Monkey mountain as a megazoo: analysing the naturalistic claims of “wild monkey parks” in Japan

In Japan yaen koen or ‘wild monkey parks’ are popular visitor attractions that show free-ranging monkey troops to the paying public. Unlike zoos, which display animals through confinement, monkey parks control the movements of the monkeys through provisioning. The parks project an image of themselves as ‘natural zoos’, claiming to practice a more authentic form of wild animal display than that practiced by the zoo. This article critically evaluates the monkey park’s claim by examining park management of the monkeys. The monkey park’s claim to display ‘wild monkeys’ is shown to be questionable because of the way that provisioning changes monkey behaviour. Against the background of human encroachment onto the forest habitat of the monkey, the long-term effect of provisioning is to sedentarize what were nomadic monkeys and to turn the ‘wild monkey park’ into a megazoo.

Increased cerebral output of free radicals during hypoxia: implications for acute mountain sickness?

Bailey DM, Taudorf S, Berg RMG, Lundby C, McEneny J, Young IS, Evans KA, James PE, Shore A, Hullin DA, McCord JM, Pedersen BK, Moller K. Increased cerebral output of free radicals during hypoxia: implications for acute mountain sickness? Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol 297: R1283-R1292, 2009. First published September 2, 2009; doi: 10.1152/ajpregu.00366.2009.-This study examined whether hypoxia causes free radical-mediated disruption of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and impaired cerebral oxidative metabolism and whether this has any bearing on neurological symptoms ascribed to acute mountain sickness (AMS). Ten men provided internal jugular vein and radial artery blood samples during normoxia and 9-h passive exposure to hypoxia (12.9% O-2). Cerebral blood flow was determined by the Kety-Schmidt technique with net exchange calculated by the Fick principle. AMS and headache were determined with clinically validated questionnaires. Electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy and ozone-based chemiluminescence were employed for direct detection of spin-trapped free radicals and nitric oxide metabolites. Neuron-specific enolase (NSE), S100 beta, and 3-nitrotyrosine (3-NT) were determined by ELISA. Hypoxia increased the arterio-jugular venous concentration difference (a-v(D)) and net cerebral output of lipid-derived alkoxyl-alkyl free radicals and lipid hydroperoxides (P

Antimicrobial peptides from the skin secretion of the Wuyi Mountain torrent frog, Amolops wuyiensis: An inhabitant of a pristine aquatic environment

The antimicrobial peptides of amphibian skin secretions are proposed to aid survival in microbe-rich environments. While many amphibians inhabit such environments, other such as the Wuyi Mountain torrent frog, Amolops wuyiensis, live in pristine waters flowing from underground mountain springs. This species thus represents an interesting model in which to study antimicrobial peptides. “Shotgun” cloning of a skin-derived cDNA library from this species identified transcripts encoding a brevinin-1 and a ranatuerin-2. Peptides with coincident molecular masses to both predicted mature peptides were identified in HPLC fractions of skin secretion. Synthetic replicates of both peptides were generated by solid-phase peptide synthesis and tested for activity using Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Candida albicans. The brevinin was found to be broad-spectrum and potent with minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of 24 µM (Sa), 5 µM (Ec) and 20 µM (Ca). In contrast, the ranatuerin was less effective and of narrower spectrum with an MIC > 200 µM for Sa, 40 µM (Ec) and 120 µM (Ca). Thus this species of amphibian that lives in a pristine environment does indeed possess at least one potent and broad-spectrum antimicrobial peptide in its skin secretion arsenal. This phenomenon could be explained in several ways. Firstly, it may represent an ancestral peptide required when the stem species inhabited microbe-rich environments. However, there is mounting evidence for the second reason, that suggests the function of such peptides is not primarily in antimicrobial defence.

Dendrochronological evidence for a lower water-table on peatland around 3200-3000 BC from subfossil pine in northern Scotland

Tree-ring analysis of subfossil Pinus sylvestris L., from nine new peatland sites located beyond the species’ current northern limit in Scotland, established a regional chronology called WRATH-9. The chronology has been provisionally dated against Irish pine chronologies and provides the first annual resolution picture of Scots pine expansion from c. 3200 bc and subsequent demise from c. 3000 bc. Pine germination and growth is suggested to be associated with a widespread fall in bog water-tables that indicates a regional climatic control. Bog pines progressively declined in number, rather than died out in a single event, reflecting their growth in a marginal habitat, close to a critical ecological threshold. The use of tree-ring sequences from in situ bog pine macrofossils provides a higher resolution insight into past conditions than possible with existing radiocarbon and pollen-based chronologies.

Current brood size and residual reproductive value predict offspring desertion in the burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides

Life-history theory suggests that offspring desertion can be an adaptive reproductive strategy, in which parents forgo the costly care of an unprofitable current brood to save resources for future reproduction. In the burying beetle, Nicrophorus vespilloides, parents commonly abandon their offspring to the care of others, resulting in female-only care, male-only care, brood parasitism, and the care of offspring sired by satellite males. Furthermore, when there is biparental care, males routinely desert the brood before larval development is complete, leaving females behind to tend their young. We attempted to understand these patterns of offspring desertion by using laboratory experiments to compare the fitness costs associated with parental care for each sex and the residual reproductive value of the 2 sexes. We also tested whether current brood size and residual reproductive value together predicted the incidence of brood desertion. We found that males and females each sustained fecundity costs as a consequence of caring for larvae and that these costs were of comparable magnitude. Nevertheless, males had greater residual reproductive value than females and were more likely than females to desert experimental broods. Our results can explain why males desert the brood earlier than females in nature and why female-only care is more common than male-only care. They also suggest that the tipping point from brood parasitism or satellite male behavior to communal breeding (and vice versa) depends on the value of the current brood relative to residual reproductive value.

Male morph predicts investment in larval immune function in the dung beetle, Onthophagus taurus

Investment in immunity is costly, so that resource-based trade-offs between immunity and sexually selected ornaments might be expected. The amount of resources that an individual can invest in each trait will be limited by the total resources available to them. It would therefore be informative to investigate how investment in immune function changes during growth or production of the sexual trait as resources are diverted to it. Using the dung beetle, Onthophagus taurus, which displays both sexual and male dimorphism in horn size, we examined changes in one measure of immune function, phenoloxidase (PO) activity, in the hemolymph of larvae prior to and during horn growth. We found that PO levels differed between small- and large-horned males throughout the final instar prior to the point where investment in horn growth was taking place. PO levels in females were intermediate to the 2 male morphs. These differences could not be accounted for by differences in condition, measured as hemolymph protein levels and weight. We suggest that the observed differences might be associated with sex- and morph-specific variation in juvenile hormone levels.