Population trends and flight behavior of the American burying beetle, Nicrophorus americanus (Coleoptera: Silphidae), on Block Island, RI

The endangered American burying beetle, Nicrophorus americanus, was monitored on Block Island, RI, USA, from 1991–2003 using mark-recapture population estimates of adults collected in pitfall traps. Populations increased through time, especially after 1994 when a program was initiated that provided carrion for beetle production. Beetle captures increased with increasing temperature and dew point, and decreased with increasing wind speed. Short distance movement was not related to wind direction, while longer distance flights tended to be downwind. Although many individuals flew considerable distances along transects, most recaptures were in traps near the point of release. These behaviors probably have counterbalancing effects on population estimates.The U.S. Goverment's right to retain a non-exclusive, royalty-free license in and to any copyright is acknowledged.     

鲫幼鱼耳石荧光标记效果

为确认茜素络合物对鲫（Carassius auratus）耳石进行有效标记的可行性,以便为鲫甚至其他鲤科鱼类标志放流技术的开发及效果评估提供一定的借鉴,本研究以孵出后90 d的鲫幼鱼为研究对象,设置单一浓度（100 mg/L）的茜素络合物浸泡标记5 d,分析茜素络合物在耳石上的沉积情况以及不同耳石在不同后续饲养天数的动态变化。结果表明,矢耳石、微耳石和星耳石上在可见光、绿色和蓝色激发光下都检测到了良好的茜素络合物标记环,标记率和存活率均为100%。但不同耳石的茜素络合物标记效果不同,荧光下,星耳石的标记效果最显著,微耳石次之;可见光下,微耳石的标记效果最好,星耳石次之。随着后续饲养天数的延长,可见光下标记逐渐减弱,至20 d时基本消失,而在绿色和蓝色激光下标记环荧光强度无减弱迹象,能长久保持,且在蓝色激发光下标记环更易被观测到。上述结果结合鲫生长、存活和行为正常等情况综合显示,在100 mg/L茜素络合物溶液中浸泡标记鲫幼鱼5 d,其耳石可以获得满意的标记效果。     

Worker demography in a large-colony,swarm-founding wasp

Neotropical swarm-founding wasps build nests enclosed in a covering envelope, which makes it difficult to count individual births and deaths. Thus, knowledge of worker demography is very limited for swarm-founding species compared with that for independent-founding species. In this study, we explored the worker demography of the swarm-founding wasp Polybia paulista, the colony size of which usually exceeds several thousand adults. We considered each wasp colony as an open-population and estimated the survival probability, recruitment rate, and population size of workers using the developments of the Cormack–Jolly–Seber model. We found that capture probability varied considerably among the workers, probably due to age polyethism and/or task specialization. The daily survival rate of workers was high (around 0.97) throughout the season and was not related to the phase of colony development. On the other hand, the recruitment rate ranged from 0 to 0.37, suggesting that worker production was substantially less important than worker survival in determining worker population fluctuations. When we compared survival rates among worker groups of one colony, the mean daily survival rate was lower for founding workers than for progeny workers and tended to be higher in progeny workers that emerged in winter. These differences in survivorship patterns among worker cohorts would be related to worker foraging activity and/or level of parasitism.     

Local site differences in survival and parasitism of periwinkles (Littorina sitkana Philippi, 1846)

The periwinkle, Littorina sitkana, is found throughout the intertidal zone, often in isolated subpopulations. The majority of trematode parasites use snails as intermediate hosts, and decreased survivorship is often observed in snails infected with trematodes. Sampling L. sitkana from four sites in Barkley Sound, British Columbia, Canada, we test the effects of parasitic infection on snail survival using maximum likelihood and Bayesian approaches using the software MARK and WinBUGS. We found that survival of periwinkles and trematode community composition differed among sites, but survival and trematode prevalence were uncorrelated. WinBUGS performed better than MARK in two ways: (1) by allowing the use of information on known mortality, thus preventing survival overestimation; and (2) by giving more stable estimates while testing the effect of body size on snail survival. Our results suggest that snail survival depends heavily on local environmental factors that may vary greatly within a small geographical region. These findings are important because the majority of experimental studies on survival are done on snails from a single location.     

Laboratory appraisal of optimal gaseous conditions for growth of zoonotic Helicobacter felis ATCC 49179

An attempt was made to assess the hitherto undescribed optimal gaseous conditions for growth of zoonotic Helicobacter felis, focusing on the ratio of spiral-forms amongst the whole cells examined. The largest mean colony diameter was obtained under the gaseous condition of O₂ 12% and CO₂ 10%. In analyzing the five day old colonies, the highest percentage of spiral forms (85.5%) was observed under the condition of O₂ 18% and CO₂ 5%. In contrast, the lowest percentage of spiral forms (2.3%) was demonstrated under the condition of O₂ 1% and CO₂ 10%. The condition of O₂ 12% and CO₂ 10% was concluded to be optimal for obtaining cells with the largest colony sizes, although colonies proliferated under such conditions definitely contain many more coccoid cells than spiral forms. In culturing H. felis strains, optimal gaseous conditions should be employed according to the purposes or preferences of study designs.     

光电阅读机在大人群现场调查中数据处理及质量控制 的应用

目的:探讨光电阅读机在大样本现场调查项目质量控制和数据录入中的作用.方法:使用光电阅读机读入《子宫颈癌危险因素调查表》信息并进行表格质量评估,核查调查表中调查对象编码缺失、重复及进行读入信息一致性比对.结果:在录入的70160份数据中,调查对象编码缺失率为0.87％,调查对象编码重复率为0.79％,信息一致率为99.47％.3个项目点连续三个月质量控制,表格不合格率略有下降.结论:在大人群现场调查项目中通过光电阅读机进行质量控制及数据录入,能快速准确的将纸质信息转化为电子信息,并对电子信息进行核查,能迅速将调查表评估结果和建议反馈给调查表填写人员,及时指导调查员改进调查项目的编写方法和调查表内容的填写方法,从而提高了调查表信息采集质量,促进项目科研数据真实可信.     

用中性红标记酵母原生质体初探

用２％蜗牛酶处理酵母细胞６０分钟,啤酒酵母Ｙ２９的原生质体形成率为９０％,再生率为９．５％;糖化酵母ＩＢ的原生质体形成率为８６％,再生率为１２％。用５００ｐｐｍ中性红染液对Ｙ２９菌株的整细胞和原生质体染色１５分钟,细胞的着色率为８４％,存活率为１２％,而原生质体的着色率为７５％,再生率为６．４％,经染色后的原生质体体积缩小,在交变电场中排队所需的场强电降低。     

Bayesian analysis of wildlife age-at-harvest data

SUMMARY: State and federal natural resource management agencies often collect age-structured harvest data. These data represent finite realizations of stochastic demographic and sampling processes and have long been used by biologists to infer population trends. However, different sources of data have been combined in ad hoc ways and these methods usually failed to incorporate sampling error. In this article, we propose a "hidden process" (or state-space) model for estimating abundance, survival, recovery rate, and recruitment from age-at-harvest data that incorporate both demographic and sampling stochasticity. To this end, a likelihood for age-at-harvest data is developed by embedding a population dynamics model within a model for the sampling process. Under this framework, the identification of abundance parameters can be achieved by conducting a joint analysis with an auxiliary data set. We illustrate this approach by conducting a Bayesian analysis of age-at-harvest and mark-recovery data from black bears (Ursus americanus) in Pennsylvania. Using a set of reasonable prior distributions, we demonstrate a substantial increase in precision when posterior summaries of abundance are compared to a bias-corrected Lincoln-Petersen estimator. Because demographic processes link consecutive abundance estimates, we also obtain a more realistic biological picture of annual changes in abundance. Because age-at-harvest data are often readily obtained, we argue that this type of analysis provides a valuable strategy for wildlife population monitoring.