Ancient specimens and DNA contamination: a case study from the 12S rRNA gene sequence of the "Linh Duong" bovid (Pseudonovibos spiralis)

In 1993, several unusual horn sheaths, collected in the South of Vietnam, were regarded as evidence for a new mammal species, Pseudonovibos spiralis. However, the taxonomic status of P. spiralis remains a highly controversial subject: firstly, it has been related to three different groups of the family Bovidae: Antilopini (gazelles), Bovini (oxen, bisons, and buffaloes), and Caprini sensu lato (goats, sheep and allies). Secondly, certain horns have been shown to be faked. Most recently, it has been suggested, on the basis of 12S rRNA gene sequences, that P. spiralis was a new species of buffalo. I demonstrate here that this conclusion was inaccurate, and base this on the grounds that: (1) the putative sequence of P. spiralis is shown to be a chimera obtained from three different species: Bos taurus, Bubalus bubalis and Saiga tatarica, and (2) several factors indicate that the specimen used was not authentic. This new study confirms earlier suggestions that the horns used to formally describe P. spiralis were bogus and were in fact derived from the horns of domesticated cattle (Bos taurus). The data suggest that P. spiralis never existed.     

Towards a Coastal Area Management Act for the Russian Federation

Coastal area management should be considered as an element of a more general philosophy—that of natural resource management—which is in the process of replacing the purely ‘protection of the environment’ approach which was dominated most of the 20th century. Specific legislation on coastal management has been adopted by many countries, and today steps have been taken to acumulate all experience accumulated and to harmonize legal regulations on the international level. For the Russian Federation, formerly the Soviet Union, with an enormous sea-shore line to cope with, it is a new experience to develop a concept and a legal regulation specifically tackling coastal area management. The draft of a legislative act on coastal area management reflects the attempts to find ways for harmonizing various economic, environmental and social interests in this huge area, encompassing relevant Russian legislation in force as well as international conventions and treaties, and taking into considerations and treatices, and taking into consideration foregin expereience in this field.     

Development and validation of a thermally regulated atmospheric simulation chamber (THALAMOS): A versatile tool to simulate atmospheric processes

Atmospheric simulation chambers, are unique tools for investigating atmospheric processes in the gas and heterogeneous phases. They can provide a controlled yet realistic environment that simulates atmospheric conditions. In the current study, a Teflon atmospheric simulation chamber of 600 L, named THALAMOS (thermally regulated atmospheric simulation chamber) has been developed and cross-validated. THALAMOS can be operated over the temperature range 233 to 373 K under both static and flow conditions. It is equipped with state of the art instrumentation (selective ion flow tube mass spectrometry (SIFT-MS), long path Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), various analyzers) for the in-line monitoring of both reactants and products. THALAMOS was validated by measuring the rate coefficients of well documented reactions, i.e. the reaction of ethanol with OH radicals and the reaction of dichloromethane with Cl atoms, in a wide temperature range. Two different detection techniques were used in parallel, FTIR and SIFT-MS, to internally cross-validate the obtained results. The measured rate coefficients are in excellent agreement, both between each other and with the literature recommended values. Furthermore, the gas phase oxidation of toluene by Cl atoms (kinetics and product yields) was studied in the temperature range of 253 to 333 K. To the best of our knowledge, THALAMOS is a unique facility on national level and among a few smog chambers internationally that can be operated in such a wide temperature range providing the scientific community with a versatile tool to simulate both outdoor and indoor physicochemical processes.     

Occurrence of Norovirus GIV in Environmental Water Samples from Belém City,Amazon Region,Brazil

Noroviruses are the major cause of non-bacterial acute gastroenteritis outbreaks in humans, with few reports about the occurrence of the norovirus GIV strain. We investigated the presence of norovirus GIV in surface water (river, bay, and stream) and untreated sewage, and we determined a positivity rate of 9.4 % (9/96). The strains genotyped were GIV.1. To our knowledge, this is the first report of GIV in Brazil.     

Roles of survival and dispersal in reintroduction success of Griffon vulture (Gyps fulvus).

The success of reintroduction programs greatly depends on the amount of mortality and dispersal of the released individuals. Although local environmental pressures are likely to play an important role in these processes, they have rarely been investigated because of the lack of spatial replicates of reintroduction. In the present study, we analyzed a 25-year data set encompassing 272 individuals released in five reintroduction programs of Griffon Vultures (Gyps fulvus) in France to examine the respective roles of survival and dispersal in program successes and failures. We use recent developments in multi-strata capture-recapture models to take into account tag loss in survival estimates and to consider and estimate dispersal among release areas. We also examined the effects of sex, age, time, area, and release status on survival, and we tested whether dispersal patterns among release areas were consistent with habitat selection theories. Results indicated that the survival of released adults was reduced during the first year after release, with no difference between sexes. Taking into account local observations only, we found that early survival rates varied across sites. However when we distinguished dispersal from mortality, early survival rates became equal across release sites. It thus appears that among reintroduction programs difference in failure and success was due to differential dispersal among release sites. We revealed asymmetrical patterns of dispersal due to conspecific attraction: dispersers selected the closest and the largest population. We showed that mortality can be homogeneous from one program to another while, on the contrary, dispersal is highly dependent on the matrix of established populations. Dispersal behavior is thus of major interest for metapopulation restoration and should be taken into account in planning reintroduction designs.     

Fuzzy modelling of chlorophyll production in a Brazilian upwelling system

In the context of coastal management the aim of this paper is to present the development of a fuzzy model through the application of a Genetic algorithm in order to select the most appropriate set of variables and improve our understanding with a set of rules. The case studied is the chlorophyll response as bioindicator of ecological status in the Northeast coastal upwelling system of Rio de Janeiro state, Southeastern of Brazil. The prediction of the fuzzy model has shown an improved performance when compared to the traditional approaches as Multiple Regression modelling. The results show that the set of inferred rules can assess three different water masses. Despite the increased occurrence of upwelling is observed in spring–summer period and some instability of the model, it is able to forecast some chlorophyll peaks. We conclude that the sampling frequency is crucial to reach a better performance.     

Modulation of male aggressiveness through different communication pathways

Communication plays a large role in resource competition, especially for potential mates, and is used by members of the competing sex to assess each other, and simultaneously to evaluate the other sex, which may be advertising its status. To assess the effects of female advertisement on male aggression, males of the decapod Aegla were paired according to body and armament size. Males were left to interact in five different treatments: with receptive females that could use both chemical and visual cues, non-receptive females that could use both types of cues, receptive females that could use only one cue, or no female in the aquarium. Fight duration, time spent in the most aggressive acts, latency period, number of antennal whips/fight duration, and time spent near the female were analyzed. The males had shorter and less intense confrontations when there was a receptive female that could signal with at least one modality. Winning males spent significantly more time near the receptive female only when both chemical and visual cues were present, when compared to the other treatments. The low level of aggression shown by the males may be related to information asymmetry due to the female’s choice: only the preferred male would receive information from the female, or males could compete for other resources that attract females. However, male aggression was modified by the presence of female chemical cues, whereas mate guarding was initiated only when both chemical and visual cues were present. Hence, male aggression can be downregulated by female receptivity.     

Melanin-based colour polymorphism signals aggressive personality in nest and territory defence in the tawny owl (Strix aluco)

Nest and territory defence are risky and potentially dangerous behaviours. If the resolution of life history trade-offs differs between individuals, the level of defence may also vary among individuals. Because melanin-based colour traits can be associated with life history strategies, differently coloured individuals may display different nest and territory defence strategies. We investigated this issue in the colour polymorphic tawny owl (Strix aluco) for which plumage varies from dark to light reddish melanic. Accordingly, we found that (1) our presence induced a greater response (flying around) from dark-coloured than light-coloured females and (2) dark reddish males suffered lower nest predation rates than light-coloured males. In experimentally enlarged broods, the probability that females reacted after we played back the hoot calls of a stranger male was higher if these females were lighter reddish; the opposite pattern was found in experimentally reduced broods with dark parents being more reactive than light parents. Finally, darker females alarmed more frequently when paired with a light than with a dark male, suggesting that partners adjust their behaviour to each other. We also tested whether colouration is used as a signal by conspecifics to adjust the level of their defensive behaviour. Accordingly, breeding females responded more vigorously to a dark than a light reddish stuffed tawny owl placed beside their nest. We conclude that melanin-based colouration is a signal of alternative nest and territory defence behaviour that depends on ecological factors.     

Regional transport and urban contributions to fine particle concentrations in southeastern Canada

The impact of various atmospheric transport directions on ambient fine particle (PM2.5) concentrations at several sites in southeastern Canada was estimated (for May-September) using back-trajectory analysis. Three-day back trajectories (four per day) were paired with 6-hr average PM2.5 mass concentrations measured using tapered element oscillating microbalances (TEOM). PM2.5 concentrations at rural locations in the region were affected by nonlocal sources originating in both Canada and the United States. Comparison of sites revealed that, on average, the local contribution to total PM2.5 in the greater Toronto area (GTA) is approximately 30-35%. At each location, average PM2.5 concentrations under south/southwesterly flow conditions were 2-4 times higher than under the corresponding northerly flow conditions. The chemical composition of both urban and rural PM2.5 was determined during two separate 2-week spring/summer measurement campaigns. Components identified included SO4(2-) NO3-, NH4+, black carbon and organic carbon (OC), and trace elements. Higher particle mass at the urban Toronto site was composed of a higher proportion of all components. However, black carbon, NO3-, NaCl, and trace elements were found to be the most enriched over the rural/regional background levels.     

Modeling Habitat Suitability for Complex Species Distributions by Environmental-Distance Geometric Mean

This paper presents a new habitat suitability modeling method whose main properties are as follows: (1) It is based on the density of observation points in the environmental space, which enables it to fit complex distributions (e.g. nongaussian, bimodal, asymmetrical, etc.). (2) This density is modeled by computing the geometric mean to all observation points, which we show to be a good trade-off between goodness of fit and prediction power. (3) It does not need any absence information, which is generally difficult to collect and of dubious reliability. (4) The environmental space is represented either by an expert-selection of standardized variables or the axes of a factor analysis [in this paper we used the Ecological Niche Factor Analysis (ENFA)].We first explain the details of the geometric mean algorithm and then we apply it to the bearded vulture (Gypaetus barbatus) habitat in the Swiss Alps. The results are compared to those obtained by the median algorithm and tested by jack-knife cross-validation. We also discuss other related algorithms (BIOCLIM, HABITAT, and DOMAIN). All these analyses were implemented into and performed with the ecology-oriented GIS software BIOMAPPER 2.0.The results show the geometric mean to perform better than the median algorithm, as it produces a tighter fit to the bimodal distribution of the bearded vulture in the environmental space. However, the median algorithm being quicker, it could be preferred when modeling more usual distribution.