scholarly journals Questioning paradigms: caste-specific ventilation in harvester ants, Messor pergandei and M. julianus (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

1995 ◽  
Vol 198 (2) ◽  
pp. 521-530 ◽  
Author(s):  
J Lighton ◽  
D Berrigan
Keyword(s):  
Co2 Emission ◽  
Emission Rate ◽  
Emission Rates ◽  
Colony Foundation ◽  
Harvester Ants ◽  
Developmental Constraints ◽  
Ant Colonies ◽  
Physiological Constraints ◽  
Harvester Ant ◽  
Single Temperature

Do developmental constraints in ant colonies limit gas exchange strategies to those displayed by female alates (presumptive queens)? In the xeric harvester ant genus Messor, we found that M. pergandei and M. julianus female alates ventilated highly discontinuously, as predicted, but M. julianus workers ventilated less discontinuously and M. pergandei workers (which occur in more xeric habitats) ventilated continuously. We present the salient characteristics of the discontinuous ventilation cycles of the species and the manner in which they are modulated by CO2 emission rates at a single temperature (24 °C). We demonstrate that, in M. julianus workers, open-spiracle phase CO2 emission rate only slightly exceeds overall CO2 emission rate, making discontinuous ventilation marginal, a state extrapolated in M. pergandei to continuous ventilation. However, workers are plainly capable of far greater rates of CO2 emission than when inactive at 24 °C, so the lack of discontinuous ventilation in M. pergandei under normoxic conditions is not likely to be imposed by physiological constraints and may, in fact, be a response to its xeric environment. We hypothesize ­ aside from phylogenetic effects ­ that discontinuous ventilation occurs primarily in insects that may experience hypoxic and hypercapnic conditions, such as ant queens during claustral colony foundation and perhaps workers within the nest environment; that discontinuous ventilation is not necessarily essential to reduce respiratory water loss; and that it will not necessarily occur in castes or species routinely exposed to xeric but normoxic conditions.

scholarly journals Nest architecture shapes the collective behaviour of harvester ants

2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 20150695 ◽  
Author(s):  
Noa Pinter-Wollman
Keyword(s):  
Network Analysis ◽  
Social Interactions ◽  
Spatial Organization ◽  
Collective Behaviour ◽  
Nest Architecture ◽  
Harvester Ants ◽  
Spatial Constraints ◽  
Ant Colonies ◽  
Harvester Ant

Structures influence how individuals interact and, therefore, shape the collective behaviours that emerge from these interactions. Here I show that the structure of a nest influences the collective behaviour of harvester ant colonies. Using network analysis, I quantify nest architecture and find that as chamber connectivity and redundancy of connections among chambers increase, so does a colony's speed of recruitment to food. Interestingly, the volume of the chambers did not influence speed of recruitment, suggesting that the spatial organization of a nest has a greater impact on collective behaviour than the number of workers it can hold. Thus, by changing spatial constraints on social interactions organisms can modify their behaviour and impact their fitness.

scholarly journals Regulation of Harvester Ant Foraging as a Closed-Loop Excitable System

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Renato Pagliara ◽  
Deborah M. Gordon ◽  
Naomi Ehrich Leonard
Keyword(s):  
Analytical Model ◽  
Environmental Conditions ◽  
Recent Experience ◽  
Centralized Control ◽  
Foraging Activity ◽  
Harvester Ants ◽  
Ant Colonies ◽  
Harvester Ant ◽  
Temperature And Humidity ◽  
Low Dimensional

AbstractAnt colonies regulate activity in response to changing conditions without using centralized control. Harvester ant colonies forage in the desert for seeds, and their regulation of foraging manages a tradeoff between spending and obtaining water. Foragers lose water while outside in the dry air, but the colony obtains water by metabolizing the fats in the seeds they eat. Previous work shows that the rate at which an outgoing forager leaves the nest depends on its recent experience of brief antennal contact with returning foragers that carry a seed. We examine how this process can yield foraging rates that are robust to uncertainty and responsive to temperature and humidity across minutes to hour-long timescales. To explore possible mechanisms, we develop a low-dimensional analytical model with a small number of parameters that captures observed foraging behavior. The model uses excitability dynamics to represent response to interactions inside the nest and a random delay distribution to represent foraging time outside the nest. We show how feedback of outgoing foragers returning to the nest stabilizes the incoming and outgoing foraging rates to a common value determined by the “volatility” of available foragers. The model exhibits a critical volatility above which there is sustained foraging at a constant rate and below which there is cessation of foraging. To explain how the foraging rates of colonies adjust to temperature and humidity, we propose a mechanism that relies on foragers modifying their volatility after they leave the nest and get exposed to the environment. Our study highlights the importance of feedback in the regulation of foraging activity and points to modulation of volatility as a key to explaining differences in foraging activity in response to conditions and across colonies. Our results present opportunities for generalization to other contexts and systems with excitability and feedback across multiple timescales.Author SummaryWe investigate the collective behavior that allows colonies of desert harvester ants to regulate foraging activity in response to environmental conditions. We develop an analytical model connecting three processes: 1) the interactions between foragers returning to the nest and available foragers waiting inside the nest, 2) the effect of these interactions on the likelihood of available foragers to leave the nest to forage, and 3) the return of foragers to the nest after finding seeds. We propose a mechanism in which available foragers modify their response to interactions after their first exposure to the environment. We show how this leads to colony foraging rates that adjust to environmental conditions over time scales from minutes to hours. Our model may prove useful for studying resilience in other classes of systems with excitatory dynamics.

scholarly journals Comparison of CO2 Emissions from Vehicles in Thailand

2017 ◽  
pp. 65-74 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sutthicha Nilrit ◽  
Pantawat Sampanpanish ◽  
Surat Bualert
Keyword(s):  
Co2 Emissions ◽  
Co2 Emission ◽  
Emission Rate ◽  
Vehicle Speed ◽  
Emission Rates ◽  
Passenger Vehicles ◽  
Light Duty ◽  
Liquid Petroleum Gas ◽  
Heavy Duty Diesel ◽  
Carbon Dioxide Co2

Emission of carbon dioxide (CO2), a greenhouse gas, from typical passenger vehicles in Thailand was investigated using a chassis dynamometer in the Automotive Emission Laboratory. The vehicle running method was controlled under the standard Bangkok driving cycle. CO2 emissions were measured at three different speeds for the following four vehicle types commonly used in Thailand: heavy duty diesel (HDD), light duty diesel (LDD), and light duty gasoline (LDG) vehicles and motorcycles (MC). HDD vehicles had the highest average CO2 emission rate, followed by LDD, LDG and MC at 1,198.8±93.1, 268.4±21.3, 166.1±27.7 and 42.5±6.1 g km-1, respectively; all values were significantly different (p < 0.05) from each other. The effect of different fuel types, including diesel, gasoline 91, gasohol 95, gasohol 91, liquid petroleum gas (LPG) and natural gas for vehicles (NGV), on the CO2 emission level was also compared. HDD vehicles had a higher rate of CO2 emission when using either NGV or diesel, while LDD vehicles emitted more CO2 with diesel than with NGV. For LDG vehicles, more CO2 was emitted with gasohol 91 than with gasohol E20, LPG or NGV. Finally, MC had a higher average CO2 emission rate with gasohol 95 than with gasoline 91 and gasohol 91 at any vehicle speed. The CO2 emission rates obtained in this study can be used as a basis to create a database that supports development of an efficient transportation management system and reduced vehicular emission of greenhouse gases in Thailand.

scholarly journals Technical Note: Validation of the GreenFeed System for measuring enteric gas emissions from cattle

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sean M McGinn ◽  
Jean-Franҫois Coulombe ◽  
Karen A Beauchemin
Keyword(s):  
Co2 Emission ◽  
Emission Rate ◽  
Technical Note ◽  
Emission Rates ◽  
Gas Emissions ◽  
Respiration Chamber ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Carbon Dioxide Co2 ◽  
Offset Error ◽  
Measurement Period

Abstract There are knowledge gaps in animal agriculture on how to best mitigate greenhouse gas emissions while maintaining animal productivity. One reason for these gaps is the uncertainties associated with methods used to derive emission rates. This study compared emission rates of methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2) measured by a commercially available GreenFeed (GF) system to those from 1) a mass flow controller (MFC) that released known quantities of gas over time (i.e., emission rate), and 2) a respiration chamber (RC). The GF and MFC differed by only 1% for CH4 (P = 0.726) and 3% for CO2 (P = 0.013). The difference between the GF and RC was 1% (P = 0.019) for CH4 and 1% for CO2 (P = 0.007). Further investigation revealed that the difference in emission rate for CO2 was due to a small systematic offset error indicating a correction factor could be applied. We conclude that the GF system accurately estimated enteric CH4 and CO2 emission rates of cattle over a short measurement period, but additional factors would need to be considered in determining the 24-h emission rate of an animal.

scholarly journals Two Independent Light Dilution Corrections for the SO2 Camera Retrieve Comparable Emission Rates at Masaya Volcano, Nicaragua

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 935
Author(s):  
Matthew Varnam ◽  
Mike Burton ◽  
Ben Esse ◽  
Giuseppe Salerno ◽  
Ryunosuke Kazahaya ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Light Scattering ◽  
Optical Depth ◽  
Camera Calibration ◽  
Wind Direction ◽  
Emission Rate ◽  
Emission Rates ◽  
Depth Images ◽  
Masaya Volcano ◽  
Rapid Changes ◽  
Volcanic Emission

SO2 cameras are able to measure rapid changes in volcanic emission rate but require accurate calibrations and corrections to convert optical depth images into slant column densities. We conducted a test at Masaya volcano of two SO2 camera calibration approaches, calibration cells and co-located spectrometer, and corrected both calibrations for light dilution, a process caused by light scattering between the plume and camera. We demonstrate an advancement on the image-based correction that allows the retrieval of the scattering efficiency across a 2D area of an SO2 camera image. When appropriately corrected for the dilution, we show that our two calibration approaches produce final calculated emission rates that agree with simultaneously measured traverse flux data and each other but highlight that the observed distribution of gas within the image is different. We demonstrate that traverses and SO2 camera techniques, when used together, generate better plume speed estimates for traverses and improved knowledge of wind direction for the camera, producing more reliable emission rates. We suggest combining traverses and the SO2 camera should be adopted where possible.

scholarly journals Photosynthesis and Related Physiological Parameters Differences Affected the Isoprene Emission Rate among 10 Typical Tree Species in Subtropical Metropolises

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 954
Author(s):  
Junyao Lyu ◽  
Feng Xiong ◽  
Ningxiao Sun ◽  
Yiheng Li ◽  
Chunjiang Liu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Photosynthetic Rate ◽  
Tree Species ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Emission Rate ◽  
Intercellular Co2 Concentration ◽  
Co2 Concentration ◽  
Single Species ◽  
Photosynthetic Parameters ◽  
Emission Rates ◽  
Isoprene Emission

Volatile organic compound (VOCs) emission is an important cause of photochemical smog and particulate pollution in urban areas, and urban vegetation has been presented as an important source. Different tree species have different emission levels, so adjusting greening species collocation is an effective way to control biogenic VOC pollution. However, there is a lack of measurements of tree species emission in subtropical metropolises, and the factors influencing the species-specific differences need to be further clarified. This study applied an in situ method to investigate the isoprene emission rates of 10 typical tree species in subtropical metropolises. Photosynthesis and related parameters including photosynthetic rate, intercellular CO2 concentration, stomatal conductance, and transpiration rate, which can influence the emission rate of a single species, were also measured. Results showed Salix babylonica always exhibited a high emission level, whereas Elaeocarpus decipiens and Ligustrum lucidum maintained a low level throughout the year. Differences in photosynthetic rate and stomatal CO2 conductance are the key parameters related to isoprene emission among different plants. Through the establishment of emission inventory and determination of key photosynthetic parameters, the results provide a reference for the selection of urban greening species, as well as seasonal pollution control, and help to alleviate VOC pollution caused by urban forests.

Log landings are methane emission hotspots in managed forests

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juliana Vantellingen ◽  
Sean C. Thomas
Keyword(s):  
Organic Matter ◽  
Soil Properties ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Emission Rate ◽  
Woody Debris ◽  
Organic Matter Content ◽  
Growing Season ◽  
Matter Content ◽  
Emission Rates ◽  
Managed Forests

Log landings are areas within managed forests used to process and store felled trees prior to transport. Through their construction and use soil is removed or redistributed, compacted, and organic matter contents may be increased by incorporation of wood fragments. The effects of these changes to soil properties on methane (CH<sub>4</sub>) flux is unclear and unstudied. We quantified CH<sub>4</sub> flux rates from year-old landings in Ontario, Canada, and examined spatial variability and relationships to soil properties within these sites. Landings emitted CH<sub>4</sub> throughout the growing season; the average CH<sub>4</sub> emission rate from log landings was 69.2 ± 12.8 nmol m<sup>-2</sup> s<sup>-1</sup> (26.2 ± 4.8 g CH<sub>4</sub> C m<sup>-2</sup> y<sup>-1</sup>), a rate comparable to CH<sub>4</sub>-emitting wetlands. Emission rates were correlated to soil pH, organic matter content and quantities of buried woody debris. These properties led to strong CH<sub>4</sub> emissions, or “hotspots”, in certain areas of landings, particularly where processing of logs occurred and incorporated woody debris into the soil. At the forest level, emissions from landings were estimated to offset ~12% of CH<sub>4</sub> consumption from soils within the harvest area, although making up only ~0.5% of the harvest area. Management practices to avoid or remediate these emissions should be developed as a priority measure in “climate-smart” forestry.

scholarly journals Variations of the 630.0 nm airglow emission with meridional neutral wind and neutral temperature around midnight

2018 ◽  
Vol 36 (5) ◽  
pp. 1471-1481
Author(s):  
Chih-Yu Chiang ◽  
Sunny Wing-Yee Tam ◽  
Tzu-Fang Chang
Keyword(s):  
Emission Rate ◽  
Local Maximum ◽  
Neutral Wind ◽  
Emission Rates ◽  
Emission Layer ◽  
Neutral Winds ◽  
Neutral Temperature ◽  
Bright Spots ◽  
Different Temperatures ◽  
Volume Emission

Abstract. The ISUAL payload onboard the FORMOSAT-2 satellite has often observed airglow bright spots around midnight at equatorial latitudes. Such features had been suggested as the signature of the thermospheric midnight temperature maximum (MTM) effect, which was associated with temperature and meridional neutral winds. This study investigates the influence of neutral temperature and meridional neutral wind on the volume emission rates of the 630.0 nm nightglow. We utilize the SAMI2 model to simulate the charged and neutral species at the 630.0 nm nightglow emission layer under different temperatures with and without the effect of neutral wind. The results show that the neutral wind is more efficient than temperature variation in affecting the nightglow emission rates. For example, based on our estimation, it would require a temperature change of 145 K to produce a change in the integrated emission rate by 9.8 km-photons cm−3 s−1, while it only needs the neutral wind velocity to change by 1.85 m−1 s−1 to cause the same change in the integrated emission rate. However, the emission rate features a local maximum in its variation with the temperature. Two kinds of tendencies can be seen regarding the temperature that corresponds to the turning point, which is named the turning temperature (Tt) in this study: firstly, Tt decreases with the emission rate for the same altitude; secondly, for approximately the same emission rate, Tt increases with the altitude.

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