The biological weapons regime

This chapter looks at the web of measures in place to prohibit and prevent biological weapons. It argues that theoretically this web most closely resembles a type of “strong global prohibition regime”, yet at the same time, the notion of strength suggests a level of confidence in the regime that is misplaced at this current juncture when, in fact, there is little room for complacency concerning biological weapons. Shifts in the wider disarmament landscape, combined with changes in the capacity and geography of the life sciences, on the one hand, and the wider security context on the other, could result in the biological weapons regime being profoundly weakened in the future if it is not adequately “tended” by stakeholders. After a short introduction to biological weapons, the chapter proceeds to outline the origins of the 1925 Geneva Protocol. It then proceeds to look at the genesis of the 1972 Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention. The third section looks at the evolution and expansion of the BW regime in three different areas: domestic measures; effective verification; and international cooperation. The penultimate section of this chapter provides some reflections on the limitations of the biological weapons prohibition regime and the means whereby a changing scientific and security milieu present a potential challenge to the maintenance of a strong global regime

Gonad development in females of fiddler crab Uca rapax (Crustacea, Brachyura, Ocypodidae) using macro and microscopic techniques

The morphology of the ovaries in Uca rapax (Smith, 1870) was described based on macroscopic and microscopic analysis. Females were collected in Itamambuca mangrove, Ubatuba, state of São Paulo, Brazil. In the laboratory, 18 females had their ovaries removed and prepared for histology. Each gonad developmental stage was previously determined based on external and macroscopic morphology and afterwards each stage was microscopically described. The ovaries of U. rapax showed a pronounced macroscopic differentiation in size and coloration with the maturation of the gonad, with six ovarian developmental stages: immature, rudimentary, developing, developed, advanced and spent. During the vitellogenesis, the amount of oocytes in secondary stage increases in the ovary, resulting in a change in coloration of the gonad. Oogonias, primary oocytes, secondary oocytes and follicular cells were histologically described and measured. In female's ovaries of U. rapax the modifications observed in the oocytes during the process of gonad maturation are similar to descriptions of gonads of other females of brachyuran crustaceans. The similarities are specially found in the morphological changes in the reproductive cells, and also in the presence and arrange of follicle cells during the process of ovary maturation. When external morphological characteristics of the gonads were compared to histological descriptions, it was possible to observe modifications that characterize the process in different developmental stages throughout the ovarian cycle and, consequently, the macroscopic classification of gonad stages agree with the modifications of the reproductive cells