Applying the dominance hierarchy model to pride and shame, and related behaviors

A preliminary experiment with sheep in pens demonstrated that wheat grain could be labelled with tritiated water so that when fed it could provide data that would allow accurate calculation of individual feed consumption. This techinque was used with two groups of sheep fed supplementary wheat grain in paddocks. Half of the animals had previous experience of grain feeding some eight months earlier and the others had not eaten grain. Individual diversity of intake could be estimated usefully by tritium labelling of wheat, which was fed to the sheep in a group. The experiment showed that there was a threefold difference in the amount of wheat eaten between the lowest and highest intakes. Further, animals with previous experience of grain feeding consumed the entire ration initially, but those without previous experience did not consume all of the ration until two weeks after wheat feeding began. Over the period of measurement the experienced sheep consumed about 13% more wheat than the non-experienced group. There were insufficient aggressive acts to establish a dominance hierarchy in either group, although the experienced sheep were more aggressive than the others. Aggressiveness by one sheep towards other sheep did not result in higher wheat intakes by the former compared with other sheep in the group. The results are discussed in terms of the variability in acceptance of such supplements by animals, and of the value, later in life, of early introduction of supplementary feeding.

Download Full-text

A Grey Multi-Level Evaluation of Industrial Park Ecology Based on a Coefficient of Variation-Attribute Hierarchy Model

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13041805 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (4) ◽

pp. 1805

Author(s):

Baolin Qiu ◽

Dongkun Luo

Keyword(s):

Technological Development ◽

Theory And Practice ◽

Industrial Park ◽

Policy Management ◽

Good Level ◽

Industrial Parks ◽

Hierarchy Model ◽

Attribute Hierarchy ◽

Multi Level ◽

Ecological Construction

China entered a new era, and the construction of an ecological civilization and green development has been raised to a new strategic height. As the lifeblood of the national economy, industrial parks significantly contribute to economic growth. However, they also generate significant pollution, damaging the ecological environment. It is urgent to ecologically transform traditional industrial parks. This requires identifying methods to correctly and objectively evaluate the ecological level of industrial parks, and provide ecological construction proposals for the government and industrial parks. In this study, the comprehensive evaluation weight was determined by introducing a variation coefficient and an Attribute Hierarchy Model (AHM). The ecological level of four representative eco-industrial parks was then quantitatively evaluated using a grey multi-level evaluation method. The ecological construction level of the four industrial parks was as follows. The Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area (TEDA) was rated at a “very good” level; and the Suzhou industrial park, Dalian economic and technological development zone, and Fushun mining group were rated at a “good” level. Six dimensions were studied. Of these, policy management had the highest weight, and the total weight of policy management and economic development approached 50%. The result shows that industrial parks can attract innovative enterprises and talents through the policy guidance of local government to improve the level of green innovation technology and cleaner production technology. Then, the ecological level of the industrial parks will be improved. This study enriched the theory and practice of ecological evaluation of industrial parks and provided a reference for the ecological construction of traditional industrial parks.

Download Full-text

Non-random associations in group housed rats (Rattus norvegicus)

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-021-94608-4 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Leanne Proops ◽

Camille A. Troisi ◽

Tanja K. Kleinhappel ◽

Teresa Romero

Keyword(s):

Network Analysis ◽

Empirical Evidence ◽

Rattus Norvegicus ◽

Dominance Hierarchy ◽

Group Living ◽

Ecological Factors ◽

Limited Evidence ◽

Rat Strains ◽

Social Species ◽

Over Time

AbstractEcological factors, such as predation, have traditionally been used to explain sociability. However, it is increasingly recognised that individuals within a group do not associate randomly, and that these non-random associations can generate fitness advantages. The majority of the empirical evidence on differentiated associations in group-living mammals, however, comes from a limited number of taxa and we still know very little about their occurrence and characteristics in some highly social species, such as rats (Rattus spp.). Here, using network analysis, we quantified association patterns in four groups of male fancy rats. We found that the associations between rats were not randomly distributed and that most individuals had significantly more preferred/avoided associates than expected by random. We also found that these preferences can be stable over time, and that they were not influenced by individuals’ rank position in the dominance hierarchy. Our findings are consistent with work in other mammals, but contrast with the limited evidence available for other rat strains. While further studies in groups with different demographic composition are warranted to confirm our findings, the occurrence of differentiated associations in all male groups of rats have important implications for the management and welfare of captive rat populations.

Download Full-text

Allelic Genealogies in Sporophytic Self-Incompatibility Systems in Plants

Genetics ◽

10.1093/genetics/150.3.1187 ◽

1998 ◽

Vol 150 (3) ◽

pp. 1187-1198 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Mikkel H Schierup ◽

Xavier Vekemans ◽

Freddy B Christiansen

Keyword(s):

Dominance Hierarchy ◽

Common Ancestor ◽

Recent Common Ancestor ◽

Self Incompatibility ◽

Most Recent Common Ancestor ◽

Dominance Interactions ◽

Turnover Process ◽

Neutral Gene ◽

Interspecific Comparisons ◽

Coalescence Times

Abstract Expectations for the time scale and structure of allelic genealogies in finite populations are formed under three models of sporophytic self-incompatibility. The models differ in the dominance interactions among the alleles that determine the self-incompatibility phenotype: In the SSIcod model, alleles act codominantly in both pollen and style, in the SSIdom model, alleles form a dominance hierarchy, and in SSIdomcod, alleles are codominant in the style and show a dominance hierarchy in the pollen. Coalescence times of alleles rarely differ more than threefold from those under gametophytic self-incompatibility, and transspecific polymorphism is therefore expected to be equally common. The previously reported directional turnover process of alleles in the SSIdomcod model results in coalescence times lower and substitution rates higher than those in the other models. The SSIdom model assumes strong asymmetries in allelic action, and the most recessive extant allele is likely to be the most recent common ancestor. Despite these asymmetries, the expected shape of the allele genealogies does not deviate markedly from the shape of a neutral gene genealogy. The application of the results to sequence surveys of alleles, including interspecific comparisons, is discussed.

Download Full-text