Several Types Of Habitat Research Articles

The behaviour of pigs in a semi-natural environment

ABSTRACTIn order to obtain a better knowledge of the behaviour of the domestic pig, a small population was established in 1978 near Edinburgh in an enclosure with several types of habitat, including woodland and bog. Over a 3·5-year period 13 different groups were studied with each group typically containing a boar, four sows, a young sub-adult boar and an immature gilt. The sow and her piglets were allowed to determine the time of weaning and, apart from providing food for maintenance and reproduction, handling was kept to a minimum. The behaviour of these pigs, which included most of the behaviour of the European wild boar, is described in a general manner for the non-specialist.

Breeding of the Stubble Quail, Coturnix pectoralis, in South-Eastern Australia

The gonad cycle, breeding season, proportion of the population in primary moult and the relative amount of body fat were examined through the year in stubble quail at eight localities covering seven degrees of latitude and including several types of habitat and climate. There were significant effects of annual cycles and rainfall on each character at each location. In gonad size the seasonal cycle accounted for 39-71% of the variability in males and 21-41% in females according to locality. Effects of rainfall accounted for 5-18 % of the variability in males and 5-19% in females. There was a suggestion of a latitudinal trend in the date of the beginning of the annual gonad cycle. Breeding at all localities was in spring and early summer with a very frequent second peak of gonad size and breeding in late summer and autumn. The timing, the relative values of the spring and summer peaks and the success of the breeding varied from place to place and from year to year in the one locality. In some years breeding was continuous virtually throughout the year. Although in some regions the hunting season is appropriately timed, considering the biology of the birds, in others it is not as it overlaps the breeding season. There is a case for standardization in the south-eastern States to May-July.

The weaving environment of the weaving spiders

The weaving spiders live by making their webs according to their own weaving mode. The weaving mode consists of web form, web size, web angle, web height, web thread character, etc., and it is generally similar within a species, a genus or a family. The basic weaving modes are as follow: vertical (both single layer and multi-layer), horizontal (both small and large), cubic (both true cubic and line), sheet (inverted dish, with or without cradle; saucer, with or without cradle), and fixed (flat and curved surface) (See table 1). But the basic mode may be modified by situations such as growth and developmental stage, or slight individual variations, etc..In the classification of the spider's webs only their shapes have been noticed. This paper suggests a modification of this classfication by adding the important factors of the spatial Orientation and the spatial surrounding micro-habitat to which the web is attached.Web of any types are attached to some objects (such as tree branches or windowframes); these objects form scaffolding stands which have several possible characters: form, size. mobility, condition of surface, etc.. There are several shape types of scaffolding stand as follows: lengthwise, box with ceiling, widthwise with ceiling, widthwise with underbase, flat surface (See Fig. 1).On the other hand, from the viewpoint of weaving condition the surface of the earth has several types of habitat (Table 3). And each habitat consists of various micro-habitats. For example, a forest consists of 4 micro-habitats as follows: open area among trees, peripheral foliage, central foliage, basal area (soil, trunk, lowest branches, and open space) (See Fig. 2). such micro-habitats offer the scaffolding stands for making webs.These scaffolding stands, along with the shape and spatial orientation of webs themselves make up the weaving environment of the weaving spiders.

Analysis of Habitat Loyalty and Habitat Preference in the Settlement Behavior of Planktonic Marine Larvae

Habitat loyalty is the tendency of animals to rank a habitat higher, on a scale of preferences which includes several types of habitats, if the parents of the animal came from that habitat. The loyalty matrix is a table of experimentally determined habitat preferences of offspring whose parents originated in different habitats. The trace of the loyalty matrix is a measure of habitat loyalty which is also applicable in the case of single-generation habitat preferences, e.g., the homing behavior of anadromous fish. Procedures for setting confidence limits on the trace are described. A tetrachoric correlation technique applied to the transformed loyalty matrix allows calculation of within-population genetic variance in habitat preference. The correlation between generations is conventionally expressed as heritability. The equilibrium probability vector of the loyalty matrix represents the expected distribution of offspring over substrates; it provides a basis for estimating the magnitude and direction of the...

Waterfowl Sex Ratios during Spring in Washington State and Their Interpretation

Sex-ratio studies have received much attention from research workers in recent years. The contributions of Hochbaum (1944), Petrides (1944) and others have yielded considerable information on sex ratios in waterfowl; Beer (1945) and Yocom (1949) have presented data for the state of Washington. To interpret regional data on waterfowl sex ratios adequately, it is necessary to obtain a series of uninterrupted observations covering the entire migration period of the species concerned. In 1954, an ecologic study was conducted in the Potholes area, Grant County, central Washington (Johnsgard, 1956). During the period February 15 to May 16, sex-ratio data were collected for more than 15,000 ducks, including 17 species to be discussed in this paper. Nearly all these species wintered in the region and were present in small numbers when field work began in February (Johnsgard, 1954). Sex counts were obtained for several types of habitat during this study. Among these were the potholes which occur between the sand dunes that were deposited in the region during glacial times (Bretz, 1928). Following the recent construction of O'Sullivan Dam and the subsequent filling of Potholes Reservoir, many of these potholes were inundated by the rapid rise of the reservoir. However, seepage below the dam has resulted in the formation of numerous lakes and smaller water areas in the scabland channels previously covered with sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) and associated vegetation. Counts on these new seepage areas, as well as counts obtained on Potholes Reservoir, were recorded separately from those obtained on the sand-dune potholes.

Distribution Patterns and Phylogeny of Some Western Ground Squirrels

T IS well known that many kinds of mammals attain their distributional limits in the intermontane West. In Utah in particular many species reach their limits, and along the margins of the ranges, many small populations have developed under semi-isolation into recognizable subspecies in relatively short periods of time. We have been making a detailed study of ground squirrels of the subgenus Citellus (Oken) for the past several years. The study of taxonomy and speciation has to date been largely restricted to data concerning the morphological features of the animals. While plotting the ranges of these species, and studying competition between different species at the interphases of their ranges, we have made many observations which lead us to believe that a significant supplement to the morphological data may be obtained by field studies of the distribution and ecology of related species under intense competition. Within the given genus, what are the relationships as indicated between degrees of allopatry and sympatry? What does competition indicate about the rate of differentiation and selection? The ground squirrels of North America belong to the genus Citellus and are divided into eight subgenera. The group here reported upon is that of the shorttailed ground squirrels of the subgenus Citellus (Oken). We are not concerned at present with all the species of this subgenus, but only with the following: C. armatus, C. beldingi, C. richardsoni, C. columbianus, and C. townsendii and its allies. Generally speaking C. armatus is a northern species that attains its southern limits in Utah; C. beldingi is a northwestern species that attains its southeastern limits in Utah, in the extreme northwestern part of the state; C. richardsoni is a northern and eastern species that has its southern limits in Colorado and Utah and its western limits in Nevada; C. columbianus is also a northern species that extends as far south as southeentral Idaho; and C. townsendii and its allies are western and northern animals that extend as far east as central Utah (Fig. 1). Students of these shorttailed ground squirrels are familiar with the fact that within their ranges they occupy several types of habitats ranging from dry hillsides to lush, moist meadows. Members of all of the aforementioned species apparently prefer moist, lush meadows when they are available. Within the ranges of the several species of this subgenus, members of each species always occupy a wider variety of habitats if that species is the only representative of the subgenus present. Intraspecific competition appears to be of lesser degree than does interspecific competition. We have noted that where the ranges of C. richardsoni and C. armatus come into contact in Rich and Daggett counties, Utah, each species occupies a narrower variety of habitats than it would if it occurred there alone. At these localities, where the ranges of the two come into contact, colonies of C. richardsoni occupy the dry, open areas between stands of sagebrush and greasewood, while those of C. armatus occupy the grassy meadows. It is noteworthy that at this zone of contact between the ranges of these two species, the competition is extreme; the burrows and feeding areas of the animals of one species being in some instances but a

Societies Around the World: A Social Science Course at the University of Kentucky

HIS course, Societies Around the World, was T started in September, 1947, by the departments of Sociology and Geography to serve as one of the three courses which students could select to satisfy the social studies requirements in the College of Arts and Sciences. The other choices open to them were American Civilization and European Civilization, both taught jointly by the departments of History and Political Science. Last year the Anthropology Department assumed responsibility for a section of Societies, as our course is popularly called, and has added considerable strength, particularly to the first semester's work. This current semester the course enrollment is about 700, which shows the student response to this new approach. This course deals with six societies. The Eskimo, the Navajo, and the Baganda of East Africa are treated during the first semester, while the Chinese Peasant, the Cotton South, and the English Midlands are taken up the second semester. These societies, representing a careful selection, provide for the student several types of habitat, differing degrees of social complexity, and varying rates of social and cultural change. Recently, one of the anthropologists who joined our teaching staff said that an astrologer must have helped us in the selection of the societies because they were well-documented and illustrated vividly racial groups with cultures of importance and interest to modern anthropologists. A geographer who joined our staff this year also was enthusiastic about the selection from the geographical standpoint. Social considerations which entered into the selection might be mentioned. For one thing, the six societies represent a movement from a relatively simple social organization to the increasingly complex. In the Eskimo society there is a small community, a small family group, and an indefinite tribe. Among the Navajo the matriineal clan is closely allied with a well-developed property system. The Baganda, in addition to the clan, have an elaborate governmental structure of long standing. The Chinese Peasant, representing the majority of the world's population, which is peasant, shows a mystic attachment to the soil and is strongly familistic. In the Cotton South, a plantation economy has increasingly become mechanized and industrialized and is further complicated by the system of color caste. In the English Midlands, the site of the Industrial Revolution, we find an intricate industrial society. If we look at the six societies from the standpoint of culture change, we find that the Eskimo are political subjects of four modern nations: the Danes, the Canadians, the United States, and the Russians, and that each country has had a different policy toward these native people. The Navajo brings into focus our treatment of the American Indian, and the Baganda provide a case study of British policy in Africa. Parenthetically, it is of interest to notice that almost one million Baganda have become Christians in about seventy-five years, a fact which contrasts strikingly with the relatively few Navajos who have changed from their traditional religion. The Chinese Peasant is facing a choice between the West and the East, while the Cotton South is challenged with the problem of making democracy a living force in daily life. The English Midlands are a splendid case study in the socialization of major segments of a national economy.