Winter distribution and haul-out behaviour of female Antarctic fur seals from South Georgia

Telemetry-based techniques have revealed the foraging patterns of many land breeding marine predators, especially during the summer breeding season. However, during the winter, when freed from the constraints of provisioning their young, such animals are more difficult to track. Using geolocation (Global Location Sensing, GLS) loggers and satellite tags (Platform Terminal Transmitters, PTTs) we successfully tracked 16 female Antarctic fur seals from South Georgia during the austral winter. The majority of females concentrated their winter foraging in the waters around the breeding beaches (90% of locations were within 510 km). However, as the winter progressed, two of the seals spent a number of months to the south, in and around the seasonal ice edge, and five seals migrated north and northwest from South Georgia. Four of these seals clearly crossed the Polar Front and two reached the Patagonian Shelf, apparently exploiting the continental shelf edge and the Subantarctic Front. Activity (saltwater immersion) data suggested that seals spent the majority of the winter months at sea but there were rare occasions when seals hauled out, either on land or on ice floes. We obtained data from two individuals that enabled us to compare the performance of PTT and GLS devices. For these seals the mean distance between GLS and PTT locations was 122 and 132 km. Although the recovery rates were low in this study, given improvements in attachment techniques, we have demonstrated that these micro-geolocation loggers provide an ideal tool with which to study the long-term dispersal of diving marine predators at larger scales. This is the first study to show that female fur seals from South Georgia remain at sea for almost the entirety of the non-breeding winter period. Using land-based observations it has been assumed that the fur seal population at South Georgia has little temporal overlap with the krill fishery that operates mostly during the winter months in this region. We have shown that a large proportion of the female fur seals that breed on South Georgia potentially remain in the vicinity of the island and are thus in direct competition with the region’s fisheries activities.     

Emerging prion disease drives host selection in a wildlife population

Infectious diseases are increasingly recognized as an important force driving population dynamics, conservation biology, and natural selection in wildlife populations. Infectious agents have been implicated in the decline of small or endangered populations and may act to constrain population size, distribution, growth rates, or migration patterns. Further, diseases may provide selective pressures that shape the genetic diversity of populations or species. Thus, understanding disease dynamics and selective pressures from pathogens is crucial to understanding population processes, managing wildlife diseases, and conserving biological diversity. There is ample evidence that variation in the prion protein gene (PRNP) impacts host susceptibility to prion diseases. Still, little is known about how genetic differences might influence natural selection within wildlife populations. Here we link genetic variation with differential susceptibility of white-tailed deer to chronic wasting disease (CWD), with implications for fitness and disease-driven genetic selection. We developed a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) assay to efficiently genotype deer at the locus of interest (in the 96th codon of the PRNP gene). Then, using a Bayesian modeling approach, we found that the more susceptible genotype had over four times greater risk of CWD infection; and, once infected, deer with the resistant genotype survived 49% longer (8.25 more months). We used these epidemiological parameters in a multi-stage population matrix model to evaluate relative fitness based on genotype-specific population growth rates. The differences in disease infection and mortality rates allowed genetically resistant deer to achieve higher population growth and obtain a long-term fitness advantage, which translated into a selection coefficient of over 1% favoring the CWD-resistant genotype. This selective pressure suggests that the resistant allele could become dominant in the population within an evolutionarily short time frame. Our work provides a rare example of a quantifiable disease-driven selection process in a wildlife population, demonstrating the potential for infectious diseases to alter host populations. This will have direct bearing on the epidemiology, dynamics, and future trends in CWD transmission and spread. Understanding genotype-specific epidemiology will improve predictive models and inform management strategies for CWD-affected cervid populations.     

Enhanced disinfection of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Escherichia coli</Emphasis> and bacteriophage MS2 in water using a copper and silver loaded titanium dioxide nanowire membrane

Titanium dioxide (TiO₂) is a widely used photocatalyst that has been demonstrated for microorganism disinfection in drinking water. In this study, a new material with a novel structure, silver and copper loaded TiO₂ nanowire membrane (Cu-Ag-TiO₂) was prepared and evaluated for its efficiency to inactivate E. coli and bacteriophage MS2. Enhanced photo-activated bactericidal and virucidal activities were obtained by the Cu-Ag-TiO₂ membrane than by the TiO₂, Ag-TiO₂ and Cu-TiO₂ membranes under both dark and UV light illumination. The better performance was attributed to the synergies of enhanced membrane photoactivity by loading silver and copper on the membrane and the synergistic effect between the free silver and copper ions in water. At the end of a 30 min test of deadend filtration under 254 nm UV irradiation, the Cu-Ag-TiO₂ membrane was able to obtain an E. coli removal of 7.68 log and bacteriophage MS2 removal of 4.02 log, which have met the US EPA standard. The free metal ions coming off the membrane have concentrations of less than 10 ppb in the water effluent, far below the US EPA maximum contaminant level for silver and copper ions in drinking water. Therefore, the photo-activated disinfection by the Cu-Ag-TiO₂ membrane is a viable technique for meeting drinking water treatment standards of microbiological water purifiers.

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Survival,reproduction, and recruitment of woody plants after 14 years on a reforested landfill

With the advent of modern sanitary landfill closure techniques, the opportunity exists for transforming municipal landfills into urban woodlands. While costs of fullscale reforestation are generally prohibitive, a modest planting of clusters of trees and shrubs could initiate or accelerate population expansions and natural plant succession from open field to diverse forest. However, among woody species that have been screened for use on landfills, these ecological potentials have not yet been investigated. We examined a 14-yr-old landfill plantation in New Jersey, USA, established to test tolerance of 19 species of trees and shrubs to landfill environments. We measured survivorship, reproduction, and recruitment within and around the experimental installation. Half of the original 190 plants were present, although survival and growth rates varied widely among species. An additional 752 trees and shrubs had colonized the plantation and its perimeter, as well as 2955 stems of vines. However, the great majority (>95%) of woody plants that had colonized were not progeny of the planted cohort, but instead belonged to 18 invading species, mostly native, bird-dispersed, and associated with intermediate stages of secondary plant succession. Based on this evidence, we recommend that several ecological criteria be applied to choices of woody species for the restoration of municipal landfills and similar degraded sites, in order to maximize rapid and economical establishment of diverse, productive woodlands.     

Regional reports or structure plans? Opportunities for strategic planning in England and Wales

The British Government is proposing a new system of single‐tier development plans for England and Wales, with clear implications for the strategic level of planning. This paper considers a proposal by the Committee of Inquiry into Town and Country Planning set up by the Nuffield Foundation, for a revised strategic planning network which includes a ‘local strategy’. The paper considers the lessons to be drawn from the use of regional reports in Scotland since the early 1970s and concludes on a note of caution for the Government's proposals.     

Psychological contracts and OCB: The effect of unfulfilled obligations on civic virtue behavior

This study examines the relationship between violation of an employee's psychological contract and civic virtue behavior. A psychological contract is a set of beliefs regarding mutual obligations between employee and employer. One hundred twenty-six MBA alumni were surveyed at the time of hire (T1), and after 18 months (T2) and 30 months (T3) on the job. When employees felt that their employers had failed to fulfil employment obligations at T2, they were less likely to engage in civic virtue behavior at T3. There was evidence that this relationship was partly mediated by trust. These findings have implications for research on OCB and for managers seeking to maintain employee citizenship behavior.     

Classification of di erent sustainable flood retention basin types

Using a revised version of a previously published expert classification system, a database of potential Sustainable Flood Retention Basins has been developed for Scotland. The research shows that the majority of small and former (often old) drinking water reservoirs are kept full and their spillways are continuously in operation. Utilising some of the available capacity to contribute to flood control could significantly reduce the costs of complying with the European Union Flood Directive. Furthermore, the application of a previously developed classification model for Baden in Germany for the Scottish data set showed a lower diversity for basins in Scotland due to less developed infrastructure. The classification system appears to be robust and has the potential, with minor modifications, to be applied across Europe. The principle value of this approach is a clear and unambiguous categorisation, based on standard variables, which can help to promote communication and understanding between stakeholders.     

Soft copy photogrammetry to measure shore platform erosion on decadal timescales

Shore platform erosion is considered a driving mechanism for cliff recession on many rocky coasts and, in the vicinity of sea defence structures, a threat to their stability, yet the spatial pattern of platform erosion, as well as the rate of lowering, is poorly documented. Measurements based on techniques such as the micro-erosion metre or laser scanner, though highly accurate for short time scales and specific locations, are difficult to extrapolate in space and time. They also fail to record mesoscale changes such as block removal. This paper describes a technique to quantify spatial and temporal changes and presents first results.     

Climate change impacts in the Middle East and Northern Africa (MENA) region and their implications for vulnerable population groups

Regional Environmental Change - The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region emerges as one of the hot spots for worsening extreme heat, drought and aridity conditions under climate change. A...