Inter-individual variability of stone marten behavioral responses to a highway

Efforts to reduce the negative impacts of roads on wildlife may be hindered if individuals within the population vary widely in their responses to roads and mitigation strategies ignore this variability. This knowledge is particularly important for medium-sized carnivores as they are vulnerable to road mortality, while also known to use available road passages (e.g., drainage culverts) for safely crossing highways. Our goal in this study was to assess whether this apparently contradictory pattern of high road-kill numbers associated with a regular use of road passages is attributable to the variation in behavioral responses toward the highway between individuals. We investigated the responses of seven radio-tracked stone martens (Martes foina) to a highway by measuring their utilization distribution, response turning angles and highway crossing patterns. We compared the observed responses to simulated movement parameterized by the observed space use and movement characteristics of each individual, but naı¨ve to the presence of the highway. Our results suggested that martens demonstrate a diversity of responses to the highway, including attraction, indifference, or avoidance. Martens also varied in their highway crossing patterns, with some crossing repeatedly at the same location (often coincident with highway passages). We suspect that the response variability derives from the individual’s familiarity of the landscape, including their awareness of highway passage locations. Because of these variable yet potentially attributable responses, we support the use of exclusionary fencing to guide transient (e.g., dispersers) individuals to existing passages to reduce the road-kill risk

Comparative population genetic structure of the endangered southern brown bandicoot, Isoodon obesulus, in fragmented landscapes of Southern Australia

Genetic connectivity is a key factor for maintaining the persistence of populations in fragmented landscapes. In highly modified landscapes such us peri-urban areas, organisms' dispersal among fragmented habitat patches can be reduced due to the surrounding matrix, leading to subsequent decreased gene flow and increased potential extinction risk in isolated sub-populations. However, few studies have compared within species how dispersal/gene flow varies between regions and among different forms of matrix that might be encountered. In the current study, we investigated gene flow and dispersal in an endangered marsupial, the southern brown bandicoot (Isoodon obesulus) in a heavily modified peri-urban landscape in South Australia, Australia. We used 14 microsatellite markers to genotype 254 individuals which were sampled from 15 sites. Analyses revealed significant genetic structure. Our analyses also indicated that dispersal was mostly limited to neighbouring sites. Comparisons of these results with analyses of a different population of the same species revealed that gene flow/dispersal was more limited in this peri-urban landscape than in a pine plantation landscape approximately 400 km to the south-east. These findings increase our understanding of how the nature of fragmentation can lead to profound differences in levels of genetic connectivity among populations of the same species.You Li, Steven J.B. Cooper, Melanie L. Lancaster, Jasmin G. Packer, Susan M. Carthe

Samen kennis aanboren: verkenning van kennis en opvattingen over ultradiepe geothermie

Ultradiepe geothermie is aardwarmte gewonnen op een diepte van meer dan vier kilometer. Het kan een duurzaam alternatief zijn voor aardgas als fossiele brandstof. In het rapport Samen kennis aanboren pleit het Rathenau Instituut voor een maatschappelijke dialoog waarin kennis, kansen, waarden en risico’s breed worden besproken

Control and RF-transmission in the ECW system on TEXTOR-94

A real-time and multitasking control system has been developed for the new ECW system on the TEXTOR tokamak. It allows the system to be remotely controlled by client/server application. A quasi-optical transmission line has been installed which uses confocal mirrors and can be used for different frequencies ( > 100 GHz). It is suitable for transmission of up to two RF beams from different sources to the plasma. The launcher is mounted in a main horizontal port and injects a focused beam with a spot size of 2 cm (at 110 GHz) near the plasma axis. The launcher is steerable independently in the toroidal and poloidal directions. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved

Electron cyclotron resonance heating on TEXTOR

The 110 GHz and the new 140 GHz gyrotron systems for electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECRH) and ECCD on TEXTOR are described and results of ECRH experiments with the 110 GHz system are reported. Central ECRH on Ohmic plasmas shows the presence of an internal electron transport barrier near q = 1. This is confirmed by modulated ECRH experiments. A central barrier is also indicated by ECRH in radiatively improved (RI) mode discharges and up to two barriers are seen with ECRH during the current ramp phase. ECRH control of sawteeth is reported for both Ohmic and RI mode target plasmas

Development of the 140 GHz gyrotron and its subsystems for ECH and ECCD in TEXTOR

A 800 kW, 140 GHz gyrotron has been mounted on TEXTOR. Initial operation was limited by arcs in the transmission line, and by pulse length restrictions due to the expected limited power handling of the window and the launching mirror. Measurements of power absorption in the window and launching mirror, however, showed them to be capable of handling full power, 3 s pulses, while arcing could be prevented by absorption of stray radiation at strategic position in the transmission line. This resulted in the realisation of full power, 3 s pulses on the plasma. Further measures were taken to prevent gyrotron operation in wrong modes or under conditions of low absorption in the plasma. Future improvements, expected to allow further extension of the pulse length to 10 s include: a CVD diamond window to replace the current quartz torus vacuum window, and a fast and accurate launcher. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved