An observational pressure vessel for studying the behaviour of planktonic animals

A design for a pressure vessel, suitable for continuous observation of small planktonic animals at moderate hydrostatic pressures is presented. The long side windows are 3/4 inch (ca. 19 mm) armourplate glass, and smaller windows are provided at each end. The dimensions of the inner working chamber are approximately 16 × 2 × 1 3/4 inches (ca. 0.41×0.05×0.045 m). Internal pressures up to 800 psi (55 bar) have been used successfully during testing. The entire apparatus is placed in a water jacket to provide precise temperature regulation.     

Movements and wintering areas of breeding age Thick-billed Murre <Emphasis Type="Italic">Uria lomvia</Emphasis> from two colonies in Nunavut,Canada

The non-breeding movements of marine birds were poorly known until recently, but this information is essential to understanding the risk to different geographical populations from events on the wintering grounds. We tracked the migration routes and wintering areas of Thick-billed Murre Uria lomvia from two breeding colonies in eastern Canada: Coats Island in northern Hudson Bay and The Minarets, Baffin Island, during the period August 2007–May 2008 using geolocation loggers. Birds from The Minarets moved south rapidly post-breeding and wintered principally off Newfoundland and southern Labrador, or between Newfoundland and southern Greenland, remaining south of 55°N until at least the spring equinox. Those from Coats Island remained in Hudson Bay until at least mid-November, after which they moved rapidly through Hudson Strait to winter in southern Davis Strait and the northern Labrador Sea, mostly north of 55°N. Many individuals stayed throughout the winter in areas of heavy ice cover. Adults from the two colonies appear to be completely segregated in winter and those from Coats Island probably did not enter the area of the winter hunt in Newfoundland. Unexpectedly, some birds from The Minarets wintered in waters beyond the continental slope and outside the distribution of pack ice, demonstrating that particular individuals can be wholly pelagic throughout the winter. Coats Island birds returned through Hudson Strait as soon as open water areas became available in spring. Their sojourn in Hudson Bay coincided very closely with the occurrence of areas with <90% ice cover. In spite of the relatively large error in positions obtained from geolocation loggers, our results demonstrated the value of these devices by uncovering a number of previously unknown aspects of Thick-billed Murre non-breeding ecology in the Northwest Atlantic. Comparison of the non-breeding ecology based on SST experienced in winter show that the winter niche is broader than hitherto assumed, demonstrating that separate populations may experience different selection in the face of climate change.     

Heat illness among high school athletes--United States, 2005-2009

Introduction

Heat illness is a leading cause of death and disability among U.S. high school athletes.

Methods

To examine the incidence and characteristics of heat illness among high school athletes, CDC analyzed data from the National High School Sports-Related Injury Surveillance Study for the period 2005–2009.

Results

During 2005–2009, the 100 schools sampled reported a total of 118 heat illnesses among high school athletes resulting in ≥ 1 day of time lost from athletic activity, a rate of 1.6 per 100,000 athlete-exposures, and an average of 29.5 time-loss heat illnesses per school year. The average corresponds to a weighted average annual estimate of 9,237 illnesses nationwide. The highest rate of time-loss heat illness was among football players, 4.5 per 100,000 athlete-exposures, a rate 10 times higher than the average rate (0.4) for the eight other sports. Time-loss heat illnesses occurred most frequently during August (66.3%) and while practicing or playing football (70.7%). No deaths were reported.

Conclusions

Consistent with guidelines from the National Athletic Trainers’ Association, to reduce the risk for heat illness, high school athletic programs should implement heat-acclimatization guidelines (e.g., set limits on summer practice duration and intensity). All athletes, coaches, athletic trainers, and parents/guardians should be aware of the risk factors for heat illness, follow recommended strategies, and be prepared to respond quickly to symptoms of illness. Coaches also should continue to stress to their athletes the importance of maintaining proper hydration before, during, and after sports activities.

Impact of industry

By implementing preventive recommendations and quickly recognizing and responding to heat illness, coaches, athletic trainers, and the sporting community can prevent future deaths.     

Injuries from ingesting wire bristles dislodged from grill-cleaning brushes — Providence,Rhode Island, 2009–2012

Foreign object ingestion is a common reason for visiting an emergency department; however, wire grill-cleaning brush bristles are an uncommon foreign object. This report describes a series of twelve cases identified in a single hospital system from July 2009 through June 2012. Patients included six males and six females; ages ranged from 11 to 75 (mean: 47 years). The patients all reported recent outdoor residential food grilling and use of commercially available wire grill-cleaning brushes. The severity of injury ranged from puncture of the soft tissues of the neck, causing severe pain on swallowing, to perforation of the gastrointestinal tract requiring emergent surgery. Before cooking, persons should examine the grill surface carefully for the presence of wire bristles that might have dislodged from the grill brush and could embed in cooked food. Alternative residential grill-cleaning methods or products might be considered.     

Flexible incubation rhythm in northern fulmars: a comparison between oceanographic zones

Variation in the timing and abundance of marine food resources is known to affect the breeding behaviour of many seabirds, constraining our understanding of the extent to which these behaviours vary in different parts of a species’ range. We studied incubation shifts of northern fulmars (Fulmarus glacialis) breeding at two colonies in Arctic Canada (High Arctic oceanographic zone) and one colony in the UK (Boreal oceanographic zone) between 2001 and 2005. Fulmars in Arctic Canada had longer incubation shifts than previously reported at more southern colonies, presumably because marine productivity is lower early in the breeding season in the Arctic. Shift durations were particularly long at one colony in years with abnormally late, extensive sea-ice cover, although at the other Arctic colony, where sea-ice cover is predictably late every year, the duration of shifts was shorter than expected. At the Boreal colony, incubation shifts were much longer than expected, similar to Arctic colonies, and likely attributable to poor marine food supplies in the North Sea in recent years. Collectively, our data suggest that fulmars can adjust their incubation rhythm to compensate for poor marine feeding conditions, although this may incur a cost to body condition or reproductive success.     

Unintentional injuries among infants age 0-12 months

Each year an estimated 328,500 infants age 0-12 months are treated for unintentional injuries in emergency departments (EDs): one infant every minute and a half. The leading cause, overall and by month of age, was fall-related injury. The second leading cause was 'struck by or against.' The majority of patients were injured at home. Younger infants were more likely to be hospitalized than older ones and more males than females were injured. Gender differences suggest that parenting practices may play a role, but ecological approaches should be considered in an effort to understand the connection between injuries and an infant's developmental stage.     

Why chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) mothers are less gregarious than nonmothers and males: the infant safety hypothesis

Socialization of young is an important component of maternal care in social mammals. It is therefore perplexing that female chimpanzees with dependent offspring spend more time alone than females without dependent offspring, and than males. We propose that chimpanzee mothers are less gregarious than nonmothers and males to reduce the risk of injury that aggressive males pose to their offspring. We predict that mothers will associate less with males, associate with fewer males, and reduce mother−infant proximity in the presence of males, and that these effects will reduce with increasing offspring age. We test whether the pattern of gregariousness and mother−offspring proximity support these predictions in the Kanyawara chimpanzee community in Uganda. The probability that a female was found in the presence of males was lower for mothers than nonmothers and increased with offspring age. The probability that a female was found with other females did not differ between mothers and nonmothers. Mother-to-offspring distance was higher when a mother was in an all-female group than in a mixed-sex group and increased with her offspring's age. Mother-to-offspring distance was greatest when there were relatively low numbers of males and relatively high numbers of females in a subgroup. We propose that mothers avoid grouping with males because of the vulnerability of their young, and that the presence of males in a subgroup increases a female's protectiveness of her young. We discuss the implications of our findings and the relevance of fission−fusion group formation to chimpanzee mothers.     

Further studies on the pressure tolerance of deep-sea crustacea,with observations using a new high-pressure trap

A deep-sea benthic trap is described with which amphipods (Tmetonyx cicada) were both collected and observed at their ambient pressure of 134 atm. T. cicada collected with decompression from the same depth and locality were more sensitive to subsequent recompression than those amphipods brought to the surface at their ambient pressure. T. cicada from 2700 m experience irreversible injury during decompression to atmospheric pressure. The pressure tolerance of the deep-sea mysid Gnathophausia zoea was measured and compared with the tolerance of mid-water decapods and the shallow-water Crangon crangon. G. zoea became more sensitive to high pressure with prolonged exposure to atmospheric pressure. Deep sea animals exhibit a tolerance to high pressure related to their normal ambient pressure; sensitivity to decompression is also related to normal ambient pressure.     

Who cares? Individual contributions to pup care by breeders vs non-breeders in the cooperatively breeding banded mongoose (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Mungos mungo</Emphasis>)

Knowledge of the investment rules adopted by breeders and non-breeders, and the factors that affect them, is essential to understanding cooperative breeding as part of a life-history tactic. Although the factors that affect relative contributions to care of young have been studied in some cooperative bird species, there is little data on mammals, making coherent generalisations within mammals and across taxa difficult. In this study, we investigate individual contributions to pup escorting, a strong predictor of offspring provisioning, in the banded mongoose (Mungos mungo), a cooperatively breeding mammal in which reproductive skew is low. Contributions by those under a year old (which virtually never breed) increased with age and body weight but were generally low. Among older age classes (yearlings and adults), individuals that had not bred in the current litter generally contributed less to escorting than those that had bred (with the exception of yearling males). In addition, females that did not breed reduced their investment if they were heavy presumably because such females are more likely to breed in the following event and benefit from saving resources for this. The generally greater contributions by breeders in banded mongooses contrast with the recent findings in meerkats (Suricata suricatta), another obligatorily cooperative mongoose with similar group size but wherein reproductive skew is high. Our results suggest that relative contributions by breeders vs non-breeders are not dependent on group size but on the ratio of breeders to carers and the probability that non-breeders will breed in the near future.     

Female butterflies mated with recently mated males show reduced reproductive output

Summary During copulation, males of the alfalfa butterfly, Colias eurytheme, transfer nutrients and sperm to the female. Recently mated males produce only about 40% of the quantity of material produced by males that have not recently mated (Rutowski and Gilchrist 1986). In this study, females that mated with recently mated males died sooner, had a lower lifetime egg output, and laid fewer eggs per day overall, but especially during the first 2 days after mating. We conclude that the effect of the materials (nutrients and sperm) passed by males at copulation on female oviposition and receptivity is such that the male's genetic return from nutrients passed is maximized.