A marker suitable for sex-typing birds from degraded samples

A new primer set was developed for sex-typing birds, Z37B. This primer set was designed to amplify alleles of small size to render it suitable for sex-typing degraded samples, including shed feathers. This marker successfully sex-typed 50 % of the species tested, including passerines, shorebirds, rails, seabirds, eagles and the brown kiwi Apteryx australis (allele size range =81–103 bp), and is therefore expected to be suitable for sex-typing a wide range of species. Z37B sex-typed nondegraded samples (blood), degraded tissue (dead unhatched embryos, dead nestlings and museum specimens) and samples of low quantity DNA (plucked feathers and buccal swabs). The small amplicon sizes in birds suggest that this marker will be of utility for sex-typing feathers, swabs and degraded samples from a wide range of avian species

EUV Sunspot Plumes Observed with SOHO

Bright EUV sunspot plumes have been observed in five out of nine sunspot regions with the Coronal Diagnostic Spectrometer -- CDS on SOHO. In the other four regions the brightest line emissions may appear inside the sunspot but are mainly concentrated in small regions outside the sunspot areas. These results are in contrast to those obtained during the Solar Maximum Mission, but are compatible with the Skylab mission results. The present observations show that sunspot plumes are formed in the upper part of the transition region, occur both in magnetic unipolar-- and bipolar regions, and may extend from the umbra into the penumbra.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, to be published in ApJ Letter

Assessing reservoir operations risk under climate change

Risk-based planning offers a robust way to identify strategies that permit adaptive water resources management under climate change. This paper presents a flexible methodology for conducting climate change risk assessments involving reservoir operations. Decision makers can apply this methodology to their systems by selecting future periods and risk metrics relevant to their planning questions and by collectively evaluating system impacts relative to an ensemble of climate projection scenarios (weighted or not). This paper shows multiple applications of this methodology in a case study involving California\u27s Central Valley Project and State Water Project systems. Multiple applications were conducted to show how choices made in conducting the risk assessment, choices known as analytical design decisions, can affect assessed risk. Specifically, risk was reanalyzed for every choice combination of two design decisions: (1) whether to assume climate change will influence flood-control constraints on water supply operations (and how), and (2) whether to weight climate change scenarios (and how). Results show that assessed risk would motivate different planning pathways depending on decision-maker attitudes toward risk (e.g., risk neutral versus risk averse). Results also show that assessed risk at a given risk attitude is sensitive to the analytical design choices listed above, with the choice of whether to adjust flood-control rules under climate change having considerably more influence than the choice on whether to weight climate scenarios

Nonlinear equations for p-adic open, closed, and open-closed strings

We investigate the structure of solutions of boundary value problems for a one-dimensional nonlinear system of pseudodifferential equations describing the dynamics (rolling) of p-adic open, closed, and open-closed strings for a scalar tachyon field using the method of successive approximations. For an open-closed string, we prove that the method converges for odd values of p of the form p=4n+1 under the condition that the solution for the closed string is known. For p=2, we discuss the questions of the existence and the nonexistence of solutions of boundary value problems and indicate the possibility of discontinuous solutions appearing.Comment: 16 pages, 3 figure

Investigating the performance of simplified neutral‐ion collisional heating rate in a global IT model

The Joule heating rate has usually been used as an approximate form of the neutral‐ion collisional heating rate in the thermospheric energy equation in global thermosphere‐ionosphere models. This means that the energy coupling has ignored the energy gained by the ions from collisions with electrons. It was found that the globally averaged thermospheric temperature (Tn) was underestimated in simulations using the Joule heating rate, by about 11% when F10.7=110 solar flux unit (sfu, 1 sfu = 10−22 W m−2 Hz−1) in a quiet geomagnetic condition. The underestimation of Tn was higher at low latitudes than high latitudes, and higher at F region altitudes than at E region altitudes. It was found that adding additional neutral photoelectron heating in a global IT model compensated for the underestimation of Tn using the Joule heating approximation. Adding direct photoelectron heating to the neutrals compensated for the indirect path for the energy that flows from the electrons to the ions then to the neutrals naturally and therefore was an adequate compensation over the dayside. There was a slight dependence of the underestimation of Tn on F10.7, such that larger activity levels resulted in a need for more compensation in direct photoelectron heating to the neutrals to make up for the neglected indirect heating through ions and electrons.Key PointsUsing Joule heating rate as the neutral‐ion energy coupling led to a cooler thermosphereNeutral photoelectron heating efficiency compensates for the missing heatingA slight dependence of the underestimation of Tn on F10.7 existedPeer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/137627/1/jgra52323_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/137627/2/jgra52323.pd

Climatic trends in E-region critical frequency and virtual height above Tromsø (70° N, 10° E)

International audienceWe have examined the long time series of observations of E-region virtual height (1948?2006) and critical frequency (1935-2006) hitherto made by the Tromsø ionosonde at 70° N, 19° E. Combining a simplistic trend analysis with a rigorous treatment of errors we identify a negative trend in critical frequency. While a similar analysis of the virtual height h'E also suggests a negative trend, a closer examination reveals a possible weak positive trend prior to ~1975 and a strong negative trend from ~1975 to present. These two metrics of essentially the same feature of the ionosphere do not exhibit the same signature since critical frequency is controlled by photochemistry within the E-layer while height is controlled by pressure level. We further find that the trend in critical frequency is a daylight/summer phenomenon, no significant trend being evident in the winter subset of the data. On the other hand, the trends in virtual height are independent of season/daylight

Determinants of male floating behaviour and floater reproduction in a threatened population of the hihi (Notiomystis cincta)

Floating males are usually thought of as nonbreeders. However, some floating individuals are able to reproduce through extra-pair copulations. Floater reproductive success can impact breeders’ sex ratio, reproductive variance, multiple paternity and inbreeding, particularly in small populations. Changes in reproductive variance alter the rate of genetic drift and loss of genetic diversity. Therefore, genetic management of threatened species requires an understanding of floater reproduction and determinants of floating behaviour to effectively conserve species. Here, we used a pedigreed, free-living population of the endangered New Zealand hihi (Notiomystis cincta) to assess variance in male reproductive success and test the genetic (inbreeding and heritability) and conditional (age and size) factors that influence floater behaviour and reproduction. Floater reproduction is common in this species. However, floater individuals have lower reproductive success and variance in reproductive success than territorial males (total and extra-pair fledglings), so their relative impact on the population's reproductive performance is low. Whether an individual becomes a floater, and if so then how successful they are, is determined mainly by individual age (young and old) and to lesser extents male size (small) and inbreeding level (inbred). Floating males have a small, but important role in population reproduction and persistence of threatened populations

Minutes matter: brief hatching asynchrony adversely affects late-hatched hihi nestlings, but not life beyond the nest

Size hierarchies are often seen when nestlings hatch asynchronously over a period of days. Shorter hatch periods are common across passerines, however, and while these may also give rise to asymmetries, their effects are rarely considered. Regardless of hatch period, the long-term consequences for later hatched nestlings that survive to fledge is unknown for wild birds. Here we explored the timing of hatch order in a free-living population of hihi nestlings, Notiomystis cincta, and followed any effects in and out of the nest. We found that while hatching time from first- to last-hatched nestlings was often less than 24 h, last-hatched individuals grew more slowly and were lighter and smaller at fledging than older siblings. Last-hatched nestlings were also less likely to fledge. These effects were greater in larger broods. Adult body size is correlated with fledging size in hihi; however, we found no evidence that hatch order affected longevity postfledging, or lifetime reproductive success. We then explored whether carotenoid availability might buffer these stressful rearing conditions (through food supplementation of parents) but found no evidence that increased access to carotenoids for mothers and/or growing nestlings influenced incubation schedules, or the effects of hatching late. Together these results suggest that while even a very short hatch period can influence adult phenotype, hatching asynchrony is not maladaptive for hihi: when last-hatched nestlings survive to fledge they can contribute as much to their mothers' fitness as first-hatched siblings

Fine-Resolution climate projections enhance regional climate change impact studies

A new data set enhances the abilities of researchers and decision-makers to assess possible future climates, explore societal impacts, and approach policy responses from a risk-based perspective. The data set, which consists of a library of 112 fine-resolution climate projections, based on 16 climate models and three greenhouse gas emissions scenarios, is now publicly available. Monthly climate projections from 1950 to 2099 were downscaled to a spatial resolution of 1/8° (about 140 square kilometers per grid cell) covering the conterminous United States and portions of Canada and Mexico

Genomic data of different resolutions reveal consistent inbreeding estimates but contrasting homozygosity landscapes for the threatened Aotearoa New Zealand hihi

Inbreeding can lead to a loss of heterozygosity in a population and when combined with genetic drift may reduce the adaptive potential of a species. However, there is uncertainty about whether resequencing data can provide accurate and consistent inbreeding estimates. Here, we performed an in-depth inbreeding analysis for hihi (Notiomystis cincta), an endemic and nationally vulnerable passerine bird of Aotearoa New Zealand. We first focused on subsampling variants from a reference genome male, and found that low-density data sets tend to miss runs of homozygosity (ROH) in some places and overestimate ROH length in others, resulting in contrasting homozygosity landscapes. Low-coverage resequencing and 50 K SNP array densities can yield comparable inbreeding results to high-coverage resequencing approaches, but the results for all data sets are highly dependent on the software settings employed. Second, we extended our analysis to 10 hihi where low-coverage whole genome resequencing, RAD-seq and SNP array genotypes are available. We inferred ROH and individual inbreeding to evaluate the relative effects of sequencing depth versus SNP density on estimating inbreeding coefficients and found that high rates of missingness downwardly bias both the number and length of ROH. In summary, when using genomic data to evaluate inbreeding, studies must consider that ROH estimates are heavily dependent on analysis parameters, data set density and individual sequencing depth