Giant chacoan peccary: Feeding and social behavior of a captive group in natural habitat

Social behavior of the giant Chacoan peccary, also known as the taguá, is relatively unknown due to the harsh environment and endangered status of the population. In order to characterize feeding and social behaviors, a group of 7 adults, 2 juveniles, and 3 infants was observed in their feeding area for 99.25 hours over 18 days during October and November 1989. All animals were housed in a 2 ha natural-habitat enclosure in the Chaco of Paraguay. It was determined that these peccaries fed in intervals throughout daylight hours and that juveniles spent more time per approach in the feeding area than adult males. It was also observed that infants were accepted and well tolerated by the entire group, including adult males. These observations have relevance to taguá behavior in the wild and provide new insights into social patterns of this recently discovered species.     

Incorporating uncertainty and social values in managing invasive alien species: a deliberative multi-criteria evaluation approach

The management of Invasive Alien Species (IAS) is stymied by complex social values and severe levels of uncertainty. However, these two challenges are often hidden in the conventional model of management by “value-free” analyses and probability-based estimates of risk. As a result, diverse social values and wide margins of error in risk assessment carry zero weights in the decision-making process, leaving IAS risk decisions to be made in the wake of political pressure and the crisis atmosphere of incursion. We propose to use a Deliberative Multi-Criteria Evaluation (DMCE) to incorporate multiple social values and profound uncertainty into decision-making processes. The DMCE process combines the advantages of conventional multi-criteria decision analysis methods with the benefits of stakeholder participation to provide an analytical structure to assess complex multi-dimensional objectives. It, therefore, offers an opportunity for diverse views to enter the decision-making process, and for the negotiation of consensus positions. The DMCE process can also function as a platform for risk communication in which scientists, stakeholders, and decision-makers can interact and discuss the uncertainty associated with biological invasions. We examine two case studies that demonstrate how DMCE provides scientific rigor and transparency in the decision-making process of invasion risk management. The first case regards pre-border priority ranking for potential invasive species and the second relates to selecting the most desirable policy option for managing a post-border invader.     

Global invasion history of the Mediterranean recluse spider: a concordance with human expansion

The dispersal of modern humans from their African origins to the rest of the occupied world is a topic of lively debate centering principally on single versus multiple dispersals. The Mediterranean recluse spider Loxosceles rufescens, a significant pest, has gained much of its current distribution through commensalism with humans. Therefore, the matrilineal history of this spider should reflect dispersal patterns of human females. Here, an assessment of genetic variation at mitochondrial markers in 347 colonies of L. rufescens from 104 geographic sites worldwide reveals a north African origin of the global populations of L. rufescens. This involves at least three separate events among which two involve coincidental dispersals, including one to north Africa, Europe, Asia, North America, and Australia and the other to north Africa, Europe, and Asia only. North African L. rufescens appear to have expanded initially into Israel and subsequently spread into Greece, where a subset of these populations went eastward into Iran and southeastern Asia. This corresponds to the modern human southern dispersal theory. Chinese populations appear to have expanded approximately 42 710–46 008 yr ago. The initial split between the Greek and Chinese populations dates to 41 412–44 444 yr ago, which coincides with the expansion of modern humans into Southeast and East Asia. Thus, the matrilineal history of Asian L. rufescens tracks the history of human dispersals over tens of thousands of years.     

The FSG's land: managing a fieldwork resource

The Field Studies Council occupies land for at least three purposes. At all ten Field Centres the immediate surroundings contribute significantly to the ambience in which the visitor/staff community lives and works. Secondly, it is a great advantage for a Centre to have working land free from the encumbrances of regular negotiations with its owner; land which can be managed to suit the requirements of the teaching programme. At six of the Field Centres, the 'estate' is large enough to contribute to this purpose.
The third reason for occupying land is, perhaps, the most important. We ought to want to demonstrate that we can apply our ecological knowledge for its own practical end. We should be able to show how to manipulate succession, how to crop the stand, how to maintain the view, and how to recycle the energy and the materials. I would like to think that the holding of land (and water) and the demonstration of its sound management was part of the working ethic of the Field Studies Council. We need to manage a range of habitats, stands and communities, to maintain their qualities and to demonstrate that we care about and can care for each of them. All this presupposes that we develop or invest in the skills and background necessary for the process.
The land we manage tells its own story. If we manage it well it will increase our corporate and individual satisfactions. It could mean that we have within our ranks the new yeomen; with them we could lead the original yeoman into a new attitude and enterprise which will maintain, and may even enhance, the face of Britain when the odds might otherwise be against it.     

Atlas: a java-based tool for managing genotypes

With the exponential increase in genotyping capability, it is fundamental to check data consistency and improve genotype management. Atlas is a Java-based application for managing genotypes that also provides a series of tools useful in traceability, parentage testing, and identification, as well as pedigree and marker visualization.     

Index rivers: a key to managing anadromous fish

Summary A network of index rivers provides information for the management of anadromous fish stocks in the Gulf of St Lawrence. Index rivers are sites where regular observations are made of fish abundance and characteristics. This information is used particularly for Atlantic salmon to estimate stock abundance, to evaluate spawning requirements and to forecast returns. The need for timely and unbiased indicators of stock abundance is increasing. A network of index rivers would fulfil this need.     

Meta-All: a system for managing metabolic pathway information

Background  

Many attempts are being made to understand biological subjects at a systems level. A major resource for these approaches are biological databases, storing manifold information about DNA, RNA and protein sequences including their functional and structural motifs, molecular markers, mRNA expression levels, metabolite concentrations, protein-protein interactions, phenotypic traits or taxonomic relationships. The use of these databases is often hampered by the fact that they are designed for special application areas and thus lack universality. Databases on metabolic pathways, which provide an increasingly important foundation for many analyses of biochemical processes at a systems level, are no exception from the rule. Data stored in central databases such as KEGG, BRENDA or SABIO-RK is often limited to read-only access. If experimentalists want to store their own data, possibly still under investigation, there are two possibilities. They can either develop their own information system for managing that own data, which is very time-consuming and costly, or they can try to store their data in existing systems, which is often restricted. Hence, an out-of-the-box information system for managing metabolic pathway data is needed.     

BASH: a tool for managing BeadArray spatial artefacts

SUMMARY: With their many replicates and their random layouts, Illumina BeadArrays provide greater scope fordetecting spatial artefacts than do other microarray technologies. They are also robust to artefact exclusion, yet there is a lack of tools that can perform these tasks for Illumina. We present BASH, a tool for this purpose. BASH adopts the concepts of Harshlight, but implements them in a manner that utilizes the unique characteristics of the Illumina technology. Using bead-level data, spatial artefacts of various kinds can thus be identified and excluded from further analyses. AVAILABILITY: The beadarray Bioconductor package (version 1.10 onwards), www.bioconductor.org     

After Fukushima: managing the consequences of a radiological release

Even amidst the devastation following the earthquake and tsunami in Japan that killed more than 20,000 people, it was the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant that led the country's prime minister, Naoto Kan, to fear for "the very existence of the Japanese nation." While accidents that result in mass radiological releases have been rare throughout the operating histories of existing nuclear power plants, the growing number of plants worldwide increases the likelihood that such releases will occur again in the future. Nuclear power is an important source of energy in the U.S. and will be for the foreseeable future. Accidents far smaller in scale than the one in Fukushima could have major societal consequences. Given the extensive, ongoing Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and industry assessment of nuclear power plant safety and preparedness issues, the Center for Biosecurity of UPMC focused on offsite policies and plans intended to reduce radiation exposure to the public in the aftermath of an accident. This report provides an assessment of Japan's efforts at nuclear consequence management; identifies concerns with current U.S. policies and practices for "outside the fence" management of such an event in the U.S.; and makes recommendations for steps that can be taken to strengthen U.S. government, industry, and community response to large-scale accidents at nuclear power plants.     

Giant Cells of Escherichia coli: a Morphological Study

Bacterial growth without division was observed in a giant cell-producing strain of Escherichia coli K-12. Giant cell production is controlled by the lon(-) (failure of cell division after irradiation) and mon(-) (formation of irregularly shaped cells) genes. Irradiation of a lon(-)mon(-) strain (P678-A(4)) with low doses of ultraviolet or ionizing radiation results in the production of large, amorphous giant cells with 500 to 1,000 times the volume of the nonirradiated parents. The concentration of NaCl in the growth medium was found to influence irradiated-cell morphology. Low concentrations (0.2% NaCl) resulted in elongated cells, whereas spherical giant cells were produced in the presence of high salt (1% NaCl) concentrations.Thin-section electron microscopy revealed an extensive network of intracellular membranes forming vacuoles, vesicles, and cisternae. These structures bear a striking resemblance to the rough and smooth membranes (endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi complex, vacuoles, etc.) found in eucaryotic cells.     

Translocation of carnivores as a method for managing problem animals: a review

Translocation of individual carnivores has been a standard management tool for decades in North America and southern Africa in response to livestock depredation and other conflict behaviours. As carnivore populations across Europe begin to increase it is expected that management problems will also increase. Before translocation becomes established as a management tool in Europe its success needs to be reviewed. In general, there has been very little follow-up of translocated animals. Almost no data exist on the subsequent levels of damage after translocation. Large carnivores have shown a consistent ability to return to the site of capture over distances of up to 400 km. Even those individuals that do not succeed in returning home roam over very large distances, best measured in units of hundreds of kilometres. Very few individuals remain at the release sites. Survival of translocated animals has occasionally been shown to be poor, often as a result of the large movements. In general, there needs to be a large area (hundreds or thousands of square kilometres) without conflict potential where the individuals can be released for the strategy to work. When such areas are not available, management efforts should concentrate on reducing conflict potential, or, where this is not practical, lethal control. This revised version was published online in November 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.