3,237 research outputs found

    Homing ability of the bumblebee bombus terrestris (hymenoptera: apidae)

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    The ability of bumblebees to locate their nest site following artificial displacement was investigated. Bombus terrestris (Hymenoptera: Apidae) workers were marked with numbered tags and displaced up to 15 km from their nest. Bees returned from distances of up to 9.8 km, with the proportion of bees returning declining with distance of the release site from the nest. Bees were slow to return to their nests, often taking several days when even the most distant sites were all within 1 h direct flight time. These findings concur with those of earlier studies on various Hymenoptera, and they are consistent with previous suggestions that the most probable homing mechanism is a systematic search until familiar landmarks are encountered. Our results also suggest that the natural foraging range of B. terrestris may span several km

    The use of conspecific and interspecific scent marks by foraging bumblebees and honeybees

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    Bumblebees (Bombus spp.) and honeybees, Apis mellifera, both use odour cues deposited on flowers by previous visitors to improve their foraging efficiency. Short-lived repellent scents are used to avoid probing flowers that have recently been depleted of nectar and/or pollen, and longer-term attractant scents to indicate particularly rewarding flowers. Previous research has indicated that bumblebees avoid flowers recently visited by themselves, conspecifics and congeners, while honeybees avoid flowers visited by themselves or conspecifics only. We found that both bumblebees and honeybees also avoided flowers previously visited by each other when foraging on Melilotus officinalis, that is, bumblebees avoided flowers recently visited by honeybees and vice versa. Twenty-four hours after a visit, this effect had worn off. Honeybees visited flowers that had been visited 24 h previously more often than flowers that had never been visited. The same was not true for bumblebees, suggesting that foraging honeybees were also using long-term attractant scent marks, whilst bumblebees were not. Flowers previously visited by conspecifics were repellent to bumblebees and honeybees for ca. 40 min. During this time, nectar replenished in flowers. Honeybees were previously thought to use a volatile chemical (2-heptanone) as a repellent forage-marking scent. We suggest that they may be using a less volatile chemical odour to detect whether flowers have recently been visited, possibly in addition to 2-heptanone. (C) 2001 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour

    Prioritising gully remediation in a Great Barrier Reef catchment: An approach using two independent methods of assessing erosion activity in 22,300 gullies

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    The strategic reduction and remediation of degraded land is a global environmental priority. This is a particular priority in the Great Barrier Reef catchment area, Australia, where gully erosion a significant contributor to land degradation and water quality deterioration. Urgent action through the prioritisation and remediation of gully erosion sites is imperative to safeguard this UNESCO World Heritage site. In this study, we analyze a comprehensive dataset of 22,311 mapped gullies within a 3480 km2 portion of the lower Burdekin Basin, northeast Australia. Utilizing high-resolution lidar datasets, two independent methods - Minimum Contemporary Estimate (MCE) and Lifetime Average Estimate (LAE) – were developed to derive relative erosion rates. These methods, employing different data processing approaches and addressing different timeframes across the gully lifetime, yield erosion rates varying by up to several orders of magnitude. Despite some expected divergence, both methods exhibit strong, positive correlations with each other and additional validation data. There is a 43% agreement between the methods for the highest yielding 2% of gullies, although 80.5% of high-yielding gullies identified by either method are located within a 1 km proximity of each other. Importantly, distributions from both methods independently reveal that ∼80% of total volume of gully erosion in the study area is produced from only 20% of all gullies. Moreover, the top 2% of gullies generate 30% of the sediment loss and the majority of gullies do not significantly contribute to the overall catchment sediment yield. These results underscore the opportunity to achieve significant environmental outcomes through targeted gully management by prioritising a small cohort of high yielding gullies. Further insights and implications for management frameworks are discussed in the context of the characteristics of this cohort. Overall, this research provides a basis for informed decision-making in addressing gully erosion and advancing environmental conservation efforts.Full Tex

    Identity and function of scent marks deposited by foraging bumblebees

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    Foraging bumblebees can detect scents left on flowers by previous bumblebee visitors and hence avoid flowers that have been depleted of nectar. Tarsal secretions are probably responsible for this repellent effect. The chemical components of the tarsal glands were analyzed by combined gas chromatography-mass spectrometry for three species of bumblebee. Bombus terrestris, B. lapidarius, and B. pascuorum. The hydrocarbons identified were similar for each species. although there were interspecific differences in the relative amounts of each compound present. The tarsal extracts of all three species comprised complex mixtures of long-chain alkanes and alkenes with between 21 and 29 carbon atoms. When B. terrestris tarsal extracts were applied to flowers and offered to foraging bumblebees of the three species. each exhibited a similar response; concentrated solutions produced a repellent effect, which decreased as the concentration declined. We bioassayed synthetic tricosane (one of the compounds found in the tarsal extracts) at a range of doses to determine whether it gave a similar response. Doses greater than or equal to 10(-12) ng/flower resulted in rejection by foraging B. lapidarius. Only when less than or equal to 10(-14) ng was applied did the repellent effect fade. We bioassayed four other synthetic compounds found in tarsal extracts and a mixture of all five compounds to determine which were important in inducing a repellent effect in B. lapidarius workers. All induced repellency but the strength of the response varied: heneicosane was most repellent while tricosene was least repellent. These findings are discussed in relation to previous studies that found that tarsal scent marks were attractive rather than repellent

    Nectar robbing, forager efficiency and seed set: bumblebees foraging on the self incompatible plant Linaria vulgaris (Scrophulariaceae)

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    In southern England, Linaria vulgaris (common yellow toadflax) suffers from high rates of nectar robbery by bumblebees. In a wild population of L. vulgaris we found that 96 % of open flowers were robbed. Five species of bumblebee were observed foraging on these flowers, although short-tongued species (Bombus lapidarius, B. lucorum and B. terrestris) robbed nectar whilst longer-tongued ones behaved as legitimate pollinators (B. hortorum and B. pascuorum). Nectar rewards were highly variable; on average there was less nectar in robbed than in unrobbed flowers, but this difference was not statistically significant. The proportion of flowers containing no nectar was significantly higher for robbed flowers compared with unrobbed flowers. Secondary robbers and legitimate pollinators had similar handling times on flowers and, assuming they select flowers at random to forage on, received approximately the same nectar profit per minute, largely because most flowers had been robbed. There was no significant difference in the number of seeds in pods of robbed flowers and in pods of flowers that were artificially protected against robbing. However, more of the robbed flowers set at least some seed than the unrobbed flowers, possibly as a consequence of the experimental manipulation. We suggest that nectar robbing has little effect on plant fecundity because legitimate foragers are present in the population, and that seed predation and seed abortion after fertilization may be more important factors in limiting seed production in this species

    Perancangan Sistem Informasi Pengelola Barang/Inventaris Di Jc Komp

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    Inventory information system is a system used to enter inventory data into the database, so that there are no errors in input, output data, and reporting based on the desired data. based on surveys and interviews with jc comp personnel, information was obtained that the existing system in the jc comp warehouse section is still manual. therefore, the system that will be created by the author is the result of a replication of the existing system in the jc comp warehouse section. in addition to the process of input and output of goods, this information system is also equipped with features for creating data reports, input and output of goods, and searching for goods data by item name. with the inventory information system is expected to be useful for the warehouse parts jc comp. By implementing this system in the jc comp warehouse, it is hoped that it can reduce errors that may occur. this system is also expected to further speed up the process of input, output, and report generation, which in turn will help the jc comp warehouseSistem Informasi Persediaan Barang adalah sebuah sistem yang digunakan untuk memasukkan data-data persediaan barang ke dalam database, sehinggga tidak terjadi kesalahan dalam input, output data, dan pembuatan laporan berdasarkan data yang diinginkan. Berdasarkan survey dan wawancara dengan bagian personalia Jc Komp, didapatkan informasi bahwa sistem yang ada dibagian gudang Jc Komp masih manual. Oleh karena itu, sistem yang akan dibuat oleh penulis adalah hasil replikasi dari sistem yang telah ada dibagian gudang Jc Comp. Selain proses input dan output barang, pada sistem informasi ini juga dilengkapi fitur pembuatan laporan data, input, dan output barang, dan pencarian data barang berdasarkan nama barang. Dengan adanya Sistem Informasi persediaan barang ini diharapkan dapat bermanfaat bagi bagian gudang Jc Komp. Dengan diterapkannya sistem ini pada bagian gudang Jc Comp, maka diharapkan dapat mengurangi kesalahan-kesalahan yang mungkin terjadi. Sistem ini juga diharapkan dapat lebih mempercepat proses input, output, dan pembuatan laporan yang pada akhirnya dapat membantu bagian gudang Jc Komp

    Amenable L-2-Theoretic Methods and Knot Concordance

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    We reveal new structures in the topological knot concordance group. As a key ingredient, we develop obstructions using L-2-theoretic methods for amenable groups in Strebel's class recently introduced by Orr and the author. Concerning (h)-solvable knots, which are defined in terms of certain Whitney towers of height h in bounding 4-manifolds, we show the following: for any n>1, there are (n)-solvable but non-(n. 5)-solvable (and therefore nonslice) knots, which are not detected by prior methods using Cochran-Orr-Teichner L-2-signature obstructions as well as Levine algebraic obstructions and Casson-Gordon invariants.X1197sciescopu

    Dynamics of Network Formation Processes in the Co-Author Model

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    This article studies the dynamics in the formation processes of a mutual consent network in game theory setting: the Co-Author Model. In this article, a limited observation is applied and analytical results are derived. Then, 2 parameters are varied: the number of individuals in the network and the initial probability of the links in the network in its initial state. A simulation result shows a finding that is consistent with an analytical result for a state of equilibrium while it also shows different possible equilibria.Dynamics, Network, Game Theory, Model,Simulation, Equilibrium, Complexity

    High-level polyomavirus JC viruria following long-term steroid therapy

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    CASE REPORT JC virus is a highly seroprevalent ubiquitous polyomavirus which is acquired at an early age through respiratory or oral route, Thereafter JCV establishes persistent, but mainly asymptomatic, infections in various tissues, including the genitourinary tract and brain Corresponding author Cristina Costa, MD S.C.D.U. Virologia Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria San Giovanni Battista di Torino Via Santena, 9 -10126 Torino E-mail: [email protected] increasing with age, with adult prevalence rate often between 15% and 60

    Engineering Framework to Utilize Miniaturized Charpy Type SE(B) Specimens to Predict Jc of Full Sized Specimens

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    AbstractThis paper introduces our experience of using miniature Charpy type SE(B) specimen in obtaining fracture toughness Jc of a material in the ductile to brittle transition temperature (DBTT) region. Width W x thickness B of 2 x 2 mm, 3 x 3 mm and 10 x 10 mm were chosen as miniature specimens and 25 x 25 mm were chosen as full sized specimen. 0.55% carbon steel JIS S55C, whose tensile to yield stress ratio σTS/σYS was equal to 1.8 was chosen as a material to simulate a degraded (embrittled) material in the DBTT region. Focus was placed on whether cleavage fracture could be predicted for these miniaturized specimens. Another focus was placed on whether the Jc of full sized specimen is predictable from the test results of the miniature sized specimens, in case cleavage fracture were observed. The results showed that the modified Ritch-Knott-Rice (RKR) failure criterion (which predicts the onset of cleavage fracture when the crack opening stress measured at 4 times the crack-tip opening displacement exceeds this σ22c) could predict whether cleavage fracture would occur or not. Another finding was that, in case cleavage fracture was observed though, the critical value σ22c in the modified RKR failure criterion was independent of specimen size, and thus, Jc of the full sized specimen is predictable from the miniature specimen test results, though M = (W-a)σYS/Jc was smaller than ASTM E1921 requirement of 30. Here, a and σYS are crack length and yield strength, respectively
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