Food limitation of seabirds in the Benguela ecosystem and management of their prey base

This is the final version. Available from the Environmental Information Service, Namibia via the URL in this record. Four of seven seabirds that are endemic to the Benguela ecosystem (African Penguin Spheniscus demersus, Cape Gannet Morus capensis, Cape Cormorant Phalacrocorax capensis, Bank Cormorant P. neglectus) compete with fisheries for prey and have an IUCN classification of Endangered. Prey depletion and food resource limitations have been major drivers of recent large population decreases of each of these species. As populations decrease, colony sizes also dwindle rendering them susceptible to Allee effects and higher probabilities of extinction. Therefore, it is necessary to maintain colonies at sizes that minimise their probability of extinction. Means to ensure an adequate availability of food to achieve this goal include closing important seabird foraging areas (often adjacent to key colonies) to relevant fishing, implementing ecosystem thresholds below which such fishing is disallowed (which are also expected to benefit forage resources) and, should there be an altered distribution of prey, attempting to establish seabird colonies close to the new location of forage resources.The Pew Charitable Trust

Habitat preferences of Phoebetria albatrosses in sympatry and allopatry

Competition is often proposed to drive niche segregation along multiple axes in speciose communities. Understanding spatial partitioning of foraging areas is particu�larly important in species that are constrained to a central place. We present a natural experiment examining variation in habitat preferences of congeneric Southern Ocean predators in sympatry and allopatry. Our aim was to ascertain consistency of habitat preferences within species, and to test whether preferences changed in the presence of the congener

Mutations in SLC25A22: hyperprolinaemia, vacuolated fibroblasts and presentation with developmental delay

Mutations in SLC25A22 are known to cause neonatal epileptic encephalopathy and migrating partial seizures in infancy. Using whole exome sequencing we identified four novel SLC25A22 mutations in six children from three families. Five patients presented clinical features similar to those in the literature including hypotonia, refractory neonatal‐onset seizures and developmental delay. However, the sixth patients presented atypically with isolated developmental delay, developing late‐onset (absence) seizures only at 7 years of age. Abnormal metabolite levels have not been documented in the nine patients described previously. One patient in our series was referred to the metabolic clinic because of persistent hyperprolinaemia and another three had raised plasma proline when tested. Analysis of the post‐prandial plasma amino acid response in one patient showed abnormally high concentrations of several amino acids. This suggested that, in the fed state, when amino acids are the preferred fuel for the liver, trans‐deamination of amino acids requires transportation of glutamate into liver mitochondria by SLC25A22 for deamination by glutamate dehydrogenase; SLC25A22 is an important mitochondrial glutamate transporter in liver as well as in brain. Electron microscopy of patient fibroblasts demonstrated widespread vacuolation containing neutral and phospho‐lipids as demonstrated by Oil Red O and Sudan Black tinctorial staining; this might be explained by impaired activity of the proline/pyrroline‐5‐carboxylate (P5C) shuttle if SLC25A22 transports pyrroline‐5‐carboxylate/glutamate‐γ‐semialdehyde as well as glutamate

Data for: Gentoo penguins as sentinels of climate change at the sub-Antarctic Prince Edward Archipelago, Southern Ocean

Number of prey items found in the stomach content samples of gentoo penguins, Pygoscelis papua, at Marion Island during different breeding stages during 1994 - 1996, 2012, 2014 and 2015

Data for: Gentoo penguins as sentinels of climate change at the sub-Antarctic Prince Edward Archipelago, Southern Ocean

Number of prey items found in the stomach content samples of gentoo penguins, Pygoscelis papua, at Marion Island during different breeding stages during 1994 - 1996, 2012, 2014 and 2015.THIS DATASET IS ARCHIVED AT DANS/EASY, BUT NOT ACCESSIBLE HERE. TO VIEW A LIST OF FILES AND ACCESS THE FILES IN THIS DATASET CLICK ON THE DOI-LINK ABOV