The interaction between reproductive cost and individual quality is mediated by oceanic conditions in a long-lived bird

Environmental variability, costs of reproduction, and heterogeneity in individual quality are three important sources of the temporal and interindividual variations in vital rates of wild populations. Based on an 18-year monitoring of an endangered, recently described, long-lived seabird, Monteiro's Storm-Petrel (Oceanodroma monteiroi), we designed multistate survival models to separate the effects of the reproductive cost (breeders vs. nonbreeders) and individual quality (successful vs. unsuccessful breeders) in relation to temporally variable demographic and oceanographic properties. The analysis revealed a gradient of individual quality from nonbreeders, to unsuccessful breeders, to successful breeders. The survival rates of unsuccessful breeders (0.90 +/- 0.023, mean +/- SE) tended to decrease in years of high average breeding success and were more sensitive to oceanographic variation than those of both (high-quality) successful breeders (0.97 +/- 0.015) and (low-quality) nonbreeders (0.83 +/- 0.028). Overall, our results indicate that reproductive costs act on individuals of intermediate quality and are mediated by environmental harshness.     

Eliciting expert knowledge in conservation science

Expert knowledge is used widely in the science and practice of conservation because of the complexity of problems, relative lack of data, and the imminent nature of many conservation decisions. Expert knowledge is substantive information on a particular topic that is not widely known by others. An expert is someone who holds this knowledge and who is often deferred to in its interpretation. We refer to predictions by experts of what may happen in a particular context as expert judgments. In general, an expert-elicitation approach consists of five steps: deciding how information will be used, determining what to elicit, designing the elicitation process, performing the elicitation, and translating the elicited information into quantitative statements that can be used in a model or directly to make decisions. This last step is known as encoding. Some of the considerations in eliciting expert knowledge include determining how to work with multiple experts and how to combine multiple judgments, minimizing bias in the elicited information, and verifying the accuracy of expert information. We highlight structured elicitation techniques that, if adopted, will improve the accuracy and information content of expert judgment and ensure uncertainty is captured accurately. We suggest four aspects of an expert elicitation exercise be examined to determine its comprehensiveness and effectiveness: study design and context, elicitation design, elicitation method, and elicitation output. Just as the reliability of empirical data depends on the rigor with which it was acquired so too does that of expert knowledge.     

Herbivory by the Caribbean king crab on coral patch reefs

Caribbean coral reefs are increasingly dominated by macroalgae instead of corals due to several factors, including the decline of herbivores. Yet, virtually unknown is the role of crustacean macrograzers on coral reef macroalgae. We examined the effect of grazing by the Caribbean king crab (Mithrax spinosissimus) on coral patch reef algal communities in the Florida Keys, Florida (USA), by: (1) measuring crab selectivity and consumption of macroalgae, (2) estimating crab density, and (3) comparing the effect of crab herbivory to that of fishes. Mithrax prefers fleshy macroalgae, but it also consumes relatively unpalatable calcareous algae. Per capita grazing rates by Mithrax exceed those of most herbivorous fish, but Mithrax often occurs at low densities on reefs and its foraging activities are reduced in predator-rich environments. Therefore, the effects of grazing by Mithrax tend to be localized and when at low density contribute primarily to spatial heterogeneity in coral reef macroalgal communities.     

Distributional patterns of adult male loggerhead sea turtles (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Caretta caretta</Emphasis>) in the vicinity of Cape Canaveral,Florida, USA during and after a major annual breeding aggregation

Satellite transmitters were attached to 25 reproductively active and four inactive adult male loggerhead sea turtles (86.6–107.0 cm SCLmin) captured from the Port Canaveral, FL, USA shipping channel to assess horizontal and vertical distributions. During the breeding period, male loggerheads aggregated (44% of 755 turtle days) in a 117.6 km² core area that encompassed the shipping channel. Median dive duration during the breeding period was 27 min (IQR = 15–42 min) and males spent 4% (IQR = 3–5%) of the time at the surface, with significantly shorter dives associated with reproductively active males. Migrant and resident males dispersed concurrently, with residents shifting > 30 km east across the continental shelf over a more protracted departure schedule than migrants. Dive duration and time spent at the surface increased through the fall. Cluster analysis revealed the strongest association for dive duration with sea state during and after the breeding period, with significantly longer dives during more turbulent conditions. In contrast, univariate associations with surface interval duration were not elucidated.     

Seasonal distribution patterns of juvenile loggerhead sea turtles (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Caretta caretta</Emphasis>) following capture from a shipping channel in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean

Thirty-four juvenile loggerhead sea turtles captured by trawling from the Charleston, South Carolina (USA), shipping channel (32°42′N; −79°47′W) between May 2004 and August 2007 were tagged with satellite transmitters to assess the extent to which they remained near the capture location given their collection along a seasonal migratory corridor. Seventy-five percent of juveniles were classified as seasonal residents. Migrants predominantly swam north in the spring and nomads wandered south in the summer, but predictive indicators for non-resident status were not identified. All but one juvenile generally remained south of 34°N, within 40 km of shore, and in waters <30 m deep throughout the year. Nine of 14 loggerhead sea turtles monitored during the winter remained exclusively over the continental shelf, three briefly occurred in oceanic habitats, and two foraged extensively in oceanic habitats. Residents distributed >15 km from shore between spring and autumn were three times as likely to occur in oceanic habitats in winter. Modest seasonal movements contrasted with adults tagged at similar latitudes and with juveniles tagged further north and suggest distinct foraging groups within a regional foraging ground.     

The drivers of risk to water security in Shanghai

Big cities are often said to have big water problems, and Shanghai is no exception. In this paper, we examine and compare the influence of the major factors that give rise to the risk of water insecurity in Shanghai. There is an extensive and diverse literature on these issues, dealt with in isolation, and here, we provide a synthesis of the literature, together with our own assessments and calculations, to assess what are the risks to Shanghai’s water supply and what is our degree of confidence in this assessment. We describe the systems that supply water to the city, and past and future changes in the systems, including changes in the glaciers that supply some water to the river, changes in climate, changes in land use, the construction of dams, and water diversions. We show how, at the same time as Shanghai is increasing its dependence on the Yangtze river, water diversions and sea level rise are increasing the risk that this water will be too saline to consume at certain times of the year. This analysis suggests that most of the major drivers of the risk to water security in Shanghai are within the power of environmental managers to control.     

Adsorptive removal of resorcinol on a novel ordered mesoporous carbon (OMC) employing COK-19 silica scaffold: Kinetics and equilibrium study

Phenolic compounds and their derivatives have been found in industrial wastewater, which pose threats to the natural environment. Ordered mesoporous carbon(OMC) has been identified as an ideal adsorbent possessing high specific surface area and large pore volume to alleviate these pollutants. A novel ordered mesoporous carbon was prepared using COK-19 template with the cubic Fm3 m structure for the first time. Ordered mesoporous silica COK-19 was synthesized and reported in 2015. Sucrose as the carbon precursor was impregnated into the mesopores of silica and converted to carbon through carbonization process using sulfuric acid as a catalyst. Ordered mesoporous carbon was obtained after the removal of silica framework using hydrofluoric acid. Boric acid was employed for the preparation of OMCs with tunable pore sizes in the range of 6.9–16.6 nm. Several characterization techniques such as nitrogen adsorption–desorption isotherms, transmission electron microscope(TEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, Boehm titration and elemental analysis were employed to characterize the OMCs. The pore size analysis and TEM images confirmed that OMC has replicated the mesostructure of the COK-19. Results obtained from adsorption kinetics and isotherms suggest that the Pseudo-second-order model and Langmuir isotherm well described the experimental data.     

Perfluoroalkyl carboxylates and sulfonates and precursors in relation to dietary source tracers in the eggs of four species of gulls (Larids) from breeding sites spanning Atlantic to Pacific Canada

In the present study, we identified and examined the spatial trends, sources and dietary relationships of bioaccumulative perfluorinated sulfonate (PFSA; C(6), C(8), and C(10) chain lengths) and carboxylate (PFCA; C(6) to C(15) chain lengths) contaminants, as well as precursor compounds including several perfluorinated sulfonamides, and fluorotelomer acids and alcohols, in individual eggs (collected in 2008) from four gull species [glaucous-winged (Larus glaucescens), California (Larus californicus), ring-billed (Larus delawarensis) and herring (Larus argentatus) gulls] from 15 marine and freshwater colony sites in provinces across Canada. The pattern of PFSAs was dominated by perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS; >89% of ΣPFSA concentration) regardless of egg collection location. The highest ΣPFSA concentrations were found in the eggs collected in the urbanized areas in the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River area [Big Chicken Island 308 ng/g ww, Toronto Harbour 486 ng/g ww, and Ile Deslauriers (HG) 299 ng/g ww]. Also, eggs from all freshwater colony sites had higher ΣPFSA concentrations, which were significant (p<0.05) in many cases, compared to the marine sites with the exception of the Sable Island colony in Atlantic Canada off the coast of Nova Scotia. C(6) to C(15) chain length PFCAs were detected in the eggs, although the pattern was variable among the 15 sites, where PFUnA and PFTrA dominated the pattern for most colonies. Like the ΣPFSA, the highest concentrations of ΣPFCA were found in the eggs from Big Chicken Island, Toronto Harbour, Ile Deslauriers (HG), and Sable Island, although not all freshwater sites had higher concentrations compared to marine sites. Dietary tracers [δ(15)N and δ(13)C stable isotopes (SIs)] revealed that PFSA and PFCA exposure is colony dependent. SI signatures suggested that gulls from most marine colony sites were exposed to PFCs via marine prey. The exception was the Mandarte Island colony in Pacific British Columbia, where PFSA and PFCA exposure appeared to be via terrestrial and/or freshwater prey consumption. The same was true for the freshwater sites where egg SIs suggested both aquatic and terrestrial prey consumption as the source for PFC exposure depending on the colony. Both aquatic (marine and freshwater) and terrestrial prey are likely sources of PFC exposure to gulls but exposure scenarios are colony-specific.     

Parameters of well-being and subjective health and their relationship with residential traffic noise exposure--a representative evaluation in Switzerland

In the present paper, the associations between residential traffic noise exposure from the noise sources--road, rail and aircraft--and self-reported indicators of health and well-being are investigated in a representative sample of the Swiss population. The study is based on record linkage of the Swiss GIS Noise Database (SonBase) and the Swiss Household Panel (SHP), a large panel survey with more than 10,000 respondents all over the country. A range of exposure-effect relationships of noise exposure and parameters of health and well-being such as self-reported health status, satisfaction with health, sleep disturbances, the intensity of the wish to move from the current residence as well as the awareness of "noise problems" at the place of living were investigated. Both unadjusted as well as models that controlled for age, sex, socioeconomic status, degree of urbanization at the place of residence, and personal living conditions were developed. A contribution of residential noise exposure as regards subjective estimates of health cannot been ruled out, but must be put into perspective as the effects of exposure measures were of rather small magnitude, especially compared to well-established determinants of health. Against the background of the explanatory power of classic health predictors, the present analyses allow one to gage the contribution of residential noise exposure on subjective health outcomes from a more general, integral point of view.