Intermediate disturbance on rangelands : Management applicability of the intermediate disturbance hypothesis across Mongolian rangeland ecosystems

The current growing body of evidence for diversity-disturbance relationships suggests that the peaked pattern predicted by the intermediate disturbance hypothesis (IDH) may not be the rule. Even if ecologists could quantify the diversity-disturbance relationship consistent with the IDH, the applicability of the IDH to land management has rarely been addressed. We examined two hypotheses related to the generality and management applicability of the IDH to Mongolian rangeland ecosystems: that the diversity-disturbance relationship varies as a function of landscape condition and that some intermediate scales of grazing can play an important role in terms of sustainable rangeland management through a grazing gradient approach. We quantified the landscape condition of each ecological site using an ordination technique and determined two types of landscape conditions, relatively benign and harsh environmental conditions. At the ecological sites characterized by relatively benign environmental conditions, diversity-disturbance relationships were generally consistent with the IDH and maximum diversity was observed at some intermediate distance from the source of the grazing gradient. In contrast, the IDH was not supported at most but not all sites characterized by relatively harsh environmental conditions. The intermediate levels of grazing were generally located below the ecological threshold representing the points or zones at which disturbance should be limited to prevent drastic changes in ecological conditions, suggesting that there is little “conundrum” with regard to intermediate disturbance in the studied systems in terms of land management. We suggest that the landscape condition is one of the primary factors that cause inconsistencies in diversity-disturbance relationships. The ecological threshold can extend its utility in rangeland management because it also has the compatibility with the maintenance of species diversity. This study thus suggests that some intermediate scales of grazing and ecological thresholds are mutually supportive tools for sustainable management of Mongolian rangelands

Threshold Dynamics of Vegetation and Their Management Implications in a Mongolian Shrubland

The concept of ecological threshold has spurred important advances in understanding the nonlinear behavior of ecosystems to various disturbances (Groffman et al. 2006, Suding and Hobbs 2009). Studies on lakes, coral reefs, and arid grasslands have shown that structural attributes of ecosystems can change abruptly along a disturbance gradient (Scheffer and Carpenter 2003, Mumby et al. 2007, Sasaki et al. 2008). Yet, such nonlinear response patterns are implicitly assumed to reflect the modification of system feedbacks and interactions. We know little about mechanistic linkages between nonlinear response patterns and underlying feedback mechanisms, and the irreversibility of nonlinear responses. Consequently, in many applied settings, the threshold concept is being adopted without sufficient evaluation of evidence. Here, we present initial work towards the understanding of threshold dynamics of vegetation in a Mongolian shrubland. Our study should enhance the conceptual development of ecological threshold as well as human decision-making

The Linkage Between Pastoralists\u27 Perspectives and Vegetation Threshold Changes in Mongolian Rangelands (Advanced Studies on Sustainable Animal Production: Interrelationships among Human, Animal and Environment, 8th International Symposium of Integrated Field Science)

Poster Sessio

Resource Variations across the Landscape Mediate the Impact of Grazing on Vegetation in Mongolian Rangeland under High Climatic Variability

Assessment of grazing-induced degradation of arid and semi-arid rangelands with stochastic rainfall regimes is challenging. For the last two decades, rangeland ecologists have been discussing the relative importance of biotic and abiotic factors in controlling vegetation dynamics. According to the non-equilibrium concept, which emerged as a new paradigm to describe ecosystems in highly variable and poorly predictable environments, vegetation dynamics are driven primarily by abiotic factors such as rainfall, rather than by internal biotic regulation (e.g. grazing impact). Although a number of studies have emphasized the non-equilibrium nature of most rangelands, they have produced inconsistent results and there is still no consensus on the relative importance of grazing impact. Alternatively, recent studies have suggested that a continuum of systems exists, rather than a stark dichotomy between equilibrium and non-equilibrium rangelands. Moreover, theoretical studies have predicted that, in addition to climatic variability, resource variations occurring in space and time as a result of landscape heterogeneity should be taken into account in assessments of grazing impact. However, there have been few empirical studies of the role of resource variations in either mitigating or enhancing the impacts of grazing on vegetation. This study explores the impact of grazing strategies on vegetation in Mongolian rangelands under high climatic variability. Specifically, it is focused on key resource areas, defined in terms of the key factor determining livestock population, and thus the ability to forage during drought. Based on the prediction proposed by Illius and O’Connor (1999) that animal numbers are regulated in a density-dependent manner by the limited forage availability in key resource areas, we established and examined the hypothesis that grazing impacts would be greater in key resource areas than in other areas even in Mongolian rangelands

Residual stress measurement of fiber texture materials near single crystal

In this paper, a sample having 〈111〉 fiber texture near single crystal structure made by PVD was evaluated about texture states by the pole figure and about residual stress states by the new expression for X-ray stress analysis. As a result, about 6GPa compressive residual stress existed in the film. However, measurement planes of X-ray line were influence on each stress value. Copyright © 2007 by The International Society of Offshore and Polar Engineers(ISOPE)

Cardiac Reshaping Net for Dilated Cardiomyopathy

Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is an intractable disease that progressively worsens with cardiac enlargement and heart failure. There are approximately 20,000 patients designated with intractable disease who have moderate or severe heart failure symptoms even with appropriate medical treatment, making it the most common target disease for heart transplantation in Japan. Sixty percent of designated DCM patients are over the age of 60. If we can extend their healthy life expectancy by 5 to 10 years, we can reduce the number of patients who are candidates for heart transplantation. We have developed a patient-specific cardiac reshaping net (PS-CRN) to prevent progressive cardiac enlargement (=cardiac remodeling), which is the major factor in worsening heart failure. We have conducted three first-in-human clinical trials. The past and present of the “cardiac support net therapy” will be reviewed

Multimodal action of KRP203 on phosphoinositide kinases in vitro and in cells

Increased phosphoinositide signaling is commonly associated with cancers. While "one-drug one-target" has been a major drug discovery strategy for cancer therapy, a "one-drug multi-targets" approach for phosphoinositide enzymes has the potential to offer a new therapeutic approach. In this study, we sought a new way to target phosphoinositides metabolism. Using a high-throughput phosphatidylinositol 5-phosphate 4-kinase-alpha (PI5P4Kα) assay, we have identified that the immunosuppressor KRP203/Mocravimod induces a significant perturbation in phosphoinositide metabolism in U87MG glioblastoma cells. Despite high sequence similarity of PI5P4K and PI4K isozymes, in vitro kinase assays showed that KRP203 activates some (e.g., PI5P4Kα, PI4KIIβ) while inhibiting other phosphoinositide kinases (e.g., PI5P4Kβ, γ, PI4KIIα, class I PI3K-p110α, δ, γ). Furthermore, KRP203 enhances PI3P5K/PIKFYVE's substrate selectivity for phosphatidylinositol (PI) while preserving its selectivity for PI(3)P. At cellular levels, 3 h of KRP203 treatment induces a prominent increase of PI(3)P and moderate increase of PI(5)P, PI(3, 5)P₂, and PI(3, 4, 5)P₃ levels in U87MG cells. Collectively, the finding of multimodal activity of KRP203 towards multi-phosphoinositide kinases may open a novel basis to modulate cellular processes, potentially leading to more effective treatments for diseases associated with phosphoinositide signaling pathways

Development of hydroxyapatite-coated nonwovens for efficient isolation of somatic stem cells from adipose tissues

Adipose-derived stem cells (ASCs) are an attractive cell source for cell therapy. Despite the increasing number of clinical applications, the methodology for ASC isolation is not optimized for every individual. In this study, we developed an effective material to stabilize explant cultures from small-fragment adipose tissues. Methods: Polypropylene/polyethylene nonwoven sheets were coated with hydroxyapatite (HA) particles. Adipose fragments were then placed on these sheets, and their ability to trap tissue was monitored during explant culture. The yield and properties of the cells were compared to those of cells isolated by conventional collagenase digestion. Results: Hydroxyapatite-coated nonwovens immediately trapped adipose fragments when placed on the sheets. The adhesion was stable even in culture media, leading to cell migration and proliferation from the tissue along with the nonwoven fibers. A higher fiber density further enhanced cell growth. Although cells on nonwoven explants could not be fully collected with cell dissociation enzymes, the cell yield was significantly higher than that of conventional monolayer culture without impacting stem cell properties. Conclusions: Hydroxyapatite-coated nonwovens are useful for the effective primary explant culture of connective tissues without enzymatic cell dissociation

Supranormal orientation selectivity of visual neurons in orientation-restricted animals

Altered sensory experience in early life often leads to remarkable adaptations so that humans and animals can make the best use of the available information in a particular environment. By restricting visual input to a limited range of orientations in young animals, this investigation shows that stimulus selectivity, e.g., the sharpness of tuning of single neurons in the primary visual cortex, is modified to match a particular environment. Specifically, neurons tuned to an experienced orientation in orientation-restricted animals show sharper orientation tuning than neurons in normal animals, whereas the opposite was true for neurons tuned to non-experienced orientations. This sharpened tuning appears to be due to elongated receptive fields. Our results demonstrate that restricted sensory experiences can sculpt the supranormal functions of single neurons tailored for a particular environment. The above findings, in addition to the minimal population response to orientations close to the experienced one, agree with the predictions of a sparse coding hypothesis in which information is represented efficiently by a small number of activated neurons. This suggests that early brain areas adopt an efficient strategy for coding information even when animals are raised in a severely limited visual environment where sensory inputs have an unnatural statistical structure

Weak lensing generated by vector perturbations and detectability of cosmic strings

We study the observational signature of vector metric perturbations through the effect of weak gravitational lensing. In the presence of vector perturbations, the non-vanishing signals for B-mode cosmic shear and curl-mode deflection angle, which have never appeared in the case of scalar metric perturbations, naturally arise. Solving the geodesic and geodesic deviation equations, we drive the full-sky formulas for angular power spectra of weak lensing signals, and give the explicit expressions for E-/B-mode cosmic shear and gradient-/curl-mode deflection angle. As a possible source for seeding vector perturbations, we then consider a cosmic string network, and discuss its detectability from upcoming weak lensing and CMB measurements. Based on the formulas and a simple model for cosmic string network, we calculate the angular power spectra and expected signal-to-noise ratios for the B-mode cosmic shear and curl-mode deflection angle. We find that the weak lensing signals are enhanced for a smaller intercommuting probability of the string network, $P$, and they are potentially detectable from the upcoming cosmic shear and CMB lensing observations. For $P\sim 10^{-1}$, the minimum detectable tension of the cosmic string will be down to $G\mu\sim 5\times 10^{-8}$. With a theoretically inferred smallest value $P\sim 10^{-3}$, we could even detect the string with $G\mu\sim 5\times 10^{-10}$.Comment: 39 pages, 5 figures, v2: references added, minor corrections, v3: matches version published in JCA