Microbial inoculant effects on silage and in vitro ruminal fermentation, and microbial biomass estimation for alfalfa, bmr corn, and corn silages

Whole crop third cut alfalfa, brown mid-rib (bmr) corn, and corn were chopped and inoculated with one of four microbial inoculants used. Uninoculated silage was the control treatment. Each crop was ensiled in four mini-silos (1 L glass jars) per treatment. All silos were fermented for 60 days at room temperature (22 °C), and then they were opened and analyzed for fermentation products, fiber constituents and N fractions. A fraction of wet silage was ground with a blender for 30 s. In vitro gas production was measured in 160 ml sealed serum vials at 3, 6, 9, 24, and 48 h using the wet ground silage. At 9 and 48 h, rumen fluid was analyzed for volatile fatty acids (VFA) and microbial biomass yield (MBY). In all the three crops, the four inoculants produced only minor changes in pH and fermentation products during ensiling. Of the variables measured, soluble nonprotein N fractions were the characteristics most often affected by some inoculants. At 9 h incubation, in vitro gas production and VFA did not differ between control and inoculated silages, but MBY did. Among crops, alfalfa and corn silages had higher MBY than did bmr corn silage. Among inoculants, three of the four inoculated silages produced more MBY than did control. At 48 h, alfalfa silage produced higher MBY than did corn or bmr silage, and two of the inoculated silages had more MBY than did the control. There was no inoculant by crop interaction. Results suggest that some silage inoculants are capable of altering rumen fermentation, even in cases where effects on silage fermentation are small, and that this effect may be linked to better preservation of crop protein during ensiling.     

Gluttony and sex in female ixodid ticks: how do they compare to other blood-sucking arthropods?

The central issue dealt with here is the role of copulation in the control of feeding behaviour in ticks and some haematophagous insects. Female ticks of the family Ixodidae normally engorge to approximately 100 x their unfed body weight, and then drop from the host, produce and lay eggs, and die. Virgins, on the other hand, normally do not exceed 5-40% (depending on species) of the normal engorged body weight. But instead of detaching voluntarily at that point most virgins remain fixed to the host for extended periods, waiting for males to find them so they can complete engorgement. Virgin haematophagous insects, and virgin ticks of the family Argasidae display little, if any, reduction in blood meal size compared to mated females, at least not during the first ovarian cycle. During subsequent ovarian cycles, meal size in some virgin insects may be somewhat reduced depending on how many eggs are retained in the reproductive tract, but the reduction is not nearly to the same extent as that observed for virgin ixodid females. The stimulatory effect of copulation on engorgement in the latter is caused by a pair of proteins (voraxin alpha and beta) produced in the testis and transferred to the female with the spermatophore. Here, I propose why it might be adaptive for an ixodid female to remain small until mated. The hypothesis is suggested from the facts that ixodid ticks remain attached to the host for days (rather than minutes), and that virgin ticks, above a certain critical weight, lose all opportunity for producing viable offspring should they be groomed off the host prematurely, or should the host die while ticks are still attached.     

Comparative genomic analysis of eutherian Mas-related G protein-coupled receptor genes

The present study made attempts to update comprehensive eutherian Mas-related G protein-coupled receptor gene data sets, using public eutherian genomic sequence data sets and new genomics and molecular evolution tests. Among 254 potential coding sequences, the most comprehensive gene data set of eutherian Mas-related G protein-coupled receptor genes included 119 complete coding sequences that described eight major gene clusters. The present analysis integrated gene annotations, phylogenetic analysis and protein molecular evolution analysis and first explained differential gene expansion patterns of eutherian Mas-related G protein-coupled receptor genes. The updated classification and nomenclature of eutherian Mas-related G protein-coupled receptor genes were proposed as new framework of future experiments.     

How dung beetles respond to a human‐modified variegated landscape in Mexican cloud forest: a study of biodiversity integrating ecological and biogeographical perspectives

Aim To analyse how the dung beetles (Scarabaeinae) respond to a modified, variegated landscape, taking into account the biogeographical peculiarities of the Mexican Transition Zone. Location This study covers cloud forest (CF) of the Sierra Norte de Puebla mountain range and part of the Sierra Madre Oriental mountain range (Mexico). Methods We applied proportional sampling based on the landscape variegation model with Scarabaeinae as the indicator group, and using two approaches: structural units (vegetation type) and spatial units (windows). We used two measures – richness and Shannon diversity – and applied multiplicative diversity partitioning to obtain independent alpha and beta diversities for the landscape, windows and vegetation types. We grouped species by biogeographical distribution pattern for the biogeographical analysis and by whether they were originally from CF. Results The transformation of CF into secondary forest, pastures and other types of vegetation increases the Scarabaeinae diversity of the landscape, in vegetation types and windows. This increase is the result of species arriving from the tropical lowlands. However, the original dung beetle community of the CF dominates at different scales in the number of species, abundance and biomass. With increasing habitat modification, beta diversity increases in the windows, and species with the Tropical Palaeoamerican distribution pattern increase in abundance in vegetation types and windows. Main conclusions The variegated character of the landscape explains well the distribution and diversity of this dung beetle community. The peculiar characteristics of the Mexican Transition Zone have an effect owing to the overlap of fauna with different biogeographical origins. The conversion of fragmented landscapes to variegated landscapes could be a conservation goal in human‐modified mountain landscapes. Sampling proportional to the area of different types of vegetation and the use of windows offer an alternative experimental design in variegated landscapes.     

EVIDENCE FOR INCREASES IN ANTARCTIC BLUE WHALES BASED ON BAYESIAN MODELLING

Antarctic blue whales ( Balaenoptera musculus intermedia ) are the largest and formerly most abundant blue whale subspecies, but were hunted to near extinction last century. Estimated whaling mortality was unsustainable from 1928 to 1972 (except during 1942–1944), depleting them from 239,000 (95% interval 202,000–311,000) to a low of 360 (150–840) in 1973. Obtaining statistical evidence for subsequent increases has proved difficult due to their scarcity. We fitted Bayesian models to three sighting series (1968–2001), constraining maximum rates of increase to 12% per annum. These models indicated that Antarctic blue whales are increasing at a mean rate of 7.3% per annum (1.4%–11.6%). Informative priors based on blue whale biology (4.3%, SD = 1.9%) and a Bayesian hierarchical meta-analysis of increase rates in other blue whale populations (−3%, SD = 11.6%), suggest plausible increase rates are lower (although the latter has wide intervals), but a meta-analysis of other mysticetes obtains similar rates of increase (6.7%, SD = 4.0%). Possible biases affecting the input abundance estimates are discussed. Although Antarctic blue whales appear to have been increasing since Sovier illegal whaling ended in 1972, they still need to be protected-their estimated 1996 population size, 1,700 (860–2,900), was just 0.7% (0.3%–1.3%) of the pre-exploitation level.     

Clinical evaluation of non-invasive prenatal screening in 32,394 pregnancies from Changzhi maternal and child health care hospital of Shanxi China

BackgroundNon-invasive prenatal screening (NIPS) is a highly sensitive and specific screening test to detect fetal chromosomal abnormalities. The primary objective of this study was to evaluate the NIPS as an effective method for prenatal detection of aneuploidies in both high-risk and low-risk pregnancies.MethodsIn current study, we performed NIPS in 32,394 pregnancies, out of which results were available in 32,361 (99.9%) of them. Illumina sequencing was performed for NIPS screening. Hypothesis Z test was used to classify fetal autosomal aneuploidy of T21, T18, and T13. Karyotyping was performed to determine the true negative and true positive NIPS results.ResultsAmong the 32,361 confirmed samples, 164 cases had positive results and 32197 cases had negative results. Of these positive cases, 116 cases were trisomy 21, 34 cases were trisomy 18 and 14 cases were trisomy 13. No false negative results were found in this cohort. The overall sensitivity and specificity were 100% and 99.91%, respectively. There was no significant difference in test performance between the 7,316 high-risk and 25,045 low-risk pregnancies, (sensitivity, 100% vs 100% (P>0.05); specificity, 99.96% vs 99.95% (P > 0.05)). Factors contributing to false-positive results included fetal copy number variants (CNVs), fetal mosaicism and typically producing Z scores between 3 and 4. Moreover, we analyzed NIPS wholegenome sequencing to investigate the Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) associations with drug response or risk of disease. As compare to the 1000g East Asian genome data, the results revealed a significant difference in 7,285,418 SNPs variants of Shanxi pregnant women including 19,293 clinvar recorded variants and 7,266,125 non-clinvar recorded.ConclusionsOur findings showed that NIPS was an effective assay that may be applied as routine screening for fetal trisomies in the prenatal setting. In addition, this study also provides an accurate assessment of significant differences in 7,285,418 SNPs variants in Shanxi pregnant women that were previously unavailable to clinicians in Shanxi population.     

Shallow environmental gradients put inland species at risk: Insights and implications from predicting future distributions of Eucalyptus species in South Western Australia

As climate changes, tree decline in Mediterranean‐type ecosystems is increasing worldwide, often due to decreased effective precipitation and increased drought and heat stress, and has recently been observed in coastal species of the iconic Eucalyptus (Myrtaceae) genus in the biodiversity hotspot of south‐west Western Australia. To investigate how this drought‐related decline is likely to continue in the future, we used species distribution modelling techniques to generate broad‐scale predictions of future distribution patterns under three distinct projected climate change scenarios. In a moderate climate change scenario, suitable habitat for all species was predicted to decrease by, on average, 73% by the year 2100, with most receding into southern areas of their current distribution. Although the most severe Eucalyptus declines in south‐west Western Australia have been observed in near‐coastal regions, our predictions suggest that inland species are at greater risk from climate change, with six inland species predicted to lose 95% of their suitable habitat in a moderate change scenario. This is due to the shallow environmental gradients of inland regions causing larger spatial shifts of environmental envelopes, which is likely to be relevant in many regions of the world. The knowledge gained suggests that future research and conservation efforts in south‐west Western Australia and elsewhere should avoid focussing disproportionately on coastal regions for reasons of convenience and proximity to population centres, and properly address the inland region where the biggest future impacts may occur.     

Comparison of distance sampling estimates to a known population size of Ant-eating Chats Myrmecocichla formicivora

Line-transect sampling was used to obtain abundance estimates of an Ant-eating Chat Myrmecocichla formicivora population to compare these with the true size of the population. The population size was determined by a long-term banding study, and abundance estimates were obtained by surveying line transects. The sampling effort was quadrupled to determine potential improvements in accuracy and precision. Abundance estimates of the single surveys differed up to 19.8% from the true number of birds and showed relatively high coefficients of variation. Estimates of the cumulative analyses only differed up to 5.8% while coefficients of variation improved considerably, and provided thus reliable population estimates compared with the true number of chats.