Morphometric Relationships, Growth and Condition Factors of Critically Endangered Chinese Pangolin (Manis pentadactyla).

Morphometric relationships and condition factors are crucial to quickly understanding the fitness and well-being of animals. Total length (cm) and bodyweight (g) of 282 (male = 167 and female = 115) pangolins were accounted for in this study which was received and rehabilitated in Pingtung Rescued Center, Pingtung and Endemic Species Research Institute, Nantou, Taiwan. The allometric equation; W = aLb was used to estimate the length-weight relationships where R2 = 0.70, a = 0.61, and b = 1.98. The ratio of total body length and tail length was between 1.1 and 2.7. Pangolins exhibited negative allometric growth (b < 3) as their length increased. The average relative condition factor (KR) was 1.04, indicating a state of good health for rescued individuals. However, Fulton condition factor (KF) and KR fluctuated in different months but was significantly heavier during the wet seasons. This study recommended to release healthy animals with KF of 0.8 or higher back into the wild in order to increase their survival rate. The study, thus will be helpful to promote standardized guidelines for conducting physical measurements and understanding health status. Additionally, it will support the recovery of this threatened species by husbandry and diet management in ex-situ and in-situ conservation.

Temperature Dependent Excitonic Transition Energy and Enhanced Electron-Phonon Coupling in Layered Ternary SnS2-xSex Semiconductors with Fully Tunable Stoichiometry.

In this study, a series of SnS2-xSex (0 ≤ x ≤ 2) layered semiconductors were grown by the chemical-vapor transport method. The crystal structural and material phase of SnS2-xSex layered van der Waals crystals was characterized by X-ray diffraction measurements and Raman spectroscopy. The temperature dependence of the spectral features in the vicinity of the direct band edge excitonic transitions of the layered SnS2-xSex compounds was measured in the temperature range of 20-300 K using the piezoreflectance (PzR) technique. The near band-edge excitonic transition energies of SnS2-xSex were determined from a detailed line-shape fit of the PzR spectra. The PzR characterization has shown that the excitonic transitions were continuously tunable with the ratio of S and Se. The parameters that describe the temperature variation of the energies of the excitonic transitions are evaluated and discussed.

Foraging dispersion of Ryukyu flying-foxes and relationships with fig abundance in East-Asian subtropical island forests.

BACKGROUND: Figs are widely distributed key resources to many tropical-subtropical animals, and flying-foxes are major consumers and seed dispersers of figs. Bat-fig interrelationships, however, may vary among species differing in fruiting traits, i.e., bat- versus bird-dispersed figs. We examined Ryukyu flying-fox foraging dispersion and the relationships with tree species composition and fig abundance in forests of Iriomote Island. RESULTS: Bat foraging dispersion showed no spatial patterns with respect to different areas of the island, and was not explained by heterogeneity, density, or basal area (BA) of total trees, nor by relative density or BA of fruiting trees or total fruiting figs among sites. Instead, bat densities were positively dependent on the relative density of total figs, and particularly the relative BA of bat-dispersed figs Ficus septica and F. variegata. Both species were dominant figs in forests, fruiting asynchronously with long crop seasons, and were used as predominant foods. Bats foraged mostly solitarily and the mean density was in a hump-shaped relationship with crop sizes of the dominant bat-figs. These two species and Ficus benguetensis are larger-sized bat-figs, all contained more seeds, higher dry-pulp mass and water mass, but not necessarily water content. By approximate estimation, higher proportions of seeds of these bat-figs would have been removed from fruits through the bat consumption, than that of small-sized bird-figs like F. virgata, F. superba, and F. microcarpa. CONCLUSIONS: The foraging dispersion of Ryukyu flying-foxes in forests depends on the availability of the most abundant bat-figs that serve as predominant foods. Intermediate levels of crop sizes of theses figs appear most fit with their solitary foraging. Our results suggest that as density and BA coverage of these dominant bat-figs are below a certain level, their effectiveness to attract bats may dwindle and so would their chance of dispersal by bats.