This study characterizes the foraging activity of the queenless ant Dinoponera quadriceps (Kempf) (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in its natural environment by testing the hypotheses that foraging activity presents both daily and seasonal rhythmic variations, and that these rhythms are related to environmental variables. Four colonies of D. quadriceps were observed in an area of secondary Atlantic fo...

BACKGROUND The population of mosquitoes is mainly influenced by the biotic and abiotic factors. Although Aedes aegypti was reported until 1960's in the Punjab, Pakistan, the population has increased dramatically since 2009 and caused severe epidemics in 2011 due to heavy floods and rains. Thus, this study was carried out to know the effect of biotic and abiotic factors on the population of Aede...

The standardized FAO56 Penman-Monteith model, which has been the most reasonable method in both humid and arid climatic conditions, provides reference evapotranspiration (ETo) estimates for planning and efficient use of agricultural water resources. And sensitivity analysis is important in understanding the relative importance of climatic variables to the variation of reference evapotranspirati...

We present here the 2001–2004 results of observational field studies aimed at quantifying tropical timberline climate and radial increment of Pinus hartwegii Lindl. trees on Nevado de Colima, in the middle of the North American Monsoon region. An automated weather station was installed at 3760 m a.s.l., 19834.7789N latitude, 103837.1809W longitude, within a forest where multi-century tree-ring ...

BACKGROUND The occurrence of eclampsia may be related to season and altitude. METHODS We studied the influence of environmental factors such as range of temperature and relative humidity on the occurrence of eclampsia by collecting data on consecutive cases of eclampsia admitted to the Government Maternity Hospital, Hyderabad, from September 1987 to August 1988. The mean range of temperature ...

Humidity is an indoor environmental factor that can affect thermal comfort inside a building. Sustainable construction techniques to create and maintain healthy indoor condition, based on ecological principles and through an efficient use of resources are the requirement nowadays. Common cause of moisture during the hot season is excessive indoor humidity, caused by an improper balance between ...

The temporal dynamics of dew formation in cold desert-shrub ecosystems are still poorly understood. We examined dew and its abiotic controls in a shrubland in northwestern China with continuous eddy-covariance measurements of latent heat fluxes gathered over the growing-season of 2012. The dew amount was larger in mid-summer than in spring and autumn, but the dew duration was shorter in summer ...

Seasonal influenza infection is a major challenge in public health. The term "seasonal influenza" refers to the typical increase in the number of influenza patients in the winter season in temperature zones. However, it is not clear how environmental factors within a single flu season affect influenza infection in a human population. Therefore, we evaluated the effects of temperature and humidi...

Due to the relevance of the internal boundary conditions and the lack of specific data for the Scottish context, an exploration of the internal environment of traditional dwellings is needed. In this study the indoor climate of 24 properties with different levels of insulation and air-tightness was analysed using a combination of quantitative and qualitative data. Temperature and relative humid...