Simultaneous visualization of flow fields and oxygen concentrations to unravel transport and metabolic processes in biological systems

From individual cells to whole organisms, O2 transport unfolds across micrometer- tomillimeter-length scales and can change within milliseconds in response to fluid flows and organismal behavior. The spatiotemporal complexity of these processes makes the accurate assessment ofO2 dynamics via currently availablemethods difficult or unreliable. Here, we present ‘‘sensPIV,’’ a method to simultaneously measure O2 concentrations and flow fields. By tracking O2-sensitive microparticles in flow using imaging technologies that allow for instantaneous referencing,we measuredO2 transport within (1) microfluidic devices, (2) sinking model aggregates, and (3) complex colony-forming corals. Through the use of sensPIV, we find that corals use ciliary movement to link zones of photosynthetic O2 production to zones of O2 consumption. SensPIV can potentially be extendable to study flow-organism interactions across many life-science and engineering applications

YOUMARES 8 – Oceans Across Boundaries: Learning from each other

This open access book presents the proceedings volume of the YOUMARES 8 conference, which took place in Kiel, Germany, in September 2017, supported by the German Association for Marine Sciences (DGM). The YOUMARES conference series is entirely bottom-up organized by and for YOUng MARine RESearchers. Qualified early career scientists moderated the scientific sessions during the conference and provided literature reviews on aspects of their research field. These reviews and the presenters’ conference abstracts are compiled here. Thus, this book discusses highly topical fields of marine research and aims to act as a source of knowledge and inspiration for further reading and research

YOUMARES 8 – Oceans Across Boundaries: Learning from each other

This open access book presents the proceedings volume of the YOUMARES 8 conference, which took place in Kiel, Germany, in September 2017, supported by the German Association for Marine Sciences (DGM). The YOUMARES conference series is entirely bottom-up organized by and for YOUng MARine RESearchers. Qualified early career scientists moderated the scientific sessions during the conference and provided literature reviews on aspects of their research field. These reviews and the presenters’ conference abstracts are compiled here. Thus, this book discusses highly topical fields of marine research and aims to act as a source of knowledge and inspiration for further reading and research

11th International Coral Reef Symposium Proceedings

A defining theme of the 11th International Coral Reef Symposium was that the news for coral reef ecosystems are far from encouraging. Climate change happens now much faster than in an ice-age transition, and coral reefs continue to suffer fever-high temperatures as well as sour ocean conditions. Corals may be falling behind, and there appears to be no special silver bullet remedy. Nevertheless, there are hopeful signs that we should not despair. Reef ecosystems respond vigorously to protective measures and alleviation of stress. For concerned scientists, managers, conservationists, stakeholders, students, and citizens, there is a great role to play in continuing to report on the extreme threat that climate change represents to earth’s natural systems. Urgent action is needed to reduce CO2 emissions. In the interim, we can and must buy time for coral reefs through increased protection from sewage, sediment, pollutants, overfishing, development, and other stressors, all of which we know can damage coral health. The time to act is now. The canary in the coral-coal mine is dead, but we still have time to save the miners. We need effective management rooted in solid interdisciplinary science and coupled with stakeholder buy in, working at local, regional, and international scales alongside global efforts to give reefs a chance.https://nsuworks.nova.edu/occ_icrs/1000/thumbnail.jp

Proceedings of the European Conference on Agricultural Engineering AgEng2021

This proceedings book results from the AgEng2021 Agricultural Engineering Conference under auspices of the European Society of Agricultural Engineers, held in an online format based on the University of Évora, Portugal, from 4 to 8 July 2021. This book contains the full papers of a selection of abstracts that were the base for the oral presentations and posters presented at the conference. Presentations were distributed in eleven thematic areas: Artificial Intelligence, data processing and management; Automation, robotics and sensor technology; Circular Economy; Education and Rural development; Energy and bioenergy; Integrated and sustainable Farming systems; New application technologies and mechanisation; Post-harvest technologies; Smart farming / Precision agriculture; Soil, land and water engineering; Sustainable production in Farm buildings

Science-based restoration monitoring of coastal habitats, Volume Two: Tools for monitoring coastal habitats

Healthy coastal habitats are not only important ecologically; they also support healthy coastal communities and improve the quality of people’s lives. Despite their many benefits and values, coastal habitats have been systematically modified, degraded, and destroyed throughout the United States and its protectorates beginning with European colonization in the 1600’s (Dahl 1990). As a result, many coastal habitats around the United States are in desperate need of restoration. The monitoring of restoration projects, the focus of this document, is necessary to ensure that restoration efforts are successful, to further the science, and to increase the efficiency of future restoration efforts

Extraocular photoreception and colour plasticity in caterpillars of the peppered moth, Biston betularia

Visual camouflage is a textbook example of natural selection, and a widespread strategy used by both predators and prey to avoid detection. Background matching, where the animal resembles the colour, brightness, and/ or pattern of the surrounding visual background is a common form of visual camouflage, and can occur through genetic polymorphism, behavioural background choice, or dynamic colour change. Dynamic colour change can occur very rapidly (milliseconds) or gradually, sometimes taking weeks to complete. Visual cues such as colour, brightness, and pattern, have been shown to elicit colour change, and in some colour-changing animals visual cues are sensed outside of the eye using extraocular photoreceptors (EOPs). Colour change research has been focused predominantly on rapid, chromatophore-based colour change, as observed in cephalopods. In contrast, little is known about the physiology and evolutionary origins of gradual colour change. To avoid predation in a wide range of environments, caterpillars of the peppered moth (Biston betularia) masquerade as twigs and gradually change colour to match them. This thesis investigates the colour-changing response in B. betularia larvae: the shape of the reaction norm to colour and brightness gradients; the use and molecular basis of extraocular photoreception; and whether B. betularia alter resting behaviour to maximise concealment. Through a series of artificial twig experiments, I found that B. betularia larvae respond to both colour and luminance cues to produce a continuous range of phenotypes, rather than being restricted to a brown/green polyphenism as previously reported. To test for the possibility of extraocular photoreception, I occluded the eyes (ocelli) of groups of larvae and compared responses to colour and luminance with non-blindfolded control larvae. There was no difference in the colour-changing response of blindfolded larvae compared to controls, and blindfolded larvae also rested on colours that better matched their own colour to the same extent as non-blindfolded controls. I next examined the potential for visual machinery in the larval dermis, finding expression of a suite of visual genes throughout dermal tissue in B. betularia larvae and adults. In larvae, this expression was generally much higher relative to head tissue than found for adults. This finding corroborates the morphological and behavioural evidence for dermal photoreceptors in B. betularia larvae. The final chapter is an attempt to examine the exclusivity of extraocular photoreception in B. betularia, and its evolutionary origins, through tissue-specific measurement of opsin expression in larvae and adults of a phylogenetically broad sample of Lepidoptera. Dermal opsin expression was found in other species, but depended on the gene (UV, blue, LW1, LW2) and developmental stage. Phylogenetic signal was found only for expression of LW1 in larvae, and LW2 in adults. Larval colouration strategy between species also appears to affect dermal opsin expression. The thesis provides strong evidence for a novel physiological phenomenon: extraocular colour photoreception in the dermis of an insect, used to mediate colour change and behavioural background choice. The observation that dermal opsin expression occurs in several other species suggests that EOPs may be widespread in the Lepidoptera. Future work should be directed at the challenging task of understanding the mechanism underlying this class of EOPs, and characterising their functional roles in other species

Detection and Evaluation of Clusters within Sequential Data

Motivated by theoretical advancements in dimensionality reduction techniques we use a recent model, called Block Markov Chains, to conduct a practical study of clustering in real-world sequential data. Clustering algorithms for Block Markov Chains possess theoretical optimality guarantees and can be deployed in sparse data regimes. Despite these favorable theoretical properties, a thorough evaluation of these algorithms in realistic settings has been lacking. We address this issue and investigate the suitability of these clustering algorithms in exploratory data analysis of real-world sequential data. In particular, our sequential data is derived from human DNA, written text, animal movement data and financial markets. In order to evaluate the determined clusters, and the associated Block Markov Chain model, we further develop a set of evaluation tools. These tools include benchmarking, spectral noise analysis and statistical model selection tools. An efficient implementation of the clustering algorithm and the new evaluation tools is made available together with this paper. Practical challenges associated to real-world data are encountered and discussed. It is ultimately found that the Block Markov Chain model assumption, together with the tools developed here, can indeed produce meaningful insights in exploratory data analyses despite the complexity and sparsity of real-world data.Comment: 37 pages, 12 figure

YOUMARES 8 – Oceans Across Boundaries: Learning from each other: Proceedings of the 2017 conference for YOUng MARine RESearchers in Kiel, Germany

This open access book presents the proceedings volume of the YOUMARES 8 conference, which took place in Kiel, Germany, in September 2017, supported by the German Association for Marine Sciences (DGM). The YOUMARES conference series is entirely bottom-up organized by and for YOUng MARine RESearchers. Qualified early career scientists moderated the scientific sessions during the conference and provided literature reviews on aspects of their research field. These reviews and the presenters’ conference abstracts are compiled here. Thus, this book discusses highly topical fields of marine research and aims to act as a source of knowledge and inspiration for further reading and research

11th International Coral Reef Symposium Abstracts

https://nsuworks.nova.edu/occ_icrs/1001/thumbnail.jp