Linkages between seagrass,mangrove and saltmarsh as fish habitat in the Botany Bay estuary,New South Wales

Shallow-water vegetated estuarine habitats, notably seagrass, mangrove and saltmarsh, are known to be important habitats for many species of small or juvenile fish in temperate Australia. However, the movement of fish between these habitats is poorly understood, and yet critical to the management of the estuarine fisheries resource. We installed a series of buoyant pop nets in adjacent stands of seagrass, mangrove and saltmarsh in order to determine how relative abundance of fishes varied through lunar cycles. Nets were released in all habitats at the peak of the monthly spring tide for 12 months, and in the seagrass habitat at the peak of the neap tide also. The assemblage of fish in each habitat differed during the spring tides. The seagrass assemblage differed between spring and neap tide, with the neap tide assemblage showing greater abundances of fish, particularly those species which visited the adjacent habitats when inundated during spring tides. The result supports the hypothesis that fish move from the seagrass to the adjacent mangrove and saltmarsh during spring tides, taking advantage of high abundances of zooplankton, and use seagrass as a refuge during lower tides. The restoration and preservation of mangrove and saltmarsh utility as fish habitat may in some situations be linked to the proximity of available seagrass.     

Viral and Bacterial Pathogens in Bovine Respiratory Disease in Finland

Pathogens causing bovine respiratory tract disease in Finland were investigated. Eighteen cattle herds with bovine respiratory disease were included. Five diseased calves from each farm were chosen for closer examination and tracheobronchial lavage. Blood samples were taken from the calves at the time of the investigation and from 86 calves 3–4 weeks later. In addition, 6–10 blood samples from animals of different ages were collected from each herd, resulting in 169 samples. Serum samples were tested for antibodies to bovine parainfluenza virus-3 (PIV-3), bovine respiratory syncytial virus (BRSV), bovine coronavirus (BCV), bovine adenovirus-3 (BAV-3) and bovine adenovirus-7 (BAV-7). About one third of the samples were also tested for antibodies to bovine virus diarrhoea virus (BVDV) with negative results. Bacteria were cultured from lavage fluid and in vitro susceptibility to selected antimicrobials was tested. According to serological findings, PIV-3, BAV-7, BAV-3, BCV and BRSV are common pathogens in Finnish cattle with respiratory problems. A titre rise especially for BAV-7 and BAV-3, the dual growth of Mycoplasma dispar and Pasteurella multocida, were typical findings in diseased calves. Pasteurella sp. strains showed no resistance to tested antimicrobials. Mycoplasma bovis and Mannheimia haemolytica were not found.     

Inhibiting effect of (sarcosine-1-isoleucine-8)-angiotensin II in anesthesized rats

The peptidic sequence (Sarcosine-1-Isoleucine-8)-Angiotensin II has been demonstrated to be an in vitro specific and competitive antagonist of the Angiotensin II action. The present results show it to be a competitive antagonist also in vivo since pA2 values are similar, always reaches a 100% response on increasing the Angiotensin II dose, and when relating log (DR-1) and log dose of agonist, the slope is very near to one (0.925).