Climate and vegetation history of the midcontinent from 75 to 25 ka: A speleothem record from crevice cave, missouri, USA

Four Missouri stalagmites yield consistent overlapping records of oxygen and carbon isotopic changes and provide a climate and vegetation history with submillennial resolution from 75 to 25 thousand years ago (ka). The thorium-230-dated records reveal that between 75 and 55 ka, the midcontinental climate oscillated on millennial time scales between cold and warm, and vegetation alternated among forest, savanna, and prairie. Temperatures were highest and prairie vegetation peaked between 59 and 55 ka. Climate cooled and forest replaced grassland at 55 ka, when global ice sheets began to build during the early part of Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage 3.     

Phylogenetic characterization of rabies virus isolates from Carnivora in Brazil

The incidence of canine rabies has been widely reported in Brazil, and new rabies virus (RV) variants, genetically similar to canine RV, have recently been isolated from foxes. In order to derive the epidemiological characteristics of Brazilian Carnivora RV, Brazilian RVs isolated from dogs, cats, and foxes were genetically analyzed. Brazilian Carnivora RV isolates were divided into 2 main lineages. The predominant lineage was found in dogs and cats, which included the Argentinean and Bolivian Carnivora RV isolates, and was extensively distributed throughout Brazil and surrounding countries. The other lineage consisted of three sublineages containing Brazilian dog and fox RV isolates, with the dog sublineages located on an internal branch of 2 fox sublineages, suggesting that RV transmission events might have occurred between foxes and dogs in the past. These results suggest that contact between dogs and wildlife has the potential to generate new rabies variants and that it is important to control RV infection cycles in both dogs and wildlife to prevent spread of rabies infection.     

Toxicity of the antifouling biocide Sea-Nine 211 to marine algae, crustacea, and a polychaete

We evaluated the acute toxicity of the antifouling biocide Sea-Nine 211 to the algae Chaetoceros calcitrans, Dunaliella tertiolecta, Tetraselmis tetrathele, and Skeletonema costatum, the crustacea Tigriopus japonicus and Portunus trituberculatus, and the polychaete Perinereis nuntia. The algae, and especially the diatoms C. calcitrans and S. costatum, were sensitive to Sea-Nine 211 toxicity, with the average acute toxicity values being 0.32, 3.9, 1.6, 0.22, 1.6, 12, and 27 μg/l for C. calcitrans, D. tertiolecta, T. tetrathele, S. costatum, T. japonicus, P. trituberculatus, and P. nuntia, respectively. A sediment toxicity test for Sea-Nine 211 using the polychaete P. nuntia revealed demonstrated that the 14-day median lethal concentration was 110 μg/kg dry-wt sediment and that growth was the most sensitive indicator. The chronic toxicity values of Sea-Nine 211 for the diatoms C. calcitrans and S. costatum were within the range of reported Sea-Nine 211 concentrations in seawater in coastal Japan, and the toxicity values for P. nuntia were within the reported concentrations in sediment. Based on these results, Sea-Nine 211 may have toxic effects on some sensitive species residing in the coastal areas of Japan, but the ecological risk posed by Sea-Nine 211 would appear to be confined to a limited area of Japanese coastal waters.     

Relationship between coastal water properties and adult return of chum salmon (Oncorhynchus keta) along the Sanriku coast,Japan

We investigated the relationship between adult (age‐4) return rates for chum salmon (Oncorhynchus keta) originating from the Iwate Prefecture, Japan, and coastal environmental conditions during their early ocean life in coastal residency. We analyzed distributions of water properties via intensive hydrographic observations using a conductivity–temperature–depth profiler. Both the return rates and water properties vary strongly over interannual time scales. We found that the time when the return rate decreased drastically corresponded well to the time when the frequency of warm waters in the coastal residency increased.     

Effects of body condition score in cows peripartum on the onset of postpartum ovarian cyclicity and conception rates after ovulation synchronization/fixed-time artificial insemination

The aim of this study was to examine whether the nutritional state of cows peripartum was associated with the recovery of ovarian function and conception rates after synchronization of ovulation and fixed-time artificial insemination (OVSYNCH/TAI). The effect of the interval in days from calving to the first ovulation on conception rates after OVSYNCH/TAI was also investigated. Conception rates of cows after OVSYNCH/TAI (n=39) were 43.6%. The conception rates of cows with a body condition score (BCS) of 2.75-3.25 at 30 d postpartum and on the day of OVSYNCH treatment were significantly higher than in cows with a BCS < or =2.5 (P<0.05). The percentage of cows establishing ovarian cyclicity before 55 d postpartum in cows with a BCS of 2.75-3.25 at 30 d postpartum and on the day of OVSYNCH treatment were significantly higher than in cows with a BCS < or =2.5 (P<0.05). The conception rates after OVSYNCH/TAI in cows which recovered ovarian cyclicity within 34 d postpartum were significantly higher than in cows with first ovulation > or =56 d (P<0.05). These results indicated that the nutritional state in cows peripartum influenced the conception rates after OVSYNCH/TAI and the postpartum ovarian cyclicity and also suggested that the conception rates after OVSYNCH/TAI decreased in cows with delayed recovery of ovarian cyclicity.     

Bovine hepatocyte growth factor and its receptor c-Met: cDNA cloning and expression analysis in the mammary gland

Hepatocyte growth factor/scatter factor (HGF/SF) is a pleiotropic cytokine that plays a crucial role in the embryonic and postnatal development of various organs including the mammary gland. We cloned bovine HGF and its c-Met receptor cDNAs, and examined their expression during mammary gland development in dairy cows. The 2.5-kbp HGF cDNA clone contained a 2190 bp open reading frame coding a 730 amino acid protein, while the 4.8-kbp c-Met cDNA clone contained a 4152 bp open reading frame coding a 1384 amino acid protein. The bovine HGF and c-Met sequences exhibited more than 87% identity with those of other mammals. RT-PCR analysis revealed ubiquitous expression of both HGF and c-Met mRNAs in various bovine tissues tested. HGF mRNA was detected only in the inactive stage of bovine mammary gland development and not in the developing, lactating, and involuting stages, while c-Met mRNA was detected in the inactive and involuting stages. Immunohistochemical analysis demonstrated that the c-Met protein was found on mammary epithelial cells in the inactive, developing, and involuting stages, and on myoepithelial cells in all stages. These results suggest pivotal roles of HGF and c-Met in the development of bovine mammary gland.     

Estimation of kelp forest, <Emphasis Type="Italic">Laminaria</Emphasis> spp., distributions in coastal waters of the Shiretoko Peninsula,Hokkaido, Japan,using echosounder and geostatistical analysis

Sustainable management of the kelp forests of the Shiretoko Peninsula, a World Natural Heritage site, is necessary due to kelp’s ecological and economic importance. The objectives of this study were to estimate the area of kelp forests and to clarify their spatial characteristics in coastal waters of the Shiretoko Peninsula. Data on the presence/absence and thickness of kelp forests were collected via acoustic observation on transects over about 80 km using an echosounder at 200 kHz. Acoustic data were geostatistically interpolated, and the areas covered by kelp forests were estimated. Differences in kelp distribution between the eastern and western sides of the peninsula were compared. The total area of kelp forest was 3.88 km² (eastern area: 3.49 km²; western area: 0.39 km²). The range of thickness of the kelp forests was 34–91 cm. Many kelp forests in the eastern area were thick (>78 cm) and distributed continuously, while kelp forests in the western area were sparsely distributed.     

Mesoscale eddies modulate the dynamics of human fishing activities in the global midlatitude ocean

Frequent fishing activities are causing overfishing, destroying the habitat of marine life, and threatening global marine biodiversity. Understanding the dynamics of fishing activities and their drivers is crucial for designing and implementing effective ocean management. The fishing activities in the open sea are reported to be characterized by high spatial variability in local waters; however, it is still unclear whether their high spatial variability is random or regulated by oceanographic variations. Mesoscale eddies are ubiquitous swirling currents that dominate locally biogeochemical processes. Previous case studies presented an ongoing debate regarding how eddies exert impacts on high trophic organisms, which imposes limitations on understanding the dynamics of fishing activities based on the bottom-top control hypothesis from eddies to fish and fishing activities. By combining global fishing activities from deep learning and oceanic eddy atlases from satellite monitoring, we showed that the spatial variations in fishing activities were closely related to mesoscale eddies in the global midlatitude ocean, confirming that fishing activities primarily targeting tuna, were aggregated in (repelled from) anticyclonic (cyclonic) eddy cores. This eddy-fishing activity relationship was opposite to satellite-observed primary production but corresponded well with the temperature and oxygen content in deeper water. By integrating existing evidence, we attribute eddy-related fishing activities to a reasonable hypothesis that warm and oxygen-rich deeper water in anticyclonic eddies relieves the thermal and anoxic constraints for diving predation by tuna while the constraints are aggravated in cold and oxygen-poor cyclonic eddies.