Considerations for management strategy evaluation for small pelagic fishes

Management strategy evaluation (MSE) is the state-of-the-art approach for testing and comparing management strategies in a way that accounts for multiple sources of uncertainty (e.g. monitoring, estimation, and implementation). Management strategy evaluation can help identify management strategies that are robust to uncertainty about the life history of the target species and its relationship to other species in the food web. Small pelagic fish (e.g. anchovy, herring and sardine) fulfil an important ecological role in marine food webs and present challenges to the use of MSE and other simulation-based evaluation approaches. This is due to considerable stochastic variation in their ecology and life history, which leads to substantial observation and process uncertainty. Here, we summarize the current state of MSE for small pelagic fishes worldwide. We leverage expert input from ecologists and modellers to draw attention to sources of process and observation uncertainty for small pelagic species, providing examples from geographical regions where these species are ecologically, economically and culturally important. Temporal variation in recruitment and other life-history rates, spatial structure and movement, and species interactions are key considerations for small pelagic fishes. We discuss tools for building these into the MSE process, with examples from existing fisheries. We argue that model complexity should be informed by management priorities and whether ecosystem information will be used to generate dynamics or to inform reference points. We recommend that our list of considerations be used in the initial phases of the MSE process for small pelagic fishes or to build complexity on existing single-species models.publishedVersio

NORMAL COORDINATE TREATMENT OF ACETIC ACID MONOMER AND DIMER

Author Institution: Department of Chemistry, Texas A\&M UniversityNormal vibration calculations of acetic acid monomer $(CH_{3}COOH, CH_{3}COOD, CD_{3}COOH, CD_{3}COOD)$ and acetic acid dimer $( (CH_{3}COOH)_{2}, (CH_{3}COOD)_{2}, (CD_{3}COOH)_{2}$ and $(CD_{3}COOD)_{2})$ were carried out using Urey-Bradley force field with correction terms. On the basis of the experimental assignments of vibrational spectra of spectra of acetic acid monomer and dimer so far published and also on the basis of the calculated frequencies and the potential energy distributions, a correspondence was set up between the observed frequencies and the calculated frequencies. Force constants were adjusted by a perturbation procedure so as to give a satisfactory agreement of the observed frequencies with the calculated frequencies in the correspondence, and the nature of vibrations was elucidated by the potential energy distributions calculated using the final set of force constants

Sardine potential habitat and environmental forcing off western Portugal

Relationships between sardine (Sardina pilchardus) distribution and the environment off western Portugal were explored using data from seven acoustic surveys (spring and autumn of 2000, 2001, 2005, and spring 2006). Four environmental variables (salinity, temperature, chlorophyll a, and acoustic epipelagic backscatter other than fish) were related to the acoustic presence and density of sardine. Univariate quotient analysis revealed sardine preferences for waters with high chlorophyll a content, low temperature and salinity, and low acoustic epipelagic backscatter. Generalized additive models depicted significant relationships between the environment and sardine presence but not with sardine density. Maps of sardine potential habitat (SPH) built upon the presence/absence models revealed a clear seasonal effect in the across-bathymetry and alongshelf extension of SPH off western Portugal. During autumn, SPH covered a large part of the northern Portuguese continental shelf but was almost absent from the southern region, whereas in spring SPH extended farther south but was reduced to a narrow band of shallow coastal waters in the north. This seasonal pattern agrees with the spatio-temporal variation of primary production and oceanic circulation described for the western Iberian shelf

NORMAL COORDINATE ANALYSES OF SIX ELECTRONICALLY EXCITED NON-LINEAR XY2XY_{2} MOLECULES.

Author Institution: Thermodynamics Research Center, Department of Chemistry Texas A \& M UniversityFor most of the electronically excited non-linear triatomic molecules, the antisymmetric stretching frequencies are not observed. In order to predict the molecular force fields and the unobserved fundamental frequencies, a normal coordinate treatment has been carried out for certain electronically excited bent triatomic molecules; namely, $H_{2}O(^{1}B_{1}), D_{2}O(^{1}B_{1}), ClO_{2}(^{2}A_{2}), SO_{2}(^{2}B_{1}, ^{1}B_{2}, ?), SO^{18}_{2}$ $(^{1}B_{2})$. The FG matrix method employing the most general quadratic potential function of the valence force type was used. The technique of separation of high and low frequencies was used for the $XO_{2}$ type molecules; but the calculated $F_{11}$'s were corrected using the following relation developed for the ground state species: $\% error = 10.2092 (G_{ts}G^{-1}_{ss}G_{s't'})+3.2094.$ The two main and two cross-term potential constants for all these molecules were determined. The bond stretching constants were fixed by comparison with the reliable data for corresponding diatomic molecules in the ground and excited states and triatomic molecules in the ground states. In turn the antisymmetric stretching frequenceies ($cm^{-1}$) for these molecules were predicted. They are as follows: $H_{2}O(^{1}B_{1})-3258; D_{2}O(^{1}B_{1})-2389; ClO_{2}(^{2}A_{2})-769; SO_{2}(^{2}B_{1})-1315; SO_{2}(^{1}B_{2}-1108; SO_{2}(?)-1219; SO^{18}_{2}(^{1}B_{2})-1061; NO_{2}(^{2}B_{2})-1083$

SPECTRAL DATA OF THE API RESEARCH PROJECT 44: SURVEY AND ANALYSIS

Author Institution: Department of Chemistry, Carnegie Institute of Technolog