Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Male Aggression Towards Females In Hamadryas Baboons: Conditioning, Coercion And Control, Larissa Swedell, Amy Schreier

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Measuring Knowledge Of Natural Selection: A Comparison Of The C.I.N.S., An Open-Response Instrument, And An Oral Interview, Ross Nehm, Irvin Sam Schonfeld

Publications and Research

Growing recognition of the central importance of fostering an in-depth understanding of natural selection has, surprisingly, failed to stimulate work on the development and rigorous evaluation of instruments that measure knowledge of it. We used three different methodological tools, the Conceptual Inventory of Natural Selection (CINS), a modified version of Bishop and Anderson's (Bishop and Anderson [1990] Journal of Research in Science Teaching 27: 415-427) open-response test that we call the Open Response Instrument (ORI), and an oral interview derived from both instruments, to measure biology majors' understanding of and alternative conceptions about natural selection. We explored how these instruments …

Use Of Palm Trees As A Sleeping Site By Hamadryas Baboons In Ethiopia, Amy Schreier, Larissa Swedell

Publications and Research

Hamadryas baboons sleep on cliffs throughout their range, and this can be attributed to the safety cliffs provide against predators in the absence of tall trees. In this paper, we report the first documented occurrence of hamadryas baboons sleeping in doum palm trees rather than on cliffs. Data derive from a study of hamadryas baboons at the Filoha site in lowland Ethiopia. During all-day follows, data were collected on travel patterns, band activity, and location. Variation in the baboons’ home range was characterized using vegetation transects. We discovered that one band in this population, Band 3, occasionally slept in doum …

Composition And Seasonality Of Diet In Wild Hamadryas Baboons: Preliminary Findings From Filoha, Larissa Swedell, Getenet Hailemeskel, Amy Schreier

Publications and Research

Here we report the first year-round quantitative data on dietary composition and seasonality in wild hamadryas baboons. Study subjects were adult male members of Band 3 at the Filoha field site in central lowland Ethiopia. Data collection consisted of 10-minute focal samples during all-day follows 4-6 days per month over the course of one year. The two largest contributors to the diet were Hyphaene thebaica and Acacia senegal, and these were the only plant species found in the diet during every month of the year. Other relatively major contributors to the diet, such as Cyperus grandibulbosus, Seddera bagshawei, …

Maintenance Of Visual Stability In The Human Posterior Parietal Cortex, Erik Chang, Tony Ro

Publications and Research

Visual stability refers to our stable visuospatial perceptions despite the unstable visual input caused by saccades. Functional neuroimaging results, studies on patients with posterior parietal cortex (PPC) lesions, and single-unit recordings in the lateral intraparietal sulcus of primates indirectly suggest that the PPC might be a potential locus of visual stability through its involvement with spatial remapping. Here we directly explored the role of the PPC in visual stability by applying transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) while participants performed a perisaccadic displacement detection task. We show that TMS over the PPC but not a frontal control site alters sensitivity to displacement …

Does Increasing Biology Teacher Knowledge Of Evolution And The Nature Of Science Lead To Greater Advocacy For The Teaching Of Evolution In Schools?, Ross Nehm, Irvin Sam Schonfeld

Publications and Research

This study investigated whether or not an increase in secondary science teacher knowledge about evolution and the nature of science gained from completing a graduate-level evolution course was associated with greater preference for the teaching of evolution in schools. Forty-four precertified secondary biology teachers participated in a 14-week intervention designed to address documented misconceptions identified by a precourse instrument. The course produced statistically significant gains in teacher knowledge of evolution and the nature of science and a significant decrease in misconceptions about evolution and natural selection. Nevertheless, teachers' postcourse preference positions remained unchanged; the majority of science teachers still preferred …

Perspectives On Reproduction And Life History In Baboons, Larissa Swedell, Steven R. Leigh

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Strategies Of Sex And Survival In Hamadryas Baboons: Through A Female Lens, Larissa Swedell

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Daily Rhythm Of Cerebral Blood Flow Velocity, Deirdre A. Conroy, Arthur J. Spielman, Rebecca Q. Scott

Publications and Research

Background: CBFV (cerebral blood flow velocity) is lower in the morning than in the afternoon and evening. Two hypotheses have been proposed to explain the time of day changes in CBFV: 1) CBFV changes are due to sleep-associated processes or 2) time of day changes in CBFV are due to an endogenous circadian rhythm independent of sleep. The aim of this study was to examine CBFV over 30 hours of sustained wakefulness to determine whether CBFV exhibits fluctuations associated with time of day.

Methods: Eleven subjects underwent a modified constant routine protocol. CBFV from the middle cerebral artery was monitored …

Infant Mortality After Takeovers In Wild Ethiopian Hamadryas Baboons, Larissa Swedell, Teklu Tesfaye

Publications and Research

In this paper, we report the first observational evidence of infanticide in wild hamadryas baboons. The study group inhabits the lowlands of the northern Rift Valley in Ethiopia and has been under observation for over 1200 hours, on and off, since October 1996. Here we report observations from August and September 2002 of the consequences of two takeovers of known females with black infants. After the first takeover, the respective infant disappeared and was presumed dead within eleven days of the takeover. After the second takeover, the infant incurred repeated severe aggression from its mother’s new leader male and eventually …

Mechanism Of Triazolo-Benzodiazepine And Benzodiazepine Action In Anxiety And Depression: Behavioral Studies With Concomitant In Vivo Ca1 Hippocampal Norepinephrine And Serotonin Release Detection In The Behaving Animal, Patricia A. Broderick, Omotola Hope, Pierrot Jeannot

Publications and Research

1. Real time, in vivo microvoltammetric studies were performed, using miniature carbon-based sensors, to concurrently detect norepinephrine (NE) release and serotonin (5-HT) release, in 2 separate electrochemical signals, within CA₁ region of hippocampus in the freely moving and behaving, male, Sprague Dawley laboratory rat.

2. Concurrently, four parameters of open-field Behavior I.E. Ambulations, Rearing, Fine Movements and Central Ambulatory behavior (a measure of anxiety reduction behavior), were assayed by infrared photobeam detection.

3. Time course studies showed that the mechanism of action of the triazolobenzodiazepine (TBZD), adinazolam, (Deracyn®) is dramatically different from that of the classical benzodiazepine (BZD), diazepam …

The Use Of Plot Surveys For The Study Of Ethnobotanical Knowledge: A Brunei Dusun Example, Jay H. Bernstein, Roy Ellen, Bantong Bin Antaran

Publications and Research

This paper describes a technique for using plot surveys to measure individual informants' ethnobotanical knowledge of forests, as applied to the Dusun community of Merimbun in Brunei. Two knowledgeable but non-literate Dusun informants enumerated marked plots of both recent and old secondary growth mixed dipterocarp forest near the village. They were able to provide names (other than life-forms or the most general basic and intermediate categories) for 86-97% of species growing in the plots. Between 152 and 170 plant names were elicited by the surveys. In all cases, about 88% of the names were at the basic naming level and …

Higher-Order Categories In Brunei Dusun Ethnobotany: The Folk-Classification Of Rainforest Plants, Jay H. Bernstein

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Licuala Palms In Brunei Dusun Ethnobotany, Jay H. Bernstein, Roy F. Ellen

Publications and Research

Several species of Licuala occur in the Merimbun area of Tutong district, Brunei Darussalam. One kind of Licuala, called benjiru by the local Dusun population, is often collected for sale as a vegetable. While Licuala is not generally considered an important economic plant, overharvesting in the Merimbun area suggests that conservation measures may be needed to protect it from local extinction. Besides benjiru, other kinds of Licuala recognized by the Dusun are called silad and ukang. The three kinds of Licuala do not have one overall name in the Dusun language, but constitute a covert category at the "intermediate" ethnobotanical …