Predator-Prey Interactions

Damselflies as predators of arachnids (Odonata: Coenagrionidae; Arachnida) — In 2007 and 2008 three observations were documented photographically, during which zygopterans actively preyed on arachnids: Pyrrhosoma nymphula on an orb weaver Mangora acalypha (Araneae: Araneidae), Ischnura elegans on a small undetermined spider and Coenagrion puella on a harvestman (Opiliones: Phalangiidae). The damselflies gleaned their prey from vegetation or directly from the spider’s web. Except for the Neotropical family of the Pseudostigmatidae, this interaction hitherto has only rarely been described.

"Networks are mathematically directed (in practical applications also undirected) graphs and a graph is a one-dimensional abstract complex, i.e., a topological space. Network theory focuses on various topological structures and properties, dynamic properties, and functionality-topology relationship, etc. There are some common mathematical foundations, theories and methodology for network analysis, in which graph theory, statistics, and operational research, etc., are the fundamental sciences of network analysis. Various emerging biological networks, at both micro- and macro- levels, will provide numerous sources for the development of general network theory and methodology and also facilitate the development of theory and methodology of biological networks.

Biological network analysis is a fast moving science. Many core scientific issues, for example, ecological structure, co-evolution, co-extinction and biodiversity conservation in ecology, and cancer development and metabolic regulation in health science, etc., are expected to be addressed by network approaches and network analysis. Network analysis is becoming the core methodology to treat complex biological systems. As the fast development of this area, more and more papers on biological networks are published.

At present explosive numbers of quality papers on biological networks are being published each year. The initiation of the journal, Network Biology, will provide a public and unified platform for the publication of these studies. From this integrated and unique journal, researchers, university teachers and students will thoroughly have an in-depth and complete insight on knowledge, methodology and recent advances of biological networks.

In the view of system dynamics, biological networks are always self-organized systems with emergent, autonomous and adaptive properties. Their dynamics can be represented by agent-based modeling, individual-based modeling and some other methodologies like neural network modeling. Therefore, agent-based modeling, individual-based modeling, self-organization of biological systems, and neural network modeling, etc., fall into the aims and scope of the journal, Network Biology.

The NETWORK BIOLOGY (ISSN 2220-8879) is an open access, peer-reviewed online journal that considers scientific articles in all different areas of network biology. It is the transactions of the International Society of Network Biology.It dedicates to the latest advances in network biology. The goal of this journal is to keep a record of the state-of-the-art research and promote the research work in these fast moving areas. The topics to be covered by Network Biology include, but are not limited to:

•Theories, algorithms and programs of network analysis
•Innovations and applications of biological networks
•Dynamics, optimization and control of biological networks
•Ecological networks, food webs and natural equilibrium
•Co-evolution, co-extinction, biodiversity conservation
•Metabolic networks, protein-protein interaction networks, biochemical reaction networks, gene networks, transcriptional regulatory networks, cell cycle networks, phylogenetic networks, network motifs
•Physiological networks
•Network regulation of metabolic processes, human diseases and ecological systems
•Social networks, epidemiological networks
•System complexity, self-organized systems, emergence of biological systems, agent-based modeling, individual-based modeling, neural network modeling, and other network-based modeling, etc.
We are also interested in short communications that clearly address a specific issue or completely present a new ecological network, food web, or metabolic or gene network, etc.

Authors can submit their works to the email box of this journal, networkbiology@iaees.org. All manuscripts submitted to this journal must be previously unpublished and may not be considered for publication elsewhere at any time during review period of this journal. Authors are asked to read Author Guidelines before submitting manuscripts.

In addition to free submissions from authors around the world, special issues are also accepted. The organizer of a special issue can collect submissions (yielded from a research project, a research group, etc.) on a specific research topic, or submissions of a scientific conference for publication of special issue.

Network Biology 
ISSN 2220-8879
URL: http://www.iaees.org/publications/journals/nb/online-version.asp
RSS feed: http://www.iaees.org/publications/journals/nb/rss.xml
E-mail: networkbiology@iaees.org
Editor-in-Chief: WenJun Zhang"

Knowledge about the current distribution of
threatened and/or understudied species is a fundamental
component of conservation biology. Mapping species distributions
based on recent known occurrences is particularly
important for those that are rare or declining. Too
often, cryptic species go undetected throughout parts of
their range, whereas others just receive less research
attention. We used contemporary presence data for the
Pallas’s cat (Otocolobus manul), a small cryptic felid, to
characterize potential rangewide and regional habitat for
the species and identify those abiotic and biotic variables
most influencing its distribution. Several regions lacking
contemporary occurrence records contain potential habitat
for Pallas’s cats, including the Koh-i-Baba Mountains of
Afghanistan, Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, steppes of Inner
Mongolia, Kunlun Mountains of China, and Tian Shan and
Pamir Mountains of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and China.
Some of these areas have not been included in prior rangewide
distribution assessments. The distribution of pikas
(Ochotona spp.), small mammals that likely represent a
critical prey species everywhere they are sympatric, was
the most important factor affecting the Pallas’s cat’s distribution.
This suggests Pallas’s cats may be prey specialists,
and that pika presence and habitat are critical
considerations for future Pallas’s cat surveys and in the
development of regional conservation actions.

Birds have been associated with forests as long as there have been birds. Since their origin, birds have diversified to occupy a remarkable array of habitats and
foraging strategies, unparalleled by any other terrestrial vertebrate. Over the eons,
birds have formed intimate relationships between their habitats, their prey, and formed tight
symbiotic relationships, such as flower-pollinator symbiosis. Because the majority of birds are
conspicuous and relatively easy to study, they are among the best studied animals in forested
ecosystems.
Despite their relative ease of being detected, new birds are still being discovered, particularly
in the rainforests of the Neotropics and Southeast Asia. Currently, there are between approximately 10,300 (www.birdlife.org/datazone/info/
taxonomy; www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist) to 10,546 accepted extant species of birds. The exact number of avian species is unknown since we
still debate species concepts, new species are still being discovered, and the loss of species
through extinctions is happening in real time. The importance
of forests to birds cannot be overstated: forests are home to about 75 percent of avian species
and comprise the primary habitat of the majority of bird species. The
highest diversity of birds (>5,000 species) occurs in lowland tropical and subtropical forests near
the Equator in the Americas and Africa and 25°N in Southeast Asia and declines towards the
poles.

The giving-up density (GUD) framework provides a powerful experimental approach with a strong theoretical underpinning to quantify foraging outcomes in heterogeneous landscapes. Since its inception, the GUD approach has been applied successfully to a vast range of foraging species and foraging scenarios. However, its application is not simple, as anyone who has tried to use it for the first time might attest. Limitations of the technique were noted at its conception, yet only the artificiality of the patches, the appropriateness of the food resource, and the possibility of multiple visiting foragers were identified. Here we show the current uses of GUD and outline the practical benefits as well as the often overlooked limitations of the technique. We define seven major points that need to be addressed when applying this methodology: (1) the curvilinearity between harvest rate and energy, (2) the energetic state of the forager, (3) the effect of group foraging, (4) food quality and substrate properties, (5) the predictability of the patch, (6) behavioral traits of the forager, and (7) nontarget species. We also suggest how GUD experiments can be enhanced by incorporating complementary methods (such as cameras) to better understand the foraging processes involved in the GUD itself. We conclude that the benefits of using GUD outweigh the costs, but that its limitations should not be ignored. Incorporating new methods when using GUD can potentially offer novel and important insights into the study of foraging behavior.