Predatory spider mimics acquire colony-specific cuticular hydrocarbons from their ant model prey

The integrity of social insect colonies is maintained by members recognising and responding to the chemical cues present on the cuticle of any intruder. Nevertheless, myrmecophiles use chemical mimicry to gain access to these nests, and their mimetic signals may be acquired through biosynthesis or through contact with the hosts or their nest material. The cuticular hydrocarbon profile of the myrmecophilous salticid spider Cosmophasis bitaeniata closely resembles that of its host ant Oecophylla smaragdina. Here, we show that the chemical resemblance of the spider does not arise through physical contact with the adult ants, but instead the spider acquires the cuticular hydrocarbons by eating the ant larvae. More significantly, we show that the variation in the cuticular hydrocarbon profiles of the spider depends upon the colony of origin of the ant larvae prey, rather than the parentage of the spider.     

Repeated hydrogen peroxide dosing briefly reduces cyanobacterial blooms and microcystin while increasing fecal bacteria indicators in a eutrophic pond

This study explored the effects of H₂O₂ on Cyanobacteria and non-target microbes using fluorometry, microscopy, flow cytometry, and high throughput DNA sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene during a series of mesocosm and whole-ecosystem experiments in a eutrophic pond in NY, USA. The addition of H₂O₂ (8 mg/L) significantly reduced Cyanobacteria concentrations during a majority of experiments (66%; 6 of 9) and significantly increased eukaryotic green and unicellular brown algae in 78% and 45% of experiments, respectively. While heterotrophic bacteria declined significantly following H₂O₂ addition in all experiments, bacteria indicative of potential fecal contamination (Escherichia coli, Enterococcus, fecal coliform bacteria) consistently and significantly increased in response to H₂O₂, evidencing a form of ‘pollution swapping’. H₂O₂ more effectively reduced Cyanobacteria in enclosed mesocosms compared to whole-ecosystem applications. Ten whole-pond H₂O₂ applications over a two-year period temporarily reduced cyanobacterial levels but never reduced concentrations below bloom thresholds and populations always rebounded in two weeks or less. The bacterial phyla of Cyanobacteria, Actinobacteria, and Planctomycetes were the most negatively impacted by H₂O₂. Microcystis was always reduced by H₂O₂, as was the toxin microcystin, but Microcystis remained dominant even after repeated H₂O₂ treatments. Although H₂O₂ favored the growth of eukaryotic algae over potentially harmful Cyanobacteria, the inability of H₂O₂ to end cyanobacterial blooms in this eutrophic waterbody suggests it is a non-ideal mitigation approach in high biomass ecosystems and should be used judiciously due to potential negative impacts on non-target organisms and promotion of bacteria indicative of fecal contamination.     

Tolerating an infection: an indirect benefit of co-founding queen associations in the ant Lasius niger

Pathogens exert a strong selection pressure on organisms to evolve effective immune defences. In addition to individual immunity, social organisms can act cooperatively to produce collective defences. In many ant species, queens have the option to found a colony alone or in groups with other, often unrelated, conspecifics. These associations are transient, usually lasting only as long as each queen benefits from the presence of others. In fact, once the first workers emerge, queens fight to the death for dominance. One potential advantage of co-founding may be that queens benefit from collective disease defences, such as mutual grooming, that act against common soil pathogens. We test this hypothesis by exposing single and co-founding queens to a fungal parasite, in order to assess whether queens in co-founding associations have improved survival. Surprisingly, co-foundresses exposed to the entomopathogenic fungus Metarhizium did not engage in cooperative disease defences, and consequently, we find no direct benefit of multiple queens on survival. However, an indirect benefit was observed, with parasite-exposed queens producing more brood when they co-founded, than when they were alone. We suggest this is due to a trade-off between reproduction and immunity. Additionally, we report an extraordinary ability of the queens to tolerate an infection for long periods after parasite exposure. Our study suggests that there are no social immunity benefits for co-founding ant queens, but that in parasite-rich environments, the presence of additional queens may nevertheless improve the chances of colony founding success.     

Thermochemical pretreatment of meat and bone meal and its effect on methane production

Since the solubilization of meat and bone meal (MBM) is a prerequisite in many MBM disposal approaches, enhancement of the solubilization by means of thermochemical pretreatment was investigated in this study at two temperatures (55°C and 131°C) and six sodium hydroxide (NaOH) concentrations (0, 1.25, 2.5, 5, 10 and 20 g/L). The MBM volatile solid (VS) reduction ratio was up to 66% and 70% at 55°C and 131°C, respectively. At the same temperature, the VS reduction ratio increased with the increase in the dosage of NaOH. The study on the methane (CH₄) production potential of pretreated MBM shows that the addition of NaOH at 55°C did not cause the inhibition of the succeeding CH₄ production process. However, CH₄ production was inhibited by the addition of NaOH at 131°C. The CH₄ production potential was in the range of 389 to 503 mL CH₄/g VS MBM and 464 to 555 mL CH₄/g VS MBM at 55°C and 131°C, respectively.     

Optimizing the biodiversity gain from agri-environment schemes

How best to optimize the biodiversity gain from agri-environment schemes (AES) has recently been identified as a key policy-relevant question. Here, the effects of two features of lowland agricultural landscapes on the abundance and diversity of larger moths are contrasted. Although both features bring about positive effects, hedgerow trees have a larger impact than 6 m wide grassy field margins. Whilst AES payments are given to create and maintain grass margins, no financial reward is currently offered for the retention of hedgerow trees. Furthermore, it was only in areas where the amount of land under AES was experimentally increased, by targeting farmers, that the presence of hedgerow trees resulted in a substantially higher abundance (+60%) and diversity (+38%) of moths. Thus, by using larger moths as bio-indicators of landscape-scale quality, it is demonstrated that improvements to the cost-effectiveness of AES could be achieved, firstly, by providing more appropriate financial rewards to farmers for different landscape features, and secondly, through landscape-scale targeting of farmers to encourage participation in AES.     

Migrating an incident reporting system to a CCPS process safety metrics model

A major chemical company established a formal incident investigation and reporting system several years ago. The original system focused heavily on worker-related injuries, illnesses, and near-misses and was used primarily to track statistics reportable to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). This Occupational Injury and Illness (OII) approach has been recognized to be an ineffective tool for measuring, predicting, and preventing process safety incidents. The Center for Chemical Process Safety (CCPS) recently published guidelines on how to establish safety metrics for the measurement and reduction of process safety incidents. The process safety metrics approach relies upon leading and lagging metrics to improve organization process safety. This paper is a case study of the analysis of one organization’s incident database, which represents approximately five years of data from over a dozen facilities. The aim of this investigation was to extract useful process safety metrics from the incident investigation and reporting system, which would be pertinent to the types of process units and process functions at these facilities. This paper will discuss the approach taken to extract process incident information from an OII-based database and present the difficulties of performing an analysis on such a database. This paper provides guidance on how to migrate an existing OII-based reporting system to a program that includes process safety metrics in accordance with industry best practices.