Status reports of the fisheries and aquatic resources of Western Australia 2015/16. State of the fisheries

As part of the transition to ultimately using a web based, hierarchical interface, this years’ edition of the Status Reports of the Fisheries and Aquatic Resources of Western Australia 2015/16 is adopting a more streamlined format. These changes include updates to the summary table which, in addition to displaying the stock and fishery performance levels, now includes current performance and risk levels for each of the other EBFM outcomes (e.g. bycatch, listed species, economics etc.).https://researchlibrary.agric.wa.gov.au/an_sofar/1008/thumbnail.jp

Cluster Observations of a Cusp Diamagnetic Cavity: Structure, Size, and Dynamics

We have analyzed Cluster magnetic field and plasma data during high‐altitude cusp crossing and compared them with high‐resolution MHD simulations. Cluster encountered a diamagnetic cavity (DMC) during northward interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) conditions, and as the IMF rotated southward, the spacecraft reencountered the cavity more at the sunward side of the cusp because the reconnection site had changed location. We found evidence of magnetic reconnection both during northward and southward IMF conditions. The Cluster separation was ∼5000 km, enabling for the first time measurements both inside the DMC and surrounding boundaries that allowed us to construct the structure of the DMC and put the observations of ion pitch angle distributions in context of local reconnection topology and gradients of the boundaries. The cavity is characterized by strong magnetic field fluctuations and high‐energy particles. At the magnetosheath boundary the high‐energy particle fluxes reduced by several orders of magnitude. Throughout the magnetosheath, the high‐energy proton fluxes remained low except during brief intervals when sc4 and sc1 dropped back into the cavity due to changes in solar wind dynamic pressure. However, the high‐energy O+ fluxes did not drop as much in the magnetosheath and were mostly at 60°–120° pitch angles, indicative of a trapped population in the DMC which is observed in the magnetosheath due to a large gyroradius. Significant fluxes of protons and ionized oxygen were also observed escaping from the diamagnetic cavity antiparallel to the magnetic field in a time scale more consistent with the local DMC source than with a reflected bow shock source

Antibiotic Resistance

Our poster discusses an overview of antibiotic resistance. It goes into detail about what it is, how it came to be, and what medical professionals can do in their attempt to prevent it, as well as the general public. It also discusses the impact the impact antibiotic resistance has had on pharmacy, as well as the science behind it. A few organizations working towards this problem, and who keep a close eye on this issue are mentioned as well. We also discuss the determinants of health, which is essentially what is being done about it politically, individually, and the health services provided. Our goal is to stress the importance of properly taking antibiotics, and the potential to prevent this problem from happening. We hope you take some insight behind this issue after reading, and sparks an interest in this topic.https://digitalcommons.cedarville.edu/public_health_posters/1020/thumbnail.jp

Adult helpers increase the recruitment of closely related offspring in the cooperatively breeding rifleman

Indirect fitness benefits gained through kin-selected helping are widely invoked to explain the evolution of cooperative breeding behavior in birds. However, the impact of helpers on productivity of helped broods can be difficult to determine if the effects are confounded by territory quality or if the benefit of helpers is apparent only in the long term. In riflemen Acanthisitta chloris, helping and group membership are effectively decoupled as adult helpers are individuals that have dispersed from their natal territory and live independently from breeders in “kin neighborhoods.” Nevertheless, helpers direct their care toward close relatives, suggesting that helping provides indirect fitness benefits. The aim of this study was to examine the benefits of helpers to recipient offspring in the rifleman, investigating both short- and long-term effects. The total amount of food delivered to nestlings in helped broods was greater than that received by broods without helpers. This did not result in any short-term increase in nestling mass or nestling body condition nor was there any reduction in length of the nestling period at helped nests. However, helpers were associated with a significant increase in juvenile recruitment, with twice the proportion of fledglings surviving to the next breeding season from helped broods relative to unhelped broods. Thus, helpers gain indirect fitness by improving the survival of kin, and in contrast to a previous study of riflemen, we conclude that kin selection has played a key role in the evolution of cooperative breeding in this species

State Capacity and the Environmental Investment Gap in Authoritarian States

We construct an n-period, constrained optimization model where the authoritarian ruler maximizes expected rents subject to budget constraint of available surplus. We show that the larger state capacity is in the previous period, the worse environmental quality will be in the next period: while infrastructural investment and environmental protection increase with state capacity, the former increases at a faster rate which enlarges the gap between the two?the environmental investment gap. Given infrastructural public goods typically damage the environment, the larger this gap is the worse the environmental quality would be. This follows from rulers? optimizing logic of equating marginal returns once we assume the declining marginal productivity of factors of production of surplus. We model three types of air and water pollutants in autocracies as a function of state capacity and other relevant variables. State capacity is associated with higher levels of all three types of pollutants

Micron- to nano-scale intergrowths among members of the cuprobismutite series and paderaite: HRTEM and microanalytical evidence

Copyright © 2004 The Mineralogical SocietyCoherent intergrowths, at the lattice scale, between cuprobismutite (N = 2) and structurally related padraite along both major axes (15 Åand 17 Årepeats) of the two minerals are reported within skarn from Ocna de Fier, Romania. The structural subunit, DTD, 3 layers of padraite, is involved at interfaces of the two minerals along the 15 Årepeat, as well as in transposition of 1 padraite unit to 2 cuprobismutite units along the 17 Årepeat in slip defects. Lattice images obtained by HRTEM across intervals of 200 -400 nm show short- to long-range stacking sequences of cuprobismutite and padraite ribbons. Such nanoscale slabs mimic µm-scale intergrowths observed in back-scattered electron images at three orders of magnitude greater. These slabs are compositionally equivalent to intermediaries in the cuprobismutite-padraite range encountered during microanalysis. Hodrushite (N = 1.5) is identified in the µm-scale intergrowths, but its absence in the lattice images indicates that, in this case, formation of polysomes between structurally related phases is favoured instead of stacking disorder among cuprobismutite homologues. The tendency for short-range ordering and semi-periodic occurrence of polysomes suggests they are the result of an oscillatory chemical signal with periodicity varying from one to three repeats of 15 Å, rather than simple 'accidents' or irregular structural defects. Lead distribution along the polysomes is modelled as an output signal modulated by the periodicity of stacking sequences, with Pb carried within the D units of padraite. This type of modulator acts as a patterning operator activated by chemical waves with amplitudes that encompass the chemical difference between the minerals. Conversion of the padraite structural subunit DTD to the C unit of cuprobismutite, conserving interval width, emphasizes that polysomatic modularity also assists interference of chemical signals with opposite amplitudes. Observed coarsening of lattice-scale intergrowths up to the µm-scale implies coupling between diffusion-controlled structural modulation, and rhythmic precipitation at the skarn front during crystallization.C.L. Ciobanu, A. Pring and N.J. Coo

Helpers and egg investment in the cooperatively breeding acorn woodpecker: testing the concealed helper effects hypothesis

In cooperatively breeding acorn woodpeckers (Melanerpes formicivorus), helper males have a large positive effect on fledging success in good acorn crop years but only a small positive effect in poor acorn crop years, while helper females exhibit the opposite pattern. Based on these findings, we tested the “concealed helper effects” hypothesis, which proposes that laying females reduce investment in eggs (with respect to their size, number, or quality) in a way that confounds helper effects and results in an absence of a relationship between helpers and breeding success. Results generally failed to support the hypothesis. Mean egg size was positively related to temperatures during the 10 days prior to egg-laying and negatively related to the food supply as indexed by the prior fall’s acorn crop, but there were no significant differences vis-à-vis helpers except for interactions with the acorn crop that only partly corresponded to those predicted. With respect to clutch size, females laid larger clutches when assisted by female helpers, opposite the pattern predicted. Although our results suggest that egg size is adjusted to particular ecological circumstances, we conclude that neither egg nor clutch size is adjusted in a way that confounds the apparent effects of helpers, as proposed by the concealed helper effects hypothesis

Wherever I may roam-Human activity alters movements of red deer (Cervus elaphus) and elk (Cervus canadensis) across two continents

Human activity and associated landscape modifications alter the movements of animals with consequences for populations and ecosystems worldwide. Species performing long-distance movements are thought to be particularly sensitive to human impact. Despite the increasing anthropogenic pressure, it remains challenging to understand and predict animals' responses to human activity. Here we address this knowledge gap using 1206 Global Positioning System movement trajectories of 815 individuals from 14 red deer (Cervus elaphus) and 14 elk (Cervus canadensis) populations spanning wide environmental gradients, namely the latitudinal range from the Alps to Scandinavia in Europe, and the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem in North America. We measured individual-level movements relative to the environmental context, or movement expression, using the standardized metric Intensity of Use, reflecting both the directionality and extent of movements. We expected movement expression to be affected by resource (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, NDVI) predictability and topography, but those factors to be superseded by human impact. Red deer and elk movement expression varied along a continuum, from highly segmented trajectories over relatively small areas (high intensity of use), to directed transitions through restricted corridors (low intensity of use). Human activity (Human Footprint Index, HFI) was the strongest driver of movement expression, with a steep increase in Intensity of Use as HFI increased, but only until a threshold was reached. After exceeding this level of impact, the Intensity of Use remained unchanged. These results indicate the overall sensitivity of Cervus movement expression to human activity and suggest a limitation of plastic responses under high human pressure, despite the species also occurring in human-dominated landscapes. Our work represents the first comparison of metric-based movement expression across widely distributed populations of a deer genus, contributing to the understanding and prediction of animals' responses to human activit