The Effects of Acute and Chronic Exercise on Cognitive Functioning

Healthy cognitive functioning (CF) is a process by which individuals are able to accurately engage in various CF-related tasks, including concentration, memory, planning, and reasoning. Exercise is associated with improved CF; however, we are uncertain as to the optimal intensity for eliciting improvements in CF. Further, most of the research on this topic has been limited to older adults. Lastly, few studies have examined associations between both acute and chronic exercise on CF. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine associations between acute and chronic exercise with CF on healthy, young adults (M age = 21.64 yrs, 68% Male). A series of CF tests were administered to 25 participants that assessed concentration, memory, planning, and reasoning. These tests were completed during two visits, separated by approximately 1 week. Participants completed an acute bout of exercise (30 min on a treadmill at a randomly assigned intensity [light, moderate, or vigorous]) during one of the visits, with the order counterbalanced. Chronic exercise was assessed via accelerometry for up to 7 days. Regarding acute exercise, a 30 min bout of acute exercise at a light-intensity (40-50% of HRmax) improved CF-related reasoning (14.8 vs. 18.6, p = 0.02), as assessed from the Grammatical Reasoning test. Similarly, a 30 min bout of moderate-intensity exercise (50-75% of HRmax) improved CF-related concentration (103.1 vs. 154.1, p = 0.01), as assessed from the Feature Match test of concentration. With regard to chronic exercise, for every 60 min increase in accelerometer-determined moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, there was a 5.4 point/unit increase (β = 5.4, p = 0.04) in CF-related reasoning, as assessed from the Odd-One-Out test. In summary, these findings suggest that both acute and chronic exercise may have a beneficial effect on CF-related reasoning and concentration among young healthy adults

Fluxes, Fins, and Feathers: Relationships Among the Bering, Chukchi, and Beaufort Seas in a Time of Climate Change

Ocean currents, water masses, and seasonal sea ice formation determine linkages among and barriers between the biotas of the Bering, Chukchi, and Beaufort Seas. The Bering Sea communicates with the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas via northward advection of water, nutrients, and plankton through Bering Strait. However, continuity of the ocean's physical properties is modulated by regional differences in heat, salt, and sea ice budgets, in particular, along the meridional gradient. Using summer density data from zooplankton, fish (bottom and surface trawl), and seabird surveys, we define three biogeographic provinces: the Eastern Bering Shelf Province (the eastern Bering Sea shelf south of Saint Lawrence Island), the Chirikov-Chukchi Province (the eastern Bering Sea shelf north of Saint Lawrence Island [Chirikov Basin] and Chukchi Sea), and the Beaufort Sea Province. Regional differences in summer distributions of biota largely reflect the underlying oceanography. Climate warming will reduce the duration and possibly the extent of seasonal ice cover in the Eastern Bering Shelf Province, but this warming may not lead to increased abundance of some subarctic species because seasonal ice cover and cold (< 2°C) bottom waters on the Bering shelf form a barrier to the northward migration of subarctic bottom fish species typical of the southeastern Bering Sea. While Arctic species that are dependent upon the summer extent of sea ice face an uncertain future, other Arctic species' resilience to a changing climate will be derived from waters that continue to freeze each winter

Climate science strategy of the US National Marine Fisheries Service

International audienceChanges to our climate and oceans are already affecting living marine resources (LMRs) and the people, businesses, and economies that depend on them. As a result, the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) has developed a Climate Science Strategy (CSS) to increase the production and use of the climate-related information necessary to fulfill its LMR stewardship mission for fisheries management and protected species conservation. The CSS establishes seven objectives: (1) determine appropriate, climate-informed reference points; (2) identify robust strategies for managing LMRs under changing climate conditions; (3) design decision processes that are robust to climate-change scenarios; (4) predict future states of ecosystems, LMRs, and LMR-dependent human communities; (5) determine the mechanisms of climate-change related effects on ecosystems, LMRs, and LMR-dependent human communities; (6) track trends in ecosystems, LMRs, and LMR-dependent human communities and provide early warning of change; and (7) build and maintain the science infrastructure required to fulfill NMFS mandates under changing climate conditions. These objectives provide a nationally consistent approach to addressing climate-LMR science needs that supports informed decision-making and effective implementation of the NMFS legislative mandates in each region. Near term actions that will address all objectives include: (1) conducting climate vulnerability analyses in each region for all LMRs; (2) establishing and strengthening ecosystem indicators and status reports in all regions; and (3) developing a capacity to conduct management strategy evaluations of climate-related impacts on management targets, priorities, and goals. Implementation of the Strategy over the next few years and beyond is critical for effective fulfillment of the NMFS mission and mandates in a changing climate