Social laterality in wild beluga whale infants: comparisons between locations, escort conditions, and ages

One of the important aspects of the animal social behavior is the laterality in perception of conspecifics. Spatial laterality in adult–infant interactions is usually revealed in primates as a cradling/holding bias in adults or nipple preference in infants. The origin and function of such biases, however, remain unclear. Here, we investigated spatial laterality in adult–infant pairs in beluga whales from two geographically distinct locations using aerial photography analysis. In addition, behavioral observations on individually identified mother–infant pairs at a belugas’ breeding aggregation were conducted to assess the infants’ age influence on the lateralization in pairs. A general preference of the calves to position themselves to the right of the accompanied adult was found. We failed to reveal any influence of geographical location, presence or relative position of other individuals escorting the adult–infant pair, and position of the calf along the body of the escorting adult. A significant right-sided bias in infants’ position was present in all age classes, but 2–6 months-old belugas were found to be stronger lateralized, than the newborns and 7–18 months-old calves. That may reflect age-related changes in infants’ motor and social behavior. We argue that the revealed laterality is associated with the calves’ left eye–right hemisphere preference in perceiving social stimuli, and we then discuss its possible advantages. Pronounced adult–infant spatial laterality in condition (unlike that seen in primates) when forelimbs do not directly determine subjects’ relative positioning suggests sensory lateralization alone to be the determining factor.     

Developing Peak Discharges for Future Flood Risk Studies Using IPCC's CMIP5 Climate Model Results and USGS WREG Program

Extreme climate events, floods, and drought, cause huge impact on daily lives. In order to produce society resilient to extreme events, it is necessary to assess the impact of frequent and high intensity storm events on design parameters. This article describes a methodology to develop future peak “design discharges” throughout the United States that can be used as a guidance to map future floodplains. In order to develop a lower and upper limit for anticipated peak flow discharges, two future growth scenarios — Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs)‐RCP 2.6 and 8.5 were identified as the weak and strong climate scenario respectively based on the output from the global climate models. The Generalized Least Square technique in United States Geological Survey's Weighted Multiple Regression (WREG) program was used to develop regression equations that relate peak discharges to basin and climate parameters of the contributing watershed. The design discharges reflect the most recent climate model results. Number of frost days, heavy rainfall days, high temperature days, and snow depth were found to be the common extreme climate parameters influencing the regression equations. This methodology can be extended to other flood frequency events if rainfall data is available. The future discharges can be utilized in hydraulics models to estimate floodplains that can assist in resilient infrastructure planning and outline climate change adaptation strategies.     

Global Supply of Biomass for Energy and Carbon Sequestration from Afforestation/Reforestation Activities

In this paper we provide an analytical framework to estimate the joint production of biomass and carbon sequestration from afforestation and reforestation activities. The analysis is based on geographical explicit information on a half-degree resolution. For each grid-cell the model estimates forest growth using a global vegetation model and chooses forest management rules. Land prices, cost of forest production and harvesting are determined as a function of grid specific site productivity, population density and estimates of economic wealth. The sensitivity of the results due to scenario storylines is assessed using different population and economic growth assumptions, which are consistent with B1 and A2 of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Special Report on Emission Scenarios (IPCC-SRES) marker scenarios. Considerable differences in the economic supply schedules are found. However, technical potentials seem to converge given constancy in other underlying assumptions of the model.     

Similarity theory and parameterization of mixing in the upper ocean

Boundary layers with small thermal and mechanical inertia are close to steady-state conditions. This underlies the Monin-Obukhov similarity theory and explains why the surface values of the fluxes can be chosen as external parameters. For fluids with large thermal inertia, such as the ocean, the thermal time scale is relatively large, and the density flux is a complex function of depth; thus, the external thermal forcing is no longer a governing parameter. However, the mechanical inertia of the upper ocean is about three orders of magnitude smaller than the thermal inertia. Consequently, the upper ocean can be considered as steady-state in the dynamic sense, to any dynamic property depends primarily on the depth, the surface momentum flux, and the vertical density structure. This property allows us to suggest an alternative formulation of the similarity theory for the stratified boundary layers through specification of a new stratification parameter which characterizes the internal density structure instead of the external density flux. The turbulent mixing coefficient is derived as dependent on the stratification parameter. The latter includes the surface stress and the integral density deficit for the entire layer above. The general form and the asymptotic behavior of the nondimensional turbulent mixing coefficient as a function of the stratification parameter are obtained using dimensional considerations. Determination of numerical parameters is based on 8 years of temperature profiles acquired at the Ocean Weather Ship (OWS) PAPA. Finally, a method for calculating the profile of the turbulent mixing coefficient is obtained. This approach reproduces the 8-year evolution of the upper ocean with the maximum rms difference of approximately 1C and the bias of 1C over the depth range 0–150 m. Additional 1-year simulation of the upper ocean at OWS CHARLEY and 9-year simulation at OWS NOVEMBER confirms reasonable applicability of this approach. The proposed simple turbulent mixing scheme reproduces the evolution of the upper ocean with accuracies similar to those obtained using much more complicated models.     

Geoconservation versus legislation and resources policy: New achievements,new questions—Comment on Cairncross (Resources Policy, 2011) The National Heritage Resource Act (1999): Can legislation protect South Africa's rare geoheritage resources?

In his recent article, Cairncross identified problems with legislation relevant to the conservation of national geological heritage. This permits us to pose some more general questions, which are not addressed in the noted contribution. The example given by Cairncross indicates some pitfalls linked with the “all-inclusive” nature of legislation in which geological heritage is mixed with cultural heritage. Are such laws really helpful? Even if they are inevitable, they should be prepared with great caution. Moreover, it appears sensible to discuss whether particular geological objects or geodiversity as a whole should be legally conserved. Cairncross also proposes the interesting idea of a special fund/agency for purchasing rare mineral specimens for museums. This raises a set of questions about selection criteria for minerals to be purchased, types of market to be dealt with, number of fund/agency staff, necessary financial resources, and the administration of such purchasing schemes. Broad multi-stakeholder debates are necessary in order to establish the proposed fund/agency and to facilitate its efficient work.