Hasil untuk "Natural history (General)"

Zhong-Guang Chen, Yu-Ting Dai, Hui Chen et al.

Two new genera, Shupaludina Z.-G. Chen, Y.-T. Dai, H. Chen & X.-P. Wu, gen. nov., and Bapaludina Z.-G. Chen & Y.-S. Guo, gen. nov., and two new species, Shupaludina luzhouensis Z.-G. Chen & Y.-S. Guo, gen. et sp. nov., and Bapaludina dazhouensis Z.-G. Chen & Y.-S. Guo, gen. et sp. nov., of river snails are described from the upper Changjiang River Basin in China based on comparative morphology and molecular phylogeny. The two new genera have similar shell morphology and can be distinguished from other genera of the subfamily by common features such as a small- to medium-sized shell, a blunt apex, inflated whorls, the inner lip of the aperture folded and tightly overlapping the columellar margin, completely covering the umbilicus and forming with growth a crescent-shaped fortification (even in juvenile specimens), and an operculum much smaller than the aperture. They can be distinguished from each other by the presence or absence of keels on the teleoconch, differences in the size of the crescent-shaped fortification, differences in the size of the operculum, and differences in the radula. The discovery increases the known diversity of river snails in the upper Changjiang River.

Xiaoteng Xiao, Xiaoteng Xiao, Yufeng Zhang et al.

Seawater salt is constantly supplied from the marine environment to coastal underground brine deposits, meaning that brine has the potential for continuous extraction. There is currently a lack of information about the processes that drive the fluxes of seawater salt to underground brine deposits in tidal-driven brine mining areas. We chose the Yangkou salt field on the southern coast of Laizhou Bay, a brine mining area, as our study site. We monitored the spatial and temporal distribution of the underground brine reserve and the changes in water level and salinity in the mining area and adjacent tidal flats using electrical resistivity tomography and hydrogeological measurements. We monitored cross-sections along two survey lines and observed that the underground brine reserve receives a stable supply of seawater salt, and calculated that the rate of influx into the brine body in the mining area near the boundary of the precipitation funnel was 0.226−0.232 t/h. We calculated that a total salt flux of approximately 5.50 t enters the underground brine body every day through a 150 m long shoreline and a 1322.3 m2 window, which is sufficient to sustain the daily extraction of one brine well. During tidal cycles, there are two peaks in the salinity of the water supplied to the underground brine reserve, which means that the brine supply is from at least two high-salinity salt sources in different tidal stages. The first salinity peak occurs during the initial stage of the rising tide after seawater inundates the tidal flat. At this time, seawater, which is a solution and carries a large amount of evaporated salt, is transported into the brine layer through highly permeable areas or biological channels and replenishes the brine in the mining area. The second salinity peak occurs during the early stage of the falling tide. Influenced by hysteresis-driven tidal pumping, high-salinity brine from the lower intertidal zone is rapidly transported into the mining area, thereby increasing the salinity of the underground brine.

Pascal Marquet, Max Planck

This is an English (annotated) translation of the German paper by Max Planck (1943) about "The history of the discovery of the physical quantum of action"

Ludmila S. Zinevich, Darya N. Rozhkova, Mikhail I. Iljin et al.

DNA analysis is a “gold standard” for individual identification and parentage studies as for humans, so for animals (Saks et al., 1991). First forensic testing of the rare animal species DNA occurred in 1991 in Great Britain, when the case of illegal capture of the Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus) chicks was proved by parentage testing using DNA fingerprints of birds in question and other peregrines in captivity (Shorrock, 1998). In Russia, illegal capture for foreign sales is the main threat for Saker (Falco cherrug) and Gyrfalcon (Falco rusticolus) populations (Kovács et al., 2014, Lobkov et al., 2020).

Jia Li, Diqiang Li, Diqiang Li et al.

Similar species may co-occur in sympatry because of the partitioning of habitat use and resources at different spatial and temporal scales. Understanding coexistence patterns of species may contribute to further uncovering the underlying coexistence mechanisms, and ultimately benefit the conservation of threatened species. In this study, camera trapping was used to investigate spatial and temporal activity patterns of sympatric giant pandas (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) and Asiatic black bears (Ursus thibetanus) in Changqing National Nature Reserve in Qinling Mountains, China. Our study obtained 281 independent detections of giant pandas and 185 of Asiatic black bears during 93,606 camera-trap days from April 2014 to October 2017. We performed occupancy modeling and temporal overlap analyses to examine the spatial-temporal relationships between pandas and bears, and results showed that: (1) giant pandas had higher detection probabilities than Asiatic black bears, while having lower occupancy probabilities; (2) Elevation positively predicted giant panda and negatively predicted Asiatic black bear occupancy, understory vegetation type negatively predicted giant panda occupancy, and distance to nearest settlement positively predicted Asiatic black bear occupancy; (3) giant pandas were more active in spring and winter, while Asiatic black bears were more active in summer, and the two species had low spatial overlap with one another throughout the year; (4) both giant pandas and Asiatic black bears showed mainly diurnal activity patterns, and had high temporal overlap with one another in spring and moderate temporal overlap with one another in autumn. Our results provide detailed information of the spatial and temporal ecology of sympatric giant pandas and Asiatic black bears in the Qinling Mountains of China, which could act as a guide to construct conservation priorities as well as design efficient management programs.

Meghan M. Beale, Kyle H. Knopff, Christina C. Small et al.

Abstract Successful cumulative effects management is fundamental for conservation policy and practice. We investigated the application of a carrying capacity (CC) model as a cumulative effects management tool for bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis canadensis) in British Columbia, Canada, where CC is defined as the natural limit of a sustainable population that is set by the availability of resources in the environment. We estimated winter CC using forage availability across winter ranges, weighted by relative selection by sheep and a safe use factor, and divided by overwinter forage requirements to determine how many sheep the landscape can support. We explored application of our model to decision‐making about new industrial projects or conservation activities in a cumulative effects context. Cumulative effects include both positive and negative contributions to animal populations and we simulated the potential positive outcomes of burning to increase bighorn sheep carrying capacity in our study area. Our results show that carefully planned conservation actions could generate a 5% increase in CC (i.e., from 493 to 519 sheep). Robust tools and scientific techniques that are capable of quantifying multiple impacts and conservation actions and that consider spatial processes over long temporal scales, such as the CC model presented, should be applied to help inform decisions about how to better manage cumulative habitat change and achieve conservation objectives.

Shanshan Yang, Shanshan Yang, Chenting Gu et al.

Helen Au-Yang, Jacques H. H. Perk

We present our personal histories with Michael Fisher. We describe how each one of us first came to Cornell University. We also discuss our many subsequent interactions and successful collaborations with him on various physics projects.

Joern Ploennigs, Markus Berger

Recent generative AI platforms are able to create texts or impressive images from simple text prompts. This makes them powerful tools for summarizing knowledge about architectural history or deriving new creative work in early design tasks like ideation, sketching and modelling. But, how good is the understanding of the generative AI models of the history of architecture? Has it learned to properly distinguish styles, or is it hallucinating information? In this chapter, we investigate this question for generative AI platforms for text and image generation for different architectural styles, to understand the capabilities and boundaries of knowledge of those tools. We also analyze how they are already being used by analyzing a data set of 101 million Midjourney queries to see if and how practitioners are already querying for specific architectural concepts.

Stefanie Kaiser, Stefanie Kaiser, Stefanie Kaiser et al.

Fernando Ascensão, Arnaud L.J. Desbiez

Human activity is depleting biodiversity, and road networks are directly contributing to this trend due to roadkill. Nevertheless, few studies empirically estimated the impact of roadkill on wildlife populations. We integrated information on roadkill rates, population abundance, and animal movement to estimate the survival rates and the proportion of the population likely to be extirpated due to roadkill, using giant anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla) as model species. We then assessed the consequent implications of roadkill on population persistence using population viability analysis (PVA). The yearly survival rate of resident anteaters inhabiting road vicinity areas (0.78; CI: 0.62−0.97) was considerably lower than for those living far from roads (0.95; CI:0.86–1.00). The real number of anteaters being road-killed is considerably higher than the one recorded in previous studies (by a factor of 2.4), with ca. 20% of the population inhabiting road vicinity areas being road-killed every year. According to PVA results, roadkill can greatly affect the persistence of the giant anteater populations by reducing the growth rate down to null or negative values. This study confirms that roads have significant impacts on local population persistence. Such impacts are likely to be common to other large mammals, calling for effective mitigation to reduce roadkill rates.

Clive R. McMahon, Fabien Roquet, Sophie Baudel et al.

Marine animals equipped with biological and physical electronic sensors have produced long-term data streams on key marine environmental variables, hydrography, animal behavior and ecology. These data are an essential component of the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS). The Animal Borne Ocean Sensors (AniBOS) network aims to coordinate the long-term collection and delivery of marine data streams, providing a complementary capability to other GOOS networks that monitor Essential Ocean Variables (EOVs), essential climate variables (ECVs) and essential biodiversity variables (EBVs). AniBOS augments observations of temperature and salinity within the upper ocean, in areas that are under-sampled, providing information that is urgently needed for an improved understanding of climate and ocean variability and for forecasting. Additionally, measurements of chlorophyll fluorescence and dissolved oxygen concentrations are emerging. The observations AniBOS provides are used widely across the research, modeling and operational oceanographic communities. High latitude, shallow coastal shelves and tropical seas have historically been sampled poorly with traditional observing platforms for many reasons including sea ice presence, limited satellite coverage and logistical costs. Animal-borne sensors are helping to fill that gap by collecting and transmitting in near real time an average of 500 temperature-salinity-depth profiles per animal annually and, when instruments are recovered (∼30% of instruments deployed annually, n = 103 ± 34), up to 1,000 profiles per month in these regions. Increased observations from under-sampled regions greatly improve the accuracy and confidence in estimates of ocean state and improve studies of climate variability by delivering data that refine climate prediction estimates at regional and global scales. The GOOS Observations Coordination Group (OCG) reviews, advises on and coordinates activities across the global ocean observing networks to strengthen the effective implementation of the system. AniBOS was formally recognized in 2020 as a GOOS network. This improves our ability to observe the ocean’s structure and animals that live in them more comprehensively, concomitantly improving our understanding of global ocean and climate processes for societal benefit consistent with the UN Sustainability Goals 13 and 14: Climate and Life below Water. Working within the GOOS OCG framework ensures that AniBOS is an essential component of an integrated Global Ocean Observing System.

Igor Evstafiev

The paper presents the first detailed summary of the current state of mice of the genus Mus in the Crimea, namely of the house mouse (Mus musculus Linnaeus, 1758) and steppe mouse (Mus spicilegus Petenyi, 1882). Morphological structures of the house mouse and steppe mouse are characterized and external and craniometrical features important for species diagnostics are presented. Most of the morphological characters tend to vary within the entire geographic range of both species. Body length of house mice is significantly greater compared to that of steppe mice. Tail length in house mice is greater than in steppe mice, but the tail index is greater in the latter. Therefore, house mice look more ‘short-tailed’, and this feature can be used as an additional diagnostic character. In steppe mice, the tail becomes thinner gradually from base to tip and thus it is awl-shaped. The tail of fit house mice, especially of autumn-winter generations, often has a thickened base, which increases the visual effect of a short tail. Among internal characters, the most significant are the differences between testicles size of mature males. For species diagnostics of mice of the genus Mus, the size and shape of the following cranial structures can be used: location of the root and frontal wall of the crown of the first upper molar (M1) in relation to the diastema; zygomatic process of the maxilla and zygomatic arch; palatine foramens foramina palatinum, and others. These are reliable characters for morphological identification of M. musculus and M. spicilegus in the territory of the Crimea, in the zone of their sympatry. Reliable diagnostic characters are the dimensions of palatine foramens. In general, the entire complex of characters analysed in this study should be used for correct morphological diagnostics of these species. Features of distribution and population dynamics of the house mouse and steppe mouse in the Crimea are studied. It has been revealed that both the house mouse and the steppe mouse are distributed mainly in the lowland part of the Crimea and the forest-steppe belt of the foothills. Data on the ecology of species are presented, including specifics of reproduction and habitat preferences. The place and role of house mice in small-mammal assemblages of various landscape and ecological zones are estimated.

Bingying Xu, Yuechong Liu, Kai Chen et al.

Single-cell proteins are attracting growing attention as viable alternatives for fishmeal (FM) in aquatic feed. Methanotroph (Methylococcus capsulatus, Bath) bacteria meal FeedKind® (FK) is a type of single cell protein with high protein content (75.14%) and desirable amino acids profile, produced by Methylococcus capsulatus (Bath) living on methane consumption. The present study evaluated the potential of replacing FM with FK in the diet of black sea bream (Acanthopagrus schlegelii). Five iso-energetic and iso-nitrogenous diets were designed with FK replacing 0, 4.13, 8.27, 16.53, and 24.80% FM protein in the basal diet (40% FM content), respectively. All the diets were fed to three replicates of fish (initial weight 6.56 ± 0.02 g) for 70 days. After the feeding trial, replacing dietary 8.27% FM protein with FK significantly improved the weight gain and specific growth rate of fish (P < 0.05), while other groups showed no significant difference in the growth performance (P > 0.05). The fish fed diets with 8.27 and 16.53% replacement levels exhibited significantly increased feeding rates. The 8.27% FK diet significantly increased the whole-body and muscle crude protein contents, apparent digestibility of crude lipid, foregut, and midgut amylase activities. The microvillus density in the midgut of fish fed the 24.80% FK diet significantly increased. The diet with 8.27% FK increased the serum triglyceride content of the fish, while the 24.80% FK diet reduced the serum triglyceride, total cholesterol, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol contents of the fish. In conclusion, the results indicated that replacing dietary FM protein with up to 24.80% FK had no adverse effects on the growth of black sea bream, whilst replacing 8.27% FM protein with FK enhanced its growth performance and feed utilization.

Sigrun Wohlfart, Ralph Meiller, Johanna Hammersen et al.

Abstract Background X-linked hypohidrotic ectodermal dysplasia (XLHED) is caused by pathogenic variants of the gene EDA disrupting the prenatal development of ectodermal derivatives. Cardinal symptoms are hypotrichosis, lack of teeth, and hypo- or anhidrosis, but the disease may also evoke other clinical problems. This study aimed at investigating the clinical course of XLHED in early childhood as the basis for an evaluation of the efficacy of potential treatments. Methods 25 children (19 boys and 6 girls between 11 and 35 months of age) with genetically confirmed XLHED were enrolled in a long-term natural history study. Clinical data were collected both retrospectively using parent questionnaires and medical records (pregnancy, birth, infancy) and prospectively until the age of 60 months. General development, dentition, sweating ability, ocular, respiratory, and skin involvement were assessed by standardized clinical examination and yearly quantitative surveys. Results All male subjects suffered from persistent anhidrosis and heat intolerance, although a few sweat ducts were detected in some patients. Sweating ability of girls with XLHED ranged from strongly reduced to almost normal. In the male subjects, 1–12 deciduous teeth erupted and 0–8 tooth germs of the permanent dentition became detectable. Tooth numbers were higher but variable in the female group. Most affected boys had no more than three if any Meibomian glands per eyelid, most girls had fewer than 10. Many male subjects developed additional, sometimes severe health issues, such as obstructive airway conditions, chronic eczema, or dry eye disease. Adverse events included various XLHED-related infections, unexplained fever, allergic reactions, and retardation of psychomotor development. Conclusions This first comprehensive study of the course of XLHED confirmed the early involvement of multiple organs, pointing to the need of early therapeutic intervention.

Hisashi Hayakawa, Yusuke Ebihara

This section shows an overview of a recent development of the studies on great space weather events in history. Its discussion starts from the Carrington event and compare its intensity with the extreme storms within the coverage of the regular magnetic measurements. Extending its analyses back beyond their onset, this section shows several case studies of extreme storms with sunspot records in the telescopic observations and candidate auroral records in historical records. Before the onset of telescopic observations, this section shows the chronological coverages of the records of unaided-eye sunspot and candidate aurorae and several case studies on their basis.

Frontiers Editorial Office

Ignacio J. General

MaxCal is a variational principle that can be used to infer distributions of paths in the phase space of dynamical systems. It has been successfully applied to different areas of classical physics, in particular statistical mechanics in and out of equilibrium. In this work, guided by the analogy of the formalism of MaxCal with that of the path integral formulation of quantum mechanics, we explore the extension of its applications to the realm of quantum physics, and show how the Lagrangians of both relativistic and non-relativistic quantum fields can be built from MaxCal, with a suitable set of constraints. Related, the details of the constraints allow us to find a new interpretation of the concept of inertia.

Alcides Mercerat

Paleontólogos eminentes, entre los cuales mencionaremos á Owen y Burmeister, han dado sabias descripciones de Mamíferos, que deben ser referidos á la familia de los Protoxodontidae. El señor Ameghino, autor de varias publicaciones, solo se ha encontrado en las condición de hacer un estudio sistemático de estos animales, habiendo aprovechado durante su permanencia en el Museo de La Plata, como sub.-director, de los restos bastante numerosos que de esta familia poseía entonces el establecimiento, algunos descu biertos por su Director, el señor Moreno, en las márgenes del río Santa Cruz, y los más traídos de ese mismo punto por don Carlos Ameghino, á quien este Museo, del que era empleado, envió á coleccionar objetos de historia natural.

David Craig, Parampreet Singh

Assignment of consistent quantum probabilities to events in a quantum universe is a fundamental challenge which every quantum cosmology/gravity framework must overcome. In loop quantum cosmology, this issue leads to a fundamental question: What is the probability that the universe undergoes a non-singular bounce? Using the consistent histories formulation, this question was successfully answered recently by the authors for a spatially flat FRW model in the canonical approach. In this manuscript, we obtain a covariant generalization of this result. Our analysis is based on expressing loop quantum cosmology in the spin foam paradigm and using histories defined via volume transitions to compute the amplitudes of transitions obtained using a vertex expansion. We show that the probability for bounce turns out to be unity.