Sex allocation and local mate competition in Old World non-pollinating fig wasps

The populations of many species are structured such that mating is not random and occurs between members of local patches. When patches are founded by a single female and all matings occur between siblings, brothers may compete with each other for matings with their sisters. This local mate competition (LMC) selects for a female-biased sex ratio, especially in species where females have control over offspring sex, as in the parasitic Hymenoptera. Two factors are predicted to decrease the degree of female bias: (1) an increase in the number of foundress females in the patch and (2) an increase in the fraction of individuals mating after dispersal from the natal patch. Pollinating fig wasps are well known as classic examples of species where all matings occur in the local patch. We studied non-pollinating fig wasps, which are more diverse than the pollinating fig wasps and also provide natural experimental groups of species with different male morphologies that are linked to different mating structures. In this group of wasps, species with wingless males mate in the local patch (i.e. the fig fruit) while winged male species mate after dispersal. Species with both kinds of male have a mixture of local and non-local mating. Data from 44 species show that sex ratios (defined as the proportion of males) are in accordance with theoretical predictions: wingless male species<wing-dimorphic male species<winged male species. These results are also supported by a formal comparative analysis that controls for phylogeny. The foundress number is difficult to estimate directly for non-pollinating fig wasps but a robust indirect method leads to the prediction that foundress number, and hence sex ratio, should increase with the proportion of patches occupied in a crop. This result is supported strongly across 19 species with wingless males, but not across 8 species with winged males. The mean sex ratios for species with winged males are not significantly different from 0.5, and the absence of the correlation observed across species with wingless males may reflect weak selection to adjust the sex ratio in species whose population mating structure tends not to be subdivided. The same relationship is also predicted to occur within species if individual females adjust their sex ratios facultatively. This final prediction was not supported by data from a wingless male species, a male wing-dimorphic species or a winged male species. Received: 27 July 1998 / Received in revised form: 11 January 1999 / Accepted: 16 January 1999     

Shareholder activism on environmental issues: A study of proposals at large US corporations (2000–2003)

Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) has carved out a niche in the financial world, and each year a large number of shareholder proposals are filed at public companies in the US related to issues of corporate social responsibility (CSR). While the primary interests of CSR activists remain distinct from those of traditional corporate governance (CG) activists, the two groups do share an interest in minimizing the risk of negative environmental or social impacts from the operations of the corporation. They also share the objective of achieving transparency and accountability in corporate decision‐making. In relation to this latter objective, they both face similar challenges concerning conflicts of interest among key institutional shareholders. This article examines the record of shareholder proposal filing and voting from 2000–2003 for 81 large US public corporations to determine the relative prominence of CSR shareholder activism and the prospects for effective CSR shareholder activism on key environmental issues. The analysis of these data finds that nearly half (45%) of all shareholder resolutions are related to CSR, and that those resolutions which combine issues of CSR with traditional CG activism appeal to slightly more shareholders than issues of CSR alone. The article also examines shareholder activism at the micro level with a case study of the voting record at ExxonMobil. The article finds that CSR‐related shareholder activism represents the majority of shareholder activism within that firm and that resolutions targeted at climate change are particularly well supported. These resolutions draw a connection between environmental risk and risk to shareholder value. While numerous challenges remain for both CG and CSR activists, the article concludes that reforms that strengthen shareholder rights and corporate governance more generally will also benefit CSR activists and the environmental policies they promote in particular. The article ends with some proposed solutions for addressing the perceived conflicts of interest in corporate governance and the shareholder voting process.     

Aligning science and policy to achieve evolutionarily enlightened conservation

There is increasing recognition among conservation scientists that long‐term conservation outcomes could be improved through better integration of evolutionary theory into management practices. Despite concerns that the importance of key concepts emerging from evolutionary theory (i.e., evolutionary principles and processes) are not being recognized by managers, there has been little effort to determine the level of integration of evolutionary theory into conservation policy and practice. We assessed conservation policy at 3 scales (international, national, and provincial) on 3 continents to quantify the degree to which key evolutionary concepts, such as genetic diversity and gene flow, are being incorporated into conservation practice. We also evaluated the availability of clear guidance within the applied evolutionary biology literature as to how managers can change their management practices to achieve better conservation outcomes. Despite widespread recognition of the importance of maintaining genetic diversity, conservation policies provide little guidance about how this can be achieved in practice and other relevant evolutionary concepts, such as inbreeding depression, are mentioned rarely. In some cases the poor integration of evolutionary concepts into management reflects a lack of decision‐support tools in the literature. Where these tools are available, such as risk‐assessment frameworks, they are not being adopted by conservation policy makers, suggesting that the availability of a strong evidence base is not the only barrier to evolutionarily enlightened management. We believe there is a clear need for more engagement by evolutionary biologists with policy makers to develop practical guidelines that will help managers make changes to conservation practice. There is also an urgent need for more research to better understand the barriers to and opportunities for incorporating evolutionary theory into conservation practice.     

Normal and abnormal fetal cardiac anatomy

The heart is often perceived as a difficult organ to understand by ultrasound during fetal life. This is undoubtedly reflected in the low detection rate of cardiac abnormalities as compared to those of most other organ systems in the fetus. In this article we start by updating classical concepts of cardiac embryology, many of which were previously difficult to understand since they were overly simplistic or purely observational. We then lead on to the structure and growth of the fully formed fetal heart where we review the anatomy and ultrasound appearances in detail and provide comparisons with major abnormalities. We emphasise the fact that a solid understanding of cardiac anatomy can enable those involved in fetal medicine to make full use of the views of the heart that are obtained by ultrasound and which are often only transient. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Persistence of Hepatitis A Virus in Fresh Produce and Production Environments,and the Effect of Disinfection Procedures: A Review

Although information is limited, it is evident that prolonged persistence of infectious Hepatitis A virus (HAV) is a factor in the transmission of the virus via fresh produce. Consequently, data on persistence of the virus on produce, and in environments relevant to production, such as soils, water and surfaces, are required to fully understand the dynamics of transmission of HAV via foods. Furthermore, information on effective disinfection procedures is necessary to implement effective post-harvest control measures. This review summarises current information on HAV persistence in fresh produce and on relevant disinfection procedures. On vegetables, HAV can remain infectious for several days; on frozen berries, it can persist for several months. HAV can remain infectious on surfaces for months, depending on temperature and relative humidity, and can survive desiccation. It can survive for several hours on hands. Washing hands can remove the virus, but further data are required on the appropriate procedure. Chlorination is effective in water, but not when HAV is associated with foodstuffs. Bleach and other sodium hypochlorite disinfectants at high concentrations can reduce HAV on surfaces, but are not suitable for use on fresh produce. There is only limited information on the effects of heating regimes used in the food industry on HAV. HAV is resistant to mild pasteurisation. Some food components, e.g. fats and sugars, can increase the virus’ resistance to higher temperatures. HAV is completely eliminated by boiling. Quantitative prevalence data are needed to allow the setting of appropriate disinfection log reduction targets for fresh produce.     

Host feeding and nutrient sufficiency for zooxanthellae in the sea anemone Aiptasia pallida

Nutrient sufficiency of zooxanthellae in the sea anemone Aiptasia pallida cultured in low nutrient seawater depends on the availability of particulate food to the host. Zooxanthellae in anemones unfed for 20 to 30 d exhibited the following characteristics of nutrient deficiency: cell division rates decreased; chlorophyll a content gradually decreased from 2 to <1 pg cell^–1; and C:N ratios increased from 7.5 to 16. Over a 3-mo period, algal populations in unfed anemones gradually decreased, indicating that zooxanthellae were lost faster than they were replaced by division. The mitotic index of zooxanthellae in unfed anemones was stimulated either by feeding the host or by the addition of inorganic N and P to the medium. Whether algae are nutrient-limited in hosts under field conditions has not been examined fully; however, C:N ratios in zooxanthellae from field-collected hosts are slightly higher (9.4 vs 7.5) than in hosts fed to repletion in laboratory cultures. This observation might indicate N limitation in the field.     

High-performance size exclusion chromatography with a multi-wavelength absorbance detector study on dissolved organic matter characterisation along a water distribution system

This study examined the associations between dissolved organic matter(DOM) characteristics and potential nitrification occurrence in the presence of chloramine along a drinking water distribution system. High-performance size exclusion chromatography(HPSEC) coupled with a multiple wavelength detector(200–280 nm) was employed to characterise DOM by molecular weight distribution, bacterial activity was analysed using flow cytometry, and a package of simple analytical tools, such as dissolved organic carbon, absorbance at 254 nm, nitrate,nitrite, ammonia and total disinfectant residual were also applied and their applicability to indicate water quality changes in distribution systems were also evaluated. Results showed that multi-wavelength HPSEC analysis was useful to provide information about DOM character while changes in molecule weight profiles at wavelengths less than 230 nm were also able to be related to other water quality parameters. Correct selection of the UV wavelengths can be an important factor for providing appropriate indicators associated with different DOM compositions. DOM molecular weight in the range of 0.2–0.5 k Da measured at210 nm correlated positively with oxidised nitrogen concentration(r = 0.99), and the concentrations of active bacterial cells in the distribution system(r = 0.85). Our study also showed that the changes of DOM character and bacterial cells were significant in those sampling points that had decreases in total disinfectant residual. HPSEC-UV measured at210 nm and flow cytometry can detect the changes of low molecular weight of DOM and bacterial levels, respectively, when nitrification occurred within the chloraminated distribution system.