Diel activity patterns in demersal fishes on Heceta Bank, Oregon

Most fishes exhibit differences in activity patterns from day to night, with a switch from high to low activity at dusk and reverse at dawn. Marine reef fishes show similar behavior among sites, despite dissimilar species assemblages, suggesting that common selection pressures are leading to convergent behavior. Few studies to date have examined 24-hour changes in species composition and activity patterns in temperate deepwater habitats, where day to night differences in light intensity are low. In 2000, a consortium of research organizations conducted overlapping surveys during day, night, dawn, and dusk periods using the ROPOS remotely operated vehicle (ROV) on Heceta Bank, Oregon. Activity in fishes was classified by movement and contact with the seafloor. Most taxa were broadly distributed by depth, station and habitat during both day and night. General patterns in activity were similar to other shallow temperate diel studies with an overall increase in abundance and activity of fishes during the day compared to night, particularly in shallow areas of large substratum. However, few taxa showed evidence of diel niche partitioning of habitat and most taxa did not exhibit distinct diurnal or nocturnal behavior. During dawn, some taxa showed sequential emergence and increased activity over a 2.5 hour time period, although no distinct quiet period was shown. For some fishes with significant day-night differences in abundance and activity, this work suggests that daytime groundfish trawl surveys may have an important sampling bias. This research is unique in that ROV technology is used to examine diel fluctuations in abundance and activity of demersal fishes at a relatively deep, temperate rocky bank along the outer continental shelf in the vicinity of one of the most important areas for groundfish fisheries off the Oregon coast

Prospectus, May 7, 2014

FINAL EXAMS MADE ME DO IT.; Tips for getting through finals week; Not your typical Summer Camp: A guide to summer music festivals; Fun summer activities around C-U; With Net Neutrality gone, effects are already felt; Universities\u27 customer service problem; Farewell to several staff members; Clutts earns win number 600; Spamalot a hit for the Parkland Theatre; ILLIAC music festival will debut in Urbanahttps://spark.parkland.edu/prospectus_2014/1021/thumbnail.jp

Environmental DNA facilitates accurate, inexpensive, and multi‐year population estimates of millions of anadromous fish

Although environmental DNA shed from an organism is now widely used for species detection in a wide variety of contexts, mobilizing environmental DNA for management requires estimation of population size and trends in addition to assessing presence or absence. However, the efficacy of environmental‐DNA‐based indices of abundance for long‐term population monitoring have not yet been assessed. Here we report on the relationship between six years of mark‐recapture population estimates for eulachon (Thaleichthys pacificus) and ‘eDNA rates,’ which are calculated from the product of stream flow and DNA concentration. Eulachon are a culturally and biologically important anadromous fish that have significantly declined in the southern part of their range but were historically rendered into oil and traded. Both the peak eDNA rate and the area under the curve of the daily eDNA rate were highly predictive of the mark‐recapture population estimate, explaining 84.96% and 92.53% of the deviance respectively. Even in the absence of flow correction, the peak of the daily eDNA concentration explained an astonishing 89.53% while the area under the curve explained 90.74% of the deviance. These results support the use of eDNA to monitor eulachon population trends and represent a > 80% cost savings over mark‐recapture, which could be further increased with automated water sampling, reduced replication, and focused temporal sampling. Due to its logistical ease and affordability, eDNA sampling can facilitate monitoring a larger number of rivers and in remote locations where mark‐recapture is infeasible

Public awareness and support for use of wastewater for SARS-CoV-2 monitoring: A community survey in Louisville, Kentucky

The majority of sewer systems in the United States and other countries, are operated by public utilities. In the absence of any regulation, public perception of monitoring wastewater for population health biomarkers is an important consideration for a public utility commission when allocating resources for this purpose. In August 2021, we conducted a survey as part of an ongoing COVID-19 community prevalence study in Louisville/Jefferson County, KY. The survey comprised of seven questions about awareness of and privacy concerns and was sent to 32,000 households randomly distributed within the county. A total of 1,220 sampled adults participated in the probability sample, and 981 were used in analysis. A total of 2,444 adults additionally responded in the convenience sample, and 1,751 were used in analysis. The samples were weighted to produce estimates representative of all adults in the county. Public awareness of tracking COVID-19 virus in the sewers was low. Opinions about how data from this activity are shared strongly supported public disclosure of monitoring results. Responses showed more support for measuring the largest areas (\u3e30,000 to 50,000 households) typically representing population levels found in a community or regional wastewater treatment plant. Those who had a history of COVID-19 infection were more likely to support highly localized monitoring. Understanding wastewater surveillance strategies and thresholds of privacy concerns requires in-depth, comprehensive analysis of public opinion for continued success and efficacy of public health monitoring

Soil water-holding capacity and monodominance in Southern Amazon tropical forests

Background and aims: We explored the hypothesis that low soil water-holding capacity is the main factor driving the monodominance of Brosimum rubescens in a monodominant forest in Southern Amazonia. Tropical monodominant forests are rare ecosystems with low diversity and high dominance of a single tree species. The causes of this atypical condition are still poorly understood. Some studies have shown a relationship between monodominance and waterlogging or soil attributes, while others have concluded that edaphic factors have little or no explanatory value, but none has accounted for soil-moisture variation other than waterlogging. This study is the first to explicitly explore how low soil water-holding capacity influences the monodominance of tropical forests. Methods: We conducted in situ measurements of vertical soil moisture using electrical resistance collected over 1 year at 0–5; 35–40 and 75–80 cm depths in a B. rubescens monodominant forest and in an adjacent mixed-species forest in the Amazon-Cerrado transition zone, Brazil. Minimum leaf water potential (Ψmin) of the seven most common species, including B. rubescens, and soil water-holding capacity for both forests were determined. Results: The vertical soil moisture decay pattern was similar in both forests for all depths. However, the slightly higher water availability in the monodominant forest and Ψmin similarity between B. rubescens and nearby mixed forest species indicate that low water-availability does not cause the monodominance. Conclusions: We reject the hypothesis that monodominance of B. rubescens is primarily determined by low soil water-holding capacity, reinforcing the idea that monodominance in tropical forests is not determined by a single factor

Above-ground biomass and structure of 260 African tropical forests.

We report above-ground biomass (AGB), basal area, stem density and wood mass density estimates from 260 sample plots (mean size: 1.2 ha) in intact closed-canopy tropical forests across 12 African countries. Mean AGB is 395.7 Mg dry mass ha⁻¹ (95% CI: 14.3), substantially higher than Amazonian values, with the Congo Basin and contiguous forest region attaining AGB values (429 Mg ha⁻¹) similar to those of Bornean forests, and significantly greater than East or West African forests. AGB therefore appears generally higher in palaeo- compared with neotropical forests. However, mean stem density is low (426 ± 11 stems ha⁻¹ greater than or equal to 100 mm diameter) compared with both Amazonian and Bornean forests (cf. approx. 600) and is the signature structural feature of African tropical forests. While spatial autocorrelation complicates analyses, AGB shows a positive relationship with rainfall in the driest nine months of the year, and an opposite association with the wettest three months of the year; a negative relationship with temperature; positive relationship with clay-rich soils; and negative relationships with C : N ratio (suggesting a positive soil phosphorus-AGB relationship), and soil fertility computed as the sum of base cations. The results indicate that AGB is mediated by both climate and soils, and suggest that the AGB of African closed-canopy tropical forests may be particularly sensitive to future precipitation and temperature changes

Stretching the IR theoretical spectrum on Irish neutrality: a critical social constructivist framework

In a 2006 International Political Science Review article, entitled "Choosing to Go It Alone: Irish Neutrality in Theoretical and Comparative Perspective," Neal G. Jesse argues that Irish neutrality is best understood through a neoliberal rather than a neorealist international relations theory framework. This article posits an alternative "critical social constructivist" framework for understanding Irish neutrality. The first part of the article considers the differences between neoliberalism and social constructivism and argues why critical social constructivism's emphasis on beliefs, identity, and the agency of the public in foreign policy are key factors explaining Irish neutrality today. Using public opinion data, the second part of the article tests whether national identity, independence, ethnocentrism, attitudes to Northern Ireland, and efficacy are factors driving public support for Irish neutrality. The results show that public attitudes to Irish neutrality are structured along the dimensions of independence and identity, indicating empirical support for a critical social constructivist framework of understanding of Irish neutrality

Development and validation of a targeted gene sequencing panel for application to disparate cancers

Next generation sequencing has revolutionised genomic studies of cancer, having facilitated the development of precision oncology treatments based on a tumour’s molecular profile. We aimed to develop a targeted gene sequencing panel for application to disparate cancer types with particular focus on tumours of the head and neck, plus test for utility in liquid biopsy. The final panel designed through Roche/Nimblegen combined 451 cancer-associated genes (2.01 Mb target region). 136 patient DNA samples were collected for performance and application testing. Panel sensitivity and precision were measured using well-characterised DNA controls (n = 47), and specificity by Sanger sequencing of the Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor Interacting Protein (AIP) gene in 89 patients. Assessment of liquid biopsy application employed a pool of synthetic circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA). Library preparation and sequencing were conducted on Illumina-based platforms prior to analysis with our accredited (ISO15189) bioinformatics pipeline. We achieved a mean coverage of 395x, with sensitivity and specificity of >99% and precision of >97%. Liquid biopsy revealed detection to 1.25% variant allele frequency. Application to head and neck tumours/cancers resulted in detection of mutations aligned to published databases. In conclusion, we have developed an analytically-validated panel for application to cancers of disparate types with utility in liquid biopsy

Evenness mediates the global relationship between forest productivity and richness

1. Biodiversity is an important component of natural ecosystems, with higher species richness often correlating with an increase in ecosystem productivity. Yet, this relationship varies substantially across environments, typically becoming less pronounced at high levels of species richness. However, species richness alone cannot reflect all important properties of a community, including community evenness, which may mediate the relationship between biodiversity and productivity. If the evenness of a community correlates negatively with richness across forests globally, then a greater number of species may not always increase overall diversity and productivity of the system. Theoretical work and local empirical studies have shown that the effect of evenness on ecosystem functioning may be especially strong at high richness levels, yet the consistency of this remains untested at a global scale. 2. Here, we used a dataset of forests from across the globe, which includes composition, biomass accumulation and net primary productivity, to explore whether productivity correlates with community evenness and richness in a way that evenness appears to buffer the effect of richness. Specifically, we evaluated whether low levels of evenness in speciose communities correlate with the attenuation of the richness–productivity relationship. 3. We found that tree species richness and evenness are negatively correlated across forests globally, with highly speciose forests typically comprising a few dominant and many rare species. Furthermore, we found that the correlation between diversity and productivity changes with evenness: at low richness, uneven communities are more productive, while at high richness, even communities are more productive. 4. Synthesis. Collectively, these results demonstrate that evenness is an integral component of the relationship between biodiversity and productivity, and that the attenuating effect of richness on forest productivity might be partly explained by low evenness in speciose communities. Productivity generally increases with species richness, until reduced evenness limits the overall increases in community diversity. Our research suggests that evenness is a fundamental component of biodiversity–ecosystem function relationships, and is of critical importance for guiding conservation and sustainable ecosystem management decisions