Behavioral response of migrating wood frogs to experimental timber harvest surrounding wetlands

2009 ◽  
Vol 87 (7) ◽  
pp. 618-625 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tracy A.G. Rittenhouse ◽  
Raymond D. Semlitsch

Behavioral responses to ecological disturbances such as timber harvest, fire, or drought provide insight into wildlife habitat requirements. To determine the behavioral response of adult wood frogs ( Lithobates sylvatica (LeConte, 1825)) to timber harvest in oak–hickory forest, we conducted experimental timber harvest surrounding replicate breeding sites, monitored freely moving frogs using radiotelemetry, and tested the repeatability of behavioral responses with two experimental displacements. We found no evidence that wood frogs use recent oak–hickory clearcuts as habitat. Timber harvest was not a complete barrier to movement, as frogs surviving increased predation and desiccation risks reached drainages used as nonbreeding habitat. Frogs did not alter the direction of travel and traversed similar distances (i.e., total distance and net distance from breeding site) before and after timber harvest. However, rate of travel (i.e., maximum distance traversed in 1 day) increased following timber harvest and frogs displaced to the center of clearcuts exited the timber harvest array in one rainy night. Notably, wood frogs following displacement exhibited site fidelity to nonbreeding habitat. We suggest that deleterious effects of timber harvest on amphibians may be minimized through the use of small stand sizes placed in locations that do not separate breeding and nonbreeding habitat.

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (5) ◽  
pp. 100-107
Author(s):  
Marina Camargo de Sousa ◽  
◽  
Julia Ronzani Vial ◽  
Rodrigo Hidalgo Friciello Teixeira ◽  
Andrea Cristina Higa Nakaghi ◽  
...  

Birds of the psittaciform order, composed by the Psittacidae and Loridae family have several characteristics making them more frequently kept as companion animals, promoting the increase of breeding sites in Brazil. The present study aimed to analyze the specificity and sensitivity of three different coproparasitological tests, Willis, Hoffman and Direto de feces, through statistical tests: Chi-Square and Kappa. 70 fecal samples of exotic parrots were collected from a commercial breeding site and these were submitted to the three tests, totaling 210 coproparasitological exams. Among the tests performed, 29,5% were positive for nematode eggs, cestodes and oocysts. Coproparasitological exams are inexpensive, have clinical importance, indicating the population of endoparasites and therapeutic treatments.


2013 ◽  
Vol 128 (2) ◽  
pp. 669-723 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henrik J. Kleven ◽  
Mazhar Waseem

Abstract We develop a framework for nonparametrically identifying optimization frictions and structural elasticities using notches—discontinuities in the choice sets of agents—introduced by tax and transfer policies. Notches create excess bunching on the low-tax side and missing mass on the high-tax side of a cutoff, and they are often associated with a region of strictly dominated choice that would have zero mass in a frictionless world. By combining excess bunching (observed response attenuated by frictions) with missing mass in the dominated region (frictions), it is possible to uncover the structural elasticity that would govern behavior in the absence of frictions and arguably capture long-run behavior. We apply our framework to tax notches in Pakistan using rich administrative data. While observed bunching is large and sharp, optimization frictions are also very large as the majority of taxpayers in dominated ranges are unresponsive to tax incentives. The combination of large observed bunching and large frictions implies that the frictionless behavioral response to notches is extremely large, but the underlying structural elasticity driving this response is nevertheless modest. This highlights the inefficiency of notches: by creating extremely strong price distortions, they induce large behavioral responses even when structural elasticities are small.


1976 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 959-965 ◽  
Author(s):  
Larry M. Dean ◽  
Frank N. Willis ◽  
James M. La Rocco

Reactions to the invasion of personal space in terms of age, sex, and race of the invaders were investigated. Children, grouped by sex (male and female), race (black and white), and age (5, 8, and 10 yr. old), invaded the personal space of 192 adults grouped by sex (male and female) and race (black and white). The six types of behavioral responses were: avoidance, aggression, exploratory behavior, facilitative behavior, excess motor activity, and failure to respond. Responses to personal space invasion were not affected by sex. Blacks responded more often than whites but did not differ with regard to any particular type of behavioral response. Age of the invader had a significant effect on type of response given by adults whose personal space was invaded. It was concluded that the age of the invader was much more important than race or sex in determining the response to invasion of personal space.


2013 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 357-367 ◽  
Author(s):  
Onicio Batista Leal Neto ◽  
Elainne Christine de Souza Gomes ◽  
Fernando José Moreira de Oliveira Junior ◽  
Rafael Andrade ◽  
Diego Leandro Reis ◽  
...  

Schistosomiasis has expanded to the coast of Pernambuco State, Brazil, where there are frequent reports of Biomphalaria glabrata snails and human cases of the disease. This study analyzes factors related to schistosomiasis transmission risk in Porto de Galinhas. A one-year malacological survey was conducted to identify biological, abiotic, and environmental factors related to the host snail breeding sites. Data analysis used Excel 2010, GTM Pro, and ArcGis 10. A total of 11,012 B. glabrata snails were captured in 36 breeding sites, and 11 schistosomiasis transmission foci were identified. A negative correlation was found between breeding site temperature and snail density and infection rate, and a positive correlation with pH and salinity. The rainy season showed a positive correlation with snail density and infection rate. The study emphasizes the factors involved in the maintenance of schistosomiasis breeding sites, in light of persistence of this disease in Porto de Galinhas for more than 10 years.


2005 ◽  
Vol 83 (6) ◽  
pp. 610-620 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cara R Nelson ◽  
Charles B Halpern

Limited information exists on the effects of forest management practices on bryophytes, despite their importance to forest ecosystems. We examined short-term responses of ground-layer bryophytes to logging disturbance and creation of edges in mature Pseudotsuga forests of western Washington (USA). The abundance and richness of species were measured in four 1-ha forest aggregates (patches of intact forest) and in surrounding logged areas before and after structural retention harvests. One year after treatment, species richness, total cover, and frequency of most moss and liverwort taxa declined within harvest areas. Within forest aggregates, mosses did not show significant edge effects; however, richness and abundance of liverworts declined with proximity to the aggregate edge. Our results suggest that, over short time frames, 1-ha-sized aggregates are sufficient to maintain most common mosses through structural retention harvests but are not large enough to prevent declines or losses of liverworts. Thus, current standards for structural retention, which allow for aggregates as small as 0.2 ha, may be inadequate to retain the diversity and abundance of species found in mature, undisturbed forests.Key words: bryophyte, edge effects, forest borders, forest management, logging effects, structural retention harvest.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kemal Jemal ◽  
Berhanu Senbeta Deriba ◽  
Tinsae Abeya Geleta

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has had a significant psychological impact on health care workers (HCWs). Therefore, this study inspects the mental health status, behavioral response, and perception among HCWs (nurses, physicians, and medical laboratory workers) during the COVID-19 pandemic in public health care facilities.Methods: A facilities-based cross-sectional study was conducted in July 2020. A simple random sampling technique was used to select study participants. Data were collected by self-report administered questionnaires using Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) for depression, General Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) for anxiety, Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) for insomnia, Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) for psychological distress, Perceived Threat Scale for perception, and Behavioral Response Inquiry for the behavioral response. Moreover, bivariable and multivariable logistic regressions analysis was used to identify the association between dependent and independent variables at p-value <0.05.Results: A total of 417 (98.6%) HCWs responded to a self-administered questionnaire. The proportion of HCWs who had moderate to severe symptoms of psychological distress, depression, anxiety, and insomnia during the COVID-19 pandemic were 58, 16.3, 30.7, and 15.9%, respectively. Three-fifth of the nurses, medical laboratory professionals (62.2%), and physicians (59.2%) had reported good behavioral responses toward the COVID-19 pandemic. More than three-fifths of the nurses had reported poor perception toward the COVID-19 pandemic. Conversely, 61.2% of physicians and three-fourths (75.5%) of medical laboratory professionals had reported good perception toward the COVID-19 pandemic. Female and married participants, those working in the emergency unit, those with poor behavioral responses, and those with poor perception toward the COVID-19 pandemic were significantly associated with symptoms of psychological distress, depression, anxiety, and insomnia.Conclusions: Psychological impacts among physicians, nurses, and medical laboratory professionals are high during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Ethiopian Federal Ministry of Health should aim to protect all HCWs' psychological well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic with appropriate interventions and accurate information response.


PeerJ ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. e3097 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul K. Abram ◽  
Antonino Cusumano ◽  
Katrina Abram ◽  
Stefano Colazza ◽  
Ezio Peri

BackgroundHabituation, a form of non-associative learning, has several well-defined characteristics that apply to a wide range of physiological and behavioral responses in many organisms. In classic patch time allocation models, habituation is considered to be a major mechanistic component of parasitoid behavioral strategies. However, parasitoid behavioral responses to host cues have not previously been tested for the known, specific characteristics of habituation.MethodsIn the laboratory, we tested whether the foraging behavior of the egg parasitoidTrissolcus basalisshows specific characteristics of habituation in response to consecutive encounters with patches of host (Nezara viridula) chemical contact cues (footprints), in particular: (i) a training interval-dependent decline in response intensity, and (ii) a training interval-dependent recovery of the response.ResultsAs would be expected of a habituated response, wasps trained at higher frequencies decreased their behavioral response to host footprints more quickly and to a greater degree than those trained at low frequencies, and subsequently showed a more rapid, although partial, recovery of their behavioral response to host footprints. This putative habituation learning could not be blocked by cold anesthesia, ingestion of an ATPase inhibitor, or ingestion of a protein synthesis inhibitor.DiscussionOur study provides support for the assumption that diminishing responses of parasitoids to chemical indicators of host presence constitutes habituation as opposed to sensory fatigue, and provides a preliminary basis for exploring the underlying mechanisms.


2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (5) ◽  
pp. 100-107
Author(s):  
Marina Camargo de Sousa ◽  
◽  
Julia Ronzani Vial ◽  
Rodrigo Hidalgo Friciello Teixeira ◽  
Andrea Cristina Higa Nakaghi ◽  
...  

Birds of the psittaciform order, composed by the Psittacidae and Loridae family have several characteristics making them more frequently kept as companion animals, promoting the increase of breeding sites in Brazil. The present study aimed to analyze the specificity and sensitivity of three different coproparasitological tests, Willis, Hoffman and Direto de feces, through statistical tests: Chi-Square and Kappa. 70 fecal samples of exotic parrots were collected from a commercial breeding site and these were submitted to the three tests, totaling 210 coproparasitological exams. Among the tests performed, 29,5% were positive for nematode eggs, cestodes and oocysts. Coproparasitological exams are inexpensive, have clinical importance, indicating the population of endoparasites and therapeutic treatments.


2014 ◽  
Vol 71 (10) ◽  
pp. 1498-1507 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven M. Clark ◽  
Jason B. Dunham ◽  
Jeffrey R. McEnroe ◽  
Scott W. Lightcap

The fitness of female Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.) with respect to breeding behavior can be partitioned into at least four fitness components: survival to reproduction, competition for breeding sites, success of egg incubation, and suitability of the local environment near breeding sites for early rearing of juveniles. We evaluated the relative influences of habitat features linked to these fitness components with respect to selection of breeding sites by coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch). We also evaluated associations between breeding site selection and additions of large wood, as the latter were introduced into the study system as a means of restoring habitat conditions to benefit coho salmon. We used a model selection approach to organize specific habitat features into groupings reflecting fitness components and influences of large wood. Results of this work suggest that female coho salmon likely select breeding sites based on a wide range of habitat features linked to all four hypothesized fitness components. More specifically, model parameter estimates indicated that breeding site selection was most strongly influenced by proximity to pool-tail crests and deeper water (mean and maximum depths). Linkages between large wood and breeding site selection were less clear. Overall, our findings suggest that breeding site selection by coho salmon is influenced by a suite of fitness components in addition to the egg incubation environment, which has been the emphasis of much work in the past.


Pathogens ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 486 ◽  
Author(s):  
Handi Dahmana ◽  
Didier Raoult ◽  
Florence Fenollar ◽  
Oleg Mediannikov

Mosquitoes can transmit to humans devastating and deadly pathogens. As many chemical insecticides are banned due to environmental side effects or are of reduced efficacy due to resistance, biological control, including the use of bacterial strains with insecticidal activity, is of increasing interest and importance. The urgent actual need relies on the discovery of new compounds, preferably of a biological nature. Here, we explored the phenomenon of natural larvae mortality in larval breeding sites to identify potential novel compounds that may be used in biological control. From there, we isolated 14 bacterial strains of the phylum Firmicutes, most of the order Bacillales. Cultures were carried out under controlled conditions and were separated on supernatant and pellet fractions. The two fractions and a 1:1 mixture of the two fractions were tested on L3 and early L4 Aedes albopictus. Two concentrations were tested (2 and 6 mg/L). Larvae mortality was recorded at 24, 48 and 72 h and compared to that induced by the commercialized B. thuringiensis subsp. israelensis. Of the 14 strains isolated, 11 were active against the A. albopictus larvae: 10 of the supernatant fractions and one pellet fraction, and mortality increased with the concentration. For the insecticide activity prediction in three strains of the Bacillus cereus complex, PCR screening of the crystal (Cry) and cytolytic (Cyt) protein families characteristic to B. thuringiensis subsp. israelensis was performed. Most of the genes coding for these proteins’ synthesis were not detected. We identified bacterial strains that exhibit higher insecticidal activity compared with a commercial product. Further studies are needed for the characterization of active compounds.


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