Sex-specific microhabitat use is associated with sex-biased thermal physiology in Anolis lizards.

If fitness optima for a given trait differ between males and females in a population, sexual dimorphism may evolve. Sex-biased trait variation may affect patterns of habitat use, and if the microhabitats used by each sex have dissimilar microclimates, this can drive sex-specific selection on thermal physiology. Nevertheless, tests of differences between the sexes in thermal physiology are uncommon, and studies linking these differences to microhabitat use or behavior are even rarer. We examined microhabitat use and thermal physiology in two ectothermic congeners that are ecologically similar but differ in their degree of sexual size dimorphism. Brown anoles (Anolis sagrei) exhibit male-biased sexual size dimorphism and live in thermally heterogeneous habitats, whereas slender anoles (Anolis apletophallus) are sexually monomorphic in body size and live in thermally homogeneous habitats. We hypothesized that differences in habitat use between the sexes would drive sexual divergence in thermal physiology in brown anoles, but not slender anoles, because male and female brown anoles may be exposed to divergent microclimates. We found that male and female brown anoles, but not slender anoles, used perches with different thermal characteristics and were sexually dimorphic in thermal tolerance traits. However, field-active body temperatures and behavior in a laboratory thermal arena did not differ between females and males in either species. Our results suggest that sexual dimorphism in thermal physiology can arise from phenotypic plasticity or sex-specific selection on traits that are linked to thermal tolerance, rather than from direct effects of thermal environments experienced by males and females.

Interferometric synthetic aperture ladar using code division multiple access apertures.

This paper describes a multi-static interferometric synthetic aperture ladar (IFSAL) for high-resolution, high-precision 3D imaging. Code division multiple access apertures with periodic, pseudorandom noise waveforms are used to create aperture diversity and overcome the ambiguity associated with the aperture separation requirements for interferometric synthetic aperture ladar. The basic theory for mapping relative aperture phase to a high-precision elevation profile is derived for a multi-static IFSAL system and subsequent processing steps are presented. An analytic model and computer simulation are developed to demonstrate the 3D imaging capability of an IFSAL system.

Improving mid-frequency contrast in sparse aperture optical imaging systems based upon the Golay-9 array.

Sparse aperture imaging systems are capable of producing high resolution images while maintaining an overall light collection area that is small compared to a fully filled aperture yielding the same resolution. This is advantageous for applications where size, volume, weight and/or cost are important considerations. However, conventional sparse aperture systems pay the penalty of reduced contrast at midband spatial frequencies. This paper will focus on increasing the midband contrast of sparse aperture imaging systems based on the Golay-9 array. This is one of a family of two-dimensional arrays we have previously examined due to their compact, non-redundant autocorrelations. The modulation transfer function, or normalized autocorrelation, provides a quantitative measure of both the resolution and contrast of an optical imaging system and, along with an average relative midband contrast metric, will be used to compare perturbations to the standard Golay-9 array. Numerical calculations have been performed to investigate the behavior of a Golay-9 array into which autocorrelation redundancy has been introduced and our results have been experimentally verified. In particular we have demonstrated that by proper choice of sub-aperture diameters the average relative midband contrast can be improved by over 55%.

Multi-transmitter aperture synthesis.

Multi-transmitter aperture synthesis is a method in which multiple transmitters can be used to improve resolution and contrast of distributed aperture systems. Such a system utilizes multiple transmitter locations to interrogate a target from multiple look angles thus increasing the angular spectrum content captured by the receiver aperture array. Furthermore, such a system can improve the contrast of sparsely populated receiver arrays by capturing field data in the region between sub-apertures by utilizing multiple transmitter locations. This paper discusses the theory behind multi-transmitter aperture synthesis and provides experimental verification that imagery captured using multiple transmitters will provide increased resolution.