The invention of technical N2 fixation (TNF) opened the way to fertilize urea, NH4+, NO3 plant demands surpassing. An enchased the production sites from the thermodynamic equilibrium moving away and yields significantly increasing soil organic matter (SOM) conversion promotes nitrification through NH4+ and CO2 availability in higher amounts. Mobile NO3 ions in access formed dislocate towards gr...

The function of a network is affected by its structure. For example, the presence of highly interactive individuals, or hubs, influences the extent and rate of information spread across a network. In a network of interactions, the duration over which individual variation in interactions persists may affect how the network operates. Individuals may persist in their behavior over time and across ...

There is anecdotal evidence for profound behavioral changes prior to and during earthquakes in many organisms, including arthropods such as ants. Behavioral or physiological analysis has often, in light of these reports, been proposed as a means of earthquake prediction. We report here a serendipitous study of the effect of the powerful Landers earthquake in the Mojave Desert, USA (Richter magn...

Desert seed-harvester ants, genus Pogonomyrmex, are central place foragers that search for resources collectively. We quantify how seed harvesters exploit the spatial distribution of seeds to improve their rate of seed collection. We find that foraging rates are significantly influenced by the clumpiness of experimental seed baits. Colonies collected seeds from larger piles faster than randomly...

Biologists seek concise, testable models of behavior for the animals they study. We suggest a robot programming paradigm in which animal behaviors are described as robot controllers to support a cycle of hypothesis generation and testing of animal models. In this work we illustrate that approach by modeling the hunting behavior of a captive colony of Aphaenogaster cockerelli, a desert harvester...

Selective foraging by granivores can have important consequences for the structure and composition of plant communities, and potentially severe consequences for rare plant species. To understand how granivore foraging behavior affects common and rare plant species, diet selection should be viewed relative to the availability of alternative seed options, and with consideration of the individual ...