Green abalone, <Emphasis Type="Italic">Haliotis fulgens</Emphasis> infected with the agent of withering syndrome do not express disease signs under a temperature regime permissive for red abalone, <Emphasis Type="Italic">Haliotis rufescens</Emphasis>

All California abalone species have been shown to be susceptible to infection with the bacterial agent of abalone withering syndrome (WS), although expression of signs of the disease may vary between species and with environmental conditions. We examined thermal modulation of WS expression in green abalone Haliotis fulgens at temperatures mimicking El Niño (18.0°C) and La Niña (14.2°C) events in southern California. In contrast to results obtained from previous experiments with red abalone, H. rufescens, the higher temperature did not result in higher infection intensities of the causative agent of the disease nor increase in clinical signs of disease. These results demonstrate clear differences in thermal regulation of disease expression between abalone species, and provide further data suggesting that green abalone should be a target species of recovery efforts in southern California, where WS is endemic.     

Proximate mechanisms of contest competition among female Bwindi mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei)

Socioecological models provide a framework for predicting how animals respond competitively to the abundance and distribution of food resources. Testing predictions of socioecological models requires analysis of relationships among food resource characteristics, competitive behaviors, and measures of rank-related skew in energy balance or reproductive success. A positive relationship between dominance rank and energy balance has been observed among female mountain gorillas in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda. This study examines the proximate mechanisms underlying feeding competition among those females. To assess the contestability of food resources, we measured the time a female spent feeding at a food site (food site residence time). We also examined the relationship between dominance rank and the access to resources, as well as the rate, context, and direction of aggression, and the number of neighbors in close proximity. As predicted, females had longer food site residence times and higher aggression rates with fruit and decaying wood than with herbaceous vegetation, suggesting that those resources may be contestable. Aggression was predominantly directed down the dominance hierarchy, although against expectation, rank was not significantly correlated with aggression rates or the time spent feeding on contestable foods. Higher-ranking females had significantly fewer neighbors, suggesting that lower-ranking females avoid higher-ranking ones. This study provides additional support for the claim that there is variability in how primates respond to the quality and distribution of food resources and that avoidance as a strategy to cope with feeding competition may result in similar skew in energy balance as rank-related aggression.     

硼工业粉尘污染特征的研究

报告了硼加工车间空气中粗、细颗粒物的分布,包括粒子数量分布和质量分布.鄂破、球磨、雷蒙磨车间的粉尘质量浓度分别高达28,33和23 mg/m3.粉尘中PM10所占比例分别为62.1%,62.7%和56.5%.而在PM10中,细粒子比例较低,分别为10.1%,14.2%和9.22%,但PM2.5的质量浓度分别为1.76,2.94和1.20 mg/m3.用ICP-MS测定的球磨和雷蒙磨车间空气中硼的质量浓度分别为425.6和669.1 μg/m3,其污染水平是相当高的.      

Areawide Trace Metal Concentrations Measured by Multielement Neutron Activation Analysis

A suite of 24 hour high volume air particulate samples, collected June 11–12,1969, at 25 locations in the Northwest Indiana area, has been analyzed by nondestructive neutron activation analysis for 30 trace elements. The use of Ge(Li) gamma-ray spectrometry and computer assisted data reduction, combined with 2-4 replications of each analysis, yielded precise results which allowed a study of the geographical distribution patterns of the elements. Some elements, such as Na, K, Ti, Al, Sm, and Eu, show only minor concentration variations over the area,while others, such as Cu, W, Cr, Zn, Sb, Ga, Br, Ag, Fe, and Ce, show large variations, indicative of important local sources. Similar distribution patterns and high correlation coefficients suggest common sources for several elements. The variations of most heavy elements significantly exceed previously reported variations of total particulate, indicating the latter to be an unsatisfactory guide for elemental distribution, especially near pollution sources. Three representative locations for measurement of elemental abundances in the area are suggested. The influence of meteorological conditions and the potential Lake Michigan pollution hazard are discussed     

Gaseous Sulfur Pollutants from Urban and Natural Sources

Major aspects of the circulation through the atmospheric environment of sulfur pollutants have been estimated, including source magnitudes, residual atmospheric concentrations, and scavenging processes. The compounds considered include SO₂ and H₂S, as well as sulfates. One-third of the sulfur reaching the atmosphere comes from pollutant sources, mainly as SO₂. Within the atmosphere there is a net transfer of sulfur from land to ocean areas. Pollutant sources annually amount to 73 × 10⁶ tons as sulfur while natural sources amount to 142 × 10⁶ tons, mainly as H₂S and sulfate sea spray. More than two thirds of the natural and pollutant sulfur emissions occur in the northern hemisphere. When only pollutant emissions are considered, 93 per cent occur in the northern hemisphere.     

Homeowner Attitudes and Practices Towards Residential Landscape Management in Ohio, USA

This study describes the results of a survey of 432 homeowners in Ohio, USA concerning their perceptions and practices regarding management of residential landscapes. The results reveal that outdoor residential environments are extremely important to homeowners, who tend to view their yards as serving multiple functions: a place to observe nature and to socialize as well as a place of beauty and recreation. Use of a lawn care company to apply chemicals is reported by 22 % of respondents, while 40 % either apply chemicals themselves or have someone other than a lawn care company do it. Logistic regressions reveal that factors influencing a homeowner's decision to employ a lawn care company or to apply chemicals themselves include: household income (+), perceived impacts on the environment (-), whether the next door neighbor does it (+), and type of residential environment (rural -, suburban and urban +). A theme that emerges throughout the study is the perceived importance of the role of the lawn in residents' sense of social status or acceptance in the neighborhood. This perception can be viewed as a positive in ensuring that residential environments are well maintained, but also as a negative resulting in environmental degradation or presenting a barrier to creativity in the development of alternative residential environments. Specific policy implications of these findings are that efforts aimed at educating homeowners about the environmental impacts of their lawn care choices are likely to have more success if they are directed at neighborhood groups rather than individuals, show that alternatives are easy to adopt, affordable, and can produce the characteristics of lawns that homeowners seek.     

Effects of fishing rope strength on the severity of large whale entanglements

Entanglement in fixed fishing gear affects whales worldwide. In the United States, deaths of North Atlantic right (Eubalaena glacialis) and humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) have exceeded management limits for decades. We examined live and dead whales entangled in fishing gear along the U.S. East Coast and the Canadian Maritimes from 1994 to 2010. We recorded whale species, age, and injury severity and determined rope polymer type, breaking strength, and diameter of the fishing gear. For the 132 retrieved ropes from 70 cases, tested breaking strength range was 0.80–39.63 kN (kiloNewtons) and the mean was 11.64 kN (SD 8.29), which is 26% lower than strength at manufacture (range 2.89–53.38 kN, mean = 15.70 kN [9.89]). Median rope diameter was 9.5 mm. Right and humpback whales were found in ropes with significantly stronger breaking strengths at time of manufacture than minke whales (Balaenoptera acuturostrata) (19.30, 17.13, and 10.47 mean kN, respectively). Adult right whales were found in stronger ropes (mean 34.09 kN) than juvenile right whales (mean 15.33 kN) and than all humpback whale age classes (mean 17.37 kN). For right whales, severity of injuries increased since the mid 1980s, possibly due to changes in rope manufacturing in the mid 1990s that resulted in production of stronger ropes at the same diameter. Our results suggest that broad adoption of ropes with breaking strengths of ≤7.56 kN (≤1700 lbsf) could reduce the number of life‐threatening entanglements for large whales by at least 72%, and yet could provide sufficient strength to withstand the routine forces involved in many fishing operations. A reduction of this magnitude would achieve nearly all the mitigation legally required for U.S. stocks of North Atlantic right and humpback whales. Ropes with reduced breaking strength should be developed and tested to determine the feasibility of their use in a variety of fisheries.     

Enforcement Authority and Vegetation Change at Kumbhalgarh Wildlife Sanctuary,Rajasthan, India

Land cover change in protected areas is often associated with human use, especially illicit extraction, but the direction and spatial distribution of such effects and their drivers are poorly understood. We analyze and explain the spatial distribution of vegetation change at the Kumbhalgarh Wildlife Sanctuary in the Aravalli range of Rajasthan, India using remotely sensed data and observation of conservation institutions. Two satellite images are examined in time series over the 13 years following the founding of the sanctuary through a cross-tabulation technique of dominant classes of vegetation density. The resulting change trajectories are compared for their relative distance to high-traffic forest entrance points for local users. The results show 28% of the study area undergoing change, though in multiple trajectories, with both increasing and decreasing density of vegetation in discrete patches. Areas of change are shown to be closer to entrance points than areas experiencing no change. The patchiness of change results from complex issues in local enforcement authority for middle and lower-level officials in Forest Department bureaucracy, leading to further questions about the efficacy and impact of use restrictions in Protected Areas.     

Thiram-induced toxic liver injury in male Sprague-Dawley rats

A single i.p. dose (120 mg/kg) of thiram given to male Sprague-Dawley rats caused a significant increase in the activity of SGOT and SGPT 24 hr post-treatment indicating liver damage. A considerable diminution in the serum cholinesterase activity was also noted in the treated rats as against the control animals. Additional evidence for thiram-induced liver toxicity is provided by the observation that there was approximately 50% inhibition of the activity of hepatic microsomal benzphetamine N-demethylase with a concomitant decrease in the concentration of cytochrome P-450, an important component of the mixed-function oxidase system. Although not significant, hepatic glutathione levels were also depleted by thiram, probably making the liver susceptible to toxic injury.