1,721,063 research outputs found
Peacemaking on treetops: first evidence of reconciliation from a wild prosimian (Propithecus verreauxi).
No full textReconciliation is defined as the first postconflict affinitive contact between former opponents. While
reconciliation in anthropoid primates has been widely investigated, few studies have focused on postconflict
mechanisms in prosimians, and only in captivity. Unlike anthropoids, Malagasy prosimians show female
dominance, lack of sexual dimorphism and seasonal breeding. However, they share features with
anthropoids such as cohesive societies, female philopatry and individual recognition. Comparing social
prosimians with anthropoids is crucial for understanding the evolution of reconciliation dynamics.
Here we present the first study on reconciliation in a wild prosimian. We focused on the Propithecus verreauxi
(sifaka) of the Berenty forest (southern Madagascar). We examined postconflict behaviour in the
light of theoretical expectations based on potential costs and benefits of the individuals involved. Our results
indicate that P. verreauxi can evaluate possible risks and benefits of engaging in postconflict reunions.
Victims were most likely to interact affinitively with the aggressor after low-intensity aggression. Moreover,
only the conflicts occurring outside the feeding context were reconciled. Such results are consonant with
the fact that, in P. verreauxi, social dominance is translated more into feeding priority than into a framework
of despotic relationships. In agreement with the valuable relationship hypothesis, P. verreauxi were more
likely to reconcile with valuable partners: reconciliation preferentially occurred between subordinates
and top-ranking individuals, and between animals sharing good relationships (high levels of affinitive
behaviours). Over the short term, reconciliation in P. verreauxi seems to have an important role in reducing
the probability of further attacks by the aggressor
Fine-tuning of social play in juvenile lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla)
No full textSocial play, which involves cooperation, communication, and
learning, may represent a suitable field for the investigation of cognitive ability
in a given species. We collected data on a captive group of gorillas in order to
evaluate the potential cognitive skill of juveniles in fine-tuning play behavior. This
study revealed that juvenile gorillas are able to ‘‘place’’ the play session in a proper
spatial/temporal context, thus evaluating a complex net of factors (e.g., play
partner, play roughness, group activity, space availability). When animals play
fight, they use patterns of agonistic functional contexts. Since these actions are not
intrinsically different from their ‘‘serious’’ context, it may be hard to distinguish
them. One of the most important function of play in the ontogeny of primate social
cognition may be to recognize stimuli, which may indicate the intentions of
conspecifics. Accordingly, we found that juvenile gorillas are able to use play
signals appropriately when a clear statement of purpose is necessary (i.e., during
male–male competitive play sessions and when the escape opportunities are
limited). The ability to interpret such ambiguous features of social signaling could
represent a central issue in the evolution of behavioral flexibility and intelligence in
primates
Read-depth methodology for the analysis of recent segmental duplications in the grapevine genome
No full text
Sexual signalling in Propithecus verreauxi: male ‘‘chest badge’’ and female mate choice
Full text linkCommunication, an essential prerequisite for sociality, involves the transmission of signals. A signal can be defined as any action or trait produced by one animal, the sender, that produces a change in the behaviour of another animal, the receiver. Secondary sexual signals are often used for mate choice because they may inform on a potential partner’s quality. Verreaux’s sifaka (Propithecus verreauxi) is characterized by the presence of two different morphs of males (bimorphism), which can show either a stained or clean chest. The chest becomes stained by secretions of the sternal gland during throat marking (rubbing throat and chest on a vertical substrate while smearing the scent deposition). The role of the chest staining in guiding female mate choice was previously hypothesized but never demonstrated probably due to the difficulty of observing sifaka copulations in the wild. Here we report that stained-chested males had a higher throat marking activity than clean-chested males during the mating season, but not during the birth season. We found that females copulated more frequently with stained-chested males than the clean-chested males. Finally, in agreement with the biological market theory, we found that clean-chested males, with a lower scent-releasing potential, offered more grooming to females. This ‘‘grooming for sex’’ tactic was not completely unsuccessful; in fact, half of the clean-chested males copulated with females, even though at low frequency. In conclusion, the chest stain, possibly correlated with different cues targeted by females, could be one of the parameters which help females in selecting mates
'Malvasia nera di Brindisi/Lecce' grapevine cultivar (vitis vinifera l.) originated from 'Negroamaro' and 'Malvasia bianca lunga'
Full text link'Malvasia nera di Brindisi' and 'Malvasia nera di Lecce' are two of the few Malvasias with black berries and belong to the Apulian ampelographic assortment (South Italy). Their presumed synonymy has been recently ascertained with SSR markers and therefore these two black 'Malvasias' can be considered as an unique variety. We discovered that this cultivar is the cross between 'Malvasia bianca lunga' alias 'Malvasia del Chianti' and 'Negroamaro' by using 42 nuclear SSR. Both parents belong to the Apulian varietal resources, since centuries. So far, 'Malvasia nera di Brindisi/Lecce' origin has been obscure; now we may assert that this cultivar was born right in Apulia. Three sets of chloroplast SSR loci were used to determine the female and the male parent:6 ccmp loci, already used in previous pedigree studies, 15 ccSSR loci and 2 NTCPloci, derived from tobacco. The second set of loci was sequenced in order to compare the length of the markers with the reference species where they were originally obtained: in 4 cases no microsatellite motives were detected and in other 4 cases the perfect repetition found in tobacco was not maintained in grape. Unfortunately, the three sets of markers failed to show any polymorphism. A detailed comparison of the black Malvasia morphology with its two parents showed a closer similarity to 'Negroamaro'. Also the anthocyanin profile is in agreement with that of the black parent; its varietal aroma presents interesting levels of free and bound 2-phenylethanol, responsible for rose flavor, and of bound linalool compounds
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
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