Common pattern of population decline for freshwater cetacean species in deteriorating habitats

1. Freshwater cetacean species, including the baiji (Lipotes vexillifer), Amazon River dolphin (Inia geoffrensis), Ganges/Indus River dolphins (Platanista spp.) and Yangtze finless porpoise (Neophocaena asiaeorientalis asiaeorientalis), apex predators in megariver ecosystems, face serious challenges owing to the deterioration of habitat quality. 2. We simulated population change of four freshwater cetacean species under increasing habitat deterioration. Carrying capacity (K) was used to represent the habitat quality, and a logistic model was used to describe the rate of habitat deterioration (dK). 3. An individual‐based Leslie matrix model showed that population declines and extinctions in freshwater cetaceans under increasing habitat deterioration exhibit a consistent pattern irrespective of the initial level of K or population size. When dK is low, population abundance fluctuates stochastically around initial K, but a rapid increase in dK is accompanied by a sharp population decline, with a residual population ultimately declining continuously to extinction. 4. Simulations show that traditional census survey techniques used in cetacean species are unlikely to detect early signs of population decline before a critical level is reached. 5. Empirical data of the likely extinction of baiji strongly agree with our simulation exercise, implying that extinction of other freshwater cetacean species may occur sooner than previously considered. Hence, precautionary approaches for habitat restoration and landscape management should be implemented before freshwater cetacean population declines are detected, and ideally, before habitat quality begins to deteriorate.     

Dinosaur Evolution: Student Response to Dinosaur Ramblings

Abstract: In the 2007 Journal of Wildlife Management article “Dinosaur Ramblings,” Scalet described a shift in university and agency programs away from applied management research toward basic ecological research. We interpret Scalet's commentary as primarily synonymizing applied management research to game management and basic ecological research to nongame management and theoretical research. Although we agree with Scalet that a change in management practices has occurred, we believe that change is more an integration of applied and basic research as opposed to a shift away from management. We provide a hierarchical framework to alternatively explain Scalet's perceived shift in which we place applied management and basic theoretical research under the science of ecology. We believe integration of basic and applied research has been driven by the evolving structure of society and the public's changing view of natural resources. The integration of basic and applied research is necessary for informed and, thence, better management practices.     

Winter Fidelity and Apparent Survival of Lesser Snow Goose Populations in the Pacific Flyway

Abstract The Beringia region of the Arctic contains 2 colonies of lesser snow geese (Chen caerulescens caerulescens) breeding on Wrangel Island, Russia, and Banks Island, Canada, and wintering in North America. The Wrangel Island population is composed of 2 subpopulations from a sympatric breeding colony but separate wintering areas, whereas the Banks Island population shares a sympatric wintering area in California, USA, with one of the Wrangel Island subpopulations. The Wrangel Island colony represents the last major snow goose population in Russia and has fluctuated considerably since 1970, whereas the Banks Island population has more than doubled. The reasons for these changes are unclear, but hypotheses include independent population demographics (survival and recruitment) and immigration and emigration among breeding or wintering populations. These demographic and movement patterns have important ecological and management implications for understanding goose population structure, harvest of admixed populations, and gene flow among populations with separate breeding or wintering areas. From 1993 to 1996, we neckbanded molting birds at their breeding colonies and resighted birds on the wintering grounds. We used multistate mark-recapture models to evaluate apparent survival rates, resighting rates, winter fidelity, and potential exchange among these populations. We also compared the utility of face stain in Wrangel Island breeding geese as a predictor of their wintering area. Our results showed similar apparent survival rates between subpopulations of Wrangel Island snow geese and lower apparent survival, but higher emigration, for the Banks Island birds. Males had lower apparent survival than females, most likely due to differences in neckband loss. Transition between wintering areas was low (<3%), with equal movement between northern and southern wintering areas for Wrangel Island birds and little evidence of exchange between the Banks and northern Wrangel Island populations. Face staining was an unreliable indicator of wintering area. Our findings suggest that northern and southern Wrangel Island subpopulations should be considered a metapopulation in better understanding and managing Pacific Flyway lesser snow geese. Yet the absence of a strong population connection between Banks Island and Wrangel Island geese suggests that these breeding colonies can be managed as separate but overlapping populations. Additionally, winter population fidelity may be more important in lesser snow geese than in other species, and both breeding and wintering areas are important components of population management for sympatric wintering populations.     

Four New Species of Eimeria (Protozoa: Eimeriidae) from the Pika Ochotona princeps from Alberta and O. pallasi from Kazakhstan1

SYNOPSIS. Eimeria worleyi n. sp. and Eimeria barretti n. sp. from the pika Ochotona princeps from Alberta and Eimeria pallasi n. sp. and Eimeria shubini n. sp. from the pika Ochotona pallasi from Central Kazakhstan are described. Oocysts of E. worleyi were 12–16 by 10–15 μ (mean 13.5 by 12.5 μ) and spherical to subspherical. E. barretti oocysts were ellipsoidal to slightly ovoid and 27–36 by 21–27 μ (mean 32.9 by 23.8 μ). Oocysts of E. pallasi were ellipsoidal or ovoid and 19–34 by 17–26 μ (mean 26.3 by 21.3 μ). E. shubini oocysts were spherical and 22 μ in diameter. E. kriygsmanni Yakimoff and Gousseff, 1938 of Svanbaev (1958) in O. pallasi, [non] E. kriigsmanni Yakimoff and Gousseff, 1938 in Mus musculus, is a synonym of E. pallasi. E. musculi Yakimoff and Gousseff, 1938 of Svanbaev (1958) in O. pallasi, [non] E. musculi Yakimoff and Gousseff, 1938 in Mus musculus, is a synonym of E. shubini.     

Changes in Activity of Choline Acetylase in Central Nervous System of Rat after Intraventricular Administration of Noradrenaline

APPLICATION of strychnine or d-tubocurarine to the exposed cerebral cortex leads after a few minutes to abnormality in somatosensory evoked potentials^1,2. This consists of a surface negative wave (peak latency, 21–23 ms) which attains an amplitude five to twenty times greater than that of the normal evoked potentials and probably reflects excessive depolarization of the apical dendrites of pyramidal neurones. We wish to report the blocking of this effect by prior application of eserine to the cortex.     

Restoration of Haemolytic Complement Activity in C5-deficient Mice by Gene Complementation in Hybrid Cells

THE fusion of cells by inactivated Sendai virus provides a method for the study of gene regulation in mammalian cells. Two cells, each with a specific enzyme deficiency, have been joined to yield a hybrid cell containing both previously deficient enzymes^{1, 2}. Harris and his co-workers have shown that terminally differentiated chick erythrocyte nuclei, when introduced into HeLa cytoplasm by cell fusion, are “reactivated” and direct the elaboration, by the hybrid cell, of chick proteins^{3, 4}. These in vitro examples of gene complementation in hybrid cells give no indication of the functional significance of the elaborated gene products. We have used the cell fusion technique to develop an experimental model for the potential-correction of a specific genetic defect in a living animal.