Joint analysis of stressors and ecosystem services to enhance restoration effectiveness

With increasing pressure placed on natural systems by growing human populations, both scientists and resource managers need a better understanding of the relationships between cumulative stress from human activities and valued ecosystem services. Societies often seek to mitigate threats to these services through large-scale, costly restoration projects, such as the over one billion dollar Great Lakes Restoration Initiative currently underway. To help inform these efforts, we merged high-resolution spatial analyses of environmental stressors with mapping of ecosystem services for all five Great Lakes. Cumulative ecosystem stress is highest in near-shore habitats, but also extends offshore in Lakes Erie, Ontario, and Michigan. Variation in cumulative stress is driven largely by spatial concordance among multiple stressors, indicating the importance of considering all stressors when planning restoration activities. In addition, highly stressed areas reflect numerous different combinations of stressors rather than a single suite of problems, suggesting that a detailed understanding of the stressors needing alleviation could improve restoration planning. We also find that many important areas for fisheries and recreation are subject to high stress, indicating that ecosystem degradation could be threatening key services. Current restoration efforts have targeted high-stress sites almost exclusively, but generally without knowledge of the full range of stressors affecting these locations or differences among sites in service provisioning. Our results demonstrate that joint spatial analysis of stressors and ecosystem services can provide a critical foundation for maximizing social and ecological benefits from restoration investments. www.pnas.org/lookup/suppl/doi:10.1073/pnas.1213841110/-/DCSupplementa

Invited Article: First Flight in Space of a Wide-Field-of-View Soft X-Ray Imager Using Lobster-Eye Optics: Instrument Description and Initial Flight Results

We describe the development, launch into space, and initial results from a prototype wide eld-of-view (FOV) soft X-ray imager that employs Lobster-eye optics and targets heliophysics, planetary, and astrophysics science. The Sheath Transport Observer for the Redistribution of Mass (STORM) is the rst instrument using this type of optics launched into space and provides proof-of-concept for future ight instruments capable of imaging structures such as the terrestrial cusp, the entire dayside magnetosheath from outside the magnetosphere, comets, the moon, and the solar wind interaction with planetary bodies like Venus and Mars

Rating impacts in a multi‐stressor world: a quantitative assessment of 50 stressors affecting the Great Lakes

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/116318/1/eap2015253717.pd

Sex and Death: The Effects of Innate Immune Factors on the Sexual Reproduction of Malaria Parasites

Malaria parasites must undergo a round of sexual reproduction in the blood meal of a mosquito vector to be transmitted between hosts. Developing a transmission-blocking intervention to prevent parasites from mating is a major goal of biomedicine, but its effectiveness could be compromised if parasites can compensate by simply adjusting their sex allocation strategies. Recently, the application of evolutionary theory for sex allocation has been supported by experiments demonstrating that malaria parasites adjust their sex ratios in response to infection genetic diversity, precisely as predicted. Theory also predicts that parasites should adjust sex allocation in response to host immunity. Whilst data are supportive, the assumptions underlying this prediction – that host immune responses have differential effects on the mating ability of males and females – have not yet been tested. Here, we combine experimental work with theoretical models in order to investigate whether the development and fertility of male and female parasites is affected by innate immune factors and develop new theory to predict how parasites' sex allocation strategies should evolve in response to the observed effects. Specifically, we demonstrate that reactive nitrogen species impair gametogenesis of males only, but reduce the fertility of both male and female gametes. In contrast, tumour necrosis factor-α does not influence gametogenesis in either sex but impairs zygote development. Therefore, our experiments demonstrate that immune factors have complex effects on each sex, ranging from reducing the ability of gametocytes to develop into gametes, to affecting the viability of offspring. We incorporate these results into theory to predict how the evolutionary trajectories of parasite sex ratio strategies are shaped by sex differences in gamete production, fertility and offspring development. We show that medical interventions targeting offspring development are more likely to be ‘evolution-proof’ than interventions directed at killing males or females. Given the drive to develop medical interventions that interfere with parasite mating, our data and theoretical models have important implications

Crop Updates 2001 - Cereals

This session covers forty two papers from different authors: PLENARY 1. Planning your cropping program in season 2001, Dr Ross Kingwell, Agriculture Western Australia and University of Western Australia WORKSHOP 2. Can we produce high yields without high inputs? Wal Anderson, Centre for Cropping Systems, Agriculture Western Australia VARIETIES 3. Local and interstate wheat variety performance and $ return to WA growers, Eddy Pol, Peter Burgess and Ashley Bacon, Agritech Crop Research CROP ESTABLISHMENT 4 Soil management of waterlogged soils, D.M. Bakker, G.J. Hamilton, D. Houlbrooke and C. Spann, Agriculture Western Australia 5. Effect of soil amelioration on wheat yield in a very dry season, M.A Hamza and W.K. Anderson, Agriculture Western Australia 6. Fuzzy tramlines for more yield and less weed, Paul Blackwell1 and Maurice Black2 1Agriculture Western Australia, 2Harbour Lights Estate, Geraldton 7. Tramline farming for dollar benefits, Paul Blackwell, Agriculture Western Australia NUTRITION 8. Soil immobile nutrients for no-till crops, M.D.A. Bolland1, R.F. Brennan1,and W.L. Crabtree2, 1Agriculture Western Australia, 2Western Australian No-Tillage Farmers Association 9. Burn stubble windrows: to diagnose soil fertility problems, Bill Bowden, Chris Gazey and Ross Brennan, Agriculture Western Australia 10. Calcium: magnesium ratios; are they important? Bill Bowden1, Rochelle Strahan2, Bob Gilkes2 and Zed Rengel2 1Agriculture Western Australia, 2Department of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition, UWA 11. Responses to late foliar applications of Flexi-N, Stephen Loss, Tim O’Dea, Patrick Gethin, Ryan Guthrie, Lisa Leaver, CSBP futurefarm 12. A comparison of Flexi-N placements, Stephen Loss, Tim O’Dea, Patrick Gethin, Ryan Guthrie, Lisa Leaver, CSBP futurefarm 13. What is the best way to apply potassium? Stephen Loss, Tim O’Dea, Patrick Gethin, Ryan Guthrie, CSBP futurefarm 14. Claying affects potassium nutrition in barley, Stephen Loss, David Phelps, Tim O’Dea, Patrick Gethin, Ryan Guthrie, Lisa Leaver, CSBP futurefarm 15. Nitrogen and potassium improve oaten hay quality, Stephen Loss, Tim O’Dea, Patrick Gethin, Ryan Guthrie, Lisa Leaver, CSBP futurefarm AGRONOMY 16. Agronomic responses of new wheat varieties in the northern wheatbelt, Darshan Sharma and Wal Anderson, Agriculture Western Australia 17. Wheat agronomy research on the south coast, Mohammad Amjad and Wal Anderson, Agriculture Western Australia 18. Influence of sowing date on wheat yield and quality in the south coast environment, Mohammad Amjadand Wal Anderson, Agriculture Western Australia 19. More profit from durum, Md.Shahajahan Miyan and Wal Anderson, Agriculture Western Australia 20. Enhancing recommendations of flowering and yield in wheat, JamesFisher1, Senthold Asseng2, Bill Bowden1 and Michael Robertson3 ,1AgricultureWestern Australia, 2CSIRO Plant Industry, 3CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems 21. When and where to grow oats, Glenn McDonald, Agriculture Western Australia 22. Managing Gaidner barley for quality, Kevin Young and Blakely Paynter, Agriculture Western Australia PESTS AND DISEASES 23. Strategies for leaf disease management in wheat, Jatinderpal Bhathal1, Cameron Weeks2, Kith Jayasena1 and Robert Loughman1 ,1Agriculture Western Australia. 2Mingenew-Irwin Group Inc 24. Strategies for leaf disease management in malting barley, K. Jayasena1, Q. Knight2 and R. Loughman1, 1Agriculture Western Australia, 2IAMA Agribusiness 25. Cereal disease diagnostics, Dominie Wright and Nichole Burges, Agriculture Western Australia 26. The big rust: Did you get your money back!! Peter Burgess, Agritech Crop Research 27. Jockey – winning the race against disease in wheat, Lisa-Jane Blacklow, Rob Hulme and Rob Giffith, Aventis CropScience 28. Distribution and incidence of aphids and barley yellow dwarf virus in over-summering grasses in WA wheatbelt, Jenny Hawkes and Roger Jones, CLIMA and Agriculture Western Australia 29. Further developments in forecasting aphid and virus risk in cereals, Debbie Thackray, Jenny Hawkes and Roger Jones, Agriculture Western Australia and Centre for Legumes in Mediterranean Agriculture 30. Effect of root lesion nematodes on wheat yields in Western Australia, S. B. Sharma, S. Kelly and R. Loughman, Crop Improvement Institute, Agriculture Western Australia 31. Rotational crops and varieties for management of root lesion nematodes in Western Australia, S.B. Sharma, S. Kelly and R. Loughman, Crop Improvement Institute, Agriculture Western Australia WEEDS 32. Phenoxy herbicide tolerance of wheat, Peter Newman and Dave Nicholson, Agriculture Western Australia 33. Tolerance of wheat to phenoxy herbicides,Harmohinder S. Dhammu, Terry Piper and Mario F. D\u27Antuono, Agriculture Western Australia 34. Herbicide tolerance of durum wheats, Harmohinder S. Dhammu, Terry Piper and David Nicholson, Agriculture Western Australia 35. Herbicide tolerance of new wheats, Harmohinder S. Dhammu, Terry Piper and David F. Nicholson, Agriculture Western Australia BREEDING 36. Towards molecular breeding of barley: construction of a molecular genetic map, Mehmet Cakir1, Nick Galwey1, David Poulsen2, Garry Ablett3, Reg Lance4, Rob Potter5 and Peter Langridge6,1Plant Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, UWA, 2Queensland Department of Primary Industries, Qld, 3Centre for Plant Conservation Genetics Southern Cross University, Lismore NSW, 5SABC Murdoch University, WA, 6Department of Plant Science University of Adelaide, Glen Osmond SA 37. Toward molecular breeding of barley: Identifying markers linked to genes for quantitative traits, Mehmet Cakir1, Nick Galwey1, David Poulsen2, Reg Lance3, Garry Ablett4, Greg Platz2, Joe Panozzo5, Barbara Read6, David Moody5, Andy Barr7 and Peter Langridge7 , 1Plant Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, UWA, 2Queensland Department of Primary Industries, Warwick, QLD,3Agriculture Western Australia, 4Centre for Plant Conservation Genetics, Southern Cross University, Lismore NSW, 5VIDA Private Bag 260, Horsham VIC, 6NSW Dept. of Agriculture, Wagga Wagga NSW, 7Department of Plant Science, University of Adelaide, Glen Osmond SA 38. Can we improve grain yield by breeding for greater early vigour in wheat? Tina Botwright1, Tony Condon1, Robin Wilson2 and Iain Barclay2, 1CSIRO Plant Industry, 2Agriculture Western Australia MARKETING AND QUALITY 39. The Crop Improvement Royalty, Howard Carr, Agriculture Western Australia 40. GrainGuardÔ - The development of a protection plan for the wheat industry, Greg Shea, Agriculture Western Australia CLIMATE 41. Rainfall – what happened in 2000 and the prospects for 2001, Ian Foster, Agriculture Western Australia 42. Software for climate management issues, David Tennant,Agriculture Western Australia CONTRIBUTING AUTHOR CONTACT DETAIL

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Limiting damage during infection:lessons from infection tolerance for novel therapeutics

The distinction between pathogen elimination and damage limitation during infection is beginning to change perspectives on infectious disease control, and has recently led to the development of novel therapies that focus on reducing the illness caused by pathogens ("damage limitation") rather than reducing pathogen burdens directly ("pathogen elimination"). While beneficial at the individual host level, the population consequences of these interventions remain unclear. To address this issue, we present a simple conceptual framework for damage limitation during infection that distinguishes between therapies that are either host-centric (pro-tolerance) or pathogen-centric (anti-virulence). We then draw on recent developments from the evolutionary ecology of disease tolerance to highlight some potential epidemiological and evolutionary responses of pathogens to medical interventions that target the symptoms of infection. Just as pathogens are known to evolve in response to antimicrobial and vaccination therapies, we caution that claims of "evolution-proof" anti-virulence interventions may be premature, and further, that in infections where virulence and transmission are linked, reducing illness without reducing pathogen burden could have non-trivial epidemiological and evolutionary consequences that require careful examination

Author Correction: The Anglo-Saxon migration and the formation of the early English gene pool.

See original record

The Anglo-Saxon migration and the formation of the early English gene pool.

The history of the British Isles and Ireland is characterized by multiple periods of major cultural change, including the influential transformation after the end of Roman rule, which precipitated shifts in language, settlement patterns and material culture1. The extent to which migration from continental Europe mediated these transitions is a matter of long-standing debate2-4. Here we study genome-wide ancient DNA from 460 medieval northwestern Europeans-including 278 individuals from England-alongside archaeological data, to infer contemporary population dynamics. We identify a substantial increase of continental northern European ancestry in early medieval England, which is closely related to the early medieval and present-day inhabitants of Germany and Denmark, implying large-scale substantial migration across the North Sea into Britain during the Early Middle Ages. As a result, the individuals who we analysed from eastern England derived up to 76% of their ancestry from the continental North Sea zone, albeit with substantial regional variation and heterogeneity within sites. We show that women with immigrant ancestry were more often furnished with grave goods than women with local ancestry, whereas men with weapons were as likely not to be of immigrant ancestry. A comparison with present-day Britain indicates that subsequent demographic events reduced the fraction of continental northern European ancestry while introducing further ancestry components into the English gene pool, including substantial southwestern European ancestry most closely related to that seen in Iron Age France5,6

The Anglo-Saxon migration and the formation of the early English gene pool

The history of the British Isles and Ireland is characterized by multiple periods of major cultural change, including the influential transformation after the end of Roman rule, which precipitated shifts in language, settlement patterns and material culture1. The extent to which migration from continental Europe mediated these transitions is a matter of long-standing debate2,3,4. Here we study genome-wide ancient DNA from 460 medieval northwestern Europeans—including 278 individuals from England—alongside archaeological data, to infer contemporary population dynamics. We identify a substantial increase of continental northern European ancestry in early medieval England, which is closely related to the early medieval and present-day inhabitants of Germany and Denmark, implying large-scale substantial migration across the North Sea into Britain during the Early Middle Ages. As a result, the individuals who we analysed from eastern England derived up to 76% of their ancestry from the continental North Sea zone, albeit with substantial regional variation and heterogeneity within sites. We show that women with immigrant ancestry were more often furnished with grave goods than women with local ancestry, whereas men with weapons were as likely not to be of immigrant ancestry. A comparison with present-day Britain indicates that subsequent demographic events reduced the fraction of continental northern European ancestry while introducing further ancestry components into the English gene pool, including substantial southwestern European ancestry most closely related to that seen in Iron Age France5,6