Regional Management Units for Marine Turtles: A Novel Framework for Prioritizing Conservation and Research across Multiple Scales

Background: Resolving threats to widely distributed marine megafauna requires definition of the geographic distributions of both the threats as well as the population unit(s) of interest. In turn, because individual threats can operate on varying spatial scales, their impacts can affect different segments of a population of the same species. Therefore, integration of multiple tools and techniques - including site-based monitoring, genetic analyses, mark-recapture studies and telemetry - can facilitate robust definitions of population segments at multiple biological and spatial scales to address different management and research challenges. Methodology/Principal Findings: To address these issues for marine turtles, we collated all available studies on marine turtle biogeography, including nesting sites, population abundances and trends, population genetics, and satellite telemetry. We georeferenced this information to generate separate layers for nesting sites, genetic stocks, and core distributions of population segments of all marine turtle species. We then spatially integrated this information from fine-to coarse-spatial scales to develop nested envelope models, or Regional Management Units (RMUs), for marine turtles globally. Conclusions/Significance: The RMU framework is a solution to the challenge of how to organize marine turtles into units of protection above the level of nesting populations, but below the level of species, within regional entities that might be on independent evolutionary trajectories. Among many potential applications, RMUs provide a framework for identifying data gaps, assessing high diversity areas for multiple species and genetic stocks, and evaluating conservation status of marine turtles. Furthermore, RMUs allow for identification of geographic barriers to gene flow, and can provide valuable guidance to marine spatial planning initiatives that integrate spatial distributions of protected species and human activities. In addition, the RMU framework - including maps and supporting metadata - will be an iterative, user-driven tool made publicly available in an online application for comments, improvements, download and analysis

A search for t (t)over-bar resonances with the ATLAS detector in 2.05 fb(-1) of proton-proton collisions at root s=7 TeV

A search for top quark pair resonances in final states containing at least one electron or muon has been performed with the ATLAS experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. The search uses a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 2.05 fb(-1), which was recorded in 2011 at a proton-proton centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV. No evidence for a resonance is found and limits are set on the production cross-section times branching ratio to t (t) over bar for narrow and wide resonances. For narrow Z' bosons, the observed 95 % Bayesian credibility level limits range from 9.3 pb to 0.95 pb for masses in the range of m(Z') = 500 GeV to m(Z') = 1300 GeV. The corresponding excluded mass region for a leptophobic topcolour Z' boson (Kaluza-Klein gluon excitation in the Randall-Sundrum model) is m(Z') < 880 GeV (m(gKK) < 1130 GeV). RI Wemans, Andre/A-6738-2012; Cirkovic, Predrag/G-8059-2012; Fazio, Salvatore /G-5156-2010; Fabbri, Laura/H-3442-2012; Villa, Mauro/C-9883-2009; Jones, Roger/H-5578-2011; valente, paolo/A-6640-2010; Takai, Helio/C-3301-2012; Delmastro, Marco/I-5599-2012; Livan, Michele/D-7531-201

Search for anomaly-mediated supersymmetry breaking with the ATLAS detector based on a disappearing-track signature in pp collisions at root s=7 TeV

In models of anomaly-mediated supersymmetry breaking (AMSB), the lightest chargino is predicted to have a lifetime long enough to be detected in collider experiments. This letter explores AMSB scenarios in pp collisions at root s = 7 TeV by attempting to identify decaying charginos which result in tracks that appear to have few associated hits in the outer region of the tracking system. The search was based on data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.02 fb(-1) collected with the ATLAS detector in 2011. The p(T) spectrum of candidate tracks is found to be consistent with the expectation from Standard Model background processes and constraints on the lifetime and the production cross section were obtained. In the minimal AMSB framework with m(3/2) 0, a chargino having mass below 92 GeV and a lifetime between 0.5 ns and 2 ns is excluded at 95 % confidence level. RI Fazio, Salvatore /G-5156-2010; valente, paolo/A-6640-2010; Doyle, Anthony/C-5889-2009; Alexa, Calin/F-6345-2010; Gutierrez, Phillip/C-1161-2011; Pacheco Pages, Andres/C-5353-2011; Moorhead, Gareth/B-6634-2009; Livan, Michele/D-7531-2012; Takai, Helio/C-3301-2012; Petrucci, Fabrizio/G-8348-2012; Smirnov, Sergei/F-1014-2011; Wemans, Andre/A-6738-2012; Jones, Roger/H-5578-2011; Fabbri, Laura/H-3442-2012; Kurashige, Hisaya/H-4916-2012; Villa, Mauro/C-9883-2009; Delmastro, Marco/I-5599-201

Measurement of D*(+/-) meson production in jets from pp collisions at root s=7 TeV with the ATLAS detector

This paper reports a measurement of D*(+/-) meson production in jets from proton- proton collisions at a center- of- mass energy of root s = 7 TeV at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. The measurement is based on a data sample recorded with the ATLAS detector with an integrated luminosity of 0.30 pb(-1) for jets with transverse momentum between 25 and 70 GeV in the pseudorapidity range vertical bar eta vertical bar D-0 pi(+), D-0 -> K-pi(+), and its charge conjugate. The production rate is found to be N(D*(+/-))/N(jet) = 0.025 +/- 0.001(stat.) +/- 0.004(syst.) for D*(+/-) mesons that carry a fraction z of the jet momentum in the range 0.3< z< 1. Monte Carlo predictions fail to describe the data at small values of z, and this is most marked at low jet transverse momentum

Search for heavy neutrinos and right-handed W bosons in events with two leptons and jets in pp collisions at root s=7 TeV with the ATLAS detector

This letter reports on a search for hypothetical heavy neutrinos, N, and right-handed gauge bosons, W-R, in events with high transverse momentum objects which include two reconstructed leptons and at least one hadronic jet. The results were obtained from data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 2.1 fb(-1) collected in proton-proton collisions at root s = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. No excess above the Standard Model background expectation is observed. Excluded mass regions for Majorana and Dirac neutrinos are presented using two approaches for interactions that violate lepton and lepton-flavor numbers. One approach uses an effective operator framework, the other approach is guided by the Left-Right Symmetric Model. The results described in this letter represent the most stringent limits to date on the masses of heavy neutrinos and W-R bosons obtained in direct searches

Search for excited leptons in proton-proton collisions at root s=7 TeV with the ATLAS detector

The ATLAS detector is used to search for excited leptons in the electromagnetic radiative decay channel l* -> l gamma. Results are presented based on the analysis of pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 2.05 fb(-1). No evidence for excited leptons is found, and limits are set on the compositeness scale Lambda as a function of the excited lepton mass m(l*). In the special case where Lambda = m(l*), excited electron and muon masses below 1.87 TeV and 1.75 TeV are excluded at 95% C.L., respectively. RI Li, Xuefei/C-3861-2012; Smirnova, Lidia/D-8089-2012; Sivoklokov, Sergey/D-8150-2012; Smirnov, Sergei/F-1014-2011; Gladilin, Leonid/B-5226-2011; Barreiro, Fernando/D-9808-2012; Prokoshin, Fedor/E-2795-2012; valente, paolo/A-6640-2010; Fazio, Salvatore /G-5156-2010; Orlov, Ilya/E-6611-2012; Doyle, Anthony/C-5889-2009; Alexa, Calin/F-6345-2010; Gutierrez, Phillip/C-1161-2011; Pacheco Pages, Andres/C-5353-2011; Moorhead, Gareth/B-6634-2009; Livan, Michele/D-7531-2012; Takai, Helio/C-3301-2012; Petrucci, Fabrizio/G-8348-2012; Wemans, Andre/A-6738-2012; Jones, Roger/H-5578-2011; Fabbri, Laura/H-3442-2012; Kurashige, Hisaya/H-4916-2012; Villa, Mauro/C-9883-2009; Delmastro, Marco/I-5599-201

Search for supersymmetry in final states with jets, missing transverse momentum and one isolated lepton in root s=7 TeV pp collisions using 1 fb(-1) of ATLAS data

We present an update of a search for supersymmetry in final states containing jets, missing transverse momentum, and one isolated electron or muon, using 1.04 fb(-1) of proton-proton collision data at root s =7 TeV recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC in the first half of 2011. The analysis is carried out in four distinct signal regions with either three or four jets and variations on the (missing) transverse momentum cuts, resulting in optimized limits for various supersymmetry models. No excess above the standard model background expectation is observed. Limits are set on the visible cross section of new physics within the kinematic requirements of the search. The results are interpreted as limits on the parameters of the minimal supergravity framework, limits on cross sections of simplified models with specific squark and gluino decay modes, and limits on parameters of a model with bilinear R-parity violation