Birds of the North Gulf Coast - Prince William Sound Region, Alaska

The North Gulf Coast - Prince William Sound region of Alaska, phytographically, lies at the northern limit of the Sitka Spruce-hemlock coastal/subalpine forests of the Pacific Coast; it includes approximately 178,500 km2 and a shoreline of approximately 8,500 km. Fourteen habitats are utilized by birds: tundra; shrub thickets; hemlock-Sitka Spruce forests; bogs; mixed deciduous-spruce woodlands; marshes; lacustrine waters; fluviatile waters; cliffs, bluffs, and screes; moraines, alluvia, and barrier islands; beaches and tidal flats; rocky shores and reefs; inshore waters; and offshore waters. Two hundred nineteen species of birds have been recorded in the region, 111 of which are primarily water-related. Status, abundance, habitat, and seasonal occurrence are discussed in the annotated list of species. The geographic location and restrictive topography of the region make it a spectacular corridor for millions of migrating birds. In spring millions of Pintails, Dunlins, Western Sandpipers, and Northern Phalaropes move through the region, as do tens of thousands of Whistling Swans, Snow Geese, Knots, and Sanderlings. Fall concentrations of White-fronted Geese and Sandhill Cranes may exceed 100,000's. Species with notably large summering populations include Trumpeter Swans (several hundred breeding pairs), Bald Eagles (1,800-2,000 breeding pairs), Aleutian Terns (150-250 breeding pairs on Copper River Delta), Marbled Murrelets (probably millions), and Kittlitz's Murrelets (probably a few 100,000's). Significant range extensions reported include Yellow-billed Loons (fairly common in winter), Pink-footed and Pale-footed shearwaters, Brandt's Cormorants (breeding), Red-faced Cormorants (breeding), Steller's Eiders (winter), Bristle-thighed Curlews (migrant), Bar-tailed Godwits (migrant), Crested Auklets (winter), and northernmost wintering populations of waterfowl (Canada Geese, Gadwalls, Pintails, Green-winged Teals, American Widgeons) and shorebirds (Surfbirds, Black Trunstones, Dunlins, and Sanderlings). Some unexpected species reported include Skua, Anna's Hummingbird, Purple Marin, Yellowthroat, Common Grackle, and White-throated Sparrow

Higher Spins and Matter Interacting in Dimension Three

The spectrum of Prokushkin--Vasiliev Theory is puzzling in light of the Gaberdiel--Gopakumar conjecture because it generically contains an additional sector besides higher-spin gauge and scalar fields. We find the unique truncation of the theory avoiding this problem to order 2 in perturbations around AdS$_3$. The second-order backreaction on the physical gauge sector induced by the scalars is computed explicitly. The cubic action for the physical fields is determined completely. We comment on a different higher-spin theory without such additional fields at $\lambda=1$.Comment: 55 pages + appendices, LaTex. Final version to appear in JHE

Quantum storage on subradiant states in an extended atomic ensemble

A scheme for coherent manipulation of collective atomic states is developed such that total subradiant states, in which spontaneous emission is suppressed into all directions due to destructive interference between neighbor atoms, can be created in an extended atomic ensemble. The optimal conditions for creation of such states and suitability of them for quantum storage are discussed. It is shown that in order to achieve the maximum signal-to-noise ratio the shape of a light pulse to be stored and reconstructed using a homogeneously broadened absorbtion line of an atomic system should be a time-reversed regular part of the response function of the system. In the limit of high optical density, such pulses allow one to prepare collective subradiant atomic states with near flat spatial distribution of the atomic excitation in the medium.Comment: V2: considerably revised (title, text). V3: minor changes - final version as published in PR

Availability of N to plants from legume and fertilizer sources: which is greater?

Non-Peer ReviewedOne benefit often cited for legumes crops is that they contribute N to subsequent crops, but the magnitude of this effect has been difficult to quantify. A study was conducted to compare how much and when N from fertilizer and residue sources was taken up by wheat Wheat straw (W), lentil straw (L), and lentil green manure (G), unenriched or enriched in 15N, were both surface placed and incorporated into microplots (10 x 40 cm) in the field in the fall of 1988. In the spring of 1989 wheat was planted in all microplots, and unenriched and enriched fertilizer N was added to microplots containing enriched and unenriched plant residues, respectively. Microplots were destructively sampled at planting and at 6, 10 and 13 weeks after planting. Approximately 29 % of added fertilizer was recovered in wheat tops by 6 weeks after planting in all treatments except incorporated W, where immobilization reduced this value to 19 %. Maximum recoveries of fertilizer 15N were 34 % by the final sampling date. The proportion of residue 15N recovered in wheat tops at the final sampling dates was 19 and 11 % from incorporated and surface-placed G, respectively, and 5.4 and 5.3 % from L and W, respectively. Surface placement of residues reduced immobilization of fertilizer N but increased losses of residue N. Comparisons of N availability based on recovery of 15N may be misleading because 15N recovery does not account for changes in mineralization of native N, which is likely to be affected unequally by the addition of different N sources

Comparison of available soil moisture and nitrogen following wheat and lentil

Non-Peer ReviewedLentil is generally grown in rotation with cereals, and may benefit the succeeding crop by using less moisture or by increasing the amount of available N. Soil moisture and N depletion was measured for lentil and wheat at five sites in 1985, three sites in 1987 and one in 1988. Lentil depleted soil moisture and mineral N to a similar extent as wheat at most sites. Exceptions occurred due to differences between lentil and wheat in their response to rainfall distribution or in their effectiveness at exploiting moisture and nitrate at deeper soil layers. Lentil residues contained more N than wheat residues, but this did not represent a net gain in N because as much N was removed with the seed as was fixed. Lentil residues had a higher and more variable N concentration than wheat Thus, net N mineralization will on average be higher following lentil than following wheat, but the magnitude of these differences will be variable

Multiqubit Spin

It is proposed that the state space of a quantum object with a complicated discrete spectrum can be used as a basis for multiqubit recording and processing of information in a quantum computer. As an example, nuclear spin 3/2 is considered. The possibilities of writing and reading two quantum bits of information, preparation of the initial state, implementation of the "rotation" and "controlled negation" operations, which are sufficient for constructing any algorithms, are demonstrated.Comment: 7 pages, PostScript, no figures; translation of Pis'ma Zh. Eksp. Teor. Fiz. 70, No. 1, pp. 59-63, 10 July 1999; (Submitted 29 April 1999; resubmitted 2 June 1999

Societal Costs of Late Blight in Potato and Prospects of Durable Resistance Through Cisgenic Modification

In the European Union almost 6 Mha of potatoes are grown representing a value of close to ¿6,000,000,000. Late blight caused by Phytophthora infestans causes annual losses (costs of control and damage) estimated at more than ¿1,000,000,000. Chemical control is under pressure as late blight becomes increasingly aggressive and there is societal resistance against the use of environmentally unfriendly chemicals. Breeding programmes have not been able to markedly increase the level of resistance of current potato varieties. New scientific approaches may yield genetically modified marker-free potato varieties (either trans- and/or cisgenic, the latter signifying the use of indigenous resistance genes) as improved variants of currently used varieties showing far greater levels of resistance. There are strong scientific investments needed to develop such improved varieties but these varieties will have great economic and environmental impact. Here we present an approach, based on (cisgenic) resistance genes that will enhance the impact. It consists of five themes: the detection of R-genes in the wild potato gene pool and their function related to the various aspects in the infection route and reproduction of the late blight causing pathogen; cloning of natural R-genes and transforming cassettes of single or multiple (cisgenic) R-genes into existing varieties with proven adaptation to improve their value for consumers; selection of true to the wild type and resistant genotypes with similar qualities as the original variety; spatial and temporal resistance management research of late blight of the cisgenic genetically modified (GM) varieties that contain different cassettes of R-genes to avoid breaking of resistance and reduce build-up of epidemics; communication and interaction with all relevant stakeholders in society and transparency in what research is doing. One of the main challenges is to explain the different nature and possible biological improvement and legislative repercussions of cisgenic GM-crops in comparison with transgenic GM-crops. It is important to realize that the present EU Directive 2001/18/EC on GM crops does not make a difference between trans- and cisgenes. These rules were developed when only transgenic GM plants were around. We present a case arguing for an updating and refinement of these rules in order to place cisgenic GM-crops in another class of GM-plants as has been done in the past with (induced) mutation breeding and the use of protoplast fusion between crossable species. Keywords Cisgenesis - Cloning - Communication - Late blight - Phytophthora infestans - Potato - Resistance management - Selection - Transformatio

Nitrogen, phosphorus, and rhizobial strain responses of lentil

Non-Peer ReviewedThree field experiments were set out in 1987 to test the effect of nitrogen fertilizer, phosphorus fertilizer, and rhizobial strain on lentil yields and N2 fixation. The following treatments were laid out in a split-split-plot design: main plot treatments of uninoculated, Nitragin 'C' inoculated, and strain 99A1 inoculated lentil; sub-plot treatments of 0 and 30 kg P/ha, and sub-sub plot treatments of 0, 10, 20, 40, or 80 kg N/ha 15N-enriched fertilizer was applied to a 1.05 m2 microplot in each plot Barley was used as the non-N2-fixing reference crop. At all sites lentil inoculated with strain 99A1 had the greatest total dry matter yield, grain yield and N2 fixed. Uninoculated lentil had a strong N response at all sites, 'C' inoculated lentil had a starter N response at Kindersley and 99A1 inoculated lentil had no N response at all. P responses were only observed at Foam Lake. Lentil receiving low amounts of N fertilizer obtained between 60 and 75 % of their N from the atmosphere at all sites. A good agreement was observed in estimating percent N derived from N2 using the 15N isotope dilution, A-value, or classical N-difference methods. The amount of fixed-N in the seed ranged from 4 kg ha-1 under drought stressed conditions at Kindersley to 60 kg ha-1 under much better growing conditions at Foam Lake