Description of larval instars of Mystrophorus formicaeformis Ruthe (Hymenoptera: Dryinidae).

The last immature stage and the mature larva of Mystrophorus formicaeformis Ruthe are described for the first time. The affinities of both immature and mature larvae of M. formicaeformis and corresponding instars of other subfamilies are respectively discussed

Refining the model of barrier island formation along a paraglacial coast in the Gulf of Maine

Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2012. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Elsevier B.V. for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Marine Geology 307-310 (2012):40-57, doi:10.1016/j.margeo.2012.03.001.Details of the internal architecture and local geochronology of Plum Island, the longest barrier in the Gulf of Maine, has refined our understanding of barrier island formation in paraglacial settings. Ground-penetrating radar and shallow-seismic profiles coupled with sediment cores and radiocarbon dates provide an 8000-year evolutionary history of this barrier system in response to changes in sediment sources and supply rates as well as variability in the rate of sea-level change. The barrier sequence overlies tills of Wisconsinan and Illinoian glaciations as well as late Pleistocene glaciomarine clay deposited during the post-glacial sea-level highstand at approximately 17 ka. Holocene sediment began accumulating at the site of Plum Island at 7–8 ka, in the form of coarse fluvial channel-lag deposits related to the 50-m wide erosional channel of the Parker River that carved into underlying glaciomarine deposits during a lower stand of sea level. Plum Island had first developed in its modern location by ca. 3.6 ka through onshore migration and vertical accretion of reworked regressive and lowstand deposits. The prevalence of southerly, seaward-dipping layers indicates that greater than 60% of the barrier lithosome developed in its modern location through southerly spit progradation, consistent with a dominantly longshore transport system driven by northeast storms. Thinner sequences of northerly, landward-dipping clinoforms represent the northern recurve of the prograding spit. A 5–6-m thick inlet-fill sequence was identified overlying the lower stand fluvial deposit; its stratigraphy captures events of channel migration, ebb-delta breaching, onshore bar migration, channel shoaling and inlet infilling associated with the migration and eventual closing of the inlet. This inlet had a maximum cross-sectional area of 2800 m2 and was active around 3.5–3.6 ka. Discovery of this inlet suggests that the tidal prism was once larger than at present. Bay infilling, driven by the import of sediment into the backbarrier environment through tidal inlets, as well as minor sediment contribution from local rivers, led to a vast reduction in the bay tidal prism. This study demonstrates that, prior to about 3 ka, Plum Island and its associated marshes, tidal flats, and inlets were in a paraglacial environment; that is, their main source of sediment was derived from the erosion and reworking of glaciogenic deposits. Since that time, Plum Island has been in a state of dynamic equilibrium with its non-glacial sediment sources and therefore can be largely considered to be in a stable, “post-paraglacial” state. This study is furthermore the first in the Gulf of Maine to show that spit accretion and inlet processes were the dominant mechanisms in barrier island formation and thus serves as a foundation for future investigations of barrier development in response to backbarrier infilling.This study was funded by the Minerals Management Service (now the “Bureau of Ocean Energy Manegement, Regulation and Enforcement”), the USGS Eastern Geology and Paleoclimate Science Center, the USGS National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program (State Map), a Geological Society of America (GSA) Student Research Grant, the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) Grants-in-Aid program, and the Boston University Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP). Additionally, E. Carruthers was funded in part by the Clare Booth Luce Summer Research Fellowship and C. Hein was funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship

Moosehead Lake and the Tale of Two Rivers

Maine Geological Survey, Geologic Facts and Localities, Circular GFL-97https://digitalmaine.com/mgs_publications/1388/thumbnail.jp

An 800 kyr record of dune emplacement in relationship to high sea level forcing, Cooloola Sand Mass, Queensland, Australia

The Cooloola Sand Mass is a large coastal dune field situated in southeast Queensland, Australia and is part of a much larger system of coastal dune fields, including the world's largest sand Island, Fraser Island, as well as Moreton Island and Stradbroke Island. Cooloola is characterised by a sequence of onlapping, parabolic dune units that have been emplaced episodically over the Pleistocene and Holocene. The tectonically stable coastline of SE Queensland is an ideal area to study the driving mechanisms of coastal dune development, as sea level variability is driven primarily by glacial eustasy. Geomorphic and chronostratigraphic analyses have identified seven major periods of dune activity with the earliest phase of deposition occurring ca. 800 ka. Subsequent periods of dune emplacement date to about ca. 150 ka, 110 ka, 10–6 ka, 5–3.5 ka, ca. 2 ka and 0.4–0.2 ka. The Holocene dune activity coincides with the last stages of post-glacial marine transgression and suggests these large parabolic dunes formed in response to rising sea levels. It is likely that this pattern is consistent through the Pleistocene, and the MIS 5 interglacial period is also recorded. For earlier events the large absolute errors on the ages make interpretation difficult. There is a notable absence of OSL ages dating to the Last Glacial Maximum and no ages that are unambiguously associated with lowstand periods. This is most likely because the coast would have been 60 km offshore of its current position during lowstands, limiting sediment supply and wind energy at the modern coast. These results provide strong evidence that coastal dune fields in SE Australia are predominantly emplaced during sea-level rise, as originally proposed in the Cooper-Thom model

Moosehead Lake and the Tale of Two Rivers

Maine Geological Survey, Geologic Facts and Localities, Circular GFL-97https://digitalmaine.com/mgs_publications/1388/thumbnail.jp

Development and Clinical Evaluation of a Rapid Point of Care Test for Ebola Virus Infection in Humans

The genus Ebolavirus contains multiple species of viruses that are highly contagious and lethal, often causing severe hemorrhagic fever. To minimize the global threat from Ebola virus disease (EVD), sustainable, field-appropriate tools are needed to quickly screen and triage symptomatic patients and conduct rapid screening of cadavers to ensure proper handling of human remains. The OraQuick® Ebola Rapid Antigen Test is an in vitro diagnostic single-use immunoassay for the qualitative detection of Ebola virus antigens that detects all known species within the genus Ebolavirus. Here, we report the performance of the OraQuick® Ebola Rapid Antigen Test and provide a comparison of its performance with other rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) for EVD. OraQuick® Ebola demonstrated clinical sensitivity of 84.0% in archived EVD patient venous whole-blood (WB) samples, 90.9% in Ebola virus-infected monkey fingerstick samples, and 97.1% in EVD patient cadaver buccal swabs, as well as clinical specificity of 98.0–100% in venous WB samples and 99.1–100% in contrived saliva samples. It is the only 510(k)-cleared Ebola rapid test, has analytical sensitivity as good as or better than all RDT comparators for EVD, and can detect the Sudan virus. Our data demonstrate that the OraQuick® Ebola Rapid Antigen Test is a sensitive and specific assay that can be used for rapid detection of EBOV in humans and could support efforts for EVD-specific interventions and control over outbreaks

Re-framing values for a World Heritage future: What type of icon will K'gari-Fraser Island become?

Kgari-Fraser Island, the world's largest barrier sand island, is at the crossroads of World Heritage status, due to destructive environmental use in concert with climate change. Will Kgari-Fraser Island exemplify innovative, adaptive management or become just another degraded recreational facility? We synthesize the likely impact of human pressures and predicted consequences on the values of this island. World-renown natural beauty and ongoing biological and geological processes in coastal, wetland, heathland and rainforest environments, all contribute to its World Heritage status. The impact of hundreds of thousands of annual visitors is increasing on the island's biodiversity, cultural connections, ecological functions and environmental values. Maintaining World Heritage values will necessitate the re-framing of values to integrate socioeconomic factors in management and reduce extractive forms of tourism. Environmentally sound, systematic conservation planning that achieves social equity is urgently needed to rectify historical mistakes and update current management practices. Characterizing and sustaining biological refugia will be important to retain biodiversity in areas that are less visited. The development of a coherent approach to interpretation concerning history, access and values is required to encourage a more sympathetic use of this World Heritage environment. Alternatively, ongoing attrition of the islands values by increased levels of destructive use is inevitable