A nationally consistent framework for identifying interstate waters with applications for the national listing of fish advisories

A 1988 survey, funded by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and conducted by the American Fisheries Society, identified the need to standardize the approaches for evaluating risks and developing fish consumption advisories that are comparable across different jurisdictions. A major tool for evaluating the progress in developing such nationally consistent information is EPA??s web-based National Listing of Fish Advisories (NLFA) database, which has archived fish advisory information since 1993. The NLFA comprises both a database and Geographic Information System mapping components that are implemented using the National Hydrography Dataset (NHD). EPA and the US Geological Survey have developed an enhanced NHD product (NHDPlus) that is applied to define an interstate waters framework for the conterminous USA. This NHDPlus-based framework provides an efficient watershed-oriented approach for identifying interstate advisories from NLFA. We provide summaries of (1) the degree of consistency documented for inland waters where states have issued advisories for shared interstate NHD reaches and (2) the patterns for interstate advisories organized according to the ecoregions developed for EPA??s Wadeable Streams Assessment. Approaches are also discussed for addressing interstate consistency issues for fish advisories in coastal waters making use of the NHDPlus combined with other nationally consistent frameworks, such as the 12-digit hydrologic unit code subwatersheds in the Watershed Boundary Dataset. Probability survey methods are recommended as a way to promote increased interjurisdictional consistency in the development of the monitoring and risk assessment conclusions reflected in NLFA, as well as in other EPA water quality-based programs.     

A habitat-based microscale forest classification system for zoning wood production areas to conserve a rare species threatened by logging operations in south-eastern Australia

The production of timber from native forests is presently one of the most controversial land management issues in Australia. Part of this controversy results from the potential impacts of forestry practices on forest-dependent fauna, particularly those that are rare and endangered, such as Leadbeater's Possum Gymnobelideus leadbeateri McCoy, in the forests of central Victoria, south-eastern Australia. A significant proportion of the highly limited distribution of this species overlaps with some of the most valuable wood production forests in Australia within which extensive clearfelling operations are employed to produce timber and pulpwood. These operations can destroy the habitat of G. leadbeateri. The Victoria government agency that is responsible for forest and wildlife management has devised a forest zoning system as part of the management strategies to conserve G. leadbeateri within timber production areas. This is designed to partition the forest into three types of areas: (1) where the conservation of G. leadbeateri is a priority, (2) where wood production is a priority, and, (3) where both land uses are a joint priority. The classification of areas of forest where the conservation of G. leadbeateri is the primary land use is based on an understanding of the habitat requirements of the species. The results of recent field studies, where statistical models of the habitat requirements of G. leadbeateri have been developed and their performance subsequently tested using a new dataset, highlights the need for a new basis to guide the classification of areas for the conservation of the species within wood production forests. We describe a method for devising a forest management zoning system that is based on a statistical model of the habitat requirements of G. leadbeateri and which will better integrate wood production and the conservation of the species. This procedure accounts for the uncertainty in the statistical model and, in turn, reduces the risk that areas where G. leadbeateri occurs are logged, whilst ensuring that other areas are not unnecessarily excluded from timber harvesting.     

When is overfishing underfishing?

The term overfishing is being used with increasing frequency to designate an undesirable level of fisheries exploitation. All too often, however, the term is taken as being self-evident. This article demonstrates that many definitions of overfishing are possible, depending essentially on what objective is being pursued for the fishery. Various possible biological and economic objectives are considered, both in a static and dynamic model of the fishery. Consideration is given to the best utilization of the fish stock from the viewpoint of the individual fishermen as well as that of society. It is shown that overfishing by one definition may be underfishing by another, and it is concluded therefore that anyone using the term overfishing ought, as a matter of course, to define it.     

Advances in pollination ecology from tropical plantation crops

Although ecologists traditionally focus on natural ecosystems, there is growing awareness that mixed landscapes of managed and unmanaged systems provide a research environment for understanding basic ecological relationships on a large scale. Here, we show how tropical agroforestry systems can be used to develop ideas about the mechanisms that influence species diversity and subsequent biotic interactions at different spatial scales. Our focus is on tropical plantation crops, mainly coffee and cacao, and their pollinators, which are of basic ecological interest as partners in an important mutualistic interaction. We review how insect-mediated pollination services depend on local agroforest and natural habitats in surrounding landscapes. Further, we evaluate the functional significance of pollinator diversity and the explanatory value of species traits, and we provide an intercontinental comparison of pollinator assemblages. We found that optimal pollination success might be best understood as a consequence of niche complementarities among pollinators in landscapes harboring various species. We further show that small cavity-nesting bees and small generalist beetles were especially affected by isolation from forest and that larger-bodied insects in the same landscapes were not similarly affected. We suggest that mixed tropical landscapes with agroforestry systems have great potential for future research on the interactions between plants and pollinators.     

Real-time PCR assay for detection and relative quantification of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Liocarcinus </Emphasis><Emphasis Type="Italic">depurator</Emphasis> larvae from plankton samples

Accurate species identification of decapod crustacean larvae is required to understand their population distributions, life cycle dynamics and interactions with their habitats. Analysis of plankton samples using morphological taxonomic methods and microscopy is time-consuming, requires highly skilled and trained operatives and may often be inaccurate. As complementary tools to classical identification methods, recent work has focused on the development of molecular approaches and shows their feasibility for species-specific identification. This study has developed real-time PCR assays utilising species-specific Taqman^® probes designed in the cytochrome oxidase I (COI) gene of Liocarcinus depurator, Necora puber, Carcinus maenas and Cancer pagurus. Our study then employed the probe and primers designed for L. depurator to obtain accurate identification and relative abundance estimates of L. depurator larvae in plankton samples collected between March 2005 and October 2006. Ranges of larval abundances were derived from a standard curve created from plankton samples spiked with a known number of larvae reared in the laboratory. Inhibition of the PCR reaction was shown to be an important factor and our results suggested that 0.1 ng of DNA as template provided accurate identification and avoided inhibition. Real-time PCR was shown to provide accurate species identification on unsorted plankton samples and could be suitable for the estimation of larval abundances in the plankton, although more work must be done to improve the accuracy of those estimations.     

Attractancy evaluation of ceralure‐B1 isomer via field captures of mediterranean fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae)

Abstract

Commercially prepared ceralure‐B1, an attractant for the Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann) (Diptera: Tephritidae), was evaluated in trapping tests by comparison with commercial ceralure and trimedlure. Jackson traps were used for medfly captures. The residual ceralure‐B1, ceralure, and trimedlure contents of aged dispensers were determined. The results of this study show that male medfly captures from traps with ceralure‐B1 were as high or higher than male medfly captures from traps with twice the quantity of ceralure or trimedlure. The use of regioselectively synthesized ceralure‐B1, enriched in B1, as a source of a more potent attractant than commercial ceralure and as a more persistent male medfly attractant than trimedlure is reported.     

Levels of intra-host and temporal sequence variation in a large <Emphasis Type="Italic">CO</Emphasis>1 sub-units from <Emphasis Type="Italic">Anisakis simplex sensu stricto</Emphasis> (Rudolphi 1809) (Nematoda: Anisakisdae): implications for fisheries management

This paper is the first to address the suitability and potential of the cytochrome oxidase-1 (CO1) region of the parasitic marine nematode Anisakis simplex sensu stricto as a genetic marker. A. simplex s.s. is an ubiquitous parasite of many marine organisms and has been used as a ‘biological tag’ for population studies of pelagic fish stocks. The CO1 marker informs not only about nematode population structure but also about its hosts. The large CO1 sub-unit (∼800 bp) was analysed from third stage larvae of A. simplex s.s. from Atlantic herring, Clupea harengus L. caught off the north-west coast of Scotland. In total 161 A. simplex s.s. CO1 sequences were analysed from 37 herring that represented three spawning periods over 2 years. Overall very high haplotype and low nucleotide diversities were observed (h = 0.997 and π = 0.008, respectively). These results are in keeping with studies investigating parasitic nematodes of ungulates and are symptomatic of the high rate of substitutions accumulated by mtDNA and effective dispersal strategies of the parasite. The Tamura-Nei I + Г (Г = 1.2243) model of nucleotide substitution best suited the present data which were dominated by a high thymine bias and associated transitions. Large within population differences were highlighted by hierarchal AMOVAs with little variation related to spawning events or years which may indicate localised temporal stability. Temporal homogeneity in the CO1 gene coupled with the ubiquitous and widespread nature of the parasite indicates both the potential and limitations for its incorporation in stock-separation studies of its hosts. This work was carried out at the School of Biological Sciences, Liverpool University, Crown Street, Liverpool. L69 7ZB, UK.     

A compressed shift schedule: Dealing with some of the problems of shift-work

This study examines some of the psychological and behavioral effects of a 12-hour compressed shift schedule on coal miners in two organizations in Western Canada. It suggests that young, married compressed shift workers are more satisfied with their family relationship. They spend less of their leisure time with spouses when working shifts, and do not spend any more time with them on their days off. They have less time available for many leisure activities on their workdays. The extra time on days off is not reallocated to the leisure activities they were unable to do on their workdays. Some extra leisure time on days off may be spent on personal hobbies. There is no suggestion that the compressed shift schedule has any negative effect on the individual's health.