影响,并对蓝山端午药市的可持续发展提出了建议。     

“What Dr Venter did on his holidays”: exploration,hacking, entrepreneurship in the narratives of the Sorcerer II expedition

The Sorcerer II is the highly mediatized and spectacular Venter Institute's ship that circumnavigated the planet between 2003 and 2006 to collect and classify marine microbial genomes. We analyze Craig Venter's public communication activities and strategies especially focusing on the images of science and scientist he proposes: that of an eighteenth-century “savant” and nineteenth-century naturalist devoted to the exploration of new worlds, and that of the hacker, hero of informational capitalism. Emphasizing his independence from both academy and industry, but building strong alliances with both spheres and with the media, Craig Venter sails the oceans of the contemporary biotechnologies' market, interpreting a specific typology of the relationship between science and society, enterprises, universities.     

雄性黄山短尾猴(Macaca thibetana)攻击支持雌性以换取交配回报

生物市场理论认为动物个体之间通过某种协定交换有价值的商品,使双方均受益。该研究采用目标动物法、行为取样法和连续记录法,对浮溪黄山野生猴谷鱼鳞坑短尾猴(Macaca thibetana)A1群(YA1群)和A2群(YA2群)成年个体在非繁殖季节(2011年8月—12月)和繁殖季节(2012年2月—5月)的雄性攻击支持雌性行为和交配行为进行研究,探讨雄性攻击支持雌性与交配之间的关系。两猴群在繁殖季节和非繁殖季节雄性攻击支持雌性与交配行为均呈显著正相关;YA2群繁殖季节与非繁殖季节攻击支持后交配频次均显著高于随机交配;YA1群在繁殖季节攻击支持后交配频次与随机交配频次差异不显著,但在非繁殖季节攻击支持后交配频次显著高于随机交配,说明短尾猴成年雄性攻击支持雌性可以换取与该雌性个体的交配回报。本研究验证了生物市场理论中社会行为存在交换,首次证明了雄性攻击支持可以换取雌性的交配回报,为进一步研究雄性性竞争与雌性选择提供了实例。     

The uses of racism: whitewashing new Europeans in the UK

In many respects, recent East European migrants in the UK look like past migrants to the UK: they left poorer parts of the world in search of work and the better life in the UK. But in other respects, they look different: they are white. Their putative whiteness, however, has not exempted them from the effects of racism. But while there is growing evidence of how they have been targets of racism, less attention has been focused on how they are also perpetrators of racism. The purpose of this paper is to compare the ways Hungarians and Romanians wield ‘race’ to assert and defend the relatively privileged position their putative whiteness affords them in the UK's segmented labour market. I argue that these migrants mark, evaluate and rank difference in racialized ways to secure both social-psychological and material benefits.