Don't forget to look down – collaborative approaches to predator conservation

Finding effective ways of conserving large carnivores is widely recognised as a priority in conservation. However, there is disagreement about the most effective way to do this, with some favouring top‐down ‘command and control’ approaches and others favouring collaboration. Arguments for coercive top‐down approaches have been presented elsewhere; here we present arguments for collaboration. In many parts of the developed world, flexibility of approach is built into the legislation, so that conservation objectives are balanced with other legitimate goals. In the developing world, limited resources, poverty and weak governance mean that collaborative approaches are likely to play a particularly important part in carnivore conservation. In general, coercive policies may lead to the deterioration of political legitimacy and potentially to non‐compliance issues such as illegal killing, whereas collaborative approaches may lead to psychological ownership, enhanced trust, learning, and better social outcomes. Sustainable hunting/trapping plays a crucial part in the conservation and management of many large carnivores. There are many different models for how to conserve carnivores effectively across the world, research is now required to reduce uncertainty and examine the effectiveness of these approaches in different contexts.     

How to Use Genetic Data to Distinguish Between Natural and Human-Mediated Introduction of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Littorina littorea</Emphasis> to North America

The rapid range southward expansion of the periwinkle Littorina littorea from the Canadian maritimes has fueled a long-running debate over whether this species was introduced to North America by human activity. A reappraisal of the mitochondrial DNA sequence evidence finds considerable endemic allelic diversity in the American population. The degree of endemic genetic diversity is higher than expected from human-mediated colonization, but not so much to suggest that it survived the last glacial maximum in America. Coalescent estimates of population divergence agree that colonization of America preceded European contact. A reappraisal of the ITS nuclear sequence data finds extensive recombination. Taking this recombination into account strengthens the genetic case against human-mediated introduction. Finally, a reappraisal of conflicting allozyme studies from the 1970’s supports a claim of limited divergence between American and European populations. This is consistent with post-glacial colonization, but the allozyme data cannot distinguish between natural or human-mediated colonization. Taken as a whole, the DNA sequence data supports the many sub-fossil reports of an American L. littorea population in the Canadian maritimes that preceded even the first visits by the Vikings.     

Immunoassay method to check the flagellin mediated binding of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Stenotrophomonas maltophilia</Emphasis> to polystyrene

Plate count and spectrophotometric methods have been used to asses the ability of an organism to attach to different surfaces and form biofilms. In the present study we report a highly sensitive, specific and quick method to check the role of flagellin in bacterial adhesion to polystyrene. Flagellin from Stenotrophomonas maltophilia showed high affinity for polystyrene (P < 0.05), which decreased on pretreatment of flagellin with anti-flagellin in a dilution dependent manner. In an enzyme immunoassay format a positive correlation was detected between the anti-flagellin dilutions and flagellin attachment to polystyrene (correlation coefficient +0.860155). These evidences conclusively prove the involvement of flagella in the adhesion of S. maltophilia to polystyrene surface and enzyme immunoassay, a quick and reliable method to check this phenomenon.