Temporal Behavioral Patterns Research Articles

Female feeding history impacts gonad development and reproductive timing in the wolf spiderSchizocosa ocreata(Hentz, 1844)

In mating systems that include semelparous reproduction and/or scramble competition, synchronous maturation of the sexes is vital for success. However, food limitation may alter the onset of maturation or the overall quality of the mature individuals and affect reproductive success. We examined the role of feeding history (well-fed vs. long-term deprivation) on female reproductive timing and its correlation with temporal patterns of receptivity behavior in the wolf spider Schizocosa ocreata (Hentz, 1844). We found that feeding history influenced developmental time and delayed maturation in long-term food-limited females. There was no significant difference in relative condition between treatments, yet well-fed females showed higher rates of receptivity. Peak receptivity behavior was correlated with the estimated overall mass of female ovaries/eggs, with females that possess larger ovaries and eggs showing more receptive behavior. This supports the hypothesis that while a food-limited female may attain maturity, the limiting factor underlying reproductive success is gonad maturation.

Patterns of drilling predation in relation to stratigraphy, locality and sieve size: Insights from the Eocene molluscan fauna of the Paris Basin

Predatory drilling traces are routinely used to evaluate temporal patterns in animal behaviour. However, for testing such trends it is important to consider natural and methodological variability that may play a role in shaping drilling patterns. The present study attempts to test this notion by evaluating the drilling patterns of the molluscan fauna in relation to stratigraphy, locality, sieve size (4mm, 2mm, 1mm) and taxonomic affinity at class level. We studied drilling predation using molluscan specimens from three localities (Grignon, La Ferme de l'Orme, Fleury-la-Rivière), representing a variety of elementary depositional sequences (EDS) from the Middle Lutetian strata of the Paris Basin.The overall drilling frequency (DF) averaged over the three localities is 17%; bivalves show a significantly higher overall DF (18%) compared to gastropods (14%) and scaphopods (<0.01%). For all higher taxa and at all localities DF is highest in the medium size class (2–4mm), which we relate to the dominance of preferred prey species in this category. Despite having similar diversity profiles of molluscan fauna, the three localities show distinct drilling patterns with highest frequencies in Grignon (overall 25%, bivalves 29%, gastropods 20%), followed by Fleury-la-Rivière (overall 18%, bivalves 17%, gastropods 18%) and almost a complete lack of drill holes in La Ferme de l'Orme. This pattern is true for each sieve size of molluscs, bivalves and gastropods. The results are similar for common species found in all three localities. EDS2-3 representing a mesotrophic environment during a regressive phase shows a slightly higher DF compared to oligotrophic EDS4, from the following transgression. Locality emerges as the strongest predictor of DF when evaluated for the relative role of stratigraphy, locality, sieve size and higher taxa. The occurrence of incomplete drill holes is relatively rare and increases with sieve size, implying a possible existence of handling limit of the predatory gastropods. There are very few occurrences of edge drilling. The combined variation documented in this study is comparable in magnitude with many temporal shifts documented previously. Therefore, in order to establish any temporal pattern in drilling behaviour it is vital to evaluate and control for the potential gradient of other natural variabilities in predatory behaviour.Species composition and diversity has been used previously to resolve the debate on climate conditions of the Eocene Paris basin through a comparison to modern analogues. We have used a similar approach by comparing predation patterns with Recent localities of subtropical and temperate regions. The available data from the Eocene Paris basin, from the warm-temperate northern Adriatic Sea and from the sub-tropical Red Sea show very heterogeneous patterns, depending on the drilling metric considered. Considering the strong patchiness of drilling predation within each of these basins and reported from many other studies, we conclude that a climatic affiliation of the Eocene Paris basin based on drilling metrics is not yet possible.

Spatial and Temporal Variations in the Occurrence and Foraging Activity of Coastal Dolphins in Menai Bay, Zanzibar, Tanzania.

Understanding temporal patterns in distribution, occurrence and behaviour is vital for the effective conservation of cetaceans. This study used cetacean click detectors (C-PODs) to investigate spatial and temporal variation in occurrence and foraging activity of the Indo-Pacific bottlenose (Tursiops aduncus) and Indian Ocean humpback (Sousa plumbea) dolphins resident in the Menai Bay Conservation Area (MBCA), Zanzibar, Tanzania. Occurrence was measured using detection positive minutes. Inter-click intervals were used to identify terminal buzz vocalisations, allowing for analysis of foraging activity. Data were analysed in relation to spatial (location) and temporal (monsoon season, diel phase and tidal phase) variables. Results showed significantly increased occurrence and foraging activity of dolphins in southern areas and during hours of darkness. Higher occurrence at night was not explained by diel variation in echolocation rate and so were considered representative of occurrence patterns. Both tidal phase and monsoon season influenced occurrence but results varied among sites, with no general patterns found. Foraging activity was greatest during hours of darkness, High water and Flood tidal phases. Comparisons of echolocation data among sites suggested differences in the broadband click spectra of MBCA dolphins, possibly indicative of species differences. These dolphin populations are threatened by unsustainable fisheries bycatch and tourism activities. The spatial and temporal patterns identified in this study have implications for future conservation and management actions with regards to these two threats. Further, the results indicate future potential for using passive acoustics to identify and monitor the occurrence of these two species in areas where they co-exist.

Temporal trends in cusk eel sound production at a proposed US wind farm site

Many marine organisms produce sound during key life history events. Identifying and tracking these sounds can reveal spatial and temporal patterns of species occurrence and behaviors. We describe the temporal patterns of striped cusk eel Ophidion marginatum calls across approximately 1 yr in Nantucket Sound, MA, USA, the location of a proposed offshore wind energy installation. Stereotyped calls typical of courtship and spawning were detected from April to October with clear diel, monthly, and seasonal patterns. Acoustic energy increased in the evenings and peaked during crepuscular periods, with the dusk call levels typically higher in energy and more rapid in onset than those from near-dawn periods. Increased call energy and substantial overlap of calls during certain periods suggest that many cusk eels were often calling simultaneously. Call energy (measured in energy flux density) peaked in July and patterns fol- lowed seasonal changes in sunrise and sunset. Sound levels were high (over 150 dB re 1 µPa 2 s) during the summer, indicating that this cusk eel population is a substantial contributor to the local soundscape. The stereotyped cusk eel signals and clear temporal energy patterns potentially pro- vide a bioacoustic signal that can be used to monitor changes to the local environment and its soundscape.

Novel grass–endophyte associations reduce the feeding behaviour of invasive European rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus)

Context Small mammalian herbivores, such as European rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus), can have significant unwanted impacts on agriculture and horticulture and can attract birds of prey and avian scavengers to airports, increasing the risk of bird strike. Sustainable wildlife management tools that have high efficacy and animal welfare are needed to mitigate these impacts. Aim We assessed perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne) and tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea) cultivars associated with selected Epichloë endophytes, originally developed for bird management at airports, to determine their feeding-deterrent properties towards invasive rabbits. Methods A pellet feed trial using caged domestic rabbits and a pen trial using wild rabbits were conducted to assess rabbit responses to food pellets with novel endophyte-infected or uninfected grass seed and to plots planted with endophyte-infected or uninfected grasses, respectively. Key results Caged rabbits ate significantly less food pellets containing endophyte-infected grass straw than pellets containing endophyte-free grass straw. Wild rabbits consumed significantly less herbage from plots planted with endophyte-infected grasses than those of the equivalent endophyte-free grass cultivars. Temporal patterns of rabbit feeding behaviour support the hypothesis that deterrence in rabbits resulted from post-ingestion feedback associated with grass–endophyte secondary metabolites. Conclusions Although more research is required on the exact mechanism of action in rabbits, our results suggest novel endophyte-infected grass associations may substantially reduce rabbit feeding behaviour and possibly rabbit numbers in areas where these grasses are sown. Implications Novel grass–endophyte associations have great potential for deterring problem wildlife at airports and other amenity areas.

Role of the clock gene Bmal1 and the gastric ghrelin-secreting cell in the circadian regulation of the ghrelin-GOAT system.

As adequate food intake is crucial to survival, organisms have evolved endogenous circadian clocks to generate optimal temporal patterns of food-related behavior and physiology. The gastric ghrelin-secreting cell is thought to be part of this network of peripheral food-entrainable oscillators (FEOs), regulating the circadian release of this orexigenic peptide. This study aimed to determine the role of the core clock gene Bmal1 and the gastric ghrelin-secreting cell as an FEO in the circadian rhythmicity of ghrelin expression and secretion in vivo and in vitro. Bmal1-deficient mice not only lacked circadian rhythmicity in plasma ghrelin levels and food intake, but also showed decreased gastric mRNA expression of ghrelin and ghrelin O-acyltransferase (GOAT), the ghrelin activating enzyme. Furthermore, in the absence of the hypothalamic master clock, food-related stimuli entrained the molecular clock of gastric ghrelinoma cells to regulate the rhythmic release of ghrelin. Divergent responses in octanoyl and total ghrelin release towards different food cues were observed, suggesting that the FEO also regulates the circadian rhythmicity of GOAT. Collectively, these findings indicate that circadian rhythmicity of ghrelin signaling requires Bmal1 and is driven by a food-responsive clock in the gastric ghrelin-secreting cell that not only regulates ghrelin, but also GOAT activity.

Sickness behaviour associated with non-lethal infections in wild primates.

Non-lethal parasite infections are common in wildlife, but there is little information on their clinical consequences. Here, we pair infection data from a ubiquitous soil-transmitted helminth, the whipworm (genus Trichuris), with activity data from a habituated group of wild red colobus monkeys (Procolobus rufomitratus tephrosceles) in Kibale National Park, Uganda. We use mixed-effect models to examine the relationship between non-lethal parasitism and red colobus behaviour. Our results indicate that red colobus increased resting and decreased more energetically costly behaviours when shedding whipworm eggs in faeces. Temporal patterns of behaviour also changed, with individuals switching behaviour less frequently when whipworm-positive. Feeding frequency did not differ, but red colobus consumption of bark and two plant species from the genus Albizia, which are used locally in traditional medicines, significantly increased when animals were shedding whipworm eggs. These results suggest self-medicative plant use, although additional work is needed to verify this conclusion. Our results indicate sickness behaviours, which are considered an adaptive response by hosts during infection. Induction of sickness behaviour in turn suggests that these primates are clinically sensitive to non-lethal parasite infections.

Temporal patterns of physical activity and sedentary behavior in 10-14 year-old children on weekdays.

BackgroundAn important but often ignored aspect of physical activity (PA) and sedentary behavior (SB) is the chronological succession of activities, or temporal pattern. The main purposes of this study were (1) to investigate when certain types of PA and SB compete against each other during the course of the day and (2) compare intensity- and domain-specific activity levels during different day-segments.MethodsThe study sample consists of 211 children aged 10–14, recruited from 15 primary and 15 secondary schools. PA was assessed combining the SenseWear Mini Armband (SWM) with an electronic activity diary. The intensity- and domain-specific temporal patterns were plotted and PA differences between different day-segments (i.e., morning, school, early evening and late evening) were examined using repeated-measures ANCOVA models.ResultsPhysical activity level (PAL) was highest during the early evening (2.51 METSWM) and school hours (2.49 METSWM); the late evening segment was significantly less active (2.21 METSWM) and showed the highest proportion of sedentary time (54 % of total time-use). Throughout the different day-segments, several domains of PA and SB competed with each other. During the critical early-evening segment, screentime (12 % of time-use) and homework (10 %) were dominant compared to activity domains of sports (4 %) and active leisure (3 %). The domain of active travel competed directly with motor travel during the morning (5 % and 6 % respectively) and early-evening segment (both 8 %).ConclusionsThroughout the day, different aspects of PA and SB go in competition with each other, especially during the time period immediately after school. Detailed information on the temporal patterns of PA and SB of children could help health professionals to develop more effective PA interventions and promotion strategies. By making adaptations to the typical day schedule of children (e.g., through the introduction of extra-curricular PA after school hours), their daily activity levels might improve.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12889-015-2093-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Temporal patterns of rat behaviour in the central platform of the elevated plus maze. Comparative analysis between male subjects of strains with different basal levels of emotionality

We have analyzed the temporal patterns of behaviour of male rats of the Wistar and DA/Han strains on the central platform of the elevated plus maze. The ethogram encompassed 10 behavioural elements. Durations, frequencies and latencies showed quantitative differences as to walking and sniffing activities. Wistar rats displayed significantly lower latency and significantly higher durations and frequencies of walking activities. DA/Han rats showed a significant increase of sniffing duration. In addition, DA/Han rats showed a significantly higher amount of time spent in the central platform. Multivariate T-pattern analysis revealed differences in the temporal organization of behaviour of the two rat strains. DA/Han rats showed (a) higher behavioural complexity and variability and (b) a significantly higher mean number of T-patterns than Wistar rats.Taken together, T-pattern analysis of behaviour in the centre of the elevated plus maze can noticeably improve the detection of subtle features of anxiety related behaviour. We suggest that T-pattern analysis could be used as sensitive tool to test the action of anxiolytic and anxiogenic manipulations.

Ethanol self-administration in mice under a second-order schedule

Long Fixed-Interval (FI) schedules, particularly second-order schedules, can engender substantial responding before drug or ethanol delivery that is uninfluenced by the direct effects of the drug or ethanol. Thus, these schedules can be used to study the effects of medications upon drug- or ethanol-seeking, uninfluenced by the direct effects of the self-administered drug or ethanol. Long FI second-order schedules are frequently used in primates and occasionally in rats. Under second-order schedules, completion of one response requirement, e.g., a Fixed Ratio 10 (FR10:S), produces a brief stimulus presentation, e.g., a 1-s 80-dB 4-kHZ tone, and this FR10:S serves as the response unit under another schedule, e.g., an FI 1800-s. Thus, the first FR10 completed after 1800 s would result in delivery both of the tone and of reinforcement, e.g., 10 × 0.01 mL 16% (w/v) ethanol. To examine if such schedules could be effectively used in mice, which have advantages in neurobiological and genetic studies, we trained eight C57BL/6J mice to respond under the schedule just described. This schedule maintained substantial responding. The temporal pattern of behavior was typical of an FI schedule with responding accelerating across the interval. We also examined the effects of acute and chronic administration of fluvoxamine on this responding, and these were modest. Finally, we examined responding when alcohol and/or tone deliveries were withheld, and found that extinction occurred most rapidly when both were withheld. This work demonstrates that long FI schedules of ethanol delivery may be useful in studying ethanol seeking in mice.

The emergence of topographic steady state in a perpetually dynamic self‐organized critical landscape

AbstractWe conducted a series of four physical modeling experiments of mountain growth at differing rates of uplift and three distinct climates ranging from relatively wet to relatively dry. The spatial and temporal pattern of landscape behavior is characterized by ∼f−1 scaling in sediment discharge and power law scaling in the magnitude and frequency of ridge movement in all four experiments. We find that internally generated self‐organized critical (SOC) processes generate dynamically stable catchment geometries after ∼1 relief depths of erosion: these regularly spaced catchments have an average outlet‐spacing ratio of 2.16, well within the range of values reported in field studies. Once formed, large catchment bounding ridges oscillate about a critically balanced mean location, with occasional large‐scale changes in catchment size. Ridge movement appears to be driven by the competition for discharge as landslides push ridges back and forth. These dynamics lead to the emergence of a complex twofold scaling in catchment dynamics that is fully established by 1.8 relief depths of erosion; at this stage, a clear threshold has emerged separating two distinct scaling regimes, where large ridge mobility is insensitive to relief and small ridge mobility is relief dependent. Overall, we demonstrate that the development of dynamically stable large‐scale landforms is related to the emergence of a complex‐system hierarchy in topographic dynamics. Once formed, these landscapes do not evolve; statistical properties such as average topography and discharge become stationary while topography remains highly dynamic at smaller length scales.

The Role of Love stories in Romance Scams: A Qualitative Analysis of Fraudulent Profiles

IntroductionThe internet offers consumers and businesses a global marketplace which is both accessible and convenient for a wide range of services. In this space, one such service is online dating, which has evolved very quickly from its beginnings as a site of marginal interest to now become a mainstream social practice. Surveys indicate that whilst in 2003 there were an estimated 29 million Americans (two out of five singles) who used an online dating service, this would increase by 2004 to 40 million unique visitors to online dating sites each month (Edelson, 2003). Currently, it has been found that the 'online personals category' is one of the most lucrative forms of paid content on the web in the United States, with the market being worth $642 million in 2008 and $1.9 billion in 2012 (Edelson, 2003). The total profit of online dating services is estimated to be $1.4 billion per year (Rege, 2009). These revenues are said to be growing at a rate of 10 percent each year (Bridges, 2012), and it has been claimed that social networking of this kind has now become the fourth most popular strategy in finding a date or a romantic partner (Valkenburg & Peter, 2007).Unscrupulous individuals have recognized the monetizing potential of cyberspace, and the similar scams and frauds that have traditionally been conducted by mail and phone can now be found on the web, email, and social networking sites. Of considerable concern here is that the extent of these cyber scams appears to be growing (Bergiel, Bergiel, & Balsmeier, 2008). Indeed, given the popularity of the online dating market and the significant economic implications of the area, it is perhaps not surprising that this has become a key focus of fraudsters and scammers (Fair, Tully, Ekdale, & Asante, 2009; Rathinaraj & Chendroyaperumal, 2010). Because of the universal availability of the internet, countries other than the United States are not immune to this practice. In one Australian state alone, it has been estimated that Queenslanders are losing over $500K per month to Nigerian scammers, a figure that is growing at about 15% per year. In addition, the Melbourne Herald Sun reports that Australians lost $21 million to online dating scams in 2011 (Herald Sun, 2011).Adding to the concern regarding this practice, it is becoming apparent that financial loss is not the only damage caused by romance scams. It also has a serious social and psychological side (Ross & Smith, 2011). These romance scams target vulnerable, romantic or lonely people (Buchanan & Whitty, 2014) looking for love and companionship, and scammers employ several tactics to make the victim develop strong personal feelings for them. The victims are encouraged to build an intimate virtual personal relationship with the scammer, during which they show normal temporal relationship behaviour patterns such as sharing emotions, revealing personal information as secrets and wishes, and also providing personal support. Persons who were involved in the romance scam regularly describe themselves as a 'victim' even if they have not suffered any financial loss (Whitty, 2013).In the flow of events in this area, it is after deep trust has been established, that a call of distress and a need for money comes from the scammer. This apparent need for financial support continues over the period that the victim trusts in the virtual relationship. During this time the victim will sacrifice considerable financial resources, and it is not uncommon that when all these financial resources have been exhausted, the victim will start to suggest different ways to help. However, because the scammer is not usually interested in alternative means of aid since this does not generate financial benefit, these suggestions are rejected, and it is at this time where most victims realise that the relationship is a scam and it is terminated either by the victim or by the scammer.An important observation at this point is that although the scam relationship might be recognized and terminated by the victim, this does not signal the end of the problem. …

Visual Analysis of Proximal Temporal Relationships of Social and Communicative Behaviors

AbstractDevelopmental psychology researchers examine the temporal relationships of social and communicative behaviors, such as how a child responds to a name call, to understand early typical and atypical development and to discover early signs of autism and developmental delay. These related behaviors occur together or within close temporal proximity, forming unique patterns and relationships of interest. However, the task of finding these early signs, which are in the form of atypical behavioral patterns, becomes more challenging when behaviors of multiple children at different ages need to be compared with each other in search of generalizable patterns. The ability to visually explore the temporal relationships of behaviors, including flexible redefinition of closeness, over multiple social interaction sessions with children of different ages, can make such knowledge extraction easier. We have designed a visualization tool called TipoVis that helps psychology researchers visually explore the temporal patterns of social and communicative behaviors. We present two case studies to show how TipoVis helped two researchers derive new understandings of their data.

Take-off time of the first generation of the overwintering small brown planthopper, Laodelphax striatellus in the temperate zone in East Asia.

Overseas migration of the small brown planthopper, Laodelphax striatellus (Fallén), occurs during the winter wheat harvest season in East Asia. Knowing the take-off time of emigrating L. striatellus is crucial for predicting such migrations with a simulation technique because winds, carriers of migratory insects, change continuously. Several methods were used in China and Japan from late May to early June 2012 and again in 2013 to identify the precise timing of take-off. These methods included: a tow net trap mounted to a pole at 10 m above the ground, a helicopter-towed net trap, and a canopy trap (which also had video monitoring) set over wheat plants. Laodelphax striatellus emigrated from wheat fields mainly in the early evening, before dusk. The insects also emigrated during the daytime but rarely emigrated at dawn, showing a pattern that is unlike the bimodal emigration at dusk and dawn of two other rice planthoppers, the brown planthopper, Nilaparvata lugens (Stål), and the white-backed planthopper, Sogatella furcifera (Horváth). There was no significant difference in the temporal pattern of take-off behavior between females and males of Japanese L. striatellus populations.

Content-Aware Point of Interest Recommendation on Location-Based Social Networks

The rapid urban expansion has greatly extended the physical boundary of users' living area and developed a large number of POIs (points of interest). POI recommendation is a task that facilitates users' urban exploration and helps them filter uninteresting POIs for decision making. While existing work of POI recommendation on location-based social networks (LBSNs) discovers the spatial, temporal, and social patterns of user check-in behavior, the use of content information has not been systematically studied. The various types of content information available on LBSNs could be related to different aspects of a user's check-in action, providing a unique opportunity for POI recommendation. In this work, we study the content information on LBSNs w.r.t. POI properties, user interests, and sentiment indications. We model the three types of information under a unified POI recommendation framework with the consideration of their relationship to check-in actions. The experimental results exhibit the significance of content information in explaining user behavior, and demonstrate its power to improve POI recommendation performance on LBSNs.

Temporal behaviour profiles of Mus musculus in nature are affected by population activity

Animals have circadian clocks that govern their activity pattern, resulting in 24h rhythms in physiology and behaviour. Under laboratory conditions, light is the major external signal that affects temporal patterns in behaviour, and Mus musculus is strictly nocturnal in its behaviour. In the present study we questioned whether under natural conditions, environmental factors other than light affect the temporal profile of mice. In order to test this, we investigated the activity patterns of free-ranging M. musculus in a natural habitat, using sensors and a camera integrated into a recording unit that the mice could freely enter and leave. Our data show that mice have seasonal fluctuations in activity duration (6.7±0.82h in summer, 11.3±1.80h in winter). Furthermore, although primarily nocturnal, wild mice also exhibit daytime activity from spring until late autumn. A multivariate analysis revealed that the major factor correlating with increased daytime activity was population activity, defined as the number of visits to the recording site. Day length had a small but significant effect. Further analysis revealed that the relative population activity (compared to the past couple of days) is a better predictor of daytime activity than absolute population activity. Light intensity and temperature did not have a significant effect on daytime activity. The amount of variance explained by external factors is 51.9%, leaving surprisingly little unexplained variance that might be attributed to the internal clock. Our data further indicate that mice determine population activity by comparing a given night with the preceding 2–7 nights, a time frame suggesting a role for olfactory cues. We conclude that relative population activity is a major factor controlling the temporal activity patterns of M. musculus in an unrestricted natural population.

Predicting Next Label Quality: A Time-Series Model of Crowdwork

While temporal behavioral patterns can be discerned to underlie real crowd work, prior studies have typically modeled worker performance under a simplified i.i.d. assumption. To better model such temporal worker behavior, we propose a time-series label prediction model for crowd work. This latent variable model captures and summarizes past worker behavior, enabling us to better predict the quality of each worker's next label. Given inherent uncertainty in prediction, we also investigate a decision reject option to balance the tradeoff between prediction accuracy vs. coverage. Results show our model improves accuracy of both label prediction on real crowd worker data, as well as data quality overall.

Examining the spatial–temporal dynamics of bus passenger travel behaviour using smart card data and the flow-comap

Over the past two decades, smart card data have received increasing interest from transport researchers as a new source of data for travel behaviour investigation. Collected by smart card systems, smart card data surpass traditional travel survey data in providing more comprehensive spatial–temporal information about urban public transport-based (UPT) trips. However, the utility of smart card data has arguably yet to be exploited fully in terms of extracting and exploring the spatial–temporal dynamics of UPT passenger travel behaviour. To advance previous work in this area, this paper demonstrates a multi-step methodology in order to render more insightful spatial–temporal patterns of UPT passenger travel behaviour. Drawing on the Brisbane, Australia, bus network as the case study, a smart card dataset was first processed in combination with General Transit Specification Feed (GTFS) data to reconstruct travel trajectories of bus passengers at bus stop level of spatial granularity. By applying geographical information system-based (GIS) techniques, this dataset was used to create flow-comaps to visualise the aggregate flow patterns at a network level. The flow-comaps uncovered the major pathways of bus passengers and its variations over a one-day period. The differences within the flow-comaps were also quantified to produce weighted flow-comaps that highlighted the major temporal changes of passenger flow patterns along a number of stop-to-stop linkages of the bus network. The proposed methodology visually unveiled the spatial–temporal travel behaviour dynamics of UPT passengers and, in doing so, showed the potential to contribute to a new evidence base with the capacity to inform local public transport policy.

ESR1 and ESR2 differentially regulate daily and circadian activity rhythms in female mice.

Estrogenic signaling shapes and modifies daily and circadian rhythms, the disruption of which has been implicated in psychiatric, neurologic, cardiovascular, and metabolic disease, among others. However, the activational mechanisms contributing to these effects remain poorly characterized. To determine the activational impact of estrogen on daily behavior patterns and differentiate between the contributions of the estrogen receptors ESR1 and ESR2, ovariectomized adult female mice were administered estradiol, the ESR1 agonist propylpyrazole triol, the ESR2 agonist diarylpropionitrile, or cholesterol (control). Animals were singly housed with running wheels in a 12-hour light, 12-hour dark cycle or total darkness. Estradiol increased total activity and amplitude, consolidated activity to the dark phase, delayed the time of peak activity (acrophase of wheel running), advanced the time of activity onset, and shortened the free running period (τ), but did not alter the duration of activity (α). Importantly, activation of ESR1 or ESR2 differentially impacted daily and circadian rhythms. ESR1 stimulation increased total wheel running and amplitude and reduced the proportion of activity in the light vs the dark. Conversely, ESR2 activation modified the distribution of activity across the day, delayed acrophase of wheel running, and advanced the time of activity onset. Interestingly, τ was shortened by estradiol or either estrogen receptor agonist. Finally, estradiol-treated animals administered a light pulse in the early subjective night, but no other time, had an attenuated response compared with controls. This decreased phase response was mirrored by animals treated with diarylpropionitrile, but not propylpyrazole triol. To conclude, estradiol has strong activational effects on the temporal patterning and expression of daily and circadian behavior, and these effects are due to distinct mechanisms elicited by ESR1 and ESR2 activation.

Time Budget and Activity Patterns of Oncilla Cats (Leopardus tigrinus) in Captivity

Researchers have reported on the diet of Leopardus tigrinus and ecological aspects, but studies of behavior are scarce. The aims of this study were to describe the time budget and activity patterns of 10 captive Leopardus tigrinus individuals. The group had an activity budget of 66% resting, 20.66% moving, 6.08% vigilant, 3.12% feeding, and 4.14% other activities during 720 hr of observations. The activity budgets of the males and females did not differ significantly; however, males ate more than did females. The nonhuman animals spent more time resting during the day than during the night. Moving, socializing, maintenance, and vigilance showed statistically higher mean values at night. Group analysis of the temporal pattern of behavior showed bimodal peaks. Activity levels were high from 5 a.m. to 6 a.m. and decreased through the day only to peak again at 7 p.m. Stereotypic pacing peaked at dawn and at dusk. Patterns of vigilance, feeding, and maintenance were also determined for the group during a 24-hr period. These results may be useful for the development of management plans and effective conservation strategies for captive cats.