A nine-year study of successful breeding in a Bonelli’s eagle population in southeast Spain: a basis for conservation

We analyse the factors influencing breeding success in a healthy population of Bonelli’s eagle (Hieraaetus fasciatus) from south-east Spain, a raptor that has suffered a serious decline in Europe. Between 18 and 33 pairs were annually monitored during the period 1994-2002. Several factors that may affect four breeding parameters were studied, namely human presence, vegetation, relief, climatic factors, intra- and inter-specific relationships, diet, prey abundance, nest building, adult mortality and age of reproduction. A consistently high breeding success was registered during the study period (productivity=1.43, SD=0.11), which was probably the result of high adult survival, adequate prey availability and mild weather conditions. However, a certain vulnerability to the presence of golden eagles (Aquila chrysaetos) and to human disturbance was observed. One interesting result was the reduced survival of young chicks on north-facing cliffs owing to colder conditions, which may partially explain the decline of the Bonelli’s eagle populations along its European distribution limits. We discuss the role of this healthy subpopulation in an Iberian metapopulation context, and propose that the potential interference of golden eagles should be taken into account when designing management strategies for Bonelli’s eagles. Finally, we pinpoint some conservation priorities and the importance of reducing the main causes of adult mortality (i.e. shooting and electrocution) to assure successful reproduction and survival of this species.     

Effect of water and nutrient supply on root distribution in anEucalyptus globulus plantation

Water and nutrients were supplied to anEucalyptus globulus plantation in a controlled experiment in west central Portugal. The trees were planted in a sandy soil at a spacing of 3 × 3 m. The experiment consisted of four treatments: irrigation, irrigation plus fertilization, fertilization without irrigation, and a rain fed and unfertilized control. The quantification of root biomass was carried out 13 mo after planting. When the plantation was 31 mo old, a trench was dug in the soil to uncover the distribution of the roots of individual trees. In the irrigated treatments root biomass was higher than in the control and in the fertilized plots. Differences in fine and coarse root distribution along the soil profile were also observed. In both irrigated treatments roots were concentrated along tree rows, where the irrigation tubes were dripping water or water plus nutrients.     

Gas chromatographic quantification of major volatile compounds and polyols in wine by direct injection

Methanol, propanol, isobutanol, isoamyl alcohol, 2-phenylethanol, acetaldehyde, 1,1-diethoxyethane, acetoin, ethyl acetate, ethyl lactate, and ethyl succinate and the polyols 2,3-butanediol (levo and meso forms) and glycerol were quantified by direct injection of wine samples. Linear responses over the usual concentration ranges for these compounds and r2 values from 0.9932 to 0.9998 were obtained. The confidence limits for the mean values ranged from 2.34% for diethyl succinate to 8.52% for 1,1-diethoxyethane, both at a probability level of 0.05. Relative errors ranged from 8 to 10% for the polyols and 1,1-diethoxyethane and were all less than 5% for alcohols and acetaldehyde. The proposed method is useful with a view to identifying relationships between alcoholic fermentation byproducts and controlling biological or chemical aging in wines.     

1,2,4-Trichlorobenzene Flow Characteristics in Saturated Homogeneous and Stratified Porous Media

Aerosol samples were continuously collected at Rishiri Island, Japan and concentrations of trace metals and water-soluble ionic constituents in the aerosol samples were measured in this study. Trace metal concentrations were analyzed by using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry equipped with a laser ablation sample introduction (LA/ICP-MS), which is a rapid and simultaneous method for multi-element analysis. The average concentrations of trace metals and water-soluble ionic constituents in TSP at Rishiri Island from March 2001 to October 2003 were: Al: 251 ± 371 (n= 359), Ti: 27 ± 38 (n= 342), V: 1.3 ± 1.6 (n= 327), Cr: 2.0 ± 2.2 (n= 202), Mn: 8.6 ± 12.0 (n= 353), Fe: 356 ± 645 (n= 349), Co: 0.18 ± 0.25 (n= 250), Ni: 1.9 ± 3.4 (n= 232), Cu: 7.4 ± 10.2 (n= 123), Zn: 16 ± 20 (n= 242), As: 1.2 ± 2.1 (n= 312), Se: 0.49 ± 0.65 (n= 133), Cd: 0.19 ± 0.33 (n= 285), Sb: 0.46 ± 0.62 (n= 265), Pb: 16 ± 30 (n= 314), Na⁺: 1153 ± 1384 (n= 306), NH₄ ⁺: 247 ± 257 (n= 254), K⁺: 74 ± 63 (n= 284), Ca²⁺: 144 ± 174 (n= 294), Mg²⁺: 150 ± 161 (n= 293), Cl^?: 2703 ± 3151 (n= 180), NO₃ ^?: 339 ± 415 (n= 332), SO₄ ^2?: 1648 ± 1398 (n= 362) (unit: ng m^?3). The obtained trace metal concentration levels in the aerosol were 1/10–1/70 of those obtained at Beijing, China and 1/2–1/40 of those obtained at Tokyo, Japan. The correlation between Al, Ti, Mn, and Fe, which were derived mainly from soil dust, was high at Rishiri Island. High-concentration events (when the measured value exceeds the average +3σ for the entire observation period) for each chemical constituent were observed several times per year, although the chemical concentration levels in TSP at Rishiri Island were almost constant throughout the year. The high-concentration phenomenon, which occurred in only 2% of the measurement days, raised the average concentration of the atmospheric chemical constituents at Rishiri Island by about 10%. The average value of the Pb/Zn ratio at Rishiri Island during the entire period was 1.8 ± 2.9, which is higher than 1. This suggests that the atmosphere at Rishiri Island has constantly been receiving contaminants from the Asian Continent. We conclude that the chemical constituents in the aerosol at Rishiri Island have been regularly transported from a wide area across the Asian Continent.     

Chemometrical analysis of capillary electrophoresis casein fractions for predicting ripening times of milk mixture cheese

The effect of the ripening time on the proteolytic process in cheeses manufactured from mixtures of cow's and ewe's milk during a 167-day ripening period was monitored by capillary electrophoresis of the pH 4.6-insoluble fraction. Totals of 21 and 16 peaks were recognized and matched in the electropherograms obtained with a fused-silica capillary and a neutral capillary (hydrophilically coated), respectively. These peaks corresponded to intact bovine and ovine caseins and their hydrolysis products (e.g., alpha(s1)-casein, gamma-caseins). In 167-day-old cheeses, bovine alpha(s0)-casein (alpha(s1)-casein 9P) had been completely degraded and 6% of the residual bovine alpha(s1)-casein remained intact. Breakdown of the beta-casein fraction was lower than that of the alpha(s)-casein fraction. Finally, partial least-squares regression and principal component regression were used to predict the ripening time in cheeses. The root-mean-square errors in prediction by cross-validation were <7.8 days in all cases.     

Effect of pH and temperature on comparative antioxidant activity of nonenzymatically browned proteins produced by reaction with oxidized lipids and carbohydrates

The antioxidative activity of nonenzymatically browned bovine serum albumin (BSA) produced by reaction with ribose (RI), hydroperoxides of methyl linoleate oxidation (HP), and secondary products of methyl linoleate oxidation (SP), at different pHs (4, 7, and 10) and temperatures (25, 37, 50, 80, and 120 degrees C), was studied to compare the antioxidative effects of carbohydrate- and oxidized lipids-modified proteins. The modified proteins (RIBSA, HPBSA, and SPBSA) were tested for antioxidative activity (at 100 ppm) in soybean oil using the thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS) assay. All of them decreased significantly (p < 0.05) the TBARS formation in the oil and exhibited different effectiveness as a function of the temperature and the pH of the medium. In addition, there was a good correlation between the antioxidative activity of the protein and the amino acid losses produced during the nonenzymatic browning. These results are in agreement with an analogous and complimentary contribution of both Maillard and oxidized lipid/protein reactions to the antioxidative activity produced in foods during processing and storage.     

Molecular characterization of chestnut plants selected for putative resistance to Phytophthora cinnamomi using SSR markers

A set of nine short sequence repeat (SSR) loci was used for the molecular characterization of 32 accessions of 15 chestnut trees selected in the field because of their putative resistance to the ink disease caused by Phytophthora spp. The goal of the present study was to determine the genetic identity of those selected European chestnut trees (Castanea sativa) or interspecific hybrids, considering that hybridization programs between European chestnut and Asiatic species (mainly Japanese chestnut, Castanea crenata) have been carried out in Galicia (Spain) since the early 20th century. The results showed that the analyzed SSR loci were useful to discriminate three Asiatic and the European species of Castanea. The joint information provided by a factorial correspondence analysis (FCA) and the presence of privative alleles allowed the putative molecular assignment of the selected plants to a certain identity. Most of them were determined as hybrids between C. crenata and C. sativa. The individuals coded C036 and C048 were assigned, with a high probability, to C. sativa due to their clustering with accessions of this species and because they had a number of privative alleles of this species. Only a few individuals could not be assigned to any particular genotype.     

Morphological development and allometric growth of yellowtail kingfish Seriola lalandi V. larvae under culture conditions

Morphological development and allometric growth patterns of Seriola lalandi larvae were assessed to characterize normal growth patterns under culture conditions. Early ontogenetic stages of yellowtail kingfish exhibited an exponential growth in terms of standard length as a function of age. Five development stages were characterized from hatching to the juvenile stage: larval stage I (0–2 days post hatch, dph) with endogenous feeding, characterized by a small yolk sac, unpigmented eyes, primordial finfold surrounding the body and a closed mouth; larval stage II (2–15 dph) characterized by mouth opening, complete pigmentation of eyes and the beginning of the exogenous feeding; subsequently, in the larval stage III (15–25 dph) the posterior tip of notochord of the larvae bended upward and the first rays appeared in fins, concomitant with a change in swimming behaviour; thereafter, larval stage IV (post‐flexion stage; 25–30 dph) began when larvae resembled in morphology to a juvenile organism; however, caudal and dorsal fins were not completely development. Lastly, the juvenile stage was reached 30 dph characterized by a morphology and fin structures similar to those of the adults. Growth and development of structures and organs associated with vital functions such as feeding, sensorial and breathing systems seemed to be more critical previous to 23 dph, which was reflected with a positive allometric growth of head and eyes during this period. The results from this study can be used as a tool‐guide to assess normal development in larval research with S. lalandi to improve existing rearing protocols in hatchery production.     

Computing inbreeding coefficients and the inverse numerator relationship matrix in large populations of honey bees

The inbreeding coefficients are considered in breeding decisions, and the inverse numerator relationship matrix A ^?1 is a prerequisite for breeding value estimation. Polyandry and haploid males are among the specifics of relationships between honey bees. Brascamp and Bijma (2014) averaged out the manifold possible relationships among honey bees that appear to have the same parents in a pedigree and assigned a single entry in A to animals that behave as a unit, for example, the workers of a hive. Their methods of calculation connected full‐sibs in the variance matrix of the Mendelian sampling terms D , via nonzero off‐diagonal elements. This impedes the inversion of A and the closely connected calculation of inbreeding coefficients, because efficient algorithms for this task take D to be a diagonal matrix. Memory limitations necessitate their use for large data sets. We adapted the quickest of them to the block diagonal matrix D , that is postulated for the honey bee. To our knowledge, the presented algorithm is the first one that facilitates the method of Brascamp and Bijma (2014) on large data sets.     

Trawling for cephalopods off the Portuguese coast—Fleet dynamics and landings composition

Fleet dynamics was addressed for three cephalopod taxa of commercial interest, the squid Loligo vulgaris, the octopuses Octopus vulgaris and Eledone cirrhosa, and the cuttlefish Sepia officinalis, for 48 trawlers of the fish trawling fleet. Landing profiles (LP) were identified based on the species composition of the landings using hierarchical cluster analysis. Four out of a total of 12 different LP were related to cephalopods and other species associated with them.The effects on the landing proportions of a number of variables, year, season and vessel, are analysed for each of the species studied using generalized linear models (GLM). The factor “vessel”, including an ensemble of technical characteristics as well as the abilities of individual skippers, explained most of the model deviance, strongly reinforcing the existence of a fleet component dedicated to catch cephalopods. However, time also explains much of the variation found in the data.Seasonal alternation between landings of octopodidae and cuttlefish was observed within a small group of old trawlers operating mainly off the south coast, following the abundance cycles of these species. For a larger group of more modern trawlers, operating off the western coast, inter-annual shift between octopus and squid was found, together with a well marked seasonal pattern between the catches of cephalopods and horse mackerel.Spatial patterns of activity were identified using vessel monitoring system (VMS) data available for trawlers in Portugal, demonstrating the existence of cephalopod targeting strategies in Portuguese fish trawling activities.