Comparative chromosome painting discloses homologous Segments in distantly related mammals

Comparative chromosome painting, termed ZOO-FISH, using DNA libraries from flow sorted human chromosomes 1,16,17 and X, and mouse chromosome 11 discloses the presence of syntenic groups in distantly related mammalian Orders ranging from primates (Homo sapiens), rodents (Mus musculus), even-toed ungulates (Muntiacus muntjak vaginalis and Muntiacus reevesi) and whales (Balaenoptera physalus). These mammalian Orders have evolved separately for 55-80 million years (Myr). We conclude that ZOO-FISH can be used to generate comparative chromosome maps of a large number of mammalian species

The Expected Impacts of Climate Change on the Ocean Economy

The ocean is critically important to our global economy. Collectively, it is estimated that ocean-based industries and activities contribute hundreds of millions of jobs and approximately US $2.5 trillion to the global economy each year, making it the world’s seventh-largest economy when compared with national gross domestic products. In addition, the nonmarket services and benefts provided by the global ocean are signifcant and may in fact far exceed the value added by market-based goods and services. • Climate change is altering ocean climate, chemistry, circulation, sea level and ice distribution. Collectively, these system changes have critical impacts on the habitats, biological productivities and species assemblages that underpin many of the economic benefts of the sea. • Swift efforts to reduce anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions are needed to maintain a robust ocean economy. The recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report estimates that climate-induced declines in ocean health will cost the global economy$428 billion/year by 2050 and $1.98 trillion/year by 2100. • Climate change is reducing the productivities and changing the spatial distributions of economically important marine species and their habitats. All countries stand to gain signifcant benefts relative to a business-as-usual trajectory by implementing climate-adaptive fsheries management reforms that address both changes in species’ distributions and productivities due to climate change. Many countries could maintain or improve profts and catches into the future with effective adaptation. • The potential of marine aquaculture (mariculture) is likely to remain high under climate change and, with careful planning, mariculture could offset losses in food and income from capture fsheries in those countries that will experience losses in that sector. Expanding the potential for marine aquaculture will require enhancing technical capac�ities, defning best practices, easing undue regulatory bur�dens, increasing access to credit and insurance, breeding stocks for faster growth and improving feed technology. • The combined effects of ocean warming and acidifcation result in predictions of negative impacts on coral reef cover and tourism values for all countries, with magnitudes dependent on the strength of climate change. For a high emissions scenario (Representative Concentration Pathway 8.5), coral cover is expected to decline by 72–87%, causing on-reef tourism values to decrease by over 90% in 2100. • Climate change impacts will differ by country and sector and solutions must be context-specifc. By exploring climate change impacts at the country level for fsheries, aquaculture and reef tourism, countries can assess what they stand to gain or lose due to climate change and understand how they might capitalise on these predictions to inform their investments and actions. • Implementing certain key strategies will help build socio�ecological resilience to climate change and ensure the continued, or improved, provision of functions and ser�vices from the ocean, especially for the most vulnerable coastal nations. These strategies include the following: – A focus on equity. Climate change is likely to cause and exacerbate global inequities, reducing resilience and thereby likely worsening outcomes under all climate change scenarios. It will thus be profoundly important to examine the equity implications of all new and existing management decisions across all three sectors. Looking forward. The future of the ocean economy is expected to drastically change given climate change, and the nature and magnitude of these changes can be highly variable. Each of these three sectors will need to work to understand risks and anticipate changes, and build precautionary and adaptive strategies into their management decisions. – Co-operating across boundaries. As suitable habitats shift and change, marine species will move across jurisdictional boundaries and regional, national and international cooperative agreements will be necessary to ensure that these species are well-managed, and that the benefts are fairly distributed during and after the transitions

Evolutionary relationships and divergence times among the native rats of Australia

Background The genus Rattus is highly speciose and has a complex taxonomy that is not fully resolved. As shown previously there are two major groups within the genus, an Asian and an Australo-Papuan group. This study focuses on the Australo-Papuan group and particularly on the Australian rats. There are uncertainties regarding the number of species within the group and the relationships among them. We analysed 16 mitochondrial genomes, including seven novel genomes from six species, to help elucidate the evolutionary history of the Australian rats. We also demonstrate, from a larger dataset, the usefulness of short regions of the mitochondrial genome in identifying these rats at the species level. Results Analyses of 16 mitochondrial genomes representing species sampled from Australo-Papuan and Asian clades of Rattus indicate divergence of these two groups ~2.7 million years ago (Mya). Subsequent diversification of at least 4 lineages within the Australo-Papuan clade was rapid and occurred over the period from ~ 0.9-1.7 Mya, a finding that explains the difficulty in resolving some relationships within this clade. Phylogenetic analyses of our 126 taxon, but shorter sequence (1952 nucleotides long), Rattus database generally give well supported species clades. Conclusions Our whole mitochondrial genome analyses are concordant with a taxonomic division that places the native Australian rats into the Rattus fuscipes species group. We suggest the following order of divergence of the Australian species. R. fuscipes is the oldest lineage among the Australian rats and is not part of a New Guinean radiation. R. lutreolus is also within this Australian clade and shallower than R. tunneyi while the R. sordidus group is the shallowest lineage in the clade. The divergences within the R. sordidus and R. leucopus lineages occurring about half a million years ago support the hypotheses of more recent interchanges of rats between Australia and New Guinea. While problematic for inference of deeper divergences, we report that the analysis of shorter mitochondrial sequences is very useful for species identification in rats

The Comparative Osteology of the Petrotympanic Complex (Ear Region) of Extant Baleen Whales (Cetacea: Mysticeti)

Anatomical comparisons of the ear region of baleen whales (Mysticeti) are provided through detailed osteological descriptions and high-resolution photographs of the petrotympanic complex (tympanic bulla and petrosal bone) of all extant species of mysticete cetaceans. Salient morphological features are illustrated and identified, including overall shape of the bulla, size of the conical process of the bulla, morphology of the promontorium, and the size and shape of the anterior process of the petrosal. We place our comparative osteological observations into a phylogenetic context in order to initiate an exploration into petrotympanic evolution within Mysticeti.The morphology of the petrotympanic complex is diagnostic for individual species of baleen whale (e.g., sigmoid and conical processes positioned at midline of bulla in Balaenoptera musculus; confluence of fenestra cochleae and perilymphatic foramen in Eschrichtius robustus), and several mysticete clades are united by derived characteristics. Balaenids and neobalaenids share derived features of the bulla, such as a rhomboid shape and a reduced anterior lobe (swelling) in ventral aspect, and eschrichtiids share derived morphologies of the petrosal with balaenopterids, including loss of a medial promontory groove and dorsomedial elongation of the promontorium. Monophyly of Balaenoidea (Balaenidae and Neobalaenidae) and Balaenopteroidea (Balaenopteridae and Eschrichtiidae) was recovered in phylogenetic analyses utilizing data exclusively from the petrotympanic complex.This study fills a major gap in our knowledge of the complex structures of the mysticete petrotympanic complex, which is an important anatomical region for the interpretation of the evolutionary history of mammals. In addition, we introduce a novel body of phylogenetically informative characters from the ear region of mysticetes. Our detailed anatomical descriptions, illustrations, and comparisons provide valuable data for current and future studies on the phylogenetic relationships, evolution, and auditory physiology of mysticetes and other cetaceans throughout Earth's history

Potential Economic Consequences of the Landing Obligation

To assess the likely economic outcomes to fishing fleets of the Landing Obligation (LO), bioeconomic models covering seven European fisheries, ranging from the North East Atlantic to the Mediterranean, have been applied to estimate the economic performance of fleets before and after implementing the LO. It is shown that for most of the analysed fisheries, their economic outcome will be negatively affected in the long term by the LO, when compared to the expected outcome with no LO. Efficient mitigation strategies (exemptions, quota uplifts, improved selectivity, effort reallocation and others) may, for some of the analysed fisheries, reduce the negative economic effect of the LO. Moreover, the possibility to trade quotas, both nationally and internationally, may also reduce the economic losses caused by the LO. However, even with mitigation strategies and/or quota trade in place, most of the analysed fisheries are worse off under the LO than what could be expected if the LO was not implemented

Explaining noncompliance in the Norwegian coastal cod fishery: an application of the multinomial logit

Establishing motive is central to the analysis of criminal behaviour. This article analyses the range of motives for noncompliant behaviour among coastal cod fishermen. A multinomial logit model is employed to analyse the reasons that underlie various motives. The four motives compared in this study are economic, technological and social and motives caused by bureaucracy and legitimacy problems. The economic motive is found to be most important for coastal fishermen. However, the cross-sectional data indicate that motives vary with fishing gear, vessel length and fishermen's age. The results indicate that identifying motives for noncompliant behaviour is not straightforward but is important for reducing the extent of infringements of the regulations. Fishermen who use gill net, seine and long line, for example, are more often motivated to noncompliance by technical problems and bureaucracy than hand-jig fishers. The study suggests that in order to prevent noncompliance behaviour, the authorities' management policy should be designed to address the problems encountered by different categories of fishers. For example, offences that are committed because of technical problems should be resolved by increasing the involvement of fishermen in the process of drawing up regulations, whereas offences motivated by economic factors should be reduced by increasing inspections.