Shifting elasmobranch community assemblage at Cocos Island—an isolated marine protected area

Fishing pressure has increased the extinction risk of many elasmobranch (shark and ray) species. Although many countries have established no‐take marine reserves, a paucity of monitoring data means it is still unclear if reserves are effectively protecting these species. We examined data collected by a small group of divers over the past 21 years at one of the world's oldest marine protected areas (MPAs), Cocos Island National Park, Costa Rica. We used mixed effects models to determine trends in relative abundance, or probability of occurrence, of 12 monitored elasmobranch species while accounting for variation among observers and from abiotic factors. Eight of 12 species declined significantly over the past 2 decades. We documented decreases in relative abundance for 6 species, including the iconic scalloped hammerhead shark (Sphyrna lewini) (?45%), whitetip reef shark (Triaenodon obesus) (?77%), mobula ray (Mobula spp.) (?78%), and manta ray (Manta birostris) (?89%), and decreases in the probability of occurrence for 2 other species. Several of these species have small home ranges and should be better protected by an MPA, which underscores the notion that declines of marine megafauna will continue unabated in MPAs unless there is adequate enforcement effort to control fishing. In addition, probability of occurrence at Cocos Island of tiger (Galeocerdo cuvier), Galapagos (Carcharhinus galapagensis), blacktip (Carcharhinus limbatus), and whale (Rhincodon typus) sharks increased significantly. The effectiveness of MPAs cannot be evaluated by examining single species because population responses can vary depending on life history traits and vulnerability to fishing pressure.     

Effects of suspended sediments on egg production of the calanoid copepod Acartia tonsa

The estuarine copepod Acartia tonsa was collected on several occasions between 4 April and 14 August 1985 from Terrebonne Bay, Louisiana (29°08N; 90°36W) and the effects in its diet of suspended sediments, collected from the same area, were measured at five different concentrations of sediment (100 to 1 000 ppm) and six phytoplankton concentrations (500 to 13 000 cells ml^-1 Thalassiosira weissflogii). Egg production rate was used as an index of diet quality. At low phytoplankton concentrations (500 cells ml^-1), and at intermediate phytoplankton concentrations (2 000 cells ml^-1) for previously starved copepods, egg production was reduced by up to 40% at a sediment concentration of 250 ppm and further reduced at higher sediment concentrations. At higher food concentrations (4 000 to 13 000 cells ml^-1), suspended sediment had no effect on egg production rates at sediment concentrations up to 500 ppm. Rates were reduced only at the highest sediment concentration of 1 000 ppm. Under most natural conditions, suspended sediment would not significantly affect egg production rates in A. tonsa.     

Trophic relations of the cephalopod Martialia hyadesi (Teuthoidea: Ommastrephidae) at the Antarctic Polar Front,Scotia Sea

Samples of the squid Martialia hyadesi were collected aboard two Japanese squid-jigging vessels carrying out commercial fishing trials at the Antarctic Polar Frontal Zone, north Scotia Sea, in February 1989. The dissected stomachs of 61 specimens were classified according to fullness and the contents were examined visually. Identifiable food items included fish sagittal otoliths, crustacean eyes, the lappets on euphausiid first antennule segments and cephalopod sucker rings. The most frequent items in the squid's diet were the myctophid fishes Krefftichthys anderssoni and Electrona carlsbergi, the euphausiid Euphausia superba and a hyperiid amphipod, probably Themisto gaudichaudi. A small proportion of the sample had been feeding cannibalistically. Total lengths of the fish prey were estimated from sagittal otolith size using published relationships. All fish were relatively small; 7 to 35% of squid mantle-length. However, it is possible that some heads of larger fish are discarded by the squid and so are not represented by otoliths in the stomach contents. Over the size range of squid in the sample there was no relationship between size of fish prey and size of squid. Similarly, when the squid sample was divided into groups according to prey categories: crustaceans, crustaceans+fish, fish, cephalopod, there was no evidence that dietary preference was related to squid size. The prevalence of copepod-feeding myctophids in the diet of this squid, which is itself a major prey item of some higher predators in the Scotia Sea, suggests that a previously unrecognised food chain: copepod-myctophid-M. hyadesi-higher predator, may be an important component of the Antarctic oceanic ecosystem.     

Increased energy expenditure due to increased territorial defense in male lizards after phenotypic manipulation

Fitness tradeoffs are difficult to examine because many fitness variables are correlated and vary in the same direction. Phenotypic manipulation circumvents many of these difficulties, and here we used this technique to examine mechanisms for tradeoffs between increased aggression (territorial defense) and survivorship. The behavioral phenotype of male mountain spiny lizards (Sceloporus jarrovi) was manipulated with testosterone to increase territorial defense, a sexually selected trait. We previously demonstrated that increased territorial defense results in a decrease in survival caused by a lower ratio of energy intake to energy expenditure. Here we measured energy consumption of increased territorial aggression using the doubly labeled water technique in the field and compared males with and without testosterone implants (Fig. 1). In a supplementary study we measured standard metabolic rate using captive lizards given similar testosterone implants to examine if an increase in energy expenditure was a result of only an increase in standard metabolic rate (Fig. 3). Our results indicated that a primary contribution to tradeoffs between increased territorial defense and survivorship could be made by a 31% increase in energy expenditure in the field that is not due to an increase in standard metabolic rate.     

Assessing Risks to Biodiversity from Future Landscape Change

We examined the impacts of possible future land development patterns on the biodiversity of a landscape. Our landscape data included a remote sensing derived map of the current habitat of the study area and six maps of future habitat distributions resulting from different land development scenarios. Our species data included lists of all bird, mammal, reptile, and amphibian species in the study area, their habitat associations, and area requirements for each. We estimated the area requirements using home ranges, sampled population densities, or genetic area requirements that incorporate dispersal distances. Our measures of biodiversity were species richness and habitat abundance. We calculated habitat abundance in two ways. First, we computed the total habitat area for each species in each landscape. Second, we calculated the number of habitat units for each species in each landscape by dividing the size of each habitat patch in the landscape by the area requirement and summing over all patches. Species richness was based on presence of habitat. Species became extinct in the landscape if they had no habitat area or no habitat units, respectively. We then computed ratios of habitat abundance in each future landscape to habitat abundance in the present for each species. We also computed the ratio of future to present species richness. We then calculated summary statistics across all species. Species richness changed little from present to future. There were distinctly greater risks to habitat abundance in landscapes that extrapolated from present trends or zoning patterns, however, as opposed to landscapes in which land development activities followed more constrained patterns. These results were stable when tested using Monte Carlo simulations and sensitivity tests on the area requirements. We conclude that this methodology can begin to discriminate the effects of potential changes in land development on vertebrate biodiversity.     

Influence of soil moisture on the sequestration of organic compounds in soil

A study was conducted as a part of continuing investigation of the effect of soil moisture on the sequestration of organic compounds aged in the soil. Here, experiments focused on the effects of moisture changes within the soil before, during, and after contaminant addition. The extractability of aged (68 d) phenanthrene was greater from soil that had been subjected to wetting and drying cycles prior to solute addition as compared to soil initially maintained at constant moisture. The recovery of phenanthrene added to moist soil was increased relative to extractability from soil that was air-dried at the time of the contaminant addition. Repeated wetting and drying of soil after the addition of atrazine or phenanthrene resulted in decreased extractability of the compounds as compared to samples maintained at constant moisture. A method for rapidly sequestering contaminants is proposed and may be useful in limiting the time required for laboratory studies involving “aged” contaminants. These data build upon the findings of earlier work from our laboratory and indicate that changes in the moisture conditions of soil can affect the availability of sequestered contaminants possibly through alterations in the structure of the natural solid.     

Evidence for microfloral succession on allochthonous plant litter in Apalachicola Bay,Florida, USA

Changes in hydrolytic, respiratory,catabolic and lipid biosynthetic activities depend at least in part on successional changes in the microfloral populations of allochthonous plant litter incubated in a semi-tropical estuary. Initial colonization is by populations which have a high content of muramic acid relative to the adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and which are progressively displaced by a microflora with a lower ratio of muramic acid to ATP. Scanning electron micrography of the plant-litter microflora shows a succession of forms, with an initial bacterial colonization and its progressive displacement by more complex forms. Estimates of the microbial mass and the rates of phospholipid synthesis suggest that the detrital microflora has a relatively slow growth rate compared to its growth potential.     

Covariates affecting spatial variability in bison travel behavior in Yellowstone National Park.

Understanding mechanisms influencing the movement paths of animals is essential for comprehending behavior and accurately predicting use of travel corridors. In Yellowstone National Park (USA), the effects of roads and winter road grooming on bison (Bison bison) travel routes and spatial dynamics have been debated for more than a decade. However, no rigorous studies have been conducted on bison spatial movement patterns. We collected 121 380 locations from 14 female bison with GPS collars in central Yellowstone to examine how topography, habitat type, roads, and elevation affected the probability of bison travel year-round. We also conducted daily winter bison road use surveys (2003-2005) to quantify how topography and habitat type influenced spatial variability in the amount of bison road travel. Using model comparison techniques, we found the probability of bison travel and spatial distribution of travel locations were affected by multiple topographic and habitat type attributes including slope, landscape roughness, habitat type, elevation, and distances to streams, foraging areas, forested habitats, and roads. Streams were the most influential natural landscape feature affecting bison travel, and results suggest the bison travel network throughout central Yellowstone is spatially defined largely by the presence of streams that connect foraging areas. Also, the probability of bison travel was higher in regions of variable topography that constrain movements, such as in canyons. Pronounced travel corridors existed both in close association with roads and distant from any roads, and results indicate that roads may facilitate bison travel in certain areas. However, our findings suggest that many road segments used as travel corridors are overlaid upon natural travel pathways because road segments receiving high amounts of bison travel had similar landscape features as natural travel corridors. We suggest that most spatial patterns in bison road travel are a manifestation of general spatial travel trends. Our research offers novel insights into bison spatial dynamics and provides conceptual and analytical frameworks for examining movement patterns of other species.     

Utility of North Atlantic Right Whale Museum Specimens for Assessing Changes in Genetic Diversity

Abstract: We examined six historical specimens of the endangered North Atlantic right whale ( Eubalaena glacialis ) using DNA isolated from documented baleen plates from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Sequences from the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) control region from these samples were compared with those from a near-exhaustive survey (269 of approximately 320 individuals) of the remaining right whales in the western North Atlantic Ocean. Our results suggest that there has been only relatively modest change in maternal lineage diversity over the past century in the North Atlantic right whale population. Any significant reduction in genetic variation in the species most likely occurred prior to the late nineteenth century. One historical specimen was from the last documented female capable of propagating one of the maternal lineages in the population today; no females in the existing population have been found to carry this mtDNA haplotype. Analysis of the only specimens from the eastern North Atlantic right whale population ever to be examined revealed that eastern and western North Atlantic right whales may not have been genetically differentiated populations. Loss of gene diversity experienced by North Atlantic right whales over the last century has been modest, and the six decades of protection have been successful in maintaining much of the maternal lineage diversity that was present in the late nineteenth century.     

Evidence of stock separation in southern hemisphere organge roughy (Hoplostethus atlanticus,Trachichthyidae) from restriction-enzyme analysis of mitochondrial DNA

Restriction enzyme analysis of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) was used to test for genetic homogeneity of orange roughy (Hoplostethus atlanticus) in the southern hemisphere. Two hundred and eighty-six orange roughy specimens were collected from seven general localities: the Great Australian Bight; South Australia (off southeastern Kangaroo Island); the west coast of Tasmania; the east coast of Tasmania; New South Wales; New Zealand and South Africa. Mitochondrial DNA was extracted from developing ovary tissue and analysed with 10 six-base enzymes and 3 four-base enzymes. Both forms of analysis revealed a low level of genetic diversity in this species. The six-base enzyme study found no evidence of reproductively isolated populations of orange roughy in southeastern Australian waters. However, an analysis of 107 fish with 3 four-base enzymes identified at least partial genetic separation of the New South Wales (NSW) sample of orange roughy from South Australian (off southeastern Kangaroo Island) and Tasmanian samples. This finding supports biological evidence for the presence of a distinct subpopulation of orange roughy in NSW waters. The four-base study also provided evidence of the presence of genetically distinct samples of orange roughy occurring in the same localities off southeastern Kangaroo Island from consecutive years. Additional sampling and the use of a greater number of four-base enzymes may be needed to determine if any genetic structuring exists among orange roughy south of New South Wales.