Summer food habits of coyotes in central Wyoming

Summer food habits of coyotes ( Canis latrans ) were investigated on a 3100-km 2 area in central Wyoming, divided into one deer-use area and five non-deer areas. Analysis of 404 scats (fecal samples) revealed an overall average of 63 percent occurrence of native ungulates, 63 percent leporids, 46 percent rodents, 14 percent livestock, and 11 percent birds. Pronghorn ( Antilocapra Americana ) was the ungulate most frequently consumed, occurring in about 87 percent of the scats. Mule deer ( Odocoileus hemionus ) occurred in only 8 percent, and in 5 percent the native ungulate remains were not identifiable beyond order. This large percentage of big game in the diet is apparently unusual, because big game has been of minor importance in most coyote food-habit studies. The high incidence of leporids is consistent with other studies performed in arid intermountain areas. Although cricetines, especially deer mice ( Peromyscus maniculatus ), were trapped consistently in all habitats, months, and trapping areas, they were found in scats at a lower frequency than microtines and sciurids. This suggests a coyote hunting strategy that selected for the latter two groups.     

A nonparametric method for asymmetrically extending signal extraction filters

Two important problems in the X‐11 seasonal adjustment methodology are the construction of standard errors and the handling of the boundaries. We adapt the ‘implied model approach’ of Kaiser and Maravall to achieve both objectives in a nonparametric fashion. The frequency response function of an X‐11 linear filter is used, together with the periodogram of the differenced data, to define spectral density estimates for signal and noise. These spectra are then used to define a matrix smoother, which in turn generates an estimate of the signal that is linear in the data. Estimates of the signal are provided at all time points in the sample, and the associated time‐varying signal extraction mean squared errors are a by‐product of the matrix smoother theory. After explaining our method, it is applied to popular nonparametric filters such as the Hodrick–Prescott (HP), the Henderson trend, and ideal low‐pass and band‐pass filters, as well as X‐11 seasonal adjustment, trend, and irregular filters. Finally, we illustrate the method on several time series and provide comparisons with X‐12‐ARIMA seasonal adjustments. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Acid-base balance in artificially respired guinea-pigs under normal conditions and during exposure to hyperbaric helium

Zusammenfassung Säure-Basen-Werte von Meerschweinchen (Cavia porcellus L.) wurden unter künstlicher Atmung bei normalem Druck und bei Druck von 19.2 Atm. gemessen und festgestellt, dass künstliche Atmung unter erhöhtem Druck normale Säure-Basen-Gleichgewichte gewährleistet, während die Säure-Basen-Werte normaler Tiere mit denjenigen der Literatur nicht übereinstimmten.     

Microtubules with more than 13 protofilaments in the dividing nuclei of ciliates

Microtubules are largely composed of proteins called tubulins. These are stacked in linear arrays called protofilaments (p). Most microtubules have precisely 13p (ref. 1). The 'incomplete' B and C microtubules (10 or 11p) of cilia, flagella, basal bodies and centrioles are widespread exceptions. Very few examples of 'complete' microtubules with more, or less, than 13p have been found. However, the 'ciliate cell' includes a larger number of highly differentiated types of microtubule arrays than most other cell types. The present study was undertaken to ascertain whether there is variation in p number in two ciliates. In both, all complete cytoplasmic microtubules examined have 13p but microtubules with 13-16p are present in the nucleoplasm of dividing nuclei. These features are probably common to ciliates in general because the free-living hymenostone Paramecium tetraurelia and the parasitic heterotrich Nycotherus ovalis are not closely related in terms of taxonomic criteria or life-style.     

Coevolution in multidimensional trait space favours escape from parasites and pathogens

Almost all species are subject to continuous attack by parasites and pathogens. Because parasites and pathogens tend to have shorter generation times and often experience stronger selection due to interaction than their victims do, it is frequently argued that they should evolve more rapidly and thus maintain an advantage in the evolutionary race between defence and counter-defence. This prediction generates an apparent paradox: how do victim species survive and even thrive in the face of a continuous onslaught of more rapidly evolving enemies? One potential explanation is that defence is physiologically, mechanically or behaviourally easier than attack, so that evolution is less constrained for victims than for parasites or pathogens. Another possible explanation is that parasites and pathogens have enemies themselves and that victim species persist because parasites and pathogens are regulated from the top down and thus generally have only modest demographic impacts on victim populations. Here we explore a third possibility: that victim species are not as evolutionarily impotent as conventional wisdom holds, but instead have unique evolutionary advantages that help to level the playing field. We use quantitative genetic analysis and individual-based simulations to show that victims can achieve such an advantage when coevolution involves multiple traits in both the host and the parasite.