127 research outputs found
Recommended from our members
Studies on the molluscan and fish hosts of the "salmon poisoning" fluke, Nanophyetus salmincola (Chapin)
This study¹ was undertaken: (1) to obtain information on the distribution of the snail, Oxytrema silicula, in three coastal rivers in Oregon, and the seasonal incidence of infection in these snails and in snails from an inland stream, with the cercariae of the trematode, Nanophyetus salinincola; (2) to follow cercarial development in the snail under natural and experimental conditi is; (3) to determine the species of animals naturally infected with the metacercariae and
those susceptible to experimental infection; and (4) to follow development of the metacercariae in the fish hosts. The snail was found widely distributed in the Alsea, Siletz, and Yaquina Rivers both in fresh and brackish water, Salinities in the brackish water areas were as. high as 11.2 parts per thousand. Large snails were observed in all rivers during each season of the year. The incidence of infection with N. salmincola was highest in snails with aperture diameters from 10 to 1.3 mm, and varied from 27 percent in snails from the Alsea River to 29 percent in snails from the Siletz, and Yaquina Rivers. Thirty-five percent of snails from Oak Creek, a stream near Corvallis, were found infected with cercariae of N. salmincola. There was no apparent change in the intensity of infection in the snails during the study period. Immature, but not mature, cercariae of N. salmincola were found in snails during the months of December through March. Identity of these cercariae as N. salmincola was shown by holding infected snails at room temperature for 15 days. At the end of this time 90 percent of the snails infected with N. salmincola contained mature cercariae. Mature cercariae were noted in snails during the months of April through November. The kidneys from 116 of 152 ocean-caught coho salmon, Oncorhynchus kisutch, and from 11 of 1.5 ocean-caught chinook salmon, O. tshawytscha, were found infected with 1 to 2400 metacercariae of N. salmincola. A dog fed two of these kidneys developed "salmon poisoning" disease. These results demonstrated for the first time that salinity was without any "cleansing" effect on either the trematode or the etiologic agent, though this effect was previously believed to occur. The fishes Cottus perplexus, Lampetra richardsoni, L. tridentata,
and Richardsonius balteatus, and the Pacific giant salamander, Dicamptodon ensatus, all from western Oregon streams, were found naturally infected with the metacerariae of N. saimincola.
This is the first report of natural infections in an animal other than a fish and in nonsalmonid fishes. Fourteen species of fishes were experimentally infected: Salmo gairdneri, S. salar, S. trutta, Salvelinus fontinalis, S. namaycush, L. richardsoni, C. perplexus, Carassius auratus, R. balteatus, Catostomus macrocheilus, Lepomis macrochirus, Gasterosteus a. aculeatus, G. a. microcephalus, and Gambusia affinis. This extends the number of salmonid and nonsalmonid fishes susceptible to experimental infection. Cysts from all five of the naturally infected animals and from 12 of the 14 experimentally infected fishes were given to hamsters by stomach tube. The identification of the parasites as N. salmincola was confirmed by recovery of adult flukes from the hamsters in all instances. except one (probably because of low dosage). Metacercariae from 1 to 106 days old from the experimentally infected fishes, and from naturally infected animals were studied. The stylet was absent in rnetacerariae approximately 50 days and older. The excretory bladder was always filled with round granules in metacercaniae 15 days and older. The diameter of the cyst and thickness of the cyst wall increased with age of the parasite
Unbiased Cosmological Parameter Estimation from Emission Line Surveys with Interlopers
The galaxy catalogs generated from low-resolution emission line surveys often
contain both foreground and background interlopers due to line
misidentification, which can bias the cosmological parameter estimation. In
this paper, we present a method for correcting the interloper bias by using the
joint-analysis of auto- and cross-power spectra of the main and the interloper
samples. In particular, we can measure the interloper fractions from the
cross-correlation between the interlopers and survey galaxies, because the true
cross-correlation must be negligibly small. The estimated interloper fractions,
in turn, remove the interloper bias in the cosmological parameter estimation.
For example, in the Hobby-Eberly Telescope Dark Energy Experiment (HETDEX)
low-redshift () [O II] {\AA} emitters contaminate
high-redshift () Lyman- line emitters. We demonstrate that
the joint-analysis method yields a high signal-to-noise ratio measurement of
the interloper fractions while only marginally increasing the uncertainties in
the cosmological parameters relative to the case without interlopers. We also
show the same is true for the high-latitude spectroscopic survey of Wide-Field
Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) mission where contamination occurs between
the Balmer- line emitters at lower redshifts () and Oxygen
([O III] {\AA}) line emitters at higher redshifts ().Comment: 36 pages, 26 figure
A Stellar Dynamical Measurement of the Black Hole Mass in the Maser Galaxy NGC 4258
We determine the mass of the black hole at the center of the spiral galaxy
NGC 4258 by constructing axisymmetric dynamical models of the galaxy. These
models are constrained by high spatial resolution imaging and long-slit
spectroscopy of the nuclear region obtained with the {\em Hubble Space
Telescope}, complemented by ground-based observations extending to larger
radii. Our best mass estimate is \MBH = (3.3 \pm 0.2) \times 10^7 \MSun for
a distance of 7.28 Mpc (statistical errors only). This is within 15% of
(3.82\pm 0.01) \times 10^7 \MSun, the mass determined from the kinematics of
water masers (rescaled to the same distance) assuming they are in Keplerian
rotation in a warped disk. The construction of accurate dynamical models of NGC
4258 is somewhat compromised by an unresolved active nucleus and color
gradients, the latter caused by variations in the stellar population and/or
obscuring dust. These problems are not present in the other black
hole mass determinations from stellar dynamics that have been published by us
and other groups; thus, the relatively close agreement between the stellar
dynamical mass and the maser mass in NGC 4258 enhances our confidence in the
black hole masses determined in other galaxies from stellar dynamics using
similar methods and data of comparable quality.Comment: 58 pages, submitted to ApJ. Some figures excluded due to size. The
entire paper is at http://www.noao.edu/noao/staff/lauer/nuker_papers.htm
The Black Hole Mass and Extreme Orbital Structure in NGC1399
The largest galaxies, and in particular central galaxies in clusters, offer
unique insight into understanding the mechanism for the growth of nuclear black
holes. We present Hubble Space Telescope kinematics for NGC1399, the central
galaxy in Fornax. We find the best-fit model contains a black hole of 5.1 +-0.7
x 10^8 Msun (at a distance of 21.1 Mpc), a factor of over 2 below the
correlation of black hole mass and velocity dispersion. We also find a dramatic
signature for central tangential anisotropy. The velocity profiles on adjacent
sides 0.5" away from the nucleus show strong bimodality, and the central
spectrum shows a large drop in the dispersion. Both of these observations point
to an orbital distribution that is tangentially biased. The best-fit orbital
model suggests a ratio of the tangential to radial internal velocity
dispersions of three. This ratio is the largest seen in any galaxy to date and
will provide an important measure for the mode by which the central black hole
has grown.Comment: 9 pages, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journa
Dwarf Galaxy Dark Matter Density Profiles Inferred from Stellar and Gas Kinematics
We present new constraints on the density profiles of dark matter (DM) halos
in seven nearby dwarf galaxies from measurements of their integrated stellar
light and gas kinematics. The gas kinematics of low mass galaxies frequently
suggest that they contain constant density DM cores, while N-body simulations
instead predict a cuspy profile. We present a data set of high resolution
integral field spectroscopy on seven galaxies and measure the stellar and gas
kinematics simultaneously. Using Jeans modeling on our full sample, we examine
whether gas kinematics in general produce shallower density profiles than are
derived from the stars. Although 2/7 galaxies show some localized differences
in their rotation curves between the two tracers, estimates of the central
logarithmic slope of the DM density profile, gamma, are generally robust. The
mean and standard deviation of the logarithmic slope for the population are
gamma=0.67+/-0.10 when measured in the stars and gamma=0.58+/-0.24 when
measured in the gas. We also find that the halos are not under concentrated at
the radii of half their maximum velocities. Finally, we search for correlations
of the DM density profile with stellar velocity anisotropy and other baryonic
properties. Two popular mechanisms to explain cored DM halos are an exotic DM
component or feedback models that strongly couple the energy of supernovae into
repeatedly driving out gas and dynamically heating the DM halos. We investigate
correlations that may eventually be used to test models. We do not find a
secondary parameter that strongly correlates with the central DM density slope,
but we do find some weak correlations. Determining the importance of these
correlations will require further model developments and larger observational
samples. (Abridged)Comment: 29 pages, 18 figures, 10 tables, accepted for publication in Ap
The VIRUS-P Exploration of Nearby Galaxies (VENGA): Survey Design and First Results
VENGA is a large-scale extragalactic IFU survey, which maps the bulges, bars
and large parts of the outer disks of 32 nearby normal spiral galaxies. The
targets are chosen to span a wide range in Hubble types, star formation
activities, morphologies, and inclinations, at the same time of having vast
available multi-wavelength coverage from the far-UV to the mid-IR, and
available CO and 21cm mapping. The VENGA dataset will provide 2D maps of the
SFR, stellar and gas kinematics, chemical abundances, ISM density and
ionization states, dust extinction and stellar populations for these 32
galaxies. The uniqueness of the VIRUS-P large field of view permits these
large-scale mappings to be performed. VENGA will allow us to correlate all
these important quantities throughout the different environments present in
galactic disks, allowing the conduction of a large number of studies in star
formation, structure assembly, galactic feedback and ISM in galaxies.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, proceedings of the "Third Biennial Frank N. Bash
Symposium, New Horizons in Astronomy" held in Austin, TX, Oct. 2009. To be
published in the Astronomical Society of the Pacific Conference Series, eds.
L. Stanford, L. Hao, Y. Mao, J. Gree
The Relationship Between Black Hole Mass and Velocity Dispersion in Seyfert 1 Galaxies
Black hole masses in active galactic nuclei (AGN) are difficult to measure
using conventional dynamical methods, but can be determined using the technique
of reverberation mapping. However, it is important to verify that the results
of these different methods are equivalent. This can be done indirectly, using
scaling relations between the black hole and the host galaxy spheroid. For this
purpose, we have obtained new measurements of the bulge stellar velocity
dispersion, sigma, in Seyfert 1 galaxies. These are used in conjunction with
the M_bh -- sigma relation to validate nuclear black hole masses, M_bh, in
active galaxies determined through reverberation mapping. We find that Seyfert
galaxies follow the same M_bh -- sigma relation as non-active galaxies,
indicating that reverberation mapping measurements of M_bh are consistent with
those obtained using other methods. We also reconsider the relationship between
bulge absolute magnitude, M_bulge, and black hole mass. We find that Seyfert
galaxies are offset from non-active galaxies, but that the deviation can be
entirely understood as a difference in bulge luminosity, not black hole mass;
Seyfert hosts are brighter than normal galaxies for a given value of their
velocity dispersion, perhaps as a result of younger stellar populations.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical
Journa
- …