The ecology of Atlantic white cedar wetlands: a community profile

This monograph on the ecology of Atlantic white cedar wetlands is one of a series of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service profiles of important freshwater wetland ecosystems of the United States. The purpose of the profile is to describe the extent, components, functioning, history, and treatment of these wetlands. It is intended to provide a useful reference to relevant scientific information and a synthesis of the available literature. The world range of Atlantic white cedar (Chamaecyparis thyoides) is limited to a ribbon of freshwater wetlands within 200 km of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the United States, extending from mid-Maine to mid-Florida and Mississippi. Often in inaccessible sites and difficult to traverse, cedar wetlands contain distinctive suites of plant species. Highly valued as commercial timber since the early days of European colonization of the continent, the cedar and its habitat are rapidly disappearing. This profile describes the Atlantic white cedar and the bogs and swamps it dominates or codominates throughout its range, discussing interrelationships with other habitats, putative origins and migration patterns, substrate biogeochemistry, associated plant and animal species (with attention to those that are rare, endangered, or threatened regionally or nationally), and impacts of both natural and anthropogenic disturbance. Research needs for each area are outlined. Chapters are devoted to the practices and problems of harvest and management, and to an examination of a large preserve recently acquired by the USFWS, the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge in North Carolina

A Simple BATSE Measure of GRB Duty Cycle

We introduce a definition of gamma-ray burst (GRB) duty cycle that describes the GRB's efficiency as an emitter; it is the GRB's average flux relative to the peak flux. This GRB duty cycle is easily described in terms of measured BATSE parameters; it is essentially fluence divided by the quantity peak flux times duration. Since fluence and duration are two of the three defining characteristics of the GRB classes identified by statistical clustering techniques (the other is spectral hardness), duty cycle is a potentially valuable probe for studying properties of these classes.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, presented at the 5th Huntsville Gamma-Ray Burst Symposiu

Development and Impact of Geocoris punctipes (Say) (Hemiptera: Lygaeidae) on Selected Pests of Greenhouse Ornamentals

The big-eyed bug, Geocoris punctipes (Say) (Hemiptera: Lygaeidae), a generalist insect predator common in several agricultural systems, is explored as a biological control agent against pests of ornamentals in greenhouses. This research consists of three components: 1) Evaluation of development and survival of the predator (egg through adulthood) when reared on six diets, including greenhouse pests, a combination of greenhouse pests and plant material, and a meat-based artificial diet that has been developed for G.punctipes, 2) Assessment of predation rates of mass-reared big-eyed bugs by investigating the number of prey (three prey species common to greenhouse and ornamental crops) killed by newly eclosed, mass-reared, adult big-eyed bugs and comparing the predation of mass-reared and field-collected individuals of the same species, and 3) Determination of the effectiveness of G. punctipes in supressing populations of greenhouse whitefly, Trialeurodes vaporariorium (Westwood), and western flower thrips, Frankliniella occidentalis (Pergande), on a cut flower crop, Ageratum houstonium Miller, in the greenhouse. The hypothesis of this research is that the development, survival, and predation efficiency of big-eyed bugs reared on artificial meat-based diet are similar to those of insects reared on live prey. If the hypothesis is true, then mass-reared big-eyed bugs may have potential as a biological control agent of pests in greenhouse Integrated Pest Management programs. This research contributes to our understanding of beneficial insects and their impact on pest species, and to pest management programs that allow growers of ornamental plants to maximize economic profitability while minimizing environmental impacts by reducing pesticide use

State Responsibility and the High Seas Marine Environment: A Legal Theory for the Protection of Seamounts in the Global Commons

At its latest session, the United Nations General Assembly urged States to consider a temporary ban on bottom trawling on the high seas. Bottom trawling technology causes extensive damage both to the habitat of deep sea living marine resources ( LMRs ) and to the LMRs themselves. This damage is particularly acute at heavily fished undersea mountains known as seamounts. The pronouncement by the General Assembly, while certainly a positive step, is another unfortunate example of short-sighted fisheries management: instead of creating a legitimate protection regime—such as a moratorium or a system of High Seas Marine Protected Areas ( HSMPA )—for these rare and fragile ecosystems, it leaves the door open for the continued degradation of the global commons. This Comment begins with the assumption that such measures—namely, a system of HSMPAs—can lawfully be established, and turns to the question of enforcement. It presents a legal theory upon which a case against high seas trawling nations could be built, demonstrating that States have notice of the ecological consequences of trawling seamounts, have an affirmative duty to prevent such consequences by enacting and enforcing municipal legislation, and have breached that duty. This flag State malfeasance amounts to an internationally wrongful act, thus providing the possibility for responses by concerned States. These responses include the invocation of responsibility by noninjured States, and potential countermeasures

Relationships among postpartum maternal body composition, breastfeeding, docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) status, and physical activity

2016 Spring.Includes bibliographical references.BACKGROUND: The time periods of pregnancy and lactation are recognized as times of changes in maternal weight and high bone turnover and theoretically can be transitional time periods regarding female body composition. We aim to inquiry associations between postpartum body composition, breastfeeding, maternal docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) status and intake, and physical activity. METHODS: 27 women 37.3 ± 17.3 months postpartum participated. Blood samples were assessed for DHA. DEXA analyses provided body composition data. Pearson’s correlations and linear regression models tested for significance. RESULTS: Total MET hours per week significantly positively correlated with whole body BMD and lumbar BMC. Both physical activity and RBC DHA explained significant amounts of variance within lumbar and pelvic BMC. CONCLUSIONS: Associations between exercise and bone mineralization within the postpartum period were further elucidated, though the role of DHA is still unclear

Infrared reflection nebulae in Orion molecular cloud 2

New obervations of Orion Molecular Cloud-2 have been made from 1-100 microns using the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility and the Kuiper Airborne Observatory. An extensive program of polarimetry, photometry and spectrophotometry has shown that the extended emission regions associated with two of the previously known near infrared sources, IRS1 and IRS4, are infrared reflection nebulae, and that the compact sources IRS1 and IRS4 are the main luminosity sources in the cloud. The constraints from the far infrared observations and an analysis of the scattered light from the IRS1 nebula show that OMC-2/IRS1 can be characterized by L less than or equal to 500 Solar luminosities and T approx. 1000 K. The near infrared (1-5) micron albedo of the grains in the IRS1 nebula is greater than 0.08

The Statistics of the BATSE Spectral Features

The absence of a BATSE line detection in a gamma-ray burst spectrum during the mission's first six years has led to a statistical analysis of the occurrence of lines in the BATSE burst database; this statistical analysis will still be relevant if lines are detected. We review our methodology, and present new simulations of line detectability as a function of the line parameters. We also discuss the calculation of the number of ``trials'' in the BATSE database, which is necessary for our line detection criteria.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, AIPPROC LaTeX, to appear in "Gamma-Ray Bursts, 4th Huntsville Symposium," eds. C. Meegan, R. Preece and T. Koshu