Testing the equivalency of human "predators" and deep neural networks in the detection of cryptic moths.

Researchers have shown growing interest in using deep neural networks (DNNs) to efficiently test the effects of perceptual processes on the evolution of color patterns and morphologies. Whether this is a valid approach remains unclear, as it is unknown whether the relative detectability of ecologically relevant stimuli to DNNs actually matches that of biological neural networks. To test this, we compare image classification performance by humans and six DNNs (AlexNet, VGG-16, VGG-19, ResNet-18, SqueezeNet, and GoogLeNet) trained to detect artificial moths on tree trunks.

Respiratory Disease Surveillance in the Middle East and Latin America during the COVID-19 Pandemic, 2020-2022.

Characterizing the epidemiology of circulating respiratory pathogens during the COVID-19 pandemic could clarify the burden of acute respiratory infections and monitor outbreaks of public health and military relevance. The US Department of Defense supported 2 regions for influenza-like illness and severe acute respiratory infections surveillance, one in the Middle East through US Naval Medical Research Unit EURAFCENT, and another in Latin America through US Naval Medical Research Unit SOUTH. During 2020‒2022, coinciding with the COVID-19 pandemic, we collected a total of 16,146 nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal swab samples from sentinel sites in Jordan (n = 11,305) and Latin America (n = 4,841).

Predictors of Severity of Influenza-Related Hospitalizations: Results From the Global Influenza Hospital Surveillance Network (GIHSN).

Background: The Global Influenza Hospital Surveillance Network (GIHSN) has since 2012 provided patient-level data on severe influenza-like-illnesses from >100 participating clinical sites worldwide based on a core protocol and consistent case definitions.

Methods: We used multivariable logistic regression to assess the risk of intensive care unit admission, mechanical ventilation, and in-hospital death among hospitalized patients with influenza and explored the role of patient-level covariates and country income level.

Results: The data set included 73 121 patients hospitalized with respiratory illness in 22 countries, including 15 660 with laboratory-confirmed influenza.

Age Differences in Comorbidities, Presenting Symptoms, and Outcomes of Influenza Illness Requiring Hospitalization: A Worldwide Perspective From the Global Influenza Hospital Surveillance Network.

Background: The Global Influenza Hospital Surveillance Network (GIHSN) was established in 2012 to conduct coordinated worldwide influenza surveillance. In this study, we describe underlying comorbidities, symptoms, and outcomes in patients hospitalized with influenza.

Methods: Between November 2018 and October 2019, GIHSN included 19 sites in 18 countries using a standardized surveillance protocol.

Volatile organic compounds influence prey composition in Sarracenia carnivorous plants.

Sarracenia pitcher plants display interspecific differences in prey, so far only explained by pitcher morphology. We hypothesized that pitcher odours play a role in prey composition. We first compared odour and prey compositions among Sarracenia taxa grown together, forming a kinship gradient from S.

Evolution of female colours in birds: The role of female cost of reproduction and paternal care.

Female ornamentation is frequently observed in animal species and is sometimes found as more evolutionary labile than male ornamentation. A complex array of factors may explain its presence and variation. Here we assessed the role of female cost of reproduction and paternal care.

Mimicry can drive convergence in structural and light transmission features of transparent wings in Lepidoptera.

Müllerian mimicry is a positive interspecific interaction, whereby co-occurring defended prey species share a common aposematic signal. In Lepidoptera, aposematic species typically harbour conspicuous opaque wing colour patterns with convergent optical properties among co-mimetic species. Surprisingly, some aposematic mimetic species have partially transparent wings, raising the questions of whether optical properties of transparent patches are also convergent, and of how transparency is achieved.

Partial wing transparency works better when disrupting wing edges: Evidence from a field experiment.

Lepidoptera-a group of insects in which wing transparency has arisen multiple times-exhibits much variation in the size and position of transparent wing zones. However, little is known as to how this variability affects detectability. Here, we test how the size and position of transparent elements affect the predation of artificial moths by wild birds in the field.

Patterns of bird song evolution on islands support the character release hypothesis in tropical but not in temperate latitudes.

The character release hypothesis-which predicts that a decline in interspecific competition leads to the expansion of trait expression-remains to be tested for communication signals. Taking advantage of the fact that oceanic islands host fewer species than the mainland, we tested whether island birds show an increase in frequency bandwidth of acoustic signals compared with mainland birds. Given the higher animal diversity and more saturated acoustic space in the tropics, we expected acoustic character release, if any, to be stronger in the tropics than in the temperate zone.

Developmental, cellular and biochemical basis of transparency in clearwing butterflies.

The wings of butterflies and moths (Lepidoptera) are typically covered with thousands of flat, overlapping scales that endow the wings with colorful patterns. Yet, numerous species of Lepidoptera have evolved highly transparent wings, which often possess scales of altered morphology and reduced size, and the presence of membrane surface nanostructures that dramatically reduce reflection. Optical properties and anti-reflective nanostructures have been characterized for several 'clearwing' Lepidoptera, but the developmental processes underlying wing transparency are unknown.

Transparency improves concealment in cryptically coloured moths.

Predation is a ubiquitous and strong selective pressure on living organisms. Transparency is a predation defence widespread in water but rare on land. Some Lepidoptera display transparent patches combined with already cryptic opaque patches.

Why has transparency evolved in aposematic butterflies? Insights from the largest radiation of aposematic butterflies, the Ithomiini.

Defended species are often conspicuous and this is thought to be an honest signal of defences, i.e. more toxic prey are more conspicuous.

Quantitative characterization of iridescent colours in biological studies: a novel method using optical theory.

Iridescent colours are colours that change with viewing or illumination geometry. While they are widespread in many living organisms, most evolutionary studies on iridescence do not take into account their full complexity. Few studies try to precisely characterize what makes iridescent colours special: their angular dependency.

Molecular Characterization of the cry Gene profile of Bacillus thuringiensis Isolated from a Caribbean Region of Colombia.

In order to characterize native strains of Bacillus thuringiensis of the Colombian Caribbean with toxic effect against insect vectors, 28 samples of bacteria identified as B. thuringiensis were isolated from different soils and muds around the city of Valledupar. Using a biological test, five isolates of B.

Higher iridescent-to-pigment optical effect in flowers facilitates learning, memory and generalization in foraging bumblebees.

Iridescence-change of colour with changes in the angle of view or of illumination-is widespread in the living world, but its functions remain poorly understood. The presence of iridescence has been suggested in flowers where diffraction gratings generate iridescent colours. Such colours have been suggested to serve plant-pollinator communication.

Detection of high percentage of Trypanosoma cruzi infection, the etiologic agent of Chagas disease, in wild populations of Colombian Caribbean triatomines.

In Colombia it is estimated that about 900,000 persons are infected with T. cruzi. There are 25 triatomine species and 5 of them have been reported infected with T.

Long recording sequences: how to track the intra-individual variability of acoustic signals.

Recently developed acoustic technologies - like automatic recording units - allow the recording of long sequences in natural environments. These devices are used for biodiversity survey but they could also help researchers to estimate global signal variability at various (individual, population, species) scales. While sexually-selected signals are expected to show a low intra-individual variability at relatively short time scale, this variability has never been estimated so far.

The intensity threshold of colour vision in a passerine bird, the blue tit (Cyanistes caeruleus).

Many vertebrates use colour vision for vital behaviour but their visual performance in dim light is largely unknown. The light intensity threshold of colour vision is known only for humans, horses and two parrot species. Here, we first explore this threshold in a passerine bird, the blue tit (Cyanistes caeruleus).

Age affects photoentrainment in a nocturnal primate.

The endogenous circadian clock is entrained by external cues, mainly the light-dark cycle received by photopigments located in the retina. The authors investigated (1) the effect of aging on the synchronization of the rest-activity rhythm and (2) the physiological basis of light photoreception in the gray mouse lemur, a nocturnal Malagasy primate. Old individuals were tested at different irradiance levels under 3 different light wavelengths previously shown to trigger maximal response in young adults.

Mutual mate choice in a female-dominant and sexually monomorphic primate.

Sexual dimorphism is common in polygynous species, where intrasexual competition is often thought to drive the evolution of large male body size, and in turn, male behavioral dominance over females. In Madagascar, the entire lemur radiation, which embraces diverse mating systems, lacks sexual dimorphism and exhibits frequent female dominance over males. The evolution of such morphological and behavioral peculiarities, often referred to as "the lemur syndrome," has proven difficult to understand.

Increased late night response to light controls the circadian pacemaker in a nocturnal primate.

The mammalian endogenous circadian clock, the suprachiasmatic nuclei, receives environmental inputs, namely the light-dark cycle, through photopigments located in the eye and from melanopsin-expressing retinal ganglion cells. The authors investigated the influence of light wavelength and intensity on the synchronization of the rest-activity rhythm of the gray mouse lemur, a nocturnal Malagasy primate. Animals were tested at different irradiance levels (320, 45, 13, and 6 nmol x m(-2) x s(- 1)) under several light wavelengths (from 400 to 610 nm).

Hearing is not necessarily believing in nocturnal anurans.

The recent discovery of the use of visual cues for mate choice by nocturnal acoustic species raises the important, and to date unaddressed, question of how these signals affect the outcome of mate choice predicted by female preference for male calls. In order to address this question, we presented female Hyla arborea tree frogs with a series of choices between combinations of acoustic and visual cues of varying quality in nocturnal conditions. While females exhibited the expected preference for a combination of attractive values for visual and acoustic signals over combinations of unattractive values for both signals, when presented with conflicting acoustic and visual cues, they equally adopted one of two strategies, preferring either attractive calls or intense vocal sac coloration.

Can eggs in a cavity be a female secondary sexual signal? Male nest visits and modelling of egg visual discrimination in blue tits.

Eggshell colouration is thought to function as a female-specific secondary sexual trait. While tests of this idea are rapidly accumulating in cavity-nesting birds, some fundamental underlying assumptions remain rarely investigated: namely, can males see eggshell coloration and perceive colour differences between the eggs of different females? We tested these two key assumptions in a natural population of blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus). Using transponders, we tracked male nest visits and found that all males visited their nest-boxes while eggs were present and often visually accessible.

Condition dependence of iridescent wing flash-marks in two species of dabbling ducks.

Growing empirical evidence supports the hypothesis of male mate choice for female ornaments which are thought to reflect individual quality and future breeding ability. While structural colors are clearly used in mate choice and pairing, the condition dependence of such traits is less obvious, particularly in females. We present spectral measurements of wing flash-marks in two species of dabbling ducks during the pairing period and evaluate color and brightness contrasts as seen through the mallard's (Anas platyrhynchos) visual system.