The climate of the Waikato Basin

The topography of the Waikato Valley and its position in relation to the large-scale weather system give it warm humid summers, mild winters and a moderate rainfall with a winter maximum. Some typical meteorological situations affecting the valley are described and the individual climatic elements are considered in detail

Sharing the Resource: Six Species of Rattlesnakes in Joshua Tree National Park, California

The competitive exclusion principle would seem to apply to six species of rattlesnakes in the genus Crotalus, all of which feed mostly on small mammals. In Joshua Tree National Park, California, however, six species occur in an area of just 400,000 ha. A pattern noted in ecology is that diversity at one level begets diversity at other levels. Almost 70 years of locality data combined with present field research was used as evidence for the hypothesis that these rattlesnake species mostly avoid competitive exclusion by microhabitat differences within the great diversity of ecological communities in the park. These long-term records might also indicate that the dynamics of the desert ecosystem could be changing, possibly the result of climate change and/or local urbanization

Sharing the Resource: Six Species of Rattlesnakes in Joshua Tree National Park, California

The competitive exclusion principle would seem to apply to six species of rattlesnakes in the genus Crotalus, all of which feed mostly on small mammals. In Joshua Tree National Park, California, however, six species occur in an area of just 400,000 ha. A pattern noted in ecology is that diversity at one level begets diversity at other levels. Almost 70 years of locality data combined with present field research was used as evidence for the hypothesis that these rattlesnake species mostly avoid competitive exclusion by microhabitat differences within the great diversity of ecological communities in the park. These long-term records might also indicate that the dynamics of the desert ecosystem could be changing, possibly the result of climate change and/or local urbanization

Immunochemical studies with tryptic peptides of tobacco mosaic virus protein

Includes bibliographical references.The antigenic determinants of the protein subunit of tobacco mosaic virus CTMV) have been studied by inhibition of complement fixation, inhibition of micro-precipitin and direct binding experiments. The viral subunit has been found to possess six antigenic determinants. Two of these, situated in tryptic peptide I (residues 1-41), were found to be a cryptotope (i.e. an antigenic determinant absent from the outer surface of the assembled viral capsid) and a viral antigenic determinant. Tryptic peptides 4 (residues 62-68) and 8(residues 93-112) also contained cryptotopes which were situated in the region of residues 63-65 and 108-112 respectively. Tryptic peptide 12 (residues 142-158) contained both a cryptotope and a neotope (i.e. an antigenic determinant which is only expressed on the outer surface of the viral capsid), which are situated in the C-terminal region of the polypeptide chain of the TMV protein, residue156 being associated with the cryptotope and residue 158 with the neotope. No antigenic activity could be demonstrated in tryptic peptide I I (residues 135-141 ). When the results are analyzed in terms of the three-dimensional structure of the viral subunit, it appears that all the antigenic reactive regions occupy highly accessible locations on the surface of the protein

Ambient toxicity of water samples from four locations in the Elizabeth River : a comparison of species sensitivities

In the present study, the objective was to evaluate four species for relative sensitivity when challenged with ambient water from four locations in the Elizabeth River, ranging from locations considered to be free of toxicity to an area known to have copper concentrations that exceeded water quality standards in past sampling

Survival, Breeding Frequency, and Migratory Orientation in the Jefferson Salamander, \u3ci\u3eAmbystoma Jeffersonianum\u3c/i\u3e

Accurate estimates of demographic parameters, such as survival and breeding frequency, are necessary for the conservation and management of animal populations. Additionally, life-history data are required for gaining an empirical understanding of the ecology of natural populations. We monitored a population of Jefferson Salamanders (Ambystoma jeffersonianum) breeding in a permanent mountain-top pond at the southern limit of this species’ geographic range in Virginia over four years. We used closed multistate mark-recapture models with Pollock\u27s robust design to estimate the demographic parameters of this population. Additionally, we used point-of-capture data to compare the orientation of migrations into and out of the pond within and among years. Our model selection results support consistent annual adult survival across years with higher estimates for males compared to females. Our estimates of the probability of breeding in sequential years were high for both sexes during the four years of our study. Our model rankings and capture probability estimates indicate that females had a higher probability of detection when entering the breeding pond, likely reflecting differences between the sexes in arrival time to the pond. We found directionality in some, but not all, annual migrations, despite indications of individual fidelity in orientation across years. Our study provides the first estimates of breeding probability and assessment of migratory orientation patterns for A. jeffersonianum and contributes to the understanding of the reproductive ecology and natural history of pond-breeding amphibians

Detection of Supergranulation Alignment in Polar Regions of the Sun by Helioseismology

We report on a new phenomenon of `alignment' of supergranulation cells in the polar regions of the Sun. Recent high-resolution datasets obtained by the Solar Optical Telescope onboard the Hinode satellite enabled us to investigate supergranular structures in high-latitude regions of the Sun. We have carried out a local helioseismology time-distance analysis of the data, and detected acoustic travel-time variations due to the supergranular flows. The supergranulation cells in both the north and south polar regions show systematic alignment patterns in the north-south direction. The south-pole datasets obtained in a month-long Hinode campaign indicate that the supergranulation alignment property may be quite common in the polar regions. We also discuss the latitudinal dependence of the supergranulation cell sizes; the data show that the east-west cell size decreases towards higher latitudes.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures. Accepted for publication in ApJ Letters. Minor modifications in figures and text