Supportive Breeding and Variance Effective Population Size

The practice of supporting weak, wild populations through release of individuals bred in captivity is becoming an increasingly important conservation measure. A frequently recommended form of such breeding-release activity refers to supportive breeding: a fraction of the target population is brought into captivity for reproduction, and the resulting progeny are released to mix with the wild segment of the population. We derived an expression for the variance effective size of a population managed through supportive breeding and discuss its relationship to previously published equations that are based on the assumption of random mating. We show that the effect of supportive breeding may be quite different on the inbreeding and the variance effective sizes. Whereas supportive breeding always results in a reduction of the inbreeding effective number, the variance effective number may either decrease, increase, or remain unchanged. We discuss these observations in relation to conservation management and suggest some general guidelines for supportive breeding situations. Our recommendations include making a distinction between inbreeding and variance effective numbers; taking particular care when dealing with organisms with high reproductive potential; assuring that the amount of drift be no larger than it would be without supportive breeding; and focusing primarily on the variance effective size of a population-that is, on the effective number directly related to the rate of loss of gene diversity.     

Monitoring of the three organophosphate esters TBP,TCEP and TBEP in river water and ground water (Oder,Germany)

The behaviour of the three organophosphate esters tributyl phosphate (TBP), tris(2-chloroethyl)phosphate (TCEP) and tris(2-butoxyethyl)phosphate (TBEP) during infiltration of river water to ground water has been investigated. The monitoring site is the Oder River and the adjacent Oderbruch aquifer. From March 2000 to July 2001, 76 ground water samples from monitoring wells located close to the Oder River and nine river water samples were collected. Additionally, influent and effluent samples from local waste water treatment plants, one sample of rain water and samples of roof runoff were collected. All samples were analysed by solid-phase-extraction followed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. TBP, TCEP and TBEP were detected at mean values of 622 ng l(-1), 352 ng l(-1), and 2955 ng l(-1), respectively in municipal waste water effluents. This points to a major input of these compounds into the Oder River by municipal waste water discharge. The concentrations of TBP and TBEP decreased downstream the Oder River possibly due to aerobic degradation. TBP, TCEP and TBEP were detected in ground water influenced predominantly by bank-filtered water. This demonstrates a transport of organic compounds by river water infiltration to ground water. TBP, TCEP and TBEP were also detected in rain water precipitation, roof runoff and ground water predominantly influenced by rain water infiltration. This hints to an input of these compounds to ground water by dry and wet deposition after atmospheric transport. Organophosphate esters were also detected in parts of the aquifer at 21 m depth. This demonstrates low anaerobic degradation rates of TBP, TCEP and TBEP.     

Decision making during the prenatal diagnostic procedure. A questionnaire and interview study of 211 women participating in prenatal diagnosis

Counselling in connection with prenatal diagnosis (PND) is a common task for the obstetrician and the midwife. However, the decision making processes of pregnant women are not completely known, for instance, the questions of women's autonomy, the decision on how to act in the case of an abnormal test, and the partner's participation in the decision. A questionnaire and interview study was carried out among 211 women undergoing PND by amniocentesis or chorionic villus biopsy. Most women in the sample indicated that PND was completely voluntary. However, at the same time almost every woman reported that it was difficult to decline from PND when offered. Even before the visit to register at the antenatal clinic, most of the women (83 per cent) had made up their minds to have PND. At the time of the test, many of the participants (62 per cent) had decided in favour of a legal abortion if the test indicated an abnormality in the fetus. At the same time, however, the data indicate a need for reflection and ambivalence, which the medical staff have to accept. In the questionnaire most of the women stated that they and their partners had similar attitudes towards PND, but when interviewed 38 per cent of the women admitted some differences between their own attitudes and their partners'. Although some women reported considerable deliberation and ambivalence, most of them said that they would undergo PND in another pregnancy.     

Successful DNA-based prenatal exclusion of juvenile neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis

A family with two siblings, 10 and 8 years old, both with clinical and ultrastructural evidence of juvenile neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis is described. The family was found to be informative for the restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs) detected by the probes pCJ52–95Ml (locus D16S148) and pCJ52-94Tl (locus D16S159) flanking the juvenile neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis locus, CLN3. The parents were both heterozygous using these probes, while their two children with juvenile neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis were both homozygous. Chorionic villi analysis showed that the fetus was heterozygous and had inherited the one allele of the mother which was not found in the two siblings. This suggested that the fetus had derived one healthy allele from the mother, the risk for a double crossing-over being less than 1 per cent. Electron microscopy showed no fingerprint inclusions in chorionic villi. The child was investigated at 6 months of age and found to be healthy, as new fingerprint inclusions were found at electron microscopy and no vacuolated lymphocytes were found in the blood smear. Due to the risk of heterogeneity, both DNA-based analysis and electron microscopy on chorionic villi are recommended for prenatal examination for juvenile neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis.     

东非和西印度洋沿海水产养殖的发展:食品安全和地方经济的前景和问题

本文回顾了东非和西印度洋的岛屿在海藻、软体动物、鱼类和甲壳类动物的沿海养殖经验和状况.在许多方面,这一地区的沿海水产养殖仍处于发展初期,迫切需要制定旨在提高收入,确保沿海居民对可担负的蛋白质的获得的发展战略.     

Environmental impact of exhaust emissions by Arctic shipping

Since 2005, a dramatic decline of the Arctic sea-ice extent is observed which results in an increase of shipping activities. Even though this provides commercial and social development opportunities, the resulting environmental impacts need to be investigated and monitored. In order to understand the impact of shipping in arctic areas, the method described in this paper determines the travel time, fuel consumption and resulting exhaust emissions of ships navigating in arctic waters. The investigated case studies are considering ship particulars as well as environmental conditions with special focus on ice scenarios. Travel time, fuel consumption and exhaust gas emission were investigated for three different vessels, using different passages of the Northern Sea Route (NSR) in different seasons of years 1960, 2000 and 2040. The presented results show the sensitivity of vessel performance and amount of exhaust emissions to optimize arctic traffic with respect to efficiency, safety and environmental impact.     

Comparing canopy leaf temperature of three Central European tree species based on simultaneous confidence bands for penalized splines

Temperature is an important physical factor that is known to strongly affect biodiversity as well as ecosystems and their functioning. However, research in this area is still relatively limited; this may also be attributed to the multitude of influencing factors and the complexity of the statistics involved. This study analyzes the differences between the surface temperature of three Central European broadleaf tree species. A better understanding of these differences may help to elucidate the role of microclimate in biodiversity. We consider a time series of high-resolution thermal images taken from a meteorological observation tower and calculate mean canopy leaf temperatures for beech, ash and maple (Fagus silvatica, Fraxinus excelsior and Acer pseudoplatanus). In a first step, comparable image areas are extracted from the thermal image sections of the crown of each tree species avoiding shadow areas, branches, etc. We used an automatic segmentation technique, the Otsu thresholding. Extracted canopy leaf temperature values were then processed and the resulting temperature profiles estimated by O’Sullivan penalized splines. For comparing the differences in canopy leaf temperature over time, we propose the construction of simultaneous confidence bands. The analyses show that there are significant—though small—differences in canopy surface temperature between the three tree species.     

Prymnesium parvum: The Texas Experience1

Southard, Gregory M., Loraine T. Fries, and Aaron Barkoh, 2010. Prymnesium parvum: The Texas Experience. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 46(1):14-23. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752-1688.2009.00387.x Abstract: Golden alga Prymnesium parvum was first identified in Texas during a fish kill investigation on the Pecos River in 1985. Since then golden alga kills occurred sporadically in a variety of waters in the western part of the state until 2001 when the alga became endemic in the Brazos, Canadian, Colorado, Red, and Rio Grande river systems, including the water supplies of two public fish hatcheries, the Possum Kingdom and Dundee state fish hatcheries. The increasing area adversely affected by the alga and frequent massive fish kills heightened public and political awareness and concerns regarding the ecological and economic impacts of P. parvum blooms. The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD), the wildlife conservation agency of the state, responded to these concerns with a program to assess the ecological and economic impacts and to develop management options. To date 33 water bodies have been affected and losses are conservatively estimated at 34 million fish valued at US$13 million. Several sport fisheries, including smallmouth bass Micropterus dolomieu, striped bass Morone saxatilis, channel catfish Ictalurus punctatus, and blue catfish Ictalurus furcatus, have been severely affected. Additionally, 26 imperiled fish species occur in the affected water basins and some have been adversely affected. Economic losses associated with reduced fishing and other water-based recreational activities appear considerable. The combined economic losses to three counties (Palo Pinto, Stephens, and Young) surrounding Possum Kingdom reservoir for 2001 and 2003 were estimated at US$2.8 million and US$1.1 million, respectively. This paper describes how the TPWD responded to public and political concerns relative to the emergence of golden alga, its harmful effects to fisheries, and its historic and current statewide distribution.