Identification of a sex pheromone from a rotifer

The first isolation and characterization of a sex pheromone from a zooplankter is reported. A 29 kdalton glycoprotein on the surface of females of the marine rotifer Brachionus plicatilis acts as a contact-mating pheromone. This glycoprotein (gp29) is glycosylated with oligosaccharides containing Nacetylglucosamine, mannose, and fucose residues, and these oligosaccharides are necessary for male recognition of females. Males detect this signal by contact chemoreception with receptors located in their corona. Binding of purified glycoprotein to male receptors reduces mating attempts by 93%. An antibody to the glycoprotein binds to females, reducing male mating attempts by 86%. When purified gp29 is bound to sepharose beads, it is sufficient to elicit male mating behavior. This glycoprotein is likely to play a key role in the evolution and maintenance of reproductive isolation in rotifers.     

Larvae of a colonial ascidian use a non-contact mode of substratum selection on a coral reef

The rate at which larvae successfully recruit into communities of marine benthic invertebrates is partially dependent upon how well larvae avoid benthic predators and settle on appropriate substrata. Therefore, to be able to predict recruitment success, information is needed on how larvae search for settlement sites, whether larvae preferentially settle on certain substrata, and the extent to which there are adequate cues for larvae to find these substrata. This article describes how larvae of the colonial ascidian Diplosoma similis find settlement sites on a coral reef. Direct field observations of larval settlement were made on a fringing reef in Kaneohe Bay, Oahu, Hawaii, between September 1985 and April 1986. A comparison of the substrata that larvae contacted prior to settlement relative to the percentage cover of these substrata on the study reef suggests that larvae are using a non-contact mode of substratum identification to locate suitable settlement sites. This mode of substratum identification allowed 74% of larvae to evade predation by benthic organisms who would otherwise have eaten larvae if they had been contacted. Of those larvae that evaded predation, 88% subsequently settled on the same two substrata upon which most adults are found (dead coral or the green alga Dictyosphaeria cavernosa). This pattern of settlement was probably a result of active selection, since the two substrata cover only 14.4% of the reef's surface and currents had little effect on the direction in which larvae swam. An important contributing factor to the high success rate of larval settlement on suitable substrata was the lack of any temporal decay in substratum preference. It is concluded that for Diplosoma similis larval supply is a sufficient predictor of larval settlement rate. However, for marine invertebrates whose larvae are passively dispersed and exhibit a greater temporal decay in substratum preference, larval settlement should generally have a greater dependency on spatial variation in the abundance of benthic predators and suitable substrata.     

Consideration of translocation into a growth model of a plant organ

Taking account of the Bertalanffy's differential equation on animal growth, plant growth is also considered as the net result of anabolism and catabolism. When we, however, consider the growth of a plant organ, it is necessary to add a term of translocation because it plays an important role in the growth of plant organs, such as leaf and fruit. Considering translocation, therefore, a growth model of a plant organ was proposed on the basis of the compartment model for estimating the carbon balance in the organ by using the experimental data on translocation, photosynthesis and respiration of a tropical fruit of durian (Durio zibethinus Murray). The present growth model of a plant organ belongs to an extended Bertalanffy's growth equation, and was possible to be transformed into the simple Bertalanffy's growth equation on the basis of the proportionality between the growth and translocation rates. The Bertalanffy's growth equation of a plant organ was also possible to apply to that of the whole plant on the assumption of the allomeric relationship between a plant organ and the whole plant.     

Change in a bacterial population during the process of degradation of a phytoplankton bloom in a brackish lake

Change in a bacterial population during the process of degradation of a phytoplankton bloom was investigated at Lake Hamana, Japan in June 1981. The predominant phytoplankton were Prorocentrum micans Ehrenberg and P. triestinum Schiller. While most phytoplankton cells were living and moving actively, most bacteria were those in a free-living state (free-living bacteria) and the number of bacteria associated with particulate materials (attached bacteria) was less than a few percent of the total bacterial number. As the decline process proceeded, the number of free-living bacteria remained almost constant or decreased slightly; on the other hand, the number of attached bacteria increased gradually and reached about 40% of the total bacterial number. These results indicate that some of the free-living bacteria become attached to particulate organic matter and grow on the surface of the particles.     

Extraterritorial Movements of a Forest Songbird in a Fragmented Landscape

Abstract: Forest isolation resulting from fragmentation is thought to impede the movement of forest songbirds. Because of the difficulty of tracking birds continuously, however, few data exist documenting the influence of isolation and landscape features on avian movements. During the breeding season, male Hooded Warblers (    Wilsonia citrina ) leave their small (<2.5 ha), isolated forest patches to travel between forest fragments. We documented a total of 106 forays (  n = 20 males) and found that individuals traveled up to 2.5 km away from their resident forest patch, primarily to solicit covert extra-pair copulations. Forays occurred despite the absence of forested corridors connecting fragments; even when corridors were present, males most often chose to fly directly across open fields. Resident patch size and distance to forests visited were not correlated with the frequency of forays. The maximum distance males flew over open fields did not exceed 465 m, and longer distances likely inhibit males from traveling outside their woodlots. If territorial establishment depends on the availability of extra-pair partners, then higher degrees of isolation between forests could explain why some species avoid settling in extremely fragmented landscapes. Conservation efforts should limit isolation between forest stands, thereby preserving the ability of animals to move within fragmented landscapes during the breeding season.     

Development of a rotorcraft dust-emission parameterization using a CFD model

Flights of rotorcraft over the desert floor can result in significant entrainment of particulate matter into the atmospheric boundary layer. Continuous or widespread operation can lead to local and regional impacts on visibility and air quality. To account for this pollutant source in air quality models, a parameterization scheme is needed that addresses the complex vertical distribution of dust ejected from the rotorcraft wake into the atmospheric surface layer. A method to parameterize the wind and turbulence fields and shear stress at the ground is proposed here utilizing computational fluid dynamics and a parameterized rotor model. Measurements taken from a full scale experiment of rotorcraft flight near the surface are compared to the simulation results in a qualitative manner. The simulation is shown to adequately predict the forward detachment length of the induced ground jet compared to the measured detachment lengths. However, the simulated ground vortex widths and vorticity deviate substantially from the measured values under a range of flight speeds. Results show that the method may be applicable for air quality modeling assuming slow airspeeds of the rotorcraft, with advance ratios of 0.005–0.02.     

Trajectory of a jet in crossflow in a channel bend

Mixing in rivers is an important issue with many applications in water quality and water resource management. Mixing of effluents with ambient river water is especially important, particularly in river bends, where secondary circulation complicates the mixing process. By comparing measured trajectories from dye tests to velocimetry data measured with an acoustic Doppler velocimeter, this paper models the trajectory of a jet in an open channel bend using a modified formula for a jet trajectory in a straight crossflow. The original formula is shown to be insufficient for modeling the trajectory in the bend. Modifications are proposed using the position of the centre of the main secondary circulation cell to account for the bend effects. In the absence of secondary circulation, the modified formula reduces to the original formula. Once the secondary circulation has developed, the proposed formula is shown to have better residuals, lower root mean squared error, and higher \(R^2\) than the original formula.     

Measurement of Odor-Plume Structure in a Wind Tunnel Using a Photoionization Detector and a Tracer Gas

The patterns of stimulus available to moths flying along pheromone plumes in a 3-m-long wind tunnel were characterized using a high frequency photoionization detector in conjunction with an inert tracer gas. Four contrasting flow regimes and source conditions were produced: odor released in pulses from a vertical and horizontal array of four sources, odor released continuously from a point source, and odor released continuously from a point source into an oscillatory wake. Although the four flow regimes produced plumes of intermittent and fluctuating concentration, there were considerable differences in the structure of the signal presented to the sensor. Pulses of tracer gas released at 10 Hz retained most of their longitudinal and lateral separation. The plume growing in the disturbed flow (`oscillatory'), was broader in its lateral extent than the plume growing in an undisturbed flow (`continuous'), and the concentrations in the former were lower at each downstream position. The signal recorded in the disturbed flow had higher intermittency, but the ratio between the peak concentration and the signal mean was lower than in the continuous plume. Time scales were typically longer in the tunnel than in a field setting, but length scales and the main features of intermittency and fluctuation were similar. Moths flying along plumes of pheromone in this and similar wind tunnels typically slow their velocity and narrow the lateral excursions of their flight track as they approach a pheromone source. Which features of the plumes measured in this study account for these behavioral reactions remains to be determined.     

Optimal exploitation of a fishery employing a non-linear harvesting function

A harvesting function is developed to described the rate of removal of fish from a fish population. The function incorporates the effects of both the handling or processing time of the catch and the competition, between boats in the fleet, for the fish.We will assume that the growth rate of the fish population can be modelled with a concave, dome shaped growth curve. With this assumption, it has been shown that if the rate of harvesting the fish is linearly related to both effort (which can be thought of as some measure of the number of boats in the fleet) and the population size, then the population will tend towards a single equilibrium level which is globally stable. This paper shows that the saturation effects due to the handling time may generate two equilibrium levels (one stable, one unstable) rather than a single globally stable equilibrium. The results of competition between boats are economically undesirable because of the decrease in efficiency. However, this competition may be beneficial to the exploited fish population.Using the harvesting model derived earlier, the steady state or long term optimal harvesting policies as well as the transition paths to these states are developed. The only constraint is on the maximum allowable effort which is effectively an upper limitation on the fleet size or number of man-hours of fishing.     

Cohabitation of a coral reef sponge and a colonial scyphozoan

A sensitive experimental protocol using cloned corals (hereafter microcolonies) of the branching scleractinian coral Stylophora pistillata and ⁴⁵Ca has been developed to enable reproducible measurements of physiological and biochemical mechanisms involved in calcium transport and compartmentalization during coral calcification. Cloned S. pistillata microcolonies were propagated in the laboratory from small fragments of parent colonies collected in 1990 in the Gulf of Aqaba, Jordan. Cloned microcolonies have several intrinsic properties that help to reduce unwanted biological variability: (1) same genotype; (2) similar sizes and shapes; and (3) absence of macroscopic boring organisms. Errors specifically associated with long-standing problems to do with isotopic exchange were further reduced by producing microcolonies with no skeletal surfaces exposed to the radioisotope-labelled incubation medium. The value of the technique resides principally in its superior ability to elucidate transportation pathways and processes and not in its ability to quantitatively estimate calcium deposition by corals in nature. We describe here a rapidly exchangeable calcium pool in which up to 90% of the radioactive label taken up during incubations is located. This pool (72.9±1.4 nmol Ca mg^-1 protein) is presumably located within the coelenteric cavity as suggested by the following: (1) it has 4-min half-time saturation kinetics; (2) the accumulation of calcium is linearly correlated with the calcium concentration of sea-water; and (3) its insensitivity to metabolic and ion transport inhibitors indicate that membranes do not isolate this compartment. Washout of this large extracellular pool greatly improved estimates of calcium deposition as evidenced by 10 to 40% reduction in coefficients of variation when compared with previous ⁴⁵Ca²⁺ methods described in the literature. Comparisons of calcification measurements simultaneously carried out using the alkalinity anomaly technique and the ⁴⁵Ca protocol described here show that the correlation coefficient of both techniques is close to 1. Unlike previous reports, our ⁴⁵Ca²⁺-derived measurements are slightly lower than those computed from the alkalinity depletion technique.     

Practitioner insights as a means of setting a context for conservation

A key obstacle to conservation success is the tendency of conservation professionals to tackle each challenge individually rather than collectively and in context. We sought to prioritize barriers to conservation previously described in the conservation literature. We undertook an online survey of 154 practitioners from over 70 countries to ascertain the most important barriers to conservation they faced. We used statistical analyses to identify the key impediments to conservation success and to examine whether these were affected by organizational attributes. Twenty-one barriers were identified. The importance ascribed to those was influenced by continent of operation and organization size, but not by organization age or autonomy (from larger parent organizations). We found the most important barriers to consider when undertaking conservation action were wider issues (e.g., population growth, consumerism, favoring development, and industrial-scale activity), operating environment (e.g., lack of political will, ineffective law enforcement, weak governments, corruption, safety and security), community attributes (e.g., dynamics, conflicts, and education levels), and the way conservation is undertaken (overconfidence, lack of funding, and externally set agendas). However, we advise against applying a one-size-fits-all approach. We propose that conservationists account for the complex socioecological systems they operate in if they are to achieve success.     

DNA fingerprints of a gorgonian coral: a method for detecting clonal structure in a vegetative species

Clonal reproduction, a common life history strategy among sessile marine invertebrates, can lead to high local abundances of one to a few genotypes in a population. Analysis of the clonal structure of such populations can provide insight into the ecological and evolutionary history of the population, but requires markers that can identify individual genets. Forensic and demographic studies have demonstrated that DNA fingerprinting can provide markers that are unique for an individual genotype. We have generated DNA fingerprints for over 70 colonies of the clonal gorgonian, Plexaura A (Plexaura sp. A) collected from June 1990 through July 1991 in the San Blas Islands, Panama. DNA fingerprints within a singic individual were identical and fingerprinting resolved multiple genotypes within and among reefs. On one reef in the San Blas Islands, Panama, 59% of the colonies sampled were of one genotype and this genotype was not found on any other sampled reefs. A previous study using tissue grafts identified 13 putative clones on these reefs, while DNA fingerprints of the same colonies differentiated 17 genotypes. The present study demonstrates the utility of DNA fingerprinting for distinguishing clones and for identifying clonal structure of marine invertebrate populations.     

Development of a risk measure as a sustainable project selection criterion

SUMMARY

Sustainable decision-making requires consideration of technology, ecology, and the social and political infrastructure of society. While it may never be possible to identify with certainty what is sustainable and what is not, an attempt has been made in this paper to formulate a measure that permits one to compare the performances of project alternatives with respect to risk. An algorithm is presented for the evaluation of a risk criterion that can be used with other criteria in the process of selecting project alternatives. The intent of the risk criterion is to involve project stakeholders in the process of quantifying the risks associated with different project alternatives.     

Temperature-dependent ranges of coexistence in a model of a two-prey-one-predator microbial food web

The objective of our study was to analyze the effects of temperature on the population dynamics of a three-species food web consisting of two prey bacteria (Pedobacter sp. and Acinetobacter johnsonii) and a protozoan predator (Tetrahymena pyriformis) as model organisms. We assessed the effects of temperature on the growth rates of all three species with the objective of developing a model with four differential equations based on the experimental data. The following hypotheses were tested at a theoretical level: Firstly, temperature changes can affect the dynamic behavior of a system by temperature-dependent parameters and interactions and secondly, food web response to temperature cannot be derived from the single species temperature response. The main outcome of the study is that temperature changes affect the parameter range where coexistence is possible within all three species. This has significant consequences on our ideas regarding the evaluation of effects of global warming.     

Experimental evidence of a risk-sensitive reproductive allocation in a long-lived mammal

When reproduction competes with the amount of resources available for survival during an unpredictable nonbreeding season, individuals should adopt a risk-sensitive regulation of their reproductive allocation. We tested this hypothesis on female reindeer (Rangifer tarandus), which face a trade-off between reproduction and acquisition of body reserves during spring and summer, with autumn body mass functioning as insurance against stochastic winter climatic severity. The study was conducted in a population consisting of two herds: one that received supplementary winter feeding for four years while the other utilized natural pastures. The females receiving additional forage allocated more to their calves. Experimental translocation of females between the herds was conducted to simulate two contrasting rapid alterations of winter conditions. When females receiving supplementary feeding were moved to natural pastures, they promptly reduced their reproductive allocation the following summer. However, when winter conditions were improved, females were reluctant to increase their reproductive allocation. This asymmetric response to improved vs. reduced winter conditions is consistent with a risk-averse adjustment in reproductive allocation. The ability of individuals to track their environment and the concordant risk-sensitive adjustment of reproductive allocation may render subarctic reindeer more resilient to climate change than previously supposed.     

Comparison of a simple and a spatially distributed hydrologic model for the simulation of a lowland catchment in Northern Germany

This paper describes the application of two simple models for runoff simulation of the Kielstau, a small wetland catchment in Northern Germany. The first one is SIMPEL, a one-dimensional spreadsheet model for soil water balance and runoff for small catchments; the second one is KIDS, Kielstau discharge simulation model, which is written in the PCRaster dynamic modelling language. KIDS uses the algorithms of SIMPEL, but applies them to a spatial database.The basic version of both models fails to reproduce the measured hydrograph for a flat region in Northern Germany with ca. 30% wetlands. Additionally, the water balance of the region cannot be closed, the relative discharge is lower than in the neighbouring catchments which means that ET must be higher. After the creation of an additional wetland compartment module where ETa equals ETp, the hydrographs could be matched. In a second step, we used inverse modelling with the SIMPEL model to evaluate the range of input parameters and possible sources of the low outflow of the catchment. We found that the low discharge can only be modelled if the evaporation is increased substantially. A wetland fraction of 0.3 produced the best results in inverse modelling runs, this value was also estimated based on the available maps.     

Estimation of the density of a clustered point pattern using a distance method

Distance-based methods use point-to-point distances or random-location-to-point distances in a cloud of points to estimate characteristics of the point pattern. One such characteristics is the density of points. The difficulty with distance-based density estimators is that their distribution depends on the spatial pattern of points. In particular, the distribution of distances is untractable for usual clustered patterns, that are often observed in natural systems. Here, we propose a density estimator for clustered patterns, based on the random-location-to-pth-point distance X _p . An approximate expression for the distribution function, F _p , of X _p was obtained by identifying the first two moments of the count of individuals in disks for a given point process with the first two moments of a negative binomial distribution. The approximate expression of F _p was then used to derive a maximum-likelihood estimator of the intensity of the point process. The quality of the approximation of F _p was assessed for homogeneous Poisson processes (for which the expression of F _p is exact) and for Matérn processes. The intensity estimator based on Matérn processes was then used to estimate tree density in a tree savanna in Mali, and it compared favorably with six robust estimators found in the literature.