Effective size in management and conservation of subdivided populations

A numerical method for computing the eigenvalue variance effective size of a subdivided population connected by any fixed pattern of migration is described. Using specific examples it is shown that total effective size of a subdivided population can become less than the sum of the subpopulation sizes as a result of directionalities in the pattern of migration. For an extension of the model with threshold harvesting and local deterministic logistic population dynamic we consider the problem of maximizing the total harvesting yield with constraints on the total effective size. For some simple source-sink systems and more complicated population structures where subpopulations differ in their degree of isolation, it is shown to be optimal, for a given total effective size, to raise the harvesting thresholds relatively more in small and in isolated populations. Finally, we show how the method applies to populations which are supplemented, either intentionally or unintentionally. It is shown that the total effective size can be reduced by several orders of magnitude if the captive component of a population is much smaller than the wild component, even with symmetric backward migration.     

Climate,body condition and spleen size in birds

Climatic conditions may impact on the body condition of animals and thereby affect their survival prospects. However, climate may also impact directly on the survival prospects of animals by affecting the size of immune defence organs that are used for defence against parasites. We used a large long-term database on body condition and size of the spleen in birds to test for immediate and delayed relationships between climatic conditions as indexed by the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and body condition and spleen mass, respectively. Across 14 species of birds, spleen mass was significantly positively correlated with the NAO index, while the delayed effect of NAO on spleen mass was not significant. Spleen mass was positively related to body condition, but body condition did not depend significantly on NAO or delayed NAO effects. Bird species with a strong positive effect of NAO on spleen mass tended to have small spleens for their body size, while species with a strong negative effect of NAO on spleen mass tended to have relatively large spleens. Since bird species with relatively large spleen have been shown to suffer more from the negative effects of parasites, we can infer that the effects of climate as indexed by NAO on the size of the spleen depends on the importance of parasite-mediated natural selection.Due to an error in the citation line, this revised PDF (published in December 2003) deviates from the printed version, and is the correct and authoritative version of the paper.     

Surfactants as Chemical Shark Repellents: Past, Present, and Future

The development of Shark Chaser by the U.S. Navy during World War II was the first serious effort to develop a chemical shark repellent. In the decade following the war reports of Shark Chaser ineffectiveness led the Office of Naval Research to search for a more efficacious shark repellent. After years without success, ONR eventually canceled the use of Shark Chaser and abandoned the search for a chemical shark repellent. In the early 1970s, interest in chemical shark repellents was renewed by the discovery of pardaxin, a natural shark repellent secreted by the Red Sea Moses sole, Pardachirus marmoratus. The surfactant-like nature of pardaxin led investigators to test the potential of various surfactants as repellents. Subsequent studies indicated that the shark repellent efficacy of the effective alkyl sulfate surfactants was due to their hydrophobic nature. Here we report tests conducted on juvenile swell sharks, Cephaloscyllium ventriosum, to determine if the noxious quality of alkyl sulfates is affected by surfactant hydrophobicity [carbon chain length and ethylene oxide (EO) groups] and counterions. Our results indicate that the aversive response of sharks to alkyl sulfate surfactants increases with carbon chain length from octyl to dodecyl, decreases with the addition of EO groups and is not affected by counterions. This study confirms that dodecyl sulfate is the most effective surfactant shark repellent, but it does not meet the Navy's potency requirement for a nondirectional surrounding-cloud type repellent of 100 parts per billion (0.1ugml^–1). Thus, dodecyl sulfate is only practical as a directional repellent such as in a squirt application. Future research should test the action of alkyl sulfates on cell membranes, the potential of other biotoxic agents, and semiochemicals in the search for an effective chemical shark repellent.     

Reproductive Biology of the Smooth Dogfish, Mustelus canis, in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean

Shark populations tend to be highly vulnerable to overexploitation due to low fecundity and slow growth rates. Recent fishing pressure on the smooth dogfish in the northwest Atlantic has created a necessity for more information about their basic biology. Length and age at maturity, fecundity, and reproductive season were estimated. Total length at 50% maturity was 102cm for females, and 86cm for males. The majority of females were mature at age 4 or 5, and all males were mature at 2 or 3 years of age. Females had an 11–12 month gestation with parturition occurring in May, ovulation occurring between May and July likely in late May and early June, and mating occurring between May and September. Fecundity ranged between 3 and 18 pups per litter, and was positively related to length and age, with a mean of 9.53 pups per litter. Sperm was found in the terminal zone of the oviducal gland of females throughout the year.     

Longitudinal surveillance of the tick Ixodes ricinus for borreliae

Host-seeking Ixodes ricinus (L.) (Acari: Ixodidae) were monitored for borreliae (Borrelia burgdorferi s.l.) using dark-field microscopy in South Moravia (Czech Republic) each May from 1991 to 2001 (150 nymphs, 100 females and 100 males each year). This survey revealed a mean annual percentage of infected ticks of 16.8% (range, 11.7-24.2) in nymphs, 24.9% (range, 16.5-33.6) in females and 26.1% (range, 17.1-37.3) in males. Annual incidence of Lyme borreliosis in humans of the area in the same period (range, 8.7-41.7 per 100,000) correlated significantly with the frequency (number of ticks per flag per hour) of nymphs infected with >50 borreliae or all nymphal ticks, but not with the frequency of females, infected females or the infection rate (% of ticks infected) of either nymphal or female ticks. A prediction of the annual incidence of Lyme borreliosis, based on the frequency of heavily infected or all nymphal I. ricinus ticks, is feasible. The infection rate in I. ricinus correlated significantly with the North Atlantic Oscillation winter index of the last year (in nymphs) or of the year before last (in adults).     

Interaction between ants and seeds of a nonmyrmecochorous neotropical tree, Cabralea canjerana (Meliaceae), in the Atlantic forest of southeast Brazil

On the forest floor of two Atlantic forest sites in southeast Brazil, we recorded 26 ant species (12 genera) interacting with the seeds of Cabralea canjerana (Meliaceae), a typical ornithochorous tree whose seeds are covered by a lipid-rich aril. The ants treat the arillate seeds in three different ways: (1) the large ponerine ants Pachycondyla striata and Odontomachus chelifer individually remove the seeds to their nests, (2) many species (Pheidole spp.) recruit workers to remove the aril on the spot, or (3) Solenopsis spp. recruit nestmates and cover the seeds with soil before removing the aril on the spot. The ants remove the aril exceptionally rapidly, and removal greatly facilitates seed germination. Seed predation by insects below fruiting trees is severe, and field experiments using vertebrate exclosures showed that rodents also prey heavily upon seeds found near parent trees. Ponerine ants actively remove seeds from this predation-prone zone. By removing bird-manipulated and naturally fallen seeds, ants can play a key role in the fate of medium-sized seeds like those of C. canjerana.     

Taxonomy of the deep-sea eel genus, Histiobranchus (Synaphobranchidae, Anguilliformes), with notes on the ecology of H. bathybius in the eastern North Atlantic

The eel genus Histiobranchus Gill occurs benthopelagically over the continental rise and abyss of the World Ocean, primarily beneath temperate and subpolar surface waters. Its generic status within the subfamily Synaphobranchinae is confirmed by comparison of the structure and topography of its cephalic sensory system and skeletal features with Synaphobranchus. At least three species of Histiobranchus are recognized: H. bathybius (panoceanic), H. bruuni (Tasman Sea and waters south-east of New Zealand) and H. australis (two geographical forms; South Atlantic and south-western Indian Ocean, and South Indo-West Pacific Oceans). Collections totalling 319 specimens of H. bathybius from the eastern North Atlantic (1790–5440 m depth) yielded a size range of 99–1370 mm total length ( L _T), with no apparent sexual dimorphism. Length–frequency distributions indicate a mode of juvenile fish at around 100–200 mm L _T and a further two around 600–700 and 1300–1400 mm L _T among adults. Generally smaller fish occur in shallower regions, although the size range is broad over the whole depth range. No apparent trend occurs in the size distribution with latitude over the range 17–54) N. Females outnumber males (1 male : 1·7 females) and both sexes are largely distinguishable from 300 mm L _T. Ripening eggs occur in females from both adult length modes, with running ripe and spent females of very different size indicating iteroparity.     

Adult habitat preferences, larval dispersal, and the comparative phylogeography of three Atlantic surgeonfishes (Teleostei: Acanthuridae)

Although many reef fishes of the tropical Atlantic are widely distributed, there are large discontinuities that may strongly influence phylogeographical patterns. The freshwater outflow of the Amazon basin is recognized as a major barrier that produces a break between Brazilian and Caribbean faunas. The vast oceanic distances between Brazil and the mid-Atlantic ridge islands represent another formidable barrier. To assess the relative importance of these barriers, we compared a fragment of the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) cytochrome b gene among populations of three species of Atlantic surgeonfishes: Acanthurus bahianus, A. chirurgus and A. coeruleus. These species have similar life histories but different adult habitat preferences. The mtDNA data show no population structure between Brazil and the mid-Atlantic islands, indicating that this oceanic barrier is readily traversed by the pelagic larval stage of all three surgeonfishes, which spend approximately 45-70 days in the pelagic environment. The Amazon is a strong barrier to dispersal of A. bahianus (d = 0.024, phiST = 0.724), a modest barrier for A. coeruleus (phiST = 0.356), and has no discernible effect as a barrier for A. chirurgus. The later species has been collected on soft bottoms with sponge habitats under the Amazon outflow, indicating that relaxed adult habitat requirements enable it to readily cross that barrier. A limited ability to use soft bottom habitats may also explain the low (but significant) population structure in A. coeruleus. In contrast, A. bahianus has not been collected over deep sponge bottoms, and rarely settles outside shallow reefs. Overall, adult habitat preferences seem to be the factor that differentiates phylogeographical patterns in these reef-associated species.