Behavior Of Individual Organisms Research Articles

An acoustic method to observe the distribution and behaviour of mesopelagic organisms in front of a trawl

We describe a method to allow acoustic sampling at depths not reachable by the higher frequencies of ship hull-mounted echosounders and observe the abundance and behaviour of individual organisms in front of trawls. A self-contained scientific echosounder with a 120 kHz transducer was mounted forward-facing on the headline of a macrozooplankton trawl that was obliquely towed from 0 to 1000 m depth, to investigate the mesopelagic fauna. With the use of a forward-facing echosounder, we were able to estimate organism densities in front of the trawl, the vertical profiles of organism target strength and the movement of organisms in front of the trawl. We demonstrate that a forward-facing trawl-mounted echosounder is a simple and useful method to investigate the distribution of mesopelagic fauna at depth.

Эволюция понятия гомеостаза в рамках трёх парадигм: от организма человека к социумам и биосфере Земли

The problem of philosophical and scientific interpretation of homeostasis has been discussed for more than 150 years. The works of Claude Bernard, W.B. Cannon and P.K. Anokhin fill the basic philosophy of homeostasis, but that works have not provided a formal description of the condition of organism. At the same time within the framework of the third paradigm a new insights of chaos which in modern philosophy is treated only as deterministic chaos are offered. Some forecasts for the development of society and humanity in the future in terms of the analysis of the present are presented. An expanded interpretation of homeostasis in its historical and semantic development is presented. The proof of the commonness in dynamics of behavior of individual organism and the whole society is given.

Integrating ecological insight derived from individual-based simulations and physiologically structured population models

Two contrasting approaches are widely used to derive population dynamics as an emergent property deriving from the physiology and behavior of individual organisms. “Individual-based models” (IBMs) are computer simulations where the “state” (e.g., age, size) of each individual in a population is followed explicitly along with changes in its environment. Population properties (e.g., density, age- or size-structure) emerge from simple bookkeeping and descriptive statistics. Physiologically structured population models (PPSMs) have an identical philosophy, but assume a very large (formally infinite) population and that all individuals in a given state have an identical response to any given environment. These assumptions allow the bookkeeping to proceed through a series of mathematical steps that lead to partial differential or integral equations describing the population dynamics. There is software for both approaches that handles the bookkeeping, with the modeler specifying solely the individual model using stylized files, thereby eliminating the need for technical expertise in either complex computer simulations or advanced calculus. Each approach has its advantages and disadvantages. IBMs are easier to formulate and to explain to people with limited mathematical experience than PSPMs, but PSPMs allow for more extensive mapping of possible dynamic attractors. IBMs alone can reveal the population level effects of demographic stochasticity and of differences among individuals. Formal equilibrium analysis of PSPMs show possible stable states (size distributions) of the populations that include unstable steady states from which slightly perturbed populations may start cycling. The equilibrium size structure at these unstable states can serve as an initial condition for IBMs, thereby facilitating study of the cycles. We illustrated the interconnections and contrasting insights from the two approaches using a food-chain model for which the PSPM was previously studied by De Roos and Persson (Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA: 99, 12907-12912, 2002). Future general population ecology theory requires work with model populations that are both physiologically structured and distributed in space. We describe concepts from spatially explicit IBMs with identical individuals that, in combination with the results in this paper, may point to a way forward.

Single-Case Experimental Designs in Educational Research: A Methodology for Causal Analyses in Teaching and Learning

Current legislation requires educational practices be informed by science. The effort to establish educational practices supported by science has, to date, emphasized experiments with large numbers of participants who are randomly assigned to an intervention or control condition. A potential limitation of such an emphasis at the expense of other research methods is that evidence-based practices in education will derive only from science in the hypothetico-deductive tradition. Such a process omits practices originating from and tested through an inductive approach to understanding phenomena. Single-case experimental designs, developed by experimental and applied behavior analysts, offer an inductive process to identify and alter the lawful relations between the behavior of individual organisms and the environmental variables that are causally related to the occurrence or nonoccurrence of the behavior. Such designs have been essential in the development of effective instructional practices for students with disabilities and have much to offer the broader educational population as well. The purpose of the present paper is to provide an overview of single-case research methodology and the process by which this methodology can contribute to the identification of evidence-based instructional practices.

Marten space use and habitat selection in managed coniferous boreal forests of eastern Canada

AbstractEffects of habitat loss and fragmentation on the behavior of individual organisms may have direct consequences on population viability in altered forest ecosystems. The American marten (Martes americana) is a forest specialist considered as one of the most sensitive species to human‐induced disturbances. As some studies have shown that martens cannot tolerate >30–40% clear‐cuts within their home range, we investigated marten space use (home range size and overlap) and habitat selection in landscapes fragmented by 2 different patterns of timber harvesting in the black spruce boreal forest: dispersed‐cut landscapes (10–80 ha cut‐blocks) and clustered‐cut landscapes (50–200 ha cut‐blocks). We installed radio‐collars on female martens and determined 20 winter home ranges (100% minimum convex polygons and 60–90% kernels) in dispersed‐cut (n = 8) and clustered‐cut (n = 12) landscapes. Home range size was not related to the proportion of clear‐cuts (i.e., habitat loss), but rather to the proportion of mixedwood stands 70–120 years old. However, female body condition was correlated to habitat condition inside their home ranges (i.e., amount of residual forest and recent clear‐cuts). At the home range scale, we determined that mixedwood forests were also among the most used forest stands and the least used were recent clear‐cuts and forested bogs, using resource selection functions. At the landscape scale, home ranges included more mixedwood forests than random polygons and marten high activity zones were composed of more residual forest and less human‐induced disturbances (clear‐cuts, edges, and roads). These results suggest that mixedwood forests, which occupy approximately 10% of the study area, play a critical role for martens in this conifer‐dominated boreal landscape. We recommend permanent retention or special management considerations for these isolated stands, as harvesting mixedwood often leads to forest composition conversion that would reduce the availability of this highly used habitat. © The Wildlife Society, 2013

EDITORIAL: TRANSLATIONAL RESEARCH IN JEAB

Psychology students are taught about the differences between basic and applied research. A popular research methods textbook, for instance, states that “the major goal of basic research is to acquire general information about a phenomenon, with little emphasis placed on applications to real-world examples of the phenomenon” (Bordens & Abbott, 2002, p. 19). Another text asserts that basic research “establishes a reservoir of data, theoretical explanations, and concepts that can be tapped by the applied researcher” (Kantowitz, Roediger, & Elmes, 1997, p. 17). Ideally, of course, students are taught that there is not always a clear boundary between basic and applied research, and that many psychological studies have characteristics of both. For instance, a study may examine the applicability of a behavioral principle or theory in a clinical population, and this research can be of real value to both basic and applied researchers. A good study of this type can assist applied researchers in developing more effective treatment procedures, while at the same time it can give basic researchers information about a behavioral principle's generality, its limitations, and possibly about ways to refine, extend, or improve it. JEAB is known mainly for publishing basic research on the behavior of individual organisms. Yet from its beginnings, this journal has published occasional articles that bridge the gap between basic and applied research. In its first few years, JEAB published reports on the operant control of stuttering (Flanagan, Goldiamond, & Azrin, 1958), on the behavior of psychiatric patients under basic reinforcement schedules (e.g., Ayllon & Azrin, 1964; Ayllon & Haughton, 1962; Hutchinson & Azrin, 1961), and on “The psychiatric nurse as a behavioral engineer” (Ayllon & Michael, 1959). In later years, there have been articles on teaching impulsive children to tolerate delays (Schweitzer & Sulzer-Azaroff, 1988), on the development of equivalence relations between visual stimuli and drugs (DeGrandpre, Bickel, & Higgins, 1992), on the transfer of arousal functions in spider-fearful individuals (Smyth, Barnes-Holmes, & Forsyth, 2006), and on how a summed-exponential model of interresponse time distributions can be used to analyze the durations of wars (Nevin, 2008). These are just a few examples of JEAB articles that have demonstrated the application of basic behavioral principles beyond the operant laboratory. This special issue on translational research, therefore, does not venture into completely new territory for JEAB, although it does reflect a recent trend in the behavioral sciences toward increased interest in research that extends basic principles of behavior beyond the laboratory. It seems very fitting that JEAB, as one of the primary journals that publishes original research on basic behavioral principles, should continue to feature research that demonstrates the extension of these principles to nonlaboratory situations. This special issue has two main purposes. The first is to showcase some of the excellent translational work that is currently being conducted in many different areas. The articles in this issue cover a wide assortment of topics and behavioral principles, ranging from an application of the matching law to the speech patterns of delinquent boys to an fMRI study on risk perception in pathological gamblers. There are indeed many different areas in which modern behavioral principles and concepts can be fruitfully applied. The second purpose of this special issue is to communicate our intention to publish more high-quality translational research as a regular part of future issues of JEAB. As an important step toward achieving this goal, I am pleased to announce that F. Charles (Bud) Mace has accepted the position of JEAB's first Editor for Translational Research. Researchers who conduct translational research are invited and encouraged to submit their manuscripts to this journal. Bud's extensive experience in the area of translational research will ensure that manuscripts on translational research receive competent and appropriate evaluation and feedback. This special issue, and our plans to include more translational research in the future issues, therefore represent the continuation of a long tradition for JEAB. In the five decades of JEAB's existence, basic research has produced a wealth of new knowledge about the behavior of individual organisms. The recent growth in the quantity and variety of translational research is a sign that the time is right for tapping into this reservoir of data, theoretical explanations, and concepts, and demonstrating their importance outside the laboratory.

JEAB AND THE SKINNERIAN INTERPRETATION OF BEHAVIOR

At one time, JEAB editorial policy was perceived by some to consist mainly of dogmatically enforcing a Skinnerian interpretation of all findings reported in the journal. Partly in response to that undeserved reputation, the journal explicitly defined itself as the place to publish research on the behavior of individual organisms, and not as a place that encourages any particular theoretical orientation. My own view is that this should not be the journal's identity; instead, JEAB should be the one journal that seriously considers Skinnerian (and related environment based) interpretations of empirical results, whether or not the study involved an analysis of individual subject behavior and whether or not the Skinnerian analysis is ultimately endorsed by the author.

Towards understanding the meaning of affectionate verbal behavior; towards creating romantic loving.

Here outline answers to four questions: What are possible meanings of various forms of affectionate verbal behavior including I X and I'm in with X? What contingencies might produce corresponding in natural settings, between two particular persons? What resources are needed to put these contingencies into effect? What are some of issues and concerns regarding implementing these contingencies? Key words: affectionate behavior, attachment, close relationships, dependency, interpretation, loving, social behavior, verbal behavior. Behavior analysts, like other scientists, have extended their philosophy, principles, and methods from laboratory settings to settings where experimental control is impractical or phenomena are complex (Palmer, 1991, 2003; Palmer & Donahoe, 1991; Skinner, 1974, pp. 228-232). These inductive efforts are called interpretations. The many interpretations presented in Science and Human Behavior (Skinner, 1953) regarding, for example, the self, emotions, intelligence, knowledge, and economic control have been followed by interpretations of, for example, language (Skinner, 1957); psychotherapy and depression (Dougher, 1994; Ferster, 1972, 1973; Kohlenberg & Tsai, 1991); grief (Brasted & Callahan, 1984); competition (Schmitt, 1986); memory (Palmer, 1991); vicarious learning (Masia & Chase, 1997); life, personhood, and dying (Fraley, 1998); religion (Gurein, 1998); and intimacy (Cordova & Scott, 2001). Here interpret particularly love. For four reasons, suspect interpretations reviewed here will enhance readers' ability to promote love. First, behavior analytic interpretations are down to earth. As you may already know, or will soon see, behavior analysts focus on real physical events rather than explanatory fictions such as motives, attitudes and even as commonly understood (see MacCorquodale & Meehl's [1948] discussion of hypothetical constructs). Second, we focus on relations between manipulable aspects of environment and behavior rather than on correlations between various behavior-defined constructs. In other words, most of our empirical research utilizes experimental rather than correlational methods. Third, we seek to understand and control behavior of individuals rather than aggregates. As you will see, understanding what characterizes the aggregate is helpful but we need to know more if we are to understand how we can induce a particular person to fall in love. Finally, our approach has considerable success in producing large, important changes in behavior of individual organism (Meehl, 1978). One of our most notable, recent achievements has been helping autistic children acquire verbal and social behavior, one child at a time (e.g., Ghezzi, Williams, & Carr, 1999). Surely, some portion of our success is due to terminology we have developed. fear, however, that if extensively use this terminology, would limit my readership. So, have minimized terminology, though readers who have studied an introductory behavior analytic text should be well prepared (e.g., Catania, 1998; Grant & Evans, 1994; Miltenberger, 2004; Sulzer-Azaroff & Mayer, 1991). There is one terminological issue, however, that we must face. Although focus on romantic will often use verb rather than noun because love, as commonly used, suggests that within each of us resides an invisible, fictional love goddess that causes loving behavior (e.g., Hineline, 1980). People who so conceive often speak of loving behavior indexing, reflecting, or being an expression of status of this love goddess. I, instead, as previously suggested, will avoid such explanatory fictions and focus on manipulable aspects of world that may control loving behavior (Skinner, 1953, Chap. 10; Woodworth, 1924, pp. …

Statistical inference in behavior analysis: Discussant’s remarks

A collection of essays on the roles of inferential statistics in behavior-analytic research prompted consideration of five issues: (a) the acceptance of research that focuses on the behavior of individual organisms; (b) the need to apply methods thoughtfully; (c) the heuristic value of statistical description; (d) the treatment of aberrant data in the search for general principles; and (e) the role of derived measures in the search for invariances.

Understanding the ecology of plankton

Plankton are microscopic organisms living in the sea. They are responsible for more than half of the biological production of our planet. They also influence global climate, fisheries and pollution. Understanding the ever-changing distribution of plankton in the ocean is one of the grand challenges of science. The scope of the problem has been well documented in the 20th century, and new research tools should greatly accelerate progress in the 21st century. A particularly promising tool is mathematical simulation of the ecosystem, in which the demographics of plankton populations are derived from the growth and behaviour of individual organisms, each responding to its immediate environment. These use new computer codes, based on the Lagrangian Ensemble method, which are at the leading edge of complexity simulation. When integrated on massively parallel computers they can simulate the individual histories of millions of plankters for several decades. These ‘virtual plankton ecosystems’ help us to understand the complex processes responsible for the ever-changing patterns of planktonic life in the ocean.

Differences in Population Density and Energy Use between Birds and Mammals: A Macroecological Perspective

1. Data from 364 mammal and 564 bird species were used to compare these two taxa in the patterns of variation in population density and energy use as a function of body mass. 2. This study demonstrates previously unappreciated quantitative differences between mammals and birds. Over a wide range of sizes, population densities and rates of energy use are at least one order of magnitude higher in mammals than in birds of similar size. The highest population densities are found in species that weigh about 100 g in mammals and 30 g in birds. 3. Comparisons between mammals and birds from the same dietary category indicate that mammals maintain higher densities and use more energy than birds. Insectivorous mammals and birds maintain the lowest densities. 4. Flying mammals and birds reach lower densities and use more energy than non-flying forms. 5. These findings reveal relationships between the morphology, physiology and behaviour of individual organisms and the ecological performance of these endothermic vertebrates in populations, communities and ecosystems: relationships that have not previously been appreciated.

Strategies and difficulties of applying models to aquatic populations and food webs

The models of mathematical ecology have often been constructed with a view towards their analytic tractability and, as a consequence, have been criticized frequently on the grounds of their lack of realism. It is argued here that recent trends in ecological modeling have been away from abstraction towards the incorporation of more mechanistic detail. This detail may include such features of natural systems as spatial heterogeneity, the demographic structure of populations, the dependence of population parameters on varying environmental conditions, and the physiology and behavior of individual organisms. Frequently, such apparent details are crucial in determining population and community dynamics. This is illustrated by models of the ‘match-mismatch’ hypothesis of recruitment success in fish populations, plant competition and succession, and stability of food webs. Great progress is likely to be made in understanding and predicting the dynamics of aquatic populations and food webs as models come to be based more on an appropriate level of mechanistic detail.