Responses of mosquitoes of the Anopheles farauti complex to 1-octen-3-ol and light in combination with carbon dioxide in northern Queensland, Australia

In northern Queensland, Australia, three experiments were conducted to determine the response of mosquitoes of the Anopheles farnuti complex to CDC traps baited with four attractant combinations: octenol + CO2 and light; octenol and light; CO2 and light; or CO2 and octenol without light. A CDC-modified updraft light-trap was also trialled, but did not significantly enhance collections of An.farauti sensu late. The combination of light, octenol and CO2 caught significantly more An.farauti s.l. (both An.farauti No. 1 and No. 2 sibling species) when compared to CO2 and light alone. Only small numbers of the An.farauti complex were captured when CDC traps were baited with octenol alone, i.e. no light or CO2

The physiological status of the ovarian donor affects the in-vitro development of isolated bovine preantral follicles

peer reviewedDescribed in the present paper is the effect of the physiological status of the ovarian donor on the development of isolated bovine preantral follicles during 5 d of culture. The preantral follicles were isolated mechanically from ovaries of calves, or nonpregnant, pregnant and postpartum cows collected at the slaughterhouse. There were no differences observed among calves, nonpregnant and pregnant cows, neither in the percentages of morphologically normal follicles, nor in the mean diameter increase during culture. However, preantral follicles isolated from postpartum animals had a lower viability during culture, as demonstrated by significantly lower percentages of morphologically normal and growing follicles as well as by a levier mean diameter increase. Our findings show that the ovarian source may affect development of bovine preantral follicles in vitro, especially when preantral follicles from postpartum cows were used

The Second Phase of the Global Land-Atmosphere Coupling Experiment (GLACE-2)

A major motivation for the study of the coupled land-atmosphere system is the idea that soil moisture anomalies may affect future meteorological variables through their effects on future surface energy and water budgets. If true, the accurate initialization of soil moisture in a subseasonal or seasonal forecast system may improve forecast skill, making the forecast products more valuable to society. The GLACE-2 project is examining, through a coordinated experiment using a wide variety of models, the degree to which subseasonal (out to two months) precipitation and air temperature forecasts improve through the realistic initialization of soil moisture. For the first time ever, a global consensus should emerge regarding the value of land initialization for forecasts, perhaps motivating national forecast centers to make full use of land moisture initialization in their operation