Limited influence of a wind power project submarine cable on a Laurentian Great Lakes fish community

Previous research has identified the generation of electromagnetic fields (EMFs) emanating from renewable energy project transmission cables to be a potential stressor to aquatic communities. In this study, we investigated whether the presence of a high voltage submarine transmission cable affected the spatial pattern and composition of nearshore and offshore fishes at a Laurentian Great Lakes site. The transmission cable investigated in this study runs 7.8 km along the lakebed of Lake Ontario, carrying electricity from the Wolfe Island wind power project to the city of Kingston, Ontario. In autumn of 2011, both nearshore electrofishing and deeper‐water fisheries acoustic surveys were conducted along transects at varying distances to the cable. For both habitat types, no detectable effects of the cable on the fish community were found. Local habitat variables, including substrate or depth, were more important in explaining variation in fish density than proximity to the cable. Common species encountered during the surveys were round goby (Neogobius melanostomus) in the nearshore and alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus) in the deeper channel. American eel (Anguilla rostrata), thought to be an electromagnetically sensitive species, was also encountered during the surveys including in close proximity to the cable. More robust impact assessments require sampling fishes before a cable installation, over greater time frames (additional seasons or years), and habitats that support more diverse native assemblages.     

Incorporating biotic factors in species distribution modeling: are interactions with soil microbes important?

It is increasingly recognized that species distributions are driven by both abiotic factors and biotic interactions. Despite much recent work incorporating competition, predation, and mutualism into species distribution models (SDMs), the focus has been confined to aboveground macroscopic interactions. Biotic interactions between plants and soil microbial communities are understudied as potentially important drivers of plant distributions. Some soil bacteria promote plant growth by cycling nutrients, while others are pathogenic; thus they have a high potential for influencing plant occurrence. We investigated the influence of soil bacterial clades on the distributions of bryophytes and 12 vascular plant species in a high elevation talus‐field ecosystem in the Rocky Mountain Front Range, Colorado, USA. We used an information‐theoretic criterion (AICc) modeling approach to compare SDMs with the following different sets of predictors: abiotic variables, abiotic variables and other plant abundances, abiotic variables and soil bacteria clade relative abundances, and a full model with abiotic factors, plant abundances, and bacteria relative abundances. We predicted that bacteria would influence plant distributions both positively and negatively, and that these interactions would improve prediction of plant species distributions. We found that inclusion of either plant or bacteria biotic predictors generally improved the fit, deviance explained, and predictive power of the SDMs, and for the majority of the species, adding information on both other plants and bacteria yielded the best model. Interactions between the modeled species and biotic predictors were both positive and negative, suggesting the presence of competition, parasitism, and facilitation. While our results indicate that plant–plant co‐occurrences are a stronger driver of plant distributions than plant–bacteria co‐occurrences, they also show that bacteria can explain parts of plant distributions that remain unexplained by abiotic and plant predictors. Our results provide further support for including biotic factors in SDMs, and suggest that belowground factors be considered as well.     

Detecting surface‐feeding behavior by rorqual whales in accelerometer data

The movement of marine animals feeding at the sea surface is restricted by wave drag and a reduction in propulsive efficiency. Many rorqual whale species lunge feed at the surface, yet existing methodologies for detecting lunges in accelerometer data have not been applied to surface‐feeding behavior. Our study aimed to develop a method to detect surface‐feeding behavior in accelerometer data and in doing so, determine whether wave drag influences the detection of surface‐feeding behavior. A new acceleration parameter is described that considers the forward acceleration of the animal relative to its pitch. The new parameter, along with information on the deceleration and pitch angle, was then used in an automatic lunge detecting algorithm followed by a visual classification method that detected approximately 70% of the lunges observed during focal follow sampling. The forward acceleration of lunges decreased significantly with increasing proximity to the surface. This lower acceleration at the surface may influence the ability to detect lunge feeding behavior close to the surface. Future research should attempt to determine the cause of this relationship, which may be the influence of changes in the forces acting on the whale or behavioral flexibility by the whale.     

Future oriented conservation: knowledge governance,uncertainty and learning

Despite significant progress in understanding climate risks, adaptation efforts in biodiversity conservation remain limited. Adaptation requires addressing immediate conservation threats while also attending to long term, highly uncertain and potentially transformative future changes. To date, conservation research has focused more on projecting climate impacts and identifying possible strategies, rather than understanding how governance enables or constrains adaptation actions. We outline an approach to future-oriented conservation that combines the capacities to anticipate future ecological change; to understand the implications of that change for social, political and ecological values; and the ability to engage with the governance (and politics) of adaptation. Our approach builds on the adaptive management and governance literature, however we explicitly address the (often contested) rules, knowledge and values that enable or constrain adaptation. We call for a broader focus that extends beyond technical approaches to acknowledge the socio-political challenges inherent to adaptation. More importantly, we suggest that conservation policy makers and practitioners can use this approach to facilitate learning and adaptation in the context of complexity, transformational change and uncertainty.     

What gets left behind for future generations? Reproduction and the environment in Spey Bay,Scotland

Based on fieldwork with people involved in the environmental movement in Scotland, this article describes the connections they made between the future of reproduction and the future of the environment. While we are used to thinking of Euro‐American kinship in terms of the passing on of biogenetic substances, in this case an ecological ethic of reproduction, which places the emphasis on considering the kinds of environments into which children will be born, is more salient. An ecological ethic of reproduction urges (potential) parents to consider whether it is responsible to bring future generations into a world with stretched and unequally distributed resources and in which the accumulated consequences of human actions may be altering not only the natural world, but also the ability to reproduce at all.     

Selective predation on an introduced zooplankter ( Bythotrephes cederstroemi ) by lake herring ( Coregonus artedii ) in Harp Lake,Ontario

1. Bythotrephes cederstroemi (Crustacea: Onychopoda: Cercopagidae) invaded Harp Lake, Ontario in 1993, since when the zooplankton community has shifted from dominance of small-bodied to large-bodied species. During 1995 diets of adult lake herring (Coregonus artedii), Harp Lake’s primary planktivorous fish, were examined to determine the extent to which this conspicuous zooplankter has become integrated into the lake’s foodweb and whether fish condition has been affected in consequence. 2. Bythotrephes and Daphnia galeata mendotae were strongly preferred prey, whilst Holopedium gibberum and calanoid and cyclopoid copepods were negatively selected by lake herring. Predation on Bythotrephes and Holopedium was not size-selective, although D. galeata mendotae and calanoid copepods (Leptodiaptomus minutus and L. sicilis) consumed by herring were significantly larger than co-occurring conspecifics in the lake. 3. Caudal spines of Bythotrephes may form boluses in lake herring stomachs. However, the number of caudal spines in fish digestive tracts did not differ significantly from the number of Bythotrephes’ mandible pairs, indicating that the former were not differentially retained. 4. Lake herring weight-at-length relationships in lakes in Muskoka, Ontario, invaded by Bythotrephes did not differ from those in adjacent non-invaded lakes, indicating that Bythotrephes invasion of lakes apparently has not affected condition of lake herring.     

Measurement of Antimicrobial-Resistant Escherichia coli in Pig Feces with a Hydrophobic Grid Membrane Filter Interpreter System

Hydrophobic grid membrane filter technology was used to measure resistance among Escherichia coli in pig fecal samples to ampicillin, sulfisoxazole, and tetracycline. The method accurately measured resistance, with sensitivities ranging from 96.5 to 99.5% and specificities ranging from 87.0 to 98.3%, and it identified E. coli with 96% confidence.