Determinants of distribution and abundance in the clouded apollo butterfly: a landscape ecological approach

Recent studies on the determinants of distribution and abundance of animals at landscape level have emphasized the usefulness of the metapopulation approach, in which patch area and habitat connectivity have often proved to explain satisfactorily existing patch occupancy patterns. A different approach is needed to study the common situation in which suitable habitat is difficult to determine or does not occur in well‐defined habitat patches. We applied a landscape ecological approach to study the determinants of distribution and abundance of the threatened clouded apollo Parnassius mnemosyne butterfly within an area of 6 km² of agricultural landscape in south‐western Finland. The relative role of 24 environmental variables potentially affecting the distribution and abundance of the butterfly was studied using a spatial grid system with 2408 grid squares of 0.25 ha, of which 349 were occupied by the clouded apollo. Both the probability of butterfly presence and abundance in a 0.25 ha square increased with the presence of the larval host plant Corydalis solida the cover of semi‐natural grassland, the amount of solar radiation and spalial autocorrelation in butterfly occurrence. Additionally, butterfly abundance increased with overall mean patch size and decreased with maximum slope angle and wind speed. Two advantages of the employment of a spatial grid system included the avoidance of a subjective definition of suitable habitat patches and an evaluation of the relative significance of different components of habitat quality at the same time with habitat availability and connectivity. The large variation in habitat quality was influenced by the abundance of the larval host plant and adult nectar sources but also by climatological. topographical and structural factors. The application of a spatial grid system as used here has potential for a wide use in studies on landscape‐level distribution and abundance patterns in species with complex habitat requirements and habitat availability patterns.     

Reducing inappropriate, anticholinergic and psychotropic drugs among older residents in assisted living facilities: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Use of inappropriate drugs is common among institutionalized older people. Rigorous trials investigating the effect of the education of staff in institutionalized settings on the harm related to older people's drug treatment are still scarce. The aim of this trial is to investigate whether training professionals in assisted living facilities reduces the use of inappropriate drugs among residents and has an effect on residents' quality of life and use of health services. Methods and design During years 2011 and 2012, a sample of residents in assisted living facilities in Helsinki (approximately 212) will be recruited, having offered to participate in a trial aiming to reduce their harmful drugs. Their wards will be randomized into two arms: one, those in which staff will be trained in two half-day sessions, including case studies to identify inappropriate, anticholinergic and psychotropic drugs among their residents, and two, a control group with usual care procedures and delayed training. The intervention wards will have an appointed nurse who will be responsible for taking care of the medication of the residents on her ward, and taking any problems to the consulting doctor, who will be responsible for the overall care of the patient. The trial will last for twelve months, the assessment time points will be zero, six and twelve months. The primary outcomes will be the proportion of persons using inappropriate, anticholinergic, or more than two psychotropic drugs, and the change in the mean number of inappropriate, anticholinergic and psychotropic drugs among residents. Secondary endpoints will be, for example, the change in the mean number of drugs, the proportion of residents having significant drug-drug interactions, residents' health-related quality of life (HRQOL) according to the 15D instrument, cognition according to verbal fluency and clock-drawing tests and the use and cost of health services, especially hospitalizations. DISCUSSION: To our knowledge, this is the first large-scale randomized trial exploring whether relatively light intervention, that is, staff training, will have an effect on reducing harmful drugs and improving QOL among institutionalized older people Trial registration ACTRN12611001078943.     

Genetic assessment of spatiotemporal evolutionary relationships and stocking effects in grayling (Thymallus thymallus, Salmonidae)

Domestically reared introduced (or escaped) individuals can have detrimental genetic effects on the indigenous populations into which they are released. Consequently, numerous studies have attempted to estimate whether non-native specimens have contributed to the gene pool of wild populations. So far, the key limiting factor of such studies has been their lack of appropriate baseline genetic material. Here, microsatellite DNA analyses of historical scale samples and contemporary wild and introduced populations were used to assess spatiotemporal population structure and stocking effects among endangered Lake Saimaa (eastern Finland) grayling ( Thymallus thymallus , Salmonidae). Significant decreases in genetic differentiation were detected between wild and introduced populations since the commencement of stocking in 1986. Accordingly, up to 15% of the contemporary wild grayling were confidently identified to be of pure hatchery origin, and recent hybridization between the hatchery and indigenous individuals appeared likely. Despite these clear genetic imprints of stocking, the contemporary populations exhibited evolutionary relationships congruent with the sampling locations, and up to 73% of contemporary individuals were identified to be of pure indigenous origin. The use of historical baseline material should prove efficient for monitoring gene flow between domesticated and wild populations in other species also, e.g. salmonids, game animals and plants.     

The Influence of AA29504 on GABAA Receptor Ligand Binding Properties and Its Implications on Subtype Selectivity

Neurochemical Research - The unique pharmacological properties of δ-containing γ-aminobutyric acid type A receptors (δ-GABAARs) make them an attractive target for selective and...     

Relative contributions of local and regional factors to species richness and total density of butterflies and moths in semi-natural grasslands

Metapopulation theory predicts that species richness and total population density of habitat specialists increase with increasing area and regional connectivity of the habitat. To test these predictions, we examined the relative contributions of habitat patch area, connectivity of the regional habitat network and local habitat quality to species richness and total density of butterflies and day-active moths inhabiting semi-natural grasslands. We studied butterflies and moths in 48 replicate landscapes situated in southwest Finland, including a focal patch and the surrounding network of other semi-natural grasslands within a radius of 1.5 km from the focal patch. By applying the method of hierarchical partitioning, which can distinguish between independent and joint contributions of individual explanatory variables, we observed that variables of the local habitat quality (e.g. mean vegetation height and nectar plant abundance) generally showed the highest independent effect on species richness and total density of butterflies and moths. Habitat area did not show a significant independent contribution to species richness and total density of butterflies and moths. The effect of habitat connectivity was observed only for total density of the declining butterflies and moths. These observations indicate that the local habitat quality is of foremost importance in explaining variation in species richness and total density of butterflies and moths. In addition, declining butterflies and moths have larger populations in well-connected networks of semi-natural grasslands. Our results suggest that, while it is crucial to maintain high-quality habitats by management, with limited resources it would be appropriate to concentrate grassland management and restoration to areas with well-connected grassland networks in which the declining species currently have their strongest populations. Electronic supplementary material  The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Taxonomic diversity of the terrestrial bird and mammal fauna in temperate and boreal biomes of the northern hemisphere

Abstract. Using comprehensive range information of northern Hemisphere birds and mammals, we assessed the taxonomic diversity of these two groups in four different regions: Europe, east Asia, and western and eastern North America. East Asia is the richest region in the number of bird and mammal species, genera, families and orders, except that mammal species richness is highest in western North America. Eastern North America is taxonomically the poorest region, but when only forest-associated taxa were considered in mammals taxonomic diversity is equally low in Europe and in eastern North America, and in birds, Europe is the least diverse region. Patterns in endemic taxa follow overall taxonomic diversity. The proportion of shared taxa between regions is higher among boreal species and genera than among all taxa. A comparison with tree species diversity underpins the role of east Asia as the most diverse of all northern biota. Largely congruent patterns at different taxonomic levels emphasizes the role of historical processes, such as differential extinction rate in response to paleoenvironmental fluctuations, in producing these patterns, but we stress the need for more research on the coevolution of species diversity and habitat diversity.     

Estimating genealogies from linked marker data: a Bayesian approach

Background  

Answers to several fundamental questions in statistical genetics would ideally require knowledge of the ancestral pedigree and of the gene flow therein. A few examples of such questions are haplotype estimation, relatedness and relationship estimation, gene mapping by combining pedigree and linkage disequilibrium information, and estimation of population structure.     

A comparative assessment of four methods for estimating ammonia emissions at microclimatic locations in a dairy building

Ammonia emissions were estimated at five microclimatic locations in a free stall dairy building using four different methods. Measurements were performed simultaneously with the different methods to enable comparison. In the first method, the rate of ammonia emission from manure was theoretically modeled utilizing Fick’s law and boundary layer theory. In the second method, recirculation flux-chamber technique was used to model ammonia emission from manure. In the third and fourth methods, respectively, carbon dioxide and methane balances were employed to calculate ammonia emission. The mean ammonia emissions measured from the five locations using the different methods ranged from 0.10 to 0.15 g m⁻² h⁻¹. The percentage of variation of ammonia emission from the different location ranged between 8 and 52% for the different methods. Recorded ammonia emission rates in the dairy building were from 0.04 to 0.25 g m⁻² h⁻¹. The percentage of variation in ammonia, carbon dioxide, methane, and manure properties in the building was 50%. Two-way statistical analysis of variance showed that there were no significant differences (p > 0.63) between the four different methods or between the measurements obtained at the five locations (p > 0.90).     

Regulation of the photosynthetic apparatus under fluctuating growth light

Safe and efficient conversion of solar energy to metabolic energy by plants is based on tightly inter-regulated transfer of excitation energy, electrons and protons in the photosynthetic machinery according to the availability of light energy, as well as the needs and restrictions of metabolism itself. Plants have mechanisms to enhance the capture of energy when light is limited for growth and development. Also, when energy is in excess, the photosynthetic machinery slows down the electron transfer reactions in order to prevent the production of reactive oxygen species and the consequent damage of the photosynthetic machinery. In this opinion paper, we present a partially hypothetical scheme describing how the photosynthetic machinery controls the flow of energy and electrons in order to enable the maintenance of photosynthetic activity in nature under continual fluctuations in white light intensity. We discuss the roles of light-harvesting II protein phosphorylation, thermal dissipation of excess energy and the control of electron transfer by cytochrome b₆f, and the role of dynamically regulated turnover of photosystem II in the maintenance of the photosynthetic machinery. We present a new hypothesis suggesting that most of the regulation in the thylakoid membrane occurs in order to prevent oxidative damage of photosystem I.