Developments in land information systems: examples demonstrating land resource management capabilities and options

Land Information Systems (LIS) provide a foundation for supporting decision‐making across a broad spectrum of natural resource applications: agronomic, environmental, engineering and public good. Typically, LIS constitute a computerized database repository holding geospatial components, ‘mapping unit’ geometry and related georeferenced materials such as satellite imagery, meteorological observations and predictions and scanned legacy mapping. Coupled with the geospatial data are associated property, semantic and metadata, representing a range of thematic properties and characteristics of the land and environment. This paper provides examples of recent developments of national and regional LIS, presenting applications for land resource capabilities and management. These focus on the ‘Land Information System’ (LandIS) for England and Wales, and the ‘World Soil Survey Archive and Catalogue’ (WOSSAC) and consider Agricultural Land Classification in Wales, an Irish land and soil information system, and a scheme to optimize land suitability for application of palm oil biofertilizers in Malaysia. Land Information Systems support purposeful environmental interpretations, drawing on soil and related thematic data, offering insight into land properties, capabilities and characteristics. The examples highlight the practical transferability and extensibility of technical and methodological approaches across geographical contexts. This assessment identifies the value of legacy‐based natural resource inventories that can be interoperated with other contemporary sources of information, such as satellite imagery.     

Renal myxozoanosis in weedy sea dragons, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus (Lacepède), caused by Sinuolinea phyllopteryxa n. sp.

Renal myxozoanosis was diagnosed histologically in 11 captive, wild caught, adult weedy (common) sea dragons, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, from three separate public aquaria in the United States. Myxozoan spores were visible in wet mounts of kidney tissue and were associated with renal tubular dilatation and tubular epithelial cell hypertrophy. Light and electron microscopy revealed spore morphology consistent with the genus Sinuolinea. Spores were spheroidal, slightly dorso-ventrally compressed, length (L) 17.1 x width (W) 16.4 x thickness (T) 15.6 microm, with two shell valves joined at a distinct, sinuous sutural ridge, and had two nearly spherical polar capsules, L 5.5 x W 5.0 microm, with five to seven turns of the polar filament. There were no extra-valvular ridges or protrusions. DNA sequencing required the design of three new primers that yielded 1740 bp of 18S ribosomal DNA sequence. The parasite was determined to be novel based on morphological and molecular data, and was given the name Sinuolinea phyllopteryxa after its vertebrate host.     

Safety of temperature sensitive mutant Mycoplasma gallisepticum vaccine

A temperature sensitive (ts) vaccine strain designated ts-11 was selected after exposure of a low passage culture of the immunogenic Australian field isolate (strain 80083) of Mycoplasma gallisepticum to 100 mg/ml of N-methyl-N-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine. Viable counts (assayed as colour changing units (CCU)/25 microliters) of a thawed stock culture of ts-11 were typically log10 3 to log10 5 higher when incubated at 33 degrees C (the permissive temperature) than duplicate viable counts incubated at 39.5 degrees C (the restrictive temperature). Doses of approximately 2 x 10(7) CCU of ts-11 caused no gross lesions or loss of egg production when inoculated into the air sacs of susceptible chickens and no clinical or pathological signs of sinusitis when inoculated into the infraorbital sinuses of susceptible turkey poults, whereas the parent strain 80083 was demonstrably pathogenic. However, 1 of 10 poults inoculated intra-abdominally with approximately 2 x 10(7) CCU of ts-11 did show signs of mild airsacculitis. Eight-week-old pullets were vaccinated by eye drop with up to 1.4 x 10(7) CCU of ts-11 and simultaneously subjected to several stressful management practices, without apparent ill effects. Administration by coarse aerosol of 5 ml of ts-11 vaccine/25 day-old broilers, with or without 25 doses of infectious bronchitis virus vaccine caused no obvious signs of respiratory disease. The non virulent ts phenotype was maintained after 3 passages of strain ts-11 in chickens. Chickens vaccinated 3 weeks previously with ts-11 or with strain 80083 were placed in contact with susceptible chickens for a period of 2 weeks.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Forest biogeochemistry and primary production altered by nitrogen saturation

Results from four intensive site-level manipulations and one extensive field survey in northern temperate and boreal forests show a consistent set of responses to chronic N additions. These include 1) initial and often large increase in net N mineralization followed by decreases, 2) increases in net nitrification. 3) increases in N concentration in foliage, and 4) decreased Mg∶N and Ca∶Al ratios, and declining tree growth and vigor in all evergreen stands. These results are synthesized into a set of proposed summary relationships that define the temporal pattern of responses of N-limited systems to N additions.     

Towards a World Soil Survey Archive and Catalogue

An extensive collection of soil, land resource and land suitability surveys undertaken worldwide over the last 80 years by soil surveyors and scientists at the behest of the British government and others has been archived and catalogued using internationally recognized bibliographic standards. The World Soil Survey Archive and Catalogue (WOSSAC) consisting of over 13 000 reports and maps is now available for consultation and use by the international soil science community.     

Immunogenicity of a temperature sensitive mutant Mycoplasma gaffisepticum vaccine

The immunogenicity of the ts-11 vaccine strain of Mycoplasma gallisepticum was assessed following eye drop or coarse aerosol administration in chickens of various ages. Protection was evalualted following intra-abdominal (IA) or fine droplet aerosol administration of virulent M. gallisepticum, usually the Ap3AS strain and was measured mainly by the scoring of gross air sac lesions or by egg production. Vaccination of chickens with ts-11 did not elicit a substantial serum antibody response as measured by rapid serum agglutination test, or ELISA. Protection was never demonstrated when no M. gallisepticum serum antibody response was detected in a vaccinated group of chickens. Failure to protect occurred usually, although not invariably, following aerosol administration of the vaccine. Vaccination by eye drop usually, although not invariably provided protection against challenge. In one experiment, chickens vaccinated by eye drop at 8-weeks were as susceptible as non vaccinated controls when challenged by IA inoculation at 13-weeks-of-age. Yet other birds from the same vaccinated group were resistant when challenged in an identical way at 23-weeks. No measurable increase in M. gallisepticum specific serum antibody concentrations occurred in the intervening period. Equally surprising was the response of another group of birds in the same experiment that had been vaccinated with a higher dose of ts-11. An antibody response was detected in this group, but they were susceptible to challenge at 23-weeks. Interestingly, a drop in egg production commenced 4 weeks after challenge, 2 weeks later than that observed in a non vaccinated group challenged at the same time.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Akabane disease in sheep

Perinatal lamb mortality, associated with malformations of the CNS due to Akabane viral infection, occurred in 4 of 9 flocks of ewes lambing on 3 farms between 26 May and 14 November, 1976. Cases were restricted to ewes conceiving prior to the second week of March and lambing between 26 May and 19 July. As judged by seroconversion in sentinel flocks on 2 of the farms, field infection with Akabane virus occurred mainly between mid-February and mid-April. Malformations of the CNS occurred in 42.5%, 51.2%, 100% and 31.0% of the dead lambs examined in the affected flocks respectively. Prevalence in the 4 affected flocks, expressed as the proportion of ewes lambing which delivered at least one malformed foetus, was 6.1%, 8.4%, 88.9% and 5.7% respectively. Lamb mortality due to malformations of the CNS was 7.1%, 5.5%, 92.3% and 5.7% of lambs born. Age-specific prevalence was calculated for 3 of the 4 flocks and 2-year-old ewes accounted for 71.4% and 76.9% of total cases respectively in 2 flocks, whereas in one flock malformations occurred at equivalent frequencies throughout several older age groups. Birthweights of affected lambs were usually significantly lighter than those of unaffected lambs of similar sex and birth-type, and their mean duration of gestation was slightly, and significantly, prolonged. Micrencephaly (88.1% of cases) and hydrocephalus (68.7% of cases) were the outstanding pathological features of the malformations with hydranencephaly, microgyria, porencephaly and attenuation of the spinal cord occurring at much lower frequencies.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)