Spatiotemporal variation in the population ecology of scaly slipper lobsters <Emphasis Type="Italic">Scyllarides squammosus</Emphasis> in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands

Scaly slipper lobster (Scyllarides squammosus) population ecology was examined using tag/recapture information at Necker Island (23°30′N; 164°35′W), Gardner Pinnacles (25°00′N; 168°50′W), Maro Reef (25°30′N; 170°45′W), and Laysan Island (25°48′N; 171°45′W) in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI) USA from 2002 to 2008. Although many aspects of S. squammosus life history and population dynamics were similar to those of other scyllarids, somatic growth differed from its congers. Scyllarides squammosus growth abruptly declined at maturity and, because of this, growth at length was better described using the Schnute as opposed to the more commonly von Bertalanffy growth model. Growth varied among locations, and survival varied among years; thereby being the first documentation of variability in the life history of a scyllarid. This study has expanded knowledge of scyllarid biology and documented that spatiotemporal variability in biological characteristics must be considered to understand and describe the population ecology of this species and probably of other scyllarids.     

Implementing REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation): evidence on governance,evaluation and impacts from the REDD-ALERT project

The REDD-ALERT (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation from Alternative Land Uses in the Rainforests of the Tropics) project started in 2009 and finished in 2012, and had the aim of evaluating mechanisms that translate international-level agreements into instruments that would help change the behaviour of land users while minimising adverse repercussions on their livelihoods. Findings showed that some developing tropical countries have recently been through a forest transition, thus shifting from declining to expanding forests at a national scale. However, in most of these (e.g. Vietnam), a significant part of the recent increase in national forest cover is associated with an increase in importation of food and timber products from abroad, representing leakage of carbon stocks across international borders. Avoiding deforestation and restoring forests will require a mixture of regulatory approaches, emerging market-based instruments, suasive options, and hybrid management measures. Policy analysis and modelling work showed the high degree of complexity at local levels and highlighted the need to take this heterogeneity into account—it is unlikely that there will be a one size fits all approach to make Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+) work. Significant progress was made in the quantification of carbon and greenhouse gas (GHG) fluxes following land-use change in the tropics, contributing to narrower confidence intervals on peat-based emissions and their reporting standards. There are indications that there is only a short and relatively small window of opportunity of making REDD+ work—these included the fact that forest-related emissions as a fraction of total global GHG emissions have been decreasing over time due to the increase in fossil fuel emissions, and that the cost efficiency of REDD+ may be much less than originally thought due to the need to factor in safeguard costs, transaction costs and monitoring costs. Nevertheless, REDD+ has raised global awareness of the world’s forests and the factors affecting them, and future developments should contribute to the emergence of new landscape-based approaches to protecting a wider range of ecosystem services.     

Symptoms and musculoskeletal diseases in hospital nurses and in a group of university employees: a cross-sectional study

Background. Most studies have shown that nurses have a higher risk of developing musculoskeletal symptoms compared with other occupational groups. Aim. A cross-sectional study was performed to gain more insight into the prevalence rates of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) in nurses. Methods. The presence of musculoskeletal symptoms was revealed by personal interviews in a sample of 177 hospital nurses and in a reference group of 185 university employees. Musculoskeletal diseases were based on radiological examinations in all subjects. Results. Lower back pain (61% vs 42.2%) was the most frequently reported symptom, followed by neck pain (48.6% vs 38.4%) and shoulder pain (36.7% vs 25.9%), with a significantly higher prevalence in nurses. Women had about a 2-fold risk of upper limb region and neck pain compared with men. The most common abnormal findings on radiological examinations were disc herniations (n?=?40). Conclusions. Nurses showed a significantly higher risk of MSDs. Prevalence rates in nurses increased significantly with age. Musculoskeletal symptoms were also common in university employees. This suggests the need for effective intervention strategies involving workers’ active participation, in order to improve the process and organization of work and promote a positive psychosocial work environment.     

Vegetation Response to Western Juniper Slash Treatments

The expansion of piñon–juniper woodlands the past 100 years in the western United States has resulted in large scale efforts to kill trees and recover sagebrush steppe rangelands. It is important to evaluate vegetation recovery following woodland control to develop best management practices. In this study, we compared two fuel reduction treatments and a cut-and-leave (CUT) treatment used to control western juniper (Juniperus occidentalis spp. occidentalis Hook.) of the northwestern United States. Treatments were; CUT, cut-and-broadcast burn (BURN), and cut-pile-and-burn the pile (PILE). A randomized complete block design was used with five replicates of each treatment located in a curl leaf mahogany (Cercocarpus ledifolius Nutt. ex Torr. & A. Gray)/mountain big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata Nutt. spp. vaseyana (Rydb.) Beetle)/Idaho fescue (Festuca idahoensis Elmer) association. In 2010, 4 years after tree control the cover of perennial grasses (PG) [Sandberg’s bluegrass (Poa secunda J. Pres) and large bunchgrasses] were about 4 and 5 % less, respectively, in the BURN (7.1 ± 0.6 %) than the PILE (11.4 ± 2.3 %) and CUT (12.4 ± 1.7 %) treatments (P < 0.0015). In 2010, cover of invasive cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum L.) was greater in the BURN (6.3 ± 1.0 %) and was 50 and 100 % greater than PILE and CUT treatments, respectively. However, the increase in perennial bunchgrass density and cover, despite cheatgrass in the BURN treatment, mean it unlikely that cheatgrass will persist as a major understory component. In the CUT treatment mahogany cover increased 12.5 % and density increased in from 172 ± 25 to 404 ± 123 trees/ha. Burning, killed most or all of the adult mahogany, and mahogany recovery consisted of 100 and 67 % seedlings in the PILE and BURN treatments, respectively. After treatment, juniper presence from untreated small trees (<1 m tall; PILE and CUT treatments) and seedling emergence (all treatments) represented 25–33 % of pre-treatment tree density. To maintain recovery of herbaceous, shrub, and mahogany species additional control of reestablished juniper will be necessary.     

On sensitivity analysis: Let’s use it more!

The key factors that influence the population growth rate can be identified with sensitivity analysis. Caswell presented an algorithm based on vector calculus that speeds up, and improves the practicality of the application of the sensitivity analysis, by calculating the derivatives of the explicit elements from the population Leslie matrix. Despite the usefulness of the sensitivity analysis, it is still barely applied to empirical data, partially due to requirements of high quality demographic data and failure of compatibility between time intervals of field data collection and organism’s life stage timing. This can result in the absence of a certain vital rate as a separated element in the population projection matrix, and thus intricacy in obtaining its sensitivity. In this note we call the attention for the applied value of sensitivity analysis, and also we point to a simple formula that is easily implemented in Caswell Matlab algorithm, to calculate the sensitivity of a vital rate that is not explicit as a matrix element.     

Dynamics of the timberline in high mountain areas of the nether-polar Urals under the influence of current climate change

Changes in the altitudinal position of the timberline in high mountain areas of the Nether-Polar Urals and basic factors that influence such changes have been revealed on the basis of comparison of the age structure of Siberian larch (Larix sibirica) and arctic birch (Betula tortuosa) tree stands and photographs made in different years. On the mountain slopes studied, an upward shift of the timberline took place in areas covered in winter with thick snow (in the late 18th century), with Siberian larch being the pioneer species. Larch began colonizing areas with a thin snow cover in the 20th century. Birch appeared later and has since strengthened its positions. The increase in winter temperatures and precipitation facilitated the expansion of the forest.     

Imperfect chemical female mimicry in males of the ant Cardiocondyla obscurior

Winged and wingless males coexist in the ant Cardiocondyla obscurior. Wingless (“ergatoid”) males never leave their maternal colony and fight remorselessly among each other for the access to emerging females. The peaceful winged males disperse after about 10 days, but beforehand also mate in the nest. In the first 5 days of their life, winged males perform a chemical female mimicry that protects them against attack and even makes them sexually attractive to ergatoid males. When older, the chemical profile of winged males no longer matches that of virgin females; nevertheless, they are still tolerated, which so far has been puzzling. Contrasting this general pattern, we have identified a single aberrant colony in which all winged males were attacked and killed by the ergatoid males. A comparative analysis of the morphology and chemical profile of these untypical attacked winged males and the tolerated males from several normal colonies revealed that normal old males are still performing some chemical mimicry to the virgin queens, though less perfect than in their young ages. The anomalous attacked winged males, on the other hand, had a very different odour to the females. Our study thus exemplifies that the analysis of rare malfunctioning can add valuable insight on functioning under normal conditions and allows the conclusion that older winged males from normal colonies of the ant C. obscurior are guarded through an imperfect chemical female mimicry, still close enough to protect against attacks by the wingless fighters yet dissimilar enough not to elicit their sexual interest.     

Anticancer properties of medicinal plants and their bioactive compounds against breast cancer: a review on recent investigations

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Breast cancer (BC) is one of the most common and recurring diseases and the second leading cause of death in women. Despite prevention, diagnostics,...     

Hydrochemical characteristics and identification of groundwater pollution sources in tropical savanna

Groundwater pollution of the watershed is mainly influenced by the multifaceted interactions of natural and anthropogenic processes. In this study, classic chemical and multivariate statistical methods were utilized to assess the groundwater quality and ascertain the potential contamination sources affecting the groundwater quality of Galma sub-watershed in a tropical savanna. For this purpose, the data set of 18 groundwater quality variables covering 57 different sampling boreholes (BH) was used. The groundwater samples essentially contained the cations in the following order of dominance: Ca²⁺ ?>?Na⁺ ?>?Mg²⁺ ?>?K⁺. However, the anions had HCO₃^–?>?Cl^–?>?SO₄^–2?>?NO₃^– respectively. The hydrochemical facies classified the groundwater types of the sub-watershed into mixed Ca–Mg–Cl type of water, which means no cations and anions exceeds 50%. The second dominant water type was Ca–Cl. The Mg–HCO₃ water type was found in BH 9, and Na–Cl water type in BH 29 of the studied area. The weathering of the basement rocks was responsible for the concentrations of these ions in the groundwater chemistry of the sub-watershed. Hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) grouped the groundwater samples (boreholes) into five clusters that are statistically significant regarding the similarities of groundwater quality characteristics. The principal component analysis (PCA) extracted two major principal components explained around 65% of the variance and suggested the natural and anthropogenic processes especially the agricultural pollutants including synthetic fertilizers, and leaching of agricultural waste as the main factors affecting the groundwater quality. The integrated method proved to be efficient and robust for groundwater quality evaluation, as it guaranteed the precise assessment of groundwater chemistry in the sub-watershed of the tropical savanna. The findings of this investigation could be useful to the policy makers for developing effective groundwater management plans for the groundwater resources and protection of the sub-watershed.

     

Household solid fuel use with diabetes and fasting blood glucose levels among middle-aged and older adults in China

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - To explore the impacts of household solid fuel use for cooking and heating on diabetes and fasting blood glucose (FBG) levels, we used data from the...