Active Search Method Research Articles

HARVESTMEN (ARACHNIDA: OPILIONES) RECORDS IN ATLANTIC FOREST REMNANTS OF MINAS GERAIS STATE, BRAZIL

Although the Atlantic Forest harbors the world’s greatest diversity of harvestmen (Arachnida: Opiliones), many forest areas remain undersampled or lack comprehensive data. Given the significant degradation experienced by the biome, it becomes crucial to perform faunal inventories of this group across different regions. This study aimed to conduct a survey of harvestmen by rapid sampling forest fragments of a Semideciduous Forest, a type of Atlantic Forest vegetation, in Ouro Fino and Itatiaiuçu, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Harvestmen were collected at night using the active search method. A total of 140 individuals from six species and seven morphospecies were collected, revealing the importance of protecting forest fragments of deforestation. Moreover, the findings indicate that more extensive sampling efforts are needed to accurately assess harvestman richness in these forest fragments, which may be under anthropogenic pressure. Additionally, there is a need for further inventories to better understand the conservation status of harvestmen in Brazil, and further contribute for biodiversity management and conservation.

Previously unknown diversity: the marine sponge (Porifera) fauna from Rio Grande do Norte State, NE Brazil

The Brazilian spongiofauna is still one of the least known worldwide, and the Northeastern region of Brazil is the one with the greatest recorded diversity. Previous studies on sponges in the Rio Grande do Norte State focused on deeper regions of the Potiguar Basin and oceanic islands, lacking any records from intertidal environments. The present study aimed to investigate the biodiversity of marine sponges from two beaches on the northern coast of Rio Grande do Norte. The specimens were collected in intertidal beachrocks of Baixa Grande and Ponta do Mel beaches (Areia Branca, RN) quarterly between August 2018 and May 2019, using the active search method for 2 hours during low tide. We identified 19 species belonging to the Demospongiae class, four taxa were considered dominant and six were considered rare according to the sampling period. Our study considerably improved the knowledge of the spongiofauna for the Rio Grande do Norte State, with six new taxa occurrences: Placospongia sp., Dysidea robusta, Haliclona (Reniera) manglaris, Haliclona (Reniera) tubifera, Haliclona (Soestella) caerulea and Amorphinopsis atlantica.

Entomological investigation of triatomine fauna in rural communities in the state of Piauí, Brazilian semi-arid region

Objective: To describe the characteristics and distribution of triatomine fauna in rural communities of Simplício Mendes municipality, located in the state of Piauí, Brazilian semiarid region. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study and entomological survey conducted from 2022 to 2023. Insects were captured using active search method in all human dwellings, which were georeferenced, followed by characterized of species, sex, developmental stage, and identification of presence of infection by trypanosomatids. Results: All households (n=178) in 10 rural localities of the municipality were investigated, resulting in a household triatomine infestation rate of 14%. A total of 268 insects were collected, predominantly species from the Triatoma brasiliensis complex (n=190), immature developmental stage (n=172), and originating from peridomestic environments (n=250). The rate of triatomines with natural infection by Trypanosoma cruzi was 1.1%. Conclusion: The finding of infestation by species from the T. brasiliensis complex with higher concentration cohabiting extradomestic spaces, wide dispersion, and presence of natural infection by T. cruzi signals conditions for the maintenance of vector-borne transmission of Chagas disease in the municipality.

Copulation record of Tropidurus imbituba (Squamata: Tropiduridae)

Tropidurus imbituba is a lizard with endemic distribution. Data on the species are scarce as it is a new species and has the only known habitat to date. Understanding reproductive aspects is important for their conservation. Thus, the present study presents the first records of the courtship and copulation behavior of T. imbituba. Sampling was carried out in spring 2022 and summer 2023, between September 24, 2022 and March 19, 2023. Monitoring was adapted from the Squamata Reptile Monitoring Protocol in Federal Conservation Units of the Caatinga Biome, following the active search method without time limitation (BANLT), in order to register T. imbituba individuals without any type of physical restraint. The individuals viewed had their coordinates taken with GPS, photographed with a DSLR camera – 65x zoom with a 21 mm ultra-wide angle lens. Viewing was done with the naked eye and with the aid of 8x40 binoculars. In areas with a concentration of lizards, the fixed point methodology was also used for five to 10 minutes, to observe the animals and other important data, where, at opportune moments, filming and photographs of courtship or copulation behavior were recorded.

Collection and processing of environmental information in oil and gas production areas and solving other applied problems using active search methods (Review article)

Collection and processing of environmental information in oil and gas production areas and solving other applied problems using active search methods (Review article)

Worm‐lizards, ants, and bricks: A low‐impact monitoring method for the threatened Pink‐tailed Worm‐lizard Aprasia parapulchella

AbstractMonitoring is critical for detecting population trends, determining efficacy of management intervention, assessing species or community responses to ecological threats and informing conservation policies. While the intention of threatened species monitoring programmes is generally in the best interest of the target species, the sampling techniques used can often have negative impacts on individuals, populations, species or even the ecosystem. The Pink‐tailed Worm‐lizard Aprasia parapulchella, a threatened species, is a small fossorial, legless lizard found along the western slopes of the Great Dividing Range in south‐eastern Australia. The most commonly used survey method for the species is searching beneath shallowly embedded rocks. Like other active hand search methods, rock‐turning can have a detrimental effect on the target species and microhabitat. The aim of this study was to develop a low‐impact monitoring method for A. parapulchella, using artificial shelters (bricks), that would reduce monitoring impacts and allow monitoring to be undertaken more frequently. We found that annual artificial shelter surveys for A. parapulchella achieved similar detection rates to rock‐turning surveys. We also found that artificial shelters provided similar habitat attributes as natural habitat rocks and importantly, we showed that artificial shelter surveys did not negatively affect either A. parapulchella or habitat condition. The novel, low‐impact monitoring method allows monitoring for the species to be undertaken more frequently and thereby allows land managers and conservation practitioners an opportunity to respond faster to population change.

Exploring the Conformers of an Organic Molecule on a Metal Cluster with Bayesian Optimization.

Finding low-energy conformers of organic molecules is a complex problem due to the flexibilities of the molecules and the high dimensionality of the search space. When such molecules are on nanoclusters, the search complexity is exacerbated by constraints imposed by the presence of the cluster and other surrounding molecules. To address this challenge, we modified our previously developed active learning molecular conformer search method based on Bayesian optimization and density functional theory. Especially, we have developed and tested strategies to avoid steric clashes between a molecule and a cluster. In this work, we chose a cysteine molecule on a well-studied gold-thiolate cluster as a model system to test and demonstrate our method. We found that cysteine conformers in a cluster inherit the hydrogen bond types from isolated conformers. However, the energy rankings and spacings between the conformers are reordered.

Sensitivity analysis of rapid antigen tests for the Omicron SARS-CoV-2 variant detection from nasopharyngeal swab samples collected in Santiago of Chile.

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to be a concern and keeps global health authorities on alert. The RT-PCR technique has been the gold-standard assay for detecting the SARS-CoV-2 virus. However, rapid antigen tests (RATs) have been widely used to increase the number of tests faster and more efficiently in the population. Nevertheless, the appearance of new viral variants, with genomic mutations associated with greater contagiousness and immune evasion, highlights the need to evaluate the sensitivity of these RATs. This report evaluates the sensitivity of SD Biosensor-Roche, Panbio™, and Clinitest® RATs widely used in Santiago de Chile in the detection of the Omicron variant from Nasopharyngeal samples (NPSs), the most predominant SARS-CoV-2 variant in Chile and the world. SD Biosensor-Roche shows a detection sensitivity of 95.7% in the viral amplification range of 20 ≤ Cq < 25, while Panbio™ and Clinitest® show 100% and 91.3%, respectively. In the viral amplification ranges of 25 ≤ Cq < 30, the detection sensitivity decreased to 28% for SD Biosensor-Roche, 32% for Panbio™, and 72% for Clinitest®. This study indicates that the tested RATs have high sensitivity in detecting the Omicron variant of concern (VOC) at high viral loads. By contrast, its sensitivity decreases at low viral loads. Therefore, it is suggested to limit the use of RATs as an active search method, considering that infections in patients are increasingly associated with lower viral loads of SARS-CoV-2. These antecedents could prevent contagion outbreaks and reduce the underestimation of the current Omicron variant circulation at the local level.

Similarity Search for Efficient Active Learning and Search of Rare Concepts

Many active learning and search approaches are intractable for large-scale industrial settings with billions of unlabeled examples. Existing approaches search globally for the optimal examples to label, scaling linearly or even quadratically with the unlabeled data. In this paper, we improve the computational efficiency of active learning and search methods by restricting the candidate pool for labeling to the nearest neighbors of the currently labeled set instead of scanning over all of the unlabeled data. We evaluate several selection strategies in this setting on three large-scale computer vision datasets: ImageNet, OpenImages, and a de-identified and aggregated dataset of 10 billion publicly shared images provided by a large internet company. Our approach achieved similar mAP and recall as the traditional global approach while reducing the computational cost of selection by up to three orders of magnitude, enabling web-scale active learning.

Active object search using a pyramid approach to determine the next-best-view

&lt;p&gt;The development of service robotics continues to arouse interest in the scientific community due to the complexity of the activities performed like interaction in human environments, identifying and manipulating objects, and even learning by themselves. This paper proposed to improve the perception of the environment by searching for objects in service robotics tasks. We present the development and implementation of an active object search method based on three main phases: Firstly, image pyramid segmentation to examine in detail the im- age features. Second step, object detection at each level of the pyramid through a local feature descriptor and a mutual information calculation. Finally, the next camera position selection through analyzing the object detections accumulation in the pyramid. To evaluate the implementation of the proposed method, we use a NAO robot in a familiar place for humans, such as an office or a home. Ordinary objects are part of our database with the premise that a robot must know them before looking for an object. The results in the experiments showed an acceptable performance in simulation and with a real platform.&lt;/p&gt;

AN ACCOUNT OF AMPHIBIAN DIVERSITY AND COMPOSITION IN THREE DIFFERENT HABITAT TYPES IN BAKSA DISTRICT, ASSAM, INDIA

Amphibian assemblages in three different habitat types, rice field; built up habitat and marshland were studied in the Baksa district of Assam, India. Visual encounter survey, opportunistic search and active search methods were used to record amphibians encountered. A total of 1410 individual amphibians were recorded that included 16 species belonging to 11 genera and five families. Among the three habitat types, built up habitat showed maximum species diversity followed by marshland and rice-field. It could be predicted that habitat heterogeneity and architectural complexity are the best predictors of amphibian diversity in the study area. The possible reasons correlating the composition have been discussed. This study indicates the importance of habitat as a resource in the conservation of amphibian species. Further, this happens to be the first report on amphibian assemblage from Baksa district, Assam, India.

A three-year Herpetofauna survey from one of the largest remnants of the Atlantic Rainforest Biome (Reserva Natural Vale)

Here we present a three-year survey of amphibian and reptile species registered in the Vale Natural Reserve (VNR), located in the north of Espírito Santo, southeastern Brazil. The VNR, along with the Sooretama Biological Reserve (SBR) and other surrounding areas, form a forest block that constitutes one of the largest remnants of continuous forest in the Atlantic Forest biome. We systematically sampled the herpetofauna community from 2015 to 2018, using the method of active search method in 27 plots of RAPELD distributed in the different types of vegetation present in the area. We recorded 39 species of amphibians belonging to the order Anura, distributed in seven families and 40 species of reptiles belonging to 20 families distributed in three orders: Crocodylia, Testudines and Squamata. The supplementation the samplings with those records from occasional encounters was important for the survey of the region's herpetofauna, mainly for reptiles. We added four species (two lizards, one amphisbaenid and one snake) to the known list for the VNR-SBR forest block: Micrablepharus maximiliani, Strobilurus torquatus, Amphisbaena alba and Tantilla sp. We demonstrated that VNR contains a high species richness of amphibians and reptiles, with a high number of anurans being endemic to the Atlantic Forest biome. The present species inventory provided the most current approximation of known the richness and composition of species of the existing herpetofauna at Vale Natural Reserve, since the period of the gathering of records is quite recent (2015-2018). Also, it brings the knowledge of some community parameters as species richness and composition not only for the whole area of the Vale Natural Reserve, but also for its different vegetation types, with no inclusion of environments outside this reserve. Furthermore, the presence of threatened species, the addition of four species to the current list, and the potential for new species to occur, reinforce the role of VNR as an important area for the protection of amphibian and reptile biodiversity in the Atlantic Forest.

Environmental DNA as a detection and quantitative tool for stream‐dwelling salamanders: A comparison with the traditional active search method

AbstractAs amphibians are showing significant signs of decline, adequate information and understanding of target species are essential for taking appropriate conservation measures. In recent years, environmental DNA has seen notable growth as a monitoring tool and testing this emergent method with various species has become an important step toward a better understanding of its benefits and limits for studying specific taxa. This study focused on using species‐specific qPCR assays developed in our research group to test the eDNA method for three stream‐dwelling salamander species of the Plethodontidae family: the Spring salamander (Gyrinophilus porphyriticus), the Northern dusky salamander (Desmognathus fuscus), and the Northern two‐lined salamander (Eurycea bislineata). The traditional active search method and the eDNA method were compared for both their ability to detect species as well as to provide a quantitative assessment of populations in 24 headwater streams in Québec, eastern Canada. For all three species, eDNA was detected in every stream where the target species was observed during the active search method. Moreover, eDNA was detected in nine streams where the target species was not identified with the active search. A marginally significant association was found between eDNA concentration and salamander density for D. fuscus only. All species showed high variability for eDNA concentration between qPCR technical replicates and between samples of a given stream. The results of this study lead us to conclude that eDNA can be an excellent method for detection of stream‐dwelling salamanders. Given the inconsistent quantitative aspect of eDNA with the studied species, the future of these stream‐dwelling salamander monitoring most likely lies in the combined use of both eDNA and active search methods. Hence, active search could continue to offer useful small‐scale detection and reliable quantitative data while eDNA could be implemented as an efficient and promising tool for large‐scale detection.

Morphological sexual maturity of the marine crab Xanthodius parvulus at the State Marine Park Laje de Santos, São Paulo, Brazil

ABSTRACT The marine crab Xanthodius parvulus (Fabricius, 1793) is naturally distributed in the Western Atlantic, being commonly found in the northeastern Brazilian coast. However, this species has been also recorded in the southeastern coast, especially in São Paulo State, on islands located close to harbors, which are becoming a place of occurrence for exotic species. This study aimed to estimate the morphological sexual maturity (relative growth) of X. parvulus the functional biological patterns of the species in a No-take marine reserve. The crabs were sampled at the Marine State Park of Laje de Santos, an important protected area from São Paulo that is located close to the largest Brazilian harbor, Santos, using an artificial substrate and active search methods (scuba diving). The morphological sexual maturity of females was estimated in 7.28 mm, according to the Abdomen Width vs. Carapace Width relationship, while for males this value was 8.83 mm based on the Gonopod Length vs. Carapace Width relationship, the females presented an increase in abdominal growth, even during the mature stage in order to achieve higher reproductive success, since the abdominal structure is used to protect the embryos. The Gonopod Length vs. Carapace Width relationship showed that males copulate with different sized females, since a non-exaggerated growth of the gonopods keeps them adequate to the size of the female genital pore, i.e., juveniles exhibited negative allometry and adults presented isometry. Thus, estimating the size of the sexual maturity of a species requires the development of a model to acknowledge its biological and reproductive pattern, being an important tool to increase the knowledge about the behavior of this species and one of the parameters to evaluate its conservation status.

Use of microhabitat and activity patterns of two lizard species from a seasonal dry forest in northern Colombia

In this work, the microhabitat use and activity patterns of two lizard species with sympatric distribution were evaluated in a dry forest fragment within the department of Sucre, northern Colombia. Data was collected in May, June, September and October of 2017, using the active search method limited by time (7:00 and 19:00 hours). Substrates used, spatial distribution and time of capture were recorded for individuals of the species Loxopholis rugiceps (Cope 1869) and Lepidoblepharis sanctaemartae (Ruthven 1916). Complementarily, environmental and physical parameters were recorded, which allowed us to characterise the microhabitats of the species. A total of 276 lizards were recorded, 177 belonging to the species Loxopholis rugiceps and 99 to Lepidoblepharis sanctaemartae. The results showed similar resource use by the two species for the spatial dimension, with both exploiting different terrestrial elements mainly from the interior forest, followed by the riverbed stream and forest edge. Differences were found in the daily activity patterns between species, with individuals of L. sanctaemartae more frequently recorded in the morning hours and L. rugiceps in the afternoon hours. The activity patterns did not differ by age groups: juveniles and adults. Both species were more frequently found in the litter substrate within the forest, followed by rocks and bare ground. Our results indicate that both species are tolerant to matrix conditions, however, they require internal forest conditions to exploit food resources and refuge.

Return-To-Play Decision Making in Team Sports Athletes. A Quasi-Naturalistic Scenario Study.

Competitive athletes act within cultures of risk in sports and often decide to return to sport despite having acute health problems. The outcomes of such risky return-to-play decisions can not only negatively affect their future health, but may also limit their sports performance or even upset their career paths. Following risk-management-decision theory with its focus on active risk defusing, we developed a model for understanding the process of return-to-play decision making from an athlete’s perspective. Based on the method of active information search, a quasi-naturalistic return-to-play decision scenario was created in order to assess amateur team sport athletes’ decision-making strategies. The main goals were to identify different information acquisition patterns and to analyze the influence of varying sporting consequences on decision making. A total of 72 competitive team sport athletes (36 females, 36 males, m = 25.7 years of age, 3rd to 6th league level) from three disciplines (volleyball, basketball, and handball) participated in the experimental study. Facing the same medical scenario (a partial tear of the supraspinatus tendon), athletes show different approaches to return-to-play decision making. The main focus is on the potential sporting consequences of withdrawal from competition due to injury, with only a few players favoring well-informed decisions based on thorough risk analysis. The athletes who chose the medically risky alternative to play hurt mostly employed strategies of active risk defusing, which got activated when severe sporting consequences were perceived. Those who chose to withdraw from competition primarily referred to maximin heuristic, particularly when social pressure to play was reduced. The findings can be used to improve rehabilitation-related communication and shared return-to-play decision making in sports.

Does active learning benefit spatial memory during navigation with restricted peripheral field?

Spatial learning of real-world environments is impaired with severely restricted peripheral field of view (FOV). In prior research, the effects of restricted FOV on spatial learning have been studied using passive learning paradigms - learners walk along pre-defined paths and are told the location of targets to be remembered. Our research has shown that mobility demands and environmental complexity may contribute to impaired spatial learning with restricted FOV through attentional mechanisms. Here, we examine the role of active navigation, both in locomotion and in target search. First, we compared effects of active versus passive locomotion (walking with a physical guide versus being pushed in a wheelchair) on a task of pointing to remembered targets in participants with simulated 10° FOV. We found similar performance between active and passive locomotion conditions in both simpler (Experiment 1) and more complex (Experiment 2) spatial learning tasks. Experiment 3 required active search for named targets to remember while navigating, using both a mild and a severe FOV restriction. We observed no difference in pointing accuracy between the two FOV restrictions but an increase in attentional demands with severely restricted FOV. Experiment 4 compared active and passive search with severe FOV restriction, within subjects. We found no difference in pointing accuracy, but observed an increase in cognitive load in active versus passive search. Taken together, in the context of navigating with restricted FOV, neither locomotion method nor level of active search affected spatial learning. However, the greater cognitive demands could have counteracted the potential advantage of the active learning conditions.

The Western Amazonian Richness Gradient for Squamate Reptiles: Are There Really Fewer Snakes and Lizards in Southwestern Amazonian Lowlands?

The lowland rainforests of the Amazon basin harbor some of the most species-rich reptile communities on Earth. However, there is considerable heterogeneity among climatically-similar sites across the Amazon basin, and faunal surveys for southwestern Amazonia in particular have revealed lower species diversity relative to sites in the northwestern and central Amazon. Here, we report a herpetofaunal inventory for Los Amigos Biological Station (LABS), a lowland site located in the Madre de Dios watershed of southern Peru. By combining active search and passive trapping methods with prior records for the site, we provide a comprehensive species list for squamate reptiles from LABS. We also estimate an “expected” list for LABS by tabulating additional taxa known from the regional species pool that we consider to have a high probability of detection with further sampling. The LABS total of 60 snake and 26 lizard taxa is perhaps the highest for any single site in the southern Amazon. Our estimate of the regional species pool for LABS suggests that the southwestern Amazonian lowlands harbor at least 25% fewer species of snakes relative to the western equatorial Amazon, a diversity reduction that is consistent with patterns observed in several other taxonomic groups. We discuss potential causes of this western Amazonian richness gradient and comment on the relationship between spatial diversity patterns in squamates and other taxa in the Amazon basin.

DIVERSITY AND DISTRIBUTION OF ANURANS FROM MATA DAS FLORES STATE PARK, ESPÍRITO SANTO, SOUTHEASTERN BRAZIL

The scarcity of information on anurans to many areas makes it difficult to delimit new conservation areas with higher relevance to the taxa, and therefore, knowledge of community composition and the study of ecological specialties are of fundamental importance for the conservation of the biodiversity. We studied the anuran community of Mata das Flores State Park (MFSP), located in the municipality of Castelo, Espirito Santo state, Southeastern Brazil, evaluating the richness, composition, abundance, and distribution of anurans species. We sampled the MFSP from March/2017 to January/2018, with four occasions during this time period. We performed sampling at night in six plots of 250 meters distributed along the MFSP area, three plots in flooded environments and three plots in forest environments. We sampled the anurans using the active search method, with visual and auditory sampling. During each transect, the plot was surveyed by two observers. We recorded 226 individuals from 18 species of anurans, distributed in six families. The composition and abundance of the anuran species differed between the plots located near the flooded areas and those located in forest areas of the MFSP. Our study is the first to provide data from the MFSP anuran community and our results point to a worrying scenario for the biodiversity of the area, due to the diverse anthropic impacts and presence of the exotic species Lithobates catesbeianus . The Park is an important forest fragment, being continuous to the ecological corridor Pedra Azul - Forno Grande, but it is the conservation unit that suffers the most impacts due to its proximity to urban areas. Thus, long-term studies are necessary, mainly to quantify and evaluate the effects of these impacts on local fauna.

SOCIAL WASP FAUNA (HYMENOPERA: POLISTINAE) FROM THE CAATINGA AND THE ATLANTIC FOREST OF THE STATE OF BAHIA, BRAZIL

In this work, we carried out an inventory of social wasps (Hymenoptera, Polistinae) from remnants of Caatinga and Atlantic Forest from the central-south region of the state of Bahia. Nest sampling was carried out in the period from March 2010 to June 2011, using the method of active search. We obtained 90 nests and identified 22 species, three subspecies and one morphospecies of social wasp belonging to ten genera and eight subgenera. Five species were recorded for the first time in the state of Bahia, and the genus Polybia was the most frequent one, with seven identified species. The obtained results confirmed the diversity of the Atlantic Forest, and point to a rich fauna of social wasps in the Caatinga.