Ecology and animal behavior Research Papers (original) (raw)

The social wasp Mischocyttarus cassununga is easily found in the southeast
and southern Brazil. However, their foraging behavior is little known. The aim
of this study was to examine the foraging behavior and its variation over the seasons.
The study was conducted in Juiz de Fora, Brazil, from July/2007 to
June/2008. A pre-emergent colony and a post-emergent colony were observed
monthly, from 7am to 5pm. The number of wasps that left and arrived to
the nest, as well as information about temperature, air humidity, intensity
of light and speed wind was recorded. In the rainy season, foraging activity
was observed for the whole observation time. This activity was increased in
the afternoon. Spearman's correlation showed that temperature was the only
variable that was positively correlated with departures and multiple linear
regression analysis showed that about 50% of departures were influenced
by temperature and wind speed. In the dry season, the wasps left the nest
later and the flow of individuals was only intense in the middle of the day.
The departures showed positive correlation with temperature and humidity
(Spearman's correlation). Multiple Linear Regression analysis showed that
about 70% of exits were influenced by wind speed. Therefore, individual
behavior can be influenced by environmental changes that promote activities
in the warmer periods throughout the day and seasons.

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- Ecology and animal behavior, Social Wasps

New information about the Rock Hyrax Procavia capensis jayakari in the North Western parts of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was recorded. The way of how this subspecies formed and where did it originate from are the main two questions to be answered in this work. Ecology, habitat, feeding habits, behavior and cranial features were the basic tools used to shed the spot light on this animal and to add recent information about it and its existence.

- by Walid Fathy
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- Animal Science, Ecology and animal behavior

El Cardenal amarillo (Gubernatrix cristata) es una especie “En Peligro”,
distribuída principalmente en el Espinal sudamericano. En la provincia de Buenos Aires se distribuye principalmente en los partidos de Bahía Blanca, Puan, Villarino y Patagones. El conocimiento sobre su distribución actual, el estado de sus poblaciones y el uso de hábitat es
insuficiente. El presente trabajo realiza una aproximación al conocimiento del estado actual de las poblaciones del Cardenal amarillo en el sur de Buenos Aires, aportando nuevos datos sobre su distribución, abundancia y sobre el uso del bosque. Llevamos a cabo 303 puntos de muestreo extensivos e independientes, de radio ilimitado, con la utilización de “playback”, sobre 13 transectas, totalizando 1.183 km entre 2015 y 2017, en 11 campañas de muestreo. Se estimó el porcentaje de cober tura de bosque en cada punto en un radio de 100
m. Se obtuvieron 19 registros con un total de 48 individuos: 24 machos, 17 hembras, y 7 individuos indeterminados. El 78,9 % de los registros y el 83,3 % de los individuos fueron observados en la zona Sur. La cobertura del bosque fue similar entre sitios con y sin registros
de la especie. Los escasos registros obtenidos en este estudio en las zonas Norte y Centro podrían deberse a la captura ilegal de ejemplares, siempre que la especie haya sido abundante en el pasado, pero no buscada; de lo contrario la especie podría haber sido siempre escasa
en estas zonas.

- by Germán Marateo
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- Ornithology, Conservation Biology, Animal Ecology, Ecology and animal behavior

Ants of the genus Solenopsis are common in urban environments due to their abilities to
explore resources and to establish nesting sites, which helps their proliferation and also
increases the occurrence of encounters with people and severe stinging. We aimed to increase
understanding of this species in urban areas, so this study attempted to answer these
questions: Are certain seasons more amenable to the founding of new colonies? Does colony
size vary among seasons? What sites are used by these colonies in an urban environment?
Observations were carried out every 2 weeks from May 2011 to Apr 2012 in Juiz de Fora,
Minas Gerais, southeastern Brazil. For each active colony the site and the dimensions of
the nest were registered. We showed that colonies of Solenopsis saevissima (Smith, 1855)
were present in urban areas during the entire yr, with the highest incidence in the wet
season, and nesting sites were associated mainly with vegetation. Because the dry season
(Apr–Aug) was the period that had the smallest number of active colonies, this period could
be considered the most favorable for area-wide control operations, but an individual mound
treatment approach in the dry season should be take into consideration the occurrence of
cryptic mounds.

- by Mariana Monteiro de Castro
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- Ants, Ecology and animal behavior

We studied variations in the size of breeding colonies and in breeding performance of White Storks Ciconia ciconia in 2006–2008 in north-east Algeria. Each colony site was characterized using 12 environmental variables describing the physical environment, land-cover categories, and human activities, and by three demographic parameters: the number of breeding pairs, the number of pairs with chicks, and the number of fledged chicks per pair. Generalized linear mixed models and the self-organizing map algorithm (SOM, neural network) were used to investigate effects of biotic, abiotic, and anthropogenic factors on demographic parameters and on their relationships. Numbers of breeding pairs and of pairs with chicks were affected by the same environmental factors, mainly anthropogenic, which differed from those affecting the number of fledged chicks per pair. Numbers of fledged chicks per pair was not affected by colony size or by the number of nests with chicks. The categorization of the environmental variables into natural and anthropogenic, in connection with demographic parameters, was relevant to detect factors explaining variation in colony size and breeding parameters. The SOM proved a relevant tool to help determine actual dynamics in White Stork colonies, and thus to support effective conservation decisions at a regional scale.

- by Haroun Chenchouni
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- Ornithology, Avian migration, Conservation Biology, Conservation Ecology

The objective of this work was to verify the occurrence of social wasp genera and the substrates used for nesting in urban gardens in an area in Southeastern Brazil. The study was carried out in the municipality of Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais State, from March to April of 2008. Active searching was conducted for colonies of social wasps along an area of nine urban gardens. For each colony that was found we identified the genus, type of substrate used for nesting and height of the colony in relation to the ground level. 135 colonies of social wasps were found belonging to four genera: Protopolybia (n=99; 73.33%), Polybia (n=25; 18.52%), Polistes (n=7; 5.19%) and Mischocyttarus (n=4; 2.96%). The abundance of swarm-founding wasp colonies was significantly higher (x 2 = 92.919; p< 0.0001) than that of independentfounding wasps. All the colonies were found in vegetation: Mauritia flexuosa (n=103; 76.3%), Dracaena fragans (n=29; 21.48%), Cocos nucifera (n=2; 1.48%) and Tibouchina granulosa (n=1; 0.74%). There was a tendency for a positive correlation between the number of colonies found and size of the green area (r = 0.6387; p= 0.0640), but there was no correlation between the number of colonies found and total area of the garden (r = 0.3698; p= 0.3273). The dominance index for the colonies of Protopolybia was superior (d= 0.73) in comparison to those indexes recorded for the other genera (0.18 for Polybia; 0.05 for Polistes and 0.03 for Mischocyttarus). Most of the swarmfounding wasp colonies were found below two meters in height (n=77) and all the colonies of independent foundation were above two meters (n=11).

- by Mariana Monteiro de Castro
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- Ecology and animal behavior, Social Wasps

Polistes versicolor (Olivier) (Hymenoptera: Vespidae) colonies are easily found in anthropic
environments; however there is little information available on biological, ecological and
behavioral interactions of this species under these environmental conditions. The objective of this
work was to characterize the foundation pattern, the productivity, and the success of colonies of
P. versicolor in anthropic environments. From August 2003 to December 2004, several colonies
were studied in the municipal district of Juiz de Fora, Southeastern Brazil. It was possible to
determine that before the beginning of nest construction the foundress accomplishes recognition
flights in the selected area, and later begins the construction of the peduncle and the first cell. As
soon as new cells are built, the hexagonal outlines appear and the peduncle is reinforced .
Foundation of nests on gypsum plaster was significantly larger (p < 0.0001; χ2 test) in relation to
the other types of substrate, revealing the synantropism of the species. On average, the P.
versicolor nest presents 244.2 ± 89.5 (100-493) cells and a medium production of 171.67 ±
109.94 (37-660) adults. Cells that produced six individuals were verified. Usually, new colonies
were founded by an association of females, responsible for the success of 51.5%. Although these
results enlarge knowledge on the foundation pattern of P. versicolor in anthropic environments,
other aspects of the foundation process require further investigation.

- by Mariana Monteiro de Castro
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- Ecology and animal behavior, Social Wasps

Like other social insects, the wasps can store liquid and solid foods inside
the cells of the nests. This study describes the occurrence of honey storage in
colonies of the independently-founding wasp Mischocyttarus cassununga. During
the month of August of 2007 (cold season), 80 colonies of M. cassununga
were inspected in Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais State, Brazil. 26.25% (n=21) of
the colonies searched showed honey inside the cells. Seven of these colonies
were in the pre-emergence phase and 14 in post-emergence. A chromatographic
test was used to identify the substance present in the nests, confirming that
it consists of a sugary substance. There was no pattern for the distribution of
the cells with honey in the nests, which were random. However, the storage
always happened in empty cells (44.44%) or cells with eggs (53.97%) or small
larvae (1.59%). The behavior of storing honey in colonies of M. cassununga
seems to be a strategy designed to increase the success of foraging activities
through the storage of an abundant food resource in a time of the year when
food is not abundantly available.

- by Mariana Monteiro de Castro
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- Ecology and animal behavior, Social Wasps

A common problem during the construction of dominance hierarchies is the occurrence of tied
ranks that make it difficult to find correlations between the dominance hierarchy and other
biological variables. Among the factors that affect the ability of indices to give unique ranks
are the noninteracting pairs of individuals and reversals. Based on these two factors, researchers
have compared the performance of dominance indices, among them, the Clutton-
Brock index (CBI), an index that measures wins and losses with quality values between pairs
of individuals and does not consider the number of wins and losses; the David’s score (DS),
that corrects for this drawback in one way by considering the proportion of the wins and
losses of each individual; and the frequency-based dominance index (FDI), which also consists
of a modification of the CBI by considering the frequencies of direct and indirect wins
and losses. Since there is no universal index for all interaction networks, comparing different
indices could be a helpful step before selecting one for use. Additionally, studies on Polistes
and Mischocyttarus have used different, non-standardized and subjective ways to access dominance
hierarchies. In this study, we first described the proportion of non-interacting pairs
and reversals in colonies of the social wasps Mischocyttarus cassununga, Mischocyttarus cerberus,
Polistes simillimus and Polistes versicolor. Then, the efficiencies of 3 dominance indices,
CBI, DS and FDI in given unique ranks (absence of tied ranks) were compared.

- by Mariana Monteiro de Castro
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- Ecology and animal behavior, Social Wasps
- by Murat çimen
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- Nursing, Animal Behavior, Animal Behaviour, Sheep Behaviour

The asparagus miner is an obligatory feeder on asparagus and a putative vector for pathogenic fungi implicated in the early decline of asparagus Þelds. To date, the distribution of the asparagus miner over space and time is poorly understood. Our study evaluated the spatial and temporal pattern of adult asparagus miners in commercial asparagus Þelds in Michigan in 2011 and 2012. We sampled adults and damage weekly during the growing season using yellow sticky traps outside, at the edge, and inside commercial Þelds. Yellow sticky traps at each trapping location were placed at the canopy and ground level to determine vertical distribution of adults. During the Þrst generation, adults were more evenly distributed throughout the Þeld. In the second generation, adults were more commonly found on the edge of the Þeld. Overall, there was a greater percent of mining damage near the edge of the Þeld. Additionally, three times as many asparagus miners were found in the canopy compared with ground-level traps. There were 12 times as many asparagus miner adults on edges bordered by another asparagus Þeld than on ones bordered by forest. Taken together, our results indicate that while asparagus miner management in the beginning of the growing season should focus on the entire Þeld, in the latter half of the season, growers could save money and resources by targeting miner adults at the edges of Þelds. Finally, conserving the remaining naturally forested landscape and planting borders of trees may help ameliorate pest pressure in asparagus Þelds.

- by William R. Morrison III
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- Entomology, Spatial Ecology, Ecology, Agricultural Entomology

Maintaining social relationships depends on the ability to recognize partners or group members against other individuals. This is especially important in animals with relatively stable social groups. The amphisbaenian Trogonophis wiegmanni is a semi blind fossorial reptile that spends its entire life underground where it interacts with mates and social partners. In this environment, visual cues are limited. Chemosensory cues may rather allow conspecific
social and partner recognition. We recorded the number of tongue-flick (TF) rates of T. wiegmanni amphisbaenians to scents of both sexes with different pairing social bonds (familiar vs. unfamiliar) presented on cotton swabs to test discrimination of social groups. As seen from a rise in the number of TFs, males discriminated unfamiliar females from unfamiliar males. This suggests that chemical cues may be used by males to locate new mates. In contrast, females detected scent of unfamiliar conspecifics, but did not show sex discrimination.
Both males and females discriminated the scent of an individual with which they had formed a pair bond from an unfamiliar individual of the same sex as the partner. Also, males, but not females, were capable of self-recognition, suggesting that scent marks of males in home ranges may provide individual information in intrasexual relationships. We conclude that conspecific discrimination based on chemical cues may allow the maintenance of social relationships and relatively stable pairs in fossorial reptiles inhabiting visually restricted environments.

Nesting substrata, colony success and productivity of the wasp Mischocyttarus cassununga. Colonies of the wasp
Mischocyttarus cassununga (von Ihering, 1903) are easily found in urban areas. However, in spite of the massive presence of this
species in cities, little is known about its nesting habits, colony success and productivity. The present study aimed at answering
the following questions: What are the substrates used for nesting by M. cassununga? What is the main foundation strategy
adopted by M. cassununga in urban areas: a solitary female or associative foundation? Is there a relationship between foundation
strategies and colony success? Is the total number of cells per nest related to the number of adults produced? The study was
conducted in Juiz de Fora, southeastern Brazil, from December 2006 to November 2007. Nesting in man-made substrata seems to
be a common strategy in M. cassununga (90.9%), with preference for nest building with a horizontal comb facing north. The
colonies were established mainly by groups of foundresses (67.6%), with a success of 84%. The number of brood cells produced
per nest was 71.74 ± 45.25 (18–203), and it was positively correlated with the number of adults produced. Hence, we can say that
the nests founded by M. cassununga are located mainly in man-made substrata and mostly founded by a group of females. The
cell reuse behavior increases the number of adults produced, as it optimizes foraging. These characteristics together with its
behavior and nesting habits promote the success of this species in thriving in urban environments.

- by Mariana Monteiro de Castro
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- Ecology and animal behavior, Social Wasps