Low-cost automated call box system to conduct playback experiments for wildlife research and management.

Acoustic cues (e.g., vocalizations or 'calls' in wildlife) may effectively change social behavioral patterns in certain species. There are very few published papers on how to create a device at a low cost that can automatically reproduce acoustic cues to carry on wildlife playback experiments or management. We developed the Automated Call Box (ACB) based on an open-source Arduino-compatible microcontroller that attaches to a speaker system and costs less than the most common game caller used by researchers. The unit helps test the influence of social information on habitat choices and has other management applications. We field-tested the ACB to assess the effect of conspecific vocalizations cues on the habitat settlement and to increase the detectability of songbird species. We describe in detail the costs of the materials to build this type of system as a reference for further research. Our ACB allows researchers to conduct experiments on wildlife in inclement weather and complex environments, even in remote locations, with minimum or no necessity for the researcher to be present to reset the equipment.

Can rare positive interactions become common when large carnivores consume livestock?

Livestock populations in protected areas are viewed negatively because of their interaction with native ungulates through direct competition for food resources. However, livestock and native prey can also interact indirectly through their shared predator. Indirect interactions between two prey species occur when one prey modifies either the functional or numerical responses of a shared predator. This interaction is often manifested as negative effects (apparent competition) on one or both prey species through increased predation risk. But indirect interactions can also yield positive effects on a focal prey if the shared predator modifies its functional response toward increased consumption of an abundant and higher-quality alternative prey. Such a phenomenon between two prey species is underappreciated and overlooked in nature. Positive indirect effects can be expected to occur in livestock-dominated wildlife reserves containing large carnivores. We searched for such positive effects in Acacia-Zizhypus forests of India's Gir sanctuary where livestock (Bubalus bubalis and Bos indicus) and a coexisting native prey (chital deer, Axis axis) are consumed by Asiatic lions (Panthera leo persica). Chital vigilance was higher in areas with low livestock density than in areas with high livestock density. This positive indirect effect occurred because lion predation rates on livestock were twice as great where livestock were abundant than where livestock density was low. Positive indirect interactions mediated by shared predators may be more common than generally thought with rather major consequences for ecological understanding and conservation. We encourage further studies to understand outcomes of indirect interactions on long-term predator-prey dynamics in livestock-dominated protected areas.

The effects of adult guidance and peer discussion on the development of children's representations: evidence from the training of pedestrian skills.

It was hypothesized that practical training is effective in improving children's pedestrian skills because adult scaffolding and peer discussion during training specifically promote E3 level representation (linguistically-encoded, experientially-grounded, generalizable knowledge), as defined by Karmiloff-Smith's (1992) representational redescription (RR) model. Two studies were conducted to examine in detail the impact of this social input in the context of simulation-based training in roadside search skills. A group of 5-8-year-olds were pre-tested on ability to detect relevant road-crossing features. They then participated in four training sessions designed to promote attunement to these, under peer discussion versus adult guidance conditions (Study 1), and adult-child versus adult-group conditions (Study 2). Performance at post-test was compared with that of controls who underwent no training. Study 1 found that children in the adult guidance condition improved significantly more than those in the peer discussion or control conditions, and this improvement was directly attributable to appropriation of E3 level representations from adult dialogue. Study 2 found that progress was greater still when adult scaffolding was supplemented by peer discussion, with E3 level representation attributable to the children's exploration of conflicting ideas. The implications of these findings for the RR model and for practical road safety education are discussed.