Social intelligence is thought to have evolved as an adaptation to the complex situations group-living animals encounter in their daily lives. High levels of sociality provide individuals with opportunities to learn from one another. Social learning provides individuals with a relatively cheap and quick alternative to individual learning. This thesis investigated social learning in three corvid species: gregarious rooks (Corvus frugilegus) and jackdaws (Corvus monedula) and nongregarious, territorial Eurasian jays (Garrulus glandarius). In addition to that, the species' social structure was analysed and individual differences between members of each species were determined. Introducing the field of social learning research, I presented a new framework for investigating social learning, combining ecology, ethology and evolution. Experiments were conducted within that framework. I found that rooks and jackdaws develop social bonds and dominance hierarchies, whereas Eurasian jays do not. This is most likely related to their territoriality. In two experiments using two-action tasks, jackdaws learned socially. The underlying social learning mechanism was enhancement, which fits in with their feeding ecology. Rooks did not show social learning when presented with videos of conspecifics opening an apparatus. This might have been due to the difficulty of transferring information from videos or due to an ingrained 'affinity' to innovation and/or rapid trial-and-error learning overriding social learning processes. Individual differences along the bold/shy axis existed in all three species, but they were not stable across contexts. Thus, it seemed that the individuals perceived the two seemingly similar contexts that were designed to investigate neophobia and exploration (novel object in familiar environment; novel environment) as two different situations. The information may therefore have been processed by two distinct underlying mechanisms, which elicited different responses in each of the contexts. The implications of the findings of this thesis are discussed with regard to the new framework, integrating sociality, social learning and individual differences with the species' ecology.

Dominance rank often determines the share of reproduction an individual male can secure in group-living animals (i.e. dominance rank-based reproductive skew). However, our knowledge of the interplay between individual and social factors in determining rank trajectories of males is still limited. The overall aim of this thesis was therefore to investigate mechanisms that underlie individual dominance rank trajectories in male crested macaques (Macaca nigra) and to highlight potential individual and social determinants of how males can achieve and maintain the highest rank possible. Data for this thesis were collected on 37 males during a field study on a natural population of crested macaques living in the Tangkoko-Batuangus Nature Reserve in Indonesia. In study 1, I validate Elo-rating as a particularly well suited method to quantify dominance hierarchies in animal species with dynamic dominance relationships. In studies 2 and 3, I suggest a personality structure for crested macaque males consisting of five distinct factors and further demonstrate that two personality factors determine whether males will rise or fall in rank. Finally, in study 4, I present results on how males utilize coalitions to increase their future rank. Together, these results shed light on how individual attributes and social environment both can impact male careers. Ultimately, in order to understand what determines rank-based reproductive skew, we need to consider the complexity and likely diversity of the mechanisms underlying rank trajectories of individual males which are likely to differ across different species.

<p>Sea urchins are fascinating marine creatures belonging to the phylum Echinodermata that serve as an essential ecological component and hold promise as a prospective source of therapeutics. However, sudden environmental changes, such as global warming and marine pollution, are placing significant stress on these organisms. To maintain natural resources and exploit sea urchins commercially, researchers are investigating aquaculture as a solution.</p> <p>This investigation discloses the physiological and immunological effects of physical and chemical stressors on one of the most common edible species of sea urchin, <em>Arbacia punctulata</em>. The study employed an elevated temperature as a physical stressor (1°C/day), lipopolysaccharides (LPS) inoculation as a chemical stressor (4µg/ml/day), and a combination of both LPS and elevated temperature as combined stressors. The results demonstrated a significant alteration in the total and differential coelomocyte count in the LPS-stressed group (p<0.05) and combined stressed group (p<0.05) followed by abnormal behavioral activity compared to those of control. Additionally, exposure to acute LPS exposure (at day 1 and day 3) and combined stressors led to an increase in phagocytic capacity (p<0.05) and lysozyme activity (p<0.05). Chronic exposure to LPS and combined stressors resulted in a decrease in gonadosomatic index (p<0.05, at day 10) and lysozyme activity (at day 7). A significant increase in coelomic fluid (CF) protein (p<0.05)was observed in the temperature-stressed group on days 5 and 10, while the combined stressed group had significantly more CF protein on days 1, 5, 7, and 10. An upregulation of Nf-kB gene expression was also observed (p>0.05) in temperature stressed group.  </p> <p>The study also revealed that sea urchins contain bioactive compounds that protect against external and internal injury, cell death, and body wall extract of sea urchin exhibited high antioxidant activity(p<0.05). Furthermore, it confirmed the antibacterial activity (p<0.05) of sea urchin (<em>Arbacia punctulata </em>and<em> Lytechinus variegatus</em>) body wall and coelomic fluid (cell-free plasma) extracts against ten pathogenic bacteria. The ethyl acetate body wall extract of both sea urchin species demonstrated higher inhibitory activity against the pathogenic bacteria tested. Overall sea urchin has potentials to meet the demand of food and medicine. </p>

<p>  </p> <p>Cilia are cell appendages that sense our environment and are critical in cell-to-cell communication. Dysfunction of cilia can result in several disease states including obesity. While cilia in the brain are known to be important for feeding behavior, it is unclear how they regulate energy homeostasis. Classically, cilia coordinate signaling through surface receptors called G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs). For example, cilia mediated GPCR signaling is critical for both our senses of vision and smell. How cilia regulate the signaling of GPCRs in other areas of the body including the brain is only now emerging. To answer cell biology questions around cilia mediated GPCR signaling in neurons, we developed a system for primary neuronal cultures. We discovered that the cilia mediated hedgehog pathway influences the ability of neurons to respond to GPCR ligands. For the first time, this result highlights the role of the hedgehog pathway in neurons. We continue to explore how cilia integrate the hedgehog pathway and GPCR signaling in the central nervous system, and the potential connections to energy homeostasis. We discovered that hedgehog pathway activity in feeding centers of the brain changes based upon feeding conditions like fasting. We also learned that activating the hedgehog pathway in these brain regions is sufficient to cause obesity in mice. These novel results highlight an unrecognized role for the hedgehog pathway in the regulation of feeding behavior. Overall, this work provides a better understanding of ciliopathy associated obesity and may reveal more common mechanisms of obesity in the general population. In addition, this work implicates the hedgehog pathway in regulating behaviors and new modes of cell-cell communication within the central nervous system.</p>

New Caledonian crows (NC crows; Corvus moneduloides) are the most prolific avian tool-users and crafters, using up to three unique tool types derived from numerous plant materials. Since the discovery that wild populations of NC crows use and manufacture different tools in different locations with no measured environmental correlates to these distributions, the process by which NC crows acquire their tool-oriented behavior has been investigated. Two major findings were discovered in 2005: NC crows have a genetic predisposition to manipulate stick like objects, and they increase their rate of manipulation when exposed to social influences. Since then, much of the research into the sociality of wild NC crows has focused on direct social influences, especially the parent-juvenile relationship, yet no social network of wild NC crows has been described. In my thesis, I characterized a new proximity-logging device, Encounternet, and outline a four-step plan to assess error in animal borne devices; uncovered drivers, such as relatedness, space-use, and environmental factors, of wild NC crow sociality, and experimentally manipulated the social network, revealing immediate changes to the number of day-time and roosting partners, the breakdown of first-order relatedness driving sociality, and an increase in the amount of time NC crows associate; and revealed an indirect pathway via tools left behind by conspecifics allowing for the transmission of tool-properties between unrelated NC crows. Altogether, I furthered our understanding of wild NC crow sociality through the use of an animal-borne device, experimental manipulation in the wild measuring the response of the NC crow social network, and demonstrated the utility of animal-borne devices in mapping the network of a population of wild birds.

As pesquisas sobre comportamento animal possuem como objetivo identificar e quantificar sinais de sofrimento a fim de eliminar os problemas obedecendo às normas de bem-estar. As alterações destes comportamentos mostram as necessidades ambientais para sua sobrevivência. Em certos casos, apenas as mudanças comportamentais podem evidenciar uma situação de estresse. Quando há mudanças na temperatura do ambiente, os animais apresentam várias respostas para manter a temperatura do corpo, começando com a conservação máxima de energia como a inatividade. Duas das mais efetivas características do comportamento termorregulatório incluem seleção de ambiente e ajuste de postura. Técnicas de processamento e análise de imagens podem vir a colaborar com a busca de informações contidas em imagens de animais confinados. Métodos invasivos de quantificação de comportamento mostram que há interferência do experimentador nas reações dos animais, comprometendo os resultados da pesquisa. Este trabalho visou obter, através da Visão Computacional, informações quanto à distribuição espacial de aves poedeiras frente a situações de conforto e estresse térmicos. Foram analisadas seqüências de imagens em ambiente MATLAB 7.0 ® de dois grupos de 5 aves (Hy-line W36) com 21 semanas de idade em condições de conforto térmico (T= 26°C ± 2°C e UR= 60% ± 2%) e 5 aves em condições de estresse térmico (T= 35°C ± 2°C e UR= 70% ± 2%) controladas em câmara climática. As aves foram demarcadas com tintas não tóxicas na região dorsal. Através de técnicas de clusterização de cores e localização do centro geométrico das aves, foi possível analisar a freqüência destas nas regiões de ninho, comedouro, bebedouro, área livre e \"bebedouro + comedouro\", e através do uso de redes Neurais Artificiais, foi possível obter padrões de formas do corpo das aves e relacioná-los a alguns comportamentos. A distribuição espacial é um forte indício das necessidades do animal em diferentes condições evidenciando que a freqüência em algumas regiões pode ser um indicativo de desconforto. A técnica de processamento e análise de imagens mostra-se como um método confiável e livre de subjetividade ou influência da fadiga humana no auxilio da classificação da dinâmica dos animais confinados. Trata-se de uma forma eficiente de analisar imagens de forma rápida para se ter conhecimento da dinâmica dos animais confinados ao longo do tempo. A necessidade do animal é demonstrada através de freqüências em determinadas regiões de interesse para seu bem-estar. / The animal behavior researches have as objective identify and quantify suffering signals in order to eliminate the problems obeying the welfare norms. The alterations of these behaviors show the ambient necessities for the animals\' survivals. In certain cases, only the abnormal behaviors can evidence a situation of stress. When the environment temperature changes, the animals present some answers to keep the body\'s temperature constant, starting with the maximum conservation of energy as the inactivity. Two of the most effective characteristics of the thermoregulatory behavior includes environment selection and position adjustment. Image processing and analysis techniques can collaborate with the research of information contained in images of confined animals. Invasive methods of quantification of the behavior show that there is interference of the experimenter on the animal reactions compromising the research results. This work aimed to know, through the Computer Vision, information about the laying hens\' spatial distribution at the thermal comfort and stress situations. Image sequences of two groups of 5 birds (hy-line W36) aging 21 weeks in conditions of thermal comfort (T= 26°C ± 2°C and UR= 60% ± 2%) and 5 birds in conditions had been analyzed of stress thermal (T= 35°C ± 2°C and UR= 70% ± 2%) and controlled in climatic chamber. The birds had been demarcated with not toxic inks in the dorsal region. Through colors clusters techniques in MATLAB 7.0 ® and the localization of the geometric center of the birds, it was possible to analyze the frequency of these birds in the nest regions, feed through, water through, free area and \"water through + feed through\", and through of Artificial Neural Network was possible to have standards shapes of bodies birds and to refers to some behaviors. The spatial distribution is an important indicative fort of the animal necessities in different conditions evidencing that the frequency in some regions can be a discomfort indicative. The processing technique and analysis of the images reveals as a trustworthy method and free of subjectivity or of the fatigue human`s influence in support of the dynamics classification of the confined animals. It is about one of the efficient form to analyze the images to have a better understanding of the dynamics of the confined animals` dynamics throughout time. The necessity of the animal is demonstrated through frequencies in determined regions of interest for its welfare condition.

<p>Modern economic activities, like industry and agriculture, as well as household activities, generate an important amount of refuse. The way we collect, transport, and dispose it will determine the level of environmental contamination. May animals exploit refuse as a food source (i.e., anthropogenic food subsidy) and gulls are the most important group. Refuse subsidizes energetically gull populations, which impacts on their acquisition and allocation of resources, as well as on the environment, with ecological and evolutionary consequences are not well understood. In this dissertation we evaluated potential impacts of refuse on gulls by doing a literature review as well as empirical research on the Kelp Gull (<i>Larus dominicanus</i>) in the Rio de la Plata Estuary in South America. Direct and indirect impacts of refuse on gull species and the environment have been observed during the review process. We have detected positive impacts of refuse on body size, chick growth, fecundity, reproductive success, and population dynamics. However, negative impacts were also found focusing on fecundity, reproductive success, and population dynamics. Indirect negative impacts on other species, water bodies, and airport security were also found. Refuse produces numerous impacts on gulls at the individual, population, and species levels, with indirect negative consequences on ecosystems. There is a need to reduce the access of gulls to sources of refuse to mitigate the existing and potential conflicts with human activities and other species, especially those that are threatened and endangered. During our empirical research we found that refuse was ingested and assimilated by Kelp Gull chicks during the chick rearing period and that the ecological niche width increased with the age of the chick. We propose that parents incorporate isotopically unique food sources to nestling’s diet during their growth, increasing isotopic diversity of nestlings. Additionally, we found that refuse could affect foraging decisions of females during the pre-incubation period, which could positively affect future fecundity and negatively impact reproductive success. We found also that refuse consumption on fecundity and reproductive success of gulls is generally studied at the colony level, using conventional diet techniques, but not much has been done using stable isotopes at the individual level, making comparisons among studies and conclusions difficult to address. We encourage other researchers to continue incorporating the isotopic ecology perspective to study the effect of food subsidies on gulls. Additionally, we found that Kelp Gull on the coast of the Rio de la Plata Estuary ingest plastic debris. We conclude that plastic bags and plastic films might be the most important source of contaminants for the Kelp Gull on the coast of the estuary. Main findings of this dissertation suggests the need for an improvement of waste management practices and a regulation of plastic production and use in Uruguay to reduce plastic ingestion by gulls. Finally, next steps for research are provided in this important area of environmental science and natural resource management.</p>

As pesquisas sobre comportamento animal possuem como objetivo identificar e quantificar sinais de sofrimento a fim de eliminar os problemas obedecendo às normas de bem-estar. As alterações destes comportamentos mostram as necessidades ambientais para sua sobrevivência. Em certos casos, apenas as mudanças comportamentais podem evidenciar uma situação de estresse. Quando há mudanças na temperatura do ambiente, os animais apresentam várias respostas para manter a temperatura do corpo, começando com a conservação máxima de energia como a inatividade. Duas das mais efetivas características do comportamento termorregulatório incluem seleção de ambiente e ajuste de postura. Técnicas de processamento e análise de imagens podem vir a colaborar com a busca de informações contidas em imagens de animais confinados. Métodos invasivos de quantificação de comportamento mostram que há interferência do experimentador nas reações dos animais, comprometendo os resultados da pesquisa. Este trabalho visou obter, através da Visão Computacional, informações quanto à distribuição espacial de aves poedeiras frente a situações de conforto e estresse térmicos. Foram analisadas seqüências de imagens em ambiente MATLAB 7.0 ® de dois grupos de 5 aves (Hy-line W36) com 21 semanas de idade em condições de conforto térmico (T= 26°C ± 2°C e UR= 60% ± 2%) e 5 aves em condições de estresse térmico (T= 35°C ± 2°C e UR= 70% ± 2%) controladas em câmara climática. As aves foram demarcadas com tintas não tóxicas na região dorsal. Através de técnicas de clusterização de cores e localização do centro geométrico das aves, foi possível analisar a freqüência destas nas regiões de ninho, comedouro, bebedouro, área livre e \"bebedouro + comedouro\", e através do uso de redes Neurais Artificiais, foi possível obter padrões de formas do corpo das aves e relacioná-los a alguns comportamentos. A distribuição espacial é um forte indício das necessidades do animal em diferentes condições evidenciando que a freqüência em algumas regiões pode ser um indicativo de desconforto. A técnica de processamento e análise de imagens mostra-se como um método confiável e livre de subjetividade ou influência da fadiga humana no auxilio da classificação da dinâmica dos animais confinados. Trata-se de uma forma eficiente de analisar imagens de forma rápida para se ter conhecimento da dinâmica dos animais confinados ao longo do tempo. A necessidade do animal é demonstrada através de freqüências em determinadas regiões de interesse para seu bem-estar. / The animal behavior researches have as objective identify and quantify suffering signals in order to eliminate the problems obeying the welfare norms. The alterations of these behaviors show the ambient necessities for the animals\' survivals. In certain cases, only the abnormal behaviors can evidence a situation of stress. When the environment temperature changes, the animals present some answers to keep the body\'s temperature constant, starting with the maximum conservation of energy as the inactivity. Two of the most effective characteristics of the thermoregulatory behavior includes environment selection and position adjustment. Image processing and analysis techniques can collaborate with the research of information contained in images of confined animals. Invasive methods of quantification of the behavior show that there is interference of the experimenter on the animal reactions compromising the research results. This work aimed to know, through the Computer Vision, information about the laying hens\' spatial distribution at the thermal comfort and stress situations. Image sequences of two groups of 5 birds (hy-line W36) aging 21 weeks in conditions of thermal comfort (T= 26°C ± 2°C and UR= 60% ± 2%) and 5 birds in conditions had been analyzed of stress thermal (T= 35°C ± 2°C and UR= 70% ± 2%) and controlled in climatic chamber. The birds had been demarcated with not toxic inks in the dorsal region. Through colors clusters techniques in MATLAB 7.0 ® and the localization of the geometric center of the birds, it was possible to analyze the frequency of these birds in the nest regions, feed through, water through, free area and \"water through + feed through\", and through of Artificial Neural Network was possible to have standards shapes of bodies birds and to refers to some behaviors. The spatial distribution is an important indicative fort of the animal necessities in different conditions evidencing that the frequency in some regions can be a discomfort indicative. The processing technique and analysis of the images reveals as a trustworthy method and free of subjectivity or of the fatigue human`s influence in support of the dynamics classification of the confined animals. It is about one of the efficient form to analyze the images to have a better understanding of the dynamics of the confined animals` dynamics throughout time. The necessity of the animal is demonstrated through frequencies in determined regions of interest for its welfare condition.

No description available.

This thesis consists of three parts: The first and second parts focus on long-time asymptotics of macroscopic and kinetic models respectively, while in the third part we connect these regimes using different scaling approaches. (1) Keller–Segel-type aggregation-diffusion equations: We study a Keller–Segel-type model with non-linear power-law diffusion and non-local particle interaction: Does the system admit equilibria? If yes, are they unique? Which solutions converge to them? Can we determine an explicit rate of convergence? To answer these questions, we make use of the special gradient flow structure of the equation and its associated free energy functional for which the overall convexity properties are not known. Special cases of this family of models have been investigated in previous works, and this part of the thesis represents a contribution towards a complete characterisation of the asymptotic behaviour of solutions. (2) Hypocoercivity techniques for a fibre lay-down model: We show existence and uniqueness of a stationary state for a kinetic Fokker-Planck equation modelling the fibre lay-down process in non-woven textile production. Further, we prove convergence to equilibrium with an explicit rate. This part of the thesis is an extension of previous work which considered the case of a stationary conveyor belt. Adding the movement of the belt, the global equilibrium state is not known explicitly and a more general hypocoercivity estimate is needed. Although we focus here on a particular application, this approach can be used for any equation with a similar structure as long as it can be understood as a certain perturbation of a system for which the global Gibbs state is known. (3) Scaling approaches for collective animal behaviour models: We study the multi-scale aspects of self-organised biological aggregations using various scaling techniques. Not many previous studies investigate how the dynamics of the initial models are preserved via these scalings. Firstly, we consider two scaling approaches (parabolic and grazing collision limits) that can be used to reduce a class of non-local kinetic 1D and 2D models to simpler models existing in the literature. Secondly, we investigate how some of the kinetic spatio-temporal patterns are preserved via these scalings using asymptotic preserving numerical methods.