Ecological considerations for marine spatial management in deep-water Tanzania

The United Republic of Tanzania has jurisdiction over a large marine area (223,000 km2) of which over 92% is deeper than 200 m. These deep areas extend from, in most cases <10 km from shore, have connections to shallow and coastal marine habitats through oceanographic processes, and support important living and non-living resources, which are becoming increasingly exploited to support a valuable blue economy. Recognising the need for sustainable development, implementation of conservation and management measures in Tanzania's offshore waters has begun, with the development of coastal protected areas and marine spatial plans (e.g. the Coastal and Marine Spatial Plan for Zanzibar). As yet, the deeper areas of Tanzania have not been considered in marine spatial planning. Here we present a synthesis of available data on the habitats and biological communities of deep-water Tanzania, including new data collected in collaboration with the deep-water oil and gas industry, to provide an indication of regional-scale patterns and areas of potential importance. We also discuss the value and multiple uses of the deep ocean areas to Tanzania, and assess the ecological effects of impacts in these environments. This information is valuable to the Tanzanian government to help inform development of management measures to continue to make sustainable use of valuable deep-water resources. To facilitate uptake, we provide a series of recommendations on considering the Tanzanian deep ocean areas in marine spatial planning to boost future management of the important and sensitive offshore domain

Phylogenomic Analysis of Seal Lice Reveals Co-divergence with their Hosts

Lice are considered a model system for studying the process of cospeciation because they are obligate and permanent parasites and are often highly host-specific. Among lice, species in the family Echinophthiriidae Enderlein (Anoplura) are unique in that they infest mammalian hosts with an amphibious lifestyle, i.e. pinnipeds and the river otter. There is evidence that the ancestor of this group infested the terrestrial ancestor of pinnipeds, which suggests these parasites coevolved with their hosts during the transition to marine environments. However, there has been no previous study investigating the phylogenetic relationships among sucking lice parasitizing seals and sea lions. To uncover the evolutionary history of these parasites, we obtained genomic data for Antarctophthirus microchir Trouessart and Neumann (from two hosts), Antarctophthirus carlinii Leonardi et al., Antarctophthirus lobodontis Enderlein, Antarctophthirus ogmorhini Enderlein, Lepidophthirus macrorhini Enderlein, and Proechinophthirus fluctus Ferris. From genomic sequence reads, we assembled >1000 nuclear genes and used these data to infer a phylogenetic tree for these lice. We also used the assembled genes in combination with read-mapping to estimate heterozygosity and effective population size from individual lice. Our analysis supports the monophyly of lice from pinnipeds and uncovers phylogenetic relationships within the group. Surprisingly, we found that A. carlinii, A. lobodontis, and A. ogmorhini have very little genetic divergence among them, whereas the divergence between different geographic representatives of A. microchir indicate that they are possibly different species. Nevertheless, our phylogeny of Echinophthiriidae suggests that these lice have consistently codiverged with their hosts with minimal host switching. Population genomic metrics indicate that louse effective population size is linked to host demographics, which further highlights the close association between pinnipeds and their lice.Fil: Leonardi, María Soledad. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Centro Nacional Patagónico. Instituto de Biología de Organismos Marinos; ArgentinaFil: Virrueta Herrera, Stephany. Illinois Natural History Survey; Estados UnidosFil: Sweet, Andrew. Illinois Natural History Survey; Estados Unidos. Purdue University; Estados UnidosFil: Negrete, Javier. Universidad Nacional de La Plata; Argentina. Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores, Comercio Interno y Culto. Dirección Nacional del Antártico. Instituto Antártico Argentino; ArgentinaFil: Johnson, Kevin P.. University of Illinois; Estados Unido

Transition to postgraduate study: postgraduate ecological systems and identity

This paper explores and examines the distal and proximal systems which construct social science postgraduate study in the UK and analyses the emergent identities of postgraduate students as they negotiate the multiple and interacting practices in their transition to study. The data represent part of a one-year research project, funded by the Higher Education Academy, in which staff and students from five UK universities participated. The paper takes a socio-cultural perspective and situates staff and students in the wider macro context of policy and practice surrounding postgraduate study as well as exploring the micro processes which construct the proximal experience of the transition. We argue that the silence surrounding postgraduate transition in the literature must be addressed in light of existing literature and the present research, both of which suggest that the systems which construct postgraduate study are complex and challenging to students, who do not always receive the support they require. We discuss the practices which implicitly assume expertise in postgraduate students in contrast to student self-identification as confused and struggling. Commonalities with other educational transitions are identified but we argue that there are distinct aspects to postgraduate transition which require greater breadth of research with both successful and unsuccessful postgraduate students