How Giraffes Work

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Graham Mitchell
Keyword(s):  
Single Species ◽  
Free Living ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Normal Functions ◽  
Private Lives ◽  
Social Biology ◽  
Biochemical Systems ◽  
In The Wild ◽  
Physiological And Biochemical ◽  
Biological Milieu

There are few creatures more beautiful, more aloof, and more fascinating than giraffes. Once they were plentiful and filled African landscapes, but in 2016 they were re-classified from “least concern” to “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Their survival in the wild is not assured. Much has been written about their private lives, about their behavior, social biology, and ecology, and their history in art and diplomacy. But so far no book has been written about their private lives, their physiology, and their anatomy and biochemistry—in short, the normal functions of a free-living animal in its natural environment—and it is these aspects of their lives that are the focus of this book. The study of a single species could be concise and relatively simply told. In reality it is not. A species never evolves in isolation from the general biological milieu in which it finds itself. Tectonics, astronomical physics, climate, and purely biological factors affecting food and water resources all shape the path of their evolution and all interact with its morphology, its internal physiological and biochemical systems, and the behavior patterns that regulate its daily life. Giraffes are no exception, as is revealed as the story told here unfolds. How do giraffes work? The answers lie in a story filled not only with the internal workings of a unique creature, but with geography, climate changes of great magnitude, and the labors of extraordinary people who put many pieces of the puzzle together.

scholarly journals Methods in field chronobiology

2017 ◽  
Vol 372 (1734) ◽  
pp. 20160247 ◽  
Author(s):  
Davide M. Dominoni ◽  
Susanne Åkesson ◽  
Raymond Klaassen ◽  
Kamiel Spoelstra ◽  
Martin Bulla
Keyword(s):  
Technological Development ◽  
Monitoring Systems ◽  
Migratory Restlessness ◽  
Biological Organization ◽  
Rapid Improvement ◽  
Free Living ◽  
The Future ◽  
In The Wild ◽  
Temporal Aspect ◽  
Different Levels

Chronobiological research has seen a continuous development of novel approaches and techniques to measure rhythmicity at different levels of biological organization from locomotor activity (e.g. migratory restlessness) to physiology (e.g. temperature and hormone rhythms, and relatively recently also in genes, proteins and metabolites). However, the methodological advancements in this field have been mostly and sometimes exclusively used only in indoor laboratory settings. In parallel, there has been an unprecedented and rapid improvement in our ability to track animals and their behaviour in the wild. However, while the spatial analysis of tracking data is widespread, its temporal aspect is largely unexplored. Here, we review the tools that are available or have potential to record rhythms in the wild animals with emphasis on currently overlooked approaches and monitoring systems. We then demonstrate, in three question-driven case studies, how the integration of traditional and newer approaches can help answer novel chronobiological questions in free-living animals. Finally, we highlight unresolved issues in field chronobiology that may benefit from technological development in the future. As most of the studies in the field are descriptive, the future challenge lies in applying the diverse technologies to experimental set-ups in the wild. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Wild clocks: integrating chronobiology and ecology to understand timekeeping in free-living animals’.

scholarly journals Ice nucleation activity identified in some phytopathogenic Fusarium species

2005 ◽  
Vol 77 (2) ◽  
pp. 83-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Richard ◽  
J.-G. Martin ◽  
S. Pouleur
Keyword(s):  
Fusarium Oxysporum ◽  
Fusarium Species ◽  
Freezing Temperature ◽  
Ice Nucleation ◽  
Free Living ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Pure Cultures ◽  
Nucleation Activity ◽  
Ice Nucleation Activity ◽  
Positive Controls

In order to know which species of Fusarium are ice nucleating and to determine the factors affecting their pathogenicity, ice nucleation activity (INA) was examined in Fusarium oxysporum, F. sporotrichioides, and F. tricinctum. Positive controls (lna+) used were F. acuminatum and F. avenaceum. The test for fungal INA was done with a simple and rapid tube nucleation assay. Twelve out of the 42 F. oxysporum isolates, and 8 out of 14 F. tricinctum isolates were lna+. No INA was detected in F sporotrichioides. In this test the threshold freezing temperature tended to increase with culture age, reaching a peak of -1°C in a few samples, which is as high as the warmest INA reported for bacteria, and higher than the INA detected in pure cultures of free-living fungi, lichen fungi, lichen algae and cyanobacteria. This is the first report of INA for F oxysporum.

scholarly journals Lactobacillus fructivorans Spoilage of Tomato Ketchup

1997 ◽  
Vol 60 (5) ◽  
pp. 505-509 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. JOHANNA BJORKROTH ◽  
HANNU J. KORKEALA
Keyword(s):  
Gel Electrophoresis ◽  
Microbial Growth ◽  
Antimicrobial Agents ◽  
Growth And Survival ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Physiological And Biochemical Characteristics ◽  
Gas Formation ◽  
Tomato Ketchup ◽  
Dna Fragment ◽  
Physiological And Biochemical

Spoilage characterized by bulging as a result of gas formation in bottled ketchup was studied, Samples produced microbial growth on MRS and Rogosa selective Lactobacillus agar. Seventy randomly selected isolates typed by using restriction endonuclease (ClaI, EcoRI, HindIII) analysis were found to have identical DNA fragment patterns in gel electrophoresis. The strain was identified as Lactobacillus fructivorans using morphological, physiological and biochemical characteristics, combined with the information obtained from ribotyping. Factors affecting growth and survival of this L. fructivorans strain in ketchup production were also studied. An L. fructivorans count of 105 CFU/g resulted in spoilage of inoculated ketchup samples. Spoilage occurred only in samples incubated at 15 to 30°C. The L. fructivorans implicated in causing spoilage demonstrated heat resistance with a D value of 1.2 min at 65°C. The strain did not show resistance to alkaline active chloride-containing detergent sanitizer; alkyldimethylbenzylammonium chloride and alkyldimethylethylbenzylammonium chloride-containing sanitizer were also found to be effective antimicrobial agents.

scholarly journals Factors affecting the herbage iodine content.

1974 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 195-206 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Hartmans
Keyword(s):  
Soil Type ◽  
Dry Matter ◽  
Field Experiments ◽  
Iodine Content ◽  
Single Species ◽  
Residual Effects ◽  
Grass Species ◽  
Yield Response ◽  
N Application ◽  
Factors Affecting

In pot and field experiments, N application somewhat increased the I content of the harvested crop, although I concentrations in the herbage decreased considerably (diluting effect of increased dry matter yields). Herbage I contents were not consistently affected by chemical fertilizers which produced no yield response. I contents were up to 13 times higher in dicotyledenous pasture species than in grasses. I contents varied between grass species and to less extent between varieties of a single species. Contrary to earlier New Zealand data, good quality grasses were lower in I content than medium-value and inferior grasses. Small I dressings were less effective than larger amounts in terms of percentage return in the harvested crop; residual effects in later cuts were always small. The effectiveness of I dressings depended on soil type and tended to be lowest on soils of low natural I content. ADDITIONAL ABSTRACT: Studies were with ryegrass in pots and pastures. N dressing increased I uptake by the crop but reduced the I content considerably because of the diluting effect of higher DM yields. Dressing with fertilizers which did increase yield did not affect herbage I content consistently. Dicotyledonous species in pasture had I contents up to 13 times that of grasses. The I content of grasses varied over a 2-fold range but variation was smaller in a given species. Good quality grasses had a lower I content than inferior grasses. Smaller I dressings gave a smaller percentage return in the crop than larger amounts; the efficiency depended on soil type and tended to be less for soils with the lowest natural I content. (Abstract retrieved from CAB Abstracts by CABI’s permission)

scholarly journals Sprouted Grains: A Comprehensive Review

Nutrients ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 421 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paolo Benincasa ◽  
Beatrice Falcinelli ◽  
Stanley Lutts ◽  
Fabio Stagnari ◽  
Angelica Galieni
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Literature ◽  
In Vivo Studies ◽  
Human Diet ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Germination Process ◽  
Parallel Increase ◽  
Main Factors ◽  
Physiological And Biochemical ◽  
Phytochemical Contents

In the last decade, there has been an increase in the use of sprouted grains in human diet and a parallel increase in the scientific literature dealing with their nutritional traits and phytochemical contents. This review examines the physiological and biochemical changes during the germination process, and the effects on final sprout composition in terms of macro- and micro-nutrients and bioactive compounds. The main factors affecting sprout composition are taken into consideration: genotype, environmental conditions experimented by the mother plant, germination conditions. In particular, the review deepens the recent knowledge on the possible elicitation factors useful for increasing the phytochemical contents. Microbiological risks and post-harvest technologies are also evaluated, and a brief summary is given of some important in vivo studies matching with the use of grain sprouts in the diet. All the species belonging to Poaceae (Gramineae) family as well as pseudocereals species are included.

scholarly journals Cigarette Smoking Detection with An Inertial Sensor and A Smart Lighter

Sensors ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 570 ◽  
Author(s):  
Volkan Senyurek ◽  
Masudul Imtiaz ◽  
Prajakta Belsare ◽  
Stephen Tiffany ◽  
Edward Sazonov
Keyword(s):  
Cigarette Smoking ◽  
Inertial Sensor ◽  
Smoking Behavior ◽  
Measurement Unit ◽  
Support Vector ◽  
Svm Classifier ◽  
Free Living ◽  
Objective Monitoring ◽  
In The Wild ◽  
Detection Of Smoking

In recent years, a number of wearable approaches have been introduced for objective monitoring of cigarette smoking based on monitoring of hand gestures, breathing or cigarette lighting events. However, non-reactive, objective and accurate measurement of everyday cigarette consumption in the wild remains a challenge. This study utilizes a wearable sensor system (Personal Automatic Cigarette Tracker 2.0, PACT2.0) and proposes a method that integrates information from an instrumented lighter and a 6-axis Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) on the wrist for accurate detection of smoking events. The PACT2.0 was utilized in a study of 35 moderate to heavy smokers in both controlled (1.5–2 h) and unconstrained free-living conditions (~24 h). The collected dataset contained approximately 871 h of IMU data, 463 lighting events, and 443 cigarettes. The proposed method identified smoking events from the cigarette lighter data and estimated puff counts by detecting hand-to-mouth gestures (HMG) in the IMU data by a Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifier. The leave-one-subject-out (LOSO) cross-validation on the data from the controlled portion of the study achieved high accuracy and F1-score of smoking event detection and estimation of puff counts (97%/98% and 93%/86%, respectively). The results of validation in free-living demonstrate 84.9% agreement with self-reported cigarettes. These results suggest that an IMU and instrumented lighter may potentially be used in studies of smoking behavior under natural conditions.

scholarly journals Microsporidian Infection in a Free-Living Marine Nematode

2012 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 1544-1551 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. M. Ardila-Garcia ◽  
N. M. Fast
Keyword(s):  
Marine Nematode ◽  
Free Living ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Infection Pattern ◽  
Transmission Electron ◽  
Muscle Tissues ◽  
Natural Hosts ◽  
In The Wild ◽  
Microsporidian Infection

ABSTRACT Microsporidia are unicellular fungi that are obligate endoparasites. Although nematodes are one of the most abundant and diverse animal groups, the only confirmed report of microsporidian infection was that of the “nematode killer” ( Nematocida parisii ). N. parisii was isolated from a wild Caenorhabditis sp. and causes an acute and lethal intestinal infection in a lab strain of Caenorhabditis elegans . We set out to characterize a microsporidian infection in a wild nematode to determine whether the infection pattern of N. parisii in the lab is typical of microsporidian infections in nematodes. We describe a novel microsporidian species named Sporanauta perivermis (marine spore of roundworms) and characterize its infection in its natural host, the free-living marine nematode Odontophora rectangula. S. perivermis is not closely related to N. parisii and differs strikingly in all aspects of infection. Examination by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) revealed that the infection was localized in the hypodermal and muscle tissues only and did not involve the intestines. Fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) confirmed infection in the muscle and hypodermis, and surprisingly, it also revealed that the parasite infects O. rectangula eggs, suggesting a vertical mode of transmission. Our observations highlight the importance of studying parasites in their natural hosts and indicate that not all nematode-infecting microsporidia are “nematode killers”; instead, microsporidiosis can be more versatile and chronic in the wild.

How Birds Behave

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wenfei Tong
Keyword(s):  
Big Data ◽  
Alarm Calls ◽  
Private Lives ◽  
Territory Defence ◽  
The World ◽  
Evolutionary Context ◽  
In The Wild ◽  
Nest Design ◽  
The Many

Birds are intelligent, sociable creatures that exhibit a wide array of behaviours – from mobbing and mimicking to mating and joint nesting. Why do they behave as they do? Bringing to light the remarkable actions of birds through examples from species around the world, How Birds Behave presents engaging vignettes about the private lives of birds, all explained in an evolutionary context. We discover how birds find food, relying on foraging techniques, tools and thievery. We learn about the courtship rituals through which birds choose, compete for, woo and win mates; the familial conflicts that crop up among parents, offspring and siblings; and the stresses and strains of nesting, including territory defence, nepotism and relationship sabotage. We see how birds respond to threats and danger – through such unique practices as murmurations, specific alarm calls, distraction displays and antipredator nest design. We also read about how birds change certain behaviours – preening, migration, breeding and huddling – based on climate. Richly illustrated, this book explores the increasing focus on how individual birds differ in personality and how big data and citizen scientists are helping to add to what we know about them. Drawing on classic examples and the latest research, How Birds Behave offers a close-up look at the many ways birds conduct themselves in the wild.

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