Assessing the efficacy and impact of management of an invasive species in a protected area: Poa annua on sub‐Antarctic Macquarie Island

Plant eradication is difficult, particularly in remote, protected areas. The Southern Ocean Islands are very isolated and highly protected, but the flora contains many alien plants. Small restricted populations have been eradicated, but eradication of established species has proven difficult. A better understanding of the efficacy of control methods at sub‐Antarctic temperatures and their off‐target impacts may increase eradication success. With interest in controlling non‐native Poa annua in the region, we aimed to determine if physical and chemical methods can control P. annua (the sub‐Antarctic biotype) in sub‐Antarctic conditions and examined their impact on native plants. We quantified the effectiveness of physical control methods on P. annua in situ on sub‐Antarctic Macquarie Island through field‐based experiments and assessed their selectivity on P. annua compared with native grasses. We also quantified the effectiveness of several herbicides on P. annua at sub‐Antarctic temperatures and assessed their selectivity on native grasses. Of the four physical disturbance methods tested, none effectively reduced P. annua cover as one‐off treatments. Of the herbicide treatments, glyphosate and trifloxysulfuron sodium were effective and were less damaging to native grass species, indicating potential selectivity. Physical control was of limited effectiveness, but did not affect native species richness. An integrated weed management programme utilising the strategic use of selective herbicides with follow‐up chemical and physical intervention may balance control and biodiversity outcomes. This research highlights the importance of site‐specific testing of control methods and understanding off‐target impacts of control when managing alien plant species in protected areas.     

Fluorescence of Extracts from Argentine Hake (Merluccius hubbsi) Muscle and Its Correlation with Quality Indices During Chilled Storage

Argentine hake (Merluccius hubbsi) was stored chilled for 8 days. The evolution of fluorescence of the aqueous and organic extracts of muscle during storage at 4°C was studied and correlated with common damage indices; pH, total volatile basic nitrogen, free fatty acids, and the fluorescence intensity of the aqueous phase showed a good correlation with storage time. The excitation-emission matrices of the aqueous extracts were also obtained. A fluorescence landscape that could be attributed to tryptophan decreased with storage time, meanwhile a peak (around 340 and 400 nm for excitation and emission wavelengths, respectively) is developed during chilled storage.     

The importance of environment and life stage on interpretation of silky shark relative abundance indices for the equatorial Pacific Ocean

Recent large fluctuations in an index of relative abundance for the silky shark in the eastern Pacific Ocean have called into question its reliability as a population indicator for management. To investigate whether these fluctuations were driven by environmental forcing rather than true changes in abundance, a Pacific‐wide approach was taken. Data collected by observers aboard purse‐seine vessels fishing in the equatorial Pacific were used to compute standardized trends in relative abundance by region, and where possible, by shark size category as a proxy for life stage. These indices were compared to the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), an index of Pacific Ocean climate variability. Correlation between silky indices and the PDO was found to differ by region and size category. The highest correlations by shark size category were for small (<90 cm total length [TL]) and medium (90–150 cm TL) sharks from the western region of the equatorial eastern Pacific (EP) and from the equatorial western Pacific. This correlation disappeared in the inshore EP. Throughout, correlations with the PDO were generally lower for large silky sharks (>150 cm TL). These results are suggestive of changes in the small and medium silky indices being driven by movement of juvenile silky sharks across the Pacific as the eastern edge of the Indo‐Pacific Warm Pool shifts location with ENSO events. Lower correlation of the PDO with large shark indices may indicate that those indices were less influenced by environmental forcing and therefore potentially less biased with respect to monitoring population trends.     

Putting the pieces together: Recent growth,nutritional condition,and mortality of Engraulis anchoita larvae in the Southwest Atlantic

Dynamics of clupeiform fish populations such as anchovy are frequently impacted by environmental variations which can affect the success of the species recruitment. Herein, we have analyzed recent otolith growth rate, RNA/DNA nutritional condition index (sRD), and mortality rate of argentine anchovy larvae Engraulis anchoita from three different nursery areas in the Southwest Atlantic. We have evaluated the relationship between the environmental variables (abundance of copepod nauplii, temperature, chlorophyll‐a concentration, and abundance of E. anchoita larvae) and larval endogenous variables (size, weight, age, and otolith radius) to sRD and recent growth rate. Fast larval growth rates were observed toward the northern sector of the studied area, characterized by higher temperature. High values of sRD were associated with higher nauplii abundance in the proximity of coastal fronts. The larvae with the lowest growths and lowest minimum values of nutritional condition coincided with the area where there was less abundance of nauplii and higher larval mortality. Larval size and nauplii abundance were positive explanatory factors for both recent growth rate and sRD index. Temperature had a positive effect on recent growth rate and a negative effect on sRD index. This condition index was poorly explained in terms of model fit in comparison with the growth model. The results herein provided could be significant to better understand the recruitment of the species, as to determining favorable areas for the growth and survival of anchovy larvae.     

不同种类浮游植物对CO2浓度升高的响应

本研究采用实验生态学的方法，以金藻、硅藻、绿藻3个门中的4种常见饵料藻叉鞭金藻(Dicrateria sp.)、三角褐指藻(Phaeodactylum tricornutum)、小球藻(Chlorella vulgaris)和亚心形扁藻(Platymonas subcordiformis)为研究对象，分析比较不同浮游植物的细胞数量和质量对CO2浓度升高引起的海水酸化的响应情况。结果显示，与对照组相比，(1) CO2浓度升高显著提高了这4种藻的生长速率(P<0.05)；其中，亚心形扁藻平均比生长速率最高，比对照组高出13.5%；小球藻次之，为5.9%；叉鞭金藻和三角褐指藻均为2.2%。(2) CO2浓度升高使浮游植物细胞内的碳(C)含量增加、氮(N)含量降低，C/N提高；种间差异较大，其中，亚心形扁藻的C/N、C/P值、小球藻的C/P值和三角褐指藻的C/N值显著提高，叉鞭金藻不显著。(3) CO2浓度升高使小球藻单位细胞叶绿素a含量显著提高，小球藻通过提高光合作用能力促进生长，而另外3种藻叶绿素a含量与对照组无显著差异；三角褐指藻最大光化学量子产量(Fv/Fm)在实验初期显著升高；叉鞭金藻非光化学淬灭(NPQ)显著降低，快速光曲线初始斜率(α)显著增加；三角褐指藻和亚心形扁藻潜在的最大光合作用能力(rETRmax)显著升高(P<0.05)，但CO2浓度升高对4种藻的光化学淬灭(qP)均没有显著影响(P>0.05)。可见，亚心形扁藻、小球藻和三角褐指藻在高CO2浓度下虽然生长速率加快，但营养质量降低。不同种类的浮游植物对CO2浓度升高的响应不同，这种差异可能会使未来海洋浮游植物群落结构发生变化；浮游植物C/N、C/P值的改变可能通过食物链对次级生产者，诸如浮游动物、滤食性贝类等产生影响。     

Economic and conservation significance of the trophy hunting industry in sub-Saharan Africa

There is a lack of consensus among some conservation NGOs and African governments concerning the acceptability and effectiveness of trophy hunting as a conservation tool. This lack of consensus is due partly to a lack of reliable information on the economic significance and ecological impact of the industry. We provide a review of the scale of the trophy hunting industry, and assess both positive and negative issues relating to hunting and conservation in Africa. Trophy hunting occurs in 23 countries in Africa, with the largest industries occurring in southern Africa and Tanzania, where the industry is expanding. The trophy hunting industry has remained static or is shrinking in Central and West Africa. A minimum of 1,394,000 km² is used for trophy hunting in sub-Saharan Africa, which exceeds the area encompassed by national parks. Trophy hunting is thus of major importance to conservation in Africa by creating economic incentives for conservation over vast areas, including areas which may be unsuitable for alternative wildlife-based land uses such as photographic ecotourism. However, there are a number of problems associated with the industry which limit conservation benefits. Several of these problems are common to multiple countries, suggesting that if solutions were developed, conservation benefits would accrue over large areas.     

Pacific herring, Clupea pallasi, recruitment in the Bering Sea and north-east Pacific Ocean, II: relationships to environmental variables and implications for forecasting

Previous studies have shown that Pacific herring populations in the Bering Sea and north-east Pacific Ocean can be grouped based on similar recruitment time series. The scale of these groups suggests large-scale influence on recruitment fluctuations from the environment. Recruitment time series from 14 populations were analysed to determine links to various environmental variables and to develop recruitment forecasting models using a Ricker-type environmentally dependent spawner–recruit model. The environmental variables used for this investigation included monthly time series of the following: southern oscillation index, North Pacific pressure index, sea surface temperatures, air temperatures, coastal upwelling indices, Bering Sea wind, Bering Sea ice cover, and Bering Sea bottom temperatures. Exploratory correlation analysis was used for focusing the time period examined for each environmental variable. Candidate models for forecasting herring recruitment were selected by the ordinary and recent cross-validation prediction errors. Results indicated that forecasting models using air and sea surface temperature data lagged to the year of spawning generally produced the best forecasting models. Multiple environmental variables showed marked improvements in prediction over single-environmental-variable models.     

东南太平洋智利竹筴鱼栖息地指数的比较研究

根据2000~2007年度东南太平洋智利竹筴鱼的商业捕捞数据,结合海洋环境数据(SST,SSA,SSHG以及等温层深度),运用4种关联建模方法计算其栖息地指数,并使用Surffer 8.0软件绘制出HSI的空间分布图。通过2008年度的捕捞数据进行验证,结果表明4种模型的结果存在明显差异:采用算术平均法和几何平均法时,主要产量分布在0.6HSI0.9的区域;采用最大值法时,主要产量集中在0.8HSI1.0的区域;采用最小值法时,主要产量分布在0.3HSI0.6的区域。通过4种模型的验证结果比较,本文认为算术平均法和几何平均法能较好地反映东南太平洋智利竹筴鱼的中心渔场位置以及分布特征。     

Movements and behaviors of swordfish in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans examined using pop‐up satellite archival tags

Swordfish are highly specialized top‐level predators that have been challenging to study. In this paper, data from 31 pop‐up satellite archival tags attached to swordfish from (i) the eastern Pacific, (ii) central Pacific, and (iii) western North Atlantic‐Caribbean were analyzed. Common across locations was a pronounced diel vertical pattern with daytime hours spent primarily below the thermocline and nighttime hours spent in warmer waters, close to the surface. One exception to this pattern was periodic daytime basking events which were most common in cooler waters off California. Maximum daytime depths were significantly correlated with light penetration as measured by the diffuse attenuation coefficient at 490 nm. Temperature did not appear to influence daytime depths, and swordfish tolerated both extremely low temperatures (4°C) and rapid and dramatic temperature changes (>20°C). Temperature did appear to influence the nighttime depths in the Pacific where fish typically remained in the surface mixed layer. In contrast, in the warm tropical Atlantic this was not the case, and nighttime depths were much deeper. In all areas, nighttime depth increased around the full moon. Given the parallels between the vertical movement patterns of swordfish and those of the deep sound scattering layer we suggest that swordfish vertical distribution patterns, especially during daytime, are influenced largely by resource availability. At night, when swordfish are typically targeted by fisheries, both ambient light and temperature influence movements. Understanding vertical movement patterns of swordfish can help evaluate gear vulnerability, improve population assessments, and potentially reduce fisheries bycatch.     

印度洋中南部大眼金枪鱼生物学特性研究

根据2008年9月~2009年4月在印度洋中南部金枪鱼延绳钓渔场调查期间收集的大眼金枪鱼生物学数据,对其基本的生物学特征进行了研究。结果表明:(1)叉长范围为57~184 cm,优势叉长组为101~110cm和121~130 cm,约占总数的41.7%,平均叉长为119.5 cm;(2)不分性别大眼金枪鱼叉长(FL)与加工后重(DW)的关系可表达为:DW=2.407 6×10-5FL2.931 6,雌雄个体差异不显著(F=0.207,P0.05);(3)调查期间,大眼金枪鱼雄性比例为56.55%,当叉长大于140 cm时,雄性占优势;调查期间,该海域大眼金枪鱼的繁殖期为10月~翌年4月,繁殖峰期为10月~翌年1月;(4)摄食种类中柔鱼、帆蜥鱼和虾类所占比重较高,分别占36.0%、20.1%和18.0%;各月份摄食等级1~4级分布呈显著性差异(χ2=191.20,P0.01),各叉长组大眼金枪鱼摄食等级变化无显著性差异(χ2=41.08,P0.05)。