The reintroduction and reinterpretation of the wild

This paper is concerned with changing social representations of the “wild,” in particular wild animals. We argue that within a contemporary Western context the old agricultural perception of wild animals as adversarial and as a threat to domestication, is being replaced by an essentially urban fascination with certain emblematic wild animals, who are seen to embody symbols of naturalness and freedom. On closer examination that carefully mediatized “naturalness” may be but another form of domestication. After an historical overview of the human-animal, domestic-wild construction, an anthropological approach is used to interpret the social representation of wild animals held by different social actors — farmers, hunters, and tourists — within the context of an inhabited National Park, that of the Cévennes in south east France. Within the Park, the domestic and the wild, along with agriculture, hunting, conservation, re-introduced wild animals, and tourists cohabit. It is argued that changes in the representation of “wildness” may well be an important indicator of changes in the social representation of nature.     

Non-host organisms affect transmission processes in two common trematode parasites of rocky shores

The transmission of free-living trematode stages is mediated by various environmental factors, of which the presence of ambient organisms within the host space is a potential major determinant. In two laboratory mesocosm experiments, we investigated the influence of four intertidal rocky shore species on transmission success of cercariae of the digenean trematodes Echinostephilla patellae (encysting in the tissue of blue mussels Mytilus edulis) and Parorchis acanthus (encysting on mussel shells). Encystment success of both parasite species was significantly lower in the presence of test organisms when compared to controls. Observations revealed that barnacles Austrominius modestus actively filtered cercariae, whereas the larvae were obstructed by the seaweeds Corallina officinalis and Fucus serratus. Anemones Actinia equina both physically disturbed and consumed cercariae. In a further laboratory experiment, grazing gastropods (Littorina littorea, Patella vulgata, and Gibbula umbilicalis) were found to significantly reduce the numbers of P. acanthus metacercariae in artificially prepared dishes by ingestion of cysts. Our results suggest that non-host organisms may play a key role in regulating the transmission of free-living trematode stages in rocky shore ecosystems, which is especially important with regard to the relative diversity and density of species in these habitats. The findings also emphasize the need to include parasites into marine food webs, since cercariae seem to be consumed by certain organisms to a considerable extent and could possibly represent an important energy source.     

The boundary between European and Asian freshwater ichthyofaunas in the Arctic part of the Polar Urals

The spatial distribution of ichthyofauna in water bodies of the northern Polar Urals is reviewed. Four lake types are distinguished according to the species composition of fishes. The faunistic ranking of water bodies has been performed. The zoogeographic boundary between the ranges of the European and Siberian ichthyofaunas in the freshwater part of the Arctic has been determined.     

Developing a National Indicator of Soil Quality on U.S Forestlands: Methods and Initial Results

The Montreal Process was formed in 1994 to develop an internationally agreed upon set of criteria and indicators for the conservation and sustainable management of temperate and boreal forests. In response to this initiative, the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) and Forest Health Monitoring (FHM) programs of the United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service have implemented soil measurements as part of a national monitoring program to address specific questions related to the conservation of soil and water resources. Integration of soil assessments into the national FIA program provides for systematic monitoring of soil properties across all forested regions of the U.S. using standardized collection, laboratory, and statistical procedures that are compatible with existing forest inventory data. The resulting information will provide quantitative benchmarks for regional, national, and international reporting on sustainable forest management and enhance our understanding of management effects on soil quality. This paper presents an overview of the FIA soil monitoring program, outlines the field and laboratory protocols as currently implemented, and provides examples of how these data may be used to assess indicators of sustainable management as defined by the Montreal Process.     

A One-Year Survey of Norovirus in UK Oysters Collected at the Point of Sale

Contamination of bivalve shellfish, particularly oysters, with norovirus is recognised as a food safety risk and a potential contributor to the overall burden of gastroenteritis in the community. The United Kingdom (UK) has comprehensive national baseline data on the prevalence, levels, and seasonality of norovirus in oysters in production areas resulting from a previous two-year study (2009–2011). However, previously, data on final product as sold to the consumer have been lacking. As part of a wider project to establish the overall burden of foodborne norovirus in the UK, this study aimed to address this data gap. A one-year survey of oysters collected from the point-of-sale to the consumer was carried out from March 2015 to March 2016. A total of 630 samples, originating in five different European Union Member States, were collected from 21 regions across the UK using a randomised sampling plan, and tested for norovirus using a method compliant with ISO 15216-1, in addition to Escherichia coli as the statutory indicator of hygiene status. As in the previous production area study, norovirus RNA was detected in a high proportion of samples (68.7%), with a strong winter seasonality noted. Some statistically significant differences in prevalences and levels in oysters from different countries were noted, with samples originating in the Netherlands showing lower prevalences and levels than those from either the UK or Ireland. Overall, levels detected in positive samples were considerably lower than seen previously. Investigation of potential contributing factors to this pattern of results was carried out. Application of normalisation factors to the data from the two studies based on both the numbers of norovirus illness reports received by national surveillance systems, and the national average environmental temperatures during the two study periods resulted in a much closer agreement between the two data sets, with the notably different numbers of illness reports making the major contribution to the differences observed in norovirus levels in oysters. The large majority of samples (76.5%) contained no detectable E. coli; however, in a small number of samples (2.4%) levels above the statutory end product standard (230 MPN/100 g) were detected. This study both revealed the high prevalence of norovirus RNA in oysters directly available to the UK consumer, despite the high level of compliance with the existing E. coli-based health standards, while also highlighting the difficulty in comparing the results of surveys carried out in different time periods, due to variability in risk factors.     

First Report of the Presence of Hepatitis E Virus in Scottish-Harvested Shellfish Purchased at Retail Level

Shellfish samples (n = 310) purchased from local supermarkets were analysed for the presence of hepatitis E virus (HEV) by nested RT-PCR and real-time qRT-PCR. Overall, 2.9% of samples tested positive for the presence of HEV. Phylogenetic analysis of HEV sequences revealed all as being genotype 3 HEV. This is the first report of the detection of HEV in commercially sold shellfish in Scotland. These findings may encourage further research that will help address the gaps in the knowledge in respect to foodborne transmission of HEV in Scotland and the rest of the United Kingdom.     

A Biogeochemical Comparison of Two Well-Buffered Catchments with Contrasting Histories of Acid Deposition

Much of the biogeochemical cycling research in catchments in the past 25 years has been driven by acid deposition research funding. This research has focused on vulnerable base-poor systems; catchments on alkaline lithologies have received little attention. In regions of high acid loadings, however, even well-buffered catchments are susceptible to forest decline and episodes of low alkalinity in streamwater. As part of a collaboration between the Czech and U.S. Geological Surveys, we compared biogeochemical patterns in two well-studied, well-buffered catchments: Pluhuv Bor in the western Czech Republic, which has received high loading of atmospheric acidity, and Sleepers River Research Watershed in Vermont, U.S.A., where acid loading has been considerably less. Despite differences in lithology, wetness, forest type, and glacial history, the catchments displayed similar patterns of solute concentrations and flow. At both catchments, base cation and alkalinity diluted with increasing flow, whereas nitrate and dissolved organic carbon increased with increasing flow. Sulfate diluted with increasing flow at Sleepers River, while at Pluhuv Bor the sulfate-flow relation shifted from positive to negative as atmospheric sulfur (S) loadings decreased and soil S pools were depleted during the 1990s. At high flow, alkalinity decreased to near 100 μeq L^-1 at Pluhuv Bor compared to 400 μeq L^-1 at Sleepers River. Despite the large amounts of S flushed from Pluhuv Bor soils, these alkalinity declines were caused solely by dilution, which was greater at Pluhuv Bor relative to Sleepers River due to greater contributions from shallow flow paths at high flow. Although the historical high S loading at Pluhuv Bor has caused soil acidification and possible forest damage, it has had little effect on the acid/base status of streamwater in this well-buffered catchment.     

What Anthropogenic Radionuclides (90Sr and 137Cs in Atmospheric Deposition, Surface Soils and Aeolian Dusts Suggest for Dust Transport over Japan

Currently, atmospheric anthropogenic radionuclides (particulate) are controlled by suspension of the surface dust containing those radionuclides (resuspension). We have found, therefore, that such radionuclides can be used as tracers of the surface dust suspension, transport and its subsequent deposition in distant areas. The ¹³⁷Cs/⁹⁰Sr activity ratios in the atmospheric deposition, without the direct influence of nuclear tests and accidents, at the Meteorological Research Institute (MRI, Tsukuba, Japan) during the 1990s were fairly low (average: 2.1). This value is not in agreement with the ratios in Japanese surface soils (range of averages: 4–7), which had been considered as the primary source of the deposited dust. This suggests that the current atmospheric dust deposition in Japan is a mixture of local and remote components. The remote component could be an aeolian dust that has been transported long distances from arid areas. The major component is most likely to be Asian dust. It was further hypothesized that other remote source may exist beyond the Asian domain, based on accumulated observations and model results. To obtain more information about the dust transport, Sahara dust deposited in Monaco in 2002 and a suspended dust collected in the Taklamakan area in 2001 were analyzed for ⁹⁰Sr and ¹³⁷Cs. The Taklamakan dust exhibited a ¹³⁷Cs/⁹⁰Sr ratio of about 4, which is within the range of atmospheric deposition observed at the MRI, while the Sahara dust exhibited a higher ¹³⁷Cs/⁹⁰Sr ratio (about 13). Although the present Sahara datum was negative for our hypothesis of ‘hyper-range transport’, the seasonal change of the ¹³⁷Cs/⁹⁰Sr ratio in the atmospheric deposition observed at the MRI requires an aeolian dust source having a low ¹³⁷Cs/⁹⁰Sr ratio, other than Asian dust.