Characterization of fog water collection potential at Fort Ord and Glen Deven Ranch near Big Sur

Standard fog collectors (SFCs) that have been used all around were set up at two locations along the Monterey County coastline. The volume of water collected by the SFCs was measured periodically, either by hand or with a data logging tipping-bucket rain gauge. Measurements were carried out from June 26 until October 16 of 2005. The average collection rate at Fort Ord for the period of June 26 to July 22 was 0.08 L/m2/d. The average amount of water collected per day for the period of July 22 to October 16 was 1.17 L/m2/d at Glen Deven Ranch and 0.37 L/m2/d on Fort Ord. From these data I have calculated that a set-up of fifty 48-m2 large fog collectors (LFCs) at Glen Deven Ranch would produce 1,000,000 L a year. There is reason to believe that none of the collection rates obtain represents the maximum for this region as none of the collectors were at an elevation where moisture content of the air would be highest (397 m). Further study is needed

Population Density of Carcinus maenas in Seadrift Lagoon

Seadrift Lagoon is a small private community located within the Stinson Beach community of Marin County in Central California. Its seclusion provides the perfect getaway for wealthy San Franciscans and the invasive European green crab, Carcinus maenas. It is believed that Seadrift Lagoon harbors a seedling population of Carcinus maenas capable of spreading these invader along the west coast of the United States and Canada. In 2009, collaborated efforts were made to eradicate this invasive crab from Seadrift Lagoon by the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC), Portland State University, and the University of California, Davis. This is an assessment of the progression of the project thus far

“Sistema De Monitoreo Utilizando Geolocalización Para Mejorar El Control De Los Servicios De Telefonía En La Empresa Experttel S.A.C”

El presente trabajo de investigación tiene como objetivo general el Mejorar el control de los servicios de telefonía en la empresa Experttel S.A.C., mediante la implementación de un sistema de monitoreo utilizando geolocalización, con respecto al diseño de investigación será experimental de tipo pre experimental con el método Pre y Post Test, la población para la investigación serán 630 preventas obteniendo una muestra de 238, para el desarrollo del sistema de monitoreo se utilizó el lenguaje de programación PHP, gestor de base de datos MySQL y para la documentación del sistema se utilizó la metodología de desarrollo ICONIX por ser una metodología ágil a robusta, en el primer indicador el tiempo promedio en el registro de las preventas se obtuvo un resultado correspondiente al 77.93% mostrando un decremento de 325.42 segundos, en el segundo indicador el tiempo promedio en la asignación de ordenes de servicio se obtuvo un resultado correspondiente al 66.31% mostrando un decremento de 179.03 segundos, en el tercer indicador el tiempo promedio en la atención del servicio se obtuvo un resultado correspondiente al 75.33% mostrando un decremento de 273.38 segundos y en el cuarto indicador el tiempo promedio de seguimiento de los servicios se obtuvo un resultado correspondiente al 83.85% mostrando un decremento de 304.32 segundos

Possible Ballast Water Transfer of Lionfish to the Eastern Pacific Ocean

The Indo-Pacific Red Lionfish was first reported off the Florida coast in 1985, following which it has spread across much of the SE USA, Gulf of Mexico, and Caribbean Sea. Lionfish negatively impact fish and invertebrate assemblages and abundances, thus further spread is cause for concern. To date, the fish has not been reported on the Pacific coast of North or Central America. Here we examine the possibility of ballast water transfer of lionfish from colonized areas in the Atlantic Ocean to USA ports on the Pacific coast. Over an eight-year period, we documented 27 commercial vessel-trips in which ballast water was loaded in colonized sites and later discharged untreated into Pacific coast ports in the USA. California had the highest number of discharges including San Francisco Bay and Los Angeles-Long Beach. A species distribution model suggests that the probability of lionfish establishment is low for the western USA, Colombia and Panama, low to medium for Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala, medium to high for mainland Ecuador, and very high for western Mexico, Peru and the Galapagos Islands. Given the species’ intolerance of freshwater conditions, we propose that ballast water exchange be conducted in Gatún Lake, Panama for western-bound vessels carrying ‘risky’ ballast water to prevent invasion of the eastern Pacific Ocean

Predicting Invasion Risk Using Measures of Introduction Effort and Environmental Niche Models

The Chinese mitten crab (Eriocheir sinensis) is native to east Asia, is established throughout Europe, and is introduced but geographically restricted in North America. We developed and compared two separate environmental niche models using genetic algorithm for rule set prediction (GARP) and mitten crab occurrences in Asia and Europe to predict the species\u27 potential distribution in North America. Since mitten crabs must reproduce in water with ≥15‰ salinity, we limited the potential North American range to freshwater habitats within the highest documented dispersal distance (1260 km) and a more restricted dispersal limit (354 km) from the sea. Applying the higher dispersal distance, both models predicted the lower Great Lakes, most of the eastern seaboard, the Gulf of Mexico and southern extent of the Mississippi River watershed, and the Pacific northwest as suitable environment for mitten crabs, but environmental match for southern states (below 35° N) was much lower for the European model. Use of the lower range with both models reduced the expected range, especially in the Great Lakes, Mississippi drainage, and inland areas of the Pacific Northwest. To estimate the risk of introduction of mitten crabs, the amount of reported ballast water discharge into major United States ports from regions in Asia and Europe with established mitten crab populations was used as an index of introduction effort. Relative risk of invasion was estimated based on a combination of environmental match and volume of unexchanged ballast water received (July 1999–December 2003) for major ports. The ports of Norfolk and Baltimore were most vulnerable to invasion and establishment, making Chesapeake Bay the most likely location to be invaded by mitten crabs in the United States. The next highest risk was predicted for Portland, Oregon. Interestingly, the port of Los Angeles/Long Beach, which has a large shipping volume, had a low risk of invasion. Ports such as Jacksonville, Florida, had a medium risk owing to small shipping volume but high environmental match. This study illustrates that the combination of environmental niche- and vector-based models can provide managers with more precise estimates of invasion risk than can either of these approaches alone

Classification of non-indigenous species based on their impacts: Considerations for application in marine management

Assessment of the ecological and economic/societal impacts of the introduction of non-indigenous species (NIS) is one of the primary focus areas of bioinvasion science in terrestrial and aquatic environments, and is considered essential to management. A classification system of NIS, based on the magnitude of their environmental impacts, was recently proposed to assist management. Here, we consider the potential application of this classification scheme to the marine environment, and offer a complementary framework focussing on value sets in order to explicitly address marine management concerns. Since existing data on marine NIS impacts are scarce and successful marine removals are rare, we propose that management of marine NIS adopt a precautionary approach, which not only would emphasise preventing new incursions through pre-border and at-border controls but also should influence the categorisation of impacts. The study of marine invasion impacts requires urgent attention and significant investment, since we lack the luxury of waiting for the knowledge base to be acquired before the window of opportunity closes for feasible management

The enlargement of the Suez Canal and introduction of non-indigenous species to the Mediterranean Sea

The Suez Canal is one of the most important waterways in the world – during the last year 17,148 ships passed through the Canal – reducing emissions, saving time, and operating costs to shippers. The rapid increase in ship size from the “Post-Suezmax” (> 12,000 TEU) to the latest container vessels (> 19,000 TEU) now requires enlargements of port facilities and canals. A project of this magnitude, and with potentially negative environmental outcomes, requires a transparent and scientifically sound “Environmental Impact Assessment” (EIA). An explicit obligation on Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (https://www.cbd.int/doc/ legal/cbd-en.pdf) was made to consider transboundary impacts on biodiversity, particularly those associated with invasive non-indigenous species

Founder effects and species introductions: A host versus parasite perspective

Species colonizations (both natural and anthropogenic) can be associated with genetic founder effects, where founding populations demonstrate significant genetic bottlenecks compared to native populations. Yet, many successfully established free�living species exhibit little reduction in genetic diversity—possibly due to multiple founding events and/or high propagule pressure during introductions. Less clear, however, is whether parasites may show differential signatures to their free�living hosts. Parasites with indirect life cycles may particularly be more prone to founder effects (i.e., more genetically depauperate) because of inherently smaller founding populations and complex life cycles. We investigated this question in native (east coast) and introduced (west coast) North American populations of a host snail Tritia obsoleta (formerly Ilyanassa obsoleta, the eastern mudsnail) and four trematode parasite species that obligately infect it. We examined genetic diversity, gene flow, and population structure using two molecular markers (mitochondrial and nuclear) for the host and the parasites. In the host snail, we found little to no evidence of genetic founder effects, while the trematode parasites showed significantly lower genetic diversity in the introduced versus native ranges. Moreover, the parasite's final host influenced infection prevalence and genetic diversity: Trematode species that utilized fish as final hosts demonstrated lower parasite diversity and heightened founder effects in the introduced range than those trematodes using birds as final hosts. In addition, inter�regional gene flow was strongest for comparisons that included the putative historical source region (mid�Atlantic populations of the US east coast). Overall, our results broaden understanding of the role that colonization events (including recent anthropogenic introductions) have on genetic diversity in non�native organisms by also evaluating less studied groups like parasites

Microbial Ecology of Ballast Water During a Transoceanic Voyage and the Effects of Open-Ocean Exchange

The only procedure used frequently to reduce the risk of invasion by ballast-mediated biota is open-ocean exchange of ballast water, a procedure in which vessels release coastal water and replace it with oceanic water. Limited information exists concerning the effects of transport upon the aquatic microbial community throughout transit and following open-ocean exchange, A transoceanic voyage aboard a commercial bulk carrier afforded us the opportunity to sample the microbial community in exchanged and unexchanged ballast-water holds during the journey from Hadera, Israel to Baltimore, USA. Five days following the exchange process, all microbial metrics tested (i.e. bacteria concentration, virus-like particle density, chl a and phaeopigment concentration, and microbial biomass) had decreased 1.6- to 34-fold from initial values, With respect to microbial measures, no significant differences existed between exchanged and unexchanged holds on Day 15, the final day of sampling. We stress that we quantified differences in total microorganism abundance and biomass, not species composition, and more research is necessary to determine the changes that nonindigenous microorganisms, including potential pathogens, may effect in receiving waters

The Impacts of a Nonindigenous Marine Predator in a California Bay

Coastal marine ecosystems worldwide are being altered rapidly by the invasion of nonindigenous species. Unlike terrestrial and freshwater systems, the impacts of an invading species have never been quantified on multiple trophic levels for a marine food web. We measured the impact of the nonindigenous green crab, Carcinus maenas, on a coastal marine food web in central California and found that this predator exerted strong “top-down” control, significantly reducing the abundances of several of the 20 invertebrate species monitored over a 9-yr period. Densities of native clams, Nutricola tantilla and Nutricola confusa, and native shore crabs, Hemigrapsus oregonensis, showed 5-fold to 10-fold declines within 3 yr of the arrival of green crabs. Field and laboratory experiments indicated that green crab predation caused these declines. We also tested for indirect responses of invertebrates and vertebrates to green crab predation. There were significant increases in the abundances of two polychaete taxa, Lumbrineris sp. and Exogene sp., and tube-building tanaid crustaceans, Leptochelia dubia, most likely due to the removal of co-occurring green crab prey. However, we observed no changes in shorebird abundances (13 species) over a 9-yr period suggesting that green crabs have had no “bottom-up” effect on shorebirds, which subsist on benthic invertebrate prey. We predict that such bottom-up control will occur as the local effects and geographic range of green crabs increase. The 2-yr temporal scale of direct and indirect responses of the invertebrates in this low energy, soft-substrate system was also in agreement with the results of perturbation experiments by others on rocky shores, which showed that most direct and indirect responses also occur within a 2-yr time frame