Archaeobotanical studies tend to concentrate on the evidence for specialised agricultural food production, with less attention directed towards the use of plant foods within hunter-gatherer contexts. Here, the authors present evidence for the exploitation of Canarium nuts from four late hunter-gatherer sites in southern China. Canarium nuts contributed to the inhabitants’ diets from as early as 9000 cal BP. They also identify new uses of Canarium, c. 4500–4400 cal BP, as ritual offerings in the context of the introduction of rice and millet farming. The results are examined in the context of Canarium use across the wider Asia-Pacific region.

Long-term tagging studies, particularly those that target life stages away from nesting beaches can provide important insights in key life history traits, which are essential for the effective management of endangered species. The coast of Bahia hosts important green turtle foraging areas, but information on demography, spatial use and foraging ecology in this region is lacking. Here, we (1) examined the size-class structure of green turtles in Bahia, (2) compared the size distribution from Bahia to other foraging aggregations in Brazil, and (3) studied the somatic growth dynamics. Additionally, we investigated the (4) diet, (5) habitat use and (6) activity patterns of green turtles along shallow reefs in Bahia. From 2009 to 2013, 322 green turtles were captured and 44 were recaptured between 7 and 1218 days after initial tagging. Curved carapace length varied from 32.9 to 122.5 cm. Mean annual growth rate was 3.03 ± 1.18 cm year−1. The diet of the turtles was mainly composed of red algae of the family Gelidiaceae, Gelidiellaceae and Cystocloniaceae. There was a positive relationship between the abundance of red algae and the number of turtle sightings, with a significant increase in foraging activity during late afternoon. This study highlights the importance of this area as a mixed foraging aggregation of juvenile and adult green turtles, and reveals that foraging grounds for this species in Brazil exhibit southern immature-dominated assemblages and northern mixed aggregations. Areas with high aggregation of green turtles comprising individuals from different life stages must be targeted for conservation management.

The rules governing the allocation of available resources to varying physiological processes are evaluated in three physiologically-based models of individual Daphnia. In laboratory experiments using a single clone, subjected to varying regimes of food deprivation, growth was found to vary inversely with food level, ceasing in the absence of food, implying that growth allocation is derived directly from food. Reproductive investment was reduced under food deprivation, ceasing at low food levels. By exposing juvenile and adult daphnia to varying food deprivation regimens during different periods within their intermoult interval, it was shown that instar durations vary as a function of body size and food availability independent of the age of the animal. For the first time, the role of variable instar duration, which critically influences physiological processes such as growth, moulting and reproduction in adult females, that has been neglected by existing Daphnia models, is explicitly incorporated in a physiological allocation model. The consequent model provides a simplified framework for modelling the consequences of food deprivation in cladocerans which has important application in population modelling and environmental risk assessment.

The macroinvertebrate community was studied in 3 reaches along a north-Iberian stream that differ in the amount and nature of food resources. Regardless of shading and water quality, both invertebrate density and biomass were higher at the 2 downstream sites than at the headwater site. The taxonomic composition and functional organization of the faunal assemblages showed clear differences among sites: shredders and gatherers dominated the headwater site, and scrapers or gatherers, depending on the degree of shading and organic pollution, dominated the downtream sites. Macroinvertebrates responded roughly to intersite differences in food resources, but poor relationships between temporal dynamics of shredder or scraper abundance and that of their food were found. Likewise, no clear effect of floods on invertebrate density and biomass was observed.

The masked titi Callicebus personatus melanochir is a threatened primate, endemic to the Atlantic rainforest of eastern Brazil. The Atlantic rainforest has been reduced to only 5% of its former extent, and only 2% consists of undisturbed forest. The survival of the masked titi monkey is therefore dependent on its ability to utilise disturbed forest habitat. A group of four masked titi monkeys was observed for one year in a plot that contained both disturbed and undisturbed forest. The group used a home range of 22 ha, which comprised 58% undisturbed forest, 31% selectively logged forest and 11% forest that was regrowing after a clear-cut. The titi monkeys did not use the different forest types in proportion to the availability of each within their home range: undisturbed forest was used more than expected from its proportional availability, and disturbed forest was used less than expected. Use of forest types appeared to be determined by the availability of food resources. Undisturbed forest had the most food per unit area and regrowing forest had the least. This study shows that masked titi monkeys may be able to survive in disturbed forest habitats if these areas are of high enough quality to contain sufficient food and other resources.