Retningslinier for fluebekæmpelsesarbejdet i sæsonen 1950.

Retningslinier for fluebekæmpelsesarbejdet i sæsonen 1950

Comparing Electronic Monitoring and human observer collected fishery data in the tropical purse seine operating in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean

Electronic Monitory (EM) systems have been proven a valid tool for collecting fishery dependent data. They are being widely used in many fisheries as a complement or alternative to human observers to increase the monitoring coverage of fisheries. However, considering its wide application, following agreed minimum standard, it is important to compare the congruence between the information collected by EM and observers. We compared EM and two sets of different observer data collected on 6 trips of tuna purse seiners in the Eastern and Western and Central Pacific Ocean to analyze the similarity of fishing set type identification, estimation of tuna and bycatch catches between both monitoring systems. Overall EM was a valid tool to estimate the type of fishing set. Retained total catch of tunas by set was estimated by EM as reliable as that by both observer programs and logbook. When comparing the information by set, EM estimation of the main species, such as skipjack and bigeye and the combination of bigeye/yellowfin, was proven to be less accurate but statistically similar to the estimates made by both observers’ programs. EM tended to underestimate the retained catch of skipjack in comparison to both observers estimates and slightly overestimate bigeye and yellowfin, the overestimation being less pronounced for bigeye than for yellowfin. For bycatch species, EM is able to identify main bycatch species as observers do. However, the capability of EM to estimate the same number of bycatch items in comparison to IATTC and WCPFC observers varies greatly by species group. For sharks, which are the main bycatch issue in the FAD purse seine fishery, the overall congruence between EM and observers was high. EM and IATTC observer identified a similar overall number of individual sharks, however, WCPFC observers estimated lower number of shark individuals than the other two monitoring systems when considering all trips together.Versión del edito

Enabling Practice-driven Innovation in the Animal Production Sector

Using the laying hen sector as a case study, the EU-H2020-funded Hennovation project has been testing mechanisms to enable practice-driven innovation through the establishment of innovation networks of farmers and within the laying-hen-processing industry that are facilitated to proactively search for, share and use new ideas to improve hen welfare, efficiency and sustainability. Networks are variably supported by scientists, veterinarians, advisors and others. Nineteen multi-actor networks have been mobilised on local and regional levels across the UK, Sweden, Netherlands, Spain and Czech-Republic.Practice-driven innovation processes were network specific and evolved as the actors within the network came together to share common problems, experiment with possible solutions and learn. Their success was also affected by the institutional context, the structure of the poultry sector, current market forces and wider Agricultural Innovation Systems in each country. This paper explores the circumstances considered necessary by the facilitators to enable practice-driven innovation, providing examples of conditions affecting the innovation process. Further influences included conditions for innovation to happen (e.g. shared opportunity, motivation and knowledge), conditions to work effectively as a network (e.g. trust, collective purpose and contacts) and conditions for successful application in practice (e.g. capacity within the production system and market and legislative ability)

The Properties of Adaptive Walks in Evolving Populations of Fungus

A novel method to infer the number and fitness effect of beneficial mutations reveals that the bulk of adaptive evolution is attributable to a few mutations with variable effects on fitness

Comparison of Storage Conditions for Human Vaginal Microbiome Studies

BACKGROUND: The effect of storage conditions on the microbiome and metabolite composition of human biological samples has not been thoroughly investigated as a potential source of bias. We evaluated the effect of two common storage conditions used in clinical trials on the bacterial and metabolite composition of the vaginal microbiota using pyrosequencing of barcoded 16S rRNA gene sequencing and (1)H-NMR analyses. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Eight women were enrolled and four mid-vaginal swabs were collected by a physician from each woman. The samples were either processed immediately, stored at -80°C for 4 weeks or at -20°C for 1 week followed by transfer to -80°C for another 4 weeks prior to analysis. Statistical methods, including Kolmogorovo-Smirnov and Wilcoxon tests, were performed to evaluate the differences in vaginal bacterial community composition and metabolites between samples stored under different conditions. The results showed that there were no significant differences between samples processed immediately after collection or stored for varying durations. (1)H-NMR analysis of the small molecule metabolites in vaginal secretions indicated that high levels of lactic acid were associated with Lactobacillus-dominated communities. Relative abundance of lactic acid did not appear to correlate with relative abundance of individual Lactobacillus sp. in this limited sample, although lower levels of lactic acid were observed when L. gasseri was dominant, indicating differences in metabolic output of seemingly similar communities. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: These findings benefit large-scale, field-based microbiome and metabolomic studies of the vaginal microbiota

First-Step Mutations for Adaptation at Elevated Temperature Increase Capsid Stability in a Virus

The relationship between mutation, protein stability and protein function plays a central role in molecular evolution. Mutations tend to be destabilizing, including those that would confer novel functions such as host-switching or antibiotic resistance. Elevated temperature may play an important role in preadapting a protein for such novel functions by selecting for stabilizing mutations. In this study, we test the stability change conferred by single mutations that arise in a G4-like bacteriophage adapting to elevated temperature. The vast majority of these mutations map to interfaces between viral coat proteins, suggesting they affect protein-protein interactions. We assess their effects by estimating thermodynamic stability using molecular dynamic simulations and measuring kinetic stability using experimental decay assays. The results indicate that most, though not all, of the observed mutations are stabilizing

Population-Based Resequencing of Experimentally Evolved Populations Reveals the Genetic Basis of Body Size Variation in Drosophila melanogaster

Body size is a classic quantitative trait with evolutionarily significant variation within many species. Locating the alleles responsible for this variation would help understand the maintenance of variation in body size in particular, as well as quantitative traits in general. However, successful genome-wide association of genotype and phenotype may require very large sample sizes if alleles have low population frequencies or modest effects. As a complementary approach, we propose that population-based resequencing of experimentally evolved populations allows for considerable power to map functional variation. Here, we use this technique to investigate the genetic basis of natural variation in body size in Drosophila melanogaster. Significant differentiation of hundreds of loci in replicate selection populations supports the hypothesis that the genetic basis of body size variation is very polygenic in D. melanogaster. Significantly differentiated variants are limited to single genes at some loci, allowing precise hypotheses to be formed regarding causal polymorphisms, while other significant regions are large and contain many genes. By using significantly associated polymorphisms as a priori candidates in follow-up studies, these data are expected to provide considerable power to determine the genetic basis of natural variation in body size

Uncoupling of Satellite DNA and Centromeric Function in the Genus Equus

In a previous study, we showed that centromere repositioning, that is the shift along the chromosome of the centromeric function without DNA sequence rearrangement, has occurred frequently during the evolution of the genus Equus. In this work, the analysis of the chromosomal distribution of satellite tandem repeats in Equus caballus, E. asinus, E. grevyi, and E. burchelli highlighted two atypical features: 1) several centromeres, including the previously described evolutionary new centromeres (ENCs), seem to be devoid of satellite DNA, and 2) satellite repeats are often present at non-centromeric termini, probably corresponding to relics of ancestral now inactive centromeres. Immuno-FISH experiments using satellite DNA and antibodies against the kinetochore protein CENP-A demonstrated that satellite-less primary constrictions are actually endowed with centromeric function. The phylogenetic reconstruction of centromere repositioning events demonstrates that the acquisition of satellite DNA occurs after the formation of the centromere during evolution and that centromeres can function over millions of years and many generations without detectable satellite DNA. The rapidly evolving Equus species gave us the opportunity to identify different intermediate steps along the full maturation of ENCs

Investigating variation in replicability

Although replication is a central tenet of science, direct replications are rare in psychology. This research tested variation in the replicability of 13 classic and contemporary effects across 36 independent samples totaling 6,344 participants. In the aggregate, 10 effects replicated consistently. One effect – imagined contact reducing prejudice – showed weak support for replicability. And two effects – flag priming influencing conservatism and currency priming influencing system justification – did not replicate. We compared whether the conditions such as lab versus online or US versus international sample predicted effect magnitudes. By and large they did not. The results of this small sample of effects suggest that replicability is more dependent on the effect itself than on the sample and setting used to investigate the effect

The role of LINEs and CpG islands in dosage compensation on the chicken Z chromosome

Most avian Z genes are expressed more highly in ZZ males than ZW females, suggesting that chromosome-wide mechanisms of dosage compensation have not evolved. Nevertheless, a small percentage of Z genes are expressed at similar levels in males and females, an indication that a yet unidentified mechanism compensates for the sex difference in copy number. Primary DNA sequences are thought to have a role in determining chromosome gene inactivation status on the mammalian X chromosome. However, it is currently unknown whether primary DNA sequences also mediate chicken Z gene compensation status. Using a combination of chicken DNA sequences and Z gene compensation profiles of 310 genes, we explored the relationship between Z gene compensation status and primary DNA sequence features. Statistical analysis of different Z chromosomal features revealed that long interspersed nuclear elements (LINEs) and CpG islands are enriched on the Z chromosome compared with 329 other DNA features. Linear support vector machine (SVM) classifiers, using primary DNA sequences, correctly predict the Z compensation status for >60% of all Z-linked genes. CpG islands appear to be the most accurate classifier and alone can correctly predict compensation of 63% of Z genes. We also show that LINE CR1 elements are enriched 2.7-fold on the chicken Z chromosome compared with autosomes and that chicken chromosomal length is highly correlated with percentage LINE content. However, the position of LINE elements is not significantly associated with dosage compensation status of Z genes. We also find a trend for a higher proportion of CpG islands in the region of the Z chromosome with the fewest dosage-compensated genes compared with the region containing the greatest concentration of compensated genes. Comparison between chicken and platypus genomes shows that LINE elements are not enriched on sex chromosomes in platypus, indicating that LINE accumulation is not a feature of all sex chromosomes. Our results suggest that CpG islands are not randomly distributed on the Z chromosome and may influence Z gene dosage compensation status