Territory acquisition in a polymorphic lizard: An experimental approach

Males of the colour polymorphic Australian painted dragon lizard Ctenophorus pictus occur in red or yellow head colouration. In a previous experiment, we showed that red is associated with a higher probability of winning staged contests for resources (females or space) and that manipulation of male colouration by painting males in the opposing morph changed the dynamics of staged interactions by prolonging them 30‐fold. Thus, colour is linked to behavioural differences between males and is involved in information transfer between competing males. This inherent red dominance could result in yellow males being marginalized to poorer quality territories in terms of access to females, food, perch sites or shade. With an experiment in the wild, we test to what extent this prediction is upheld, and how colour manipulation affects morph‐specific success in territory acquisition when male body size, territory quality and emergence time from hibernation are controlled through manipulation or randomization. There was no significant effect of colour category per se, although on average red males remained closer to the release sites (our proxy for territory acquisition ability) than yellow males and artificially altered morphs moved the furthest away. There was a significant interaction effect between colour category and experimental release position, which may be linked to differences in how exposed (or not) these positions were and morph‐specific ability to cope with such exposure (e.g. ‘boldness’). Our data show that territory acquisition success is not merely a function of competitive ability but a composite outcome of a suite of factors, including signal perception.     

The Health Risk Assessment Approach,a Tool for Managing Risks on the Scale of a Territory: A French Experience

In France, regulatory analysis of the environment and human health potential consequences is implemented for an isolated industrial activity that requests an authorization to operate using the health risk assessment method. To date, the question is enlarged to the impact of the combination of multiple sources of pollution on the same territory. The main conclusions of the work launched by the French High Council of Public Health focus on four key points: (i) the utility of conducting such an analysis at a territory scale, (ii) the delimitation of the area, (iii) the conditions for the different stakeholders’ involvement, and (iv) the methodological specificities of the “zone health risk assessment.” The work encompassed literature reviews, seminars, and interviews of stakeholders. The utility of a Z-HRA is the central objective for the management of risk. It can no longer be conducted only for itself. The delimitation of the zone entails economic, political, environmental, and population aspects. Stakeholders become key actors in a steering and monitoring committee. Among methodological specificities, cumulative exposure comes first. Interpretation of the results should focus on risk management objectives. Finally, inclusion of Z-HRAs in flexible regulations that can be adapted to the local context is recommended.     

Carbon Sequestration in a Large Hydroelectric Reservoir: An Integrative Seismic Approach

Artificial reservoirs likely accumulate more carbon than natural lakes due to their unusually high sedimentation rates. Nevertheless, the actual magnitude of carbon accumulating in reservoirs is poorly known due to a lack of whole-system studies of carbon burial. We determined the organic carbon (OC) burial rate and the total OC stock in the sediments of a tropical hydroelectric reservoir by combining a seismic survey with sediment core sampling. Our data suggest that no sediment accumulation occurs along the margins of the reservoir and that irregular bottom morphology leads to irregular sediment deposition. Such heterogeneous sedimentation resulted in high spatial variation in OC burial—from 0 to 209 g C m^?2 y^?1. Based on a regression between sediment accumulation and OC burial rates (R ² = 0.94), and on the mean reservoir sediment accumulation rate (0.51 cm y^?1, from the seismic survey), the whole-reservoir OC burial rate was estimated at 42.2 g C m^?2 y^?1. This rate was equivalent to 70% of the reported carbon emissions from the reservoir surface to the atmosphere and corresponded to a total sediment OC accumulation of 0.62 Tg C since the reservoir was created. The approach we propose here allows an inexpensive and integrative assessment of OC burial in reservoirs by taking into account the high degree of spatial variability and based on a single assessment. Because burial can be assessed shortly after the survey, the approach combining a seismic survey and coring could, if applied on a larger scale, contribute to a more complete estimate of carbon stocks in freshwater systems in a relatively short period of time.     

Testing Local Adaptation in a Natural Great Tit-Malaria System: An Experimental Approach

Finding out whether Plasmodium spp. are coevolving with their vertebrate hosts is of both theoretical and applied interest and can influence our understanding of the effects and dynamics of malaria infection. In this study, we tested for local adaptation as a signature of coevolution between malaria blood parasites, Plasmodium spp. and its host, the great tit, Parus major. We conducted a reciprocal transplant experiment of birds in the field, where we exposed birds from two populations to Plasmodium parasites. This experimental set-up also provided a unique opportunity to study the natural history of malaria infection in the wild and to assess the effects of primary malaria infection on juvenile birds. We present three main findings: i) there was no support for local adaptation; ii) there was a male-biased infection rate; iii) infection occurred towards the end of the summer and differed between sites. There were also site-specific effects of malaria infection on the hosts. Taken together, we present one of the few experimental studies of parasite-host local adaptation in a natural malaria system, and our results shed light on the effects of avian malaria infection in the wild.     

Successful Community Midwives in Pakistan: An Asset-Based Approach

In response to the low levels of skilled birth attendance in rural Pakistan, the government introduced a new cadre of community midwives (CMWs) in 2006. Assessments to-date have found that these CMWs have yet to emerge as significant providers for a number of sociocultural, geographic and financial reasons. However, a small number of CMWs have managed to establish functional practices in the private sector in conservative, infrastructure-challenged rural contexts. With an objective to highlight “what are the successful CMWs doing right given their context?” this paper adopts an asset-based approach to explore the experiences of the Pakistani CMWs who have managed to overcome the barriers and practice. We drew upon ethnographic data that was collected as part of a larger mixed methods study conducted in 2011–2012 in districts Jhelum and Layyah, Pakistan. Thirty eight CMWs, 45 other health care providers, 20 policymakers, 78 women, 35 husbands and 23 older women were interviewed. CMW clinics and practices were observed. Our data showed that only eight 8 out of 38 CMWs sampled were active providers. Poverty as a push factor to work and intrinsic individual-level characteristics that enabled the CMWs to respond successfully to the demands of the midwifery profession in the private sector emerged as the two key themes. Household poverty pushed the CMWs to work in this perceived low-status occupation. Their families supported them since they became the breadwinners. The successful CMWs also had an intrinsic sense of what was required to establish a private practice; they exhibited professionalism, had strong business sense and provided respectful maternity care. The study provides insight into how the program might improve its functioning by adapting its recruitment criteria to ensure selection of right candidates.     

Prehistoric Long-Distance Interaction in Oceania: An Interdisciplinary Approach

Prehistoric Long-Distance Interaction in Oceania: An Interdisciplinary Approach. Marshall I. Weisler. ed. Monograph 21. Auckland, New Zealand: New Zealand Archaeological Association, 1997. 238 pp.     

The Avian Shoulder: An Experimental Approach

SYNOPSIS. This essay is in two parts. The first describes functionalstudies of the shoulder in modern vertebrates that led to theformulation of the hypotheses that motor patterns of homologousmuscles have been maintained during the evolution of the tetrapodshoulder, and that a primitive organization of the neural controlcomponents has persisted in derived groups. The second part of this essay focuses upon a longstanding questionin vertebrate evolution: what neuromuscular and musculoskeletalchanges in the tetrapod shoulder accompanied the evolution offlight in birds? The lack of empirical data on shoulder functionin extant birds limited our insight into this question, andprompted our initiation of experimental studies. Preliminarykinematics of the furcula and humerus of European starlings(Sturnus vulgaris) flying in a wind tunnel, as revealed by highspeed cineradiography, are presented. The two halves of thefurcula, which contact the coracoids dorsally, are bent laterallyduring downstroke and medially during upstroke by as much as60% of the intrafurcular resting distance. High speed film andelectromyographic studies of freeflying pigeons (Columba livia)reveal that the supracoracoideus muscle is strongly activatedduring wing elevation and, as predicted from studies of Varanusand Didelphis, an additional activation burst occurs at mid-downstrokein 48% of the recordings.     

An Early Late Cretaceous Dinosaur Tracksite in Central Yukon Territory,Canada

Dinosaur tracks were first reported from the coal-bearing clastic sequences of the Ross River Block in 1999 by members of a University of Alaska Museum field party, and track sites were confirmed by a joint Alaska-Yukon team in 2000. This fault-bounded sedimentary block is 3 kilometers west of Ross River, in the Yukon Territory. The discovery was followed by two years of field mapping and collection. This research has resulted in the documentation of 251 individual tracks at two separate but stratigraphically related sites, as well as a short (four-footprint) trackway at one of the sites. Six ichnogenera were identified. Ornithomimipus, Amblydactylus, and Gypsichnites were recognized at one site. At a stratigraphically higher site, four ichnogenera were documented including Tetrapodosaurus, Irenesauripus, Amblydactylus, and Columbosauripus. This ichno-assemblage is compared with those of Aptian to Cenomanian age from Alberta, British Columbia, and Alaska.

The discovery of unequivocal dinosaur evidence in a small structural inlier in the Tintina Trench that was previously assumed to be Eocene in age resulted in a restudy of the palynology and biostratigraphy of this coal-bearing sequence and the recent assignment of a middle Albian to early Cenomanian age to the upper part of the dinosaur-bearing interval.     

Social Case-work in General Practice: An Alternative Approach

During a two-year period a senior case-worker was seconded by a voluntary family case-work agency, the Liverpool Personal Service Society, to work with three general practitioners. The commonest reasons for referral of the 157 new patients to the social worker over this study period were extreme poverty; housing, matrimonial, and psychiatric problems; and problems of fatherless families. The successful and valuable co-operation between the general practitioners, case-worker, and various specialist professional and financial services of the Society have proved that a professional social worker has an important role in the general-practice team.     

Scalable Manufacturing of Human Mesenchymal Stromal Cells in the Vertical‐Wheel Bioreactor System: An Experimental and Economic Approach

Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) hold great promise for tissue engineering applications and cell‐based therapies. Large cell doses (>1 × 10⁶ cells kg^?1) and Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP)‐compliant processes are however required for clinical purposes. Here, a serum‐ and xenogeneic‐free (S/XF) microcarrier‐based culture system is established for the expansion of human umbilical cord matrix (UCM)‐ and adipose tissue (AT)‐derived MSC using the Vertical‐Wheel system (PBS‐0.1 MAG; PBS Biotech). UCM and AT MSC are expanded to maximum cell densities of 5.3 ± 0.4 × 10⁵ cell mL^?1 (n = 3) and 3.6 ± 0.7 × 10⁵ cell mL^?1 (n = 3), respectively, after 7 days of culture, while maintaining their identity, according to standard criteria. An economic evaluation of the process transfer from T‐flasks to PBS‐0.1 MAG shows a reduction in the costs associated with the production of a dose for an average 70 kg adult patient (i.e., 70 million cells). Costs decrease from $17.0 K to $11.1 K for UCM MSC and from $21.5 K to $11.1 K for AT MSC, proving that the transition to Vertical‐Wheel reactors provides a cost‐effective alternative for MSC expansion. The present work reports the establishment of a scalable and cost‐effective culture platform for the manufacturing of UCM and AT MSC in a S/XF microcarrier‐based system.     

Qualitative Research Design: An Interactive Approach

Qualitative Research Design: An Interactive Approach. Joseph A. Maxwell. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 1996. 155 pp.