Taste-aversion conditioning of crows to control predation on eggs

Free-ranging crows (Corvus brachyrhynchos) that ate chicken eggs that were painted green and contained a nonlethal toxin subsequently avoided green eggs at various locations, whether or not they contained toxin. The crows also continued to eat unpainted and nontoxic chicken eggs. Illness-induced aversions among predators in nature may be a powerful determiner of the evolution of Batesian mimicry and, in human hands, serve as a practical tool for wildlife ecologists.     

Hippocampal unit activity during classical aversive and appetitive conditioning

Rats were trained with a tone being followed by either food or electric shock, on alternate days. Unit activity during application of the conditioned stimulus was recorded from the dorsal hippocampus. The results indicate differentiation of the hippocampal system. Dentate units respond by augmentation to a conditioned stimulus which leads to food and by inhibition to the same stimulus when it precedes electric shock. The hippocampus proper responds by augmentation in both situations. The intensity of the hippocampal response to the conditioned stimulus on the first day of training is higher if the unconditioned stimulus is food than if it is electric shock. These data cast light on the functions of the dorsal dentate-hippocampal connections and the hippocampus proper during aversive and appetitive conditioning.     

Cholinergic interneurons control local circuit activity and cocaine conditioning

Cholinergic neurons are widespread, and pharmacological modulation of acetylcholine receptors affects numerous brain processes, but such modulation entails side effects due to limitations in specificity for receptor type and target cell. As a result, causal roles of cholinergic neurons in circuits have been unclear. We integrated optogenetics, freely moving mammalian behavior, in vivo electrophysiology, and slice physiology to probe the cholinergic interneurons of the nucleus accumbens by direct excitation or inhibition. Despite representing less than 1% of local neurons, these cholinergic cells have dominant control roles, exerting powerful modulation of circuit activity. Furthermore, these neurons could be activated by cocaine, and silencing this drug-induced activity during cocaine exposure (despite the fact that the manipulation of the cholinergic interneurons was not aversive by itself) blocked cocaine conditioning in freely moving mammals.     

Avoidance sessions as aversive events

Rats living continuously in conditioning chambers were permitted to work for food before and after their daily avoidance sessions. The avoidance procedure disrupted this responding reinforced by food, a result that indicates conditioned suppression on a time scale much greater than that previously studied in nonhuman animals.     

Nocturnal aerial predation of fireflies by light-seeking fireflies

Female Photuris fireflies guided by their prey's luminescence attack flying fireflies at night. They sometimes use this hunting tactic together with prey attraction by mating-signal mimicry. Such predation could have been a major factor in the evolution of signaling behavior of American fireflies. Nocturnal aerial predation by an insect and attack guidance on energy emitted by airborne prey have not previously been reported.     

Hippocampal correlates of aversive mibdrain stimulation

Hippocampal synchronization during aversive dorsal midbrain stimulation was observed in rats both in a conditioning procedure and under d-tubo-curarine paralysis. The results restrict the generality of previous reports which correlated hippocampal synchronization and desynchronization with approach and withdrawal behavior, respectively. Relative to the condition of free movement, curarization reduced the frequency of both "spontaneous" and dorsal midbrain-evoked synchronization, thus suggesting possible direct and indirect effects of d-tubocurarine on subcortical structures.     

Evoked potentials: modifications by classical conditioning

Visual evoked potentials to a positive discriminative stimulus change systematically during sensory conditioning and extinction. Changes due to conditioning are manifested in the increased amplitude of the late component of the evoked response. This effect is attenuated during extinction and reappears after reconditioning.     

Uniform inhibition of dopamine neurons in the ventral tegmental area by aversive stimuli

Dopamine neurons play a key role in reward-related behaviors. Reward coding theories predict that dopamine neurons will be inhibited by or will not respond to aversive stimuli. Paradoxically, between 3 and 49% of presumed dopamine neurons are excited by aversive stimuli. We found that, in the ventral tegmental area of anesthetized rats, the population of presumed dopamine neurons that are excited by aversive stimuli is actually not dopaminergic. The identified dopamine neurons were inhibited by the aversive stimulus. These findings suggest that dopamine neurons are specifically excited by reward and that a population of nondopamine neurons is excited by aversive stimuli.     

棉田优势天敌多异瓢虫成虫对棉蚜捕食功能的研究

多异瓢虫成虫对棉蚜的捕食功能符合HollingⅡ模型, 日最大捕食量为172.6头棉蚜,捕食一头棉蚜需要3.34 min,功能系数为1.575;多异瓢虫个体间相互干扰对捕食效应的影响可以用E=0.979 5P-1.016模拟;多异瓢虫对自身密度的功能反应可以用A= 103.55P-0.630 5模拟.     

小红瓢虫对埃及吹绵蚧的捕食功能的研究

运用普通生态学方法对埃及吹绵蚧的主要捕食性天敌小红瓢虫的捕食功能进行研究.结果显示,小红瓢虫对埃及吹绵蚧的密度反应为Holling Ⅱ型,圆盘方程拟合后的瞬时攻击率为0.577,处理时间为0.019;通过Hassell模型拟合,小红瓢虫自身密度增加导致的干扰效应为0.434;根据汪世泽提出的功能反应新模型,拟合后估计的...     

Regulation of keystone predation by small changes in ocean temperature

Key species interactions that are sensitive to temperature may act as leverage points through which small changes in climate could generate large changes in natural communities. Field and laboratory experiments showed that a slight decrease in water temperature dramatically reduced the effects of a keystone predator, the sea star Pisaster ochraceus, on its principal prey. Ongoing changes in patterns of cold water upwelling, associated with El Nino events and longer term geophysical changes, may thus have far-reaching impacts on the composition and diversity of these rocky intertidal communities.     

Simultaneous generalization gradients for appetitive and aversive behavior

In the presence of a bright light five monkeys were trained to press a lever to avoid shock and to pull a chain for food reward. When tested with a series of lights dimmer than the conditioning stimulus, the monkeys showed a sharp gradient of effect for the rewarded response, in contrast to a very flat gradient for the avoidance response.     

Lateral hypothalamic stimulation: inhibition of aversive effects by feeding, drinking, and gnawing

The opportunity to engage in feeding, drinking, and gnawing behavior facilitated by localized hypothalamic stimulation can delay the onset of the aversive effects of the stimulation and may completely suppress them. This suggests that the aversive effects of the stimulation are due to the excessive of the stimulation are due to the exessive arousal of a drive.