Seasonal and diurnal variation of downstream fish movement at four small-scale hydropower plants

Hydropower structures hinder the movement and migration of fishes, impairing their life cycles. Additionally, downstream moving fish are often at risk of being injured during turbine passage. To improve hydropower production towards more fish-friendly techniques and management, knowledge on timing and extent of natural patterns of fish downstream movement is necessary. So far, migration behaviour of long-distance migrators such as eel or salmon has been well studied, but little is known about seasonal and diurnal movement patterns of nonmigratory species or medium-distance migrators. In this study, movement patterns of 39 fish species captured by stownets while transiting hydropower facilities in four impounded rivers were assessed and compared with the fish community composition directly upstream of the hydropower plants assessed by electrofishing. Strong differences between the fish community composition inhabiting the upstream sides of the dams and the fish detected in downstream passage were evident. In each study river, the downstream moving fish community composition differed significantly between spring and autumn. On average, significantly more fish were caught during the night (2.9 fish/hr) than during the day (1.3 fish/hr). Topmouth gudgeon, European grayling and pike-perch mostly moved downstream during the night, whereas roach, spirlin and bleak were the most frequent downstream moving fish during daytime. Downstream fish movement was positively related with turbidity, water temperature and discharge. The strong differences in seasonal and diurnal fish movement patterns suggest that fish damage can be strongly reduced by adaptive turbine and corridor management, for example by shutting down turbines at peak movements.     

Über Forstschädlinge in Kenya (Ostafrika)

V. Zusammenfassung Im vorliegenden wurde versucht, einen kurzen Überblick über die derzeit wichtigsten forstpathologischen Problemen in Kenya zu vermitteln. Wenn auch die Termiten bei weitem alle anderen Schädlinge bisher überschatten, so werden die neu angelegten, noch relativ jungen Wirtschaftswaldrungen vor allem aus fremdländischen Holzarten von einem sehr großen Reservoir tropischer Krankheitserreger in zunehmendem Maße bedroht. Hierbei handelt es sich um Lepidopteren, Coleopteren und zahlreiche Schadpilze. Natürlich darf dieser Bericht keinesfalls als vollständig angesehen werden, dazu war die Zeit viel zu knapp bemessen.     

Sicherheitsmaßnahmen bei der Anwendung von Pestiziden

Summary When pesticides are used safety measures are necessary. Laws alone are insufficient when their application is not controlled. Above all it is to be expected that people will not be endangered by ignorant use of pesticides. Many fields of pest control, i.e. the control of cockroaches, are not sufficiently developed in Germany. In the near future the control of hygienic and other pests should be intensified. Therefore we need well-trained specialists, and only these should be permitted to control pests in household and field.     

Side effects of pesticides on the larvae of the hoverfly <Emphasis Type="BoldItalic">Episyrphus balteatus</Emphasis> in the laboratory

The hoverfly Episyrphus balteatus (Degeer) is one of the most abundant predators of the cabbage aphid (Brevicoryne brassicae (L.)) in brussels sprouts in Belgium. In the current laboratory study, the toxicity of several insecticides applied at maximum recommended field rates was investigated on the larvae of E. balteatus. Two- to 3-day-old larvae were confined in glass petri dishes with dry residues of freshly applied insecticides. Their mortality was checked daily until adult emergence. Sub-lethal effects were investigated by assessing the reproductive performance of adult hoverflies, originating from the surviving larvae. Of the five compounds tested, only pirimicarb caused 100% larval mortality. The corrected mortality for spinosad was 60% and the adults obtained from the surviving larvae did not succeed in laying eggs. Therefore, pirimicarb and spinosad were rated “harmful” (International Organization for Biological and Integrated Control of Noxious Animals and Plants (IOBC) category 4) for the larvae of E. balteatus. In contrast, flonicamid, thiacloprid and spirotetramat yielded much lower mortality percentages. The hatching rate of hoverfly eggs treated with flonicamid was 25.6% vs 48.7% in the control. Hence, flonicamid was rated “slightly harmful” (IOBC category 2). The fertility of adults treated as larvae with thiacloprid or spirotetramat was not affected (IOBC category 1). These laboratory trials suggest that thiacloprid and spirotetramat can be used safely in integrated pest management programs to control the cabbage aphid. Pirimicarb, spinosad and flonicamid should be tested in semi-field and field situations to assess their toxicity under more realistic conditions.     

Comparative cytotoxicity evaluation of lanthanide nanomaterials on mouse and human cell lines with metabolic and DNA-quantification assays

Lanthanide nanomaterials are considered a less toxic alternative to quantum dots for bioimaging applications. This study evaluated the cytotoxicity of terbium (Tb)-doped gadolinium oxide (Gd(2)O(3)) and dysprosium oxide (Dy(2)O(3)) nanoparticles exposed to human (BEAS-2B) and mouse (L929) cell lines at a concentration range of 200-2000?μg/ml for 48 h. Two assay methods were utilized-WST-8 assay (colorimetric) based on mitochondrial metabolic activity and Pico-Green assay (fluorescence), which measures total DNA content. The authors' data showed that Tb-doped Gd(2)O(3) nanoparticles were consistently more toxic than Tb-doped Dy(2)O(3) nanoparticles. However, exposure to these nanomaterials caused a decrease in proliferation rate for both cell lines rather than a net loss of viable cells after 48 h of exposure. Additionally, there was some degree of discrepancy observed with the two assay methods. For the mouse L929 cell line, the WST-8 assay yielded consistently lower proliferation rates compared to the Pico-Green assay, whereas the opposite trend was observed for the human BEAS-2B cell line. This could arise because of the differential effects of these nanoparticles on the metabolism of L929 and BEAS-2B cells, which in turn may translate to differences in their postexposure proliferation rates. Hence, the Pico-Green assay could have an advantage over the WST-8 assay because it is not skewed by the differential effects of nanomaterials on cellular metabolism.     

Comparison of wetness sensors and the development of a new sensor for apple scab prognosis

Journal of Plant Diseases and Protection - Apple scab prediction is based on the model of Mills which describes the risk of Venturia inaequalis infection using leaf wetness duration and air...     

Generating crop sequences in land-use models using maximum entropy and Markov chains

Farm management models often produce average crop shares over a number of years, whereas models from the natural sciences often require inputs of sequences of crops grown on a specific field over several years. In interdisciplinary modelling, this difference can be a relevant obstacle. To bridge this gap, an approach is presented that allows disaggregating results from farm management models to the level required by many natural science models. The approach presented includes two methodological innovations: first, minimum cross entropy is used to ensure a unique solution when modelling a linear programming model at the field level, even when objective and constraint coefficients are identical for different fields. Second, the use of a calibrated Markov chain approach allows the creation of land-use sequences that are closer to the linear programming model’s results than an unconditional stochastic simulation would be. The calibrated Markov chain makes use of a prior matrix of transition probabilities that can be empirically derived. Both simulations and analytical calculations with case study data show that the variances of the Markov chain approach are systematically lower than those yielded by a simple stochastic simulation approach. The approach introduced in this paper can improve the coupling of farm-level economic models with natural science models at the field level.     

Chemical characterization of interspecific hybrids between Allium cepa L. and Allium kermesinum Rchb

Interspecific hybridization between wild and cultivated species of the genus Allium has been performed to generate plant material possessing biochemical properties of both parental plants. These cross-breeding experiments should lead to Allium plants with higher amounts of valuable constituents. The chemical characterization of interspecific hybrids between A. cepa and A. kermesinum is described on the basis of their sulfur-containing constituents and secondary metabolites. In addition, the hybrid character has been proven by random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis of the progenies obtained from the crosses. It has been shown that the distribution of the cysteine sulfoxides as well as the volatile secondary metabolites in the hybrids is not uniform. The profiles are mainly determined by the paternal wild species A. kermesinum. It has been ascertained that the gas chromatography profiles of the hybrids show increasing amounts of unsymmetrical substituted oligosulfides, which are known to be physiologically active substances. On the basis of statistical calculations, three different types of hybrids can be separated. The chemical analysis of cysteine sulfoxides and volatile sulfur-containing substances is shown to be a useful tool for breeding purposes as it allows an effective selection with regard to optimal distribution and amount of valuable constituents.     

Taxonomy and evolution of cultivated plants: Literature review 1977/1978

Summary Important papers on taxonomy and evolution of cultivated plants published in 1977 and 1978 were put together and briefly discussed.

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Taxonomie und Evolution der Kulturpflanzen: Literaturübersicht 1977/1978

Zusammenfassung Wichtige Arbeiten über Taxonomie und Evolution der Kulturpflanzen aus den Jahren 1977–1978 wurden zusammengestellt und kurz kommentiert.

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: 1977 1978

, 1977–1978 . .