Burial of a nest formed of ice in the shape of a subterranean ant nest forms an underground facsimile of a nest after melting. Any desired level of similarity to natural ant nests can be achieved. Such nests can be used as tools for the study of ant nest architecture, or to provide ready homes for study colonies.

Although the use of olfaction by birds is now widely recognised, the olfactory abilities of passerine birds remain poorly explored, for historical reasons. Several studies however suggest that passerines can perceive volatile compounds in several biologically relevant contexts. In Corsica, recent findings suggest that cavity-nesting blue tits may use volatile compounds in the context of nest bu...

Identifying the relative contributions of genetic, maternal, and environmental factors to phenotypic variation is critical for evaluating the evolutionary potential of fitness-related traits. We employed a novel two-step cross-fostering experiment to quantify the relative contributions of clutch (i.e., maternal identity) and maternally chosen nest sites to phenotypic variation during three earl...

Many wasps and bees learn the position of their nest relative to nearby visual features during elaborate 'learning' flights that they perform on leaving the nest. Return flights to the nest are thought to be patterned so that insects can reach their nest by matching their current view to views of their surroundings stored during learning flights. To understand how ground-nesting bumblebees migh...

The ability of nest predation to influence habitat settlement decisions in birds is widely debated, despite its importance in limiting fitness. Here, we experimentally manipulated nest predation risk across a landscape and asked the question, do migratory birds assess and respond to variation in nest predation risk when choosing breeding habitats? We examined habitat preference by quantifying t...

Responses of the African weaver ants (Oecophylla longinoda) to nest damages were studied in the field in Nigeria. During the wet season, the ants responded to nest damages almost unexceptionnally by a quick onset of nest-repairing behaviour. The latencies to the start of nest-repairing activities (LN) did not depend on the size of the damage, but they were significantly shorter during the night...

Ants, bees and wasps are central place foragers. They leave their nests to forage and routinely return to their home-base. Most are guided by memories of the visual panorama and the visual appearance of the local nest environment when pinpointing their nest. These memories are acquired during highly structured learning walks or flights that are performed when leaving the nest for the first time...

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to compare the catastrophic health expenditure (CHE) prevalence and its determinants between empty-nest and non-empty-nest elderly households. SETTING Shandong province of China. PARTICIPANTS A total of 2761 elderly households are included in the analysis. RESULTS CHE incidence among elderly households was 44.9%. The CHE incidence of empty-nest singles ...

To explore the nest survival rate of Reeves's pheasant(Syrmaticus reevesii) and the nest-site factors that affect it, we conducted artificial nest experiments with reference to natural nests at Dongzhai National Nature Reserve(DNNR), Henan Province and Pingjingguan, Hubei Province from April to June 2014 simulating the situation in its early and later breeding season. We also determined distanc...