Helminth parasites and phoronts of dusky dolphins <i>Lagenorhynchus obscurus</i> (Gray, 1828)

The scanty information published on parasites of the dusky dolphin Lagenorhynchus obscurus is reviewed. Prevalence of heminths in relation to body length/sex of the host and intensity of infestation in analysed for 321 dusky dolphins killed in an artisanal coastal fishery off Peru. A total of 707 animals were checked externally for ectoparasites and phoronts and 266 skulls from Peru and Chile were examined for bone lesions revealing parasitosis. Three species of trematodes, three nematode species and two cestodes were registered. These are (with prevalences): Nasitrema sp. in cranial sinuses (78.3% SE=4.2%); Phyllobothrium delphini larvae in blubber of anogenital region (70.0% SE=10.0%); Anisakis sp. mostly in the main stomach (40.0% SE=3.3%); Braunina cordiformis (8.5% SE=1.9%) and Pholeter gastrophylus (8.0% SE= 1.9%) primarily in the pyloric stomach; and an unidentified adult cestode in the intestines (3.7% SE=3.6%). Except in a single specimen, no Crassicauda-caused cranial bone lesions were seen, nor was the nematode itself found in cranial sinuses or in the blubber/muscle interface. The occurrence of the phoront Xenobalanus globicipitis, present overall on 38.9% (SE=1.8%) of dolphins, peaked in June and December. The 6-month phase difference suggests a seasonal factor determining the barnacle's life-cycle. X. globicipitis can serve as a sensitive ecological marker on a small temporal scale (months), but exactly the high 'resolving power' makes it unreliable as an indicator of breeding populations. Prevalence of helminth parasites was independent from total length and sex of dolphins, except for Braunina cordiformis where infestation rate significantly declined with body length, suggesting progressive host immunization. Nasitrema sp., B. cordiformis, P. gastrophylus, Halocercus sp., and X. globicipitis constitute first records for the host species L. obscurus

Tiempo, cosmos y religión del pueblo Ayuuk (México)

<span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri;mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-ansi-language: NL;mso-fareast-language:NL;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">In Ayuuk worldview time is generated by the movement of stars and sun, which make their way through the sky and the worldview. Thanks this movement, both light and darkness as well as heat and cold are distributed over the surface of the earth. Here the intervention of other divine beings plays an important role, such as water, rain, wind, thunder, and lightning, which lead to different climatic and meteorological conditions. From this perspective the world, the sun, moon, and stars are seen as animated beings with a sacred character. Also, the time that they generate, and the space in which this occurs, are considered sacred. The relationship between time ans space is conceived whithin the Ayuuk culture on a vertical line with a direction of movement that goes from top to bottom, in which the events thah have already occurred remain below and what is still to come is above. The cultural perception of the course of time can be represented as a spiral, wich starts from the center of the world and moves from right to left (counter clockwise in) continously rotating through the four major directions of the universe (east, north, west and south). European Research Council. European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP/2007-2013)/ERC Grant Agreement No. 295434.Heritage of Indigenous People

A comparative analysis of the diet of the long-beaked common dolphin (<i>Delphinus capensis</i>) with three other small cetaceans from coastal Peru. Scientific Committee document SC/56/SM2, International Whaling Commission, July 2004, Sorrento, Italy

The diet of long-beaked common dolphin Delphinus capensis, dusky dolphin Lagenorhynchus obscurus, Burmeister’s porpoise Phocoena spinipinnis, and bottlenose dolphin Tursiops truncatus, was determined based on 281 stomach contents collected along the Peruvian central coast and San Juan de Marcona in the period 1987-1993. Counts of otoliths, squid beaks and some other remains were used to estimate frequency of occurrence and prey percentage of composition (PC). Long-beaked common dolphins (n=117) fed mainly on fish (98.71% of preys), the remainder was composed of squids and crustaceans: Peruvian anchovies Engraulis ringens (PC= 71.14%), Vincigerria lucetia (7.89%), Lampanictus parvicauda (6.77%), Merluccius gayi (4.49%), Odontesthes regia (3.54%), Mictophum nitidulum (2.62%) and Trachurus picturatus (1.42%). Dusky dolphins (n=66) consumed E. ringens (49.8%, 16.9%), L. parvicauda (23.6%, 0.1%), T. picturatus (17.1%, 0%), Normachthys crockery (0%, 76.4%), V. lucetia (3.5%, 0.1%), and Sardinops sagax (2.8%, 0 %) off the central Peruvian coast and San Juan de Marcona, respectively. In the same areas, Burmeister’s porpoise (n=67) fed on anchovies (90.37%, 81.89%), O. regia (6.64%, 0%), Anchoa sp. (1.13%, 0%), N. crockery (0%, 8.53%) and M. gayi (0.65%, 8.4%). Bottlenose dolphins (n=22) consumed L. parvicauda (39.24%), Sphiraena sp. (13.48%), S. sagax (13.31%), Prionotus sp. (9.59%), M. gayi (7.43%), T. picturatus (4.41%) and E. ringens (4.06%). The use of the Shannon & Wiener, Levins and Czekanowski’s indexes in combination with the feeding patterns of the sampled species indicated an opportunistic feeding strategy with respect to their preys. The four cetacean species studied are predators of both pelagic and mesopelagic large schooling fish species, and demonstrate no selectivity towards prey species but towards social behaviour and habitat. An average linkage cluster analysis showed high levels of similarity in the diets of the studied cetaceans. This low diversification and a high degree of overlap in trophic niches is probably related to the high productivity of the Peruvian upwelling ecosystem

Behavior of tumors under nonstationary theraphy

We present a model for the interaction dynamics of lymphocytes-tumor cells population. This model reproduces all known states for the tumor. Futherly,we develop it taking into account periodical immunotheraphy treatment with cytokines alone. A detailed analysis for the evolution of tumor cells as a function of frecuency and theraphy burden applied for the periodical treatment is carried out. Certain threshold values for the frecuency and applied doses are derived from this analysis. So it seems possible to control and reduce the growth of the tumor. Also, constant values for cytokines doses seems to be a succesful treatment.Comment: 6 pages, 7 figure

Wireless Communications for Marine Sensor Networks

Peer Reviewe