Short retention times of stomach temperature loggers in free-living seabirds: is there hope in the spring?

Stomach temperature loggers have proved useful for the study of feeding activity in free-living seabirds, but their usage has been restricted because they are frequently dislodged and lost during the seabirds' regular regurgitation of indigestible prey remains. In the present study we examine the incidence of spontaneous regurgitation (pellet production) in free-living seabirds, consider the effect this has on the likely retrieval of stomach temperature loggers and present a structural modification of the logger housings which leads to a much lower incidence of regurgitation. Systems were tested on albatrosses, cormorants, gannets and penguins. Received: 15 July 1997 / Accepted: 31 October 1997     

Simultaneous hermaphroditism in the marine shrimp Lysmata wurdemanni (Caridea: Hippolytidae): an undescribed sexual system in the decapod Crustacea

Simultaneous hermaphroditism with outcrossing, a previously unconfirmed sexual system in decapod crustaceans, is documented in the shrimp Lysmata wurdemanni (Gibbes), using time-lapse video observations on mating in pairs of “female-phase” (FP) individuals. Copulations between FPs resulted in successful spawning and development of embryos. However, female-phase hermaphrodites maintained in isolation were unable to self-fertilize spawned eggs. All smaller individuals possessed characters typical of caridean males, including male gonopores, appendices masculinae, ejaculatory ducts, and cincinnuli on the first pleopods. However, the gonad of these male-phase (MP) individuals was an ovotestis with an undeveloped ovarian portion. FPs, which spawn eggs and incubate embryos, also had male gonopores and an ovotestis terminating in ejaculatory ducts containing sperm. In FPs, male pleopod characters were absent or reduced, and a female incubatory character, expanded pleopod flanges, showed a greater relative size. Smaller size classes of the population were composed only of MPs while larger size classes consisted of both MPs and FPs. “Transitionals,” individuals with MP characters but an ovotestis containing vitellogenic oocytes, were rare and overlapped completely in size with FP and larger MP individuals. It is suggested that not all MPs transform into FP hermaphrodites. Social interactions may mediate MP change into FP hermaphrodites in L. wurdemanni. The social system of L. wurdemanni and other Lysmata spp. may determine the exact form of the sexual system in these species. Received: 26 October 1997 / Accepted: 21 April 1998     

Effects of UV radiation of different wavebands on pigmentation, 15N-ammonium uptake, amino acid pools and adenylate contents of marine diatoms

Three marine diatoms Lauderia annulata Cleve, Odontella sinensis (Greville) Grunow and Thalassiosira rotula Meunier were exposed to ultraviolet (UV) radiation of different wavebands under controlled laboratory conditions (0.035 vol% CO₂, 18 °C). Several changes in the patterns of pigments in these organisms were seen depending on the waveband of UV radiation and species examined. UV-B and UV-B plus UV-A radiation led to a reduction in the overall pigment content of all three diatoms. The uptake of ¹⁵N-ammonium was less affected by 5-h UV-A (WG 320) but significantly reduced after UV-B and UV-B plus UV-A exposure. The pattern of free amino acid pools varied depending on the applied UV wavebands and the tested diatom. The main protein-bound amino acids of T. rotula decreased after 5-h UV irradiance except leucine. Contents of adenosine 5′-mono-, di-, and triphosphate (AMP, ADP and ATP) were affected differently by UV radiation; ATP values increased at the end of UV-B and UV-B plus UV-A exposure. These results have been discussed with reference to the impact of the different UV sources and the influence on the nitrogen metabolism in connection to pigments and supply with energy. Received: 13 May 1997 / Accepted: 11 October 1997     

Consequences of communal gall occupation and a test for kin discrimination in the aphid Tamalia coweni (Cockerell) (Homoptera: Aphididae)

This study investigated the consequences of communal gall induction on individual and group fitness in the aphid Tamaliacoweni. The possibilities that kin discrimination and foundress density are factors favoring communal gall occupation were examined. Clonally produced aphid foundresses were collected to create two treatments: clonal groups and groups of less closely related individuals. These were confined on suitable host plant tissue to compare their respective propensities towards communal behavior. There were no significant differences in the frequencies of communal gall occupation; therefore, active kin discrimination by T.coweni foundresses apparently does not play a role in their communal behavior, within the context of this experiment. In a second experiment, aphid foundress density on the host plant was manipulated in three treatments and was correlated with the frequency of communal gall occupation. Individual fitness was inversely related to the mean number of foundresses per gall. These results suggest that communal gall occupation does not necessarily represent mutual cooperation but may instead be the outcome of competition for limited gall sites on the host plant. However, natural selection at the clonal level may favor communal gall occupation under the conditions of resource limitation and high within-group relatedness. Received: 26 September 1997 / Accepted after revision: 28 March 1998     

Parents' views of teen driving risks, the role of parents, and how they plan to manage the risks

PROBLEM: There is limited information about how parents view teen driving risks and intend to handle these risks during the licensing process, and how they will respond to graduated licensing provisions. METHODS: Parents in Connecticut were interviewed when their teens got their learner's permit. The survey was undertaken when the state did not have a midnight restriction or a passenger restriction. RESULTS: Generally, parents were well aware of teen driving risks, thought parents should be thoroughly involved in the licensing process, and plan to be active participants themselves. DISCUSSION: Parents were concerned about the risk of driving after midnight and already restrict that behavior. However, parents do not seem to see or understand the risks of having even one teen passenger in the vehicle. IMPACT ON INDUSTRY: The views and existing practices of parents need to be taken into account in deciding on the provisions of graduated licensing legislation and how to best ensure acceptance and compliance.     

The interactive effects of conscientiousness,openness to experience,and political skill on job performance in complex jobs: The importance of context

Caveats concerning the ability of personality to predict job performance have been raised because of seemingly modest criterion‐related validity. The goal of the present research was to test whether narrowing the context via the type of job (i.e., jobs with complex task demands) and adding a social skill‐related moderator (i.e., political skill) would improve performance prediction. Further, along with political skill, the broad factor of personality demonstrated in prior research to have the strongest criterion validity (i.e., conscientiousness) was joined with a narrow construct closely related to openness to experience (i.e., learning approach) in a three‐way interactive prediction of supervisor‐rated task performance. With the employee–supervisor dyads among professionals, but not with the control group of non‐professional employees, task performance was predicted by the three‐way interaction, such that those high on all three received the highest performance ratings. Implications, strengths and limitations, and directions for future research are discussed. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Environmental risk mapping of accidental pollution and its zonal prevention in a city

Accidental releases of pollution can have severe environmental, societal, economic, and institutional consequences. This paper considers the use of risk mapping of accidental pollution events, and zonal prevention measures for alleviating the impact on large urban areas. An Environmental Pollution Accident Risk Mapping (EPARM) model is constructed according to a mapping index system supported by quantitative sub-models dedicated to evaluating the risk arising from different sources of potential accidental pollution. The EPARM approach consists of identifying suitable indexes, assessment of environmental risk at regional and national scales based on information on previous pollution accidents and the prevailing environmental and social conditions, and use of GIS to map the overall risk. A case study of pollution accidents in Minghang District, Shanghai, China is used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the model. The paper also proposes a systemic framework for accidental environmental pollution risk prevention, and detailed countermeasures for specific risk zones.     

Using long-term data for a reintroduced population to empirically estimate future consequences of inbreeding

Inbreeding depression is an important long-term threat to reintroduced populations. However, the strength of inbreeding depression is difficult to estimate in wild populations because pedigree data are inevitably incomplete and because good data are needed on survival and reproduction. Predicting future population consequences is especially difficult because this also requires projecting future inbreeding levels and their impacts on long-term population dynamics, which are subject to many uncertainties. We illustrate how such projections can be derived through Bayesian state-space modeling methods based on a 26-year data set for North Island Robins (Petroica longipes) reintroduced to Tiritiri Matangi Island in 1992. We used pedigree data to model increases in the average inbreeding level (F ) over time based on kinship of possible breeding pairs and to estimate empirically N_e/N (effective/census population size). We used multiple imputation to model the unknown components of inbreeding coefficients, which allowed us to estimate effects of inbreeding on survival for all 1458 birds in the data set while modeling density dependence and environmental stochasticity. This modeling indicated that inbreeding reduced juvenile survival (1.83 lethal equivalents [SE 0.81]) and may have reduced subsequent adult survival (0.44 lethal equivalents [0.81]) but had no apparent effect on numbers of fledglings produced. Average inbreeding level increased to 0.10 (SE 0.001) as the population grew from 33 (0.3) to 160 (6) individuals over the 25 years, giving a ratio of 0.56 (0.01). Based on a model that also incorporated habitat regeneration, the population was projected to reach a maximum of 331–1144 birds (median 726) in 2130, then to begin a slow decline. Without inbreeding, the population would be expected stabilize at 887–1465 birds (median 1131). Such analysis, therefore, makes it possible to empirically derive the information needed for rational decisions about inbreeding management while accounting for multiple sources of uncertainty.