Population Recovery of Nicobar Long-Tailed Macaque Macaca fascicularis umbrosus following a Tsunami in the Nicobar Islands, India

Natural disasters pose a threat to isolated populations of species with restricted distributions, especially those inhabiting islands. The Nicobar long tailed macaque.Macaca fascicularis umbrosus, is one such species found in the three southernmost islands (viz. Great Nicobar, Little Nicobar and Katchal) of the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago, India. These islands were hit by a massive tsunami (Indian Ocean tsunami, 26 December 2004) after a 9.2 magnitude earthquake. Earlier studies [Umapathy et al. 2003; Sivakumar, 2004] reported a sharp decline in the population of M. f. umbrosus after thetsunami. We studied the distribution and population status of M. f. umbrosus on thethree Nicobar Islands and compared our results with those of the previous studies. We carried out trail surveys on existing paths and trails on three islands to get encounter rate as measure of abundance. We also checked the degree of inundation due to tsunami by using Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI) on landsat imageries of the study area before and after tsunami. Theencounter rate of groups per kilometre of M. f. umbrosus in Great Nicobar, Little Nicobar and Katchal was 0.30, 0.35 and 0.48 respectively with the mean group size of 39 in Great Nicobar and 43 in Katchal following the tsunami. This was higher than that reported in the two earlier studies conducted before and after the tsunami. Post tsunami, there was a significant change in the proportion of adult males, adult females and immatures, but mean group size did not differ as compared to pre tsunami. The results show that population has recovered from a drastic decline caused by tsunami, but it cannot be ascertained whether it has reached stability because of the altered group structure. This study demonstrates the effect of natural disasters on island occurring species

An integrated data management and video system for sampling aquatic benthos

Remote video systems can be expensive, slow to deploy and the data recorded may not be available until the system has been retrieved. To overcome these issues a rapid, non-destructive and cost-effective remote video and data management system was developed to record benthic habitats in Shark Bay, Western Australia. This system comprises a downward oriented video camera, linked to a laptop computer, attached to the apex of a stainless steel pyramid to film a 1 m2 area of benthos. The video image of the substratum, spatial coordinates, depth and temperature are recorded in a database at the time of deployment. A web interface was developed to manage the database and examine the video images to determine the percent cover of seagrass, sponge type (conical or non-conical) and the total number of sponges in the quadrat. Using this system, a total of 1,380 video quadrats were collected from a study area of approximately 248 km2, ranging in water depth from 2 to 16 m. An average of 16.4 (±1.3 SE) samples was recorded every hour during 15 days. This system could be modified to quantify substratum components at a greater taxonomic resolution or to record details of the mobile fauna

Larval dispersal connects fish populations in a network of marine protected areas

Networks of no-take marine protected areas (MPAs) have been widely advocated for the conservation of marine biodiversity. But for MPA networks to be successful in protecting marine populations, individual MPAs must be self-sustaining or adequately connected to other MPAs via dispersal. For marine species with a dispersive larval stage, populations within MPAs require either the return of settlement-stage larvae to their natal reserve or connectivity among reserves at the spatial scales at which MPA networks are implemented. To date, larvae have not been tracked when dispersing from one MPA to another, and the relative magnitude of local retention and connectivity among MPAs remains unknown. Here we use DNA parentage analysis to provide the first direct estimates of connectivity of a marine fish, the orange clownfish (Amphiprion percula), in a proposed network of marine reserves in Kimbe Bay, Papua New Guinea. Approximately 40% of A. percula larvae settling into anemones in an island MPA at 2 different times were derived from parents resident in the reserve. We also located juveniles spawned by Kimbe Island residents that had dispersed as far as 35 km to other proposed MPAs, the longest distance that marine larvae have been directly tracked. These dispersers accounted for up to 10% of the recruitment in the adjacent MPAs. Our findings suggest that MPA networks can function to sustain resident populations both by local replenishment and through larval dispersal from other reserves. More generally, DNA parentage analysis provides a direct method for measuring larval dispersal for other marine organisms

Cultural transmission of tool use in bottlenose dolphins

In Shark Bay, wild bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops sp.) apparently use marine sponges as foraging tools. We demonstrate that genetic and ecological explanations for this behavior are inadequate; thus, “sponging” classifies as the first case of an existing material culture in a marine mammal species. Using mitochondrial DNA analyses, we show that sponging shows an almost exclusive vertical social transmission within a single matriline from mother to female offspring. Moreover, significant genetic relatedness among all adult spongers at the nuclear level indicates very recent coancestry, suggesting that all spongers are descendents of one recent “Sponging Eve.” Unlike in apes, tool use in this population is almost exclusively limited to a single matriline that is part of a large albeit open social network of frequently interacting individuals, adding a new dimension to charting cultural phenomena among animals

Analysis of mitochondrial DNA clarifies the taxonomy and distribution of the Australian snubfin dolphin (Orcaella heinsohni) in northern Australian waters.

Conservation management relies on being able to identify and describe species. Recent morphological and molecular analyses of the dolphin genus Orcaella show a species-level disjunction between eastern Australia and South-east Asia. However, because of restricted sampling, the taxonomic affinities of the geographically intermediate populations in the Northern Territory and Western Australia remained uncertain. We sequenced 403 base pairs of the mitochondrial control region from five free-ranging Orcaella individuals sampled from north-western Western Australia and the Northern Territory. Low net nucleotide divergence (0.110.67%) among the Australian Orcaella populations show that populations occurring in the Northern Territory and Western Australia belong to the Australian snubfin (O. heinsohni) rather than the Asian Irrawaddy dolphin (O. brevirostris). Clarifying the distribution of Orcaella is an important first step in the conservation and management for both species; however, an understanding of the metapopulation structure and patterns of dispersal among populations is now needed. Journal compilatio

Abundance, survival and temporary emigration of bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops sp.) off Useless Loop in the western gulf of Shark Bay, Western Australia

Capture–recapture models were used to provide estimates of abundance, apparent survival and temporary emigration of Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops sp.) in a 226-km2 study area off Useless Loop in the western gulf of Shark Bay, Western Australia. Photo-identification data were collected during boat-based surveys in Austral autumn to early spring (April–September) from 2007 to 2011. Abundance estimates varied from 115 (s.e. 5.2, 95% CI 105–126) individuals in 2008 to 208 (s.e. 17.3, 95% CI 177–245) individuals in 2010. The variability in abundance estimates is likely to be a reflection of how individuals used the study area, rather than fluctuations in true population size. The best fitting capture–recapture model suggested a random temporary emigration pattern and, when coupled with relatively high temporary emigration rates (0.33 (s.e. 0.07) – 0.66 (s.e. 0.05)) indicated that the study area did not cover the entire ranges of the photo-identified dolphins. Apparent survival rate is a product of true survival and permanent emigration and was estimated annually at 0.95 (s.e. 0.02). Since permanent emigration from the study area is unlikely, true survival was estimated to be close to 0.95. This study provides a robust baseline for future comparisons of dolphin demographics, which may be of importance should climate change or increasing anthropogenic activity affect this population

Administration of Reconstituted Polyphenol Oil Bodies Efficiently Suppresses Dendritic Cell Inflammatory Pathways and Acute Intestinal Inflammation

Polyphenols are natural compounds capable of interfering with the inflammatory pathways of several in vitro model systems. In this study, we developed a stable and effective strategy to administer polyphenols to treat in vivo models of acute intestinal inflammation. The in vitro suppressive properties of several polyphenols were first tested and compared for dendritic cells (DCs) production of inflammatory cytokines. A combination of the polyphenols, quercetin and piperine, were then encapsulated into reconstituted oil bodies (OBs) in order to increase their stability. Our results showed that administration of low dose reconstituted polyphenol OBs inhibited LPS-mediated inflammatory cytokine secretion, including IL-6, IL-23, and IL-12, while increasing IL-10 and IL-1Rα production. Mice treated with the polyphenol-containing reconstituted OBs (ROBs) were partially protected from dextran sodium sulfate (DSS)-induced colitis and associated weight loss, while mortality and inflammatory scores revealed an overall anti-inflammatory effect that was likely mediated by impaired DC immune responses. Our study indicates that the administration of reconstituted quercetin and piperine-containing OBs may represent an effective and potent anti-inflammatory strategy to treat acute intestinal inflammation