Melanin pattern morphs do not differ in metabolic rate: implications for the evolutionary maintenance of a melanophore polymorphism in the green swordtail, <Emphasis Type="Italic">Xiphophorus helleri</Emphasis>

Variation in melanin patterns among individuals, populations, and species is common in fishes of the genus Xiphophorus. In the variable platyfish, Xiphophorus variatus, variation in metabolic rate is associated with melanin coloration and the color morphs appear to be physiological specialists adapted to particular environmental conditions. This study investigates whether a melanin polymorphism in the green swordtail, Xiphophorus helleri, is likewise associated with variation in metabolic rate. We measured metabolic rate as oxygen consumption rate of both adult male and juvenile X. helleri in static respirometers. The oxygen consumption rate does not differ significantly between the spotted and nonspotted morphs in either group, suggesting that-unlike in X. variatus-selection on metabolic rate is not involved in maintaining the polymorphism in X. helleri. We suggest that explanations need to be sought for the evolution of melanophore diversity in Xiphophorus that are pertinent to each melanin pattern polymorphism or groups of similar polymorphisms.     

Evaluating Visitor-Monitoring Techniques: A Comparison of Counting and Video Observation Data

Two visitor-monitoring methods, video monitoring and counts by human observers, were compared in order to identify and evaluate their respective advantages and disadvantages. The analysis considered user numbers, user type (walkers, dog walkers, bicyclists, and joggers) and group size of visitors. Remarkable differences were found between the two methods for user type and use levels. At low use levels, evaluations based on video monitoring resulted in fewer single bicyclists compared to counts by human observers, whereas at high use levels, human observers counted fewer walkers and bikers than video-interpreters. Based on this comparative analysis, we derive recommendations for more effective visitor-monitoring approaches. All data were collected during a visitor-monitoring project in the Danube Floodplains National Park in Austria between 1998 and 1999.     

Coping with job insecurity: How does personality make a difference?

Reversing a long-standing tradition of neglect, occupational stress researchers have recently rediscovered the importance of personality disposition in understanding the transformation of stresses into strains and strains into symptoms. Two recent studies of job insecurity in our laboratory provided a fortuitous opportunity to explore the extent of this influence and the mechanisms by which it operates. The most important of our findings is that positive personality attributes impact as strongly on mental health as does negative personality disposition, albeit in the opposite direction. Thus, personality can cushion, as well as aggravate, the impact of occupational stress.     

Job insecurity in managers: Antecedents and consequences

To date, popular accounts and systematic studies of the effects of job insecurity have focused exclusively on firms in acute crisis. In contrast, this study examines perceptions of the reactions to insecurity as a chronic, ambiguous threat. None of the 1291 managers surveyed was currently facing layoff, but half worked for firms that had laid off managers in the previous five years and half worked in a stable, expanding firm. As in previous studies, concern about any aspect of job insecurity was associated with decreased personal well-being and deterioration of work behavior and attitudes. However, only a small minority of managers were seriously worried about imminent job loss, with substantially more anxious about a deterioration in working conditions and long-term security.     

Combined effects of life-history traits and human impact on extinction risk of freshwater megafauna

Megafauna species are intrinsically vulnerable to human impact. Freshwater megafauna (i.e., freshwater animals ≥30 kg, including fishes, mammals, reptiles, and amphibians) are subject to intensive and increasing threats. Thirty-four species are listed as critically endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Red List of Threatened Species, the assessments for which are an important basis for conservation actions but remain incomplete for 49 (24%) freshwater megafauna species. Consequently, the window of opportunity for protecting these species could be missed. Identifying the factors that predispose freshwater megafauna to extinction can help predict their extinction risk and facilitate more effective and proactive conservation actions. Thus, we collated 8 life-history traits for 206 freshwater megafauna species. We used generalized linear mixed models to examine the relationships between extinction risk based on the IUCN Red List categories and the combined effect of multiple traits, as well as the effect of human impact on these relationships for 157 classified species. The most parsimonious model included human impact and traits related to species’ recovery potential including life span, age at maturity, and fecundity. Applying the most parsimonious model to 49 unclassified species predicted that 17 of them are threatened. Accounting for model predictions together with IUCN Red List assessments, 50% of all freshwater megafauna species are considered threatened. The Amazon and Yangtze basins emerged as global diversity hotspots of threatened freshwater megafauna, in addition to existing hotspots, including the Ganges-Brahmaputra and Mekong basins and the Caspian Sea region. Assessment and monitoring of those species predicted to be threatened are needed, especially in the Amazon and Yangtze basins. Investigation of life-history traits and trends in population and distribution, regulation of overexploitation, maintaining river connectivity, implementing protected areas focusing on freshwater ecosystems, and integrated basin management are required to protect threatened freshwater megafauna in diversity hotspots.     

How do Europeans want to live in 2040? Citizen visions and their consequences for European land use

The aspirations, motivations and choices of individual European citizens are a major driver of the future of global, European and local land use. However, until now no land use study has explicitly attempted to find out how the general public wants to live in the future. This paper forms a first attempt to survey European citizens to understand their desired future lives in relation to consequences for European land use. We used a crowdsourcing experiment to elicit visions from young Europeans about their lives in 2040. Participants completed a graphic novel around carefully selected questions, allowing them to create a story of their imagined future lives in pictures. The methodology worked well, and the sample seemed reasonably representative albeit skewed towards an educated population. In total, 1131 responses from 29 countries were received. Results show a strong desire for change, and for more sustainable lifestyles. There is desire for local and ecologically friendly food production, to eat less meat, to have access to green infrastructure and the ability to cycle to work. However, international travel remains popular, and the desire for extensive food production and owning detached houses with gardens will likely result in complex land use trade-offs. Future work could focus more specifically on quantifying these trade-offs and inform respondents about the consequences of their lifestyle choices. This was a first attempt to use crowdsourcing to understand citizen visions for their lives in the future, and our lessons learned will help future studies improve representativeness and increase responses.

     

Growth-inhibitory effects of sulfonamides at different pH: dissimilar susceptibility patterns of a soil bacterium and a test bacterium used for antibiotic assays

The ionic speciation of sulfonamides is pH-driven and this may be crucial for their bioavailability and sorption to soil constituents, as well as for their uptake into bacterial cells. The inhibition behaviour of a bacterial test strain (Pseudomonas aeruginosa; DSM 1117), which was grown in the presence of different concentrations of 8 sulfonamides at pH values from 5 to 8, could be predicted by models that take the speciation of sulfonamides in- and outside of bacterial cells into account. Assuming a pH of 7.5 inside the cells (pH homeostasis), the strongest inhibition was predicted for the lowest external pH and for sulfonamides with the lowest pK(a) values. Growth experiments with Ps. aeruginosa basically reflected this predicted behaviour. However, Pantoea agglomerans -- a bacterial strain isolated from arable soil -- behaved surprisingly different regarding its pH dependency: all sulfonamides showed the strongest effects at pH 7 to 8 instead of being most effective at lowest pH, although the pK(a) dependencies followed the same pattern. Experimental and modeling results could be brought into good agreement for P. agglomerans if the cell-internal pH was admitted to approximate the external pH instead of implying pH homeostasis for modeling calculations. Thus, besides the actual concentration of sulfonamides, the pH dependent mode of reaction of different bacteria to sulfonamides may additionally govern the population dynamics in soils.     

A mechanistical model for the uptake of sulfonamides by bacteria

The uptake of sulfonamides into bacterial cells was simulated by a dynamic model to estimate bioavailability and steady-state accumulation of sulfonamides in the cells. Uptake of sulfonamides is modeled as diffusion-like transport of the neutral molecule and the ionic species. Speciation outside and inside the cell depends on the extra- and intracellular pH and the pK(a)-value of the antibiotic active SO(2)NH moiety. The ratio between intra- and extracellular sulfonamide concentration is used as a measure for potential sulfonamide accumulation in bacterial cells. Simulated ratios are in good agreement with experimental data for various sulfonamides with pK(a2) values ranging from 5.0 up to 11.8. Sensitivity analyses indicate that intracellular sulfonamide concentration depend significantly on the degree of ionization in the cytoplasm and the surrounding medium. No accumulation in the cell occurs, if the external pH exceeds the intracellular pH. For sulfonamides with large pK(a)-values the internal activity equals the activity in the extracellular solution. Highest accumulation is reached if the pH gradient from inside to outside the cell is large, which depends on the bacterial pH-regulation mechanisms. The pH-dependent intracellular accumulation of various sulfonamides correlates well with their observed antibiotic effect on selected bacteria.     

Isolation and characteristics of sulfentrazone-degrading bacteria

This study aimed to isolate and characterize bacteria able to use sulfentrazone in the commercial formulation as their sole carbon source. The isolation of the potential sulfentrazone-degrading bacteria was made from soil samples with a recent history of herbicide application and from isolates identified through rDNA sequencing. Subsequently, we assessed the growth of the isolates and their sulfentrazone degradation ability using high-performance liquid chromatography. Twenty-six potential sulfentrazone-degrading bacterial isolates were obtained in pure culture. Through analysis of the rDNA sequences, the predominance of bacterial species of the genus Pseudomonas was found. The isolates presented a differentiated ability of sulfentrazone degradation. The presence of herbicide in the culture medium reduced the log phase of four isolates. Pseudomonas putida, Pseudomonas lutea, Pseudomonas plecoglossicida and three isolates of Pseudomonas sp. showed higher sulfentrazone degradation capacity, which varied from 4 to 15%. This is the first report of the Pseudomonas genre capable of sulfentrazone degradation. The isolates obtained present potential use in bioremediation programs for soil contaminated with sulfentrazone.