Conservation and management applications of the REEF volunteer fish monitoring program

The REEF Fish Survey Project is a volunteer fish monitoring program developed by the Reef Environmental Education Foundation (REEF). REEF volunteers collect fish distribution and abundance data using a standardized visual method during regular diving and snorkeling activities. Survey data are recorded on preprinted data sheets that are returned to REEF and optically digitized. Data are housed in a publicly accessible database on REEF's Web site (http: //www.reef.org). Since the project's inception in 1993, over 40,000 surveys have been conducted in the coastal waters of North America, tropical western Atlantic, Gulf of California and Hawaii. The Fish Survey Project has been incorporated into existing monitoring programs through partnerships with government agencies, scientists, conservation organizations, and private institutions. REEF's partners benefit from the educational value and increased stewardship resulting from volunteer data collection. Applications of the data include an evaluation of fish/habitat interactions in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, the development of a multi-species trend analysis method to identify sites of management concern, assessment of the current distribution of species, status reports on fish assemblages of marine parks, and the evaluation of no-take zones in the Florida Keys. REEF's collaboration with a variety of partners, combined with the Fish Survey Project's standardized census method and database management system, has resulted in a successful citizen science monitoring program.     

On the subjective experience and correlates of downtime at work: A mixed‐method examination

In the current paper, we studied downtime at work. Downtime represents a unique aspect of work time, as employees have low workload and more discretion about their activities but are still paid to be at work. Despite its prevalence and potentially significant implications for productivity and well‐being, the experience of downtime has not been a focus in the literature. To study this phenomenon, we first used a qualitative method involving 15 focus groups. Results from 95 employees showed that downtime is distinct from formal breaks and withdrawal behavior and is generally a negative subjective experience. Categories of antecedents of experience and downtime activities were classified. Next, to further explore the phenomenon, and based on Study 1 and relevant literature, we proposed several hypotheses and tested them using an experience sampling method. Results from 86 employees (across 5 workdays and 689 data points) indicated that the amount of downtime was negatively related to day level job satisfaction, job performance, and subjective health. The duration of relaxation activities during downtime mitigated the negative effects of downtime on fatigue. The effects of enjoyment level of the activities, job autonomy, work engagement, and boredom proneness were also examined. Implications, limitations, and future research are discussed.     

Density affects female and male mate searching in the fiddler crab, <Emphasis Type="Italic">Uca beebei</Emphasis>

In most species, only one sex searches for mates while the other waits. Models of sex-specific mate-searching behavior predict single-sex searching, but the factors that determine which sex searches are not understood. In this study, we examine the effects of density and predation risk on mate-searching behavior in the fiddler crab Uca beebei. U. beebei is one of the few fiddler-crab species in which both sexes search for mates. In a field experiment conducted in Panama, we manipulated crab density and perceived predation risk in replicate plots. Females searched more and males searched less at high densities. At high levels of perceived predation risk, both sexes similarly reduced their search rates. Observations of plots that naturally varied in crab density show that females were more likely to search for mates in areas of higher density, where there were more males. Females may preferentially search for mates in high-density areas because the abundance of nearby burrows, into which they can run to escape predators, decreases their costs of searching and because the abundance of males and male burrows facilitates comparisons and thus may increase their benefits from searching. Males at high densities decrease their mate-searching rate perhaps in response to the increase in female searching and to the corresponding increase in the intensity of their competitors' mate-attraction signals.     

Digit ratio (2D:4D) and dominance rank in female rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta)

Female rhesus macaques exhibit matrilineal dominance structures, and high dominance rank confers fitness benefits across a lifetime and across generations. Rank effects are “inherited” through social processes that are well understood; however, biological mechanisms that might impact these processes are not well known. Recently, it has been shown that prenatal androgens appear to be implicated in supporting dominance rank hierarchies in some mammals. In humans, interindividual differences in the second (index) to fourth (ring) digit ratio (2D:4D) have been linked indirectly to variation in prenatal androgens, with low 2D:4D in both sexes associated with higher inferred prenatal androgen effects. 2D:4D has also been related to dominant social behavior and has been shown to co-vary with social systems across nonhuman primate species. Here, we investigate how 2D:4D co-varies with socially inherited dominance rank in female rhesus macaques. Low 2D:4D was associated with higher-ranking females, while higher 2D:4D was associated with lower-ranking females. Similar relationships were also shown between ranked families within matrilines. This is the first study to show such a relationship between 2D:4D and dominance rank in a nonhuman primate and suggests that prenatal androgen effects could be involved in the maintenance of dominance rank in female cercopithecine primates.     

Effects of urbanization and urban stream restoration on the physical and biological structure of stream ecosystems

Streams, as low-lying points in the landscape, are strongly influenced by the stormwaters, pollutants, and warming that characterize catchment urbanization. River restoration projects are an increasingly popular method for mitigating urban insults. Despite the growing frequency and high expense of urban stream restoration projects, very few projects have been evaluated to determine whether they can successfully enhance habitat structure or support the stream biota characteristic of reference sites. We compared the physical and biological structure of four urban degraded, four urban restored, and four forested streams in the Piedmont region of North Carolina to quantify the ability of reach-scale stream restoration to restore physical and biological structure to urban streams and to examine the assumption that providing habitat is sufficient for biological recovery. To be successful at mitigating urban impacts, the habitat structure and biological communities found in restored streams should be more similar to forested reference sites than to their urban degraded counterparts. For every measured reach- and patch-scale attribute, we found that restored streams were indistinguishable from their degraded urban stream counterparts. Forested streams were shallower, had greater habitat complexity and median sediment size, and contained less-tolerant communities with higher sensitive taxa richness than streams in either urban category. Because heavy machinery is used to regrade and reconfigure restored channels, restored streams had less canopy cover than either forested or urban streams. Channel habitat complexity and watershed impervious surface cover (ISC) were the best predictors of sensitive taxa richness and biotic index at the reach and catchment scale, respectively. Macroinvertebrate communities in restored channels were compositionally similar to the communities in urban degraded channels, and both were dissimilar to communities in forested streams. The macroinvertebrate communities of both restored and urban degraded streams were correlated with environmental variables characteristic of degraded urban systems. Our study suggests that reach-scale restoration is not successfully mitigating for the factors causing physical and biological degradation.     

Detection of nitro-polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in mainstream and sidestream tobacco smoke using electron monochromator-mass spectrometry

For the first time, we show the presence of nitro substituted naphthalenes in both mainstream and sidestream tobacco smoke using electron monochromator-mass spectrometry. Only one mainstream smoke sample showed the presence of 1-nitronaphthalene (1-NN) at 20 pg/cigarette, while all of the sidestream smoke samples showed the presence of 1-NN at levels ranging from 0.40 to 0.60 ng/cigarette and 2-NN at quantities ranging from 1 to 2 ng/cigarette. Additionally, these levels showed a ratio of ~1:3 for 1-NN to 2-NN which demonstrates that the formation of 2-NN is favored under sidestream combustion conditions. No larger ring structure (>2) nitro-aromatics were identified.     

Area and mammalian elevational diversity

Elevational gradients hold enormous potential for understanding general properties of biodiversity. Like latitudinal gradients, the hypotheses for diversity patterns can be grouped into historical explanations, climatic drivers, and spatial hypotheses. The spatial hypotheses include the species-area effect and spatial constraint (mid-domain effect null models). I test these two spatial hypotheses using regional diversity patterns for mammals (non-volant small mammals and bats) along 34 elevational gradients spanning 24.4 degrees S-40.4 degrees N latitude. There was high variability in the fit to the species-area hypothesis and the mid-domain effect. Both hypotheses can be eliminated as primary drivers of elevational diversity. Area and spatial constraint both represent sources of error rather than mechanisms underlying these mammalian diversity patterns. Similar results are expected for other vertebrate taxa, plants, and invertebrates since they show comparable distributions of elevational diversity patterns to mammalian patterns.     

The use of anthracene as a model compound in a comparative study of hydrous pyrolysis methods for industrial waste remediation

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are very stable compounds and tend to bioaccumulate in the environment due to their high degree of conjugation and aromaticity. Hydrous pyrolysis is explored as a technique for the treatment of industrial water containing PAH, using anthracene as a model compound. The reactivity of anthracene under a range of temperatures and durations are studied in this paper. Aliquots of 1.0-10.0 mg of anthracene in a range of 1.0-5.0 mL of H₂O are subjected to hydrous pyrolysis under varied conditions of temperature, reagents and duration. The conditions include oxidising systems comprising distilled water, hydrogen peroxide and Nafion-SiO₂ solid catalyst in water; and reducing systems of formic acid and formic acid/Nafion-SiO₂/Pd-C catalysts to assess a range of redox reaction conditions. Oxygen in air played a role in some of the reaction conditions. Pyrolysed products were identified and quantified by the use of Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS). The major products were anthrone, anthraquinone, xanthone from oxidation; and multiple hydro-anthracene derivatives from reductive hydogenation. The nature of reaction conditions influenced the extent of anthracene degradation. The products formed are more reactive (less stable) as compared to anthracene the starting material and will therefore be less persistent in the environment.     

A global assessment of chromium pollution using sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) as an indicator species

Chromium (Cr) is a well-known human carcinogen and a potential reproductive toxicant, but its contribution to ocean pollution is poorly understood. The aim of this study was to provide a global baseline for Cr as a marine pollutant using the sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus) as an indicator species. Biopsies were collected from free-ranging whales around the globe during the voyage of the research vessel The Odyssey. Total Cr levels were measured in 361 sperm whales collected from 16 regions around the globe detectable levels ranged from 0.9 to 122.6 μg Cr g tissue⁻¹ with a global mean of 8.8 ± 0.9 μg g⁻¹. Two whales had undetectable levels. The highest levels were found in sperm whales sampled in the waters near the Islands of Kiribati in the Pacific (mean = 44.3 ± 14.4) and the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean (mean = 19.5 ± 5.4 μg g⁻¹). The lowest mean levels were found in whales near the Canary Islands (mean = 3.7 ± 0.8 μg g⁻¹) and off of the coast of Sri Lanka (mean = 3.3 ± 0.4 μg g⁻¹). The global mean Cr level in whale skin was 28-times higher than mean Cr skin levels in humans without occupational exposure. The whale levels were more similar to levels only observed previously in human lung tissue from workers who died of Cr-induced lung cancer. We conclude that Cr pollution in the marine environment is significant and that further study is urgently needed.