Context is more important than habitat type in determining use by juvenile fish

Context

Habitat characteristics are often equated with habitat function for animals. However, in heterogeneous landscapes, similar habitat types occur in different environmental contexts. In the marine realm, landscape studies have been confined to particular environments, rather than encompassing entire seascapes, due to incompatible sampling methods required in different situations.

Objectives

We examined the interactive structuring effects of local habitat characteristics and environmental context on assemblage composition.

Methods

We used a single technique—remote underwater video census—to explore the importance of habitat type (biotic structural components, substrate, and depth) and environmental context (marine vs estuarine) in structuring juvenile fish assemblages throughout an entire coastal region. In this model system, a range of structural habitat types were present in both estuarine and marine contexts.

Results

The 1315 video surveys collected show a clear hierarchy in the organisation of juvenile fish communities, with assemblages first distinguished by environmental context, then by habitat type. Marine and estuarine mangroves contained entirely different assemblages, and likewise for rocky reefs and submerged aquatic vegetation. Our results suggest that two functionally different ‘seascape nursery’ types exist at local scales within a single region, defined by their context.

Conclusions

The context of a location can be of greater significance in determining potential habitat function than what habitat-forming biota and substrates are present, and apparently similar habitat types in different contexts may be functionally distinct. These findings have important implications for local-scale management and conservation of juvenile fish habitats, particularly in regard to offsetting and restoration.

     

Degradation of metalaxyl-M in contrasting soils is influenced more by differences in physicochemical characteristics than in microbial community composition after re-inoculation of sterilised soils

Rates of degradation of pesticides by soil microorganisms are believed to depend on both microbial community composition and underlying soil physicochemical characteristics. The aim of this study was to determine which of these factors was more important in determining the rate of degradation of the fungicide metalaxyl-M in two soils. Soils exhibiting highly contrasting metalaxyl-M degradation rates were sterilised by gamma-irradiation and inoculated with either non-sterilised soil from the same site or with the soil from the contrasting site. After re-establishment of microbial communities, soils were treated with metalaxyl-M and the degradation rate (measured by ¹⁴C-HPLC), pH and microbial community structure (multiplex terminal-restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) analysis of small subunit rRNA gene sequences) were assessed. Community composition was altered by the sterilisation and re-inoculation strategy but degradation in re-inoculated soils was still most rapid in the soil with the original faster degradation rate. This was the case regardless of the source of the soil inoculum, and the rate of degradation in the soil exhibiting the low natural degradation rate remained low when inoculated with the faster-degrading soil. The results suggest that while the slower-degrading soil possessed a degradative capacity, the degradation rate in this soil was significantly reduced by some of its physicochemical characteristics, despite introduction of the microbial community of the faster-degrading soil. These results and this experimental strategy provide a basis for the assessment of relative importance of the factors limiting biodegradation and management strategies required to enhance degradation rates.     

N-Application Methods and Precipitation Pattern Effects on Subsurface Drainage Nitrate Losses and Crop Yields

Diverting the infiltrating water away from the zone of N application can reduce nitrate–nitrogen (NO₃–N) leaching losses to groundwater from agricultural fields. This study was conducted from 2001 through 2005 to determine the effects of N-application methods using a localized compaction and doming (LCD) applicator and spoke injector on NO₃–N leaching losses to subsurface drainage water and corn (Zea mays L.)–soybean (Glycine max L.) yields. The field experiments were conducted at the Iowa State University’s northeastern research center near Nashua, Iowa, on corn–soybean rotation plots under chisel plow system having subsurface drainage ‘tile’ system installed in 1979. The soils at the site are glacial till derived soils. The N-application rates of 168 kg-N ha^?1 were applied to corn only for both the treatments each replicated three times in a randomized complete block design. For combined 5 years, the LCD N-applicator in comparison with spoke injector showed lower flow weighted NO₃–N concentrations in tile water (16.8 vs. 20.1 mg L^?1) from corn plots, greater tile flow (66 vs. 49 mm), almost equivalent NO₃–N leaching loss with tile water (11.5 vs. 11.3 kg-N ha^?1) and similar corn grain yields (11.17 vs. 11.37 Mg ha^?1), respectively, although treatments effects were found to be non-significant (p?=?0.05) statistically. The analysis, however, revealed that amount and temporal distribution of the growing season precipitation also affected the tile flow, NO₃–N leaching loss to subsurface drain water, and corn–soybean yields. Moreover, the spatial variability effects from plot to plot in some cases, resulted in differences of tile flow and NO₃–N leaching losses in the range of three to four times despite being treated with the same management practices. These results indicate that the LCD N-applicator in comparison with spoke injector resulted in lower flow weighted NO₃–N concentrations in subsurface drain water of corn plots; however, strategies need to be developed to reduce the offsite transport of nitrate leaching losses during early spring period from March through June.     

Evaluation of an internal research funding program in a school of veterinary medicine

The present article describes a paradigm for evaluating the internal research funding program of a college or school of veterinary medicine, using as an example a similar exercise recently conducted at the Louisiana State University School of Veterinary Medicine (LSU SVM). The purpose of the exercise was to quantify and evaluate the effectiveness of the LSU SVM internal research funding mechanism known as the Competitive Organized Research Program (CORP). The evaluation resulted in several important observations that will allow us to further improve the effectiveness of our internal research funding program investment. Among the most important of these was the greater return on investment for CORP projects funded with smaller awards (approximately $10,000 US) compared to projects funded with larger awards (approximately $52,000 US). Other colleges and schools of veterinary medicine may find such an exercise similarly informative and beneficial.     

A sea-floor spreading event captured by seismometers

Two-thirds of Earth's surface is formed at mid-ocean ridges, yet sea-floor spreading events are poorly understood because they occur far beneath the ocean surface. At 9 degrees 50'N on the East Pacific Rise, ocean-bottom seismometers recently recorded the microearthquake character of a mid-ocean ridge eruption, including precursory activity. A gradual ramp-up in activity rates since seismic monitoring began at this site in October 2003 suggests that eruptions may be forecast in the fast-spreading environment. The pattern culminates in an intense but brief (approximately 6-hour) inferred diking event on 22 January 2006, followed by rapid tapering to markedly decreased levels of seismicity.     

Evolutionary history of Salmonella typhi

For microbial pathogens, phylogeographic differentiation seems to be relatively common. However, the neutral population structure of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi reflects the continued existence of ubiquitous haplotypes over millennia. In contrast, clinical use of fluoroquinolones has yielded at least 15 independent gyrA mutations within a decade and stimulated clonal expansion of haplotype H58 in Asia and Africa. Yet, antibiotic-sensitive strains and haplotypes other than H58 still persist despite selection for antibiotic resistance. Neutral evolution in Typhi appears to reflect the asymptomatic carrier state, and adaptive evolution depends on the rapid transmission of phenotypic changes through acute infections.     

Comparison of oil recovered from tea tree leaf by ethanol extraction and steam distillation

Two methods for the determination of oil and oil major components from tea tree (Melaleuca alternifolia) leaf are quantitatively compared. A microwave assisted ethanol extraction and a 2-h hydrodistillation technique were used on both dry and fresh leaf from a low and a high oil concentration tree. There was no significant difference between dry and fresh leaf. The distillation technique recovered 88% and 82% of the extractable oil for the low and high concentration material, respectively. For both samples this distilled oil was composed of lower absolute amounts of sesquiterpenoids and marginally lower amounts of monoterpenoids. Extending the distillation to 6 h increased the sesquiterpenoid recovery but this resulted in a reduction in both the absolute and relative amounts of the oxygenated monoterpenoids, terpinen-4-ol and 1,8-cineole.