Pike (Esox lucius) occupy coastal streams and rivers of the Baltic Sea, where they attain large sizes (>5 kg). These large sizes are perhaps due to the fact that they can tolerate relatively high salinities and can thus forage in the nearby more productive brackish environments. In an attempt to quantify the extent to which pike utilise brackish environments, and to provide some insight into the underlying causes for brackish water migrations, we tagged 30 pike from a western Baltic river with acoustic transmitters and were able to track 21 individuals for 1 year. Based on experienced from local anglers, this population was assumed to be brackish in nature, where individuals underwent freshwater migrations to spawn. Our findings however suggest that the smallest and most active individuals make short exits into brackish waters and do so on rare occasions. Our results further indicate that neither sex nor size is related to activity level. We suggest that these patterns reflect two distinct behaviours—active and passive—and that large pike can be supported by the food availability in the river, without the need to venture into coastal zones, thus defying the conventional view that Baltic pike are all brackish in nature. 相似文献
The present review analyses the documentation on incidence, diagnosis, risk factors and effects of milk fever and subclinical hypocalcaemia. It is hereby evaluated whether the existing documentation seems sufficient for further modelling in a decision support system for selection of a control strategy. Several studies have been carried out revealing an incidence of milk fever most often in the level of 5-10%. Few studies indicate that the incidence of subclinical hypocalcaemia is several times higher than milk fever. The diagnosis based on clinical or laboratory methods or based on presence of risk factors is outlined. The clinical symptoms of milk fever are highly specific and the disease level may thus be determined from recording of treatments. Diagnosis of subclinical hypocalcaemia needs to include laboratory examinations or it may be determined by multiplying the incidence of milk fever by a certain factor. From the documentation on risk factors, it is very complex to predict the incidence from the exposure level of the risk factors. Due to uncertainty, sensitivity analyses over a wide range of values for each parameter are needed. The documentation of cow characteristics, nutrition, environment and management as risk factors are described. Among cow characteristics, parity or age, body condition and production level were found to be important. Risk factors associated with nutrition included most importantly dietary cation-anion difference and calcium level whereas the importance of general feeding related factors like type of feed stuff and feeding level were less clear. Environment and management included season, climate, housing, pasturing, exercise, length of dry period and prepartum milking. Several of the parameters on environment and management were confounded among each other and therefore firm conclusions on the importance were difficult. The documentation of the effect of milk fever includes the downer cows, reproductive disorders, occurrence of other diseases and the effect on milk production, body weight and culling. The reproductive disorders included most importantly dystocia, uterine prolapse, retained placenta, metritis and repeat breeding, and occurrence of other diseases included ketosis, displaced abomasum and mastitis. The documentation was substantial and often quantifiable within certain limits. Overall it is concluded that the present documentation on milk fever concerning incidence, diagnosis, risk factors and effects seems sufficient for a systematic inclusion in a decision support system. A model on milk fever should take into consideration the variation in biological data and individual herd characteristics. The inclusion of subclinical hypocalcaemia would be more uncertain and probably should await further documentation on possibilities of determining the herd level incidence and also the effect of this condition on production. 相似文献
The deaths of two Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) in August 1996 led the United States Department of Agriculture to require the testing and treatment of elephants for tuberculosis. From August 1996 to September 1999. Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection was confirmed by culture in 12 of 118 elephants in six herds. Eight diagnoses were made antemortem on the basis of isolation of M. tuberculosis by culture of trunk wash samples; the remainder (including the initial two) were diagnosed postmortem. We present the case histories, epidemiologic characteristics, diagnostic test results, and therapeutic plans from these six herds. The intradermal tuberculin test, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay serology, the blood tuberculosis test, and nucleic acid amplification and culture are compared as methods to diagnose M. tuberculosis infection in elephants. 相似文献
1. Growth, food intake, and food preference were measured in two experimental lines (White Rocks and White Leghorns) of chickens fed diets varying in content of lysine, methionine, or tryptophan. Diet A was balanced in all amino acids, while the remaining 6 diets were moderately ( ~ 30%) or slightly ( ~ 15%) deficient in either lysine, methionine, or tryptophan relative to NRC recommendations for broiler diets.
2. Body weight and food utilisation efficiency of White Leghorns at 10 d of age were not affected by diet, whereas the lower concentrations of lysine and methionine depressed these traits in White Rocks.
3. Tryptophan deficiency reduced food intake of White Leghorns, but not White Rocks.
4. With choice feeding of balanced and deficient diets from day 10 to 16, preferences between the diets were minimal for White Leghorns, whereas for White Rocks there was an almost immediate preference for the balanced diet, followed by lack of preference or preference for the deficient diet.
5. Apparently for some genetic stocks there is rapid adjustment to deficiencies in these amino acids with overconsumption, followed by compensation for preference of the balanced diet. The response, however, will vary depending on the deficient amino acid. 相似文献
Through the use of a critical electrolyte concentration staining technique, the glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) in the nucleus pulposus region of the canine intervertebral disc were arbitrarily identified as "hyaluronic acid", chondroitin sulphate and keratan sulphate. Approximate estimates of GAG concentration could be qualitatively deduced by determining the appropriate GAG "ALCIANOPHILIC INDEX". This index was considered to be an effective qualitative adjunct to chemical quantitation of GAGs in the intervertebral disc. 相似文献
Accomodation of important sources of uncertainty in ecological models is essential to realistically predicting ecological processes. The purpose of this project is to develop a robust methodology for modeling natural processes on a landscape while accounting for the variability in a process by utilizing environmental and spatial random effects. A hierarchical Bayesian framework has allowed the simultaneous integration of these effects. This framework naturally assumes variables to be random and the posterior distribution of the model provides probabilistic information about the process. Two species in the genus Desmodium were used as examples to illustrate the utility of the model in Southeast Missouri, USA. In addition, two validation techniques were applied to evaluate the qualitative and quantitative characteristics of the predictions.This revised version was published online in May 2005 with corrections to the Cover Date. 相似文献
The effects of wind turbines and other physical landscape elements on field utilization by wintering pink-footed geese (Anser brachyrhynchus) were studied in a Danish farmland landscape. Within the study area geese were feeding on pastures, which together with cereals were the main crop types. Apart from wind turbines a variety of potentially disturbing landscape elements was present, e.g., high-power lines, windbreaks, roads and settlements. Patterns of field use were assessed by measuring goose dropping densities along transects perpendicular to wind farms (with turbines in clusters and in lines) and other landscape elements. Local effects were expressed in terms of `avoidance distance', i.e., the distance from a given landscape element to the point at which 50% of maximal dropping density was reached. The spatial distribution of landscape elements within an eight km radius from the goose roost was determined from aerial photographs. The area occupied by various elements, together with the adjacent zones which were not available to geese due to their associated avoidance distances, were quantified using Geographic Information System (GIS).The avoidance distance of wind farms with turbines in lines and in clusters were ca 100 m and ca 200 m, respectively. Geese did not enter the area between turbines within the cluster. At the landscape level, the combined effect of physical elements other than wind turbines caused an effective loss of 68% of the total field area (40 km2). Wind turbines caused an additional loss of 4% of the field area. However, of the remaining area available to geese (13 km2), wind turbines caused a loss of 13% of the total area. The habitat loss per turbine was higher for the wind farm with turbines arranged in a large cluster than for wind farms with turbines in small clusters or lines. This difference was mainly due to the fact that wind farms in small clusters or with a linear layout were generally placed close to roads or other elements with existing associated avoidance zones, whereas the large cluster was placed in the open farmland area. The avoidance zones associated with physical elements in the landscape do not take into account possible synergistic effects and, hence, actual field areas affected are likely to be minimum estimates. Implications of these findings for planning of wind farms in areas of conservation interest to geese are discussed. 相似文献
Presettlement land survey records (PLSRs) are a valuable and unique source of information for the reconstruction of presettlement
forest patterns. The purpose of this study was to determine whether coarsely resolved PLSRs are adequate to characterize the
spatial patterns of individual tree species over large areas. The General Land Office Survey records of the PLSRs of Minnesota
were used and species selected in the analysis were based on their abundances and degrees of clustering. A geostatistical
procedure was developed to analyze observations of bearing-tree point-locations, at progressively coarser resolutions from
1×1 mile to 24×24 miles, to create spatially continuous probability surfaces of species occurrences across the landscape.
Statistical and visual analyses of the geostatistical predictions indicated that coarsely resolved PLSRs, as coarse as 24×24 miles,
can adequately represent the spatial pattern of individual species over large areas. Mean errors in predictions increased
as more coarsely resolved data were used, primarily in response to the decreased abundance of a species and minorly in response
to the degree of spatial clustering of a species. The results indicate that coarsely resolved township-level data of 6×6 miles
can be used for presettlement vegetation reconstruction of large areas of several counties. 相似文献