Reducing complex diets to simple rules: food selection by olive baboons

Determinants of diet in free-ranging baboons Papio anubis were investigated. Foods and non-foods differed significantly in chemical composition, the former being higher in protein and lower in fibre and phenolics. Within the range of items selected, biomass was found to be the single most important factor affecting percentage of total intake and time spent feeding (Figure 1). When this effect of biomass was statistically controlled, independent effects of chemical composition (primarily protein content) and harvesting rate were found. However, while the harvesting rates of foods were positively related to their percentage contribution to total intake, they were either uncorrelated, or, in one case, actually negatively correlated with the percentage of feeding time. A post-hoc model based on Charnov's (1976) marginal value theorem is developed to account for these latter results, and direct evidence for rate-maximising patch use is then presented. It is argued that the apparent complexity of primate diets may in large part be reducible to relatively simple optimization criteria.     

Trisomy 16 fetus surviving into the second trimester

A 27-year-old gravida 4, para 3 was found to have anhydramnios at 14 weeks' gestation following a size/date discrepancy noted at her routine prenatal visit. A detailed ultrasound revealed multiple fetal anomalies including congenital heart defect, chest hypoplasia, and bilateral dysplastic kidneys. Karyotype revealed trisomy 16 in 15/15 cells from a tissue specimen obtained from the fetal cord insertion site following elective pregnancy termination.     

A comparison of sampling techniques and summary indices for assessment of water quality in the Yamaska River,Québec,based on benthic macroinvertebrates

The Yamaska River drainage basin in Quebec, Canada, is intensively farmed and heavily polluted with poorly treated domestic and industrial wastes. We investigated the responses of the resident and colonizing components of the benthic macroinvertebrate community to municipal/industrial versus agricultural pollution in the basin, and evaluated the performances of seven diversity and biotic indices for assessing water quality. Samples of riffle-dwelling, infaunal and colonizing invertebrates were collected from 13 stations representing a wide range of types and degrees of pollution using Surber, scoop and artificial substrate samplers. The data were summarized using the indices S (number of taxa), N (number of individuals), H (Shannon-Wiener's diversity index), D (Simpson's diversity index), BBI (Belgian Biotic Index), TBI (a modification of Hilsenhoff's Biotic Index), % CHIR (percentage of arthropods consisting of Chironomidae) and %OLIGO (percentage of total organisms consisting of Oligochaeta). Different components of the community generated somewhat different assessments and were, therefore, complementary. Community composition, expressed as the percentage of individuals contributed by major taxonomic groups, reflected the kinds of stresses at a station more consistently than did any of the indices. S and TBI came closest to ranking control, agricultural and municipal/industrial sites in accordance with our a priori classification, both between months and among sampling methods. %OLIGO usually separated municipal/industrial sites from control sites. Other indices were found to be less sensitive, accurate or temporally stable, or were otherwise inappropriate for use with certain sampling methods or for certain types of pollution. With most of our samples, all of the summary indices suggested that the impact of agricultural practices on stream ecosystems may be as severe as the impacts of municipal and industrial wastes.     

Phylogeny and metabolic scaling in mammals

The scaling of metabolic rates to body size is widely considered to be of great biological and ecological importance, and much attention has been devoted to determining its theoretical and empirical value. Most debate centers on whether the underlying power law describing metabolic rates is 2/3 (as predicted by scaling of surface area/volume relationships) or 3/4 ("Kleiber's law"). Although recent evidence suggests that empirically derived exponents vary among clades with radically different metabolic strategies, such as ectotherms and endotherms, models, such as the metabolic theory of ecology, depend on the assumption that there is at least a predominant, if not universal, metabolic scaling exponent. Most analyses claimed to support the predictions of general models, however, failed to control for phylogeny. We used phylogenetic generalized least-squares models to estimate allometric slopes for both basal metabolic rate (BMR) and field metabolic rate (FMR) in mammals. Metabolic rate scaling conformed to no single theoretical prediction, but varied significantly among phylogenetic lineages. In some lineages we found a 3/4 exponent, in others a 2/3 exponent, and in yet others exponents differed significantly from both theoretical values. Analysis of the phylogenetic signal in the data indicated that the assumptions of neither species-level analysis nor independent contrasts were met. Analyses that assumed no phylogenetic signal in the data (species-level analysis) or a strong phylogenetic signal (independent contrasts), therefore, returned estimates of allometric slopes that were erroneous in 30% and 50% of cases, respectively. Hence, quantitative estimation of the phylogenetic signal is essential for determining scaling exponents. The lack of evidence for a predominant scaling exponent in these analyses suggests that general models of metabolic scaling, and macro-ecological theories that depend on them, have little explanatory power.     

Why Economics Matters for Endangered Species Protection

Abstract: We offer three reasons why economics matters more to species protection than many people think and what this implies for the ongoing debate over the reauthorization of the Endangered Species Act of 1973. Economics matters because (1) human behavior generally, and economic parameters in particular, help determine the degree of risk to a species; (2) in a world of scarce resources, the opportunity cost of species protection—the costs of reduced resources for other worthwhile causes—must be taken into account in decision making; and (3) economic incentives are critical in shaping human behavior, and consequently the recovery of species. Endangered species protection that explicitly addresses these basic principles can avoid wasting valuable resources that yield no gain in species protection.     

Aligning the logics of inquiry and action to address the biodiversity crisis

Despite an abundance of research reaffirming biodiversity's importance to the health of the planet and society, species continue to go extinct at an alarming rate. Why has continued research on the value of biodiversity not had the intended effect and what can be done about it? We considered biodiversity loss as a public value failure and the result of a misalignment between the logic of inquiry (which guides scientists) and the logic of action (which guides practitioners). We drew lessons from our own research to propose the creation of a national biodiversity strategy designed to link the logic of inquiry with the logic of action and coordinate the production of actionable conservation science and informed conservation action.     

Five approaches to producing actionable science in conservation

The knowledge produced by conservation scientists must be actionable in order to address urgent conservation challenges. To understand the process of creating actionable science, we interviewed 71 conservation scientists who had participated in 1 of 3 fellowship programs focused on training scientists to become agents of change. Using a grounded theory approach, we identified 16 activities that these researchers employed to make their scientific products more actionable. Some activities were more common than others and, arguably, more foundational. We organized these activities into 3 nested categories (motivations, strategies, and tactics). Using a co-occurrence matrix, we found that most activities were positively correlated. These correlations allowed us to identify 5 approaches, framed as profiles, to actionable science: the discloser, focused on open access; the educator, focused on science communication; the networker, focused on user needs and building relationships; the collaborator, focused on boundary spanning; and the pluralist, focused on knowledge coproduction resulting in valuable outcomes for all parties. These profiles build on one another in a hierarchy determined by their complexity and level of engagement, their potential to support actionable science, and their proximity to ideal coproduction with knowledge users. Our results provide clear guidance for conservation scientists to generate actionable science to address the global biodiversity conservation challenge.     

New York State’s Classifications- Ambient Air Quality Objectives System

The air pollution potential of any area is directly related to its population and economic development. In New York State, this pollution potential ranges from that existing in the sparsely inhabited recreational zones to that prevailing in the densely populated and/or heavily industrialized areas. No one set of air quality standards or objectives can be developed which can reasonably be applied on a statewide basis. A classifications-air quality objectives system has been adopted by the State Air Pollution Control Board for application in New York State. In accordance with this system, specific areas can be classified in one of 16 categories. Air quality objectives, in keeping with each classification, are designed to protect health and to promote the maximum comfort and enjoyment and use of property consistent with the needs of the area concerned. The system was developed by the staff with the assistance of a council of technical advisors. Units of measurement related to the most important effect of specific contaminants are utilized. Methods of sampling and analysis are specified. The details of the classifications-objectives system, the place of the system in the state’s air resource management plan, the manner in which each segment of the state after study will be classified, and how attainment will be evaluated are described.