scholarly journals Structure and functions of Yellow-breasted Boubou (Laniarius atroflavus) solos and duets

PeerJ ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. e10214
Author(s):  
Amie Wheeldon ◽  
Paweł Szymański ◽  
Michał Budka ◽  
Tomasz S. Osiejuk

Background Birds have extremely well-developed acoustic communication and have become popular in bioacoustics research. The majority of studies on bird song have been conducted in the temperate zones where usually males of birds sing to attract females and defend territories. In over 360 bird species mostly inhabiting the tropics both males and females sing together in duets. Avian duets are usually formed when a male and female coordinate their songs. We focused on a species with relatively weakly coordinated duets, with male solo as the prevailing vocalisation type. Methods Instead of analysing a set of recordings spread over a long time, we analysed whole day microphone-array recordings of the Yellow-breasted Boubou (Laniarius atroflavus), a species endemic to West African montane rainforests. We described the structure of the solo and duet vocalisations and temporal characteristics of daily activity based on 5,934 vocal bouts of 18 focal pairs and their neighbours. Results Birds had small, sex specific repertoires. All males shared three types of loud whistles functioning as song type repertoires in both solos and duets. Females vocalised with five types of harsh, atonal notes with a more variable and usually lower amplitude. Three of them were produced both as solos and in duets, while two seem to function as alarm and excitement calls given almost exclusively as a solo. Solos were the most common vocalisation mode (75.4%), with males being more vocally active than females. Duets accounted for 24.6% of all vocalisations and in most cases were initiated by males (81%). The majority of duets were simple (85.1%) consisting of a single male and female song type, but altogether 38 unique duet combinations were described. Males usually initiated singing at dawn and for this used one particular song type more often than expected by chance. Male solo and duet activities peaked around dawn, while female solos were produced evenly throughout the day. Discussion Yellow-breasted Boubou is a duetting species in which males are much more vocal than females and duetting is not a dominating type of vocal activity. Duet structure, context and timing of daily production support the joint resource defence hypothesis and mate guarding/prevention hypotheses, however maintaining pair contact also seems to be important. This study provides for the first time the basic quantitative data describing calls, solos and duet songs in the Yellow-breasted Boubou.

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 56-67 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luis Sandoval ◽  
Roselvy Juárez ◽  
Mauricio Villarreal

Background: Duet function hypotheses have been mostly studied in bird species that produce duets with male and female solo songs. However, in order to understand if patterns of duet function are similar across all duetting species, it is highly necessary to test the duet function hypotheses in species that produce duets with vocalizations other than solo songs. Objective: We studied the responses of territorial pairs to each sex’s individual duet contribution and complete duets in a species that produces duets with a vocalization other than male and female solo songs. Methods: We conducted a playback experiment where we presented duet contributions of each sex to three populations of White-eared Ground-sparrows (Melozone leucotis) in Costa Rica, during this species’ breeding season in 2016. Results: The responses to complete duets were stronger than those to each sex’s duet contribution, suggesting that complete duets and each sex’s duet contribution have different functions. Complete duets are used to protect resources from intruders (supporting the resource defense hypothesis), and to prevent the partner from being usurped by intruders (supporting the mate-guarding hypothesis). Males used solo songs in response to female duet contributions, and this may work to attract intruder females (increasing the probability of extra-pair copulation). Males also use solo songs in response to male duet contributions, which may work as a signal to repel intruder males and guard their female. In this case, where mate attraction occurs with a completely different type of vocalization than used for duetting, we found a clear pattern of a double agenda for males when a territorial intrusion occurs. Conclusions: This study provides strong support for the dual function hypothesis in duets and reveals conflicting selective pressures between pair members relative to each hypothesis.


2012 ◽  
Vol 279 (1742) ◽  
pp. 3520-3526 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Tilston Smith ◽  
Amei Amei ◽  
John Klicka

Climatic and geological changes across time are presumed to have shaped the rich biodiversity of tropical regions. However, the impact climatic drying and subsequent tropical rainforest contraction had on speciation has been controversial because of inconsistent palaeoecological and genetic data. Despite the strong interest in examining the role of climatic change on speciation in the Neotropics there has been few comparative studies, particularly, those that include non-rainforest taxa. We used bird species that inhabit humid or dry habitats that dispersed across the Panamanian Isthmus to characterize temporal and spatial patterns of speciation across this barrier. Here, we show that these two assemblages of birds exhibit temporally different speciation time patterns that supports multiple cycles of speciation. Evidence for these cycles is further corroborated by the finding that both assemblages consist of ‘young’ and ‘old’ species, despite dry habitat species pairs being geographically more distant than pairs of humid habitat species. The matrix of humid and dry habitats in the tropics not only allows for the maintenance of high species richness, but additionally this study suggests that these environments may have promoted speciation. We conclude that differentially expanding and contracting distributions of dry and humid habitats was probably an important contributor to speciation in the tropics.


2020 ◽  
Vol 375 (1813) ◽  
pp. 20200062
Author(s):  
Leigh W. Simmons ◽  
Geoff A. Parker ◽  
David J. Hosken

Studies of the yellow dungfly in the 1960s provided one of the first quantitative demonstrations of the costs and benefits associated with male and female reproductive behaviour. These studies advanced appreciation of sexual selection as a significant evolutionary mechanism and contributed to the 1970s paradigm shift toward individual selectionist thinking. Three behaviours in particular led to the realization that sexual selection can continue during and after mating: (i) female receptivity to remating, (ii) sperm displacement and (iii) post-copulatory mate guarding. These behaviours either generate, or are adaptations to sperm competition, cryptic female choice and sexual conflict. Here we review this body of work, and its contribution to the development of post-copulatory sexual selection theory. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Fifty years of sperm competition’.


Zootaxa ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 4521 (2) ◽  
pp. 231
Author(s):  
NIKITA J. KLUGE ◽  
JUAN A. BERNAL VEGA

A new definition for the genus Moribaetis Waltz & McCafferty 1985 is given. Its type species, Moribaetis maculipennis (Flowers 1979) is redescribed based on male and female imagoes reared from larvae near the type locality in Panama. Larvae, formerly wrongly attributed to Moribaetis salvini (Eaton 1885), and a male imago, formerly wrongly attributed to Moribaetis macaferti Waltz 1985, belong to a new species Moribaetis latipennis sp. n., which is described here based on a male imago reared from larva in Panama. Both species, M. maculipennis and M. latipennis sp. n., are distinct from M. salvini, which is known as a single male imago (lectotype) from Costa Rica. All other species, formerly attributed to Moribaetis, are excluded from this genus; a new combination Caribaetis macaferti comb. n. is proposed for the species originally described as Moribaetis macaferti Waltz (in Waltz & McCafferty) 1985, and a new combination Baetis (Rhodobaetis) mimbresaurus comb. n. is proposed for the species originally described as Moribaetis mimbresaurus McCafferty 2007. 


2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (10) ◽  
pp. 3337-3354 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Pastel ◽  
J.-P. Pommereau ◽  
F. Goutail ◽  
A. Richter ◽  
A. Pazmiño ◽  
...  

Abstract. Long time series of ozone and NO2 total column measurements in the southern tropics are available from two ground-based SAOZ (Système d'Analyse par Observation Zénithale) UV-visible spectrometers operated within the Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Composition Change (NDACC) in Bauru (22° S, 49° W) in S-E Brazil since 1995 and Reunion Island (21° S, 55° E) in the S-W Indian Ocean since 1993. Although the stations are located at the same latitude, significant differences are observed in the columns of both species, attributed to differences in tropospheric content and equivalent latitude in the lower stratosphere. These data are used to identify which satellites operating during the same period, are capturing the same features and are thus best suited for building reliable merged time series for trend studies. For ozone, the satellites series best matching SAOZ observations are EP-TOMS (1995–2004) and OMI-TOMS (2005–2011), whereas for NO2, best results are obtained by combining GOME version GDP5 (1996–2003) and SCIAMACHY – IUP (2003–2011), displaying lower noise and seasonality in reference to SAOZ. Both merged data sets are fully consistent with the larger columns of the two species above South America and the seasonality of the differences between the two stations, reported by SAOZ, providing reliable time series for further trend analyses and identification of sources of interannual variability in the future analysis.


2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-46
Author(s):  
Nurul Chusna ◽  
Evi Mulyani ◽  
Ahmad Asmadi

Diarrhea is a disease characterized by an increase in the frequency of defecation more than three times a day accompanied by changes in shape and consistency of feces of patients. Bacterial, viral or parasitic infections can cause diarrhea. This study aimed to determine the profile of the use of antidiarrheal drugs for one semester in 3 South Barito District Health Centers namely Bangkuang Health Center, Sababilah Health Center, and Buntok Health Center. The results showed that there were differences in the use of drugs in each Health Center. Based on the type of drug that is most widely used, namely for the Bangkuang Health Center was Zink (1300 prescription), for Sababilah Health Center was Metronidazole (1350 prescription), and for Buntok Health Center was Cotrimoxazole (4650 prescriptions). Based on the age of patients aged 18-60 years for Bangkuang Health Center as many as 120 people, 279 people for Sababilah Health Center, and 315 people for Buntok Health Center. Based on male and female sex, for Bangkuang Health Center were 98 males and 167 females, for Sababilah Health Center were 233 males and 258 females, and for Buntok Health Center were 298 males and 398 females. Further research needed for a long time regarding the use of antidiarrheal drugs in other Health Centers.


1935 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 100-101
Author(s):  
G. G. Kondratyev

This disease was first noted by Lutz (1891), who observed it among the inhabitants of the Sandwich Islands. Iеanselme, observing it among the natives in Indo-China, described it under the name "Nodosits juxta articulaires". Until 1920, the latter was considered a disease of exclusively tropical countries. All the cases described before 1920 concerned almost exclusively the natives and only in some cases Europeans who have lived in the tropics for a long time.


Zootaxa ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 3427 (1) ◽  
pp. 47 ◽  
Author(s):  
ARMANDO C. CICCHINO ◽  
DANIEL ALFONSO GONZÁLEZ-ACUÑA

Species of the genus Bonomiella Conci, 1942, are a parasitic on bird species belonging to the family Columbidae (Aves, Columbiformes). In the present study we redescribe the species Bonomiella columbae Emerson, 1957 from Argentinean specimens, and describe the new species B. zenaidae sp. nov. from Zenaida auriculata virgate Bertoni, 1901, and Z. auriculata auriculata (des Murs 1847) from Argentina and Chile. Descriptions include male and female diagnostic features, and also descriptions of nymphal instars II and III. Also, we include a full diagnosis of the genus Bonomiella and an annotated checklist of the six species known to date, with their respective hosts.


2011 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 33-53
Author(s):  
Daniel Węcel ◽  
Włodzimierz Ogulewicz

Study on the possibility of use of photovoltaic cells for the supply of electrolysers Photovoltaic cells have been used for a long time to supply the electrical devices of small power in areas without access to the electricity networks (or other sources of electric energy). The ecological aspect of the use of the renewable energy sources, together with the technology development and increasingly lower costs of production the photovoltaic cells, cause the increase of their application. The solar power plants are built in several places in the world, not necessarily in the areas of high light intensity. Nowadays, such developments mostly depend on the wealth of a particular country. The largest photovoltaic power stations have power of a several dozen of MW. The major disadvantage of the photovoltaic cells is that the energy production is possible only during the day. This causes a necessity of energy accumulation in large photovoltaic systems. One possibility of storing large amounts of energy gives a hydrogen fuel, generated in the electrolysers powered directly from photovoltaic cells. Hydrogen, stored in pressure tanks or in tanks with synthetic porous materials, can be again used to produce electricity in fuel cells. This paper introduces selected issues and test results associated with the use of photovoltaic cells to power the hydrogen generators. The possible connections of photovoltaic modules integrated with electrolysers were analyzed. In this article the results of the electricity daily production by polycrystalline photovoltaic cells, collected in the course of the entire year were also presented.


Physiology ◽  
1986 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 44-47
Author(s):  
OGP Isakkson ◽  
J-O Jansson ◽  
RG Clark ◽  
I Robinson

The plasma concentration of growth hormone fluctuates widely with pronounced peaks at intervals of a few hours and troughs of nearly vanishingly low concentrations in between. The pattern of secretion varies, and different patterns affect growth differently. Tall children usually have frequent growth hormone peaks of a high amplitude, whereas short, healthy children usually have fewer peaks of a lower amplitude. Male and female rats have different patterns, and a "masculine" pattern promotes growth more than a "feminine" pattern. If the same amount of growth hormone is administered in several pulses rather than continuously, the effect on growth is much greater.


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