Recovery from clearing,cyclone and fire in rain forests of Tonga,South Pacific: Vegetation dynamics 1995–2005

Abstract In late 2001 a category 3 cyclone impacted forest plots that were established in Tonga in 1995, and additionally, one plot was accidentally burned by an escaped land‐clearing fire. Subsequent surveys provide observations of 10 years of forest dynamics in this poorly studied region, and the first reported observations of large interannual variation in juvenile (seedling and sapling) abundance in the western tropical Pacific. The severely disturbed (burned) plot was initially colonized by a non‐native early pioneer, Carica papaya L., but 3.5 years later a native pioneer, Macaranga harveyana (Muell. Arg.) Muell. Arg., was the most abundant tree species. The seedling layer included some long‐lived pioneers and shade‐tolerant species. Two mature forest plots affected only by the cyclone changed very little over a decade. Late‐successional shade‐tolerant species that dominated the overstory were also abundant as seedlings and saplings. This is in contrast with a 30‐ to 40‐year‐old, formerly cultivated, secondary forest plot that still shows no recruitment of late‐successional dominants, in spite of the proximity of remnant forest patches. This study suggests differing pathways of succession following shifting cultivation versus cyclone and fire disturbances in Tonga. Land use legacies appear to have a long‐lasting effect on community composition.     

USE OR REFUSE REPRODUCTIVE GENETIC TECHNOLOGIES: WHICH WOULD A ‘GOOD PARENT’ DO?

A number of authors have objected to potential parents' use of reproductive genetic technologies on the grounds that the use of these technologies reflects a morally problematic attitude toward parenting. More specifically, proponents of this view have argued that such a choice is inconsistent with the unconditional acceptance that lies at the heart of praiseworthy parental attitudes. This paper offers a rebuttal of this view by arguing that it is possible for a parent to exhibit unconditional acceptance of the child herself without accepting each of that child's traits. If this is true, the use of reproductive genetic technologies does not inherently undermine appropriate parental attitudes. Further, by working to change some of a child's specific traits, a parent may instead exemplify an aspirational aspect of praiseworthy parenting and so demonstrate appropriate parental attitudes.     

Cell and gene therapy manufacturing capabilities in Australia and New Zealand

Cell and gene therapy products are rapidly being integrated into mainstream medicine. Developing global capability will facilitate broad access to these novel therapeutics. An initial step toward achieving this goal is to understand cell and gene therapy manufacturing capability in each region. We conducted an academic survey in 2018 to assess cell and gene therapy manufacturing capacity in Australia and New Zealand. We examined the following: the number and types of cell therapy manufacturing facilities; the number of projects, parallel processes and clinical trials; the types of products; and the manufacturing and quality staffing levels. It was found that Australia and New Zealand provide diverse facilities for cell therapy manufacturing, infrastructure and capability. Further investment and development will enable both countries to make important decisions to meet the growing need for cell and gene therapy and regenerative medicine in the region.     

Juvenile survival of a planktonic insect: effects of food limitation and predation

• 1 An experiment was conducted to investigate potential impacts of food limitation and copepod predation on juvenile survival of Chaoborus purtctipennis. We tested the hypotheses that: (i) juvenile survival of Chaoborus is influenced more by copepod predation than by starvation in a productive environment, and (ii) food limitation and predation interact to affect survival.
• 2 Effects of food concentration (approximately 800, 1400 and 2300 microzooplankton 1-^?1) and predator density (0, 1 and 2 Mesocydops edax 1-^?1) on Chaoborus development and survival were evaluated using a 3 × 3 factorial design. Jars containing lake water, the appropriate food and predator treatments, and two Chaoborus (<12h old) were rotated on a plankton wheel at 25°C. Survival and developmental stage were monitored daily until all individuals had either died or moulted to instar II.
• 3 Predation by Mesocydops was the major source of mortality, causing 87.5% of Chaoborus deaths over all treatments. Chaoborus mortality was significantly higher in treatments with Mesocydops (67–100%) than in predator-free treatment (0–13%).
• 4 Development time was significantly longer in the low-density food treatment than in the highest food treatment.
• 5 No significant interaction between food limitation and predation was detected.
• 6 These results suggest that predation by copepods may limit recruitment of juvenile Chaoborus in productive lakes.

     

The association between distribution and octopodid morphology: implications for classification

The Octopodidae occur in virtually all benthic marine habitats; however, species in the family show little overt morphological differentiation. Subfamilies are currently defined by the presence or absence of an ink sac and the number of sucker rows (the presence of an ink sac and a single row of suckers are primitive characters) (Voss, 1988b); subfamily depth ranges arc cited in the diagnoses. Examination of external octopodid morphology through principal components analysis reveals that octopodid morphology correlates with geographic distribution. Low-latitude, shallow-water octopuses typically have narrower bodies and larger suckers on longer arms than do deep sea and high-latitude species. Sucker size inversely correlates with depth distribution, as studies of sucker functional morphology predict (Kier & Smith, 1990). The same characters contribute in a very similar manner to the discrimination of species when grouped by subfamily and when grouped by mean depth distribution. That depth distributions, which correlate with morphology and with the loss of the ink sac, contribute to the definition of these subfamilies, suggests that the subfamilies constitute phenetically similar rather than monophyletic groups. Cladistic analysis is required to reassess octopodid phylogeny.