scholarly journals Competing pressures on populations: long-term dynamics of food availability, food quality, disease, stress and animal abundance

2015 ◽  
Vol 370 (1669) ◽  
pp. 20140112 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colin A. Chapman ◽  
Valérie A. M. Schoof ◽  
Tyler R. Bonnell ◽  
Jan F. Gogarten ◽  
Sophie Calmé
Keyword(s):  
Food Availability ◽  
Physiological Stress ◽  
Ecological Factors ◽  
Forest Composition ◽  
Forest Fragments ◽  
Red Colobus ◽  
Red Colobus Monkeys ◽  
Animal Populations ◽  
Quality Diet

Despite strong links between sociality and fitness that ultimately affect the size of animal populations, the particular social and ecological factors that lead to endangerment are not well understood. Here, we synthesize approximately 25 years of data and present new analyses that highlight dynamics in forest composition, food availability, the nutritional quality of food, disease, physiological stress and population size of endangered folivorous red colobus monkeys ( Procolobus rufomitratus ). There is a decline in the quality of leaves 15 and 30 years following two previous studies in an undisturbed area of forest. The consumption of a low-quality diet in one month was associated with higher glucocorticoid levels in the subsequent month and stress levels in groups living in degraded forest fragments where diet was poor was more than twice those in forest groups. In contrast, forest composition has changed and when red colobus food availability was weighted by the protein-to-fibre ratio, which we have shown positively predicts folivore biomass, there was an increase in the availability of high-quality trees. Despite these changing social and ecological factors, the abundance of red colobus has remained stable, possibly through a combination of increasing group size and behavioural flexibility.

Hunting Decisions in Wild Chimpanzees

Behaviour ◽  
1994 ◽  
Vol 131 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 1-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Craig B. Stanford ◽  
Janette Wallis ◽  
Eslom Mpongo ◽  
Jane Goodall
Keyword(s):  
National Park ◽  
Ecological Factors ◽  
Field Studies ◽  
Red Colobus ◽  
Total Size ◽  
Sexual Swellings ◽  
Red Colobus Monkeys ◽  
Colobus Monkeys ◽  
The Social ◽  
Proximate Determinants

AbstractWhile field studies of wild chimpanzees have investigated the proximate determinants of hunting success, little attention has been paid to the decision to hunt. We present evidence from Gombe National Park, Tanzania, showing that the social factors that most strongly influence the decision to hunt red colobus monkeys are the presence of female chimpanzees with anogenital sexual swellings in the foraging party, the number of adult and adolescent males in the party, and the total size of the foraging party. Of these, the presence of one or more swollen females was the best predictor of a decision to undertake hunts of red colobus groups at all but the smalles chimpanzee foraging party size. Two likely explanations for this pattern are discussed. First, swollen females may be a primary influence on male grouping patterns, which in turn promotes hunting. Second, this finding, together with previous research showing that male chimpanzees preferentially give meat to estrous females, suggests that male chimpanzee hunting performance may be under sexual selection. While nutritional and ecological factors may influence chimpanzee hunting patterns at times, chimpanzees appear to hunt red colobus at least partially to obtain meat for use as a social and reproductive tool.

Do food availability, parasitism, and stress have synergistic effects on red colobus populations living in forest fragments?

2006 ◽  
Vol 131 (4) ◽  
pp. 525-534 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colin A. Chapman ◽  
Michael D. Wasserman ◽  
Thomas R. Gillespie ◽  
Michaela L. Speirs ◽  
Michael J. Lawes ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Food Availability ◽  
Synergistic Effects ◽  
Forest Fragments ◽  
Red Colobus

The Physical Context of Child Development

2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-48
Author(s):  
Gary W. Evans
Keyword(s):  
Child Development ◽  
Observational Studies ◽  
Physiological Stress ◽  
Personal Characteristics ◽  
Adverse Outcomes ◽  
Structural Quality ◽  
Physical Context ◽  
Physical Setting ◽  
Physical Features

Child development reflects interactions between personal characteristics and the physical and social environment. Psychology, however, lacks analysis of physical features that influence child development. In this article, I describe a preliminary taxonomy of physical-setting characteristics that can influence child development, focusing on environmental stressors such as noise, crowding, and chaos along with structural quality of housing, day care, and schools. Adverse outcomes associated with suboptimal physical settings during childhood include cognitive and socioemotional difficulties along with chronic physiological stress. Both direct effects on the child as well as indirect effects occurring via significant persons surrounding the child are described. Methodological limitations, particularly reliance on observational studies, are a weakness in the current literature, but increasingly more rigorously obtained findings yield converging evidence of the effects of physical settings on child development.

scholarly journals Small mammal glucocorticoid concentrations vary with forest fragment size, trap type, and mammal taxa in the Interior Atlantic Forest

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah A. Boyle ◽  
Noé U. de la Sancha ◽  
Pastor Pérez ◽  
David Kabelik
Keyword(s):  
Atlantic Forest ◽  
Small Mammals ◽  
Acute Stress ◽  
Physiological Stress ◽  
Fragment Size ◽  
Hair Shaft ◽  
Forest Fragments ◽  
Forest Fragment ◽  
Trapping Methods ◽  
Free Ranging

AbstractSpecies that live in degraded habitats often show signs of physiological stress. Glucocorticoid hormones (e.g., corticosterone and cortisol) are often assessed as a proxy of the extent of physiological stress an animal has experienced. Our goal was to quantify glucocorticoids in free-ranging small mammals in fragments of Interior Atlantic Forest. We extracted glucocorticoids from fur samples of 106 small mammals (rodent genera Akodon and Oligoryzomys, and marsupial genera Gracilinanus and Marmosa) from six forest fragments (2–1200 ha) in the Reserva Natural Tapytá, Caazapá Department, Paraguay. To our knowledge, this is the first publication of corticosterone and cortisol levels for three of the four sampled genera (Akodon, Oligoryzomys, and Marmosa) in this forest system. We discovered three notable results. First, as predicted, glucocorticoid levels were higher in individuals living withing small forest fragments. Second, animals captured live using restraint trapping methods (Sherman traps) had higher glucocorticoid levels than those animals captured using kill traps (Victor traps), suggesting that hair glucocorticoid measures can reflect acute stress levels in addition to long-term glucocorticoid incorporation. These acute levels are likely due to urinary steroids diffusing into the hair shaft. This finding raises a concern about the use of certain trapping techniques in association with fur hormone analysis. Finally, as expected, we also detected genus-specific differences in glucocorticoid levels, as well as cortisol/corticosterone ratios.

Ecological correlates of folivore abundance in north Queensland rainforests

2001 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Kanowski ◽  
M. S. Hopkins ◽  
Helene Marsh ◽  
J. W. Winter
Keyword(s):  
Nutritional Quality ◽  
Host Plants ◽  
Inverse Relationship ◽  
Ecological Factors ◽  
Habitat Destruction ◽  
Metamorphic Rocks ◽  
Northern Australia ◽  
Altitudinal Variation ◽  
Foliage Quality

The ecological factors controlling the distribution and abundance of the folivorous marsupials endemic to the rainforests of northern Australia are not understood. In this study, we surveyed folivore abundance at 40 sites stratified by altitude and geology in rainforests of the Atherton Tableland, north Queensland. All five species of folivore that inhabit the study area were more abundant in highland (800–1200 m) than in upland (400–800 m) forests. Allowing for the effects of altitude, four species of folivore were more abundant in forests on nutrient-rich basalts than in forests on nutrient-poor acid igneous or metamorphic rocks. The abundance of two folivore species also varied inversely with rainfall. Altitudinal variation in folivore abundance in the study area has been attributed to habitat destruction, Aboriginal hunting, the distribution of host plants and climate; however, none of these hypotheses has been tested. Variation in folivore abundance with geology is plausibly explained as a response to the nutritional quality of foliage. Foliage quality may also explain the inverse relationship between two of the folivores and rainfall. The results of this study show that only a relatively small proportion of north Queensland rainforests support abundant populations of the endemic folivorous marsupials.

scholarly journals Systematic Review of the Quality of Mindfulness-Based School Interventions

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Lynd Phan ◽  
Tyler L Renshaw ◽  
Julie Caramanico ◽  
Jeffrey M. Greeson ◽  
Elizabeth MacKenzie ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Physiological Stress ◽  
Self Regulation ◽  
Total Sample ◽  
Attentional Focus ◽  
Coding System ◽  
Level Of Evidence ◽  
School Interventions ◽  
Youth Outcomes

We reviewed the effects of mindfulness-based school interventions (MBSIs) on youth outcomes. We evaluated seventy-three studies with a total sample a total of 11,906 students across five continents, assessing the quality of each study through a robust coding system for evidence-based guidelines. Coders rated studies as 1++ (systematic review) to 4 (expert opinion) for level of evidence. Outcomes were assigned a corresponding evidence quality letter grade, from strongest (A) to weakest (D) evidence. Outcomes fell into 11 categories: wellbeing, self-compassion, social functioning, mental health, self-regulation and emotionality, mindful awareness, attentional focus, psychological and physiological stress, problem behaviors, academic performance, and acceptability. Strongest evidence showed increased resilience and reduced anxiety. There was comparable improvement in depression and wellbeing across youth relative to control groups. We urge researchers interested in MBSIs to study their effectiveness using more rigorous designs to minimize bias and promote higher quality evidence to guide school-based practice.

Unele aspecte a starii sanatatii populatiei în raioanele Orhei si Telenesti

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicolae Bodrug ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Health Status ◽  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Environmental Pollution ◽  
Population Health ◽  
Ecological Factors ◽  
Environmental Risks ◽  
Economic Situation ◽  
Medical Services ◽  
Human Biology

. Environmental pollution affects population health depending on the extension and the degree of exposure to environmental factors. In most cases it is difficult to obtain an accurate situation of exposure of population to harmful factors. Health status is determined by: human biology, ecological factors, the socio-economic situation of each person, and the quality of medical services. In according to regional peculiarities the interdependence of those factors could vary, but not significantly. The environmental risks are everywhere but diminishing them may improve the health status of the population.

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