Improved performance of gilthead sea bream, Sparus aurata, larvae after ozone disinfection of the eggs

Ozone (O₃) dissolved in seawater (ODS) was evaluated, as an egg disinfectant, on the spawn of captive gilthead sea bream, Sparus aurata, brood stock. Four contact times (CT) were tested (0.6, 1.2, 2.4 and 4.8 mg min L⁻¹) where CT was calculated by multiplying the dissolved O₃ concentration (0.3 mg L⁻¹) by different exposure periods (2, 4, 8, 16 min). There was also a disinfected seawater treatment that contained no O₃ or derived compounds (CT 0) and an untreated seawater control. All ODS treatments reduced egg surface bacterial counts to zero, which was significantly (P<0.05) lower than the CT 0 and the control groups (194 and 1320 plate⁻¹ respectively). Nevertheless, the hatching rate was high in the control and the CT treatments 0, 0.6 and 1.2 (88.7%, 87.3%, 89.5% and 83.7% respectively) while eggs exposed to a CT 2.4 and 4.8 hatched poorly (36.5% and 20.4% respectively), which was likely due, at least in part, to larvae unable to break the egg chorion successfully. Swim‐bladder inflation was significantly higher in the ODS groups (>97%) compared with the control and CT 0 treatments (ca. 70%). The results suggest that a 2‐min exposure of eggs to 0.3 mg O₃ L⁻¹ of ODS (CT 0.6) would improve current protocols in marine larviculture.     

Effects of shrimp pond water on phytoplankton: importance of salinity and trophic status of the receiving environment

Aquaculture generates a large load of effluents rich in organic matter and nutrients that may be introduced into the environment. This study aimed to assess in a microcosm experiment, the effect of shrimp pond water mixed with Patos Lagoon estuary water on phytoplankton chlorophyll a and primary production, simulating two salinities. Chlorophyll a, dissolved inorganic nutrients and primary production were measured in two experiments. In Harvest I, salinity of shrimp pond and environment water was similar, and chlorophyll a showed different trends over time, according to the amount of nitrogen available. In Harvest II, with different salinities and high nutrient concentrations in environment water, chlorophyll a levels showed a similar increasing trend over time in all mixtures. Net primary production showed differences among treatments in the first sampling in Harvest I, but not in the second, whereas no differences were observed among treatments in Harvest II. We conclude that shrimp pond effluent can lead to short‐term variations in chlorophyll a and primary production levels, with similar salinities. Salinity differences result in lower chlorophyll a and primary production values than expected according to the nutrient input. Differences in salinity can be an important management strategy to choose the best harvest period.     

Irrigation scheduling strategies for cotton to cope with water scarcity in the Fergana Valley, Central Asia

The Central Asian countries face high water scarcity due to aridity and desertification but excess water is often applied to the main irrigated crops. This over-irrigation contributes to aggravate water scarcity problems. Improved water saving irrigation is therefore required, mainly through appropriate irrigation scheduling. To provide for it, after being previously calibrated and validated for cotton in the Fergana region, the irrigation scheduling simulation model ISAREG was explored to simulate improved irrigation scheduling alternatives. Results show that using the present irrigation scheduling a large part of the applied water, averaging 20%, percolates out of the root zone. Several irrigation strategies were analyzed, including full irrigation and various levels of deficit irrigation. The analysis focused a three-year period when experiments for calibration and validation of the model were carried out, and a longer period of 33 years that provided for an analysis considering the probabilities of the demand for irrigation water. The first concerned a wet period while the second includes a variety of climatic demand conditions that provided for analyzing alternative schedules for average, high and very high climatic demand. Results have shown the importance of the groundwater contribution, mainly when deficit irrigation is applied. Analyzing several deficit irrigation strategies through the respective potential water saving, relative yield losses, water productivity and economic water productivity, it could be concluded that relative mild deficits may be adopted. Contrarily, the adoption of high water deficit that produce high water savings would lead to yield losses that may be economically not acceptable.     

Finding a needle in the haystack: Regional analysis of suitable Eld’s deer (Cervus eldi) forest in Southeast Asia

For species whose decline preceded the modern era and whose distribution is in the developing world, it is difficult to map suitable habitat across its former range. Eld’s deer (Cervus eldi) is an endangered cervid whose range across Southeast Asia was reduced during the last century to disjoint populations in Myanmar and Cambodia. We used ecological data from the present populations to determine landscape and habitat parameters that would help us predict the occurrence of the species in forests not yet surveyed. The suitable-forest GIS model was created using four readily available datasets for elevation, forest type, canopy closure, and human density. Comparison of the GIS model with 24 verified sightings of Eld’s deer during recent large mammal surveys in Cambodia, found 22 sightings (92%) within predicted suitable forest. Use the suitable-forest GIS model to survey a province in southern Lao People’s Democratic Republic, located a single, previously unreported population from 9 patches surveyed. In a separate analysis, a logistic regression model to predict Eld’s deer habitat in Northern Cambodia found percent tree cover, presence of wetlands, and distance to villages as the best predictors of deer, similar to variables used in the GIS model, with the exception of the importance of wetlands. Using mean annual rainfall to rank suitable-forest patches identified in the GIS model indicated dry dipterocarp forests in Northeastern Cambodia and Northern Myanmar have the highest potential to conserve eld’s deer. Examination of the suitable-forest GIS map and current protected areas indicated only Cambodia, with 11% suitable forest protected, has placed sufficient dry dipterocarp forest under protected status. Other Southeast Asia countries have not recognized dry dipterocarp forest as a significant ecotype worthy of conservation status.     

Fate of diuron and terbuthylazine in soils amended with two-phase olive oil mill waste

The addition of organic amendments to soil increases soil organic matter content and stimulates soil microbial activity. Thus, processes affecting herbicide fate in the soil should be affected. The objective of this work was to investigate the effect of olive oil production industry organic waste (alperujo) on soil sorption-desorption, degradation, and leaching of diuron [3-(3,4-dichlorophenyl)-1,1-dimethylurea] and terbuthylazine [N2-tert-butyl-6-chloro-N4-ethyl-1,3,5-triazine-2,4-diamine], two herbicides widely used in olive crops. The soils used in this study were a sandy soil and a silty clay soil from two different olive groves. The sandy soil was amended in the laboratory with fresh (uncomposted) alperujo at the rate of 10% w/w, and the silty clay soil was amended in the field with fresh alperujo at the rate of 256 kg per tree during 4 years and in the laboratory with fresh or composted alperujo. Sorption of both herbicides increased in laboratory-amended soils as compared to unamended or field-amended soils, and this process was less reversible in laboratory-amended soils, except for diuron in amended sandy soil. Addition of alperujo to soils increased half-lives of the herbicides in most of the soils. Diuron and terbuthylazine leached through unamended sandy soil, but no herbicide was detected in laboratory-amended soil. Diuron did not leach through amended or unamended silty clay soil, whereas small amounts of terbuthylazine were detected in leachates from unamended soil. Despite their higher sorption capacity, greater amounts of terbuthylazine were found in the leachates from amended silty clay soils. The amounts of dissolved organic matter from alperujo and the degree of humification can affect sorption, degradation, and leaching of these two classes of herbicides in soils. It appears that adding alperujo to soil would not have adverse impacts on the behavior of herbicides in olive production.     

Classification of Azolla spp., section Azolla

Summary Azolla accessions (section Azolla) from the germplasm collections of the International Rice Research Institute and Washington State University were fingerprinted and classified by enzyme electrophoresis and leaf trichome morphology. A. filiculoides was enzymatically distinctive and also reliably identified by its prominent one-celled trichomes. Neotropical accessions labelled as A. filiculoides proved to be members of other species. Two groups of isolates were designated A. rubra, but those from Japan were identified as A. filiculoides. The A. rubra of Australia-New Zealand was biochemically unique and possessed less protuberant trichomes than A. filiculoides. A. microphylla, A. mexicana, and A. caroliniana were phenetically similar, but a. microphylla was identifiable from the others in the banding patterns of certain enzymes. A. mexicana and A. caroliniana were closely related enzymatically. The two-celled leaf trichomes of these three species were similar in size and shape.     

Rapid wastage of Alaska glaciers and their contribution to rising sea level

We have used airborne laser altimetry to estimate volume changes of 67 glaciers in Alaska from the mid-1950s to the mid-1990s. The average rate of thickness change of these glaciers was -0.52 m/year. Extrapolation to all glaciers in Alaska yields an estimated total annual volume change of -52 +/- 15 km3/year (water equivalent), equivalent to a rise in sea level (SLE) of 0.14 +/- 0.04 mm/year. Repeat measurements of 28 glaciers from the mid-1990s to 2000-2001 suggest an increased average rate of thinning, -1.8 m/year. This leads to an extrapolated annual volume loss from Alaska glaciers equal to -96 +/- 35 km3/year, or 0.27 +/- 0.10 mm/year SLE, during the past decade. These recent losses are nearly double the estimated annual loss from the entire Greenland Ice Sheet during the same time period and are much higher than previously published loss estimates for Alaska glaciers. They form the largest glaciological contribution to rising sea level yet measured.     

A comparison of popular approaches to optimize landscape resistance surfaces

Landscape Ecology - Landscape resistance surfaces are often used to address questions related to movement, dispersal, or population connectivity. However, modeling landscape resistance is...     

Multi-model comparison on the effects of climate change on tree species in the eastern U.S.: results from an enhanced niche model and process-based ecosystem and landscape models

Context

Species distribution models (SDM) establish statistical relationships between the current distribution of species and key attributes whereas process-based models simulate ecosystem and tree species dynamics based on representations of physical and biological processes. TreeAtlas, which uses DISTRIB SDM, and Linkages and LANDIS PRO, process-based ecosystem and landscape models, respectively, were used concurrently on four regional climate change assessments in the eastern Unites States.

Objectives

We compared predictions for 30 species from TreeAtlas, Linkages, and LANDIS PRO, using two climate change scenarios on four regions, to derive a more robust assessment of species change in response to climate change.

Methods

We calculated the ratio of future importance or biomass to current for each species, then compared agreement among models by species, region, and climate scenario using change classes, an ordinal agreement score, spearman rank correlations, and model averaged change ratios.

Results

Comparisons indicated high agreement for many species, especially northern species modeled to lose habitat. TreeAtlas and Linkages agreed the most but each also agreed with many species outputs from LANDIS PRO, particularly when succession within LANDIS PRO was simulated to 2300. A geographic analysis showed that a simple difference (in latitude degrees) of the weighted mean center of a species distribution versus the geographic center of the region of interest provides an initial estimate for the species’ potential to gain, lose, or remain stable under climate change.

Conclusions

This analysis of multiple models provides a useful approach to compare among disparate models and a more consistent interpretation of the future for use in vulnerability assessments and adaptation planning.

     

Assessing wild bees in perennial bioenergy landscapes: effects of bioenergy crop composition,landscape configuration,and bioenergy crop area

Context

Wild bee populations are currently under threat, which has led to recent efforts to increase pollinator habitat in North America. Simultaneously, U.S. federal energy policies are beginning to encourage perennial bioenergy cropping (PBC) systems, which have the potential to support native bees.

Objectives

Our objective was to explore the potentially interactive effects of crop composition, total PBC area, and PBC patches in different landscape configurations.

Methods

Using a spatially-explicit modeling approach, the Lonsdorf model, we simulated the impacts of three perennial bioenergy crops (PBC: willow, switchgrass, and prairie), three scenarios with different total PBC area (11.7, 23.5 and 28.8% of agricultural land converted to PBC) and two types of landscape configurations (PBC in clustered landscape patterns that represent realistic future configurations or in dispersed neutral landscape models) on a nest abundance index in an Illinois landscape.

Results

Our modeling results suggest that crop composition and PBC area are particularly important for bee nest abundance, whereas landscape configuration is associated with bee nest abundance at the local scale but less so at the regional scale.

Conclusions

Strategies to enhance wild bee habitat should therefore emphasize the crop composition and amount of PBC.