Learning has been postulated to 'drive' evolution, but its influence on adaptive evolution in heterogeneous environments has not been formally examined. We used a spatially explicit individual-based model to study the effect of learning on the expansion and adaptation of a species to a novel habitat. Fitness was mediated by a behavioural trait (resource preference), which in turn was determined...

This study applies a Back-Propagation Neural Network to the task of floristic land cover classification. The input data consists of the three LANDSAT TM bands 2, 4 and 7 and the GIS based environmental variables Aspect, Elevation, Catchment, Geology and Slope. This dataset covers a 225 square-km sub scene centred near the town of Kioloa, South East, Australia. The study area is complex compnsmg...

Structure and composition of coastal forested wetlands are mainly controlled by local topography and soil salinity. Hydrology plays a major role in relation with tides, seaward, and freshwater inputs, landward. We report here the results of a two-year study undertaken in a coastal plain of the Guadeloupe archipelago (FWI). As elsewhere in the Caribbean islands, the study area is characterized b...

In 2010 a mammal survey was conducted in an ecotone region (including páramo and temperate forest) on the eastern slope of the Andes in Sangay National Park, Ecuador. Sherman traps, Tomahawk traps, pitfall traps, and mist nets were used to collect mammal specimens at two sites (3,400 m elevation and 2,962 m elevation). A total of 169 specimens representing 14 species were collected from the sur...

The transfer of water, sediment, and other materials to floodplains is a function of the hydrology of inundation. Inundation of floodplains by regional water, that is, overbank flow from the main river channel, and local water, that is, groundwater, hyporheic water, local tributary water, and direct precipitation onto the floodplain, is such that some rivers inundate dry floodplains, while othe...

Bioluminescence commonly influences pelagic trophic interactions at mesopelagic depths. Here we characterize a vertical gradient in structure of a generally low species diversity bioluminescent community at shallower epipelagic depths during the polar night period in a high Arctic fjord with in situ bathyphotometric sampling. Bioluminescence potential of the community increased with depth to a ...