The need for conservation and management of Philippine coral reefs

Synopsis The biological diversity and productivity of Philippine coral reefs are threatened by siltation, destructive fishing methods, coral and shell collecting and overfishing. Destructive fishing includes: the widespread, illegal use of explosives; poisons such as sodium cyanide; muro-ami and kayakas fishing; and trawling. The recent decline in catch rates threatens the livelihood of 700 000 near-shore subsistence fishermen who catch 55% of the total landings. The new government under Corazon Aquino wishes to protect the marine environment through the creation of a viable marine conservation management plan, enforcement of existing laws and through cooperation between government, non-government and international agencies to provide education and research. The Department of Agriculture, which has the authority for fisheries, has designated the International Marinelife Alliance as the lead non-government agency involved with fund raising, net-training and finding alternatives to destructive fishing methods.This essay addresses the societal relationships of village fishery to government, aid organizations, and science. Vadim Vladykov always maintained close relationship with fishermen and devoted over a year of his life to helping develop fisheries in Iran.     

Bayesian Belief Networks as a tool for evidence-based conservation management

Effective conservation management is dependent on accessing and integrating different forms of evidence regarding the potential impacts of management interventions. Here, we explore the application of Bayesian Belief Networks (BBN), which are graphical models that incorporate probabilistic relationships among variables of interest, to evidence-based conservation management. We consider four case studies, namely: (i) impacts of deer grazing on saltmarsh vegetation; (ii) impacts of burning on upland bog vegetation; (iii) control of the invasive exotic plant Rhododendron ponticum; and (iv) management of lowland heathland by burning. Each of these themes is currently a significant conservation issue in the UK, and yet the potential outcomes of management interventions are poorly understood. Through these examples, we demonstrate that BBNs can be used to integrate and explore evidence from a variety of sources, including expert opinion and quantitative results from research investigations. Incorporation of such information in BBNs enables different sources of evidence to be compared, the potential impacts of management interventions to be explored and management trade-offs to be identified. BBNs also offer a highly visual tool for communicating the uncertainty associated with potential management outcomes to conservation practitioners, and they can also be readily updated as new evidence becomes available. Based on these features, we suggest that BBNs have outstanding potential for supporting evidence-based approaches to conservation management.     

Fine-spotted brown trout: genetic aspects and the need for conservation

In Lake Svartavasstjønn on the Hardangervidda plateau, a fine-spotted variant of brown trout has been found. The spotted variability shows a classical Mendelian mode of inheritance. In this population genetic variability was found in LDH-5 *, MDH-3 * and MDH-3 *. The fast allele at LDH-5 * had a frequency of 0,913. This is remarkable, as this allele has been found in frequencies above 0.4 in only five out of 50 investigated populations in Norway. The genetic characteristics of brown trout from Lake Svartavasstjønn were compared with 11 other populations sampled from a broad geographical area of Norway. Among these was Lake Setningen, where fine-spotted individuals occur at low frequency. Using a cluster analysis based on eight loci found to be polymorphic in brown trout, we found no indication of a close relationship between the fine-spotted brown trout from Lake Svartavasstjønn and the population in Lake Setningen. During a field survey in 1990 we found that the reproduction of fine-spotted trout in Lake Svartavasstjønn had terminated. The fine-spotted trout represents a valuable but threatened genetic resource, and attempts are carried out to conserve it.     

Mandatory " enriched" housing of laboratory animals: the need for evidence-based evaluation

Environmental enrichment for laboratory animals has come to be viewed as a potential method for improving animal well-being in addition to its original sense as a paradigm for learning how experience molds the brain. It is suggested that the term housing supplementation better describes the wide range of alterations to laboratory animal housing that has been proposed or investigated. Changes in the environments of animals have important effects on brain structure, physiology, and behavior--including recovery from illness and injury--and on which genes are expressed in various organs. Studies are reviewed that show how the brain and other organs respond to environmental change. These data warrant caution that minor cage supplementation intended for improvement of animal well-being may alter important aspects of an animal's physiology and development in a manner not easily predicted from available research. Thus, various forms of housing supplementation, although utilized or even preferred by the animals, may not enhance laboratory animal well-being and may be detrimental to the research for which the laboratory animals are used.     

The need for speed

DNA sequence data are being produced at an ever-increasing rate. The Bowtie sequence-alignment algorithm uses advanced data structures to help data analysis keep pace with data generation.     

The need for academic generalists

Academia should be willing to shoulder some of the responsibility for the current dearth of new therapeutic drugs. Our research funding is predicated on the assumption that it will bring value to society, but our emphasis on scientific specialization hinders our ability to add value when a broader vision is required. A solution is the creation of an academy of science generalists motivated to bring together clinical and basic scientists, academia and the private sector, government legislators and industry. A small investment in academic generalists could yield benefits far beyond its modest cost.     

The need for computer-aided electromyography

The limits of quantitative manual electromyography (EMG) are discussed. The role of computers in EMG laboratories is at present to imitate or replace the physician performing the test, extending his memory, to gather valuable information which cannot be obtained in a conventional way or, on the contrary, to delete the redundant information. The difficulties in standardizing the parameters of a single motor unit action potential (MUAP) are mainly related to the complexity of the EMG signal and its variability, particularly in pathological states. A computer-aided quantification of interference pattern is presented. The novel methods of examination applied in computerized EMG laboratories are discussed. The scope and limits of computer-aided EMG should be taken into action potential (MUAP) are mainly related to the complexicity of the EMG be accepted are listed.     

森林与人类休戚相关,需要我们更多呵护

1992年6月3-14日,联合国环境与发展大会于巴西里约热内卢召开,大会通过了5个重要文件,其中包括<生物多样性公约>,该公约于1993年12月29日生效.为了纪念公约生效,联合国大会于1994年12月19日通过49/119号决议,将每年的12月29日确定为国际生物多样性日(International Day of Biodiversity).由于12月29日离西方的圣诞节很近,很多国家都很难组织庆祝活动.     

The need for sublethal studies.

In problems of waste management, the preoccupation of the would-be manager is the means whereby waste may be released to the environment without impairing the health of the biota inhabiting the receiving waters. In such a situation, measurements based upon acute poisoning are unhelpful since they tell nothing of the impact that the much lower concentrations found at some distance from the waste source have upon the ability of the affected organisms to undertake the responses necessary to ensure survival and more particularly to reproduce successfully. Such responses can only be investigated with organisms not at the point of death, i.e. in truly sublethal studies.