Status Of Colony Research Articles

Towards the development of an index for the holistic assessment of the health status of a honey bee colony

Honey bees play an important role in the maintenance of both, biodiversity and food security through pollination services and also represent an important source of income for rural areas. Despite several studies and monitoring projects gathering a large amount of data on the main factors/stressors influencing honey bee colonies, there is a lack of holistic and multidimensional statistical tools integrating different aspects which define honey bee colony health. Such tools are important to support the sustainable management of honey bees. In this study, we designed and tested a methodological framework based on Structural Equation Models for the development of a honey bee Health Status Index. The index accounts for the main abiotic (e.g. pesticide contamination, landscape characteristics) and biotic (e.g. parasitosis, virosis) factors influencing honey bee health, including the beekeepers role in managing the colony. The proposed methodology was validated against a dataset representing seven scenarios generated through Expert Knowledge Elicitation. The validation procedure showed that the Health Status Index integrates different sources of data and it can quantify the health status of a honey bee colony based on the characteristics of each scenario. Furthermore, it allows the investigation of the influence of different drivers/stressors on the health of the honey bee colony. The Health Status Index provides flexibility in the selection of variables, making it a valuable tool for holistic and harmonised assessment of honey bee health. Once validated, the index can support the evaluation at different spatial (from local- to area-wide management) and temporal (medium- to long-term management) scales to support stakeholders’ (e.g. beekeepers, risk assessors, risk managers) decision-making.

UKRAINE AND IRELAND: ARE POST-COLONIAL COUNTRIES, AREN`T THEY?

The issue of the membership of Ukraine and Ireland in the post-colonial countries is investigated. The arguments of opponents of the definition of Ukraine as part of the Russian Empire / USSR and Ireland as part of Great Britain as colonies are analyzed: an insufficiently clear definition of empire in modern political science, which allows not at least recognizing the USSR as an empire; absence of official colony status in Ukraine and Ireland; the presence of developed industry in the late USSR, which contradicts colonial status. Each of the arguments is consistently recognized as insufficiently important. The definition of an empire is given, which corresponds to both the British Empire and the Russian / USSR. The typologies of these empires were carried out: Great Britain was recognized as a liberal modern (disciplinary) empire, and the Russian Empire / USSR as an autocratic / authoritarian modern (disciplinary) empire. The key differences of these empires are highlighted. Thanks to the definition of a colony as a territory that has sovereignty limited in favor of the metropolis and is an object of specific colonial policy, as well as the identification of the types of colonies (colonies that are socioculturally close to the metropolis, colonies that are socioculturally different from the metropolis, internal colonies), it is proved that Ukraine as part of the Russian Empire/USSR and Ireland as part of Great Britain correspond to such a variety of colonies as territories dependent on the metropolis, populated socioculturally close to the metropolis in settlement, but not identical to it. An attempt was made to compare the colonial policy of Great Britain in relation to Ireland and the Russian Empire / USSR to Ukraine. Despite the difference in these empires, a significant number of parallels were found: the redistribution of resources in favor of a socioculturally distinct metropolis; cultural and linguistic colonization policies; the spread of specific self-identification of the population («Soviet person» and «British»); resettlement of residents of the metropolis in the colony; the emergence of famine as a result of the colonial policy (Irish potato famine of 1845-1849 and the Holodomor of 1932-1933 in Ukraine). The similarity (goal, struggle methodology, etc.) between the national liberation movements of Ireland (Irish Republican Brotherhood, Irish Republican Army) and Ukraine (Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, Ukrainian Insurgent Army) is analyzed. As a conclusion, an affirmative answer was provided to the question posed in the title of the article – yes, at this point in time Ukraine is a post-colonial country, and Ireland has been such for at least the first decades after independence.

First Report of Brevipalpus papayensis as Vector of Coffee ringspot virus and Citrus leprosis virus C

Coffee ringspot virus (CoRSV) and Citrus leprosis virus C (CiLV-C) are two emergent pathogens that can cause significant losses to coffee and citrus, respectively. Recently, it was verified that Brevipalpus phoenicis, originally reported as vector of these viruses, is indeed a complex group reclassified into eight mite species (Beard et al. 2015). Among those, B. papayensis Baker (Acari: Tenuipalpidae) occurs in citrus, but seems to be prevalent in coffee plantations. However, it is still unclear the relationship (if any) of B. papayensis with CiLV-C or CoRSV. In order to determine whether or not this mite is capable of transmitting these viruses, one single female specimen was collected from Coffea arabica cv. Catuai in Atibaia, SP-Brazil, and multiplied in laboratory as an isoline. Specimens were mounted in Hoyer’s medium and morphologically confirmed by phase contrast microscopy as B. papayensis, according to the classification of Beard et al. (2015). This isoline population was reared onto healthy coffee leaves, in 25 ± 1°C, 14 h light/10 h dark and 60 ± 10% humidity. RT-PCR assays using primers for the detection of each of the viruses were performed in order to confirm the virus-free colony status. B. papayensis mites were transferred to either coffee leaves exhibiting ringspots or sweet orange fruits symptomatic for leprosis, which served as sources of inocula for 7 days. Viral acquisition was confirmed by RT-PCR of viruliferous mites using specific primers for the detection of CoRSV (Kitajima et al. 2011) or CiLV-C (Locali et al. 2003), according to Kubo et al. (2011). After the acquisition period, 60 mites from each source of inoculum were transferred to 20 Arabidopsis thaliana plants (6 mites per plant), a plant species that can host both. Fifteen days after infestation, typical pinpoint lesions were observed and virus presence was confirmed by RT-PCR in 60% of the CiLV-C- and 30% of the CoRSV-inoculated plants. Additionally, common bean plants (Phaseolus vulgaris cv. Una) were infested with 15 B. papayensis mites from the isoline population reared onto CiLV-C inoculum (one mite per leaf, isolated by entomological glue). Perhaps due to the low efficiency in single mite transmission, only 27% of the leaves became symptomatic. The presence of CiLV-C was confirmed by RT-PCR and sequencing (98% of similarity to GenBank accession no. KP3367461). Fifteen females were collected directly from coffee leaves with CoRSV symptoms in Cordeiropolis, SP-Brazil, and transferred to isolated leaves of common bean plants. Symptoms of necrotic local lesions appeared 10 days after inoculation in 50% of the plants. The presence of CoRSV was confirmed by RT-PCR in both coffee and bean leaves. Amplicons obtained from the latter were sequenced (QG979998) and found 98% identical to CoRSV sequences available in GenBank. This is the first report of common bean as an experimental host of CoRSV. B. yothersi has been shown to transmit cileviruses. B. californicus seems to be the only vector of the dichorhavirus Orchid fleck virus, while B. phoenicis sensu stricto is the vector of the tentative dichorhavirus Citrus leprosis virus N. This is the first confirmation that B. papayensis can transmit CiLV-C and CoRSV. This is also the first time, following the reclassification of the B. phoenicis group, that a transmission was demonstrated by a single species of Brevipalpus for both a dichorha- and a cilevirus. Since this mite species is prevalent in coffee plantations in Brazil, it is likely the main vector of CoRSV under natural conditions.

Disunited in ethnicity: the racialization of Chinese Mainlanders in Hong Kong

ABSTRACTIn the current climate of increasing antagonisms and populist discontents surrounding the visible presence of mainland mobilities in postcolonial Hong Kong, there is an acute need to understand how those from Mainland China are racialized. Lowe and Tsang's article provides an examination of the campaign against Mainlanders prevalent in Hong Kong society. The emergent conflicts between Hong Kong and Mainland Chinese migrants overlap with the duality of time or differing time-inflected cultural habits of Mainlanders and Hong Kongers. As Hong Kong's citizenry and Mainlanders contest the status of the former colony and claim rights over it in ways aberrant to both factions' national consciousness, discrimination increases as Mainlanders are castigated by Hong Kongers for grazing their territory with mannerisms deemed unsettling to Hong Kong's everyday notions of time and space. Hong Kongers' sense of collective identity is shored-up as they reject the People's Republic of China’s favoured concept of pan-Chinese ethnicity by constructing Mainlanders as the inverse of themselves.

Long-term trends in the honeybee 'whooping signal' revealed by automated detection.

It is known that honeybees use vibrational communication pathways to transfer information. One honeybee signal that has been previously investigated is the short vibrational pulse named the ‘stop signal’, because its inhibitory effect is generally the most accepted interpretation. The present study demonstrates long term (over 9 months) automated in-situ non-invasive monitoring of a honeybee vibrational pulse with the same characteristics of what has previously been described as a stop signal using ultra-sensitive accelerometers embedded in the honeycomb located at the heart of honeybee colonies. We show that the signal is very common and highly repeatable, occurring mainly at night with a distinct decrease in instances towards midday, and that it can be elicited en masse from bees following the gentle shaking or knocking of their hive with distinct evidence of habituation. The results of our study suggest that this vibrational pulse is generated under many different circumstances, thereby unifying previous publication’s conflicting definitions, and we demonstrate that this pulse can be generated in response to a surprise stimulus. This work suggests that, using an artificial stimulus and monitoring the changes in the features of this signal could provide a sensitive tool to assess colony status.

Could open source ecology and open source appropriate technology be used as a roadmap from technology colony?

In the quest for sustainability, emerging economies can no longer rely on the vertical transference of foreign technologies. Therefore, the development of endogenous technologies as a driver of any sustainable national industrialisation efforts should be reoriented. Technological independence is profound in ensuring sustainability, which according to the research findings, is inhibited by the resilient status of a technology colony. A technology colony demonstrates interests in production and sales, than in idea generation, research and development (R&D), and industrialisation of new products or services. The aim of this article is to provide a brief explanation on what a technology colony is, and how it affects innovation and development. In a next step, the significance of open source ecology (OSE) and open source appropriate technology (OSAT) concepts as a roadmap to eliminate the effects of technology colonisation on the sustainable development of emerging economies are explored relying on a qualitative literature review.

Honeybee Colony Vibrational Measurements to Highlight the Brood Cycle.

Insect pollination is of great importance to crop production worldwide and honey bees are amongst its chief facilitators. Because of the decline of managed colonies, the use of sensor technology is growing in popularity and it is of interest to develop new methods which can more accurately and less invasively assess honey bee colony status. Our approach is to use accelerometers to measure vibrations in order to provide information on colony activity and development. The accelerometers provide amplitude and frequency information which is recorded every three minutes and analysed for night time only. Vibrational data were validated by comparison to visual inspection data, particularly the brood development. We show a strong correlation between vibrational amplitude data and the brood cycle in the vicinity of the sensor. We have further explored the minimum data that is required, when frequency information is also included, to accurately predict the current point in the brood cycle. Such a technique should enable beekeepers to reduce the frequency with which visual inspections are required, reducing the stress this places on the colony and saving the beekeeper time.

Synthesis, anti-oxidant activity, and biodegradability of a novel recombinant polysaccharide derived from chitosan and lactose

A novel recombinant polysaccharide (RP) based on polysaccharide-disaccharide was synthesized from oligo-chitosan (oligo-CS) and reducing lactose using Maillard reaction with the yield of 85.1%. Chemical structure and thermal stability of RP was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectrum (FT-IR), solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (CP/MAS (13)C-NMR), and thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA). The anti-oxidant activity of RP was preliminarily investigated by its scavenging effect on 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical. Biodegradability of RP was also examined by the observation of growth status of Aspergillus niger colony. It was demonstrated that RP achieved excellent radical-scavenging efficiency (>80%) at high concentrations of DPPH and its scavenging ability was superior to that of CS, suggesting that anti-oxidant property of CS was remarkably promoted by chemical modification with reducing lactose via Maillard reaction. And biodegradation test revealed that RP had better biodegradability than CS.

Istočnobosanska rudarska oblast

Podrinje and parts of east Bosnia in Roman period were considered as East Bosnian mining territory. In antiquity, during the Roman reign, there were two very important municipal centres in this area - Municipium Malvesiatium and Domavia. Both cities gained their municipal status probably during the reign of Roman emperor Antoninus Pius. As cultural and economic center, Domavia was more significant. It can be assumed that from the reign of Marcus Aurelius till the last years of 2nd century AD, Domavia was administration centre of all metal mines in Dalmatia and both Pannonies, while in 3rd century it was centre of procuratores Augusti, but only for silver mines. Many of the inscriptions cite imperial procurators, and the last one is mentioned in 274 AD during the reign of emperor Aurelian. Thanks to the epigraphical data from era of Alexander Severus and Trebonianus Gallus, it can be concluded that this city was given the status of colony in period from 232 or 233 and 254 AD. Domavia reached the peak of its development in 3rd century AD, after which it slowly began to decline. The city had all the characteristics of important administrative centre. During archaeological research, in this urban area among all other objects, forum, thermae, curia and court were excavated. Thermae are the biggest object found, with forty five chambers. As inscriptions cite, in area of Domavia lived not only locals but also people from different parts of Roman Empire such as Romans, Greeks, people from Orient, etc. There is a possibility that mines in this area were exploited again during the Ostrogoths reign, which is considered as prosperous and stabile period in Dalmatia. After the Slavs populated this area mines were not in use but mining will reach its new zenith in middle ages after the Sasi (Saxons) moved there.

From Unincorporated Territory to Commonwealth Connecting Decolonization and U.S. Empire

My essay examines the transition of the Philippines and Puerto Rico from U.S. unincorporated territories to U.S. commonwealths in the mid-twentieth century. It studies the ideas of progress that are associated with this shift in legal and political status in order to then consider how they promote particular historical narratives and analytical frameworks for U.S. empire. The essay begins by examining dominant assumptions about the meanings and implications of the unincorporated territory and commonwealth in U.S. culture and history. Building on scholarship by Amy Kaplan, Christina Duffy Burnett, and Todd Shepard, I consider interpretations of the commonwealth as either a continuation or rectification of the U.S. colony status, but also as removed from the contemporaneous historical movement of decolonization. To understand how commonwealth stories operate as ambivalent narrations of U.S. decolonization, I analyze two fictional works, Bienvenido Santos’s 1955 short story “Brown Coterie” and the well-known 1957 musical West Side Story. The concluding paragraphs point to the possibilities opened up by situating the U.S. commonwealth in relation to twentieth century global and geopolitical formations such as United Nations trust territories and the outré-mer, rather than only within U.S. nation-based frameworks.

The Buildup of a nuclear armament capability and the postwar statehood of Japan: Fukushima and the genealogy of nuclear bombs and power plants

This essay was written under the impact of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear catastrophe to locate the nuclear power issue in a context broader than energy and environment. “Peaceful use of nuclear energy” was brought in by the US in the mid-1950s as part of its “psy” warfare to cleanse atomic power of the horrifying image of the Hiroshima-Nagasaki massacre. “Peaceful use” as such was accepted as a symbol of progress even by left-wing intellectuals. However, the Japanese ruling groups situated such use in their long-term military context. In the ensuing decades, the government carried out huge national nuclear programs and said they were genuinely for energy supply. But in 1965–72, the government undertook serious studies on Japan's nuclear arms, concluding that although Japan would stay non-nuclear “for the time being,” it would keep its techno-economic capacity ready to produce nuclear bombs any time they were needed. This essay examines Japan's nuclear power in reference to the major defining factors of the postwar Japanese statehood—the US–Japan security alliance (Anpo), Okinawa as the pivot of Anpo, the rightists' ambition to revive the glory of the prewar Empire, and Japan's position in the US–China relationship. The Fukushima disaster and Okinawa's resistance to military colony status rocked this whole structure, bankrupting the postwar statehood. People are now urged to define what comes next.

A 96-well based analysis of replicon elimination with the HCV NS5A replication complex inhibitor daclatasvir

A 96-well based replicon elimination and colony formation assay is presented for comparing the resistance barrier of the hepatitis C virus (HCV) NS5A replication complex inhibitor daclatasvir (DCV, BMS-790052) on three HCV genotypes (gts) in a proof of concept experimental protocol. The 96-well assay format provides both individual colony as well as population characterization and is readily applicable to other HCV direct-acting antiviral agents (DAAs). The assay provides an assessment of HCV replication levels over a 5log10 range by measuring a luciferase reporter resident in the HCV replicons. Individual colony status can be measured with a separate and compatible resazurin assay to assess relative host cell fitness following inhibitor treatments. The methods employed are non-toxic and leave intact isolatable colonies that can be used for phenotyping and genotyping. The utility of the assay is demonstrated by the identification and isolation of resistant variants as well as in the ranking of the relative resistance barrier for the replication complex inhibitor DCV for gts 1a, 1b and 2a. The format provides a quantitative ranking based upon luciferase activity and has the ability to monitor DAA resistance development over time for large numbers of compounds.

Factors influencing survival duration and choice of virgin queens in the stingless bee Melipona quadrifasciata

In Melipona quadrifasciata, about 10% of the females develop into queens, almost all of which are killed. Occasionally, a new queen replaces or supersedes the mother queen or heads a new colony. We investigated virgin queen fate in queenright and queenless colonies to determine the effects of queen behaviour, body mass, nestmate or non-nestmate status, queenright or queenless colony status, and, when queenless, the effect of the time a colony had been queenless, on survival duration and acceptance. None of 220 virgin queens observed in four observation hives ever attacked another virgin queen nor did any of 88 virgin queens introduced into queenright colonies ever attack the resident queen. A new queen was only accepted in a queenless colony. Factors increasing survival duration and acceptance of virgin queens were to emerge from its cell at 2 h of queenlessness, to hide, and to avoid fights with workers. In this way, a virgin queen was more likely to be available when a colony chooses a new queen, 24-48 h after resident queen removal. Running, walking or resting, antennating or trophallaxis, played little or no role, as did the factors body mass or nestmate. "Queen choice" took about 2 h during which time other virgin queens were still being killed by workers. During this agitated process, the bees congregated around the new queen. She inflated her abdomen and some of the workers deposited a substance on internal nest surfaces including the glass lid of the observation hive.

Colony status of Asian giant honeybee, Apis dorsata Fabricius in Southern Karnataka, India

The field survey conducted to collect more than twenty parameters of Apis dorsata colonies during different seasons at different districts of southern Karnataka revealed interesting results. Altogether, 2,407 normal colonies (comb with live bees) were recorded at various habitats of southern Karnataka. Of all, Mysore district has recorded highest (1,560) colonies followed by Chamarajanagar (544) and Kodagu (303) districts. Among the seasons, winter has recorded highest (839) colonies followed by rainy (807) and summer (761) seasons.Apis dorsata selected 20 tree species to nest 1,646 colonies at an elevation ranged from five to 80 feet. About 580 colonies nested on human built structures at the height of eight to 75 feet and 181 colonies were found on rock cliffs at 10 to 30 m elevation. The colony density was more (3.64) in Mysore district followed by Chamarajanagar and Kodagu districts. Accordingly, the abundance and percent nesting frequency were also varied considerably. Further, the colony aggregates, aggregates density per 52 meter area, abundance and percent frequency was 1.57, 3.19 and 134.07 respectively on trees, rock cliffs and human built structures at Chamarajanagar, Kodagu and Mysore districts. The morphometrics indicated considerable variations. A. dorsata produced multifloral honey (10,831.5 kg) and good quantity of beeswax (1,444.2 Kg) every year. The floral source included 687 flowering plants which belong to 223 familes, supplied continuous nectar flow during most of the seasons with little variations. Apis dorsata honey quality was moderate with below detection limit of pesticide residues. Continuous interference from various predators, pests and parasites along with man-made activities have stressed severely A. dorsata colony population which resulted in the colony decline considerably. Thus, there is a dire need to conserve A. dorsata population under natural conditions in this part of the state. Key words: Colony status, Apis dorsata, southern Karnataka, India.

In vitro and in vivodevelopment of mice morulae after storage in non-frozen conditions

BackgroundInterchange of genetically modified (GM) mice between laboratories using embryos provides several advantages. Not only is transport stress avoided, but also the health status of the recipient colony is not compromised. Embryos do not need to be shipped in frozen stage, which requires expensive packaging in addition to a certain degree of expertise in order to freeze and thaw them correctly. The aim of this study was to examine different storage conditions and their effect on embryo viability in order to establish the feasibility of practical, non-frozen conditions for embryo shipment.MethodsMouse morulae developed in vivo (collected from donors 2.5d post coitum) or in vitro (zygotes cultured until morulae stage) were stored, combining two different media (KSOMeq or KSOM-H) and temperatures (4 degrees C, 15 degrees C and 37 degrees C) throughout 24 or 48 hours. After storage in vitro viability was assessed determining percentage of development to blastocyst and total cell number. In vivo viability was determined based on the number of implantations and living fetuses after embryo transfer of stored embryos. The storage effect at the molecular level was assessed by studying a gene pool involved in early development by quantitative RT-PCR.ResultsIn vivo-produced morulae stored for 24 hours did not show differences in development up to the blastocyst stage, regardless of the storage type. Even though a decrease in the total cell number in vivo was observed, embryo development after embryo transfer was not affected. All 24 hour storage conditions tested provided a similar number of implantations and fetuses at day 14 of pregnancy. Morulae obtained from in vitro embryo culture collected at the 1-cell stage showed a decreased ability to develop to blastocyst after 24 hours of storage at 15degrees C both in KSOMeq and KSOM-H. Concomitantly, a significant decrease of embryo implantation rates after transfer to recipients was also found. In order to further characterize the effect of non-frozen storage combining a molecular approach with the ordinary in vitro culture evaluation, embryos collected at the morula stage were submitted to the same storage conditions described throughout 48 hours. In vitro culture of those embryos showed a significant decrease in their developmental rate to blastocyst in both KSOMeq and KSOM-H at 15degrees C, which also affected the total number of cells. Gene transcription studies confirmed significant alterations in retrotransposons (Erv4 and Iap) after 48 h of storage at 15degrees C.ConclusionsOur results show that both KSOMeq and KSOM-H can be equally used, and that several temperature conditions allow good survival rates in vitro and in vivo. Some of these storage conditions can substitute freezing in order to maintain embryo viability for 24–48 hours, providing a reliable and less demanding technical alternative for embryo interchanges.

Does lack of intraspecific aggression or absence of nymphs determine acceptance of foreign reproductives in Macrotermes?

The rejection or acceptance of a foreign reproductive by an alien colony may not always be as straightforward as cue recognition between worker termites. This paper aims to determine whether adoption of foreign reproductives is caused simply by lack of intraspecific aggression or is contingent on the reproductive status of the host colony. In the fungus-culturing termites, Macrotermes gilvus (Hagen) and Macrotermes carbonarius (Hagen), major workers showed low intraspecific aggression towards non-nestmates irrespective of geographic distance between source colonies. Our results indicated that workers were hardly aggressive towards non-nestmates. In royal cell-swapping experiments, both species responded in a similar way: (1) in host colonies with nymphs present, the foreign reproductives were rejected; while (2) in host colonies without nymphs the foreign reproductives were either accepted and breeding resumed or the host colonies died eventually. Workers from the host colonies preferentially maintained offspring nymphs from which adultoid replacement reproductives develop rather than accepting foreign reproductives. There is no fitness gain for the queenless workers in accepting foreign reproductives; however, there is overall benefit to the newly born population.

Morphometry and number of spermatozoa in drone honeybees (Hymenoptera: Apidae) reared under different conditions

The effects of three factors operating during pre-emergence development period on some characteristics of drones were studied. Weight of newly emerged drones, length of forewing, length of tibia, length of femur, length and width of basitarsus and number of spermatozoa in drones from colonies in which the workers had access to drone brood (A), the size of brood cells differed (B) or the colony had a queen or was queenless (C), were determined. For this purpose, 9 colonies were chosen at random from the test apiary and prepared so that each contained one empty Langstroth frame with six small sub-frames containing drone combs, three of which were used to test the effect of one level and the other three the other level of each factor. The results showed that, colony status had a greater effect on the parameters measured than either the size of the brood cells or whether the workers had access to sealed brood cells. Most of the parameters were significantly different in C, whereas only a few in B and non in A were significantly different. The distance between discriminant scores in each experiment enhanced the previous results, as it was highest in C, followed by B and then A. Optimal drone characteristics may be recorded for colonies in which the queens were induced to lay unfertilized eggs in newly built drone combs, and then removed and the drone brood reared in a queen less colony.

Visiting Indochina, the imaginary of the French colonial period in today's touristic Việt Nam

Names of Indian towns, rivers, provinces and seas have first and foremost a musical meaning. All references to physical, human or political geography in India Song are incorrect. Marguerite Duras, India Song This paper aims to examine the multiplicity of articulations existing between the imaginary, the production, and the consumption of touristic places in a post-colonial context. Using the approach of cultural geography, I want to study the role of the French colonial period (1887–1954) in the construction of Việt Nam as a touristic destination. Within that specific context, interconnection of times and spaces contributes to building a new type of otherness. Indeed, touristic spots serve a past that is over, but revived by tourists as a source of exoticism. The French colonial imaginary influences touristic places in four different ways, ranging from the choice of Việt Nam as a destination to the touristic spots themselves. Firstly, it specifies this destination, as if Việt Nam, in its status of former French colony, kept a specific link with France and Europe. Secondly, it creates specific touristic places, like Sa Đéc, the town of Marguerite Duras’ childhood. Thirdly, it complexifies the reading grid of pre-existing touristic places, like in the former colonial centre of main towns. Finally, it influences the ordering of domestic places, like some high-standard hotels, giving them the atmosphere of the ‘Colonial Chic’. In all cases, the colonial imaginary serves as scenery for stories built by tourists in order to give a meaning to their travels. These travels are both through time and space, and it is precisely in that flashback that the pleasure lies.

Five egg-laying queens in a single colony of brazilian stingless bees (Melipona scutellaris Latreille

Polygyny, characterized by the presence of several egg-laying queens, is considered as a temporary colony status. In stingless bees it is rarely observed. This paper reports the first case of natural polygyny in Melipona scutellaris colony, with five egg-laying queens.

Foraging behaviour of Cape gannets as an indicator of colony health status

ESR Endangered Species Research Contact the journal Facebook Twitter RSS Mailing List Subscribe to our mailing list via Mailchimp HomeLatest VolumeAbout the JournalEditorsSpecials ESR 12:193-202 (2010) - DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/esr00306 Foraging behaviour of Cape gannets as an indicator of colony health status Ralf H. E. Mullers1,2,*, René A. Navarro2 1University of Groningen, Department of Behavioural Biology, PO Box 14, 9750 AA Haren, The Netherlands 2Animal Demography Unit, Department of Zoology, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch 7701, South Africa *Email: ralf.mullers@gmail.com ABSTRACT: From 2003 to 2007, a total of 646 breeding Cape gannets Morus capensis were equipped with GPS-loggers at 2 colonies to obtain insight into how the foraging behaviour of gannets varied between colonies and whether it could predict the ‘health’ of these colonies, i.e. the growth rate. The foraging behaviour of gannets from Malgas Island, South Africa, varied considerably during the breeding season; average trip duration could double from week to week. At Ichaboe Island, Namibia, foraging behaviour varied less, but the gannets made 2.3 h longer trips and had a larger foraging area than the gannets from Malgas. Gannets scavenging for fishery discards made shorter foraging trips and spent less time flying than birds foraging for live prey. Utilisation of fishery discards was more prominent at Malgas. Chicks from Ichaboe grew faster and had higher survival rates, possibly associated with the larger proportion of live prey in their diet. The fraction of time flown during foraging trips was positively associated with chick growth in the colony, probably because gannets that made longer trips were more likely to return with good quality live prey. Variations in food availability, fitness trade-offs, predation pressures and inter-individual specialisation might explain why our results contradict a previously described relationship between parental foraging behaviour and colony status. The study of parental behaviour is important to explain chick growth, a component of colony health status, but it is inadequate to predict overall colony health status in Cape gannets. KEY WORDS: Population dynamics · Foraging behaviour · Chick growth · Conservation · Diet Full text in pdf format PreviousNextCite this article as: Mullers RHE, Navarro RA (2010) Foraging behaviour of Cape gannets as an indicator of colony health status. Endang Species Res 12:193-202. https://doi.org/10.3354/esr00306 Export citation RSS - Facebook - Tweet - linkedIn Cited by Published in ESR Vol. 12, No. 3. Online publication date: September 20, 2010 Print ISSN: 1863-5407; Online ISSN: 1613-4796 Copyright © 2010 Inter-Research.