Decadal trends in abundance,size and condition of Antarctic toothfish in McMurdo Sound,Antarctica, 1972–2011

We report the analyses of a dataset spanning 39 years of near‐annual fishing for Dissostichus mawsoni in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica, 1972–2011. Data on total length, condition and catch per unit effort (CPUE) were derived from the > 5500 fish caught, the large majority of which were measured, tagged and released. Contrary to expectation, the length frequency of the McMurdo Sound catch was dominated by fish in the upper two‐thirds of the overall distribution exhibited in the industrial catch for the Ross Sea shelf. Fish length and condition increased from the early 1970s to the early 1990s and then decreased. Fish length positively correlated with Ross Sea ice extent in early spring, a relationship possibly caused by more ice encouraging larger fish to move farther south over the shelf and into the study area. Fish condition positively correlated with the amount of open water in the Ross Sea during the previous summer (Feb), perhaps reflecting greater availability of prey with the higher productivity that more open water brings. Decreasing fish size corresponds to the onset of the fishery, which targets the large individuals. CPUE was constant through 2001 and then decreased dramatically. We hypothesize that this decrease is related to the industrial fishery, which began in the 1996–97 austral summer, and concentrates effort over the ice‐free Ross Sea continental slope. As a result of limited prey choices and close coupling among mesopredators of the region, Antarctic toothfish included, the fishery appears to be dramatically altering the trophic structure of the Ross Sea.     

Retrospective analysis of the influence of environmental drivers on commercial stocks and fishing opportunities in the Irish Sea

Irish Sea fisheries have undergone considerable change in recent years following the decline of commercially important finfish stocks and their slow response to management's recovery plans. In 2015, the fishing industry called for a holistic exploration into the impact of environmental change and food web effects to identify the drivers underpinning stock dynamics. In this study, we identify correlations between large‐scale climatic indicators, temperature, primary and secondary productivity, and fish recruitment in the Irish Sea and incorporate them into an Ecopath with Ecosim food web model co‐created by scientists and fishers. Negative correlations were found between the North Atlantic Oscillation winter index (NAOw) and large zooplankton abundance and between the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) and the recruitment of cod (Gadus morhua) and whiting (Merlangius merlangus). Using correlation analyses to direct the addition of environmental drivers to the Irish Sea ecosystem model improved the models fit against observed biomass and catch data and revealed the indirect impacts of environmental change as mitigated through trophic interactions. Model simulations suggest that historic environmental change suppressed the overall production of commercial finfish, limiting opportunities for the fishing industry, whilst also dampening the rate of stock recovery despite marked reductions in fishing effort. These results suggest that failure to account for ecosystem information may lead to misconceived expectations and flawed fisheries management; therefore, there is a need to operationalize ecosystem information through management procedures to support fisheries advice.     

Naturally occurring bacteraemia in American lobsters, Homarus americanus Milne-Edwards, in Long Island Sound

The health status of the American lobster, Homarus americanus Milne-Edwards, in Long Island Sound (LIS) has been in decline, with seasonal mortality events occurring since 1998. In order to assess the potential effects of environmental conditions on lobster health via haemolymph analysis, lobsters collected from various sites in LIS were examined and sampled while concurrent environmental data (water temperature, salinity and dissolved oxygen) were recorded. The pH of the haemolymph of each lobster was tested, followed by a collection of haemolymph for serum biochemistry analysis and bacterial culture. This report focuses on the results of the bacterial sampling. The majority of bacteria cultured were opportunistic pathogens commonly found in the environment, including some that are associated with sewage and pollution. The prevalence of bacteraemia was correlated with the site of collection, the month in which the lobsters were sampled, and water temperature.     

2001年全球转基因作物种植情况

１９９６—２００１年的六年间，全球转基因作物种植面积增加了３０多倍，从１９９６年的１７０万hm２增加到了２００１年的５２６０万hm２。其中发展中国家为１３５０万hm２，发达国家转基因作物增加的种植面积（５６０万hm２）是发展中国家（２８０万hm２）的２倍。２００１年，四个国家占据了全球转基因作物种植面积的９９％，其中美国为３５７０万hm２（占６８％），阿根廷为１１８０万hm２（占２２％），加拿大３２０万hm２（占６％），中国１５０万hm２（占３％）。中国的年增长率最高，抗虫棉的种植面积从２０００年的５０万hm２增加…     

Insecticide resistance in the bollworm,Helicoverpa armigera from Indonesia

Helicoverpa armigera collected from cotton growing areas of South Sulawesi, Indonesia in 1987 and early 1988 were resistant to cypermethrin. It is suggested that the 86-fold resistance to cis-cypermethrin in 1987 and the 65-fold resistance to cis/trans-cypermethrin in 1988 are consistent with this being a major cause of failure to control the insects in cotton in this area. The second laboratory generation showed a 20-fold resistance to fenvalerate. The larvae collected in 1988 additionally had a 203-fold resistance to DDT and a 5.6-fold resistance to endosulfan. The results are discussed in relation to the fact that this is a further region in which Helicoverpa armigera has developed resistance to a number of pyrethroids.     

Genetic and management factors that influence the susceptibility of cattle to Mycobacterium bovis infection

Genetic variation in the susceptibility of cattle to Mycobacterium bovis infection exists in differences between families and species, but not breeds. Susceptibility to M. bovis infection increases with age of cattle. Natural exposure to M. bovis or environmental mycobacteria may assist in the development of specific immunity, but there is no direct evidence for such immunological priming of tuberculosis resistance in cattle. This has, however, been demonstrated in humans and other animals. Since non-specific mechanisms have a role in protective immunity, developing an effective vaccine will be difficult, even though some protection of other species has been achieved. Immunological suppression in the periparturient period can produce anergic reactors, which may act as a constant source of infection for cattle-to-cattle transmission. Circumstantial evidence suggests that an adequate intake of mineral, vitamin and protein reduces the susceptibility of cattle. Although weather patterns have been implicated in the susceptibility of herds to M. bovis infection, there is insufficient information to determine the risk factors precisely. It is concluded that some reduction in the susceptibility of cattle to M. bovis infection can be achieved by modifications to the management system to minimize risk factors, but that a considerable amount of further research is required.     

Foresters' beliefs about farmers: a priority for social science research in social forestry

This study suggests that one of the most productive (and most neglected) uses of social science research in forestry development projects is to examine foresters' beliefs regarding rural peoples. This suggestion is illustrated with data from the Forestry Planning and Development Project, Pakistan's first nation-wide social forestry project.The operational component of this project, intended to assist small farmers to cultivate trees on their farmlands, ran into immediate difficulties. Many of the foresters involved insisted that small farmers were simply not interested in tree cultivation. A comprehensive base-line study subsequently was carried out to examine the validity of this belief. The results of this study (confirmed by the subsequent experience with the project in the field) varied markedly from the foresters' beliefs.While many of the foresters believed small farmers were opposed to having trees on their farms and would not agree to plant trees under the project, most farmers already had trees on their farms and expressed interest in planting more; while many foresters believed farmers would only be interested in planting large blocks of market-oriented exotics, most farmers requested small plantings of multi-purpose native trees; while many foresters believed farmers would plant trees only for market sale, most farmers requested trees to meet household needs for fuel and timber; and while many foresters did not think that increasing supplies of fuelwood could reduce the burning of dung, all of the evidence provided by the farmers suggested that it would.The disparity between farmer reality and forester belief is attributed to failures on the part of both foresters and social scientists — failure by foresters to distinguish their non-empirical beliefs about farmers from their empirically-based knowledge of trees, and failure by social scientists to recognize the belief systems of foresters as a legitimate and important object of study. Their study comprises three parts: finding out what the foresters think the farmers want, finding out from the farmers what they actually want, and then analyzing and explaining the differences.     

Anthropogenic grasslands in Southeast Asia: Sociology of knowledge and implications for agroforestry

Anthropogenic grasslands, meaning grasslands that have been influenced and modified by humans, are one of the most important land covers of the tropics, but their management is dominated by conflicted and contested views, which is reflected in the problematic record of grassland development intervention. This chapter analyzes the historic, cultural, political, and institutional factors that affect the way grasslands are viewed, drawing largely on data from Southeast Asia. These data suggest that perceptions of grasslands are colored in part by the marginal place that they occupy in the cosmology of western industrialized societies, which idealize forest covers. Consequently, national and international agencies view grasslands not as a common land cover but as a development problem. The agendas of government and development agencies are often not grounded in a proper understanding of the local human and bio-physical ecology of grasslands or of successful local agroforestry practices; and research on many of the most important dimensions of grassland management is poorly conducted and/or utilized. The recent rise in scientific interest in indigenous knowledge, environmental history, and non-equilibrium systems, has opened up new possibilities for the study of grasslands. Agroforestry, given its inherent bridging of nature and culture, is ideally suited to benefit from these possibilities, by focusing research attention on the bio-social factors that determine the appearance, disappearance, and maintenance of anthropogenic grasslands.

     

Theories of swidden agriculture,and the political economy of ignorance

Swidden agriculture is today the focus of a great deal of debate in the context of agroforestry development in humid, tropical countries. This paper argues that much of this debate deals not with the empirical facts of swidden agriculture, however, but rather with widely-accepted myths, and that this explains the widespread failures of developmental schemes involving swidden agriculturalists. The paper examines three of these myths in some detail. One myth is that swidden agriculturalists own their land communally (or not at all), work it communally, and consume its yields communally. The truth is that their land (including land under secondary forest fallow) is typically owned by individual households, it is worked by individual household labor forces and/or by reciprocal but not communal work groups, and its yields are owned and consumed privately and individually by each household. A second myth is that swidden cultivation of forested land is destructive and wasteful, and in the worst cases results in barren, useless grassland successions. The truth is that swidden cultivation is a productive use of the forests, indeed more productive than commercial logging in terms of the size of the population supported, and forest-grassland successions are typically a function not of rapaciousness but of increasing population/land pressure and agricultural intensification — the grasses, including Imperata cylindrica, having value both as a fallow period soil-rebuilder and as cattle fodder. A third myth is that swidden agriculturalists have a totally subsistence economy, completely cut off from the rest of the world. The truth is that swidden agriculturalists, in addition to planting their subsistence food crops, typically plant market-oriented cash crops as well, and as a result they are actually more integrated into the world economy than many of the practitioners of more intensive forms of agriculture. In the conclusion to the paper, in a brief attempt to explain the genesis of these several myths, it is noted that they have generally facilitated the extension of external administration and exploitation into the territories of the swidden agriculturalists, and hence can perhaps best be explained as a reflection of the political economy of the greater societies in which they dwell.     

Lupine induced "crooked calf disease" in Washington and Oregon: identification of the alkaloid profiles in Lupinus sulfureus, Lupinus leucophyllus, and Lupinus sericeus

Several lupines (Lupinus spp.) present on western U.S. rangelands contain alkaloids that are teratogenic to livestock and cause congenital birth defects in calves (crooked calf disease). Periodically, large losses of calves due to lupine-induced "crooked calf disease" occur in northern Oregon and eastern Washington state. Five lupine populations from this area representing three species (L. leucophyllus, L. sulfureus, and L. sericeus) were evaluated taxonomically and by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry, and the major alkaloids in each lupine species were identified. The teratogenic alkaloid anagyrine was present in both of the lupine species responsible for the high outbreaks in east-central Washington and northeastern Oregon. However, the alkaloid profiles of the two lupines identified as L. leucophyllus were dissimilar, as were the alkaloid profiles of the two lupines identified as L. sulfureus. Botanical classification is not sufficient to determine potential teratogenicity, and it must be followed by chemical characterization to determine risk to livestock.