Food habits of Atlantic white-sided dolphins (Lagenorhynchus acutus) off the coast of New England

This paper is not subject to U.S. copyright. The definitive version was published in Fishery Bulletin 107 (2009): 384–394.Although the Atlantic white-sided dolphin (Lagenorhynchus acutus) is one of the most common dolphins off New England, little has been documented about its diet in the western North Atlantic Ocean. Current federal protection of marine mammals limits the supply of animals for investigation to those incidentally caught in the nets of commercial fishermen with observers aboard. Stomachs of 62 L. acutus were examined; of these 62 individuals, 28 of them were caught by net and 34 were animals stranded on Cape Cod. Most of the net-caught L. acutus were from the deeper waters of the Gulf of Maine. A single stomach was from the continental slope south of Georges Bank. At least twenty-six fish species and three cephalopod species were eaten. The predominant prey were silver hake (Merluccius bilinearis), spoonarm octopus (Bathypolypus bairdii), and haddock (Melanogrammus aeglefinus). The stomach from a net-caught L. acutus on the continental slope contained 7750 otoliths of the Madeira lanternfish (Ceratoscopelus maderensis). Sand lances (Ammodytes spp.) were the most abundant (541 otoliths) species in the stomachs of stranded L. acutus. Seasonal variation in diet was indicated; pelagic Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus) was the most important prey in summer, but was rare in winter. The average length of fish prey was approximately 200 mm, and the average mantle length of cephalopod prey was approximately 50 mm

Paraphyly of Polybia

24 p. : ill. ; 26 cm.Includes bibliographical references (p. 22-24).A cladistic analysis of the subgenera of the paper wasp genus Polybia Lepeletier (Hymenoptera: Vespidae; Polistinae), and the other genera that construct phragmocyttarus nests, is presented. The results clearly indicate paraphyly of Polybia in terms of the genus Synoecoides Ducke. To remove the paraphyly, Synoecoides is reduced in rank, to a subgenus of Polybia, new synonymy

Environment and Past Land Use Together Predict Functional Diversity in a Temperate Forest

Environment and human land use both shape forest composition. Abiotic conditions sift tree species from a regional pool via functional traits that influence species’ suitability to the local environment. In addition, human land use can modify species distributions and change functional diversity of forests. However, it is unclear how environment and land use simultaneously shape functional diversity of tree communities. Land-use legacies are especially prominent in temperate forest landscapes that have been extensively modified by humans in the last few centuries. Across a 900-ha temperate deciduous forest in the northeastern United States, comprising a mosaic of different-aged stands due to past human land use, we used four key functional traits—maximum height, rooting depth, wood density, and seed mass—to examine how multiple environmental and land-use variables influenced species distributions and functional diversity. We sampled ~40,000 trees \u3e8 cm DBH within 485 plots totaling 137 ha. Species within plots were more functionally similar than expected by chance when we estimated functional diversity using all traits together (multi-trait), and to a lesser degree, with each trait separately. Multi-trait functional diversity was most strongly correlated with distance from the perennial stream, elevation, slope, and forest age. Environmental and land-use predictors varied in their correlation with functional diversities of the four individual traits. Landscape-wide change in abundances of individual species also correlated with both environment and land-use variables, but magnitudes of trait–environment interactions were generally stronger than trait interactions with land use. These findings can be applied for restoration and assisted regeneration of human-modified temperate forests by using traits to predict which tree species would establish well in relation to land-use history, topography, and soil conditions

Passive water control at the surface of a superhydrophobic lichen

Some lichens have a super-hydrophobic upper surface, which repels water drops, keeping the surface dry but probably preventing water uptake. Spore ejection requires water and is most efficient just after rainfall. This study was carried out to investigate how super-hydrophobic lichens manage water uptake and repellence at their fruiting bodies, or podetia. Drops of water were placed onto separate podetia of Cladonia chlorophaea and observed using optical microscopy and cryo-scanning-electron microscopy (cryo-SEM) techniques to determine the structure of podetia and to visualise their interaction with water droplets. SEM and optical microscopy studies revealed that the surface of the podetia was constructed in a three-level structural hierarchy. By cryo-SEM of water-glycerol droplets placed on the upper part of the podetium, pinning of the droplet to specific, hydrophilic spots (pycnidia/apothecia) was observed. The results suggest a mechanism for water uptake, which is highly sophisticated, using surface wettability to generate a passive response to different types of precipitation in a manner similar to the Namib Desert beetle. This mechanism is likely to be found in other organisms as it offers passive but selective water control

Food habits of Sowerby's beaked whales (Mesoplodon bidens) taken in the pelagic drift gillnet fishery of the western North Atlantic

We describe the food habits of the Sowerby’s beaked whale (Mesoplodon bidens) from observations of 10 individuals taken as bycatch in the pelagic drift gillnet fishery for Swordfish (Xiphias gladius) in the western North Atlantic and 1 stranded individual from Kennebunk, Maine. The stomachs of 8 bycaught whales were intact and contained prey. The diet of these 8 whales was dominated by meso- and benthopelagic fishes that composed 98.5% of the prey items found in their stomachs and cephalopods that accounted for only 1.5% of the number of prey. Otoliths and jaws representing at least 31 fish taxa from 15 families were present in the stomach contents. Fishes, primarily from the families Moridae (37.9% of prey), Myctophidae (22.9%), Macrouridae (11.2%), and Phycidae (7.2%), were present in all 8 stomachs. Most prey were from 5 fish taxa: Shortbeard Codling (Laemonema barbatulum) accounted for 35.3% of otoliths, Cocco’s Lanternfish (Lobianchia gemellarii) contributed 12.9%, Marlin-spike (Nezumia bairdii) composed 10.8%, lanternfishes (Lampanyctus spp.) accounted for 8.4%; and Longfin Hake (Phycis chesteri) contributed 6.7%. The mean number of otoliths per stomach was 1196 (range: 327–3452). Most of the fish prey found in the stomachs was quite small, ranging in length from 4.0 to 27.7 cm. We conclude that the Sowerby’s beaked whales that we examined in this study fed on large numbers of relatively small meso- and benthopelagic fishes that are abundant along the slope and shelf break of the western North Atlantic

Meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies of asthma in ethnically diverse North American populations.

Asthma is a common disease with a complex risk architecture including both genetic and environmental factors. We performed a meta-analysis of North American genome-wide association studies of asthma in 5,416 individuals with asthma (cases) including individuals of European American, African American or African Caribbean, and Latino ancestry, with replication in an additional 12,649 individuals from the same ethnic groups. We identified five susceptibility loci. Four were at previously reported loci on 17q21, near IL1RL1, TSLP and IL33, but we report for the first time, to our knowledge, that these loci are associated with asthma risk in three ethnic groups. In addition, we identified a new asthma susceptibility locus at PYHIN1, with the association being specific to individuals of African descent (P = 3.9 × 10(-9)). These results suggest that some asthma susceptibility loci are robust to differences in ancestry when sufficiently large samples sizes are investigated, and that ancestry-specific associations also contribute to the complex genetic architecture of asthma

Measurement of the Strong Coupling Constant from Inclusive Jet Production at the Tevatron pˉp\bar pp Collider

We report a measurement of the strong coupling constant, $\alpha_s(M_Z)$, extracted from inclusive jet production in $p\bar{p}$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=$1800 GeV. The QCD prediction for the evolution of $\alpha_s$ with jet transverse energy $E_T$ is tested over the range 40<$E_T$<450 GeV using $E_T$ for the renormalization scale. The data show good agreement with QCD in the region below 250 GeV. In the text we discuss the data-theory comparison in the region from 250 to 450 GeV. The value of $\alpha_s$ at the mass of the $Z^0$ boson averaged over the range 40<$E_T$<250 GeV is found to be $\alpha_s(M_{Z})= 0.1178 \pm 0.0001{(\rm stat)}^{+0.0081}_{-0.0095}{\rm (exp. syst)}$. The associated theoretical uncertainties are mainly due to the choice of renormalization scale (^{+6%}_{-4%}) and input parton distribution functions (5%).Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, using RevTeX. Submitted to Physical Review Letter

Measurement of Rapidity Distribution for High Mass Drell-Yan ee Pairs at CDF

We report on the first measurement of the rapidity distribution dsigma/dy over nearly the entire kinematic region of rapidity for e^+e^- pairs in the Z-boson region of 66116 GeV/c^2. The data sample consists of 108 pb^{-1} of ppbar collisions at \sqrt{s}=1.8 TeV taken by the Collider Detector at Fermilab during 1992--1995. The total cross section in the $Z$-boson region is measured to be 252 +- 11 pb. The measured total cross section and d\sigma/dy are compared with quantum chromodynamics calculations in leading and higher orders.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures. Submitted to Physical Review Letter