Biology, Fishery, Conservation and Management of Indian Ocean Tuna Fisheries

The focus of the study is to explore the recent trend of the world tuna fishery with special reference to the Indian Ocean tuna fisheries and its conservation and sustainable management. In the Indian Ocean, tuna catches have increased rapidly from about 179959 t in 1980 to about 832246 t in 1995. They have continued to increase up to 2005; the catch that year was 1201465 t, forming about 26% of the world catch. Since 2006 onwards there has been a decline in the volume of catches and in 2008 the catch was only 913625 t. The Principal species caught in the Indian Ocean are skipjack and yellowfin. Western Indian Ocean contributed 78.2% and eastern Indian Ocean 21.8% of the total tuna production from the Indian Ocean. The Indian Ocean stock is currently overfished and IOTC has made some recommendations for management regulations aimed at sustaining the tuna stock. Fishing operations can cause ecological impacts of different types: by catches, damage of the habitat, mortalities caused by lost or discarded gear, pollution, generation of marine debris, etc. Periodic reassessment of the tuna potential is also required with adequate inputs from exploratory surveys as well as commercial landings and this may prevent any unsustainable trends in the development of the tuna fishing industry in the Indian Ocean

Efeitos do estresse térmico sobre a produção, composição química do leite e respostas termorreguladoras de cabras da raça alpina Thermal stress effects on milk yield and chemical composition and thermoregulatory responses of lactating alpines goats

Seis cabras da raça Alpina, com produção média de leite de 2,5 kg/dia, foram distribuídas aleatoriamente em dois grupos de três e submetidas à termoneutralidade ou estresse térmico por 56 dias em câmara climática. Usou-se um delineamento estatístico "crossover". A temperatura média do ar diurna, incluindo radiação solar simulada, foi de 33,84ºC. Os animais estressados aumentaram a freqüência respiratória, o volume-minuto respiratório, a termólise-evaporativa respiratória, temperatura retal e a taxa de sudorese, enquanto o volume corrente respiratório e o volume globular diminuíram. Houve também perda de peso, redução da ingestão de alimentos e duplicação do consumo de água. A produção de leite e a porcentagem de gordura, proteína, lactose e sólidos totais diminuíram. Os teores de cloretos, cálcio e fósforo não sofreram alteração. Concluiu-se que, para manter a homeotermia, as cabras mobilizaram o sistema respiratório e sudoríparo para perder calor. A alta temperatura ambiente efetiva reduziu a produção e os teores de alguns componentes do leite.<br>Six Alpine goats with an average milk yield of 2.5 kg/day were randomly assigned to two groups of three and allotted to thermoneutral or heat stress conditions, for 56 days in climate chamber room. A crossover experimental design was used. The goats under heat stress were exposed to a diurnal average air temperature plus simulated solar radiation of 33. 84ºC. The heat-stressed goats showed elevated respiratory frequency, respiratory minute volume, respiratory evaporation, rectal temperature and sweating rate, while the tidal volume and packed cell volume decreased. Further weight loss, decreased feed intake, and their water consumption doubled. The milk yield, the percentage of fat, protein, lactose and total solid contents decreased. The contents of chloride, calcium and phosphorus did not change. The goats mobilized the respiratory and sweating systems to lose heat to maintain homeothermy. The association between high air temperature and simulated solar radiation reduced the milk yield and the content of some milk components

Interaction strengths in food webs: issues and opportunities

1. Recent efforts to understand how the patterning of interaction strength affects both structure and dynamics in food webs have highlighted several obstacles to productive synthesis. Issues arise with respect to goals and driving questions, methods and approaches, and placing results in the context of broader ecological theory. 2. Much confusion stems from lack of clarity about whether the questions posed relate to community-level patterns or to species dynamics, and to what authors actually mean by the term “interaction strength”. Here, we describe the various ways in which this term has been applied and discuss the implications of loose terminology and definition for the development of this field. 3. Of particular concern is the clear gap between theoretical and empirical investigations of interaction strengths and food web dynamics. The ecological community urgently needs to explore new ways to estimate biologically reasonable model coefficients from empirical data, such as foraging rates, body size, metabolic rate, biomass distribution, and other species traits. 4. Combining numerical and analytical modeling approaches should allow exploration of the conditions under which different interaction strengths metrics are interchangeable with regard to relative magnitude, system responses, and species identity. 5. Finally, the prime focus on predator-prey links in much of the research to date on interaction strengths in food webs has meant that the potential significance of non-trophic interactions, such as competition, facilitation, and biotic disturbance, have been largely ignored by the food web community. Such interactions may be important dynamically and should be routinely included in future food web research programmes