Quantifying the erosion of natural darkness in the global protected area system

The nighttime light environment of much of the earth has been transformed by the introduction of electric lighting. This impact continues to spread with growth in the human population and extent of urbanization. This has profound consequences for organismal physiology and behavior and affects abundances and distributions of species, community structure, and likely ecosystem functions and processes. Protected areas play key roles in buffering biodiversity from a wide range of anthropogenic pressures. We used a calibration of a global satellite data set of nighttime lights to determine how well they are fulfilling this role with regard to artificial nighttime lighting. Globally, areas that are protected tend to be darker at night than those that are not, and, with the exception of Europe, recent regional declines in the proportion of the area that is protected and remains dark have been small. However, much of these effects result from the major contribution to overall protected area coverage by the small proportion of individual protected areas that are very large. Thus, in Europe and North America high proportions of individual protected areas (>17%) have exhibited high levels of nighttime lighting in all recent years, and in several regions (Europe, Asia, South and Central America) high proportions of protected areas (32–42%) have had recent significant increases in nighttime lighting. Limiting and reversing the erosion of nighttime darkness in protected areas will require routine consideration of nighttime conditions when designating and establishing new protected areas; establishment of appropriate buffer zones around protected areas where lighting is prohibited; and landscape level reductions in artificial nighttime lighting, which is being called for in general to reduce energy use and economic costs.     

Power-law behaviour and parametric models for the size-distribution of forest fires

This paper examines the distribution of areas burned in forest fires. Empirical size distributions, derived from extensive fire records, for six regions in North America are presented. While they show some commonalities, it appears that a simple power-law distribution of sizes, as has been suggested by some authors, is too simple to describe the distributions over their full range. A stochastic model for the spread and extinguishment of fires is used to examine conditions for power-law behaviour and deviations from it. The concept of the extinguishment growth rate ratio (EGRR) is developed. A null model with constant EGRR leads to a power-law distribution, but this does not appear to hold empirically for the data sets examined. Some alternative parametric forms for the size distribution are presented, with a four-parameter ‘competing hazards’ model providing the overall best fit.     

The distance demersal zooplankton migrate above the benthos: implications for predation

The distance demersal zooplankton (mobile, benthic organisms which periodically emerge from the benthos and move up into the water column) swim vertically above the bottom at night was measured quantitatively on a subtidal sand flat in the Gulf of California during July, 1979. Three patterns of migration were observed: (1) small-bodied animals, including copepods, ostracods and the amphipod Metaceradocus occidentalis, remained within 30 cm of the bottom except at full moon when a significantly higher proportion of these animals swam up at least 1 m into the water column, (2) syllid polychaetes swam up at least 2 m into the water column irregardless of the phase of the moon, and (3) large-bodied forms (animals >2 mm) swam throughout the water column but in gradually decreasing abundances nearer the surface. Since nocturnally foraging planktivorous fishes feed primarily on the large-bodied, readily visible animals, we had predicted that these large forms would remain near the relative safety of the benthos. However, the movement of the larger demersal zooplankton higher into the water column than the smaller, less visible forms, suggests that factors other than predation, possibly dispersal, may be major selective pressures governing the distance demersal zooplankton swim above the benthos.     

Brood reduction in the American white pelican (Pelecanus erythrohynchos)

Summary American white pelicans (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos) breeding in colonies at East Shoal Lake, Manitoba, Canada exhibited a mean hatching asynchrony of 2.5 days in 2-egg clutches. This resulted in a size difference between chicks which facilitated sibling dominance, harassment and lack of food for the subordinate chick. Only one young survived per nest. In marked broods, the secondhatched chick survived in 20% of successful nests. Manipulated clutch sizes (1, 2 and 3 eggs or chicks per nest) revealed that the presence of a second chick contributes significantly to the reproductive success of the parents. Results support the hypothesis that the second egg functions as a form of insurance against early loss of the first egg or chick. The parents, by establishing hatching asynchrony, by nonintervention in sibling aggression, and by selectively feeding the dominant chick, maximize their chance of rearing the most viable young.     

Estrus cycle asynchrony in wild female chimpanzees, Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii

Although estrous synchrony has been reported in a number of mammalian species, most often among primates, methodological and analytical problems make it difficult to interpret these results. We developed a novel estrous synchrony index and employed a randomization procedure to analyze long-term observations of female chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) estrous cycles at the Mahale Mountains National Park, Tanzania. Our results revealed that female chimpanzees at Mahale avoid synchronizing their estrous periods with each other. We also found that birthrates decreased as the breeding sex ratio increased. We suggest that estrous asynchrony decreases female–female competition for mates. Asynchrony may also reduce the potential for male sexual coercion by nonpreferred mating partners.     

Calcification in the maerl coralline alga Phymatolithon calcareum: Effects of salinity and temperature

The coralline alga Phymatolithon calcareum was dredged from 13 m in the Kattegatt, Baltic Sea, in December, 1980, and its rate of calcification was measured by ⁴⁵Ca⁺⁺-uptake methods. Light-saturated calcification rates at 5°C ranged from 15.8 g CaCO₃ g^-1 dry wt h^-1 for the basal parts of the plants to 38.7 g CaCO₃ g^-1 dry wt h^-1 for the tips. These age gradients were not apparent when calcification rates were expressed on the basis of surface area. Experiments with salinity (10, 20, 30) and temperature (0°, 5°, 10°, 20°C) indicated that optimum conditions for calcification were at 30 S and at temperatures above 10°C. Salinity had a greater influence on calcification rate than did temperature, and there was a positive relationship between salinity and calcification rate at all temperatures. In 6 mo old cultures, salinity was again the important factor, with all plants remaining healthy at 30 except those at the highest temperature (20°C). These trends, and the low calcification rates at 10S (4.6 g CaCO₃ g^-1 dry wt h^-1 at 5°C to 8.6 g CaCO₃g^-1 dry wt h^-1 at 20°C) suggest that low salinity may be the explanation for the general absence of P. calcareum from the brackish waters of the Baltic Sea. Short-term experiments in which salinity was kept constant while Ca⁺⁺ concentration was altered, and experiments in which salinity was varied and Ca⁺⁺ concentration kept constant, suggest that it is the calcium ion concentration and not salinity per se which affects calcification rates.     

Calcium uptake and net calcification rates in the octocoral Eunicella papillosa

This paper presents the results of a preliminary study on the uptake of ⁴⁵Ca in the mesoskeleton of the gorgonian Eunicella papillosa (Octocorallia). Hourly seawater aliquots over 12 h periods displayed considerable fluctuations of activity with time, reflecting a disappearance and reappearance of tracer during the experiment. Analysis of total coenenchyme mass showed an initial rapid but fluctuating uptake of tracer and a progressive decrease with time. Distinct differences in the calcification rate of specific growth regions of the coral were detected, the rate being higher in branch tips than in lower branch regions. Chase experiments on colonies previously incubated for 24 h revealed that up to 45% of the tracer taken up during labelling were returned to the seawater. A comparison of the tracer content of the coenenchyme and the calcite spicules revealed that up to 70% of the calcium taken up remained in the coral tissue. Quantification of isotopic exchange phenomena with dead corals and isolated spicules emphasized the importance of the live coral tissue as a barrier and regulator of Ca uptake. The results are discussed in the light of the limitations of radioisotope techniques for the determination of calcification rates, and an attempt to compare rates with data in the literature is made.     

Accounting for variation in prey selectivity by zooplankton

An ingestion-based prey selectivity function (IS) is described specifically to aid the simulation of zooplankton activity in circumstances in which selectivity varies, for example, as functions of prey palatability or abundance. In IS, the ultimate control of the rate of predation is not the external concentration of prey but the total rate of prey capture relative to predator demand. Further, “preference” is not an input (as it is for most prey selection functions) so that the selection or deselection of any or all prey can be freely altered. Hence, if required, all prey could be deselected, or the impact of inert materials or turbulence adversely affecting capture rates of any or all prey can be considered. Capture kinetics are not fixed at a common value for all items. In its basic form IS contains no more variables than other selectivity functions. The construction and use of switches to vary grazing in response to changes in abundance of alternative prey types or in prey nutritional (stoichiometric) quality is demonstrated. The advantages of using IS instead of the widely used ratio-based selectivity function is demonstrated with reference to model fits to experimental datasets for microzooplankton activity.