Caution is warranted when using animal space-use and movement to infer behavioral states

Abstract Background Identifying the behavioral state for wild animals that can’t be directly observed is of growing interest to the ecological community. Advances in telemetry technology and statistical methodologies allow researchers to use space-use and movement metrics to infer the underlying, latent, behavioral state of an animal without direct observations. For example, researchers studying ungulate ecology have started using these methods to quantify behaviors related to mating strategies. However, little work has been done to determine if assumed behaviors inferred from movement and space-use patterns correspond to actual behaviors of individuals. Methods Using a dataset with male and female white-tailed deer location data, we evaluated the ability of these two methods to correctly identify male-female interaction events (MFIEs). We identified MFIEs using the proximity of their locations in space as indicators of when mating could have occurred. We then tested the ability of utilization distributions (UDs) and hidden Markov models (HMMs) rendered with single sex location data to identify these events. Results For white-tailed deer, male and female space-use and movement behavior did not vary consistently when with a potential mate. There was no evidence that a probability contour threshold based on UD volume applied to an individual’s UD could be used to identify MFIEs. Additionally, HMMs were unable to identify MFIEs, as single MFIEs were often split across multiple states and the primary state of each MFIE was not consistent across events. Conclusions Caution is warranted when interpreting behavioral insights rendered from statistical models applied to location data, particularly when there is no form of validation data. For these models to detect latent behaviors, the individual needs to exhibit a consistently different type of space-use and movement when engaged in the behavior. Unvalidated assumptions about that relationship may lead to incorrect inference about mating strategies or other behaviors.

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The genomes of a monogenic fly: views of primitive sex chromosomes

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-020-72880-0 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Anne A. Andere ◽

Meaghan L. Pimsler ◽

Aaron M. Tarone ◽

Christine J. Picard

Keyword(s):

Sex Chromosomes ◽

Genomic Analysis ◽

Female Offspring ◽

Dominant Factor ◽

Blow Fly ◽

Chrysomya Rufifacies ◽

Specific Expression ◽

Male And Female ◽

Single Sex ◽

The Individual

Abstract The production of male and female offspring is often determined by the presence of specific sex chromosomes which control sex-specific expression, and sex chromosomes evolve through reduced recombination and specialized gene content. Here we present the genomes of Chrysomya rufifacies, a monogenic blow fly (females produce female or male offspring, exclusively) by separately sequencing and assembling each type of female and the male. The genomes (> 25X coverage) do not appear to have any sex-linked Muller F elements (typical for many Diptera) and exhibit little differentiation between groups supporting the morphological assessments of C. rufifacies homomorphic chromosomes. Males in this species are associated with a unimodal coverage distribution while females exhibit bimodal coverage distributions, suggesting a potential difference in genomic architecture. The presence of the individual-sex draft genomes herein provides new clues regarding the origination and evolution of the diverse sex-determining mechanisms observed within Diptera. Additional genomic analysis of sex chromosomes and sex-determining genes of other blow flies will allow a refined evolutionary understanding of how flies with a typical X/Y heterogametic amphogeny (male and female offspring in similar ratios) sex determination systems evolved into one with a dominant factor that results in single sex progeny in a chromosomally monomorphic system.

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Using hidden Markov models to find discrete targets in continuous sociophonetic data

Linguistics Vanguard ◽

10.1515/lingvan-2020-0057 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 7 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Daniel Duncan

Keyword(s):

Hidden Markov Models ◽

Markov Models ◽

Hidden Markov ◽

Abstract Representation ◽

Language Variation And Change ◽

Novel Approach ◽

Single Target ◽

The Individual ◽

Individual Speaker

Abstract Advances in sociophonetic research resulted in features once sorted into discrete bins now being measured continuously. This has implied a shift in what sociolinguists view as the abstract representation of the sociolinguistic variable. When measured discretely, variation is variation in selection: one variant is selected for production, and factors influencing language variation and change are influencing the frequency at which variants are selected. Measured continuously, variation is variation in execution: speakers have a single target for production, which they approximate with varying success. This paper suggests that both approaches can and should be considered in sociophonetic analysis. To that end, I offer the use of hidden Markov models (HMMs) as a novel approach to find speakers’ multiple targets within continuous data. Using the lot vowel among whites in Greater St. Louis as a case study, I compare 2-state and 1-state HMMs constructed at the individual speaker level. Ten of fifty-two speakers’ production is shown to involve the regular use of distinct fronted and backed variants of the vowel. This finding illustrates HMMs’ capacity to allow us to consider variation as both variant selection and execution, making them a useful tool in the analysis of sociophonetic data.

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The home-range concept: are traditional estimators still relevant with modern telemetry technology?

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rstb.2010.0093 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 365 (1550) ◽

pp. 2221-2231 ◽

Cited By ~ 268

Author(s):

John G. Kie ◽

Jason Matthiopoulos ◽

John Fieberg ◽

Roger A. Powell ◽

Francesca Cagnacci ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Home Range ◽

New Technologies ◽

Animal Movement ◽

Space Use ◽

Ease Of Use ◽

Home Ranges ◽

Data Intensive ◽

Use Patterns ◽

Location Data ◽

Utilization Distributions

Recent advances in animal tracking and telemetry technology have allowed the collection of location data at an ever-increasing rate and accuracy, and these advances have been accompanied by the development of new methods of data analysis for portraying space use, home ranges and utilization distributions. New statistical approaches include data-intensive techniques such as kriging and nonlinear generalized regression models for habitat use. In addition, mechanistic home-range models, derived from models of animal movement behaviour, promise to offer new insights into how home ranges emerge as the result of specific patterns of movements by individuals in response to their environment. Traditional methods such as kernel density estimators are likely to remain popular because of their ease of use. Large datasets make it possible to apply these methods over relatively short periods of time such as weeks or months, and these estimates may be analysed using mixed effects models, offering another approach to studying temporal variation in space-use patterns. Although new technologies open new avenues in ecological research, our knowledge of why animals use space in the ways we observe will only advance by researchers using these new technologies and asking new and innovative questions about the empirical patterns they observe.

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Acarine biocontrol agents Neoseiulus californicus sensu Athias-Henriot (1977) and N. barkeri Hughes (Mesostigmata: Phytoseiidae) redescribed, their synonymies assessed, and the identity of N. californicus (McGregor) clarified based on examination of types

Zootaxa ◽

10.11646/zootaxa.4500.4.1 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 4500 (4) ◽

pp. 451 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

FRÉDÉRIC BEAULIEU ◽

JENNIFER J. BEARD

Keyword(s):

Biocontrol Agent ◽

Species Concept ◽

Biocontrol Agents ◽

International Commission ◽

Neoseiulus Californicus ◽

Zoological Nomenclature ◽

Male And Female ◽

Crop Pests ◽

Type Host ◽

Single Sex

In 1954, McGregor described two species of phytoseiids from lemon, in California, USA: Typhlodromus californicus McGregor and T. mungeri McGregor, the former represented by one male, and the latter by two females. Since its description, T. mungeri was synonymised under T. californicus, and the name T. (now Neoseiulus) californicus has been used extensively to represent a species that is now commonly used as a biocontrol agent of crop pests worldwide. However, the true identity of the biocontrol agent is uncertain because the original descriptions of T. californicus and T. mungeri were not adequate enough to allow an irrefutable identification, with each description being based on specimens of a single sex. An examination of the types of N. californicus and N. mungeri revealed that they are morphologically identical to the male and female of N. barkeri Hughes, 1948, respectively, and that they are in fact junior synonyms of N. barkeri—and are therefore distinct from the biocontrol agent globally called N. californicus (sensu Athias-Henriot, 1977; see Griffiths, 2015). This is further supported by a comparison with male and female syntypes of N. barkeri, as well as other specimens of N. barkeri including some collected from the type host in the vicinity of the type location (i.e. lemon in southern California, 1952–1958). We redescribe the male and female of both N. barkeri and N. californicus sensu Athias-Henriot (1977), based on representative specimens from at least 14 and 19 populations, respectively. Based on examination of types, we confirm the synonymy of N. mckenziei (Schuster & Pritchard, 1963), N. picketti (Specht, 1968), and N. oahuensis (Prasad, 1968) with N. barkeri, and that the names N. chilenensis (Dosse, 1958b) and N. wearnei (Schicha, 1987) represent the same species as N. californicus sensu Athias-Henriot (1977). We also provide a hypothesis as to why Chant (1959) had erroneously synonymised T. californicus and T. mungeri under T. marinus (Willmann). Finally, we suggest maintaining the prevailing usage of the name N. californicus (McGregor) for the species concept of Athias-Henriot (1977) as followed by subsequent authors, through submission of a separate application to the International Commission of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN). In the meantime, the current meaning of N. californicus should be maintained until a ruling by the ICZN is made on the application.

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Genetic homozygosity as a marker of smoking dependency

Genetika ◽

10.2298/gensr203009b ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 52 (3) ◽

pp. 1009-1019

Author(s):

Slavko Brankovic ◽

Dejan Nikolic ◽

Dragoslav Marinkovic ◽

Suzana Cvjeticanin

Keyword(s):

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Male Gender ◽

Sectional Study ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Male And Female ◽

Mean Values ◽

Individual Variations ◽

Significant Difference ◽

The Mean ◽

The Individual

The aim of our study was to evaluate the morphogenetic variability as a marker of smoking dependency in adult smokers versus controls and to investigate the presence and the degree of morphogenetic variability difference between male and female smokers versus same gender controls. The cross-sectional study evaluated 241 smokers and 185 nonsmoker individuals as controls. We analyzed 17 homozygous recessive characteristics (HRC). There was a significant difference in the individual variations of 17 HRCs between the controls and smokers (??2=61.400, p<0.001; for females ??2=79.440, p<0.001; for males ??2=84.972, p<0.001). The mean values of HRCs significantly differed between smokers and controls (MV?SEM(Controls) -4.79?0.13, MV?SEM(Smokers) -5.70?0.12; p<0.001). For males, presence of 6/17 (35.29% genetic homozygosity) HRCs (OR=6.12) was to the certain degree predictor for smoking dependency. Higher degree of genetic homozygosity, changed variability and male gender, might be some among potential numerous factors that could have impact on smoking development and dependence.

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A note on the housing of intact male and female pigs together in the same pen during the growing period to bacon weight

Animal Science ◽

10.1017/s0003356100024661 ◽

1980 ◽

Vol 31 (3) ◽

pp. 321-322 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

R. S. Barber ◽

R. Braude ◽

K. G. Mitchell ◽

Joanne Thomas

Keyword(s):

Feed Intake ◽

Live Weight ◽

Intake Rate ◽

Feeding Trial ◽

Intact Male ◽

Male And Female ◽

Gain Ratio ◽

Growing Period ◽

Single Sex ◽

Dressing Percentage

ABSTRACTA feeding trial was carried out, using 180 pigs, to assess the effect on performance when intact male and female pigs were housed together in the same pens from 20 to 90 kg live weight. There were no significant differences in daily feed intake, rate of growth or feed: gain ratio between pigs from mixed-sex pens and pigs from single-sex pens. Carcass measurements indicated slightly leaner carcasses for intact male pigs whether housed in separate pens or together with female pigs, while female pigs likewise had a significantly higher dressing percentage.

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Male and Female Mating Strategies on Sage Grouse Leks

Ecological Aspects of Social Evolution ◽

10.2307/j.ctt7zvwgq.21 ◽

2018 ◽

pp. 379-398 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

ROBERT M. GIBSON ◽

JACK W. BRADBURY

Keyword(s):

Mating Strategies ◽

Sage Grouse ◽

Male And Female ◽

Female Mating

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GENDER DIFFERENCES IN BODY SELF-RELATION AMONG YOUNG ADULTS IN INDIA

International journal of multidisciplinary advanced scientific research and innovation ◽

10.53633/ijmasri.2021.1.8.01 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 1 (8) ◽

pp. 149-156

Author(s):

Ranjini Karthikeyan ◽

Amiya Bhaumik

Keyword(s):

Gender Differences ◽

Body Image ◽

Young Adults ◽

Null Hypothesis ◽

Body Shape ◽

Male And Female ◽

Significant Difference ◽

Female Data ◽

Body Self ◽

The Individual

Body self-relation is a multidimensional construct defined by persons" perceptions of and attitudes about their body. Body image does not simply reflect the biological enrichment of the individual or the feedback received from the significant others. The way you perceive about your body is your cognitive body image. This can lead to excessive concern with body shape and weight. Behaviors in which you relate as a result of your body image encompass your behavioral body image. A study based on the gender differences in body relation relating to young adults rating the comparison in perception of both male and female data. Hundred participants of both male and female took part in answering the by Multidimensional body selfrelations questionnaire (MBSRQ-AS). Results demonstrated by Mann Whitney U test revealed that there is significant difference between male and female young adults in their relation to body self, p<0.05, (2- tailed) in appearance orientation. There is no statistical sig.>0.05 differences in the other dimensions. Therefore, this study rejects the null hypothesis in (dimension) appearance orientation and accepts the null hypothesis (dimensions) in appearance evaluation, body area satisfaction, overweight preoccupation and self-classified weight. Keywords: body self-relation; gender differences

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Gender issues

Death and Burial in Iron Age Britain ◽

10.1093/oso/9780199687565.003.0013 ◽

2015 ◽

Author(s):

Dennis Harding

Keyword(s):

Iron Age ◽

Gender Issues ◽

Reproductive Organs ◽

Child Rearing ◽

Male And Female ◽

Biological Sex ◽

Socially Constructed ◽

Cultural Construct ◽

The Individual ◽

Gender System

Contemporary studies commonly stress the belief that, even if sex is biologically determined, gender by contrast is a social and cultural construct (Sofaer and Sørensen, 2012). Even biological sex entails varying degrees of male and female attributes in terms of chromosomes and DNA if not in terms of reproductive organs, so that, contrary to the bipolar model of sex, contemporary studies of gender tend to think in terms of a spectrum that includes composite gender or a third gender that is neither male nor female in what Arnold (2006: 155) described as ‘a suprabinary gender system’. In the case of the Byzantine eunuchs or the Indian hijra cited by Croucher (2012: 174–5), these could be regarded as socially constructed, and it is not here suggested that such categories existed in Iron Age Britain or Europe. It is important, however, to be clear that conventional western sexual stereotypes and conceptions of gender roles in child-rearing, food production, and warfare, for example, need not have pertained in non-classical societies in antiquity. Gender issues in the study of funerary archaeology have gained a prominence in the last twenty years not simply as a result of theoretical considerations but also because of more intensive interest in osteological research, as a result of which there has been a greater recognition of the fact that identifying sex may involve evaluation of a spectrum of criteria rather than simple bipolar options. Though pelvic bones remain crucial to assessing sex, the skull and other major bones can also be indicative, and not infrequently the evidence remains equivocal, even where the skeleton is reasonably well preserved. Accordingly, some of the skeletons from the eastern Yorkshire cemeteries were deemed to show ‘contra’ indications, that is male and female characteristics in equal measure, in a gradation of assessment that also included ‘definite’, ‘probable’, and ‘possible’ identifications (Stead, 1991). Furthermore, though sex is biologically determined, osteology may be affected by cultural factors such as the degree of physical exercise that the individual habitually engages in, so that the criteria observed by the osteologist may suggest a physique normally associated with the opposite sex.

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