Direct and indirect impacts of shoreline development on shallow-water benthic communities in a depauperate estuarine system

Modification of natural coastlines is prevalent as human coastal populations swell and effects of global climate change become clearer. We investigated effects of shoreline hardening and environmental factors on benthic infauna and trophic structure in the Patuxent River, Maryland, a stressed mesohaline Chesapeake Bay tributary. We characterized differences in density, diversity, biomass, and trophic structure for large (\u3e3 mm) and small (\u3e500 μm) infauna adjacent to natural marsh, riprap, and bulkhead (i.e., seawall) shores throughout the river. Akaike information criterion model comparisons were used to assess the evidence for differences in benthic infaunal structure using primary (shoreline type) and secondary (e.g., sediment grain size, predator abundance) variables. There was strong evidence for secondary factors to explain reduced biomass of infauna adjacent to developed shorelines. For large infauna, evidence suggested that shorelines with riprap had reduced diversity, and with bulkhead had increased diversity. Increased wave energy and chlorophyll-a were associated with high densities for both size fractions riprap shorelines. Trends suggested high biomass and more carnivores, omnivores, and deposit feeders adjacent to natural marshes, compared to low biomass and more filter feeders at developed shorelines. While similar studies in lower Chesapeake Bay systems have shown clear effects of shoreline type on benthic communities, the extensive development in the Patuxent River may contribute to larger-scale stress, yet some shoreline-specific effects were detected. Non-parametric tests revealed differences in infaunal communities by shoreline type and river zone. Thus, the benthic community in this estuary is driven by local shoreline effects, as well as large-scale physical and biotic factors

Human Influence at the Coast: Upland and Shoreline Stressors Affect Coastal Macrofauna and Are Mediated by Salinity

Anthropogenic stressors can affect subtidal communities within the land-water interface. Increasing anthropogenic activities, including upland and shoreline development, threaten ecologically important species in these habitats. In this study, we examined the consequences of anthropogenic stressors on benthic macrofaunal communities in 14 subestuaries of Chesapeake Bay. We investigated how subestuary upland use (forested, agricultural, developed land) and shoreline development (riprap and bulkhead compared to marsh and beach) affected density, biomass, and diversity of benthic infauna. Upland and shoreline development were parameters included in the most plausible models among a candidate set compared using corrected Akaike\u27s Information Criterion. For benthic macrofauna, density tended to be lower in subestuaries with developed or mixed compared to forested or agricultural upland use. Benthic biomass was significantly lower in subestuaries with developed compared to forested upland use, and biomass declined exponentially with proportion of near-shore developed land. Benthic density did not differ significantly among natural marsh, beach, and riprap habitats, but tended to be lower adjacent to bulkhead shorelines. Including all subestuaries, there were no differences in diversity by shoreline type. In low salinities, benthic Shannon (H\u27) diversity tended to be higher adjacent to natural marshes compared to the other habitats, and lower adjacent to bulkheads, but the pattern was reversed in high salinities. Sediment characteristics varied by shoreline type and contributed to differences in benthic community structure. Given the changes in the infaunal community with anthropogenic stressors, subestuary upland and shoreline development should be minimized to increase benthic production and subsequent trophic transfer within the food web

Brief of \u3cem\u3eAmicus Curiae\u3c/em\u3e Conference of Chief Justices in Support of Neither Party, Moore v. Harper, No. 21-1271 (U.S. Sept. 6, 2022)

Founded in 1949, amicus curiae Conference of Chief Justices (the “Conference”) is comprised of the Chief Justices or Chief Judges of the courts of last resort in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealths of Puerto Rico and the Northern Mariana Islands, and the Territories of American Samoa, Guam, and the Virgin Islands. For over 70 years, the Conference has been a leading national voice on important issues concerning the administration of justice in state courts, the operation of state courts and judicial systems, and the role of state courts in our federal system. The Conference files briefs amicus curiae only when critical interests of the state courts are at stake. This case involves the authority of state courts to interpret and review the constitutionality of state laws regulating the time, place, and manner of federal elections, and this Court’s resolution may determine the constraints, if any, that the U.S. Constitution places on such state-court review. The Conference has a strong interest in the States’ sovereign right to determine the structure of their state governments, including the authority of state courts and the role of state constitutions within that structure. The Conference recognizes that the States, including state courts, are limited by the U.S. Constitution, and the Conference has a significant interest in ensuring that those limits are properly interpreted to respect the independent sovereignty of the States; that state courts are the ultimate interpreters of the meaning of state law; and that power not expressly assigned to the federal government is “reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” U.S. Const. amend. X. The Conference also has a keen interest in obtaining clear guidance from this Court about whether and to what extent the Elections Clause, U.S. Const. art. I, § 4, cl. 1, affects state courts’ capacity and responsibility to interpret state laws regulating federal elections and to engage in judicial review based on state constitutional provisions. This brief has been reviewed and approved by the Amicus Committee of the Conference, chaired by the Chief Justice of Kentucky, and composed of the current or former Chief Justices of Delaware, Indiana, Missouri, North Dakota, Texas, and Utah. The Conference does not take a position on the proper disposition of this case. Instead, it supports an interpretation of the Elections Clause that reflects the proper role of state courts in our federal system. Summary of argument: The Elections Clause does not bar state court review of state laws governing federal elections under state constitutional provisions

Modulation of G-protein activation, calcium currents and opioid receptor phosphorylation by the pH-dependent antinociceptive agonist NFEPP

N-(3-fluoro-1-phenethylpiperidine-4-yl)-N-phenyl propionamide is a newly-designed pain killer selectively activating G-protein-coupled mu-opioid receptors (MOR) in acidic injured tissues, and therefore devoid of central side effects which are typically elicited at normal pH values in healthy tissues. However, the neuronal mechanisms underlying NFEPP's antinociceptive effects were not examined in detail so far. Voltage-dependent Ca2+ channels (VDCCs) in nociceptive neurons play a major role in the generation and inhibition of pain. In this study, we focused on the effects of NFEPP on calcium currents in rat dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons. The inhibitory role of the G-protein subunits G(i/o) and G beta gamma on VDCCs was investigated using the blockers pertussis toxin and gallein, respectively. GTP gamma S binding, calcium signals and MOR phosphorylation were also investigated. All experiments were performed at acidic and normal pH values using NFEPP in comparison to the conventional opioid agonist fentanyl. At low pH, NFEPP produced more efficient G-protein activation in transfected HEK293 cells and significantly reduced VDCCs in depolarized DRG neurons. The latter effect was mediated by G beta gamma subunits, and NFEPP-mediated MOR phosphorylation was pH-dependent. Fentanyl's responses were not affected by pH changes. Our data indicate that NFEPP-induced MOR signaling is more effective at low pH and that the inhibition of calcium channels in DRG neurons underlies NFEPP's antinociceptive actions

A global analysis of complexity–biodiversity relationships on marine artificial structures

Topographic complexity is widely accepted as a key driver of biodiversity, but at the patch-scale, complexity–biodiversity relationships may vary spatially and temporally according to the environmental stressors complexity mitigates, and the species richness and identity of potential colonists. Using a manipulative experiment, we assessed spatial variation in patch-scale effects of complexity on intertidal biodiversity

Shared genetic risk between eating disorder- and substance-use-related phenotypes:Evidence from genome-wide association studies

First published: 16 February 202

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Brief of \u3cem\u3eAmicus Curiae\u3c/em\u3e Conference of Chief Justices in Support of Neither Party, Moore v. Harper, No. 21-1271 (U.S. Sept. 6, 2022)

Founded in 1949, amicus curiae Conference of Chief Justices (the “Conference”) is comprised of the Chief Justices or Chief Judges of the courts of last resort in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealths of Puerto Rico and the Northern Mariana Islands, and the Territories of American Samoa, Guam, and the Virgin Islands. For over 70 years, the Conference has been a leading national voice on important issues concerning the administration of justice in state courts, the operation of state courts and judicial systems, and the role of state courts in our federal system. The Conference files briefs amicus curiae only when critical interests of the state courts are at stake. This case involves the authority of state courts to interpret and review the constitutionality of state laws regulating the time, place, and manner of federal elections, and this Court’s resolution may determine the constraints, if any, that the U.S. Constitution places on such state-court review. The Conference has a strong interest in the States’ sovereign right to determine the structure of their state governments, including the authority of state courts and the role of state constitutions within that structure. The Conference recognizes that the States, including state courts, are limited by the U.S. Constitution, and the Conference has a significant interest in ensuring that those limits are properly interpreted to respect the independent sovereignty of the States; that state courts are the ultimate interpreters of the meaning of state law; and that power not expressly assigned to the federal government is “reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” U.S. Const. amend. X. The Conference also has a keen interest in obtaining clear guidance from this Court about whether and to what extent the Elections Clause, U.S. Const. art. I, § 4, cl. 1, affects state courts’ capacity and responsibility to interpret state laws regulating federal elections and to engage in judicial review based on state constitutional provisions. This brief has been reviewed and approved by the Amicus Committee of the Conference, chaired by the Chief Justice of Kentucky, and composed of the current or former Chief Justices of Delaware, Indiana, Missouri, North Dakota, Texas, and Utah. The Conference does not take a position on the proper disposition of this case. Instead, it supports an interpretation of the Elections Clause that reflects the proper role of state courts in our federal system. Summary of argument: The Elections Clause does not bar state court review of state laws governing federal elections under state constitutional provisions

SYMPOSIUM Diet Selectivity of Juvenile Blue Crabs (Callinectes sapidus)

Synopsis Shallow coves in Chesapeake Bay have abundant food and serve as nursery grounds for juvenile blue crabs. In this study, we examined the relationships between the diet of very small (4–40mm CW) juvenile blue crabs and the benthic infauna in shallow, unvegetated nursery coves. We compared infauna in benthic samples with gut contents of juvenile blue crabs from six shallow coves in each of two sub-estuaries (Rappahannock and York Rivers) in Chesapeake Bay, Virginia, USA. Benthic communities differed depending on river and location, with abundant clams in upriver regions and abundant polychaetes in downriver regions. Juvenile crabs, like adults, appeared to be opportunistic feeders, with gut contents including clams, amphipods, polychaetes, small crustaceans, plant matter, and detritus. There was a positive relationship between polychaetes in the benthic samples and in crab guts, suggesting that juvenile crabs are opportunistic feeders on polychaetes in the benthos. Moreover, Ivlev’s electivity index and foraging ratio showed that clams and polychaetes were selectively eaten at all locations. Alternatively, crabs selectively rejected amphipods. Crab densities corresponded positively with polychaete densities, which suggests that there may be bottom–up control of cra

Broad-scale association between seagrass cover and juvenile blue crab density in Chesapeake Bay

Although numerous small-scale laboratory, mesocosm, and field experiments have demonstrated that abundance, survival, and growth of juvenile fish and invertebrates are higher in vegetated than in unvegetated habitats, the effect of habitat quality (i.e. habitat complexity) within vegetated habitats has not been documented at a broad spatial scale. We examined the relationship between percent cover in seagrass beds (eelgrass Zostera marina, widgeon grass Ruppia maritima, and associated macroalgae) and juvenile blue crab Callinectes sapidus density at a broad spatial scale. We quantified the functional relationship between juvenile density and percent cover of vegetation by sampling in Chesapeake Bay (USA) seagrass beds utilized by juvenile blue crabs in the fall of 2007 and 2008, following peak postlarval blue crab recruitment. Based on Akaike’s information criterion model comparisons, the most plausible model included both percent cover of vegetation and region of Chesapeake Bay. Juvenile crab density was a positive exponential function of percent cover of vegetation, and was augmented by 14 to 30%, depending on year, for every 10% increase in cover. Density was approximately 2 times higher on the western shore of Chesapeake Bay than on the eastern shore. Seagrass bed area, presence or absence of algae, and distance to the mouth of the bay did not significantly influence density. An expected threshold (i.e. sigmoid) response of juvenile density to percent cover of vegetation was not evident, probably because this study was undertaken when recruitment was low, so habitats may not have been at carrying capacity. This study is the first to document the functional relationship between habitat quality and juvenile density at a broad spatial scale for a marine fish or invertebrate, and suggests that the quality of seagrass habitat influences population dynamics