scholarly journals The effect of a nighttime zoo event on spider monkey (Ateles geoffroyi) behavior

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Darby Proctor ◽  
Michelle Smurl

Abstract The relationship between zoo animals, particularly nonhuman primates, and visitors is complex and varies by species. Adding complexity to this relationship is the trend for zoos to host events outside of normal operating hours. Here, we explored whether a late-night haunted-house style event influenced the behavior of spider monkeys. We conducted behavioral observations both on event nights and nights without the event. The spider monkeys were active and outside more frequently on event nights compared to the control nights indicating that their typical nighttime behavior was altered. However, it is difficult to definitively conclude whether the behavioral changes were a result of the event being aversive or enriching. Our findings suggest that zoos should conduct behavioral observations of and collect physiological data from their animals, especially if they are sensitive to environmental changes, when implementing new events, including those occurring outside of normal operating hours to ensure high levels of animal welfare.

The Holocene ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 095968362199464
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Marcisz ◽  
Krzysztof Buczek ◽  
Mariusz Gałka ◽  
Włodzimierz Margielewski ◽  
Matthieu Mulot ◽  
...  

Landslide mountain fens formed in landslide depressions are dynamic environments as their development is disturbed by a number of factors, for example, landslides, slopewash, and surface run-off. These processes lead to the accumulation of mineral material and wood in peat. Disturbed peatlands are interesting archives of past environmental changes, but they may be challenging for providing biotic proxy-based quantitative reconstructions. Here we investigate long-term changes in testate amoeba communities from two landslide mountain fens – so far an overlooked habitat for testate amoeba investigations. Our results show that abundances of testate amoebae are extremely low in this type of peatlands, therefore not suitable for providing quantitative depth-to-water table reconstructions. However, frequent shifts of dominant testate amoeba species reflect dynamic lithological situation of the studied fens. We observed that high and stable mineral matter input into the peatlands was associated with high abundances of species producing agglutinated (xenosomic) as well as idiosomic shells which prevailed in the testate amoeba communities in both analyzed profiles. This is the first study that explores testate amoebae of landslide mountain fens in such detail, providing novel information about microbial communities of these ecosystems.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 2434 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ambrogio Zanzi ◽  
Federico Andreotti ◽  
Valentina Vaglia ◽  
Sumer Alali ◽  
Francesca Orlando ◽  
...  

The expansion of urban agglomerates is causing significant environmental changes, while the demand and need for sustainability keep on growing. In this context, urban and peri-urban agriculture can play a crucial role, mainly if associated with an agroecological approach. Indeed, the extensive use of living fences and tree rows can improve the environmental quality, assuring ecosystem services (ES), developing a sustainable urban food system and increasing local productions and the related socio-economic improvements. This study aims to assess the benefits of an agroecological requalification of a dismissed peri-urban area in the South Milan Agricultural Regional Park (Italy), by evaluating two possible scenarios, both involving planting trees and shrubs in that area. The software I-Tree Eco simulates the ecosystem services provision of planting new hedgerows, evaluating the benefits over 30 years. The study underlines the difference between the two scenarios and how the planted area becomes an essential supplier of regulating ecosystem services for the neighbourhoods, increasing carbon storage and air pollution removal. Results were then analysed with a treemap, to better investigate and understand the relationship between the different ecosystem services, showing a notable increase in carbon sequestration at the end of the simulation (at year 30). The study shows a replicable example of a methodology and techniques that can be used to assess the ES in urban and peri-urban environments.


2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 216-230 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chengyuan Wang ◽  
Biao Luo ◽  
Yong Liu ◽  
Zhengyun Wei

Purpose The paper aims to study the relationship between executives’ perceptions of environmental threats and innovation strategies and investigate the moderating effect of contextual factor (i.e. organizational slack) on such relations. It proposes a dualistic relationship between executives’ perceptions of environmental threats and innovation strategies, in which different perceptions of environmental threats will lead to corresponding innovation strategies, and dyadic organizational slack can promote such processes. Design/methodology/approach The paper is based on a survey with 163 valid questionnaires, which were all completed by executives. Hierarchical ordinary least-squares regression analysis is used to test the hypotheses proposed in this paper. Findings The paper provides empirical insights about that executives tend to choose exploratory innovation when they perceive environmental changes as likely loss threats, yet adopt exploitative innovation when perceiving control-reducing threats. Furthermore, unabsorbed slack (e.g. financial redundancy) positively moderates both relationships, while absorbed slack (e.g. operational redundancy) merely positively influences the relationship between the perception of control-reducing threats and exploitative innovation. Originality/value The paper bridges the gap between organizational innovation and cognitive theory by proposing a dualistic relationship between executives’ perceptions of environmental threats and innovation strategies. The paper further enriches innovation studies by jointly considering both subjective and objective influence factors of innovation and argues that organizational slack can moderate such dualistic relationship.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dimitra Dritsa ◽  
Nimish Biloria

PurposeThis paper presents a critical review of studies which map the urban environment using continuous physiological data collection. A conceptual model is consequently presented for mitigating urban stress at the city and the user level.Design/methodology/approachThe study reviews relevant publications, examining the tools used for data collection and the methods used for data analysis and data fusion. The relationship between urban features and physiological responses is also examined.FindingsThe review showed that the continuous monitoring of physiological data in the urban environment can be used for location-aware stress detection and urban emotion mapping. The combination of physiological and contextual data helps researchers understand how the urban environment affects the human body. The review indicated a relationship between some urban features (green, land use, traffic, isovist parameters) and physiological responses, though more research is needed to solidify the existence of the identified links. The review also identified many theoretical, methodological and practical issues which hinder further research in this area.Originality/valueWhile there is large potential in this field, there has been no review of studies which map continuously physiological data in the urban environment. This study covers this gap and introduces a novel conceptual model for mitigating urban stress.


2015 ◽  
Vol 87 (3) ◽  
pp. 1717-1726 ◽  
Author(s):  
JULIANA WOJCIECHOWSKI ◽  
ANDRÉ A. PADIAL

One of the main goals of monitoring cyanobacteria blooms in aquatic environments is to reveal the relationship between cyanobacterial abundance and environmental variables. Studies typically correlate data that were simultaneously sampled. However, samplings occur sparsely over time and may not reveal the short-term responses of cyanobacterial abundance to environmental changes. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that stronger cyanobacteria x environment relationships in monitoring are found when the temporal variability of sampling points is incorporated in the statistical analyses. To this end, we investigated relationships between cyanobacteria and seven environmental variables that were sampled twice yearly for three years across 11 reservoirs, and data from an intensive monitoring in one of these reservoirs. Poor correlations were obtained when correlating data simultaneously sampled. In fact, the 'highly recurrent' role of phosphorus in cyanobacteria blooms is not properly observed in all sampling periods. On the other hand, the strongest correlation values for the total phosphorus x cyanobacteria relationship were observed when we used the variation of sampling points. We have also shown that environment variables better explain cyanobacteria when a time lag is considered. We conclude that, in cyanobacteria monitoring, the best approach to reveal determinants of cyanobacteria blooms is to consider environmental variability.


1980 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
pp. 913-914 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. E. Larrabee ◽  
Franklin Ross Jones

This study explored the relationship between the application of low plus reading lenses and the improvement of performance at a child's near working distance. 11 school-aged subjects were selected at random, screened for their ability to accept low plus lenses, then given a paper-and-pencil task to perform both with and without the plus lenses. Statistically significant behavioral changes were associated with wearing the low plus-power reading lenses while performing the near paper-and-pencil task.


2015 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-45 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua N. Zingher ◽  
Michael E. Flynn

Though there is widespread scholarly consensus that American political elites have become increasingly ideologically polarized, there remains debate about how the mass electorate has responded to the increase in polarization at the elite level. This article shows that as party elites have become more polarized, individuals have become better able to identify the party that best matches their own ideological positions, thereby contributing to polarization at the mass level. Using forty years of ANES and DW-NOMINATE data to test this argument, it was found that the relationship between a voter’s position in policy space and their political behavior is indeed conditional upon polarization at the elite level. This finding demonstrates how changes in elite polarization translate to behavioral changes on the mass level.


2019 ◽  
pp. 66-95
Author(s):  
Danielle Sands

Examining Donna Haraway’s critique of primatological practices and narratives, and Karen Joy Fowler’s fictional account of primate relations, We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves,alongside humanist figures of Man, this chapter explores the relationship between accounts of nonhuman primates and perceptions of human identity. Comparing Fowler’s ambivalence towards anthropomorphism to the recent resurgence of scientific interest in anthropomorphism, it develops a parallel between anthropomorphism and empathy. Contending that empathy, like anthropomorphism, is an inescapable component of cross-species relations, it argues that both should be cultivated only insofar as they stimulate new ethical and political responses to nonhuman life. The chapter concludes by outlining how different modes of primatological reading and writing might generate alternatives to the figure of Man which are better able to acknowledge and respond to our responsibilities to nonhuman life.


2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 402-407 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kyle M Benowitz ◽  
Elizabeth C McKinney ◽  
Christopher B Cunningham ◽  
Allen J Moore

AbstractDifferential gene expression has been associated with transitions between behavioral states for a wide variety of organisms and behaviors. Heterochrony, genetic toolkits, and predictable pathways underlying behavioral transitions have been hypothesized to explain the relationship between transcription and behavioral changes. Less studied is how variation in transcription is related to variation within a behavior, and if the genes that are associated with this variation are predictable. Here, we adopt an evolutionary systems biology perspective to address 2 hypotheses relating differential expression to changes within and between behavior. We predicted fewer genes will be associated with variation within a behavior than with transitions between states, and the genes underlying variation within a behavior will represent a narrower set of biological functions. We tested for associations with parenting variation within a state with a set of genes known a priori to be differentially expressed (DE) between parenting states in the burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides. As predicted, we found that far fewer genes are DE related to variation within parenting. Moreover, these were not randomly distributed among categories or pathways in the gene set we tested and primarily involved genes associated with neurotransmission. We suggest that this means candidate genes will be easier to identify for associations within a behavior, as descriptions of behavioral state may include more than a single phenotype.


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