Aquaculture in Shared Waters Fact Sheet: Aquaculture in Maine

This series of “Aquaculture in Shared Waters” fact sheets is intended to help fishermen or others in Maine’s coastal communities interested in starting a small-scale aquaculture business as we move towards achieving this potential in a way that is best for our people and the environment

Hedgehog signaling regulates dental papilla formation and tooth size during zebrafish odontogenesis

Intercellular communication by the hedgehog cell signaling pathway is necessary for tooth development throughout the vertebrates, but it remains unclear which specific developmental signals control cell behavior at different stages of odontogenesis. To address this issue, we have manipulated hedgehog activity during zebrafish tooth development and visualized the results using confocal microscopy. Results: We first established that reporter lines for dlx2b, fli1, NF-κB, and prdm1a are markers for specific subsets of tooth germ tissues. We then blocked hedgehog signaling with cyclopamine and observed a reduction or elimination of the cranial neural crest derived dental papilla, which normally contains the cells that later give rise to dentin-producing odontoblasts. Upon further investigation, we observed that the dental papilla begins to form and then regresses in the absence of hedgehog signaling, through a mechanism unrelated to cell proliferation or apoptosis. We also found evidence of an isometric reduction in tooth size that correlates with the time of earliest hedgehog inhibition. Conclusions: We hypothesize that these results reveal a previously uncharacterized function of hedgehog signaling during tooth morphogenesis, regulating the number of cells in the dental papilla and thereby controlling tooth size

The queer commons: introduction

Ideas and practices of “the commons” have been urgently explored in recent years in attempts to forge alternatives to global capitalism and its privatizing enclosures of social life. Contemporary queer energies have been directed to commons-forming initiatives that sustain queer lives otherwise marginalized by heteronormative society and mainstream LGBTQ politics: from activist provision of social services to the maintenance of networks around queer art, protest, public sex, and bar cultures. However, such instances of queer political action and imagination have rarely been recognized within extant discourses of the commons. This introduction sets out differing genealogies of thought within scholarship on the commons and, building on the work of the performance studies scholar José Esteban Muñoz, it asks how, if at all, it is possible to theorize a queer commons

Greenhouse gas implications of replacing fish protein with beef in the lower Mekong Basin

At least 88 new hydropower dams are planned between 2010 and 2030 in the lower Mekong River basin in Southeast Asia as a source of electricity with lower greenhouse gas emissions. Dams result in declines in fish populations that will need to be replaced with other sources of protein for food security. We make the first assessment of emissions should beef production substitute for lost fish in Cambodia and Laos. We assessed two sources of emissions. Replacing lost fish with beef would require as much as 12 million hectares of new pasture. Forest clearing for pastures in Cambodia and Lao PDR would initially emit between 0.859 and 3.015 giga-tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents (Gt CO2-eq.). Methane emissions from additional cattle would add at least 0.0013 Gt CO2-eq./year to Cambodia�s total greenhouse gas emissions, equivalent to a 20% increase. In Laos at least 0.0005 Gt CO2-eq./year would be released, a 4�12% increase in annual emissions. We demonstrate that activities displaced by hydropower developments could significantly increase emissions. It shows how enclosure of commons at local scales impacts upon other common pool resources at different scales, raising questions for sustainable and equitable transboundary governance

How can agricultural extension and rural advisory services support agricultural innovation to adapt to climate change in the agriculture sector?

Because the climate has been rapidly changing and undermining the sustainability of the agriculture sector, Agricultural Extension and Rural Advisory Services (AERAS) need to rethink their contemporary roles and initiatives. Although enhancing agricultural innovation is considered a key process to increase farm income and ensure sustainability under complex climate-affected development conditions, little is known how AERAS can support the process in the said context. A broad range of literature was reviewed and a deductive coding approach was followed to analyze the literature. The findings suggested numerous transformative roles of AERAS providers supporting agricultural innovation. AERAS providers should extend their mandates and broaden their scopes by connecting and working with multiple actors and groups within and beyond the agriculture sector. They need to support interactions and learning among diversified actors to develop complementary understanding and approaches for collective action for climate change adaptation. The findings highlight the importance of enhancing innovation by AERAS providers for climate change adaptation in the agriculture sector

A New Quantile Projection Method for Producing Representative Future Daily Climate based on Mixed Effect State-Space Model and Observations

The theme for this event was Partnering with industry and the community for innovation and impact through modelling

Synoptic to large-scale drivers of minimum temperature variability in Australia – long-term changes

This study documents the importance, and changes in the importance, of a suite of synoptic to large-scale drivers of minimum temperature variability across the Australian region. The drivers investigated are the El Niño – Southern Oscillation (ENSO) as measured by the Southern Oscillation Index, atmospheric blocking, the Southern Annular Mode, and the position and intensity of the subtropical ridge. In most regions, individual drivers generally account for between about 5 and 10% of the interannual variability across Australia, although in some seasons and regions these drivers can collectively account for more than 60% of the observed variability. The amount of minimum temperature variance explained by individual drivers is highest in south-eastern Australia in summer (December–February), where the drivers collectively account for 67% of the variance, due primarily to the relationships with blocking and ENSO. The varying importance of the drivers of minimum temperature variability between seasons and between two discrete periods (i.e. 1960–1984 and 1985–2015) has been investigated. In the more recent period the intensity of the subtropical ridge has played a more important role in minimum temperature variability, particularly in the south-western and south-eastern parts of Australia in summer (December–February), with the position of the subtropical ridge a feature of greater importance over much of Victoria in spring (September–November). For the more recent period the intensity of the subtropical ridge and the southern annular mode have been more important drivers of minimum temperature variability for autumn (March–May) and winter (June–August), respectively, across southern New South Wales and northern Victoria.The authors acknowledge the Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) for provision of its Australian Climate Observations Reference Network – Surface Air Temperature (ACORN–SAT) data and the Queensland Department of Science, Information Technology and Innovation (DSITIA) for provision of its SILO gridded minimum temperature date for analysis. The authors also thank the Earth Systems and Climate Change Hub of the National Environmental Science Program (NESP) for their ongoing support and also acknowledge that this research was made possible via financial support from the Australian Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC), under the National Frost Initiative (NFI)