Effect on Growth, Survival, and Fatty Acid Composition of Australian Red Claw Crayfish Cherax quadricarinatus Fed Practical Diets With and Without Supplemental Lecithin and/or Cholesterol

Red claw crayfish Cherux quadricarinatus is one of more than a hundred species of Australian freshwater crayfish. However, because of its rapid growth rate, communal and non‐burrowing behavior, ease of spawning, wide temperature and dissolved oxygen tolerance, and no free‐swimming larval stages, red claw may be the best candidate among the Australian crayfishes for semi‐intensive or intensive aquaculture in the United States. The objective of the study was to examine the effects of growth, survival, and fatty acid composition of newly‐hatched red claw when fed four practical diets with or without lecithin and cholesterol. However, little is known of its nutritional requirements or practical diet formulations. An 8‐wk feeding trial was conducted in a recirculating system with newly‐hatched juvenile (mean individual weight, 0.2 g) red claw, each stocked in separate plastic mesh culture units containing their own individual water line. Water was recirculated through biological and mechanical filters. Practical diets were formulated to be isonitrogenous (40% protein) and isocaloric (4 kcal available enerpy/g of diet) and contained menhaden fish meal (25%), soybean meal (35%, except in Diet 4), and shrimp meal (10%, except in Diet 4) as protein sources. Diet 1 had 0.5% lecithin added and 1.0% cholesterol added: Diet 2 contained 0% lecithin and 1.0% cholesterol; Diet 3 contained 0.5% lecithin and 0% cholesterol: and Diet 4 contained 0% lecithin and 0% cholesterol. After 8 wk, juvenile red claw fed diets with 0% supplemental lecithin (Diets 2 and 4) had no significant difference (P >0.05) in final weight and percentage weight gain (5.6 g and 2626%. respectively) compared to red claw fed the control diet (Diet 1) containing 0.5% lecithin. Red claw fed a diet without added cholesterol (Diet 3) had significantly (P 0.05) lower final weight (3.6 g) and percentage weight gain (1,717%) compared to red claw fed the control diet (Diet 1). However, red claw fed Diet 4 (containing 0% added cholesterol and 0% added lecithin) showed no significant (P >0.05) difference in final weight (5.1 g) and percentage weight gain (2254%) compared to red claw fed all other diets. There was no significant difference (P >0.05) among all diets for specific growth rate (SGR) which averaged 5.38%/d. Percentage survival was not significantly different among all treatments and was 76% for red claw fed Diet 1, 64% (Diet 2), 56% (Diet 3), and 80% (Diet 4). These results indicate that red claw fed Diet 4 containing 25% menhaden fish meal, 44.5% soybean meal, 0.5% choline chloride, 2% cod liver oil and 1% corn oil may satisfy the lecithin and cholesterol requirements and that the addition of dietary lecithin and cholesterol may not be necessary for good growth and survival of small (0.2 g) juvenile red claw. This may allow for less expensive diet formulations for use by producers of red claw crayfish.     

Quantifying fenbendazole and its metabolites in self-medicating wild red grouse Lagopus lagopus scoticus using an HPLC-MS-MS approach

On red grouse estates in the UK the nematode parasite Trichostrongylus tenuis is often controlled by application of grit medicated with the anthelmintic fenbendazole (FBZ). To date, assessment of the efficacy has been inhibited by the inability to quantify uptake of FBZ by the birds. We have developed a simple and sensitive HPLC-MS-MS method for detecting and quantifying FBZ and its metabolites from a 300 mg sample of red grouse liver. This method could be used to improve the efficacy of medicated grit treatment by allowing the identification of conditions and application methods that optimize the uptake of FBZ. With the necessary modifications, our method will also be applicable to other wildlife species where self-medication is used for parasite control.     

Large-arena field cage releases of a candidate classical biological control agent for spotted wing drosophila suggest low risk to non-target species

Journal of Pest Science - Classical biological control, i.e., the introduction of natural enemies from an invasive pest’s area of origin, has been proposed repeatedly to control the spotted...     

Regulation of replication fork progression through histone supply and demand

DNA replication in eukaryotes requires nucleosome disruption ahead of the replication fork and reassembly behind. An unresolved issue concerns how histone dynamics are coordinated with fork progression to maintain chromosomal stability. Here, we characterize a complex in which the human histone chaperone Asf1 and MCM2-7, the putative replicative helicase, are connected through a histone H3-H4 bridge. Depletion of Asf1 by RNA interference impedes DNA unwinding at replication sites, and similar defects arise from overproduction of new histone H3-H4 that compromises Asf1 function. These data link Asf1 chaperone function, histone supply, and replicative unwinding of DNA in chromatin. We propose that Asf1, as a histone acceptor and donor, handles parental and new histones at the replication fork via an Asf1-(H3-H4)-MCM2-7 intermediate and thus provides a means to fine-tune replication fork progression and histone supply and demand.     

WHOLE BODY COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS OF SKELETAL AND CARDIAC MUSCULAR METASTATIC NEOPLASIA IN DOGS AND CATS

Muscular metastatic neoplasia has been reported to be rare in domestic animals, however previous studies were based primarily on necropsy findings. The purpose of this retrospective study was to describe whole body computed tomography (CT) characteristics of confirmed muscular metastases in a cohort of dogs and cats presented for oncology evaluation. Medical records of 1201 oncology patients were reviewed. Included animals underwent pre and postcontrast whole body CT, and CT‐guided tru‐cut biopsy or fine needle aspiration of one or more metastatic lesions. Twenty‐one dogs and six cats met inclusion criteria, representing 2.08% of all canine oncology patients and 3.1% of all feline oncology patients. Mean age was 9.6 years. Postcontrast CT characteristics included well‐demarcated, oval‐to‐round lesions with varying enhancement patterns: ring enhancing (n = 16), heterogeneously enhancing (n = 8), or homogeneously enhancing (n = 5). Five animals showed concurrent and varying nodular patterns. In seven cases (five dogs and two cats), one single muscular nodule was observed. In 20 cases, two or more lesions were observed. In two cases, cardiac hypodense nodules were observed in the postcontrast CT, while appearing isodense in the precontrast study. Necropsy confirmed neoplasia in both of them. Locations of muscular metastases included epaxial/paraspinal muscles of the cervical, thoracic, and lumbar spine (n = 18), superficial muscles of the thoracic wall (n = 13), scapular/shoulder region (n = 3), hind limb (n = 3), and abdominal wall muscles (n = 1). Findings supported the use of pre and postcontrast whole body CT for oncologic staging in dogs and cats, especially for primary tumors characterized by a high metastatic rate.     

Linking long-term landscape dynamics to the multiple interactions among ecosystem services in the European Alps

Context

Human driven land-use and land-cover change (LULC) is considered to be among the greatest ecological pressures in mountain regions. Over the past century, across the European Alps, extensive LULC changes have been observed, affecting ecosystem goods and services (ESs).

Objectives

For eight case study sites across the Alpine arc we aimed to provide a spatiotemporal explicit assessment of the impacts of LULC dynamics on ES provision and interactions, including cultivated crops, plant material, climate regulation, soil erosion control and aesthetics.

Methods

We quantified ES provision in biophysical terms at four time periods (1850, 1955, 1985, 2005) using spatially explicit LULC based assessment models. ES interactions were identified by statistically analyzing the spatiotemporal pattern among ES capacities.

Results

Over the past century forested areas have increased mainly at the cost of grasslands, while on easily accessible sites and fertile valley floors agricultural intensification occurred. ES provision shifted between 1850 and 2005, from a predominance of production ESs in 1850 to a landscape characterized by regulating ESs in 2005. Spatiotemporal analyses of ES interactions revealed trade-offs between regulating and cultural ESs and within the provisioning ES bundle and allowed to derive three different ES trajectories: regions developing from single to multifunctional sites in terms of service provision, sites reducing their service capacities and sites with rather stationary patterns over broad time periods.

Conclusions

We demonstrated that ES capacities in complex agro-ecological mountain regions are highly sensitive to long-term landscape dynamics. We conclude that assessing ES capacities and interactions in an explicitly spatiotemporal manner can help to guide evidence-based environmental measures.

     

Analysis of foliar uptake of pesticides in barley leaves: Role of epicuticular waxes and compartmentation

Uptake of pesticides into barley leaves was measured under controlled conditions. Leaves detached from plants were submerged in aqueous solutions of ¹⁴C-labelled (2,4-dichlorophenoxy)acetic acid, triadimenol, bitertanol and pentachlorophenol. Uptake was biphasic. A short (30-min) period with high rates of uptake was followed by uptake that proceeded more slowly and was steady over hours. Compartmentation of pesticides was studied by desorbing pentachlorophenol from leaves previously loaded with [¹⁴C]pentachlorophenol. From the uptake and desorption kinetics it was concluded that penetration of pesticides proceeds as follows: the compounds are first sorbed at the surface of epicuticular wax aggregates where they are in contact with the donor solutions. Solutes then diffuse through the surface wax aggregates into the cuticle. Equilibrium between donor solutions, surface wax and cuticle is established in about 30 min. After this time the amounts of solutes in these compartments no longer increase. Uptake after this time represents penetration into the leaf cells. This fraction of the pentachlorophenol is retained irreversibly, while that sorbed in wax and cutin can be desorbed again. All compounds were sorbed in cuticular waxes and partition coefficients wax/water were determined. On a mass basis only 5 to 10% of the amounts sorbed in cutin are sorbed in wax. This comparatively low solubility in wax contributes to the barrier properties of cuticular waxes. The other determinant of permeability is the very low mobility of solutes in cuticular waxes.