Medical supplies management in the cholera epidemic in Somalia 1985

In March/April 1985 a cholera epidemic of explosive speed affected a population of 45,000 newly arrived refugees in the town of Hargeysa in the North-West region of Somalia. Seven hundred and sixty one people were killed by the disease within ten days. Great efforts were made on regional, national and international levels in order to reduce mortality and to control the spread of the disease, and large amounts of relief supplies were immediately flown into the country from various aid organizations and governments. This paper describes the supplies management during the operation, with an emphasis on the mobilization of supplies from abroad and from the capital into the emergency area. Recommendations are offered for the organization of medical supplies during cholera outbreaks. The author worked during the epidemic as co-ordinating secretary for relief supplies in Mogadishu.     

Larval dispersal of a deep-sea hydrothermal vent bivalve from the Galápagos Rift

The prodissoconch morphology of an unclassified mytilid from a hydrothermal vent on the Galápagos Rift indicates the presence of a planktotrophic larval stage with longrange dispersal capabilities. Recorded abyssal currents are probably sufficient to transport such larvae hundreds of kilometers. It is suggested that one or more aspects of the unusual biological or physico-chemical conditions (such as high microbial densities, elevated water temperatures, and hydrogen sulfide concentrations) encountered at vents, provide a stimulus to larval settlement. Such a behavioral response, perhaps coupled with a gregarious settling response, would provide a means of concentrating relatively sedentary organisms in and around these restricted, geographically isolated regions.     

Social network analysis and valid Markov chain Monte Carlo tests of null models

Analyses of animal social networks derived from group-based associations often rely on randomisation methods developed in ecology (Manly, Ecology 76:1109–1115, 1995) and made available to the animal behaviour community through implementation of a pair-wise swapping algorithm by Bejder et al. (Anim Behav 56:719–725, 1998). We report a correctable flaw in this method and point the reader to a wider literature on the subject of null models in the ecology literature. We illustrate the importance of correcting the method using a toy network and use it to make a preliminary analysis of a network of associations among eagle rays.

Non-indigenous macroalga hosts different epiphytic assemblages to conspecific natives in southeast Australia

Codium fragile ssp. tomentosoides is one of the five most invasive macroalgae worldwide. We compared epiphytic assemblages between native (ssp. tasmanicum and ssp. novae-zelandiae combined) and non-indigenous (ssp. tomentosoides) subspecies of Codium fragile on three rocky intertidal shores in southeast Australia. Twelve species of epiphytes covered up to 20% of the surface of both native and non-indigenous Codium subspecies, but none were unique to either subspecies. For C. fragile subspecies, epiphytic cover declined from the lower (older) parts of the thallus to the branch tips. The abundance and species composition of epiphytes differed significantly between native and non-indigenous C. fragile, but differences varied among rocky shores. Results demonstrate that non-indigenous C. fragile does not play a functionally similar role to closely related native Codium subspecies. Spatial differences in epiphytic assemblages between Codium subspecies among rocky shores demonstrate that effects of non-indigenous species may be strongly location specific. Thus, our study emphasises the need to investigate variation in the effects of invaders across the regional landscape.     

How to improve reliability in groundwater analysis: over a decade of experience with external quality control in field campaigns on volatile halogenated compounds

The reliability in measurement results obtained during environmental monitoring is crucial for the assessment and further planning of remediation efforts on the respective contaminated sites by the responsible authorities. A case study concerned with groundwater contaminated with perchloroethylene, trichloroethylene and 1,1,2-trichlorotrifluoroethane including their degradation products which involves private contract laboratories and an independent provider of quality assurance (QA) is presented. The experience gained with biannual monitoring campaigns over 14 years indicates that the selection of contractors on basis of accreditation status and successful performance in interlaboratory comparisons are not sufficient. Rather the auditing of the contractors by the QA provider prior to each campaign and the crosschecking of selected monitoring samples by the QA provider led to a lasting improvement of reliability in the contractors' measurement results. A mean deviation of 20% from the reference value determined by the QA provider for the crosschecked samples was reached.     

锡林河流域地表水水化学主离子特征及控制因素

通过对2006~2008年锡林河主要径流期内13个河水断面239个水样以及同期地下水和大气降水主离子水化学进行分析,结合锡林河流域的气象和水文资料,利用Piper三线图和Gibbs图分析了锡林河河水的水化学特征及主离子组成变化特征.结果表明,锡林河河水TDS变化范围在136.7~376.5 mg·L-1之间,平均245.1 mg·L-1,为低矿化度河水;河水中主要阳离子以Ca2+为主,阴离子以HCO-3为主,河水的水化学类型从HCO-3-Ca2+过渡到HCO-3-Ca2+·Mg2+;河水主离子平均浓度年内、年际变化均不大,年内变化表现在5月主离子浓度高于其他月,年际变化表现为主离子在2007年的平均浓度均较小;空间上,Ca2+、Na+、Mg2+、K+、Cl-和HCO-3的浓度呈现沿程逐渐增加的趋势,SO2-4的浓度变化呈先增加后减小的趋势;河水中主离子浓度值介于大气降水和地下水之间,并且十分接近地下水浓度,说明地表水同时受大气降水和地下水补给并主要依靠地下水补给;Gibbs图显示河水离子组成主要与流域内的岩石风化有关,流域有一定量的蒸发岩存在,但蒸发岩对水化学的贡献弱于碳酸盐岩.     

No discrimination against previous mates in a sexually cannibalistic spider

In several animal species, females discriminate against previous mates in subsequent mating decisions, increasing the potential for multiple paternity. In spiders, female choice may take the form of selective sexual cannibalism, which has been shown to bias paternity in favor of particular males. If cannibalistic attacks function to restrict a male's paternity, females may have little interest to remate with males having survived such an attack. We therefore studied the possibility of female discrimination against previous mates in sexually cannibalistic Argiope bruennichi, where females almost always attack their mate at the onset of copulation. We compared mating latency and copulation duration of males having experienced a previous copulation either with the same or with a different female, but found no evidence for discrimination against previous mates. However, males copulated significantly shorter when inserting into a used, compared to a previously unused, genital pore of the female.     

沿海和海洋生态系统与人类人口系统间的相互作用:关于消费如何调解这种相互作用的看法

人口、环境及可持续发展的困境 20世纪的80和90年代,环境工作者和普通公众普遍认为,不加控制的人口增长是造成各类环境退化的根本原因.这种新马尔萨斯人口论的观点最初出现在20世纪60年代Ehrlich所著的<人口炸弹>的文章中,该文以危言耸听的语气解释了那十年空前高的人口增长率[1～3].     

Evolutionary relationships of deep-sea hydrothermal vent and cold-water seep clams (Bivalvia: Vesicomyidae): results from the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I

Phylogenetic relationships among vesicomyid clams (Bivalvia: Vesicomyidae) and their placement within the order Heterodonta were examined using mitochondrial encoded cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) DNA sequences. The presently analyzed vesicomyids represent a recent monophyletic radiation that probably occurred within the Cenozoic. Nucleotide phylogenetic analyses resolved discrete clades that were consistent with currently recognized species: Calyptogena magnifica, C. ponderosa, Ectenagena extenta, C. phaseoliformis, Vesicomya cordata, Calyptogena n. sp. (Gulf of Mexico), C. kaikoi, C. nautilei, C. solidissima and C. soyoae (Type-A). However, specimens variously identified as: V. gigas, C. kilmeri, C. pacifica, and V. lepta comprised two “species complexes”, each composed of multiple evolutionary lineages. Most taxa are limited to hydrothermal-vent or cold-seep habitats, but the “vent” versus “seep” clams do not constitute separate monophyletic groups. Current applications of the generic names Calyptogena, Ectenagena, and Vesicomya are not consistent with phylogenetic inferences. Received: 24 July 1997 / Accepted: 22 August 1997