The effect of phosphorus binding clay (Phoslock®) in mitigating cyanobacterial nuisance: a laboratory study on the effects on water quality variables and plankton

This laboratory study examined the lanthanum modified clay Phoslock® for its effectiveness to bind soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP), release of nutrients from this modified clay, its influence on water quality variables (pH, oxygen saturation %, conductivity and turbidity), effects on phytoplankton growth (green alga Scenedesmus obliquus, cyanobacteria Microcystis aeruginosa and Anabaena sp.), and, lastly, its effect on the population growth of the rotifer Brachionus calyciflorus. A clear dose–response for SRP binding by the modified clay was observed. A small amount of ammonium is released from Phoslock®. We found no effect of Phoslock® on pH or oxygen saturation. Conductivity increased with the increasing concentration of Phoslock®. An application of Phoslock® caused a transient increase of turbidity up to 211 NTU. However, due to rapid settlement, turbidity fell below 13 NTU (~1 m Secchi depth), after 6 h. Phoslock® addition caused a reduction in growth of all phytoplankton species tested that we attribute to the combined effects of light limitation, flocculation with the bentonite and binding of SRP to Phoslock®. We estimated the EC50 of Phoslock® on the population growth of rotifer B. calyciflorus to be 0.15 g Phoslock® l-1. Overall, the results of our study indicate Phoslock® seems to be suitable for field applications

Cyanobacteria blooms cannot be controlled by effective microorganisms (EM) from mud- or Bokashi-balls

In controlled experiments, the ability of ‘‘Effective Microorganisms (EM, in the form of mudballs or Bokashi-balls)’’ was tested for clearing waters from cyanobacteria. We found suspensions of EM-mudballs up to 1 g l-1 to be ineffective in reducing cyanobacterial growth. In all controls and EM-mudball treatments up to 1 g l-1 the cyanobacterial chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) concentrations increased within 4 weeks from&120 to 325–435 lg l-1. When pieces of EM-mudballs (42.5 g) were added to 25-l lake water with cyanobacteria, no decrease of cyanobacteria as compared to untreated controls was observed. In contrast, after 4 weeks cyanobacterial Chl-a concentrations were significantly higher in EM-mudball treatments (52 lg l-1) than in controls (20 lg l-1). Only when suspensions with extremely high EM-mudball concentrations were applied (i.e., 5 and 10 g l-1), exceeding the recommended concentrations by orders of magnitude, cyanobacterial growth was inhibited and a bloom forming concentration was reduced strongly. In these high dosing treatments, the oxygen concentration dropped initially to very low levels of 1.8 g l-1. This was most probably through forcing strong light limitation on the cyanobacteria caused by the high amount of clay and subsequent high turbidity of the water. Hence, this study yields no support for the hypothesis that EM is effective in preventing cyanobacterial proliferation or in terminating blooms. We consider EM products to be ineffective because they neither permanently bind nor remove phosphorus from eutroficated systems, they have no inhibiting effect on cyanobacteria, and they could even be an extra source of nutrients

Interactions between male guppies facilitates the transmission of the mongenean ectoparasite Gyrodactylus turnbulli

In a previous study we found that female guppies shoaled more than males and that there was greater transmission of the ectoparasite Gyrodactylus turnbulli between females. Here, to test for a possible sex bias in parasite transmission, we conducted a similar experiment on single sex shoals of male and female guppies, observing host behaviour before and after the introduction of an infected shoal mate. The initial parasite burden was considerably lower in the present experiment (30 worms versus >100 worms previously) and we used a different stock of ornamental guppies (Green Cobra variety versus a Tuxedo hybrid previously). Contrary to our previous finding, males aggregated significantly more than females. Males performed ‘sigmoid’ displays towards each other, a courtship behaviour that is more generally directed towards females. Due to the high rate of male–male interactions, parasite transmission was 10 times higher between males than between females. Furthermore, shoaling intensity was highest for the most parasitised fish indicating that these infected fish were not avoided by non-parasitised conspecifics. These studies show that certain social behaviours including shoaling and courtship displays, appear to facilitate the transmission of gyrodactylid parasites

The effects of inbreeding on disease susceptibility:Gyrodactylus turnbulli infection of guppies, Poecilia reticulata

Inbreeding can threaten population persistence by reducing disease resistance through the accelerated loss of gene diversity (i.e. heterozygosity). Such inbreeding depression can affect many different fitness-related traits, including survival, reproductive success, and parasite susceptibility. Empirically quantifying the effects of inbreeding on parasite resistance is therefore important for ex-situ conservation of vertebrates. The present study evaluates the disease susceptibility of individuals bred under three different breeding regimes (inbred, crossed with full siblings; control, randomly crossed mating; and fully outbred). Specifically, we examined the relationship between inbreeding coefficient (F-coefficient) and susceptibility to Gyrodactylus turnbulli infection in a live bearing vertebrate, the guppy Poecilia reticulata. Host-breeding regime significantly affected the trajectories of parasite population growth on individual fish. Inbred fish showed significantly higher mean parasite intensity than fish from the control and outbred breeding regimes, and in addition, inbred fish were slower in purging their gyrodactylid infections. We discuss the role of inbreeding on the various arms of the immune system, and argue that the increased disease susceptibility of inbred individuals could contribute to the extinction vortex. This is one of the first studies to quantify the effects of inbreeding and breeding regime on disease susceptibility in a captive bred vertebrate of wild origin, and it highlights the risks faced by small (captive-bred) populations when exposed to their native parasites

Inference of Selection Based on Temporal Genetic Differentiation in the Study of Highly Polymorphic Multigene Families

The co-evolutionary arms race between host immune genes and parasite virulence genes is known as Red Queen dynamics. Temporal fluctuations in allele frequencies, or the ‘turnover’ of alleles at immune genes, are concordant with predictions of the Red Queen hypothesis. Such observations are often taken as evidence of host-parasite co-evolution. Here, we use computer simulations of the Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) of guppies (Poecilia reticulata) to study the turnover rate of alleles (temporal genetic differentiation, G’ST). Temporal fluctuations in MHC allele frequencies can be $#order of magnitude larger than changes observed at neutral loci. Although such large fluctuations in the MHC are consistent with Red Queen dynamics, simulations show that other demographic and population genetic processes can account for this observation, these include: (1) overdominant selection, (2) fluctuating population size within a metapopulation, and (3) the number of novel MHC alleles introduced by immigrants when there are multiple duplicated genes. Synergy between these forces combined with migration rate and the effective population size can drive the rapid turnover in MHC alleles. We posit that rapid allelic turnover is an inherent property of highly polymorphic multigene families and that it cannot be taken as evidence of Red Queen dynamics. Furthermore, combining temporal samples in spatial FST outlier analysis may obscure the signal of selection

Assessment of the status, development and diversification of fisheries-dependent communities: Urk Case Study Report

This case study about Urk shows which social and economic challenges this traditional fishing community faces due to its specialization on just a few stocks, the increasing independence of a processing sector no longer reliant on it to supply locally caught fish, and culturally preferences in the way of life and ways of doing things, and the additional hardship of limited TACs, forced decommissioning, low stock prices, and high fixed costs (fuel costs)

Sex-Specific Differences in Shoaling Affect Parasite Transmission in Guppies

Background: Individuals have to trade-off the costs and benefits of group membership during shoaling behaviour. Shoaling can increase the risk of parasite transmission, but this cost has rarely been quantified experimentally. Guppies (Poecilia reticulata) are a model system for behavioural studies, and they are commonly infected by gyrodactylid parasites, notorious fish pathogens that are directly transmitted between guppy hosts. Methodology/Principal Findings:Parasite transmission in single sex shoals of male and female guppies were observed using an experimental infection of Gyrodactylus turnbulli. Parasite transmission was affected by sex-specific differences in host behaviour, and significantly more parasites were transmitted when fish had more frequent and more prolonged contact with each other. Females shoaled significantly more than males and had a four times higher risk to contract an infection. Conclusions/Significance: Intersexual differences in host behaviours such as shoaling are driven by differences in natural and sexual selection experienced by both sexes. Here we show that the potential benefits of an increased shoaling tendency are traded off against increased risks of contracting an infectious parasite in a group-living species

Contracts to Communities: A Processual Model of Organizational Virtue

In the face of systemic challenges to corporate legitimacy, scholars and managers alike have been rethinking traditional answers to the question: What does it take to be a good company? We approach this question in two novel ways. We offer a normative answer, grounded in virtue ethics, by introducing a threefold typology of organizational forms. The moral goodness of each form depends on the congruence between its purpose and virtues. But we also offer a positive answer in the form of a processual model which traces corporate goodness to its empirical antecedents and consequences. The model defies a view of organizations as innately good or evil, but rather portrays virtue as the sediment of a value infusion process. We predict that if managers succeed in establishing in their organizations the kind of virtues necessary to support collective moral agency, they can expect to reap gains like enhanced effectiveness and legitimacy. However, when they neglect their moral responsibilities, the result will likely be organizational demise.Stakeholder theory;Corporate performance;Business ethics;Normative theorizing;Organizational goodness;Virtue ethics;Positive theorizing

Estimates of genetic differentiation measured by FST do not necessarily require large sample sizes when using many SNP markers

Population genetic studies provide insights into the evolutionary processes that influence the distribution of sequence variants within and among wild populations. FST is among the most widely used measures for genetic differentiation and plays a central role in ecological and evolutionary genetic studies. It is commonly thought that large sample sizes are required in order to precisely infer FST and that small sample sizes lead to overestimation of genetic differentiation. Until recently, studies in ecological model organisms incorporated a limited number of genetic markers, but since the emergence of next generation sequencing, the panel size of genetic markers available even in non-reference organisms has rapidly increased. In this study we examine whether a large number of genetic markers can substitute for small sample sizes when estimating FST. We tested the behavior of three different estimators that infer FST and that are commonly used in population genetic studies. By simulating populations, we assessed the effects of sample size and the number of markers on the various estimates of genetic differentiation. Furthermore, we tested the effect of ascertainment bias on these estimates. We show that the population sample size can be significantly reduced (as small as n = 4–6) when using an appropriate estimator and a large number of bi-allelic genetic markers (k.1,000). Therefore, conservation genetic studies can now obtain almost the same statistical power as studies performed on model organisms using markers developed with next-generation sequencing