Understanding implications of consumer behavior for wildlife farming and sustainable wildlife trade

Unsustainable wildlife trade affects biodiversity and the livelihoods of communities dependent upon those resources. Wildlife farming has been proposed to promote sustainable trade, but characterizing markets and understanding consumer behavior remain neglected but essential steps in the design and evaluation of such operations. We used sea turtle trade in the Cayman Islands, where turtles have been farm raised for human consumption for almost 50 years, as a case study to explore consumer preferences toward wild‐sourced (illegal) and farmed (legal) products and potential conservation implications. Combining methods innovatively (including indirect questioning and choice experiments), we conducted a nationwide trade assessment through in‐person interviews from September to December 2014. Households were randomly selected using disproportionate stratified sampling, and responses were weighted based on district population size. We approached 597 individuals, of which 37 (6.2%) refused to participate. Although 30% of households had consumed turtle in the previous 12 months, the purchase and consumption of wild products was rare (e.g., 64–742 resident households consumed wild turtle meat [i.e., 0.3–3.5% of households] but represented a large threat to wild turtles in the area due to their reduced populations). Differences among groups of consumers were marked, as identified through choice experiments, and price and source of product played important roles in their decisions. Despite the long‐term practice of farming turtles, 13.5% of consumers showed a strong preference for wild products, which demonstrates the limitations of wildlife farming as a single tool for sustainable wildlife trade. By using a combination of indirect questioning, choice experiments, and sales data to investigate demand for wildlife products, we obtained insights about consumer behavior that can be used to develop conservation‐demand‐focused initiatives. Lack of data from long‐term social–ecological assessments hinders the evaluation of and learning from wildlife farming. This information is key to understanding under which conditions different interventions (e.g., bans, wildlife farming, social marketing) are likely to succeed.     

Fishing‐gear restrictions and biomass gains for coral reef fishes in marine protected areas

Considerable empirical evidence supports recovery of reef fish populations with fishery closures. In countries where full exclusion of people from fishing may be perceived as inequitable, fishing‐gear restrictions on nonselective and destructive gears may offer socially relevant management alternatives to build recovery of fish biomass. Even so, few researchers have statistically compared the responses of tropical reef fisheries to alternative management strategies. We tested for the effects of fishery closures and fishing gear restrictions on tropical reef fish biomass at the community and family level. We conducted 1,396 underwater surveys at 617 unique sites across a spatial hierarchy within 22 global marine ecoregions that represented 5 realms. We compared total biomass across local fish assemblages and among 20 families of reef fishes inside marine protected areas (MPAs) with different fishing restrictions: no‐take, hook‐and‐line fishing only, several fishing gears allowed, and sites open to all fishing gears. We included a further category representing remote sites, where fishing pressure is low. As expected, full fishery closures, (i.e., no‐take zones) most benefited community‐ and family‐level fish biomass in comparison with restrictions on fishing gears and openly fished sites. Although biomass responses to fishery closures were highly variable across families, some fishery targets (e.g., Carcharhinidae and Lutjanidae) responded positively to multiple restrictions on fishing gears (i.e., where gears other than hook and line were not permitted). Remoteness also positively affected the response of community‐level fish biomass and many fish families. Our findings provide strong support for the role of fishing restrictions in building recovery of fish biomass and indicate important interactions among fishing‐gear types that affect biomass of a diverse set of reef fish families.     

Prenatal diagnosis of partial monosomy 18p(18p11.2→pter) and trisomy 21q(21q22.3→qter) with alobar holoprosencephaly and premaxillary agenesis

A prenatal diagnosis of partial monosomy 18p(18p11.2→pter) and trisomy 21q(21q22.3→qter) in a fetus with alobar holoprosencephaly (HPE) and premaxillary agenesis (PMA) but without the classical Down syndrome phenotype is reported. A 27-year-old primigravida woman was referred for genetic counselling at 21 weeks' gestation due to sonographic findings of craniofacial abnormalities. Level II ultrasonograms manifested alobar HPE and median orofacial cleft. Cytogenetic analysis and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) on cells obtained from amniocentesis revealed partial monosomy 18p and a cryptic duplication of 21q,46,XY,der(18)t(18;21)(p11.2;q22.3), resulting from a maternal t(18;21) reciprocal translocation. The breakpoints were ascertained by molecular genetic analysis. The pregnancy was terminated. Autopsy showed alobar HPE with PMA, pituitary dysplasia, clinodactyly and classical 18p deletion phenotype but without the presence of major typical phenotypic features of Down syndrome. The phenotype of this antenatally diagnosed case is compared with those observed in six previously reported cases with monosomy 18p due to 18;21 translocation. The present study is the first report of concomitant deletion of HPE critical region of chromosome 18p11.3 and cryptic duplication of a small segment of distal chromosome 21q22.3 outside Down syndrome critical region. The present study shows that cytogenetic analyses are important in detecting chromosomal aberrations in pregnancies with prenatally detected craniofacial abnormalities, and adjunctive molecular investigations are useful in elucidating the genetic pathogenesis of dysmorphism. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Increased fetal nuchal fold leading to prenatal diagnosis of ring chromosome 15

We report on the prenatal diagnosis of ring chromosome 15 in a fetus with increased nuchal fold and intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR). A 27-year-old woman gravida 2, para 1 had normal maternal serum screen tests in the early second trimester of the index pregnancy. Fetal nuchal fold thickening up to 8 mm was incidentally found during the routine obstetric ultrasound scan at 20 weeks' gestation. Amniocentesis was undertaken and the fetal karyotype was found to be 46,XY,r(15) on cytogenetic study. Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) using a telomeric probe of chromosome 15 demonstrated a terminal deletion on the q arm of the ring-shaped chromosome 15. This is the first report of a prenatally diagnosed case of ring chromosome 15. Moreover, nuchal fold thickness in the second trimester may have a role in its prenatal diagnosis. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effect of combined addition amount of nano zero-valent iron and biochar on methane production by anaerobic digestion of corn straw

Environment, Development and Sustainability - Anaerobic digestion (AD) is an attractive straw resource treatment technology as it can improve the utilization efficiency of straw resource. Raw straw...     

石臼漾人工湿地冬夏季全程氨氧化微生物的分布、群落结构及其影响因素研究

湿地作为水体与陆地之间的过渡地带,具有独特的生态环境特性,是氮循环反应的关键区域.研究湿地生态系统中的全程氨氧化过程（complete ammonia oxidation,comammox）,解析该区域中comammox细菌的分布与群落结构特征,补充了此前该新型氨氧化微生物在湿地生态系统中分布特征的研究空白,对于完善comammox细菌在各种不同生态系统中分布情况的研究具有重要意义.本研究在石臼漾人工湿地中于冬夏两季分别采集了大沟中心、大沟边缘、小沟中心和小沟边缘的表层沉积物样品,利用PCR、荧光定量PCR和amoA功能基因高通量测序等方法,解析人工湿地中comammox细菌的时空分布与群落结构特征.主要研究结果如下：①所有样品中均检测到了comammox细菌,其丰度为1.77×10⁵~4.07×10⁷ copies·g^-1.冬季,comammox细菌丰度在大沟中高于氨氧化细菌（ammonia oxidizing bacteria,AOB）和氨氧化古菌（ammonia oxidizing archaea,AOA）,在小沟中高于AOB,但低于AOA;夏季,comammox细菌丰度在所有样点中均高于AOB和AOA.②冬夏两季样品中,comammox细菌丰度与底物NH₄⁺-N浓度均呈负相关关系,且夏季样品中呈显著性负相关.③主坐标分析（Principle Coordinate Analysis,PCoA）与多样性分析结果表明,comammox细菌群落结构具有空间异质性,且冬季物种多样性高于夏季.     

An investigation of changes in water quality throughout the drinking water production/distribution chain using toxicological and fluorescence analyses

Changes in water quality from source water to finished water and tap water at two conventional drinking water treatment plants(DWTPs) were monitored.Beside the routine water quality testing,Caenorhabditis elegans-based toxicity assays and the fluorescence excitation–emission matrices technique were also applied.Both DWTPs supplied drinking water that met government standards.Under current test conditions,both the investigated finished water and tap water samples exhibited stronger lethal,genotoxic and reprotoxic potential than the relative source water sample,and the tap water sample was more lethal but tended to be less genotoxic than the corresponding finished water sample.Meanwhile,the nearly complete removal of tryptophan-like substances and newly generated tyrosine-like substances were observed after the treatment of drinking water,and humic-like substances were identified in the tap water.Based on these findings,toxic pollutants,including genotoxic/reproductive toxicants,are produced in the drinking water treatment and/or distribution processes.Moreover,further studies are needed to clarify the potentially important roles of tyrosine-like and humic-like substances in mediating drinking water toxicity and to identify the potential sources of these contaminants.Additionally,tryptophan-like fluorescence may be adopted as a useful parameter to monitor the treatment performance of DWTPs.Our observations provided insights into the importance of utilizing biotoxicity assays and fluorescence spectroscopy as tools to complement the routine evaluation of drinking water.