Bristle-like integumentary structures at the tail of the horned dinosaur Psittacosaurus

A specimen of the horned dinosaur Psittacosaurus from the early Cretaceous of China is described in which the integument is extraordinarily well-preserved. Most unusual is the presence of long bristle-like structures on the proximal part of tail. We interpret these structures as cylindrical and possibly tubular epidermal structures that were anchored deeply in the skin. They might have been used in display behavior and especially if one assumes that they were colored, they may have had a signal function. At present, there is no convincing evidence which shows these structures to be homologous to the structurally different integumentary filaments of theropod dinosaurs. Independent of their homology, however, the discovery of bristle-like structures in Psittacosaurus is of great evolutionary significance since it shows that the integumentary covering of at least some dinosaurs was much more complex than has ever been previously imagined.     

Recognition of former nestmates during colony founding by the social wasp Polistes fuscatus (Hymenoptera: Vespidae)

Summary In the laboratory overwintered females of Polistes fuscatus preferentially associated with former nestmates during the founding of a colony. They did not associate with non-nestmates or only with nestmates with whom they had overwintered, but affiliated with all former nestmates, regardless of where the former nestmates overwintered.     

LAND USE AND ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNING: AN APPLICATION IN THE SOUTH CAROLINA COASTAL ZONE1

ABSTRACT: The purpose of this paper is to describe a land use and environmental planning model. Map overlays were used for analyzing and aggregating economic, social, and environmental data. Various land use categories were evaluated using a numerical scoring system. These scores were then used to assist in the development of land use regulations in a coastal county in South Carolina.     

Decrease in water-soluble 17beta-Estradiol and testosterone in composted poultry manure with time

Little attention has been paid to the environmental fate of the hormones 17beta-estradiol and testosterone excreted in animal waste. Land application of manure has a considerable potential to affect the environment with these endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs). Composting is known to decompose organic matter to a stable, humus-like material. The goal of the present study was to quantitatively assess levels of water-soluble 17beta-estradiol and testosterone in composting chicken manure with time. Chicken layer manure was mixed with hay, straw, decomposed leaves, and starter compost, adjusted to approximately 60% moisture, and placed into a windrow. A clay-amended windrow was also prepared. Windrows were turned weekly, and temperature, oxygen, and CO(2) in the composting mass were monitored for either 133 or 139 d. Commercial enzyme immunoassay kits were used to quantitate the levels of 17beta-estradiol and testosterone in aqueous sample extracts. Water-soluble quantities of both hormones diminished during composting. The decrease in 17beta-estradiol followed first-order kinetics, with a rate constant k = -0.010/d. Testosterone levels declined at a slightly higher rate than 17beta-estradiol (i.e., k = -0.015/d). Both hormones could still be measured in aqueous extracts of compost sampled at the conclusion of composting. The decline in water-soluble 17beta-estradiol and testosterone in extracts of clay-amended compost was not statistically different from normal compost. These data suggest that composting may be an environmentally friendly technology suitable for reducing, but not eliminating, the concentrations of these endocrine disrupting hormones at concentrated animal operation facilities.     

Community Sustainability Auditing

This paper presents a method for assessing a community's sustainability prospects at a point in time. It argues that an improved methodology is needed to support the development of local area indicators. The method presented is community sustainability auditing. The ethical, conservative, competitive and co-operative aspects of sustainability are emphasized.The method uses an indicator approach within a protocol loosely inspired by International Standards Organization procedures. This involves the development of a set of questions for audit purposes, definition of indicators, analysis of the indicators in the light of the questions and a report summarizing a community's sustainability prospects.     

Multivariate Bayesian analysis of atmosphere–ocean general circulation models

Numerical experiments based on atmosphere–ocean general circulation models (AOGCMs) are one of the primary tools in deriving projections for future climate change. Although each AOGCM has the same underlying partial differential equations modeling large scale effects, they have different small scale parameterizations and different discretizations to solve the equations, resulting in different climate projections. This motivates climate projections synthesized from results of several AOGCMs’ output. We combine present day observations, present day and future climate projections in a single highdimensional hierarchical Bayes model. The challenging aspect is the modeling of the spatial processes on the sphere, the number of parameters and the amount of data involved. We pursue a Bayesian hierarchical model that separates the spatial response into a large scale climate change signal and an isotropic process representing small scale variability among AOGCMs. Samples from the posterior distributions are obtained with computer-intensive MCMC simulations. The novelty of our approach is that we use gridded, high resolution data covering the entire sphere within a spatial hierarchical framework. The primary data source is provided by the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP) and consists of 9 AOGCMs on a 2.8 by 2.8 degree grid under several different emission scenarios. In this article we consider mean seasonal surface temperature and precipitation as climate variables. Extensions to our model are also discussed.     

Comparative costs of promiscuity and monogramy: A test of reproductive effort theory

Summary Sharp-tailed sparrows Ammospiza caudacuta and seaside sparrows A. maritima co-occupy salt marshes in northeastern North America and are ecologically similar. Female caudacuta care for their young unaided, in comparison to martima's dual parental behavior. The annual reproductive effort of female caudacuta is higher than that of female maritima. Under reproductive effort theory, as both species' reproductive output is the same, female caudacuta should have a lower probability of survival than female maritima. However, the annual survival of both groups was the same. We believe that these results are possible only in highly productive habitats, where the relative cost differences of derived and ancestral mating systems may not be as great as in less productive environments. Lack of penalty in terms of lifetime fitness may have set the stage for the evolution of promiscuity in the sharp-tailed sparrow.In spite of their emancipation from parental duties, male caudacuta survive no better than females. We conclude that activities not directly related to care of young, such as patrolling large home ranges, may entail as much risk or energy expenditure as parental duties do.     

Serum concentrations of perfluorooctanesulfonate and other fluorochemicals in an elderly population from Seattle, Washington

Perfluorooctanesulfonyl fluoride (POSF, C₈F₁₇SO₂F) related-materials have been used as surfactants, paper and packaging treatments, and surface (e.g., carpet, textile, upholstery) protectants. A metabolite, perfluorooctanesulfonate (PFOS, C₈F₁₇SO₃⁻), has been identified in the serum and liver of non-occupationally exposed humans and wildlife. Because of its persistence, an important question was whether elderly humans might have higher PFOS concentrations. From a prospective study designed to examine cognitive function in the Seattle (WA) metropolitan area, blood samples were collected from 238 dementia-free subjects (ages 65–96). High-pressure liquid chromatography-electrospray tandem mass spectrometry determined seven fluorochemicals: PFOS; N-ethyl perfluorooctanesulfonamidoacetate; N-methyl perfluorooctanesulfonamidoacetate; perfluorooctanesulfonamidoacetate; perfluorooctanesulfonamide; perfluorooctanoate; and perfluorohexanesulfonate. Serum PFOS concentrations ranged from less than the lower limit of quantitation (3.4 ppb) to 175.0 ppb (geometric mean 31.0 ppb; 95% CI 28.8–33.4). An estimate of the 95% tolerance limit was 84.1 ppb (upper 95% confidence limit 104.0 ppb). Serum PFOS concentrations were slightly lower among the most elderly. There were no significant differences by sex or years residence in Seattle. The distributions of the other fluorochemicals were approximately an order of magnitude lower. Similar to other reported findings of younger adults, the geometric mean serum PFOS concentration in non-occupational adult populations likely approximates 30–40 ppb with 95% of the population’s serum PFOS concentrations below 100 ppb.     

Female choice for parasite-free male satin bowerbirds and the evolution of bright male plumage

Summary Hamilton and Zuk proposed that bright male plumage may have evolved in males of polygynous species as a result of female preferences for males that are able to demonstrate their resistance to disease. They predicted an inverse correlation between female mating preferences and the level of parasitic infection of males. We found such a correlation between the level of infection by a common ectoparasite (Myrsidea ptilonorhynchi: Menoponidae) and mating success of male satin bowerbirds (Ptilonorhynchus violaceus). In addition, we tested and were able to confirm three other predictions derived from their model: that (1) older males had fewer parasites than their younger counterparts, (2) levels of individual parasitic infection are highly correlated between years, and (3) that individuals resighted in successive years are less parasitized than those that fail to return. These results support the bright male model, but they are also consistent with two other hypotheses that may explain plumage dimorphism based on the level of parasitic infection. The correlated infection model suggests that females choose males with few ectoparasites because of a correlation between the level of ectoparasitic infection and heritable resistance to internal infections. In the parasite avoidance model, females favor parasitefree males because it lowers their own prospects for parasitic infection. Our data did not show the predicted relationship between parasite numbers with plumage quality that is needed to support the bright male hypothesis, nor did it show the inverse correlation between male condition and parasite numbers that is predicted by both the bright male and correlated infection hypotheses. Our results are most consistent with the parasite avoidance hypothesis.     

Environmentally stratified sampling design for the development of Great Lakes environmental indicators

Understanding the relationship between human disturbance and ecological response is essential to the process of indicator development. For large-scale observational studies, sites should be selected across gradients of anthropogenic stress, but such gradients are often unknown for a population of sites prior to site selection. Stress data available from public sources can be used in a geographic information system (GIS) to partially characterize environmental conditions for large geographic areas without visiting the sites. We divided the U.S. Great Lakes coastal region into 762 units consisting of a shoreline reach and drainage-shed and then summarized over 200 environmental variables in seven categories for the units using a GIS. Redundancy within the categories of environmental variables was reduced using principal components analysis. Environmental strata were generated from cluster analysis using principal component scores as input. To protect against site selection bias, sites were selected in random order from clusters. The site selection process allowed us to exclude sites that were inaccessible and was shown to successfully distribute sites across the range of environmental variation in our GIS data. This design has broad applicability when the goal is to develop ecological indicators using observational data from large-scale surveys.