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"Animal experimentation Juvenile literature."
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The debate about animal testing
\"This book covers both sides of the debate about animal testing. By providing a well-rounded and balanced view of this controversial topic, readers gain a better understanding of all the factors involved.\"--From publisher description.
Book
The crown-of-thorns seastar species complex: knowledge on the biology and ecology of five corallivorous Acanthaster species
Coral-eating crown-of-thorns seastars (CoTS,
Acanthaster
spp.) are major contributors to the coral reef crises across the Indo-Pacific region. Until recently, CoTS throughout the Indo-Pacific were regarded to be a single species,
Acanthaster planci
. However, genetic and morphological analyses demonstrated that there are at least four distinct species:
Acanthaster benziei
in the Red Sea,
Acanthaster mauritiensis
and
A. planci
in the Indian Ocean, and
Acanthaster
cf.
solaris
in the western Pacific.
Acanthaster
cf.
ellisii
in the eastern Pacific needs more taxonomic attention. Here, we review the biological knowledge for each species adapting a pragmatic geographical species definition and using a systematic literature review complemented with more focused searches for individual species. The vast majority of CoTS research (88%) was conducted on
A.
cf.
solaris
, with much of this research undertaken on the Great Barrier Reef or in Japan. Many studies of
A.
cf.
solaris
are focused on monitoring or documenting incidences of outbreaks, though there is a solid base of knowledge on larval, juvenile and adult ecology derived from field and laboratory experiments. By contrast, most of the published studies on the four remaining species simply document cases of population outbreaks. The major taxonomic bias in CoTS research constitutes a significant limitation for understanding and managing these species for two reasons. First, even for
A.
cf.
solaris
, which is the most studied species, limited fundamental knowledge of their biology and ecology constrains understanding of the drivers of outbreaks and hinders corresponding management actions for prevention and control of these events. Second, understanding and management of other species are predicated on the assumption that all CoTS species have similar biology and behaviour, an unsatisfying assumption for ecosystem management.
Journal Article
Something rotten : a fresh look at roadkill
\"When Heather L. Montgomery sees a rattlesnake flattened on the side of the road, her first instinct is to pick it up and dissect it--she's always wanted to see how a snake's fangs retract when they close their mouths, and it's not exactly safe to poke around in a live reptile's mouth. A wildlife researcher with a special penchant for the animals that litter the roadways, Heather isn't satisfied with dissecting just one snake. Her fascination with roadkill sets her off on a journey from her own backyard and the roadways of the American South to scientists and kids in labs and homes across the globe. From biologists who use the corpses of Tasmanian devils to investigate cures for a contagious cancer, to a scientist who discovered a whole new species of bird from a single wing left behind, to a boy rebuilding animal bodies from the bones up, to a restaurant that serves up animal remnants, Heather discovers that death is just the beginning for these creatures\"-- Provided by publisher.
Book
Multiple stressors: modeling the effect of pollution, climate, and predation on viability of a sub-arctic marine bird
Negative effects of long-transported pollutants, such as many persistent organic pollutants (POPs), on seabirds and other top predators have been documented for decades. Yet, the concentrations, and hence, the negative impacts of many POPs have recently declined in the Northern Hemisphere. However, organisms are exposed to multiple stressors and the impacts of pollution act in concert with both natural and other anthropogenic stressors. In theory, this means that even sub-lethal POP concentrations may cause adverse effects if they co-occur with increased levels of other stressors. We tested the multiple stress hypothesis on common eiders, a marine duck with a northern geographical distribution, by assessing the relative importance of pollution, climate (winter sea surface temperature; SSTw), and egg predation on population dynamics and viability (i.e., extinction risk) using Leslie-matrix population models. The model was parametrized by estimating reproduction and apparent adult survival using long-term data from a common eider population in sub-arctic Europe. Average annual adult survival was 0.80 (coefficient of variation [CV] = 22.00%) and showed a negative, both direct and delayed, relationship with SSTw. Average clutch size was 4.41 eggs (CV = 5.12%) and varied in time showing periods of both positive and negative trends, but showed no relationship with SSTw. We based immature survival on estimates from literature: 0.52 and 0.68 for juveniles and yearlings, respectively. Our model supported the multiple stress hypothesis as changes in a single stressor did not induce extinctions, unless the magnitude of our manipulations was extreme except for egg predation. The effect of pollution was, however, increasingly negative when it cooccurred with a warming climate and egg predation—and population viability was lowest when all the stressors occurred simultaneously.
Journal Article
Disturbance, competition, and herbivory effects on ragwort Senecio jacobaea populations
The balance of forces determining the successful control of ragwort Senecio jacobaea by introduced insects was investigated in a field experiment by manipulating the time of disturbance, the level of interspecific plant competition, and the level of herbivory by the cinnabar moth Tyria jacobaeae and the ragwort flea beetle Longitarsus jacobaeae. We used a factorial design containing 0.25-m^2 plots arranged as 4 Blocks x 2 Disturbance Time (plots were tilled in Fall 1986 or Spring 1987) x 3 Plant Competition levels (vegetation other than ragwort was Removed, Clipped, or Unaltered) x 2 Cinnabar Moth levels (Exposed, Protected) x 2 Flea Beetle levels (Exposed, protected). The response of ragwort was measured as colonization, survivorship, and reproduction of the first ragwort generation, establishment of juveniles in the second generation, and changes in ragwort biomass from 1987 through 1990. We also made annual measurements from 1987 through 1990 of the allocation of space (the limiting resource in the Unaltered competition treatment) among the categories ragwort, other species, litter, and open space. Natural enemy responses were characterized by relating variation in the concentration of enemies and the concentration of ragwort among patches. We found that abundant buried seed and localized disturbances combined to activate incipient ragwort outbreaks, and that interspecific plant competition and herbivory by the ragwort flea beetle combined to inhibit the increase and spread of incipient outbreaks. Time of disturbance had little effect on the outcome of biological control. Under conditions in the Removed and Clipped treatments (where there was sufficient open space for germination and establishment), reduction in seed production in the first generation caused by cinnabar moth larvae led to a reduction in plant numbers in the second generation, but caused only a weak effect on ragwort cover and no detectable effect on ragwort biomass over the longer term from 1986 through 1990. At the spatial scale examined, inhibition by the ragwort flea beetle and plant competition took the extreme form of elimination of all ragwort individuals except the pool of seed buried in the soil. Our findings lead us to (1) reject the view that successful biological control leads to a stable pest-enemy equilibrium on a local spatial scale, (2) strongly endorse @'search and destroy@' and weakly endorse @'complementary enemies@' strategies suggested by Murdoch et al. (1985) as ways to improve control, and (3) emphasize resource limitation in the pest at low density as a key feature distinguishing biological control of weeds from biological control of insects.
Journal Article