Evaluating The Use of Fairmount Dam Fish Passage Facility By Anadromous Fishes In The Schuylkill River, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

The Schuylkill River in Southeaster Pennsylvania once supported massive spring runs of anadromous fishes until the construction of dams in the early 1800\u27s. American shad (Alosa sapidissima), striped bass (Morone saxatilis), and river herring (alewife Alosa pseudoharengus and blueback herring A. aestivalis) ascended the Schuylkill River as far upstream as Pottsville (160 rkm), but have not done so since 1820, when Fairmount Dam (13.6 rkm) was built. The dam served as a physical barrier to migratory fishes, completely blocking upstream movement and access to critical spawning grounds. In 1979, a vertical slot fish passage facility was constructed on the west side of Fairmount Dam, however, very few anadromous species were utilizing the passage and the fishway was abandoned in 1984. No fish counts were conducted from 1984 to 2004, until Philadelphia Water Department biologists took responsibility for maintenance and operation of the fishway and developed a digital video monitoring system to record fish passage. An underwater viewing room and window allows direct observation of fishes swimming through the fishway and is a primary means for evaluating fish passage. In 2004, there were 6,438 fish of 23 species that ascended Fairmount fishway, including 91 American shad, 161 striped bass, and 2 river herring. A total of 8,017 fishes representing 25 species were counted passing through the fishway in 2005, including 41 American shad, 127 striped bass, and 5 river herring. In 2006, a total of 16,850 fishes representing 26 species were counted passing through the fishway including 345 American shad, 9 hickory shad, 61 striped bass, and 7 river herring, marking an astonishing 279% increase in American shad passage from 2004 to 2006. The interannual trend in relative abundance of American Shad below Fairmount Dam increased, as did overall shad passage trends in the fishway. Continued monitoring of fish passage will be a critical component in assessing anadromous fish restoration efforts on the Schuylkill River

Identification, Evolution and Expression of an Insulin-Like Peptide in the Cephalochordate Branchiostoma lanceolatum

Insulin is one of the most studied proteins since it is central to the regulation of carbohydrate and fat metabolism in vertebrates and its expression and release are disturbed in diabetes, the most frequent human metabolic disease worldwide. However, the evolution of the function of the insulin protein family is still unclear. In this study, we present a phylogenetic and developmental analysis of the Insulin Like Peptide (ILP) in the cephalochordate amphioxus. We identified an ILP in the European amphioxus Branchiostoma lanceolatum that displays structural characteristics of both vertebrate insulin and Insulin-like Growth Factors (IGFs). Our phylogenetic analysis revealed that amphioxus ILP represents the sister group of both vertebrate insulin and IGF proteins. We also characterized both temporal and spatial expression of ILP in amphioxus. We show that ilp is highly expressed in endoderm and paraxial mesoderm during development, and mainly expressed in the gut of both the developing embryo and adult. We hypothesize that ILP has critical implications in both developmental processes and metabolism and could display IGF- and insulin-like functions in amphioxus supporting the idea of a common ancestral protein

NEOTROPICAL CARNIVORES: a data set on carnivore distribution in the Neotropics

Mammalian carnivores are considered a key group in maintaining ecological health and can indicate potential ecological integrity in landscapes where they occur. Carnivores also hold high conservation value and their habitat requirements can guide management and conservation plans. The order Carnivora has 84 species from 8 families in the Neotropical region: Canidae; Felidae; Mephitidae; Mustelidae; Otariidae; Phocidae; Procyonidae; and Ursidae. Herein, we include published and unpublished data on native terrestrial Neotropical carnivores (Canidae; Felidae; Mephitidae; Mustelidae; Procyonidae; and Ursidae). NEOTROPICAL CARNIVORES is a publicly available data set that includes 99,605 data entries from 35,511 unique georeferenced coordinates. Detection/non-detection and quantitative data were obtained from 1818 to 2018 by researchers, governmental agencies, non-governmental organizations, and private consultants. Data were collected using several methods including camera trapping, museum collections, roadkill, line transect, and opportunistic records. Literature (peer-reviewed and grey literature) from Portuguese, Spanish and English were incorporated in this compilation. Most of the data set consists of detection data entries (n = 79,343; 79.7%) but also includes non-detection data (n = 20,262; 20.3%). Of those, 43.3% also include count data (n = 43,151). The information available in NEOTROPICAL CARNIVORES will contribute to macroecological, ecological, and conservation questions in multiple spatio-temporal perspectives. As carnivores play key roles in trophic interactions, a better understanding of their distribution and habitat requirements are essential to establish conservation management plans and safeguard the future ecological health of Neotropical ecosystems. Our data paper, combined with other large-scale data sets, has great potential to clarify species distribution and related ecological processes within the Neotropics. There are no copyright restrictions and no restriction for using data from this data paper, as long as the data paper is cited as the source of the information used. We also request that users inform us of how they intend to use the data