Measuring and monitoring restored ecosystems: can remote sensing be applied to the ecological recovery wheel to inform restoration success?

The commencement of the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration has highlighted the urgent need to improve restoration science and fast-track ecological outcomes. The application of remote sensing for monitoring purposes has increased over the past two decades providing a variety of image datasets and derived products suitable to map and measure ecosystem properties (e.g. vegetation species, community composition, and structural dimensions such as height and cover). However, the operational use of remote sensing data and derived products for ecosystem restoration monitoring in research, industry, and government has been relatively limited and underutilized. In this paper, we use the Society for Ecological Restoration (SER) ecological recovery wheel (ERW) to assess the current capacity of drone-airborne-satellite remote sensing datasets to measure each of the SER's recommended attributes and sub-attributes for terrestrial restoration projects. Based on our combined expertise in the areas of ecological monitoring and remote sensing, a total of 11 out of 18 sub-attributes received the highest feasibility score and show strong potential for remote sensing assessments; while sub-attributes such as gene flows, all trophic levels and chemical and physical substrates have a reduced capacity for monitoring. We argue that in the coming decade, ecologists can combine remote sensing with the ERW to monitor restoration recovery and reference ecosystems for improved restoration outcomes at the local, regional, and landscape scales. The ERW approach can be adapted as a monitoring framework for projects to utilize the benefits of remote sensing and inform management through scalable, operational, and meaningful outcomes.     

TEMPERATURE CHARACTERISTICS FOR HEART BEAT FREQUENCY IN MICE

An apparatus is described which permits the simultaneous recording of body temperature and heart beat frequency in young mice. When heart beat frequency is related to body temperature the values of the temperature characteristic for the inbred albino strain used are 22,400– calories over the range 15 to 20°+, 16,000± calories from 20+ to 27°, and 11,000± calories from 27 to 35°+.     

A model 450 million years in the making: zebrafish and vertebrate immunity

Since its first splash 30 years ago, the use of the zebrafish model has been extended from a tool for genetic dissection of early vertebrate development to the functional interrogation of organogenesis and disease processes such as infection and cancer. In particular, there is recent and growing attention in the scientific community directed at the immune systems of zebrafish. This development is based on the ability to image cell movements and organogenesis in an entire vertebrate organism, complemented by increasing recognition that zebrafish and vertebrate immunity have many aspects in common. Here, we review zebrafish immunity with a particular focus on recent studies that exploit the unique genetic and in vivo imaging advantages available for this organism. These unique advantages are driving forward our study of vertebrate immunity in general, with important consequences for the understanding of mammalian immune function and its role in disease pathogenesis.     

The development of a spatial predator-prey process on interconnected sites

A spatial predator-prey process is constructed in which predators and their prey may migrate between distinct neighbouring sites. We examine the consequence of introducing a sudden influx of predators into a previously predator-free environment, obtaining expressions for both the velocity and waveform of predator propagation. A general solution is then derived for predator-prey behaviour when a system previously in equilibrium is perturbed. All the techniques developed are potentially of general application.     

Identification of candidate genes for nicotine withdrawal in C57BL/6J × DBA/2J recombinant inbred mice

Nicotine is the reinforcing ingredient in tobacco. Following chronic exposure, sudden cessation of nicotine use produces negative symptoms of withdrawal that contribute to dependence. The molecular mechanisms underlying nicotine withdrawal behaviors, however, are poorly understood. Using recombinant inbred mice, chronic nicotine was delivered by minipump and withdrawal induced using mecamylamine. Somatic signs of withdrawal, and anxiety-like behavior using elevated plus maze, were then assessed. Interval mapping was used to identify associations between genetic variation and withdrawal behaviors, and with basal gene expression. Differential gene expression following nicotine exposure and withdrawal was also assessed in progenitor mice using microarrays. Quantitative trait loci mapping identified chromosome intervals with significant genetic associations to somatic signs of withdrawal or withdrawal-induced anxiety-like behavior. Using bioinformatics, and association with basal gene expression in nucleus accumbens, we implicated Rb1, Bnip3l, Pnma2, Itm2b, and Kif13b as candidate genes for somatic signs of withdrawal, and Galr1, which showed trans-regulation from a region of chromosome 14 that was associated with somatic signs of withdrawal. Candidate genes within the chromosome 9 region associated with anxiety-like withdrawal behavior included Dixdc1, Ncam1, and Sorl1. Bioinformatics identified six genes that were also significantly associated with nicotine or alcohol traits in recent human genome-wide association studies. Withdrawal-associated somatic signs and anxiety-like behavior had strong non-overlapping genetic associations, respectively, with regions of chromosome 14 and chromosome 9. Genetic, behavioral and gene expression correlations, and bioinformatics analysis identified several candidate genes that may represent novel molecular targets for modulating nicotine withdrawal symptoms.     

Impacts of nursery-based propagation and out-planting on coral-associated bacterial communities

Coral Reefs - Efforts to manage coral reef declines are increasingly turning towards in situ propagation of corals to aid reef recovery. Understanding the factors that influence...