The Science of Nature最新文献

{"title":"Female solitary bees flexibly change foraging behaviour according to their floral resource requirements and foraging experiences","authors":"Yuta Nagano,&nbsp;Naoto Wabiko,&nbsp;Tomoyuki Yokoi","doi":"10.1007/s00114-023-01864-7","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00114-023-01864-7","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Intraspecific variation in foraging behaviour is related to the floral resource requirements and foraging experiences of social bees. These behavioural changes influence their pollination efficiency. However, the extent of such behavioural changes in solitary bees, which constitute the majority of bee species, remains largely unknown. As pollen contains essential nutrients for ovarian and offspring development, a relationship between the resource requirements of female bees and their ovarian development is expected. Additionally, wing damage could reflect foraging experiences, as the wings are damaged during foraging. Here, we aimed to clarify the relationships between ovarian development, wing damage, foraging behaviours, and pollination efficiency in female long-horned bees (<i>Eucera nipponensis</i> and <i>Eucera spurcatipes</i>) visiting red clovers. The bee handling times were recorded. Wing damage and pollen load on the hind legs were confirmed and the number of pollen grains on bee’s bodies was counted. We then dissected the bees and recorded the presence or absence of nectar and pollen in the digestive tubes, as well as the mature egg number. The mature egg number positively correlated with nectar feeding and pollen collection, whereas handling time decreased with wing damage. Bees with pollen loads on their legs attach more pollen grains to their bodies. Therefore, solitary bees flexibly change their foraging behaviour based on resource requirements and foraging experiences, and these behavioural changes can influence pollination efficiency. The asynchrony of foraging behaviours and pollination efficiency within a bee population may provide stable pollination for flowering plants throughout the season.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":794,"journal":{"name":"The Science of Nature","volume":"110 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.954,"publicationDate":"2023-07-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"4752166","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Evidence of a thoracic crop in workers, soldiers, and queens of Carebara perpusilla ants (Formicidae: Myrmicinae)","authors":"Adam Khalife,&nbsp;Johan Billen,&nbsp;Evan P. Economo","doi":"10.1007/s00114-023-01866-5","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00114-023-01866-5","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The ability to share and store food is paramount in group-living animals, allowing a finely tuned distribution of resources over time and individuals and an enhanced survival over periods of food scarcity. Ants have several ways to store food: one of them is their gastral crop, also known as a “social stomach.” Nutrients in the crop can be regurgitated to nestmates through oral trophallaxis (mouth-to-mouth) or proceed to the midgut by opening the proventriculus, a valve connecting the crop to the midgut. However, some ants are also known to have a so-called “thoracic crop,” an extension of the esophagus that allows for additional storage space. In this study, we provide the first evidence of a thoracic crop in the genus <i>Carebara</i>, in reproductive (queen) and sterile (soldier and worker) castes. We discuss how the ant body plan allowed for the evolution of a novel food storage structure in the mesothorax.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":794,"journal":{"name":"The Science of Nature","volume":"110 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.954,"publicationDate":"2023-07-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"4724589","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A method for estimating colony size using queen fecundity in termites under field conditions","authors":"Mamoru Takata,&nbsp;Kiyotaka Yabe,&nbsp;Takuya Noro,&nbsp;Shun Mizote,&nbsp;Takao Konishi,&nbsp;Eisuke Tasaki,&nbsp;Kenji Matsuura","doi":"10.1007/s00114-023-01865-6","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00114-023-01865-6","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Colony size in social insects is one of the most important factors in shaping their self-organized system. It affects a wide variety of traits such as foraging and defense strategies, social immune responses, the degree of polymorphism, and reproductive output. However, colony size estimation of subterranean termites in the field has been challenging, due to their extremely cryptic biology and multiple site–nesting behavior. Since natural selection favors workers that maximize the number of their siblings, the amount of egg production may reflect the number of workers in the colony. Here, we report a method for inferring colony size in the field using total egg production in each colony from a subterranean termite, <i>Reticulitermes speratus</i>. Our investigation of field colonies revealed that the body weight of queens reaches a peak and had the largest variance in June and July and accurately predicts the number of eggs laid by the queen per 24 h. Using laboratory-reared colonies, we found that the total egg production in each colony is proportional to the number of workers. We also estimated the colony size of 198 field colonies and found that the median and maximum colony size was 24,500 and 451,800 workers per colony. The method for inferring colony size presented here may also be applicable to termite species with a clear seasonality in egg production. The colony size estimate will contribute to understanding the life history strategies and social systems of termites.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":794,"journal":{"name":"The Science of Nature","volume":"110 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.954,"publicationDate":"2023-07-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"4681555","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The written history of plant phenology: shaping primary sources for secondary publications","authors":"Jari Holopainen,&nbsp;Samuli Helama,&nbsp;Henry Väre","doi":"10.1007/s00114-023-01861-w","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00114-023-01861-w","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h2>Abstract\u0000</h2><div><p>Phenological research establishes the science of nature's natural calendar. This research, the monitoring and analysis of seasonal rhythms of plants and animals, is commonly based on citizen science data. Such data may be digitized from primary sources provided by the citizen scientist’s original phenological diaries. Secondary data sources are formed by historical publications (for example, yearbooks and climate bulletins). While primary data has the advantage of first-hand notetaking, its digitization may, in practice, be time-consuming. Contrastingly, secondary data can contain well-organized typesetting, making digitization less labour-intensive. However, secondary data can be reshaped by the motivations of the historical actors who were collating the data. This study compared data from 1876–1894 gathered originally by citizen scientists (primary data) and the secondary data founded upon the previous primary data, later published by the Finnish Society of Sciences and Letters as a series of phenological yearbooks. In the secondary data, the recorded numbers of taxa and their phenological stages appeared to be fewer and phenological events standardized, with an increased prevalence of agricultural phenology (at the cost of autumn phenology). Moreover, it seems the secondary data had been screened for potential outliers. While secondary sources may provide current phenologists with coherent sets of relevant data, future users must be aware of potential data reshaping resulting from the preferences of historical actors. These actors may weigh and limit the original observations according to their own criteria and preferences.</p></div></div>","PeriodicalId":794,"journal":{"name":"The Science of Nature","volume":"110 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.954,"publicationDate":"2023-07-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s00114-023-01861-w.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"4583112","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Animals evoking fear in the Cradle of Humankind: snakes, scorpions, and large carnivores","authors":"Daniel Frynta,&nbsp;Hassan Sh Abdirahman Elmi,&nbsp;Kateřina Rexová,&nbsp;Markéta Janovcová,&nbsp;Veronika Rudolfová,&nbsp;Iveta Štolhoferová,&nbsp;David Král,&nbsp;David Sommer,&nbsp;Daniel Alex Berti,&nbsp;Petra Frýdlová","doi":"10.1007/s00114-023-01859-4","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00114-023-01859-4","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Theories explain the presence of fears and specific phobias elicited by animals in contemporary WEIRD (Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic) populations by their evolutionary past in Africa. Nevertheless, empirical data about fears of animals in the Cradle of Humankind are still fragmentary. To fill this gap, we examined which local animals are perceived as the most frightening by Somali people, who inhabit a markedly similar environment and the region where humans have evolved. We asked 236 raters to rank 42 stimuli according to their elicited fear. The stimuli were standardized pictures of species representing the local fauna. The results showed that the most frightening animals were snakes, scorpions, the centipede, and large carnivores (cheetahs and hyenas). These were followed up by lizards and spiders. Unlike in Europe, spiders represent less salient stimuli than scorpions for Somali respondents in this study. This conforms to the hypothesis suggesting that fear of spiders was extended or redirected from other chelicerates.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":794,"journal":{"name":"The Science of Nature","volume":"110 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.954,"publicationDate":"2023-07-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s00114-023-01859-4.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"4215273","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Is it possible to estimate sex from signatures and handwriting? A review of literature, observations, and future perspectives","authors":"Rakesh Meena,&nbsp;Kewal Krishan,&nbsp;Abhik Ghosh,&nbsp;Tanuj Kanchan","doi":"10.1007/s00114-023-01862-9","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00114-023-01862-9","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Estimation of sex holds great significance in the field of Forensic Science since it helps establish the identity of an individual during a crime scene investigation. Sex differences in human behaviour are the result of natural selection. Sexually dimorphic stimuli of cognitive and behavioural activities may influence the phenotypic expression of our motor skills. Human traits such as signatures and handwriting are phenotypic manifestation of these skills. These phenotypic biological and behavioural traits have inherent sexual dimorphism and may help to identify sex in different circumstances. For instance, to establish the sex of an individual or deceased, forensic samples of the human body such as voice samples, features of fingerprints and footprints, the skeleton, or its remains are helpful. Similarly, the sex of an individual may also be identified from their corresponding handwriting and signature. Handwriting experts can extract peculiar features from handwriting and signatures which could help establish whether the signatures belong to a male or a female. A female writer may have attractive, rounded, upright, tidy, skilled, well-formed strokes, artistic design, better penmanship, and greater length of the signature compared to the signature of a male. Here, we review the studies related to the identification of sex from signatures and handwriting and present inferences about vital features and methods of sex identification through handwriting. These mainly suggest that the accuracy of sex prediction from signature and handwriting ranges from 45 to 80%. We also present writing examples to show sex-based differences in the signature and handwriting of males and females. The female’s handwriting is more decorative, arranged, aligned, neat, and clean as compared to that of the male. Based on the writing samples and the review of literature, we suggest that forensic handwriting experts may eliminate suspects based on the sex of the writer, which can simplify the identification process of disputed or questionable signatures and handwriting.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":794,"journal":{"name":"The Science of Nature","volume":"110 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.954,"publicationDate":"2023-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"4124273","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Trees harbouring ants are better defended than con-generic and sympatric ant-free trees","authors":"Inácio José de Melo Teles e Gomes,&nbsp;Matheus Oliveira Neves,&nbsp;Lucas Navarro Paolucci","doi":"10.1007/s00114-023-01858-5","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00114-023-01858-5","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Plant strategies against herbivores are classically divided into chemical, physical, biotic defences. However, little is known about the relative importance of each type of plant defence, especially in the same species. Using the myrmecophyte <i>Triplaris americana</i> (both with and without ants), and the congeneric non-myrmecophyte <i>T</i>. <i>gardneriana</i>, we tested whether ant defence is more effective than other defences of naturally ant-free myrmecophytes and the non-myrmecophyte congeneric species, all spatially co-occurring. In addition, we investigated how plant traits vary among plant groups, and how these traits modulate herbivory. We sampled data on leaf area loss and plant traits from these tree groups in the Brazilian Pantanal floodplain, and found that herbivory is sixfold lower in plants with ants than in ant-free plants, supporting a major role of biotic defences against herbivory. Whereas ant-free plants had more physical defences (sclerophylly and trichomes), they had little effect on herbivory—only sclerophylly modulated herbivory, but with opposite effects depending on ants’ presence and species identity. Despite little variation in the chemicals among plant groups, tannin concentrations and δ¹³C signatures negatively affected herbivory in <i>T</i>. <i>americana</i> plants with ants and in <i>T</i>. <i>gardneriana</i>, respectively. We showed that ant defence in myrmecophytic systems is the most effective against herbivory, as the studied plants could not fully compensate the lack of this biotic defence. We highlight the importance of positive insect-plant interactions in limiting herbivory, and therefore potentially plant fitness.\u0000</p></div>","PeriodicalId":794,"journal":{"name":"The Science of Nature","volume":"110 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.954,"publicationDate":"2023-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"5160437","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Eurasian beavers in Central Italy: perceptions in the local community","authors":"Andrea Viviano,&nbsp;Roger E. Auster,&nbsp;Giuseppe Mazza,&nbsp;Alessandro Lagrotteria,&nbsp;Chiara Pucci,&nbsp;Davide Senserini,&nbsp;Roisin Campbell-Palmer,&nbsp;Robert Needham,&nbsp;Davide Curci,&nbsp;Emiliano Mori","doi":"10.1007/s00114-023-01860-x","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00114-023-01860-x","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>According to the IUCN guidelines, wildlife reintroduction should consider any impacts on humans within feasibility assessments. Eurasian beavers <i>Castor fiber</i> are recovering across their native range, due to protection laws and reintroductions. In Central Italy, a self-sustaining, naturalised population of Eurasian beavers has been identified in the last five years. A questionnaire to measure whether and how citizens in the local area perceive the presence of the beaver was administered to 1114 respondents. We observed a comprehensive awareness of the presence of the beaver in Italy and a high ability to distinguish it from non-native coypus <i>Myocastor coypus</i> (92.3%). We also recorded a general high knowledge of issues related to the presence of the beaver (i.e., potential effects on indigenous biodiversity). The majority (65.5%) of the surveyed population was in favour of reintroducing the beaver in Central Italy, and only 1.2% was firmly against it. The majority of interviewed people was against the removal of beavers from Central Italy (65.8%), whereas only 3.7% was in favor, citing fears of perceived impacts on the river, crops, and fish populations.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":794,"journal":{"name":"The Science of Nature","volume":"110 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.954,"publicationDate":"2023-06-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s00114-023-01860-x.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"4864741","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Eggs in faeces: defensive mechanisms and effects of faecal coating by a water scavenger beetle, Coelostoma stultum (Coleopterea: Hydrophilidae)","authors":"Ryosuke Matsushima,&nbsp;Tomoyuki Yokoi","doi":"10.1007/s00114-023-01857-6","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00114-023-01857-6","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h2>Abstract\u0000</h2><div><p>The egg stage in insect development is vulnerable to fluctuations in environmental conditions and attacks by natural enemies. Protective devices are effective means of avoiding both abiotic and biotic damage to eggs. Although some insects use their faeces as a protective device, few studies have focused on using faeces for egg protection, and studies that examined the mechanism are lacking. Females of a water scavenger beetle, <i>Coelostoma stultum</i>, typically lay eggs and coat them with cocoons and their faeces. The efficacy of a double defensive device, however, remains uncertain. Here, we conducted field observations and laboratory experiments to assess the protective effects of cocoons with faecal coating on eggs against predation and determine the duration and mechanisms of this defence. Our findings reveal that the faeces on the egg cocoon protected eggs from predation by the pill bugs, <i>Armadillidium vulgare</i>, and marsh slugs, <i>Deroceras laeve</i>. Laboratory experiments showed that the defensive effect of faecal coating was maintained for three days and decreased daily. The double protective traits with faecal coating on the egg cocoons protected the eggs from instense predation pressure in <i>C. stultum</i>. The behavioural patterns of the pill bugs and egg predation rates indicate that the faecal coating behaviour in <i>C. stultum</i> protects eggs with chemical compounds and textural camouflage in mud when the antennae of the pill bugs touch faeces. It is important to note that for this defence to be effective, the chemistry and texture of the faeces should be similar to that of the oviposition sites.</p></div></div>","PeriodicalId":794,"journal":{"name":"The Science of Nature","volume":"110 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.954,"publicationDate":"2023-06-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s00114-023-01857-6.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"4541910","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Wings are not perfect: increased wing asymmetry in a tropical butterfly as a response to forest fragmentation","authors":"Thaís Pignataro,&nbsp;Giselle Martins Lourenço,&nbsp;Marina Beirão,&nbsp;Tatiana Cornelissen","doi":"10.1007/s00114-023-01856-7","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00114-023-01856-7","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Habitat fragmentation and ecosystem changes have the potential to affect animal populations in different ways. To effectively monitor these changes, biomonitoring tools have been developed and applied to detect changes in population structure and/or individual traits that reflect such changes. Fluctuating asymmetry (FA) represents random deviations from perfect symmetry in bilateral traits from perfect symmetry in response to genetic and/or environmental stresses. In this study, we evaluated the use of FA as a tool to monitor stress caused by forest fragmentation and edge formation, using the tropical butterfly <i>M. helenor</i> (Nymphalidae) as a model species. We collected adult butterflies from three fragments of Atlantic Forest in Brazil encompassing both edge and interior habitats. Four wing traits (wing length, wing width, ocelli area, and ocelli diameter) were evaluated. Butterflies captured at edge sites exhibited higher FA values for wing length and wing width compared to those captured at interior sites, whereas traits related to ocelli did not show differences between the two habitat types. Our results suggest that the differences in abiotic and biotic conditions between forest interior and edges can act as a source of stress, impacting the symmetry of flight-related traits. On the other hand, as ocelli are crucial for butterfly camouflage and counter-predator strategies, our results indicate that this trait may be more conserved. By employing FA, we identified trait-specific responses to habitat fragmentation, thus suggesting its potential as a biomarker for environmental stress that can be used in butterflies to monitor habitat quality and change.</p><h3>Graphical Abstract</h3>\u0000 <figure><div><div><div><picture><source><img></source></picture></div></div></div></figure>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":794,"journal":{"name":"The Science of Nature","volume":"110 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.954,"publicationDate":"2023-06-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"4348744","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}