Reproductive Success of the White-Faced Ibis: The Effects of Pesticides and Colony Characteristics

Reproductive success of white-faced ibis (Plegadis chihi) was measured in nine colonies on marshes in northern Utah during 1979. The effects of pesticides and characteristics of colonies and sub-colonies on reproductive success were examined. DDE was present in all 80 eggs sampled and had a geometric mean concentration of 1.25 ppm. Shell thickness of 176 eggs was 4.3 percent below pre-1945 thickness. Shell thickness was weakly correlated with residues of DDT, DDE, Dieldrin, and heptachlor epoxide. Residues of these four pesticides were all correlated with each other. However, because of the stronger correlations between shell thickness and two residues, DDE and DDT, and because of studies in the literature, it was concluded that these two residues were responsible for the observed shell thinning. Observed levels of pesticides did not cause sufficient shell thinning to reduce hatching success, but clutch size was negatively correlated with pesticide residues. Only two characteristics of colonies were observed to be associated with differences in reproductive success. Earlier sub-colonies had larger clutches and larger colonies suffered higher rates of predation. If there are effects of subcolony size, degree of nesting synchrony, vegetation type, or avian species association on reproductive success, they may not be detectable with one year of data

Selection of Foraging and Nesting Sites by Black-Throated Blue Warblers: Their Relative Influence on Habitat Choice

To understand why breeding Black-throated Blue Warblers (Dendroica caerulescens) select forests with dense shrubs, I assessed the value of this habitat in supplying opportunities for foraging and nesting. I predicted that these warblers would select shrub foliage for foraging if foraging substrate was important in their selection of habitat and that they would place their nests in areas of dense shrubs if nest-site availability affected habitat choice. To measure foraging and nest-site selection, I compared the proportion of foraging or nests in a particular habitat element to the availability of that element expressed as a proportion of all habitat elements. Foraging males under-utilized shrub foliage (below 3 m) in relation to its relative availability and over-utilized the sparse foliage between 3-9 m high. On a horizontal plane, males over-utilized areas of their territories with dense shrub foliage, but this could be due to the greater number of shrubs in these areas. Small samples of females and males feeding fledglings indicated that the lower foliage strata, but not necessarily dense shrub patches, might be important to these groups. These results demonstrate differences in foraging patterns between the sexes and between stages of the breeding cycle. More importantly, foraging Black-throated Blue Warblers showed no consistent selection of dense shrubs. As this species is more abundant in forests with dense shrubs, these analyses suggest that foraging may have a minor influence on habitat selection. Black-throated Blue Warblers consistently selected areas of dense shrubs for nesting. Number of shrub stems and amount of foliage (0-1 m high) were significantly higher at nests than at random points. Furthermore, on an experimental plot with chemically defoliated shrubs, males continued to forage, but nesting was markedly reduced. These results suggest that, while shrubs are used for both foraging and nesting, nest-site requirements may be more important in determining what habitat is selected by Black-throated Blue Warblers. If nest-site requirements determine habitat choices in other forest birds, then the availability of suitable nest-sites should have an important effect on community structure

Ohio Economic Insects and Related Anthropods

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HFC-23 (CHF3) emission trend response to HCFC-22 (CHClF2) production and recent HFC-23 emission abatement measures

HFC-23 (also known as CHF3 [CHF subscript 3], fluoroform or trifluoromethane) is a potent greenhouse gas (GHG), with a global warming potential (GWP) of 14 800 for a 100-year time horizon. It is an unavoidable by-product of HCFC-22 (CHClF2 [CHCIF subscript 2], chlorodifluoromethane) production. HCFC-22, an ozone depleting substance (ODS), is used extensively in commercial refrigeration and air conditioning, in the extruded polystyrene (XPS) foam industries (dispersive applications) and also as a feedstock in fluoropolymer manufacture (a non-dispersive use). Aside from small markets in specialty uses, HFC-23 has historically been considered a waste gas that was, and often still is, simply vented to the atmosphere. Efforts have been made in the past two decades to reduce HFC-23 emissions, including destruction (incineration) in facilities in developing countries under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change's (UNFCCC) Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), and by process optimization and/or voluntary incineration by most producers in developed countries. We present observations of lower-tropospheric mole fractions of HFC-23 measured by "Medusa" GC/MSD instruments from ambient air sampled in situ at the Advanced Global Atmospheric Gases Experiment (AGAGE) network of five remote sites (2007–2009) and in Cape Grim air archive (CGAA) samples (1978–2009) from Tasmania, Australia. These observations are used with the AGAGE 2-D atmospheric 12-box model and an inverse method to produce model mole fractions and a "top-down" HFC-23 emission history. The model 2009 annual mean global lower-tropospheric background abundance is 22.6 (±0.2) pmol mol−1 [mol superscript -1]. The derived HFC-23 emissions show a "plateau" during 1997–2003, followed by a rapid ~50% increase to a peak of 15.0 (+1.3/−1.2) Gg/yr in 2006. Following this peak, emissions of HFC-23 declined rapidly to 8.6 (+0.9/−1.0) Gg/yr in 2009, the lowest annual emission of the past 15 years. We derive a 1990–2008 "bottom-up" HFC-23 emission history using data from the United Nations Environment Programme and the UNFCCC. Comparison with the top-down HFC-23 emission history shows agreement within the stated uncertainties. In the 1990s, HFC-23 emissions from developed countries dominated all other sources, then began to decline and eventually became fairly constant during 2003–2008. By this point, with developed countries' emissions essentially at a plateau, the major factor controlling the annual dynamics of global HFC-23 emissions became the historical rise of developing countries' HCFC-22 dispersive use production, which peaked in 2007. Thereafter in 2007–2009, incineration through CDM projects became a larger factor, reducing global HFC-23 emissions despite rapidly rising HCFC-22 feedstock production in developing countries.NASA Upper Atmospheric Research Program (Grant NNX07AE89G)NASA Upper Atmospheric Research Program (Grant NNX07AF09G)NASA Upper Atmospheric Research Program (Grant NNX07AE87G

Atmospheric three-dimensional inverse modeling of regional industrial emissions and global oceanic uptake of carbon tetrachloride

Carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) has substantial stratospheric ozone depletion potential and its consumption is controlled under the Montreal Protocol and its amendments. We implement a Kalman filter using atmospheric CCl4 measurements and a 3-dimensional chemical transport model to estimate the interannual regional industrial emissions and seasonal global oceanic uptake of CCl4 for the period of 1996–2004. The Model of Atmospheric Transport and Chemistry (MATCH), driven by offline National Center for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) reanalysis meteorological fields, is used to simulate CCl4 mole fractions and calculate their sensitivities to regional sources and sinks using a finite difference approach. High frequency observations from the Advanced Global Atmospheric Gases Experiment (AGAGE) and the Earth System Research Laboratory (ESRL) of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and low frequency flask observations are together used to constrain the source and sink magnitudes, estimated as factors that multiply the a priori fluxes. Although industry data imply that the global industrial emissions were substantially declining with large interannual variations, the optimized results show only small interannual variations and a small decreasing trend. The global surface CCl4 mole fractions were declining in this period because the CCl4 oceanic and stratospheric sinks exceeded the industrial emissions. Compared to the a priori values, the inversion results indicate substantial increases in industrial emissions originating from the South Asian/Indian and Southeast Asian regions, and significant decreases in emissions from the European and North American regions.United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Grant NNX07AE89G)United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Grant NAG5-12669)United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Grant NAG5-12099)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (grant ATM-0120468)United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Grant NNX07AF09G)United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Grant NNX07AE87G)Great Britain. Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (grants EPG 1/1/159)Great Britain. Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (grant CPEG 24)Great Britain. Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (grants GA01081)Australia. Bureau of MeteorologyCSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Researc

Atmospheric abundance and global emissions of perfluorocarbons CF4, C2F6 and C3F8 since 1800 inferred from ice core, firn, air archive and in situ measurements

Perfluorocarbons (PFCs) are very potent and long-lived greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, released predominantly during aluminium production and semiconductor manufacture. They have been targeted for emission controls under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Here we present the first continuous records of the atmospheric abundance of CF4 (PFC-14), C2F6 (PFC-116) and C3F8 (PFC-218) from 1800 to 2014. The records are derived from high-precision measurements of PFCs in air extracted from polar firn or ice at six sites (DE08, DE08-2, DSSW20K, EDML, NEEM and South Pole) and air archive tanks and atmospheric air sampled from both hemispheres. We take account of the age characteristics of the firn and ice core air samples and demonstrate excellent consistency between the ice core, firn and atmospheric measurements. We present an inversion for global emissions from 1900 to 2014. We also formulate the inversion to directly infer emission factors for PFC emissions due to aluminium production prior to the 1980s. We show that 19th century atmospheric levels, before significant anthropogenic influence, were stable at 34.1 ± 0.3 ppt for CF4 and below detection limits of 0.002 and 0.01 ppt for C2F6 and C3F8, respectively. We find a significant peak in CF4 and C2F6 emissions around 1940, most likely due to the high demand for aluminium during World War II, for example for construction of aircraft, but these emissions were nevertheless much lower than in recent years. The PFC emission factors for aluminium production in the early 20th century were significantly higher than today but have decreased since then due to improvements and better control of the smelting process. Mitigation efforts have led to decreases in emissions from peaks in 1980 (CF4) or early-to-mid-2000s (C2F6 and C3F8) despite the continued increase in global aluminium production; however, these decreases in emissions appear to have recently halted. We see a temporary reduction of around 15 % in CF4 emissions in 2009, presumably associated with the impact of the global financial crisis on aluminium and semiconductor production

Homogenization of Plant Diversity, Composition, and Structure in North American Urban Yards

Urban ecosystems are widely hypothesized to be more ecologically homogeneous than natural ecosystems. We argue that urban plant communities assemble from a complex mix of horticultural and regional species pools, and evaluate the homogenization hypothesis by comparing cultivated and spontaneously occurring urban vegetation to natural area vegetation across seven major U.S. cities. There was limited support for homogenization of urban diversity, as the cultivated and spontaneous yard flora had greater numbers of species than natural areas, and cultivated phylogenetic diversity was also greater. However, urban yards showed evidence of homogenization of composition and structure. Yards were compositionally more similar across regions than were natural areas, and tree density was less variable in yards than in comparable natural areas. This homogenization of biodiversity likely reflects similar horticultural source pools, homeowner preferences, and management practices across U.S. cities

Datgan, a reusable software system for facile interrogation and visualization of complex transcription profiling data

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>We introduce Glaucoma Discovery Platform (GDP), an online environment for facile visualization and interrogation of complex transcription profiling datasets for glaucoma. We also report the availability of Datgan, the suite of scripts that was developed to construct GDP. This reusable software system complements existing repositories such as NCBI GEO or EBI ArrayExpress as it allows the construction of searchable databases to maximize understanding of user-selected transcription profiling datasets.</p> <p>Description</p> <p>Datgan scripts were used to construct both the underlying data tables and the web interface that form GDP. GDP is populated using data from a mouse model of glaucoma. The data was generated using the DBA/2J strain, a widely used mouse model of glaucoma. The DBA/2J-<it>Gpnmb⁺</it>strain provided a genetically matched control strain that does not develop glaucoma. We separately assessed both the retina and the optic nerve head, important tissues in glaucoma. We used hierarchical clustering to identify early molecular stages of glaucoma that could not be identified using morphological assessment of disease. GDP has two components. First, an interactive search and retrieve component provides the ability to assess gene(s) of interest in all identified stages of disease in both the retina and optic nerve head. The output is returned in graphical and tabular format with statistically significant differences highlighted for easy visual analysis. Second, a bulk download component allows lists of differentially expressed genes to be retrieved as a series of files compatible with Excel. To facilitate access to additional information available for genes of interest, GDP is linked to selected external resources including Mouse Genome Informatics and Online Medelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Datgan-constructed databases allow user-friendly access to datasets that involve temporally ordered stages of disease or developmental stages. Datgan and GDP are available from <url>http://glaucomadb.jax.org/glaucoma</url>.</p

Measurement of the lepton charge asymmetry in W-boson decays produced in p-pbar collisions

We describe a measurement of the charge asymmetry of leptons from W boson decays in the rapidity range 0 enu, munu events from 110+/-7 pb^{-1}of data collected by the CDF detector during 1992-95. The asymmetry data constrain the ratio of d and u quark momentum distributions in the proton over the x range of 0.006 to 0.34 at Q2 \approx M_W^2. The asymmetry predictions that use parton distribution functions obtained from previously published CDF data in the central rapidity region (0.0<|y_l|<1.1) do not agree with the new data in the large rapidity region (|y_l|>1.1).Comment: 13 pages, 3 tables, 1 figur