Programmable vector elds are an abstraction to represent a new class of devices for distributed, non-prehensile manipulation for applications in parts feeding, sorting, positioning, and assembly. Unlike robot grippers, conveyor belts, or vibratory bowl feeders, these devices generate force vector elds in which the parts move until they may reach a stable equilibrium pose. Recent research in the...

The deep-sea benthic community at the Porcupine Abyssal Plain (NE Atlantic) is a highly food limited system. The annual input of sedimenting phytodetritus, which reaches the sea floor around May/June, is the major input of energy. The relative trophic position of the most abundant components of the benthos (90 species or higher taxonomic groups), including meiofaunal, macrofaunal, and megafauna...

We review the origins, prominent innovations, and major patterns of diversification in suction feeding by vertebrates. Non-vertebrate chordates and larval lamprey suspension-feed by capturing small particles in pharyngeal mucous. In most of these lineages the gentle flows that transport particles are generated by buccal cilia, although larval lamprey and thaliacean urochordates have independent...

During foraging flights, honeybees learn visual and chemical cues associated with a food source. We investigated whether learned olfactory cues can trigger visual and navigational memories in honeybees that assist them in navigating back to a known food source. In a series of experiments, marked bees were trained to forage at one or more sugar water feeders, placed at different outdoor location...

Plant diversity can influence predators and omnivores and such effects may in turn influence herbivores and plants. However, evidence for these ecological feedbacks is rare. We evaluated if the effects of tree species (SD) and genotypic diversity (GD) on the abundance of different guilds of insect herbivores associated with big-leaf mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla) were contingent upon the prot...

We discovered variable modes of parental care in a breeding population of color-banded Veeries (Catharus fuscescens), a Nearctic-Neotropical migratory songbird, long thought to be socially monogamous, and performed a multi-locus DNA microsatellite analysis to estimate parentage and kinship in a sample of 37 adults and 21 offspring. We detected multiple mating in both sexes, and four modes of pa...

Programmable force elds are an abstraction to represent a new class of devices for distributed non prehensile manipulation for applications in parts feeding sorting positioning and assembly Unlike robot grippers conveyor belts or vibratory bowl feeders these devices generate force vector elds in which the parts move until they may reach a stable equilibrium pose Recent research in the theory of...

The feeding diversity of subtidal samples of macroinvertebrates from Ria Formosa was estimated with Shannon Wiener information index and complementary evenness. The results were compared with other commonly used methodologies under the European water framework directive, such as diversity indices, AMBI and ITI. Assuming that in a healthy environment all feeding groups are present, and that no g...

Handling temperament tests for beef cattle have been related to production traits, with calmer temperaments having greater growth rates. In most tests of temperament or personality, observation of the animal takes place over a short period of time, sometimes completed in a matter of minutes. This study investigated whether behavior observed in a temperament test was reflective of the steer's be...

Many studies have shown the positive and negative impacts of feeding wild birds using feeders; however, none them considered case in Brazil. In 2020, social isolation measures imposed by COVID-19 boosted Brazilians’ interest bird feeders, encouraging a group birders to create an event (called JaneLives) broadcast simultaneous live images feeders across country. Using structure JaneLives relying...