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Acoustic signals function in intrasexual mating competition in a wide variety of species, including humans. The low voice pitch of human males has been proposed to represent an honest signal of formidability. Although voice pitch in men affects perceptions of size and dominance, it is relatively weakly associated with objective measures of formidability such as body size and strength. As a result, some authors have argued that low male voice pitch is not a valid signal of formidability but is deceptive and salient only because it hijacks a tendency to perceive lower frequency sounds as emanating from larger sources. In this paper, we consider theoretical and empirical issues associated with this perceptual exploitation hypothesis and ask whether male voice pitch transmits information about formidability. We utilize mediation models to investigate whether male voice pitch is an honest signal of formidability in data collected from university students in the U.S. (n = 231 male speakers, 565 male raters) and Canada (n = 74 male speakers, 108 female raters, 65 male raters). In both data sets, male voice pitch mediated the relationship between objective (measured by height) and perceived formidability. Collectively, these results indicate that men’s voice pitch transmits information about formidability from signaler to receiver.

Pitch is the most perceptually salient acoustic property of the voice and influences perceptions of characteristics related to social power, such as dominance and leadership abilities. Voice pitch is also highly sexually differentiated; men vocalize approximately one octave below women. We consider the evolution of this sex difference, and how this sheds light on the human tendency to defer to individuals with lower voice pitch. We present new meta-analyses linking lower pitch to higher testosterone (total n = 763) and upper-body strength (total n = 845) and review other recent evidence linking voice pitch to power. We find that these relationships are typically modest and consider why voice pitch has comparatively larger effects on power-related perceptions, such as perceived size and dominance, in laboratory studies. Although more data are needed, we conclude that voice pitch is likely to be an honest signal associated with success in status and contest competition.

We examined sex differences in preferences for sexual variety and novelty to determine whether the Coolidge effect plays a role in human sexuality. In two experimental studies that employed different manipulations, we found converging evidence that men showed a greater preference for variety in potential short-term mates than did women. In the first study, men (n = 281) were more likely than women (n = 353) to select a variety of mates when given the opportunity to distribute chances to have sex with different individuals in hypothetical situations. This sex difference was evident regardless of the targets’ attractiveness and age. Further, men found it more appealing if their committed romantic/sexual partners frequently changed their physical appearance, while women reported that they modified their physical appearance more frequently than did men, potentially appealing to male desires for novelty. In the second study, when participants were given a hypothetical dating task using photographs of potential short-term mates, men (n = 40) were more likely than women (n = 56) to select a novel person to date. Collectively, these findings lend support to the idea that sex differences in preferences for sexual variety and novelty are a salient sex-specific evolved component of the repertoire of human mating strategies.

Benenson et al. postulate that human females evolved unique survival adaptations to facilitate maternal and grandmaternal care. This hypothesis is consistent with the broader hypothesis that female phenotypes are more ecologically optimal, but further evidence is needed to make a compelling case that sex differences in self-protection are not primarily the result of more intense sexual selection on males.

This study takes stock of the confusion that exists around the environmental state of Lake Inle, a flagship destination for tourism in Myanmar. Reports on the dynamics of its iconic floating gardens and on the evolution of the Lake's dimensions in response to land‐use change in the watershed are inconsistent and provide a poor basis for policymaking. Here, we (a) present a critical overview of the literature concerning land degradation around Lake Inle; (b) provide an independent and quantitative reexamination of the Lake's size; (c) carry out a methodic assessment of the history of floating gardens based on written sources, interviews, and high‐resolution imagery from 1967, 1983, 2002, and 2014; and (d) produce the first comprehensive and biseasonal bathymetric survey of the Lake, thereby providing a baseline water volume estimate fit for future monitoring purposes. Results challenge previous reports and show that floating agriculture boomed in the 1970s (11 km² in 1967 and 29 km² in 1983), peaked in 2002 (35 km²), then declined slightly (33 km² in 2014). Our bathymetric survey reveals that the Lake volume at the peak of the 2015 rainy season was 122.6 × 10⁶ m³, with maximum water depths having diminished substantially from 6 m (as reported in 1918) to just 3 m today as a combined result of sediment aggradation and waterlevel decline (−1 m in 25 years). Those dynamics have critical implications for the sustainability of floating agriculture, fishing, and the local tourist economy.

In an effort to strengthen global capacity to prevent, detect, and control infectious diseases in animals and people, the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Emerging Pandemic Threats (EPT) PREDICT project funded development of regional, national, and local One Health capacities for early disease detection, rapid response, disease control, and risk reduction. From the outset, the EPT approach was inclusive of social science research methods designed to understand the contexts and behaviors of communities living and working at human-animal-environment interfaces considered high-risk for virus emergence. Using qualitative and quantitative approaches, PREDICT behavioral research aimed to identify and assess a range of socio-cultural behaviors that could be influential in zoonotic disease emergence, amplification, and transmission. This broad approach to behavioral risk characterization enabled us to identify and characterize human activities that could be linked to the transmission dynamics of new and emerging viruses. This paper provides a discussion of implementation of a social science approach within a zoonotic surveillance framework. We conducted in-depth ethnographic interviews and focus groups to better understand the individual- and community-level knowledge, attitudes, and practices that potentially put participants at risk for zoonotic disease transmission from the animals they live and work with, across 6 interface domains. When we asked highly-exposed individuals (ie. bushmeat hunters, wildlife or guano farmers) about the risk they perceived in their occupational activities, most did not perceive it to be risky, whether because it was normalized by years (or generations) of doing such an activity, or due to lack of information about potential risks. Integrating the social sciences allows investigations of the specific human activities that are hypothesized to drive disease emergence, amplification, and transmission, in order to better substantiate behavioral disease drivers, along with the social dimensions of infection and transmission dynamics. Understanding these dynamics is critical to achieving health security--the protection from threats to health-- which requires investments in both collective and individual health security. Involving behavioral sciences into zoonotic disease surveillance allowed us to push toward fuller community integration and engagement and toward dialogue and implementation of recommendations for disease prevention and improved health security. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s42522-021-00036-9.

Sexual selection appears to have shaped the acoustic signals of diverse species, including humans. Deep, resonant vocalizations in particular may function in attracting mates and/or intimidating same-sex competitors. Evidence for these adaptive functions in human males derives predominantly from perception studies in which vocal acoustic parameters were manipulated using specialist software. This approach affords tight experimental control but provides little ecological validity, especially when the target acoustic parameters vary naturally with other parameters. Furthermore, such experimental studies provide no information about what acoustic variables indicate about the speaker-that is, why attention to vocal cues may be favored in intrasexual and intersexual contexts. Using voice recordings with high ecological validity from 160 male speakers and biomarkers of condition, including baseline cortisol and testosterone levels, body morphology and strength, we tested a series of pre-registered hypotheses relating to both perceptions and underlying condition of the speaker. We found negative curvilinear and negative linear relationships between male fundamental frequency (f

Human voice pitch is highly sexually dimorphic and eminently quantifiable, making it an ideal phenotype for studying the influence of sexual selection. In both traditional and industrial populations, lower pitch in men predicts mating success, reproductive success, and social status and shapes social perceptions, especially those related to physical formidability. Due to practical and ethical constraints however, scant evidence tests the central question of whether male voice pitch and other acoustic measures indicate actual fighting ability in humans. To address this, we examined pitch, pitch variability, and formant position of 475 mixed martial arts (MMA) fighters from an elite fighting league, with each fighter’s acoustic measures assessed from multiple voice recordings extracted from audio or video interviews available online (YouTube, Google Video, podcasts), totaling 1312 voice recording samples. In four regression models each predicting a separate measure of fighting ability (win percentages, number of fights, Elo ratings, and retirement status), no acoustic measure significantly predicted fighting ability above and beyond covariates. However, after fight statistics, fight history, height, weight, and age were used to extract underlying dimensions of fighting ability via factor analysis, pitch and formant position negatively predicted “Fighting Experience” and “Size” factor scores in a multivariate regression model, explaining 3–8% of the variance. Our findings suggest that lower male pitch and formants may be valid cues of some components of fighting ability in men.

Mangrove ecosystems can be both significant sources and sinks of greenhouse gases (GHGs). Understanding variability in flux and the key factors controlling emissions in these ecosystems are therefore important in the context of accounting for GHG emissions. The current study is the first to quantify GHG emissions using static chamber measurements from soils in disused aquaculture ponds, planted mangroves, and mature mangroves from the Ayeyarwady Delta, Myanmar. Soil properties, biomass and estimated net primary productivity were also assessed. Field assessments were conducted at the same sites during the middle of the dry season in February and end of the wet season in October 2019. Rates of soil CO

Facial symmetry is an index of developmental stability and shows a positive correlation with attractiveness assessment. However, the appearance of one’s facial symmetry is not always static and may change when there is facial movement while a person is speaking. This study examined whether viewing a dynamic image of a person speaking (where facial symmetry may alter) would elicit a different perception of attractiveness than viewing a static image of that person as a still photo. We examined changes in both measured and perceived facial symmetry in relation to attractiveness perception. We found that when facial movements created an appearance of overall greater facial symmetry while a person was speaking in a video, the person was rated as being more attractive than as a still photo. Likewise, those with facial movements measured and perceived as less symmetrical while speaking were rated as less attractive in a video clip than still photo. By examining the perception of faces in motion as we typically encounter others in real life rather than considering only static photos, we have extended the ecological validity of the study of the perception of bilateral symmetry in humans as it relates to attractiveness.

Antimony is a ‘critical metal’ in short supply in the world markets (Gunn 2014). Mining of antimony ores in Myanmar reached 9000 metric tons in 2014 (USGS 2015), establishing Myanmar as a significant global source of antimony ore, the bulk of which is exported to China. The majority of the antimony ore in Myanmar is in syntectonic quartz–stibnite veins and breccias (Type I of Dill 1998), hosted in limestones and shales and associated with fault zones. The rarer Type II (Dill 1998) association of antimony with other sulphides and gold is accompanied by thermal springs; the presence of igneous intrusions at depth is suspected. Antimony oxides (senarmontite, valentinite and cervantite), weathered from the primary antimony sulphides, are also important commercial sources of antimony in Myanmar. The Bawdwin lead–zinc mine has been a source of antimonial lead in the recent past (Bender 1983). The national inventory of antimony deposits and occurrences has focused on the description of antimony minerals and the estimation of their quantities present as resources, rather than as reserves; very little drilling of deposits is reported. A current estimate of the total resource of antimony in Myanmar is about one million long tons (DGSE 2013). Antimony deposits are found mostly within the Shan Plateau and Mogok–Mandalay–Mergui Metallogenic Provinces in the east of Myanmar. The majority of the antimony deposits are hosted by or are in the vicinity of major fault systems (Kyaukkan, Panlaung, Pupan, Mae Ping, Three Pagodas and Ranong), which are reactivated earlier tectonic structures and/or were developed in response to the collision of the Indian continental plate with Eurasia. Reactivation commenced late in the Eocene, and the fault systems have been active through the Tertiary into the present time. This collision was responsible for the elevation of the Shan Plateau in Myanmar, Thailand and Yunnan …

The SDG14 targets cover more than 70 per cent of the planet, including the coastal zone, where a range of forest resources are located. In this chapter we investigate the potential negative consequences of SDG14 on forest resources, using the example of coastal mangrove forests. SDG14 is likely to have negative impacts on forest resources because it focuses primarily on fisheries, potentially excluding other coastal natural resources. Many SDG14 targets are also more appropriate for oceanic areas, rather than the complex governance arrangements found in the coastal zone. This means that coastal forests such as mangroves may be forgotten, inadvertently impacted or fall through the ‘policy gap’ between terrestrial and marine legislation or between different levels of governance. This also has impacts on the human populations that rely on the ecosystem services provided by mangrove forests, and has implications for environmental justice. To minimise the impacts of SDG14 on mangrove forests and associated coastal communities, we recommend that SDG14 indicators should be broadened to encompass other coastal and oceanic natural resources, decentralisation of coastal zone governance should continue to be encouraged, and management regimes should include coastal communities and enshrine principles of environmental justice.

Previous research suggests that binge drinking among young men serves as a “costly signal” to potential mates, such that the binge drinker is capable of bearing the harmful consequences of alcohol consumption. Here, we propose that binge drinking among young adults is conditionally dependent upon the signaler’s willingness to take risks, which is influenced by the local operational sex ratio (OSR). Using archived binge drinking estimates from 2009 to 2012 and Census Bureau records of OSRs, we tested the relationship between OSR and binge drinking rates at the county level across 3,143 U.S. counties against hypotheses drawn from evolutionary theory. Results from our mixed-effects models revealed that a higher overall OSR (i.e., more eligible men compared to women) was associated with higher male binge drinking rates but lower female binge drinking rates. A higher OSR particularly in the 20–29 and 50+ age groups predicted higher male binge drinking rates but lower female binge drinking rates. Our findings generally support predictions derived from evolutionary theory and suggest that binge drinking may function as a costly sexual signal, conditionally regulated by age and the local sex ratio.

We examined sex differences in preferences for sexual variety and novelty to determine whether the Coolidge effect plays a role in human sexuality. In two experimental studies that employed different manipulations, we found converging evidence that men showed a greater preference for variety in potential short-term mates than did women. In the first study, men (n = 281) were more likely than women (n = 353) to select a variety of mates when given the opportunity to distribute chances to have sex with different individuals in hypothetical situations. This sex difference was evident regardless of the targets' attractiveness and age. Further, men found it more appealing if their committed romantic/sexual partners frequently changed their physical appearance, while women reported that they modified their physical appearance more frequently than did men, potentially appealing to male desires for novelty. In the second study, when participants were given a hypothetical dating task using photographs of potential short-term mates, men (n = 40) were more likely than women (n = 56) to select a novel person to date. Collectively, these findings lend support to the idea that sex differences in preferences for sexual variety and novelty are a salient sex-specific evolved component of the repertoire of human mating strategies.

Inductively Coupled Plasma sources driven by RF power at low pressure regimes are well adopted for high-volume manufacturing of semiconductor devices. The vexing challenge to the utility of these plasma processing reactors is the existence of the E-H mode transition1. Industry notably avoids the process region associated with this transition, where plasma instabilities prohibit reliable RF power delivery. The plasma instability is associated with a hysteresis in coupled RF power (current) varying for the E-Mode, or weakly capacitive coupling to the plasma, in comparison to the stronger current coupling in the H-Mode, where inductive coupling is preferentially dominant. As a result, approximately two orders of magnitude of electron density is relinquished in this transition region from serving industrial manufacturing processes. We characterize the plasma parameter variation through the E to H-mode with a time-resolved measurement of the electron density. Electropositive and electronegative chemistries are incorporated into our experimental setup. The experimental scheme serves to evaluate RF power delivery and ameliorate its coupling through the transition region. The work is further extended to adopt more efficient power coupling to toroidal plasma sources.

Aims Climate change can substantially alter ecological communities. However, we hypothesized that, even if novel communities emerge, those communities may not be novel in terms of functional composition. To infer the processes associated with rising temperatures, we evaluated elevational taxonomic/functional turnover of plant and invertebrate communities. Because climate change interacts synergistically with other environmental factors, and therefore is not the sole driver of change in ecological communities, we also considered how the taxonomic/functional composition of the communities would be affected by mammalian overgrazing/browsing, which has become prominent in the study region. Location Shiretoko National Park, Shiretoko Peninsular, Hokkaido, Japan. Methods We investigated the diversity of eight groups of organisms (taxa) in forests of northern Japan, and calculated the distance decay of taxonomic/functional similarity (Sorensen's β-diversity) along an elevational gradient. A null model was used to separate functional turnover from taxonomic turnover. We then simulated how taxonomic/functional turnover along the gradient would be changed after non-random loss of species sensitive to mammalian herbivory. Results We found that each group showed elevational decay in taxonomic similarity. Along an elevational gradient, species groups structured by stronger dispersal limitation showed faster species turnover. This suggested differences in the process of climate-induced species reassembly among the groups. We also found that elevational turnover of communities based on functional traits tended to be lower than that based on taxonomic identity for the majority of the groups, supporting our hypothesis of functional redundancy across the elevational gradient. We thus speculated that climate-induced emergence of taxonomically novel communities may have limited influence on critical ecosystem processes supported by functional diversity. Furthermore, while random species loss did not change functional turnover, non-random loss of species attributable to mammalian herbivory substantially accelerated elevational functional turnover of the taxa. This suggested a possible loss of the functional redundancy of communities. Main conclusions Future communities may be novel not simply because climates are changing at unprecedented rates but also because of the synergetic influences of other environmental changes. Thus ecological processes may be more seriously affected in the future than is generally anticipated based on existing climate-change scenarios, with possible consequences for ecosystem functioning.

Mangroves in the Ayeyarwady Mega Delta of Myanmar are crucial for the ecology, society and economy of this country. At the beginning of May 2008, a severe cyclonic storm, Cyclone Nargis, struck the Ayeyarwady mangroves. Since that time, the present long-term study has been exploring the dynamics of post-cyclone mangrove vegetation. Every year since the 2008 cyclone, a census has been taken of 60 permanent plots (each measuring 10 m × 10 m) in six mangrove communities in order to predict trends in their long-term recovery. Each selected mangrove community was dominated by either Avicennia officinalis, Bruguiera sexangula, Excoecaria agallocha, Heritiera fomes, Rhizophora apiculata, or Sonneratia caseolaris. Mortality among the Rhizophoraceae group, including B. sexangula and R. apiculata adult individuals, was more than 90%, whereas for other species belonging to the non-Rhizophoraceae group, it was less than 20%. Based on the 5-year assessment, the mangroves showed considerable resilience after the catastrophic cyclone disturbance. However, the recovery potential of specific species varied. In particular, communities where R. apiculata dominated demonstrated slow recovery processes. The reasons for the vulnerability of this species of Rhizophora to cyclone disturbance is assumed to be the result of three indirect post-cyclone consequences: high mortality caused by limited sprouting ability after wind-induced disturbance; erosion that occurred in the stressful habitat on riverbank mud flats with frequent tidal inundation; and delayed phenology after the catastrophic disturbance. The attempt to generalise the recovery rate of mangroves based on the crown closure of the six dominant mangrove communities explored in this study showed a recovery rate of 61.06% during the 4 years after Cyclone Nargis. The demonstration of these patterns and processes among the most dominant mangrove species after the cyclone disturbance should therefore provide reliable information to forest managers, ecologists and local people, helping them make management decisions regarding measures for mangrove restoration.

This paper assesses the extent of success and failure of mangrove plantations in Myanmar, restored by local people with the help of foresters under a community forestry program initiated in 1995. The species of these restored plantations are Avicennia officinalis, Avicennia marina and Heritiera fomes, each of which was restored on two plots, one on low and one on high ground, yielding a total of six plots. These plots have been continuously monitored in order to investigate survival and growth rates. The plots were established on abandoned land that had been previously used for paddy cultivation. Cyclone Nargis hit these plantations during the monitoring period, at the beginning of May, 2008. As a consequence, the survival rates of A. officinalis on low ground and A. marina on high ground declined slightly, but the overall affect was not severe. Excluding individuals affected by the cyclone, height and diameter growth of A. officinalis and A. marina were significantly higher on low ground than on high ground, i.e. on sites thought to be consistently similar to the natural habitats of these species. Contrary to these two Avicennia species, the height growth of H. fomes was higher on high ground than on low ground; the diameter growth was not significantly different. As the growth of H. fomes was very slow, however, it is still not possible to describe the differences clearly. This study may provide useful guidelines for foresters and local people to establish successful mangrove restorations and to predict production from community-owned mangrove forests.

A field survey of the storm surge inundation induced by Cyclone Nargis was conducted in Ayeyarwaddy Delta, Myanmar in a period of July 3rd to July 7th, 2008. Inundation heights were measured at five townships, Kungyangon, Dedaye, Pyapon, Bogale and Labutta. After tidal correction using a tidal chart provided by Myanmar Port Authority, it was found that the storm surge anomaly had been up to 4.7 m at Labutta where the cyclone had had a landfall. It became less than 2 m around Bogale Area, but again showed a large value of nearly 4 m in Kungyangon Area, south of Yangon. Disagreement of inundation conditions were found in some areas, such as Labutta and Bogale with previously obtained inundation maps composed from satellite images.

衛星画像の解析により、ミャンマー南部の鉄酸化物分布地域を検出した。利用した画像はASTERとLandsat、解析ソフトはTNTMipsV.6.9である。衛星画像の異なった波長の反射強度解析で鉄酸化物の分布域を求めた。利用した画像は、ASTERの可視近赤外波長のB2/B1比とLandsatの同波長B3/B1比、短波長赤外のB5/B4比である。これらの波長データを主成分分析により処理し、鉄酸化物が存在する地点からの反射強度が強くなるようにした。この結果、地表露頭に鉄酸化物が存在する地点を自動的に抽出できた。, The goal of this paper was to determine the effectiveness of remote sensing in the identification of iron oxide in the Tanintharyi coastal area, Southern Myanmar. The study used TNTmips version 6.9 software and the Advanced Space-borne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) and Landsat Thematic Mapper data. Spectral properties are used to separate units in image data based on spectral reflectance in this paper. The iron oxide detection image was processed by ratioing VNIR B2/B1 in ASTER image and VNIR B3/B1 and SWIR B5/B4 in Landsat image. Principal component analysis (PCA) is an image processing technique that has been commonly applied to VNIR and SWIR sub region of ASTER data and Landsat images to locate iron oxide minerals. This technique indicates whether the materials are represented bright or dark pixels in the principal components according with the magnitude and sign of the eigenvectors loadings.

横浜国立大学, 平成24年9月24日, 博士（環境学）, 甲第1498号