Variation in ant aggression and kin discrimination ability within and between colonies

1990 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 359-379 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael W. J. Crosland
Keyword(s):  
Kin Discrimination ◽  
Discrimination Ability ◽  
Ant Aggression

Absence of kin discrimination in the hatchlings of a lizard, Calotes versicolor (Agamidae)

2013 ◽  
Vol 63 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-58
Author(s):  
Veena H.F. Ammanna ◽  
Srinivas K. Saidapur ◽  
Bhagyashri A. Shanbhag
Keyword(s):  
Kin Discrimination ◽  
Visual Displays ◽  
Dear Enemy ◽  
Discrimination Ability ◽  
Dear Enemy Phenomenon ◽  
Calotes Versicolor

Laboratory born Calotes versicolor hatchlings were reared for 15 days in pure or mixed sibships or singly in isolation and then tested for their kin discrimination ability. As C. versicolor orients itself visually, visual displays like push-ups, gular extensions, and distance between the test individuals were used as indicators of arousal/aggression towards the opponents (familiar vs. familiar/unfamiliar sib or non-sib). The hatchlings exhibited aggressiveness towards unfamiliar sibs as well as non-sibs in the form of push-ups and gular extensions; they also remained at a longer distance from each other. In contrast, they did not exhibit such behaviors against familiar individuals regardless of their relatedness, and stayed closer to each other. In tests involving once familiar individuals, sib, or non-sib reared together for 15 d from hatching and then separated for 7 or 30 d, the lizards showed aggressiveness towards each other following 30 d separation. A greater number of push-ups and gular extensions were exhibited by the test individuals after 30 d separation compared to those separated for 7 d. Thus, in this non-social lizard, there is no kin discrimination. An early dispersal of hatchlings in this species may have led to a loss of kin discrimination. However, familiar individuals are recognized as long as they continue to remain familiar thereby suggesting a ‘dear enemy phenomenon’.

scholarly journals Female rhesus macaques discriminate unfamiliar paternal sisters in playback experiments: support for acoustic phenotype matching

2014 ◽  
Vol 281 (1774) ◽  
pp. 20131628 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dana Pfefferle ◽  
Angelina V. Ruiz-Lambides ◽  
Anja Widdig
Keyword(s):  
Rhesus Macaques ◽  
Kin Discrimination ◽  
Playback Experiments ◽  
Phenotype Matching ◽  
Discrimination Ability ◽  
Female Rhesus ◽  
Age Cohort ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms ◽  
Free Ranging ◽  
Female Rhesus Macaques

Widespread evidence exists that when relatives live together, kinship plays a central role in shaping the evolution of social behaviour. Previous studies showed that female rhesus macaques ( Macaca mulatta ) recognize familiar maternal kin using vocal cues. Recognizing paternal kin might, however, be more difficult as rhesus females mate promiscuously during the possible conception period, most probably concealing paternity. Behavioural observations indicate that semi free-ranging female rhesus macaques prefer to associate with their paternal half-sisters in comparison to unrelated females within the same group, particularly when born within the same age cohort. However, the cues and mechanism/s used in paternal kin discrimination remain under debate. Here, we investigated whether female rhesus macaques use the acoustic modality to discriminate between paternal half-sisters and non-kin, and tested familiarity and phenotype matching as the underlying mechanisms. We found that test females responded more often to calls of paternal half-sisters compared with calls of unrelated females, and that this discrimination ability was independent of the level of familiarity between callers and test females, which provides, to our knowledge, the first evidence for acoustic phenotype matching. Our study strengthens the evidence that female rhesus macaques can recognize their paternal kin, and that vocalizations are used as a cue.

scholarly journals Explainable AI for ML jet taggers using expert variables and layerwise relevance propagation

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Garvita Agarwal ◽  
Lauren Hay ◽  
Ia Iashvili ◽  
Benjamin Mannix ◽  
Christine McLean ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Network Performance ◽  
Deep Neural Network ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Jet Substructure ◽  
Discrimination Ability ◽  
Low Level ◽  
Performance Improvements ◽  
Intermediate Layers ◽  
Explainable Ai ◽  
General Method

Abstract A framework is presented to extract and understand decision-making information from a deep neural network (DNN) classifier of jet substructure tagging techniques. The general method studied is to provide expert variables that augment inputs (“eXpert AUGmented” variables, or XAUG variables), then apply layerwise relevance propagation (LRP) to networks both with and without XAUG variables. The XAUG variables are concatenated with the intermediate layers after network-specific operations (such as convolution or recurrence), and used in the final layers of the network. The results of comparing networks with and without the addition of XAUG variables show that XAUG variables can be used to interpret classifier behavior, increase discrimination ability when combined with low-level features, and in some cases capture the behavior of the classifier completely. The LRP technique can be used to find relevant information the network is using, and when combined with the XAUG variables, can be used to rank features, allowing one to find a reduced set of features that capture part of the network performance. In the studies presented, adding XAUG variables to low-level DNNs increased the efficiency of classifiers by as much as 30-40%. In addition to performance improvements, an approach to quantify numerical uncertainties in the training of these DNNs is presented.

scholarly journals Interactions of ants with native and invasive lady beetles and the role of chemical cues in intraguild interference

Chemoecology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roman Bucher ◽  
Laura M. Japke ◽  
Ayse Gül Ünlü ◽  
Florian Menzel
Keyword(s):  
Chemical Cues ◽  
Harmonia Axyridis ◽  
Species Recognition ◽  
Lady Beetle ◽  
Lasius Niger ◽  
Beetle Species ◽  
Beetle Elytra ◽  
Lady Beetles ◽  
Ant Aggression

AbstractThe predator-predator naïveté hypothesis suggests that non-native predators benefit from being unknown to native predators, resulting in reduced intraguild interference with native predators. This novelty advantage should depend on the ability of native predators to recognize cues of non-native predators. Here, we compared ant aggression and lady beetle reaction in four native and the invasive lady beetle species Harmonia axyridis. In addition, we tested whether lady beetle cuticular hydrocarbons (CHCs) are involved in species recognition, which might explain naïveté if the invasive species has a specific CHC profile. To this end, we conducted behavioral assays confronting two native ant species with both living lady beetles and lady beetle elytra bearing or lacking CHCs of different lady beetle species. Finally, we characterized CHC profiles of the lady beetles using GC–MS. In general, the aggression of Lasius niger was more frequent than that of Myrmica rubra and L. niger aggression was more frequent towards most native lady beetle species compared to H. axyridis. The removal of CHCs from lady beetle elytra reduced aggression of both ant species. If CHCs of respective lady beetle species were added on cue-free elytra, natural strength of L. niger aggression could be restored. CHC analyses revealed a distinct cue composition for each lady beetle species. Our experiments demonstrate that the presence of chemical cues on the surface of lady beetles contribute to the strength of ant aggression against lady beetles. Reduced aggression of L. niger towards H. axyridis and reduced avoidance behavior in H. axyridis compared to the equally voracious C. septempunctata might improve the invasive lady beetle’s access to ant-tended aphids.

scholarly journals Amusia and protolanguage impairments in schizophrenia

2014 ◽  
Vol 44 (13) ◽  
pp. 2739-2748 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. T. Kantrowitz ◽  
N. Scaramello ◽  
A. Jakubovitz ◽  
J. M. Lehrfeld ◽  
P. Laukka ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Remediation ◽  
Thought Disorder ◽  
Musical Ability ◽  
Group Status ◽  
Treatment Development ◽  
Discrimination Ability ◽  
Syndrome Scale ◽  
Language And Music ◽  
Auditory Tasks ◽  
Negative Syndrome

BackgroundBoth language and music are thought to have evolved from a musical protolanguage that communicated social information, including emotion. Individuals with perceptual music disorders (amusia) show deficits in auditory emotion recognition (AER). Although auditory perceptual deficits have been studied in schizophrenia, their relationship with musical/protolinguistic competence has not previously been assessed.MethodMusical ability was assessed in 31 schizophrenia/schizo-affective patients and 44 healthy controls using the Montreal Battery for Evaluation of Amusia (MBEA). AER was assessed using a novel battery in which actors provided portrayals of five separate emotions. The Disorganization factor of the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) was used as a proxy for language/thought disorder and the MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery (MCCB) was used to assess cognition.ResultsHighly significant deficits were seen between patients and controls across auditory tasks (p < 0.001). Moreover, significant differences were seen in AER between the amusia and intact music-perceiving groups, which remained significant after controlling for group status and education. Correlations with AER were specific to the melody domain, and correlations between protolanguage (melody domain) and language were independent of overall cognition.DiscussionThis is the first study to document a specific relationship between amusia, AER and thought disorder, suggesting a shared linguistic/protolinguistic impairment. Once amusia was considered, other cognitive factors were no longer significant predictors of AER, suggesting that musical ability in general and melodic discrimination ability in particular may be crucial targets for treatment development and cognitive remediation in schizophrenia.

scholarly journals Novel Cs2HfCl6 Crystal Scintillator: Recent Progress and Perspectives

Physics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 320-351
Author(s):  
Serge Nagorny
Keyword(s):  
Recent Progress ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Light Output ◽  
Light Yield ◽  
Thermal Conditions ◽  
Pulse Shape Discrimination ◽  
Main Element ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Crystal Sample ◽  
Discrimination Ability

Recent progress in Cs2HfCl6 (CHC) crystal production achieved within the last five years is presented. Various aspects have been analyzed, including the chemical purity of raw materials, purification methods, optimization of the growth and thermal conditions, crystal characterization, defect structure, and internal radioactive background. Large volume, crack-free, and high quality CHC crystals with an ultimate scintillating performance were produced as a result of such extensive research and development (R & D) program. For example, the CHC crystal sample with dimensions ∅23 × 30 mm3 demonstrates energy resolution of 3.2% FWHM at 662 keV, the relative light output at the level of 30,000 ph/MeV and excellent linearity down to 20 keV. Additionally, this material exhibits excellent pulse shape discrimination ability and low internal background of less than 1 Bq/kg. Furthermore, attempts to produce a high quality CHC crystal resulted in research on this material optimization by constitution of either alkali ions (Cs to Tl), or main element (Hf to Zr), or halogen ions (Cl to Br, I, or their mixture in different ratio), as well as doping with various active ions (Te4+, Ce3+, Eu3+, etc.). This leads to a range of new established scintillating materials, such as Tl2HfCl6, Tl2ZrCl6, Cs2HfCl4Br2, Cs2HfCl3Br3, Cs2ZrCl6, and Cs2HfI6. To exploit the whole potential of these compounds, detailed studies of the material’s fundamental properties, and understanding of the variety of the luminescence mechanisms are required. This will help to understand the origin of the high light yield and possible paths to further extend it. Perspectives of CHC crystals and related materials as detectors for rare nuclear processes are also discussed.

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