Insects associated to ephemeral pools in Huentelauquén (29ºS Coquimbo Region, Chile)

In northern central Chile, ephemeral pools constitute shallow isolated water bodies with a favourable habitat for fauna adapted to seasonal changes. Based on the limited knowledge about the fauna—particularly insects—associated to these ecosystems, the objective of this study was to characterize the richness, composition, structure and similarity of the insect communities associated with ephemeral pools in Huentelauquén (29º S, Coquimbo Region, Chile). By using pitfall traps, 10,762 individuals were captured, represented by 7 orders, 27 families, and 51 species. Coleoptera and Hymenoptera were the best represented orders, with Neuroptera, Orthoptera and Plecoptera being poorly represented groups. The non-parametric estimators evaluated showed wealth values above those observed for all the studied pools, and their accumulation curves suggest the existence of an incomplete species inventory in the studied community. Additionally, the hierarchical and ordering analysis showed groupings of pools located in the northwest and southeast of Huentelauquén. Preliminarily we found a negative correlation between the area of the pools and the richness (species) and abundance of insects. Additional studies (on other arthropod groups and other seasons of the year) could provide a better understanding of the local processes of extinction and colonization of the species inhabiting these fragile coastal environments.

Impact on Stock Market across Covid-19 Outbreak

This paper analysis the impact of pandemic over the global stock exchange. The stock listing values are determined by variety of factors including the seasonal changes, catastrophic calamities, pandemic, fiscal year change and many more. This paper significantly provides analysis on the variation of listing price over the world-wide outbreak of novel corona virus. The key reason to imply upon this outbreak was to provide notion on underlying regulation of stock exchanges. Daily closing prices of the stock indices from January 2017 to January 2022 has been utilized for the analysis. The predominant feature of the research is to analyse the fact that does global economy downfall impacts the financial stock exchange. Keywords: Stock Exchange, Matplotlib, Streamlit, Data Science, Web scrapping.

Forage Availability and Quality, and Feeding Behaviour of Indigenous Goats Grazing in a Mediterranean Silvopastoral System

The aim of this study was to study the feeding behaviour of indigenous goats and the selection drivers of different plant species in a Mediterranean forest rangeland. To achieve this goal, the seasonal variations in terms of forage availability and quality of ingested plant species were studied during three grazing seasons. In the same period, eight indigenous goats of Beni Arouss breed were selected to explore the seasonal changes in their browsing behaviour. Forage quality was determined by the hand-plucking technique. The results showed a wide seasonal variation in forage availability and quality, and feeding behaviour. Woody species were more selected independently of the season (p < 0.001). The crude protein content varied from 53.3 g/kg of dry mater (DM) for Erica arborea in summer to 197 g/kg DM for Calicotome villosa in autumn (p < 0.001). Despite the high condensed tannins content in selected shrubs, they were highly consumed. In vitro organic matter digestibility (IVOMD) and metabolizable energy (ME) had recorded the highest contents in herbaceous during spring. Shrubs and trees contain the lowest levels of IVOMD (<500 g/kg) and ME (<7.2 MJ/kg) during autumn and summer. It is concluded that seasonal changes in forage availability and quality did not necessarily affect the indigenous goats’ preference. These findings could help goat herders to develop feeding and grazing systems while increasing the performance of goats in the Mediterranean silvopastoral system.

Insect Diapause

Our highly seasonal world restricts insect activity to brief portions of the year. This feature necessitates a sophisticated interpretation of seasonal changes and enactment of mechanisms for bringing development to a halt and then reinitiating it when the inimical season is past. The dormant state of diapause serves to bridge the unfavourable seasons, and its timing provides a powerful mechanism for synchronizing insect development. This book explores how seasonal signals are monitored and used by insects to enact specific molecular pathways that generate the diapause phenotype. The broad perspective offered here scales from the ecological to the molecular and thus provides a comprehensive view of this exciting and vibrant research field, offering insights on topics ranging from pest management, evolution, speciation, climate change and disease transmission, to human health, as well as analogies with other forms of invertebrate dormancy and mammalian hibernation.

Heat island intensities over Brihan Mumbai on a cold winter and hot summer night

A mobile temperature survey of Brihan Mumbai (Greater Bombay) was undertaken on 16 January 1997 which incidentally turned out to be the coldest winter night. Heat islands were found well inside the city, away from the coastal boundary, within a distinct tongue of warm air splitting in three branches roughly along the three sub- urban railway tracks. The finding of the study were in sharp contrast with similar studies conducted during the early seventies by Daniel and Krishnamurthy (1973) and later by Mukherjee and Daniel (1976). They found a remarkable influence of sea on the horizontal temperature distribution in comparison to other factors of urbanisation and noticed the heat island over Malabar Hill, Girgaurn and Cuffe Parade area. The survey conducted after a span of twenty-two years, showed that the temperature distribution in the city and suburbs has been modified significantly and that the effect of urbanisation has overtaken the effect of maritime influence in the formation and maintenance of heat islands. Another mobile temperature survey was conducted during the early hours of 11 May 1997 on the same lines as survey conducted on 16 January 1997, to confirm the findings of earlier survey and to assess seasonal changes in the intensities of heat island. This later survey showed similar pattern of horizontal temperature distribution, though the intensity of heat island observed was only 5.5° C as compared to 11.8° C observed during winter.

GREESHMA RITUCHARYA: A REVIEW

Ritu means season, and Charya is ritual. Ayurveda tells about following the practices mentioned by our Acharyas to balance the health in each Ritu. Ritucharya gives us knowledge about apt diet regimens to cope with the influences caused by seasonal changes. To keep the nutritional status of both body and mind, we need to follow the regimens told in Ayurveda. The objective is to gather information about the Hitakara and Ahitakara Ahara and Vihara mentioned in Greeshma Ritu by our Acharya’s and its application for a healthier lifestyle. In Greeshma ritu, Sunrays become more powerful, which dries up the Sneha Guna of Bhoomi as well as Shareera, Kapha slowly decreases and gradually Vata starts increasing, Bala of the person will be significantly less in this Ritu; therefore, one should avoid Ahita Ahara Vihara sevana and adopt Hitakara Ahara Vihara sevana. The body's adjustment to cope with seasonal changes by following the rituals mentioned in Ritucharya is very important; thus, we can maintain the Equilibrium state of health.

Accumulation of Anthocyanidins Determines Leaf Color of Liquidambar Formosana as Revealed by Transcriptome Sequencing and Metabolism Analysis

Liquidambar formosana is important for its ornamental value in China; it is increasingly used for landscaping and gardening trees due to its diverse leaf colors and seasonal changes. Varieties including either a fixed leaf color, the purplish ‘Fuluzifeng’ (ZF), or seasonal changes in leaf color, the reddish ‘Nanlinhong’ (NLH) have been bred and registered as new plant varieties under the International Union for the Protection of New Plant Varieties (UPOV) system. To gain practical insights into the anthocyanin biosynthetic process, transcriptome sequencing (Illumina) was performed to clarify the metabolic pathways present in the three seasonal changes in leaf colors in NLH and in the springtime purple-red color of ZF. qRT-PCR was used to verify the speculation. Based on the differentially expressed genes and flavonoids analyses, the spring, summer, and autumn leaves of NLH were compared to study the seasonal differences. NLH and ZF were compared to study the formation mechanism of the two leaf colors in spring. Transcriptome sequencing produced a total of 121,216 unigenes from all samples, where 48 unigenes were differentially expressed and associated with the anthocyanidin pathway. The expression levels of LfDFR and LfANS genes corresponded to the accumulation of concentrations of cyanidins in spring (NLHC) and autumn leaves (NLHQ), respectively, with different shades of red. Moreover, the LfF3′5′H gene corresponded to the accumulation of flavonols and delphinidins in purple-red leaves (ZFC). Cyanidin and peonidin were the key pigments in red and dark-red leaves, and purple-red leaves were co-pigmented by cyanidins, pelargonidins, and delphinidins.

Irreversible impact of early thermal conditions: an integrative study of developmental plasticity linked to mobility in a butterfly species

Within populations, phenotypic plasticity may allow adaptive phenotypic variation in response to selection generated by environmental heterogeneity. For instance, in multivoltine species, seasonal changes between and within generations may trigger morphological and physiological variation enhancing fitness under different environmental conditions. These seasonal changes may irreversibly affect adult phenotypes when experienced during development. Yet, the irreversible effects of developmental plasticity on adult morphology have rarely been linked to life-history traits even though they may affect different fitness components such as reproduction, mobility and self-maintenance. To address this issue, we raised larvae of Pieris napi butterflies under warm or cool conditions to subsequently compare adult performance in terms of reproduction performance (as assessed through fecundity), displacement capacity (as assessed through flight propensity and endurance) and self-maintenance (as assessed through the measurement of oxidative markers). As expected in ectotherms, individuals developed faster under warm conditions and were smaller than individuals developing under cool conditions. They also had more slender wings and showed a higher wing surface ratio. These morphological differences were associated with changes in the reproductive and flight performances of adults, as individuals developing under warm conditions laid fewer eggs and flew larger distances. Accordingly, the examination of their oxidative status suggested that individuals developing under warm conditions invested more strongly into self-maintenance than individuals developing under cool conditions (possibly at the expense of reproduction). Overall, our results indicate that developmental conditions have long-term consequences on several adult traits in butterflies. This plasticity likely acts on life history strategies for each generation to keep pace with seasonal variations and may facilitate acclimation processes in the context of climate change.

Robust design of complex socio-technical systems against seasonal effects: a network motif-based approach

Seasonal effects can significantly impact the robustness of socio-technical systems (STS) to demand fluctuations. There is an increasing need to develop novel design approaches that can support capacity planning decisions for enhancing the robustness of STS against seasonal effects. This paper proposes a new network motif-based approach to supporting capacity planning in STS for an improved seasonal robustness. Network motifs are underlying nonrandom subgraphs within a complex network. In this approach, we introduce three motif-based metrics for system performance evaluation and capacity planning decision-making. The first one is the imbalance score of a motif (e.g., a local service network), the second one is the measurement of a motif’s seasonal robustness, and the third one is a capacity planning decision criterion. Based on these three metrics, we validate that the sensitivity of STS performance against seasonal effects is highly correlated with the imbalanced capacity between service nodes in an STS. Correspondingly, we formulate a design optimisation problem to improve the robustness of STS by rebalancing the resources at critical service nodes. To demonstrate the utility of the approach, a case study on Divvy bike-sharing system in Chicago is conducted. With a focus on the size-3 motifs (a subgraph consisting three docked stations), we find that there is a significant correlation between the difference of the number of docks among the stations in a motif and the return/rental performance of such a motif against seasonal changes. Guided by this finding, our design approach can successfully balance out the number of docks between those stations that have caused the most severe seasonal perturbations. The results also imply that the network motifs can be an effective local structural representation in support of STS robust design. Our approach can be generally applied in other STS where the system performances are significantly impacted by seasonal changes, for example, supply chain networks, transportation systems and power grids.