Molecular Identification of Aeromonas and Coliform Bacteria Isolated on m Endo Media from Lake Erie Waters

Summary Bacteria from recreational waters collected from two Lake Erie beaches in Dunkirk, New York were plated onto m Endo LES media. The 16S rRNA gene was then amplified from coliform and non-coliform bacteria using the polymerase chain reaction. The PCR products were characterized by restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis. A total of 8 RFLP groups were identified from the analysis of 920 samples and selected PCR products from each group were sequenced. The DNA sequence analysis indicated that more than half of the bacteria identified as coliforms on the m Endo plates belonged to the genus Aeromonas from the family Aeromonadaceae. Most of the remaining coliforms were from the Enterobacteriaceae. The data indicate that m Endo agar plates allow the growth of non-coliform bacteria, especially Aeromonas species.     

长三角地区休闲游憩服务供需关系研究

依托生态空间的休闲游憩服务是提升人类福祉至关重要的贡献者。但由于经济发展、城市扩张、人口增长等因素,区域休闲游憩服务供需矛盾突出,且供给与需求在空间上错位、不匹配等问题严重。研究休闲游憩服务供需关系对合理规划、管理区域生态用地,促进生态文明建设等方面具有重要的理论和现实价值。以长三角为例,基于土地利用与人口数据,提出不同可达半径下区域休闲游憩服务供需关系的评价方法,研究41个地级市不同可达半径下供需关系的空间分异规律。研究结果表明：（1）2015年长三角地区休闲游憩服务的供需比为1028%,供给远大于需求,但供需关系空间异质性明显,高供给区与高需求区明显错位,空间不匹配问题严重。（2）随着可达半径由0 km扩大至50 km,区域赤字区面积占比由43.14%减少至7.83%,休闲游憩服务需求未得到满足的人口占比由65.47%下降至10.64%。（3）根据41个地级市不同可达半径下休闲游憩服务供需关系的演变规律,将其划分为5种类型区,提出相应的发展建议。研究表明,快速城市化和城市扩张过程中,应强化城区内绿色空间的分散化配置;同时,在长三角经济一体化发展过程中,休闲游憩服务供需的盈余区、赤字区可以建立生态补偿和经济合作关系,促进长三角绿色发展的一体化。     

北京城市公园湿地休憩功能的利用及其社会人口学因素

城市公园湿地是城市重要的生态基础设施,是城市居民休闲游憩的重要场所,具有重要的生态、社会文化服务功能。以北京地区20个典型的公园湿地为研究对象,采用问卷调查方法,将定性指标和定量指标相结合,用统计学方法分析了休憩者对公园湿地的使用情况,并采用Logistic回归方法揭示了影响城市公园湿地利用的社会人口学因素。结果表明:(1)休憩者到访公园湿地的距离与使用频率密切相关,43.4%的休憩者到达公园湿地的行程时间<1 h,这其中34.1%的休憩者使用公园湿地的频率每年在12次以上;仅有17.4%的休憩者每年使用各公园湿地频率为12次以上,这其中85%到达各公园湿地的行程时间<1h;(2)影响休憩者对公园湿地使用频率为每年12次以上的因素依次为行程时间、个人月收入、有无私家车、文化程度、职业、年龄。另外,性别与年龄的交互作用也有一定的影响;(3)愉悦身心是休憩者使用各公园湿地的最主要原因。研究旨在为城市公园湿地的合理优化与配置、城市绿地系统规划及城市的可持续发展提供科学依据。     

When an advantageous reproductive trait turns bad: Eggs of the threatened fish Genidens barbus as a natural bait in recreational fisheries

This study describes a recreational fishing method focused on marine catfish, Genidens barbus (Endangered-EN), through the adoption of its eggs as a natural bait during its reproductive period in southern Brazilian ecosystems. Male G. barbus perform parental care, collecting eggs released by females after the fertilization process. Owing to this male behavioural pattern during the reproductive period, these individuals are easily caught in recreational fisheries that use eggs of the same species as a natural bait. The current adoption of G. barbus eggs as bait may intensify the fishing pressure on its populations.     

A bioenergetic assessment of the influence of stocking practices on rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) growth and consumption in a New Zealand lake

Summary

• 1 To investigate the carrying capacity and factors affecting growth of rainbow trout in Lake Rotoiti, we employed a bioenergetics model to assess the influence of stocking rates, timing of releases and prey abundance on growth and prey consumption. We hypothesised that stocking rates and prey abundance would affect growth and prey consumption by influencing per‐capita prey availability, and that the environmental conditions encountered by fish at the time of stocking would affect growth and consumption.
• 2 Prey consumption of stocked rainbow trout was calculated with the Wisconsin bioenergetics model. We calculated growth trajectories of released trout based on data from stocked trout that were released in spring and autumn from 1993 to 2009 and then re‐captured by anglers. Diet, prey energy density, body mass lost during spawning and lake temperature were measured locally.
• 3 Stocking timing had no effect on return rates to anglers or length or weight of caught fish. Although trout released in autumn were smaller than those released in spring, autumn‐released trout grew at a faster rate and had similar lengths and weights to spring cohorts after 2 years of growth in the lake. Modelled consumption parameters were negatively correlated with trout population size, suggesting that stocking rates (347–809 fish ha^?1 year^?1) caused density‐dependent effects on growth. Although common smelt (Retropinna retropinna) accounted for 85% of total prey consumption, no significant relationship was found between prey consumption by individual trout and adult smelt abundance, possibly because trout are targeting smaller smelt that our abundance estimate did not account for.
• 4 Releasing trout in autumn appears to be advantageous for growth, possibly because (i) temperature is more suitable for growth in autumn–winter than in spring–summer and (ii) prey for small trout is abundant in autumn. Mild winter conditions appear to enhance overwinter survival and growth of rainbow trout in warm‐temperate lakes compared to higher latitudes. This implies that moderately productive warm‐temperate lake ecosystems are highly suitable for trout growth in winter, but less so in summer, when lake stratification and high nutrient levels may create conditions suitable for algal blooms and hypolimnetic deoxygenation. High growth rates of trout in warm‐temperate lakes can therefore be supported by timing releases to coincide with favourable winter conditions.

     

Role of commercial harbours and recreational marinas in the spread of non-indigenous fouling species

The role of commercial harbours as sink and source habitats for non-indigenous species (NIS) and the role of recreational boating for their secondary spread were investigated by analysing the fouling community of five Italian harbours and five marinas in the western Mediterranean Sea. It was first hypothesised that NIS assemblages in the recreational marinas were subsets of those occurring in commercial harbours. However, the data did not consistently support this hypothesis: the NIS pools of some marinas significantly diverged from harbours even belonging to the same coastal stretches, including NIS occurring only in marinas. This study confirms harbours as hotspots for marine NIS, but also reveals that numbers of NIS in some marinas is higher than expected, suggesting that recreational vessels effectively facilitate NIS spread. It is recommended that this vector of NIS introduction is taken into account in the future planning of sustainable development of maritime tourism in Europe.     

Twilight activity patterns and angling vulnerability of yellowmouth barracuda (Sphyraena viridensis Cuvier, 1829), a range-expanding thermophilic fish

Among the thermophilic fishes that have become established in the north-western Mediterranean as a consequence of sea warming, the yellowmouth barracuda (Sphyraena viridensis Cuvier, 1829) appears to be one of the most successful and abundant in the coastal rocky environment, having increasingly become the object of recreational and commercial exploitation in the study area. Lure-fishing sessions were carried out from May 2016 to November 2018 in the Catalan Sea (NE Spain) at dawn and dusk, with the aim of providing new insight into the behavioural, spatial and feeding ecology and vulnerability to angling of this poorly known species. Generalized mixed-effects linear models showed that S. viridensis is a crepuscular inshore dweller, whose vulnerability to angling is significantly influenced by solar and lunar light intensities, being highest in the pre-spawn and spawning periods. Asymmetries between dawn and dusk activity patterns were detected, evidently related to a drop in aggressiveness at dusk following the spawning period. The simple study design adopted may be applied to other contexts, aiming to the recognition of several levels of fish vulnerability to angling.     

A complex biogeographic history of diversification in Neotropical lancehead pitvipers (Serpentes,Viperidae)

Based on the literature, we had predicted that the diversification within the Neotropical snake genus Bothrops occurred along a latitudinal gradient from north to south, with diversification into unoccupied niches through ecological opportunity, not correlated with geoclimatic events. Using a dated phylogeny and estimating likelihoods of ancestral states at cladogenesis events, we reconstructed ancestral areas and assessed major events of the diversification of Bothrops clades, and we also discuss systematic implications for this group. Based on the phylogeny we produced, B. lojanus was not considered as part of the genus Bothrops since the results recovered this species nested within the Bothrocophias clade. We infer that the diversification of the Miocene Bothrops pictus and Bothrops alternatus clades may be related to the uplift of the western slopes of the Andes and the Argentinian Patagonian Andes, respectively. The Pliocene Bothrops taeniatus and Bothrops osbornei clades may be related to the uplift of the eastern and northern Andes, respectively. The Plio-Pleistocene Bothrops neuwiedi clade may be related to the habitat transitions from a warmer and forested environment to a cooler and open landscape; the Bothrops jararaca (i.e. island endemic species) and Bothrops lanceolatus clades to over-water dispersal with island speciation; and Bothrops atrox clade to the appearance of the Panamanian land bridge. We found that a multitemporal and multidirectional history of diversification may be correlated with geoclimatic and dispersalist events. We argue that the vacant niche hypothesis by itself does not explain Bothrops diversification.