Community economies in Monsoon Asia: Keywords and key reflections

A diversity of place‐based community economic practices that enact ethical interdependence has long enabled livelihoods in Monsoon Asia. Managed either democratically or coercively, these culturally inflected practices have survived the rise of a cash economy, albeit in modified form, sometimes being co‐opted to state projects. In the modern development imaginary, these practices have been positioned as ‘traditional’, ‘rural’ and largely superseded. But if we read against the grain of modernisation, a largely hidden geography of community economic practices emerges. This paper introduces the project of documenting keywords of place‐based community economies in Monsoon Asia. It extends Raymond William’s cultural analysis of keywords into a non‐western context and situates this discursive approach within a material semiotic framing. The paper has been collaboratively written with co‐researchers across Southeast Asia and represents an experimental mode of scholarship that aims to advance a post‐development agenda.     

Acute Water Intoxication in a Dog

A one-year-old female labrador Retriever dog was admitted to the Emergency Service after playing in a lake for several hours. Physical examination revealed coma, hypothermia, and bradycardia. Marked diuresis was noted. A serum biochemical profile revealed hyposmolality, hyponatremia, and hypoproteinmia suggestive of dilution of serum constituents. Acute water intoxication was diagnosed. Recovery was complete and occurred without specific therapy. Acute water intoxication should be considered in the differential diagnosis of coma. (Vet Emerg & Crit Care, 1999, 9: 19–25)     

Aquatic food security: insights into challenges and solutions from an analysis of interactions between fisheries,aquaculture, food safety,human health,fish and human welfare,economy and environment

Fisheries and aquaculture production, imports, exports and equitability of distribution determine the supply of aquatic food to people. Aquatic food security is achieved when a food supply is sufficient, safe, sustainable, shockproof and sound: sufficient, to meet needs and preferences of people; safe, to provide nutritional benefit while posing minimal health risks; sustainable, to provide food now and for future generations; shock‐proof, to provide resilience to shocks in production systems and supply chains; and sound, to meet legal and ethical standards for welfare of animals, people and environment. Here, we present an integrated assessment of these elements of the aquatic food system in the United Kingdom, a system linked to dynamic global networks of producers, processors and markets. Our assessment addresses sufficiency of supply from aquaculture, fisheries and trade; safety of supply given biological, chemical and radiation hazards; social, economic and environmental sustainability of production systems and supply chains; system resilience to social, economic and environmental shocks; welfare of fish, people and environment; and the authenticity of food. Conventionally, these aspects of the food system are not assessed collectively, so information supporting our assessment is widely dispersed. Our assessment reveals trade‐offs and challenges in the food system that are easily overlooked in sectoral analyses of fisheries, aquaculture, health, medicine, human and fish welfare, safety and environment. We highlight potential benefits of an integrated, systematic and ongoing process to assess security of the aquatic food system and to predict impacts of social, economic and environmental change on food supply and demand.     

Deadwood in New Zealand's indigenous forests

We present the results of a systematic, unbiased national survey of deadwood volume and biomass in New Zealand's remaining indigenous forests based on an 8-km grid of 894 permanent plots. New Zealand's old growth evergreen temperate forests are largely comprised of long-lived, slow-growing tree species typically growing in cool, humid conditions; collectively these conditions are thought to promote accumulation of high deadwood stocks. We estimated deadwood biomass and volume in New Zealand's forests and compared these stocks with published values from other broadleaved evergreen temperate forests. Mean deadwood biomass in New Zealand was 54 Mg ha⁻¹ but ranged across plots from 0 to 550 Mg ha⁻¹. Mean deadwood volume was 158 m³ ha⁻¹ and ranged across plots from 0 to 1890 m³ ha⁻¹. Fallen logs accounted for 63% of total deadwood volume and 65% of total deadwood biomass, with standing dead trees being the remainder. Each piece of deadwood was classified into one of three broad decay classes and >40% of deadwood was fallen logs of the intermediate decay class. Deadwood biomass and volume varied 1.8- and 1.9-fold, respectively, among forest types and was greatest in broadleaved forests, dominated by Weinmannia racemosa (Cunoniaceae), Metrosideros umbellata (Myrtaceae) and Metrosideros robusta, and broadleaf-Nothofagus (Nothofagaceae) forests supporting the large tree species Nothofagus fusca. Deadwood biomass and volume were least in broadleaf-conifer admixtures. We used structural equation models to determine whether deadwood biomass could be predicted from climate and environment (vapor pressure deficit, elevation and slope), live tree biomass, forest composition (captured by two ordination axes), wood density of live trees, and tree size (a proxy for stand age). The model that best fit the data retained only vapor pressure deficit, live tree biomass and the first ordination axis as predictors of deadwood biomass. However, this model predicted just 2.4% of the variation in deadwood biomass, suggesting that additional factors not captured by this dataset, such as disturbance dynamics, may control deadwood abundance. Comparisons with other temperate and tropical forests did not support the hypothesis that New Zealand's cool temperate rainforests support higher than expected biomass or volume of deadwood.     

Household attributes promote diversity of tree holdings in rural areas,South Africa

Trees within the homestead area provide many functions to rural households. However, within the semi-arid regions of southern Africa, there has been only limited examination of the correlates between the socio-economic attributes of rural households and the density, species richness and types of trees they keep. This paper reports on a multivariate analysis of household attributes in relation to homestead tree holdings from six rural villages in South Africa. In terms of density of trees per household, gender of the household head was the only significant correlate, with female-headed households having significantly fewer trees than their male-headed counterparts. This was especially so for the density of indigenous trees. With respect to species richness, a number of interrelated correlates were identified through Principle Components Analysis, the most prominent ones being relative wealth, village location, homestead size and gender. Most species were common between both male- and female-headed households, although there were differences between them for six of the species held by at least five percent of households. However, the differences were not related to species uses or income generation potential. These results indicate that support programmes should be conscious of the differential needs and responses of households according to their different characteristics and circumstances.     

In vivo and in vitro effect of recombinant salmon growth hormone treatment on IGF-I and IGFBPs in yellowtail <Emphasis Type="Italic">Seriola quinqueradiata</Emphasis>

The role of growth hormone (GH) in regulating hepatic mRNA expression of insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) and IGF binding proteins (IGFBPs) in yellowtail Seriola quinqueradiata was examined using in vivo and in vitro assays. Yellowtail hepatic IGF-I, IGFBP-1, IGFBP-2, IGFBP-3, and IGFBP-5 mRNAs were measured by real-time quantitative RT-PCR. Intraperitoneal injection of recombinant GH of chum salmon Oncorhynchus keta (rsGH) at a dose of 1 μg/g body weight resulted in a significant increases in hepatic IGF-I, IGFBP-3, and IGFBP-5 mRNA levels, whereas significant reductions in hepatic IGFBP-1 and IGFBP-2 mRNA levels were observed. For in vitro assays, liver slices were incubated with rsGH at different concentrations (doses: 0, 1, 10, 100, 500, and 1,000 ng/ml). Liver slices incubated with 100 ng/ml rsGH elicited a significant increase in IGF-I mRNA level. Similarly, a slight increase in IGFBP-3 and IGFBP-5 mRNA levels were also observed in liver explants incubated with rsGH. In contrast, a significant decline in IGFBP-1 mRNA levels was observed in liver slices incubated with 1,000 ng/ml rsGH. A slight decline in the level of IGFBP-2 mRNA was noted in liver explants with rsGH treatment. This study demonstrates the modulating effect of GH on the IGF system.     

Evaluation of potential probiotics isolated from saline tilapia in shrimp aquaculture

Integration of tilapia to shrimp culture is currently being practiced to minimize the growth of pathogenic luminous bacteria. The microorganisms that are associated in tilapia may contribute to the inhibition of the growth of Vibrio harveyi through the production of secondary metabolites. In this study, two Bacillus strains (MJA1.1, MJA2.1) isolated from mucus of tilapia were evaluated for their possible application in shrimp culture. The inhibitory property of these isolates against V. harveyi was determined in vitro using co-culture assay in a liquid medium. Also qualitative extracellular enzyme assay was conducted to assess whether the bacterial isolates produce extracellular enzymes. Furthermore, the potential use of these isolates as shrimp feed additive was tested. Thereafter, shrimps were exposed to lethal dose of ammonia (140 mg l^?1) to test the effects of the isolates in vivo. The results showed that in vitro co-culture assay after 72 h caused a significant decline in the population of V. harveyi in treatments with potential probiotic isolates. Both isolates showed protease, amylase, and cellulase activities. Although no significant difference was observed in growth, survival was significantly higher in shrimp fed with diets added with either of the isolates. The shrimp exposed to lethal dose of ammonia demonstrated better survival when supplemented with the probionts compared to the control group. Thus, the efficiency of the isolates in inhibiting V. harveyi population and the improvement of survival and resistance of cultured shrimp to ammonia stress indicate their potential as probionts for shrimp culture.     

The impact of genetic merit on ewe performance and efficiency parameters

The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of ewe genetic merit on ewe performance and efficiency parameters. The study consisted of three genetic merit groups (New Zealand [NZ], High Irish, and Low Irish) and ran from 2016 to 2019, inclusive. Each genetic merit group contained 30 purebred Suffolk and 30 purebred Texel ewes, which were selected based on their maternal genetic indexes in their country of origin, namely Ireland (€uro-star Replacement index) or New Zealand (New Zealand Maternal worth). Ewe body condition score (BCS), ewe body weight (BW), milk yield, milk composition, dry matter intake (DMI), and efficiency parameters were all analyzed using linear mixed models. Ewe BW was similar across all genetic merit groups at each time point (P > 0.05). In comparison to both High and Low Irish ewes, NZ ewes had a higher BCS at mating, mid-pregnancy, lambing, week 10 post-lambing (PL, P < 0.05). Ewe BW change was similar across genetic merit groups, except between mating and mid-pregnancy where ewe BW loss was greater for NZ ewes than Irish ewes (P < 0.05) and between weeks 6 PL and 10 PL, where NZ ewes gained BW and High and Low Irish ewes lost BW (P < 0.01). Ewe milk yield, milk fat, total solids, and gross energy content were superior for milk produced by NZ ewes at week 6 PL in comparison to milk produced by High Irish and Low Irish ewes (P < 0.01). NZ ewes produced a greater quantity of milk solids/kg of BW at week 6 PL compared with High Irish ewes (P < 0.01), whereas Low Irish ewes did not differ from either NZ or High Irish (P > 0.05). Low Irish ewes had a greater daily DMI than High Irish ewes in late lactation (week 10 PL, P < 0.05) and had a greater DMI/kg of ewe BW compared with the High Irish ewes at the same time point (P < 0.05). NZ ewes weaned a litter BW equivalent to 60.4% of their mating BW, which was more than the Low Irish ewes who weaned 57.1% of the ewe’s BW at mating (P < 0.01), whereas the High Irish ewes did not differ from either the NZ or Low Irish ewes at 59.3% of the ewe’s BW at mating (P > 0.05). This study presents a range of parameters across ewes of high and low genetic merit, demonstrating the ability to achieve gains through selection of animals of high genetic merit. Sheep producers should consider genetic indexes as a tool to assist in the decision-making process of selecting replacement ewes and/or breeding rams, once satisfied the animal is correct, and meeting the breeding objectives of the system.