bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Impact of Social Ties on Dispersal, Reproduction and Dominance in Feral House Mice (Mus musculus domesticus)
Authors: Gerlach Gabriele 
Published: May 2010

AbstractThe existence of a relationship between the social ties an individual has to other family members and its further role within the family was tested in feral house mice (Mus musculus domesticus), according to the ‘Social cohesions hypothesis’. It is predicted by the hypothesis that individuals not forming strong social ties are the first who emigrate.House mice were studied using a population cage system that allowed continuous observation of individually marked animals. Data on time staying with other animals (social ties), aggressive interactions, body weight, reproduction, and emigration were collected daily. The results may be summarized as follows:

Male emigrants were less integrated in cohorts of male littermates compared with their brothers of the same age. These male cohorts appeared to protect single males from attacks by the dominant male. No difference could be observed in social ties to other family members.
After weaning, there was no difference in social ties of male and female offspring. However, after sexual maturation social ties of males decreased significantly while those of females remained almost constant.
Female emigrants showed the same intensity of social ties as their resident sisters.
No difference could be found between social ties of females becoming pregnant and their nonreproductive sisters of the same age. Reproduction or reproductive suppression could not be explained by having more or less contact with other reproductive females.
Dominant males spent least of all time with other family members.

The social cohesions hypothesis has to be rejected in analysing proximate causes of emigration. In house mice, male emigration was caused by aggression of the dominant male in competition for the top rank within the group. This was enhanced by a lower integration in the group of same‐aged brothers but is not related to a lack of integration into the family.
Quantifying Predation Risk for Refuging Animals: A Case Study with Golden Marmots
Authors: Blumstein Daniel T. 
Published: May 2010

AbstractAlthough a variety of behaviors expose animals to some risk of predation, there is no accepted way to compare their relative risk. For animals that retreat to refugia when alarmed by predators, the proportion of time devoted to each out‐of‐refuge behavior multiplied by the total time required to return to a refuge can be used to compare a behavior's relative predation risk. Total time to return to a refuge is a function of both response time ‐ the time required to respond to an increased risk of predation — and travel time — the time required to flee to a refuge once alarmed. Quantifying these components can illustrate how animals minimize exposure to predators. Golden marmots (Marmota caudata aurea) were a refuging prey species used to examine the utility of this measure and to understand how marmots minimized their risk of exposure to predation. Golden marmots devoted different amounts of time to looking, foraging, self‐grooming, and playing. To estimate the behavior‐specific time required to return to refugia, the location of different activities was noted and a behavior‐specific travel time was calculated. Alarm calls were played back to marmots engaged in different behaviors to determine, in a standardized manner, if there were behavior‐specific response times. Marmots appeared to minimize their predation risk by performing most behaviors close to refugia. Results suggest that foraging was the riskiest behavior, largely because marmots foraged far from refugia and spent about 30% of their time foraging. While sample sizes were small, results also suggested that play, a rare adult behavior, exposed animals to predation because of a relatively long response time.
The Effect of Feeding History on Prey Capture Behaviour in the Orbweb Spider Argiope keyserlingi Karsch (Araneae: Araneidae)
Authors: Herberstein Marie E. , Abernethy Kirsten E. , Backhouse Kelly , Bradford Heidi , de Crespigny Fleur E. , Luckock Peter R. , Elgar Mark A. 
Published: May 2010

AbstractThe prey capture behaviour of the orb‐web spider Argiope keyserlingi Karsch was examined experimentally by subjecting spiders to two different feeding regimes (food deprived and food satiated) and three types of prey: Drosophila, blowflies (Lucilia cuprina) and bees (Apis mellifera). The attack behaviour of the spiders was influenced by both their foraging history and the type of prey. Food deprived spiders attacked Drosophila and bees more frequently than food satiated spiders, and food satiated spiders travelled more slowly to any of the prey types than food deprived spiders. Furthermore, Drosophila were never wrapped in silk but only grasped with the chelicerae, whereas both blowflies and bees were always wrapped. This provides experimental confirmation that feeding history affects the decision of orb‐web spiders to accept or reject any given prey.
The Effect of Queen Number on Nestmate Discrimination in the Facultatively Polygynous Ant Pseudomyrmex pallidus (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)
Authors: Starks Philip T. , Watson Rebecca E. , Dipaola Matthew J. , Dipaola Christian P. 
Published: May 2010

AbstractWe present evidence indicating that the level of nestmate discrimination in the facultatively polygynous ant Pseudomyrmex pallidus varies predictably with the number of queens in the colony. P. pallidus workers were introduced into observation arenas in either nestmate or non‐nestmate pairs. During the 5‐min period immediately following the first contact between test ants, all interactions and relative distances were recorded. Aggression between non‐nestmates was negatively correlated with the number of queens in the colony and distance between nestmates was positively correlated. These results are consistent with predictions of Reeve's (1989) optimal acceptance threshold model.
Experimental Investigation of the Mechanism of Reproductive Differentiation in the Queenless Ant, Diacamma sp., from Japan
Authors: Tsuji Kazuki , Peeters Christian , Hölldobler Bert 
Published: May 2010

AbstractWe test two hypotheses about regulation of the reproductive division of labour in the permanently queenless ponerine ant, Diacamma sp., from Japan. All workers emerge with gemmae (tiny innervated thoracic appendages), but only one individual keeps them in each colony, and she is the only mated reproductive worker (gamergate). The gemmae of all other workers are mutilated by the gamergate soon after their emergence, and they can never mate. In the presence of gamergate, mutilated workers have inactive ovaries and do not behave aggressively. Two possible consequences of mutilation are: 1. olfactory signal — a pheromone inhibiting the oogenesis of mutilated workers is no longer released by the gemmae; and 2. endocrine degeneration of its afferent neuronal connections interferes reproductive physiology of a gamergate. Gemmae of gamergates were coated with shellac (to prevent pheromone emission) or removed, and over three weeks we studied any changes in ovarian activity of the gamergates as well as nestmate workers. Coating of gemmae did not elicit worker oviposition, suggesting that gemmae pheromones do not have a regulatory function. Experimental mutilation of gamergates resulted in a slight increase in both the frequency of dominance interactions and the ovarian activity of mutilated workers, but this effect was much lower than in colonies where the gamergate was removed. This contrasts with the immediate change in the behaviour (aggressive to timid) of newly emerged workers following mutilation.
Neocortex Size Predicts Group Size in Carnivores and Some Insectivores
Authors: Dunbar R. I. M. , Bever Julian 
Published: May 2010

AbstractNeocortex size has been shown to correlate with group size in primates. Data for carnivores and insectivores are used to test the generality of this relationship. The data suggest that carnivores lie on the same grade as the primates, but that insectivores lie on a separate grade to the left of these two orders. Among the insectivores, there appears to be a distinction between the ‘advanced’ genera (which show a relationship between group size and neocortex size) and the ‘basal’ genera (which do not).
The Light and Magnetic Compass of the Weaver Ant, Oecophylla smaragdina (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)
Authors: Jander Rudolf , Jander Ursula 
Published: May 2010

AbstractSome of the foraging of the arboreal Australian weaver ant Oecophylla smaragdina takes place on the ground. Odor trails and compass orientation are used to return to the trunk of their nesting tree. Field experiments established directional responses to light and the natural magnetic field. The precision of the light compass orientation is much greater than that of the magnetic compass orientation: the respective average wrapped‐around standard deviations (WSD) of directional choices towards home are WSD = ± 48° and WSD = ± 105°.
Parental Fin Digging by Cichlasoma octofasciatum (Teleostei: Cichlidae) and the Effect of Parents' Satiation State on Brood Provisioning
Authors: Zworykin Dmitry D. 
Published: May 2010

AbstractAlthough parental care in fishes does not usually include provisioning offspring after hatching, various types of brood provisioning have been documented for some bony fishes, and in particular, for cichlids. For example, fin digging occurs among biparental substrate brooding cichlids of the ‘genus’ Cichlasoma sensu lato. Parental fin digging by Cichlasoma octofasciatum was investigated under laboratory conditions. Fin digging was performed significantly more often by females than by males. For both sexes, the frequency of fin digging increased significantly with brood age, especially from ages 3 to 10 d of fry: this was more pronounced in females. The parents' own current satiation state during performance of fin digging influenced the fin digging frequency: for both sexes it was higher in hungry than in satiated parents.
STOP Fracture study: Southern Health Osteoporotic Fracture Screening Project
Authors: Teede H. J. , Renouf D. A. , Jayasuriya I. A. , Barrie D. 
Published: May 2010

AbstractBackground:  Osteoporosis is a major healthcare issue with over 50% of postmenopausal women suffering an osteoporosis‐related fracture. Vertebral fractures, the commonest, are often asymptomatic, unrecognised and untreated.Aims:  In a high risk population we aimed to screen for vertebral fractures with a lateral chest X‐ray then to intervene to highlight risk and improve fracture prevention.Methods:  In this prospective interventional study, 104 postmenopausal women, presenting to hospital for unrelated conditions, were recruited. A baseline lateral chest X‐ray and fracture risk questionnaire was completed with a follow‐up questionnaire at 12 months. Where fractures were detected the study team intervened through correspondence, including evidence‐based guidelines recommending investigations and management to patients and general practitioners.Results:  Ninety‐six women had a lateral chest X‐ray with 53 (55%) having vertebral fractures. Sixty‐five women completed baseline questionnaires and 64/65 had a calculated 5‐year fracture risk greater than 10%. At 12 months, 21% were commenced or continued on bisphosphonates with 17% adhering to therapy while eight had sustained a subsequent symptomatic fracture and eight women had died.Conclusions:  Fifty‐five per cent of women over 65 years, presenting to hospital with unrelated medical conditions, had a previous minimal trauma vertebral fracture on lateral chest X‐ray. Potentially, a lateral chest X‐ray may provide a simple effective screening tool for osteoporotic fracture in this high‐risk population. Despite notification and recommendations to both patients and general practitioners, treatment uptake was poor, highlighting the need for further research into risk perception and behaviour change in both practitioners and patients.
Prevalence of Helicobacter pylori positivity in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention
Authors: Hiew C. , Duggan A. , de Malmanche T. , Hatton R. , Baker F. , Attia J. , Collins N. 
Published: May 2010

AbstractBackground The adverse effect of haemorrhagic complications after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) on outcome is well established with Helicobacter pylori infection known to be an important precipitant of peptic ulcer disease in patients receiving non‐steroidal anti‐inflammatory drug therapy. The prevalence of H. pylori positivity in patients undergoing PCI and receiving subsequent antiplatelet therapy is unknown.Aims: We sought to determine the prevalence and features associated with H. pylori positivity in patients undergoing PCI.Methods: All patients undergoing PCI between August 2008 and April 2009 were identified and assessed for H. pylori positivity with serological status determined by using a commercially supplied enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay.Results: A total of 245 patients undergoing PCI during the study period had samples obtained for H. pylori serology. Of these, 91 were positive for H. pylori serology (37%) and 148 were negative (60%) with six samples being equivocal (3%). Of those patients positive for H. pylori, 75% were on agents at admission known to promote or precipitate gastrointestinal haemorrhage. Patients positive for H. pylori tended to be older, with increased creatinine and more likely to be receiving proton pump inhibitor therapy.Conclusions: In an unselected cohort of patients undergoing PCI in a single centre, we detected a prevalence of H. pylori positivity in 37% of patients; this denotes a potentially treatable precipitant of haemorrhage in a considerable portion of patients receiving dual antiplatelet therapy after PCI. Further prospective study is required to determine if the presence of H. pylori positivity is associated with adverse events in terms of gastrointestinal and cardiac outcomes.
Negative soil feedbacks accumulate over time for non‐native plant species
Authors: Diez Jeffrey M. , Dickie Ian , Edwards Grant , Hulme Philip E. , Sullivan Jon J. , Duncan Richard P. 
Published: May 2010

Ecology Letters (2010) 13: 803–809AbstractThe enemy release hypothesis is a common explanation for species invasions, suggesting that introduced species benefit from leaving behind natural enemies in the native range. However, any such advantage may attenuate over time. In this study, we test a prediction of this more dynamic enemy release hypothesis: that non‐native plant species that became established longer ago exhibit stronger negative feedbacks with the soil. Consistent with declining enemy release over time, we found increasingly negative soil feedbacks for species established longer ago in New Zealand. Negative soil feedbacks were also stronger for more widespread species, but weaker for more locally abundant species, suggesting that species accumulate negative interactions as they spread and can be locally regulated by these interactions. We also present data to support the common assumption that relatives have similar impacts on and responses to soil communities. Together, these data highlight the dynamic nature of novel interactions arising from species introductions.
Local context drives infection of grasses by vector‐borne generalist viruses
Authors: Borer Elizabeth T. , Seabloom Eric W. , Mitchell Charles E. , Power Alison G. 
Published: May 2010

Ecology Letters (2010) 13: 810–818AbstractHost characteristics commonly determine infection risk, but infection can also be mediated by regional‐ or local‐scale variation in the biotic and abiotic environment. Experiments can clarify the relative importance of these factors. We quantified drivers of infection by barley and cereal yellow dwarf viruses (B/CYDV), a group of generalist, vector‐borne grass pathogens, at hierarchically nested spatial scales (105–1 m) by planting individuals of six common grass species into five Pacific Coast grassland sites spanning 7° of latitude (> 5000 total hosts) and applying a factorial combination of nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizer. Infection differed most among experimental blocks (102–103 m scale), suggesting that local factors control infection risk; infection increased with cover of long‐lived hosts and phosphorus, but not nitrogen, fertilization. For B/CYDV, local context more strongly predicts infection risk than host species traits or regional context; such spatially nested experiments can clarify the factors underlying variation in infection risk.
How do traits vary across ecological scales? A case for trait‐based ecology
Authors: Messier Julie , McGill Brian J. , Lechowicz Martin J. 
Published: May 2010

Ecology Letters (2010) 13: 838–848AbstractDespite the increasing importance of functional traits for the study of plant ecology, we do not know how variation in a given trait changes across ecological scales, which prevents us from assessing potential scale‐dependent aspects of trait variation. To address this deficiency, we partitioned the variance in two key functional traits (leaf mass area and leaf dry matter content) across six nested ecological scales (site, plot, species, tree, strata and leaf) in lowland tropical rainforests. In both traits, the plot level shows virtually no variance despite high species turnover among plots and the size of within‐species variation (leaf + strata + tree) is comparable with that of species level variation. The lack of variance at the plot level brings substantial support to the idea that trait‐based environmental filtering plays a central role in plant community assembly. These results and the finding that the amount of within‐species variation is comparable with interspecific variation support a shift of focus from species‐based to trait‐based ecology.
A global perspective on belowground carbon dynamics under nitrogen enrichment
Authors: Liu Lingli , Greaver Tara L. 
Published: May 2010

Ecology Letters (2010) 13: 819–828AbstractNitrogen (N) effects on ecosystem carbon (C) budgets are critical to understand as C sequestration is considered as a mechanism to offset anthropogenic CO2 emissions. Interactions between aboveground C and N cycling are more clearly characterized than belowground processes. Through synthesizing data from multiple terrestrial ecosystems, we quantified the responses of belowground C cycling under N addition. We found that N addition increased litter input from aboveground (+20%) but not from fine root. N addition inhibited microbial activity as indicated by a reduction in microbial respiration (−8%) and microbial biomass carbon (−20%). Although soil respiration was not altered by N addition, dissolved organic carbon concentration was increased by 18%, suggesting C leaching loss may increase. N addition increased the C content of the organic layer (+17%) but not the mineral soil layer. Overall, our meta‐analysis indicates that N addition will increase short term belowground C storage by increasing C content of organic layer. However, it is difficult to predict the response of long term C sequestration since there is no significant change in mineral soil C content.
Introduced grazers can restrict potential soil carbon sequestration through impacts on plant community composition
Authors: Bagchi Sumanta , Ritchie Mark E. 
Published: May 2010

Ecology Letters(2010) 13: 959–968AbstractGrazing occurs over a third of the earth’s land surface and may potentially influence the storage of 109Mg year−1of greenhouse gases as soil C. Displacement of native herbivores by high densities of livestock has often led to overgrazing and soil C loss. However, it remains unknown whether matching livestock densities to those of native herbivores can yield equivalent soil C sequestration. In the Trans‐Himalayas we found that, despite comparable grazing intensities, watersheds converted to pastoralism had 49% lower soil C than watersheds which retain native herbivores. Experimental grazer‐exclusion within each watershed type, show that this difference appears to be driven by indirect effects of livestock diet selection, leading to vegetation shifts that lower plant production and reduce likely soil C inputs from vegetation byc.25 gC m−2 year−1. Our results suggest that while accounting for direct impacts (stocking density) is a major step, managing indirect impacts on vegetation composition are equally important in influencing soil C sequestration in grazing ecosystems.
Early intervention with phosphodiesterase‐5 inhibitors after prostate brachytherapy improves subsequent erectile function
Authors: Pahlajani Geetu , Raina Rupesh , Jones J. Stephen , Burdick Michael , Ali Marwan , Li Jianbo , Mahadevan Arul , Ciezki Jay , Zippe Craig 
Published: May 2010

Study Type – Therapy (case series) Level of Evidence 4OBJECTIVETo examine the early use of phosphodiesterase‐5 inhibitor (PDE‐5i; sildenafil citrate) in preventing subsequent erectile dysfunction (ED) after (monotherapy) prostate brachytherapy (PB, an accepted option for Gleason 6 or low‐volume Gleason 7 prostate cancer), as PB is currently being offered more frequently in younger patients, and ED can be a side‐effect often within the first 12 months after treatment.PATIENTS AND METHODSWe examined a single‐surgeon series of 69 patients who had been treated with PB from 2002 to 2005. All patients had a follow‐up of ≥1 year; prospectively, and patients had baseline, 6‐ and 12‐month assessments using the Sexual Health Inventory for Men (SHIM) and International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF)‐6 scores. The 69 patients were divided into early treatment with PDE‐5i (31) and not treated with PDE‐5i (38), and their SHIM and IIEF‐6 scores were compared at baseline, 6 and 12 months. Daily sildenafil (25–50 mg) was given immediately after PB for 12 months. Overall, for the entire group, the mean prostate‐specific antigen (PSA) level was 6.8 ng/mL; 78% had Gleason 6 cancer and 20% had Gleason 7 (3 + 4) cancer. The mean age in the early PDE‐5i group was 64.8 years, and was 66.0 years in the no‐PDE‐5i group. The mean radiation dose in the early PDE‐5i group was 50.2 Gy, and 43.9 Gy in the other group (P= 0.08).RESULTSIn the no‐PDE‐5i group, the mean baseline SHIM score of 17.1 decreased rapidly to 9.1 at 6 months (P= 0.01) and stayed at 9.3 at 12 months (P= 0.01). In the early PDE‐5i group, the mean baseline SHIM score of 21.8 decreased slightly to 17.6 at 6 months (P= 0.2), and was maintained at 17.9 at 12 months (P= 0.2). Using the Wilcoxon rank‐sum test, the 6‐ and 12‐month SHIM scores in the two groups (P < 0.001). The IIEF‐6 questionnaire confirmed the SHIM analysis.CONCLUSIONSAfter PB patients had a significant decline in SHIM/IIEF‐6 scores at 6 and 12 months. Our results indicate a 50% decrease in the quality of their erections. This provides an opportunity to initiate early intervention with PDE‐5i or perhaps vacuum constriction devices or intraurethral alprostadil. In this study, the early use of PDE‐5i after PB maintained erectile function at both 6 and 12 months.