Widespread forest vertebrate extinctions induced by a mega hydroelectric dam in lowland Amazonia

Mega hydropower projects in tropical forests pose a major emergent threat to terrestrial and freshwater biodiversity worldwide. Despite the unprecedented number of existing, underconstruction and planned hydroelectric dams in lowland tropical forests, long-term effects on biodiversity have yet to be evaluated. We examine how medium and large-bodied assemblages of terrestrial and arboreal vertebrates (including 35 mammal, bird and tortoise species) responded to the drastic 26-year post-isolation history of archipelagic alteration in landscape structure and habitat quality in a major hydroelectric reservoir of Central Amazonia. The Balbina Hydroelectric Dam inundated 3,129 km2 of primary forests, simultaneously isolating 3,546 land-bridge islands. We conducted intensive biodiversity surveys at 37 of those islands and three adjacent continuous forests using a combination of four survey techniques, and detected strong forest habitat area effects in explaining patterns of vertebrate extinction. Beyond clear area effects, edge-mediated surface fire disturbance was the most important additional driver of species loss, particularly in islands smaller than 10 ha. Based on species-area models, we predict that only 0.7% of all islands now harbor a species-rich vertebrate assemblage consisting of ≥80% of all species. We highlight the colossal erosion in vertebrate diversity driven by a man-made dam and show that the biodiversity impacts of mega dams in lowland tropical forest regions have been severely overlooked. The geopolitical strategy to deploy many more large hydropower infrastructure projects in regions like lowland Amazonia should be urgently reassessed, and we strongly advise that long-term biodiversity impacts should be explicitly included in pre-approval environmental impact assessments

Conditional Wwox Deletion in Mouse Mammary Gland by Means of Two Cre Recombinase Approaches

Loss of WWOX expression has been reported in many different cancers including breast cancer. Elucidating the function of this gene in adult tissues has not been possible with full Wwox knockout models. Here we characterize the first conditional models of Wwox ablation in mouse mammary epithelium utilizing two transgenic lines expressing Cre recombinase, keratin 5-Cre (BK5-Cre) and MMTV-Cre. In the BK5-Cre model we observed very efficient Wwox ablation in KO mammary glands. However, BK5-Cre Wwox KO animals die prematurely for unknown reasons. In the MMTV-Cre model we observed significant ablation of Wwox in mammary epithelium with no effect on survival. In both of these models we found that Wwox deletion resulted in impaired mammary branching morphogenesis. We demonstrate that loss of Wwox is not carcinogenic in our KO models. Furthermore, no evidence of increase proliferation or development of premalignant lesions was observed. In none of the models did loss of a single Wwox allele (i.e. haploinsufficiency) have any observable phenotypic effect in mammary gland. To better understand the function of Wwox in the mammary gland, transcriptome profiling was performed. We observed that Wwox ablation results in the deregulation of genes involved in various cellular processes. We found that expression of the non-canonical Wnt ligand, Wnt5a, was significantly upregulated in Wwox KO mammary epithelium. Interestingly, we also determined that components of the Jak/Stat3 signaling pathway were upregulated in KO mice and this correlated with a very robust increase in phospho-Stat3 signaling, which warrants further testing. Even though the loss of Wwox expression in breast and other cancers is very well documented, our findings suggest that Wwox does not act as a classical tumor suppressor as previously thought

Angular and Current-Target Correlations in Deep Inelastic Scattering at HERA

Correlations between charged particles in deep inelastic ep scattering have been studied in the Breit frame with the ZEUS detector at HERA using an integrated luminosity of 6.4 pb-1. Short-range correlations are analysed in terms of the angular separation between current-region particles within a cone centred around the virtual photon axis. Long-range correlations between the current and target regions have also been measured. The data support predictions for the scaling behaviour of the angular correlations at high Q2 and for anti-correlations between the current and target regions over a large range in Q2 and in the Bjorken scaling variable x. Analytic QCD calculations and Monte Carlo models correctly describe the trends of the data at high Q2, but show quantitative discrepancies. The data show differences between the correlations in deep inelastic scattering and e+e- annihilation.Comment: 26 pages including 10 figures (submitted to Eur. J. Phys. C

Plastisol Foaming Process. Decomposition of the Foaming Agent, Polymer Behavior in the Corresponding Temperature Range and Resulting Foam Properties

The decomposition of azodicarbonamide, used as foaming agent in PVC - plasticizer (1/1) plastisols was studied by DSC. Nineteen different plasticizers, all belonging to the ester family, two being polymeric (polyadipates), were compared. The temperature of maximum decomposition rate (in anisothermal regime at 5 K min-1 scanning rate), ranges between 434 and 452 K. The heat of decomposition ranges between 8.7 and 12.5 J g -1. Some trends of variation of these parameters appear significant and are discussed in terms of solvent (matrix) and viscosity effects on the decomposition reactions. The shear modulus at 1 Hz frequency was determined at the temperature of maximum rate of foaming agent decomposition, and differs significantly from a sample to another. The foam density was determined at ambient temperature and the volume fraction of bubbles was used as criterion to judge the efficiency of the foaming process. The results reveal the existence of an optimal shear modulus of the order of 2 kPa that corresponds roughly to plasticizer molar masses of the order of 450 ± 50 g mol-1. Heavier plasticizers, especially polymeric ones are too difficult to deform. Lighter plasticizers such as diethyl phthalate (DEP) deform too easily and presumably facilitate bubble collapse

Early Vegetation Development on an Exposed Reservoir: Implications for Dam Removal

The 4-year drawdown of Horsetooth Reservoir, Colorado, for dam maintenance, provides a case study analog of vegetation response on sediment that might be exposed from removal of a tall dam. Early vegetation recovery on the exposed reservoir bottom was a combination of (1) vegetation colonization on bare, moist substrates typical of riparian zones and reservoir sediment of shallow dams and (2) a shift in moisture status from mesic to the xeric conditions associated with the pre-impoundment upland position of most of the drawdown zone. Plant communities changed rapidly during the first four years of exposure, but were still substantially different from the background upland plant community. Predictions from the recruitment box model about the locations of Populus deltoides subsp. monilifera (plains cottonwood) seedlings relative to the water surface were qualitatively confirmed with respect to optimum locations. However, the extreme vertical range of water surface elevations produced cottonwood seed regeneration well outside the predicted limits of drawdown rate and height above late summer stage. The establishment and survival of cottonwood at high elevations and the differences between the upland plant community and the community that had developed after four years of exposure suggest that vegetation recovery following tall dam removal will follow a trajectory very different from a simple reversal of the response to dam construction, involving not only long time scales of establishment and growth of upland vegetation, but also possibly decades of persistence of legacy vegetation established during the reservoir to upland transition

Identification of Novel Avian Influenza Virus Derived CD8+ T-Cell Epitopes

Avian influenza virus (AIV) infection is a continuing threat to both humans and poultry. Influenza virus specific CD8+ T cells are associated with protection against homologous and heterologous influenza strains. In contrast to what has been described for humans and mice, knowledge on epitope-specific CD8+ T cells in chickens is limited. Therefore, we set out to identify AIV-specific CD8+ T-cell epitopes. Epitope predictions based on anchor residues resulted in 33 candidate epitopes. MHC I inbred chickens were infected with a low pathogenic AIV strain and sacrificed at 5, 7, 10 and 14 days post infection (dpi). Lymphocytes isolated from lung, spleen and blood were stimulated ex vivo with AIV-specific pooled or individual peptides and the production of IFNγ was determined by ELIspot. This resulted in the identification of 12 MHC B12-restricted, 3 B4-restricted and 1 B19-restricted AIV- specific CD8+ T-cell epitopes. In conclusion, we have identified novel AIV-derived CD8+ T-cell epitopes for several inbred chicken strains. This knowledge can be used to study the role of CD8+ T cells against AIV infection in a natural host for influenza, and may be important for vaccine development

An overview of NMR-based metabolomics to identify secondary plant compounds involved in host plant resistance

Secondary metabolites provide a potential source for the generation of host plant resistance and development of biopesticides. This is especially important in view of the rapid and vast spread of agricultural and horticultural pests worldwide. Multiple pests control tactics in the framework of an integrated pest management (IPM) programme are necessary. One important strategy of IPM is the use of chemical host plant resistance. Up to now the study of chemical host plant resistance has, for technical reasons, been restricted to the identification of single compounds applying specific chemical analyses adapted to the compound in question. In biological processes however, usually more than one compound is involved. Metabolomics allows the simultaneous detection of a wide range of compounds, providing an immediate image of the metabolome of a plant. One of the most universally used metabolomic approaches comprises nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR). It has been NMR which has been applied as a proof of principle to show that metabolomics can constitute a major advancement in the study of host plant resistance. Here we give an overview on the application of NMR to identify candidate compounds for host plant resistance. We focus on host plant resistance to western flower thrips (Frankliniella occidentalis) which has been used as a model for different plant species

Angular and Current-target Correlations in Deep Inelastic Scattering at HERA

Correlations between charged particles in deep inelastic e+ p scattering have been studied in the Breit frame with the ZEUS detector at HERA using an integrated luminosity of 6.4pb-1. Short-range correlations are analysed in terms of the angular separation between current-region particles within a cone centred around the virtual photon axis. Long-range correlations between the current and target regions have also been measured. The data support predictions for the scaling behaviour of the angular correlations at high Q2 and for anti-correlations between the current and target regions over a large range in Q2 and in the Bjorken scaling variable x. Analytic QCD calculations and Monte Carlo models correctly describe the trends of the data at high Q2, but show quantitative discrepancies. The data show differences between the correlations in deep inelastic scattering and e+e- annihilation

Mean-field transport theory for the two-flavour NJL model

By making decomposition of the Wigner function simultaneously in both the spinor and the isospin spaces we derive a set of kinetic equations for the quark distribution functions and the spin densities. A detailed analysis of the consequences imposed by the chiral invariance on the form of the transport equations is presented.Comment: Revtex, 25 pages, no figure