Consumers' Perception of Food-System Vulnerability to an Agroterrorist Attack

This paper uses results from a 2004 survey (N=1,010) on consumer attitudes toward agroterrorism and food-system security to investigate heterogeneous attributes affecting vulnerability including risk perceptions and fear. Using 15 separate multinomial PROBIT regressions we distinguish between vulnerability on a number of aspects of food-system security including food type and position in the food-supply chain. Vulnerability is not found to be common across food groups or respondents, and a variety of distinguishing characteristics can be used to investigate how individuals might perceive vulnerability.Agribusiness, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

Biodiversity conservation and the earth system – mind the gap

One of the most striking human impacts on global biodiversity is the ongoing depletion of large vertebrates from terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Recent work suggests this loss of megafauna can affect processes at biome or Earth system scales with potentially serious impacts on ecosystem structure and function, ecosystem services, and biogeochemical cycles. We argue that our contemporary approach to biodiversity conservation focuses on spatial scales that are too small to adequately address these impacts. We advocate a new global approach to address this conservation gap, which must enable megafaunal populations to recover to functionally relevant densities. We conclude that re-establishing biome and Earth system functions needs to become an urgent global priority for conservation science and policy

Integrating ecology into macroevolutionary research

On 9 March, over 150 biologists gathered in London for the Centre for Ecology and Evolution spring symposium, ‘Integrating Ecology into Macroevolutionary Research’. The event brought together researchers from London-based institutions alongside others from across the UK, Europe and North America for a day of talks. The meeting highlighted methodological advances and recent analyses of exemplar datasets focusing on the exploration of the role of ecological processes in shaping macroevolutionary patterns

The medium over the message: differential knowledge of conservation outreach activities and implications for threatened species

Conservation outreach is regularly conducted to increase support for conservation by altering local awareness and attitudes about species or environmental issues. However, there is often little assessment of the effectiveness of these activities. We investigated knowledge of past conservation outreach in 26 villages adjacent to Bawangling National Nature Reserve, Hainan, China, which contains the last population of the Hainan gibbon (Nomascus hainanus). The medium of past outreach activities was reported most frequently by interviewees, followed by who delivered them and the outreach topic, with the fewest interviewees reporting the specific messages being communicated (the consequences of following conservation management policies). Negatively-framed messages, emphasizing prohibited activities and associated punishments, were reported more than positively-framed messages that aimed to foster conservation support. Male interviewees and those with higher education levels reported more aspects of past activities. The Hainan gibbon had higher salience than other threatened native species, and reporting the occurrence (but not necessarily the content) of past outreach was associated with increased likelihood of knowing that gibbons were threatened. These findings highlight the need for conservation outreach to increase both exposure and retention of key messages among target audiences. Meaningful and concrete conservation benefits should be communicated to local communities, and the effectiveness of outreach using a flagship species could be expanded to also improve awareness of other conservation-priority species within the same landscape

Inositol (14,5)-trisphosphate receptor links to filamentous actin are important for generating local Ca2+ signals in pancreatic acinar cells

We explored a potential structural and functional link between filamentous actin (F-actin) and inositol (1,4,5)trisphosphate receptors IP(3)Rs) in mouse pancreatic acinar cells. Using immunocytochemistry, F-actin and type 2 and 3 IP(3)Rs (IP(3)R2 and IP3R3) were identified in a cellular compartment immediately beneath the apical plasma membrane. In an effort to demonstrate that IP3R distribution is dependent on an intact F-actin network in the apical subplasmalemmal region, cells were treated with the actin-depolymerising agent latrunculin B. Immunocytochernistry indicated that latrunculin B treatment reduced F-actin in the basolateral subplasmalemmal compartment, and reduced and fractured F-actin in the apical subplasmalemmal compartment. This latrunculin-B-induced loss of F-actin in the apical region coincided with a reduction in IP(3)R2 and IP(3)R3, with the remaining IP(3)Rs localized with the remaining F-actin. Experiments using western blot analysis showed that IP(3)R3s are resistant to extraction by detergents, which indicates a potential interaction with the cytoskeleton. Latrunculin B treatment in whole-cell patch-clamped cells inhibited Ca2+-dependent Cl- current spikes evoked by inositol (2,4,5)-trisphosphate; this is due to an inhibition of the underlying local Ca2+ signal. Based on these findings, we suggest that IP3Rs form links with F-actin in the apical domain and that these links are essential for the generation of local Ca2+ spikes

Mitigating the effect of shipping on freshwater megafauna: the case study of the Yangtze finless porpoise

Shipping has increasingly become a major threat to cetaceans due to its direct effect (e.g. ship strikes) and indirect effects (e.g. noise and habitat displacement). Most previous studies have focused on the deleterious effects of shipping traffic on marine species, while the effect of shipping on freshwater cetaceans has received little attention. The Yangtze River is a major trade artery in China, and shipping traffic there caused deaths of the now-extinct Yangtze river dolphin or baiji (Lipotes vexillifer). Here, we examine the distributional overlap of another cetacean species, the critically endangered Yangtze finless porpoise (Neophocoena asiaorientalis asiaorientalis) and cargo ships in a busy section of Yangtze River from Ezhou to Zhenjiang City. We use vessel-based survey data from 2006, 2012, and 2017 to quantify the distribution of porpoise. We use satellite images to quantify the distribution of cargo vessels travelling upstream. Most porpoise were concentrated within 300 m of the river banks. Shipping increased by 65% from 2006 to 2017, and ~ 60% of the upstream vessels was also within 300 m of the banks. This increase in shipping may have caused an observed shift in porpoise distribution away from the banks after 2006. Enhanced enforcement of existing shipping regulations that limit vessels to established shipping lane and set refuges in the side channels could help reduce the distributional overlap of porpoise and ships and aid in porpoise conservation. This could be applied and benefit the cetacean conservation under continued growth of shipping in rivers

Imperial trophy or island relict? A new extinction paradigm for Père David's deer: a Chinese conservation icon

The file attached is the Published/publisher’s pdf version of the article