303 research outputs found
Rodent control and island conservation
Most rodent species are highly adapted, selected, boom-or-bust strategists. Such pre-adaptation to invasiveness allows them quickly to take advantage of abundant new resources and is why rodents are among the most successful mammalian colonizers of islands. This chapter discusses the impacts of alien invasive rodents on natural ecosystems, with emphasis on oceanic islands, and review management techniques to mitigate their effects
No detection of brodifacoum residues in the marine and terrestrial food web three years after rat eradication at Palmyra Atoll, Central Pacific
Invasive alien species represent one of the greatest threats to native plants and animals on islands. Rats (Rattus spp.) have invaded most of the world’s oceanic islands, causing lasting or irreversible damage to ecosystems and biodiversity. To counter this threat, techniques to eradicate invasive rats from islands have been developed and applied across the globe. Eradication of alien rats from large or complex island ecosystems has only been successful with the use of bait containing a rodenticide. While effective at eradicating rats from islands, rodenticide can persist in the ecosystem longer than the time required to eradicate the target rat population and can potentially harm non-target species. However, the persistence of rodenticides in ecosystems following rat eradication campaigns is poorly understood, though predictions can be made based on the chemical properties of the rodenticide and the environment it is applied in. Brodifacoum, a relatively persistent second-generation anticoagulant, was used to successfully eradicate rats from Palmyra Atoll. With this study, we evaluated the persistence of brodifacoum residues in terrestrial and marine species at Palmyra Atoll (Northern Line Islands) three years after rat eradication. We collected 44 pooled samples containing 121 individuals of the following: mullet (Moolgarda engeli), cockroaches (Periplaneta sp.), geckos (Lepidodactylus lugubris), hermit crabs (Coenobita perlatus), and fiddler crabs (Uca tetragonon). Despite detection of brodifacoum residue in all five of the species sampled in this study 60 days after the application of bait to Palmyra Atoll in 2011, brodifacoum residue was not found in any of the pooled samples collected three years after bait application. Our study demonstrates how brodifacoum residues are unlikely to persist in the marine and terrestrial food web, in a wet tropical environment, three years after rat eradication
On the stability of hole crystals in layered cuprates
Recent STM measurements have revealed the existence of periodic charge
modulations at the surface of certain cuprate superconductors. Here we show
that the observed patterns are compatible with the formation of a
three-dimensional crystal of doped holes, with space correlations extending
between different Cu-O layers. This puts severe constraints on the dynamical
stability of the crystallised hole structure, resulting in a close relationship
between the periodicity of the electronic modulation and the interlayer
distance.Comment: completed reference list, fig. 3 corrected; accepted for publication
in Eur. Phys. J. B, Rapid Note
Atomic-scale images of charge ordering in a mixed-valence manganite
Transition-metal perovskite oxides exhibit a wide range of extraordinary but
imperfectly understood phenomena. Charge, spin, orbital, and lattice degrees of
freedom all undergo order-disorder transitions in regimes not far from where
the best-known of these phenomena, namely high-temperature superconductivity of
the copper oxides, and the 'colossal' magnetoresistance of the manganese
oxides, occur. Mostly diffraction techniques, sensitive either to the spin or
the ionic core, have been used to measure the order. Unfortunately, because
they are only weakly sensitive to valence electrons and yield superposition of
signals from distinct mesoscopic phases, they cannot directly image mesoscopic
phase coexistence and charge ordering, two key features of the manganites. Here
we describe the first experiment to image charge ordering and phase separation
in real space with atomic-scale resolution in a transition metal oxide. Our
scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) data show that charge order is correlated
with structural order, as well as with whether the material is locally metallic
or insulating, thus giving an atomic-scale basis for descriptions of the
manganites as mixtures of electronically and structurally distinct phases.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, 19 reference
Quasiparticle scattering and local density of states in the d-density wave phase
We study the effects of single-impurity scattering on the local density of
states in the high- cuprates. We compare the quasiparticle interference
patterns in three different ordered states: d-wave superconductor (DSC),
d-density wave (DDW), and coexisting DSC and DDW (DSC-DDW). In the coexisting
state, at energies below the DSC gap, the patterns are almost identical to
those in the pure DSC state with the same DSC gap. However, they are
significantly different for energies greater than or equal to the DSC gap. This
transition at an energy around the DSC gap can be used to test the nature of
the superconducting state of the underdoped cuprates by scanning tunneling
microscopy. Furthermore, we note that in the DDW state the effect of the
coherence factors is stronger than in the DSC state. The new features arising
due to DDW ordering are discussed.Comment: 6 page, 5 figures (Higher resolution figures are available by
request
Inherent Inhomogeneities in Tunneling Spectra of BSCCO Crystals in the Superconducting State
Scanning Tunneling Spectroscopy on cleaved BSCCO(2212) single crystals reveal
inhomogeneities on length-scales of 30 . While most of the surface
yields spectra consistent with a d-wave superconductor, small regions show a
doubly gapped structure with both gaps lacking coherence peaks and the larger
gap having a size typical of the respective pseudo-gap for the same sample.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Upper critical field calculations for the high critical temperature superconductors considering inhomogeneities
We perform calculations to obtain the curve of high temperature
superconductors (HTSC). We consider explicitly the fact that the HTSC possess
intrinsic inhomogeneities by taking into account a non uniform charge density
. The transition to a coherent superconducting phase at a critical
temperature corresponds to a percolation threshold among different
superconducting regions, each one characterized by a given .
Within this model we calculate the upper critical field by means of an
average linearized Ginzburg-Landau (GL) equation to take into account the
distribution of local superconducting temperatures . This
approach explains some of the anomalies associated with and why
several properties like the Meissner and Nernst effects are detected at
temperatures much higher than .Comment: Latex text, add reference
Bi-layer splitting in overdoped high cuprates
Recent angle-resolved photoemission data for overdoped Bi2212 are explained.
Of the peak-dip-hump structure, the peak corresponds the component
of a hole condensate which appears at . The fluctuating part of this same
condensate produces the hump. The bilayer splitting is large enough to produce
a bonding hole and an electron antibonding quasiparticle Fermi surface. Smaller
bilayer splittings observed in some experiments reflect the interaction of the
peak structure with quasiparticle states near, but not at, the Fermi surface.Comment: 4 pages with 2 figures - published versio
Imaging the Two Gaps of the High-TC Superconductor Pb-Bi2Sr2CuO6+x
The nature of the pseudogap state, observed above the superconducting
transition temperature TC in many high temperature superconductors, is the
center of much debate. Recently, this discussion has focused on the number of
energy gaps in these materials. Some experiments indicate a single energy gap,
implying that the pseudogap is a precursor state. Others indicate two,
suggesting that it is a competing or coexisting phase. Here we report on
temperature dependent scanning tunneling spectroscopy of Pb-Bi2Sr2CuO6+x. We
have found a new, narrow, homogeneous gap that vanishes near TC, superimposed
on the typically observed, inhomogeneous, broad gap, which is only weakly
temperature dependent. These results not only support the two gap picture, but
also explain previously troubling differences between scanning tunneling
microscopy and other experimental measurements.Comment: 6 page
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