The severity of smouldering peat fires and damage to the forest soil

Smouldering wildfires propagate slowly through surface and subsurface organic layers of the forest ground and severely affect the soil, producing physical, chemical and biological changes. These effects are caused by the prolonged heating and the large loss of soil mass but are poorly documented in the literature. A series of smouldering experiments with boreal peat have been conducted under laboratory conditions to quantify these effects using small-scale samples. Peat samples of 100 mm by 100 mm in cross section and 50 mm in depth of different moisture were exposed to an external ignition source. Thermocouples placed throughout the sample bed measured the temperature evolution and tracked the peat ignition, intensity and spread of the smouldering front. The results show that moisture content controls peat ignition and that moisture below 125 ± 10% (in dry base) are required. The severity of the smouldering peat on the soil has been quantified in terms of temperature vs. residence time curves and mass loss. The measurements show temperatures in excess of 300 °C for residence times of 1 h leading to sterilization of the soil and mass loss in burnt layers above 90%.     

Reversible cryogenic blockade of neural function in the brain of unrestrained animals

Reversible cryogenic blockade of neural systems in the brain may be accomplished by local cooling. A small cryoprobe is described which may be implanted in the brain of an unrestrained, behaving animal. Cooling may be restricted to the tip of the cryoprobe and the temperature of the tip and the shaft may be regulated and monitored independently by miniature thermocouples and appropriate control and indicator devices. Electrophysiological results are presented which show that the cryogenic blocking effect may be localized to within a few millimeters of the tip of the cryoprobe and that the size of the region blocked is proportional to the tip temperature. The system described has been shown to be effective in both electrophysiological and behavioral studies.     

Opto-electronic counters for postlarvae and juveniles of Machrobrachium rosenbergii (de Man); design and tests of Type A counter

Postlarvae or juveniles of Macrobrachium rosenbergii produced in Mauritius are sold at unit price to prawn farmers and are counted individually by hand. This process is time consuming, labour intensive, subject to error and may stress the juveniles; safe rapid electronic counting would be highly advantageous.The design of the hydraulic component of a successful counter prototype, Type A, is described. The counter has 10 parallel channels through which juveniles are carried in a water current. The detection of juveniles passing through these channels can be done photo-electrically. The counter accepts juveniles up to 15 mm in length (eye orbit to tip telson) and has the significant advantage that it can be constructed using only simple hand tools.Survival and growth rate tests, and microscopic examination for damage to appendages of juveniles were done on machine counted and hand counted juveniles. There was no reduction of growth or survival caused by passage through the counter by comparison with the hand counting method, and it is concluded that the counter is not detrimental to juvenile prawns.About 70% of all juveniles tested showed highly variable amounts of damage. The great majority of this damage appears to originate in the hatchery tanks, prior to the experimental treatments. Only in the case of antennules could the use of the counter be shown to increase damage significantly, i.e. from 25% to 38%, but this has no detectable effect on subsequent survival or growth.This appears to be the first counter made specifically for counting macroscopic crustacean juveniles, and via suitable scaling, adaptation to counting other species of crustaceans, fish larvae, etc., should be possible.     

Toxoplasmosis in two cats with inflammatory intestinal disease

Lymphocytic-plasmacytic enteritis, a chronic inflammatory intestinal disease, was diagnosed in 2 cats. In 1 cat, recurrence of clinical signs after initiating treatment was attributed to relapse of the inflammatory intestinal disease, but was found to be attributable to relapsing toxoplasmosis secondary to immunosuppressive drug therapy. Treatment with clindamycin resolved the recurrent toxoplasmosis. In the second cat, clinical signs of toxoplasmosis did not develop, but serologic testing yielded evidence of active toxoplasmosis. Treatment with clindamycin caused the titers to decrease. Relapsing toxoplasmosis may be responsible for apparent resistance to treatment in cats for inflammatory intestinal disease being treated with immunosuppressive drugs.     

Development of the population size, contribution of foreign breeds, inbreeding and degree of relationships of the entire Hanoverian scenthound population registered in the stud book of the kennel club Hirschmann e.V

The entire dog population of Hanoveranian Scenthounds registered since the foundation of the kennel club Hirschmann in the year 1894 was analysed for the development of the inbreeding and relationship coefficient and the contribution of Hanoveranian Scenthound population of foreign countries. The analyses were performed using all available pedigree information. In the history, the breeding of the Hanoveranian Scenthound was difficult because of the low number of breeding dogs which was additionally reduced during World War I and II. The mean coefficient of inbreeding of the entire German population was 6.35%. From 1950 to 1990, the mean coefficient of inbreeding increased from 8.3% to 9.7%. In the birth years from 1990 to 2002, the mean coefficient of inbreeding decreased slightly to 9.2%. The rates of inbreeding decreased since 1950. For the last 8 generations the increase of the coefficients of inbreeding per generation was 0.71%. The mean degree of relationship of the entire population was 7.17%, whereby values higher than 75% were found. Gene contributions of 8 other European stud books for the Hanoveranian Scenthound could be found in the German population. Hereby, the Austrian Hanoveranian Scenthounds had the largest impact on the German population with 24.4%. The proportion of genes from the German stud book amounted to 67%.     

Competitive and allelopathic interference between soybean crop and annual wormwood (Artemisia annua L.) under field conditions

Annual wormwood interference on soybean crop growth and yield may result from competition and allelopathy, which are modulated by crop management. Allelochemicals released by annual wormwood (e.g. artemisinin) may affect the crop directly or indirectly through the effect on the nitrogen fixing symbiont, Bradyrhizobium japonicum. The objectives were (i) to quantify the crop response (i.e. biomass production, nodulation and yield) to weed interference and (ii) to determinate the relative change of competition and allelopathy interferences, when a sublethal dose of herbicide is applied. Two split plot field experiments with three replications were used. The experiment involved a factorial combination of five weed–crop density (soybean/annual wormwood, plants m^?2) levels: D1, pure soybean, 40/0 plants m^?2; D2, 40/2 plants m^?2; D3, 40/4 plants m^?2 and D4, 40/8 plants m^?2, and D5, pure annual wormwood, 0/8 plants m^?2, two activated carbon (allelopathy) levels: C?, with activated carbon (reduced allelopathy) and C+, non activated carbon applied (with allelopathy) and two herbicide levels: H?, untreated and H+, treated with a sub-lethal dose of glyphosate. Activated carbon to adsorb allelochemicals (with and without activated carbon) and glyphosate application (with and no herbicide) were assigned to sub-plots. Increasing weed density did not affect crop biomass at flowering, but changed nodule number and soybean yield with a different pattern depending on carbon and herbicide treatment. Relative crop yield decreased with increasing relative weed biomass. This decrease was particularly drastic when allelopathy was reduced by activated carbon and without herbicide application. The maximum yield losses of 33% in 2006 and 17% in 2007 were observed with the highest weed density (8 plants m^?2). In contrast, without carbon (high allelopathy level), soybean yield remained stable within the explored range of annual wormwood biomass, despite the fact that weed biomass at high densities (D4) was high enough to generate competition. The lack of response to increasing weed density could be related to the indirect effect of allelochemicals interacting with soil microorganisms (i.e. B. japonicum) that positively affected the nodulation (e.g. larger nodules in 2006 and increased nodules biomass due to higher number of roots in 2007 at high densities). With herbicide application, soybean yield of both carbon treatments remained stable when biomass of annual wormwood increased. This research provided strong evidence in support of the existence of positive effect of allelopathic and competitive interactions between annual wormwood and soybean crop under field conditions that may be overridden under herbicide application.