What can the location of skin sheds tell us? A case study on Montpellier snake <em>Malpolon monspessulanus</em> in southeast France

The Aransas‐Wood Buffalo population (the only non‐reintroduced, migratory population) of endangered whooping cranes (Grus americana) overwinters along the Texas Gulf Coast, USA. Understanding whooping crane space use on the wintering grounds reveals essential aspects of this species' ecology, which subsequently assists with conservation. Using global positioning system telemetry data from marked whooping cranes during 2009–2017, we fit continuous‐time stochastic process models to describe movement and home range using autocorrelated kernel density estimation (AKDE) and explored variation in home range size in relation to age, sex, reproductive status, and drought conditions. We used the Bhattacharyya coefficient of overlap and distance between home range centroids to quantify site fidelity. We examined the effects of time between winter home ranges and the sex of the crane on site fidelity using Bayesian mixed‐effects beta regression. Winter whooping crane 95% AKDE home range size averaged 30.1 ± 45.2 (SD) km2 (median = 14.3, range = 1.1–308.6). Home ranges of sub‐adult females were approximately 2 times larger than those of sub‐adult males or families. As drought worsened, home ranges typically expanded. Between consecutive years, the home ranges of an adult crane exhibited 68 ± 31% overlap (site fidelity), but fidelity to winter sites declined in subsequent winters. The overlap of adult home ranges with the nearest unrelated family averaged 33 ± 28%. As a whooping crane aged, overlap with its winter home range as a juvenile declined, regardless of sex. By 4 years of age, a whooping crane had approximately 14 ± 28% overlap with its juvenile winter home range. Limited evidence suggested male whooping cranes return to within 2 km of their juvenile home range by their fifth winter. Previous data obtained from aerial surveys led ecologists to assume that whooping crane families normally used small areas (~2 km2) and expressed persistent site fidelity. Our analyses showed <8% of families had home ranges ≤2 km2, with the average area 15 times greater, and waning site fidelity over time. Our work represents an analysis of whooping crane home ranges for this population, identifying past misconceptions of winter space use and resulting in better estimates of space requirements for future conservation efforts.

As heron and egret colonies are sometimes abandoned due to human activity and subsequently newly established at nearby locations, colony locations per se cannot represent colony fates. Here, “colony lineages” were traced by connecting short-distance location shifts between colony sites in consecutive years to quantify the site fidelity of heron colonies themselves rather than the breeding-site fidelity of individuals. Site fidelity of 61 colony lineages recorded from 1963 to 2013 in and around Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan, was evaluated by persistence periods with survival analysis and shapes of historical trajectories by applying the correlated random walk analysis. While 36% (n = 22) of colony lineages did not show site fidelity and lasted only 1 year or indicated untangled shapes of historical trajectories, 64% (n = 39) of colony lineages exhibited site fidelity by reusing the same locations for multiple years or by staying within a small area with entangled shapes of historical trajectories. Even though suitable breeding sites were abundant in the study area and site fidelity of colony members was low, a high rate of site fidelity in colony lineages may be achieved when a few faithful pioneer herons and egrets are followed by many others.

BackgroundThe explosive radiation and diversification of the advanced snakes (superfamily Colubroidea) was associated with changes in all aspects of the shared venom system. Morphological changes included the partitioning of the mixed ancestral glands into two discrete glands devoted for production of venom or mucous respectively, as well as changes in the location, size and structural elements of the venom-delivering teeth. Evidence also exists for homology among venom gland toxins expressed across the advanced snakes. However, despite the evolutionary novelty of snake venoms, in-depth toxin molecular evolutionary history reconstructions have been mostly limited to those types present in only two front-fanged snake families, Elapidae and Viperidae. To have a broader understanding of toxins shared among extant snakes, here we first sequenced the transcriptomes of eight taxonomically diverse rear-fanged species and four key viperid species and analysed major toxin types shared across the advanced snakes.ResultsTranscriptomes were constructed for the following families and species: Colubridae - Helicops leopardinus, Heterodon nasicus, Rhabdophis subminiatus; Homalopsidae – Homalopsis buccata; Lamprophiidae - Malpolon monspessulanus, Psammophis schokari, Psammophis subtaeniatus, Rhamphiophis oxyrhynchus; and Viperidae – Bitis atropos, Pseudocerastes urarachnoides, Tropidolaeumus subannulatus, Vipera transcaucasiana. These sequences were combined with those from available databases of other species in order to facilitate a robust reconstruction of the molecular evolutionary history of the key toxin classes present in the venom of the last common ancestor of the advanced snakes, and thus present across the full diversity of colubroid snake venoms. In addition to differential rates of evolution in toxin classes between the snake lineages, these analyses revealed multiple instances of previously unknown instances of structural and functional convergences. Structural convergences included: the evolution of new cysteines to form heteromeric complexes, such as within kunitz peptides (the beta-bungarotoxin trait evolving on at least two occasions) and within SVMP enzymes (the P-IIId trait evolving on at least three occasions); and the C-terminal tail evolving on two separate occasions within the C-type natriuretic peptides, to create structural and functional analogues of the ANP/BNP tailed condition. Also shown was that the de novo evolution of new post-translationally liberated toxin families within the natriuretic peptide gene propeptide region occurred on at least five occasions, with novel functions ranging from induction of hypotension to post-synaptic neurotoxicity. Functional convergences included the following: multiple occasions of SVMP neofunctionalised in procoagulant venoms into activators of the clotting factors prothrombin and Factor X; multiple instances in procoagulant venoms where kunitz peptides were neofunctionalised into inhibitors of the clot destroying enzyme plasmin, thereby prolonging the half-life of the clots formed by the clotting activating enzymatic toxins; and multiple occasions of kunitz peptides neofunctionalised into neurotoxins acting on presynaptic targets, including twice just within Bungarus venoms.ConclusionsWe found novel convergences in both structural and functional evolution of snake toxins. These results provide a detailed roadmap for future work to elucidate predator–prey evolutionary arms races, ascertain differential clinical pathologies, as well as documenting rich biodiscovery resources for lead compounds in the drug design and discovery pipeline.

Low site fidelity and home range drift in a wide-ranging, large Arctic omnivore

Olives are a crucial economic crop in Mediterranean countries. Detailed spatial information on the distribution and condition of crops at regional and national scales is essential to ensure the continuity of crop quality and yield efficiency. However, most earlier studies on olive tree mapping focused mainly on small parcels using single-sensor, very high resolution (VHR) data, which is time-consuming, expensive and cannot feasibly be scaled up to a larger area. Therefore, we evaluated the performance of Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 data fusion for the regional mapping of olive trees for the first time, using the Izmir Province of Türkiye, an ancient olive-growing region, as a case study. Three different monthly composite images reflecting the different phenological stages of olive trees were selected to separate olive trees from other land cover types. Seven land-cover classes, including olives, were mapped separately using a random forest classifier for each year between 2017 and 2021. The results were assessed using the k-fold cross-validation method, and the final olive tree map of Izmir was produced by combining the olive tree distribution over two consecutive years. District-level areas covered by olive trees were calculated and validated using official statistics from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK). The K-fold cross-validation accuracy varied from 94% to 95% between 2017 and 2021, and the final olive map achieved 98% overall accuracy with 93% producer accuracy for the olive class. The district-level olive area was strongly related to the TUIK statistics (R2 = 0.60, NRMSE = 0.64). This study used Sentinel data and Google Earth Engine (GEE) to produce a regional-scale olive distribution map that can be scaled up to the entire country and replicated elsewhere. This map can, therefore, be used as a foundation for other scientific studies on olive trees, particularly for the development of effective management practices.

Animal site fidelity structures space use, population demography and ultimately gene flow. Understanding the adaptive selection for site fidelity patterns provides a mechanistic understanding to both spatial and population processes. This can be achieved by linking space use with environmental variability (spatial and temporal) and demographic parameters. However, rarely is the environmental context that drives the selection for site fidelity behaviour fully considered. We use ecological theory to understand whether the spatial and temporal variability in breeding site quality can explain the site fidelity behaviour and demographic patterns of Gunnison sage‐grouse (Centrocercus minimus). We examined female site fidelity patterns across multiple spatial scales: proximity of consecutive year nest locations, space‐use overlap within and across the breeding and brooding seasons, and fidelity to a breeding patch. We also examined the spatial and temporal variability in nest, chick, juvenile and adult survival. We found Gunnison sage‐grouse to be site faithful to their breeding patch, area of use within the patch and generally where they nest, suggesting an “Always Stay” site fidelity strategy. This is an optimal evolutionary strategy when site quality is unpredictable. Further, we found limited spatial variability in survival within age groups, suggesting little demographic benefit to moving among patches. We suggest Gunnison sage‐grouse site fidelity is driven by the unpredictability of predation in a relatively homogeneous environment, the lack of benefits and likely costs to moving across landscape patches and leaving known lek and breeding/brooding areas. Space use and demography are commonly studied separately. More so, site fidelity patterns are rarely framed in the context of ecological theory, beyond questions related to the win‐stay:lose‐switch rule. To move beyond describing patterns and understand the adaptive selection driving species movements and their demographic consequences require integrating movement, demography and environmental variability in a synthetic framework. Site fidelity theory provides a coherent framework to simultaneously investigate the spatial and population ecology of animal populations. Using it to frame ecological questions will lead to a more mechanistic understanding of animal movement, spatial population structuring and meta‐population dynamics. A free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article.

Predator avoidance and food availability are both factors known to influence habitat selection and site fidelity around calving in caribou and reindeer. Here, we assess habitat selection and site fidelity during the calving period in the solitary, Arctic Svalbard reindeer Rangifer tarandus platyrhynchus, which is subject to limited predation risk and human disturbance. In this largely predator-free environment, we explore and discuss if habitat selection during the first week after calving is driven by food availability or remnants of anti-predatory behaviour. Based on GPS-collar data and ultrasound scanning (2009–2017; n = 134 individual-years) from two study areas, we estimated individual calving dates using recursive partitioning and first passage time and compared habitat selection and site fidelity of reproductive versus non-reproductive females. The K-select analysis suggested similar habitat selection during calving in reproductive and non-reproductive females. Female reindeer generally selected for lowland, flat habitats with high proportion of heath and moss tundra, i.e. habitats typically rich in terms of forage plants. Individuals producing a calf had significantly higher site fidelity in the calving period compared to the null model, and the mean distance between consecutive years' calving areas ranged between 1.5 and 3.9 km. Our study provides support for the prediction that in the absence of significant predation, ungulate calving site selection in the Arctic is mainly driven by the availability of spatially and temporally varying food resources.

Biological invasions are a major conservation threat for biodiversity worldwide. Islands are particularly vulnerable to invasive species, especially Mediterranean islands which have suffered human pressure since ancient times. In the Balearic archipelago, reptiles represent an outstanding case with more alien than native species. Moreover, in the last decade a new wave of alien snakes landed in the main islands of the archipelago, some of which were originally snake-free. The identification of the origin and colonization pathways of alien species, as well as the prediction of their expansion, is crucial to develop effective conservation strategies. In this study, we used molecular markers to assess the allochthonous status and the putative origin of the four introduced snake species (Hemorrhois hippocrepis, Malpolon monspessulanus, Macroprotodon mauritanicus and Rhinechis scalaris) as well as ecological niche models to infer their patterns of invasion and expansion based on current and future habitat suitability. For most species, DNA sequence data suggested the Iberian Peninsula as the potential origin of the allochthonous populations, although the shallow phylogeographic structure of these species prevented the identification of a restricted source-area. For all of them, the ecological niche models showed a current low habitat suitability in the Balearic, which is however predicted to increase significantly in the next few decades under climate change scenarios. Evidence from direct observations and spatial distribution of the first-occurrence records of alien snakes (but also lizards and worm lizards) suggest the nursery trade, and in particular olive tree importation from Iberian Peninsula, as the main pathway of introduction of alien reptiles in the Balearic islands. This trend has been reported also for recent invasions in NE Spain, thus showing that olive trees transplantation may be an effective vector for bioinvasion across the Mediterranean. The combination of molecular and ecological tools used in this study reveals a promising approach for the understanding of the complex invasion process, hence guiding conservation management actions.

High-density olive orchards (1000–3000 trees/ha) allow use of the continuous straddle harvester that rides over the tree canopy, and enables very low harvesting and labor costs. However, tree size must be controlled, to enable the harvesting machine to pass over the hedgerow, and also to ensure light penetration into the tree canopy. High-density-planted ‘Picholine’ and ‘Koroneiki’ olive trees, aged 5 to 6 years, were treated with the gibberellin biosynthesis inhibitor uniconazole for two consecutive years to reduce their growth rates. Two methods of uniconazole application were used: soil application at 0.1 or 0.2 g/tree, and foliar sprays at 0.75 and 1.5 g/tree. The soil treatments reduced trunk-width increment and tree height in both cultivars as soon as the end of the first year, whereas foliar treatments failed to affect these parameters. In both cultivars, neither application influenced shoot or leaf development in the first year of the experiment, but ‘Koroneiki’ shoot elongation was inhibited by b...

The olive tree, Olea europaea, is very common in the southeast of France and its pollen is recognised as one of the most important allergenic in the Mediterranean. This study allowed for the development of predictive models to calculate the main characteristics of the Olea pollen season over the last 20 years from a wide range of meteorological variables. Clear evidence of the relationship between the main features of the Olea pollen season and the temperature recorded during the months before the flowering period could be demonstrated. The mean temperature in February plays an important role in determining reproductive growth and anthesis. It seems that the mean temperature during autumn influences the pollen index of the next year's pollen season. Other environmental factors, such as global radiation and rainfall, may be of great influence in determining the onset and final date of pollination. The accumulated rainfall amount during the pollination period has a negative effect on the pollen index. This may be interpreted as the wash out of airborne pollen by raindrops. However, rainfall during the vegetative period has a positive effect on pollen production. The pollen quantities depend not only on meteorological conditions before pollen release, but also maybe on those prevailing during pollen release. Finally, we could demonstrate an upward trend in annual pollen production and a stability of the mean duration of the Olea pollen season. The increase in Olea pollen abundance coincides with a rise in air temperature over the last 20 years.

In the context of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) there is a strong interest of the European Commission for counting and individually locating fruit trees. An automatic counting algorithm developed by the JRC (OLICOUNT) was used in the past for olive trees only, on 1m black and white orthophotos but with limits in case of young trees or irregular groves. This study investigates the improvement of fruit tree identification using VHR images on a large set of data in three test sites, one in Creta (Greece) and one in the south-east of France with a majority of olive trees and associated fruit trees, and the last one in Florida on citrus trees. OLICOUNT was compared with two other automatic tree counting, applications, one using the CRISP software on citrus trees and the other completely automatic based on regional minima (morphological image analysis). Additional investigation was undertaken to refine the methods. This paper describes the automatic methods and presents the results derived from the tests. Keywords: Remote Sensing, Image Processing, Auto matic tree counting, VHR images, Individual tree.

CO7-31 - Mobile paediatric extra-corporeal membrane oxygenation: 10 years to rescue children in the southeast of France

Mobile pediatric extracorporeal membrane oxygenation: 10 years to rescue children in the southeast of France

A model to estimate total direct energy use in agriculture was developed for Turkey by using the data obtained from various study reports, survey results, and administrative data. The model was applied to provide the quantification of direct energy use in Turkey agriculture for the period of 2008. Direct energy use in agriculture was estimated by direct energy use in crop production, in bovine, sheep and goats production, and in poultry production. According to the model results, total direct energy use in agriculture in Turkey for 2008 is estimated as 4862 kTEP. Diesel energy use in crop production has the highest share in total direct energy use in agriculture with 84%. This is followed by electricity use for agricultural irrigation (8%), energy use in poultry production (5%), energy use in bovine and sheep and goats production (3%), and energy used for heating in greenhouse production (0.1%). Comparing total direct energy use in agriculture data of European Union (0.15 TEP ha -1 yr -1 ) with the data obtained in this study (0.12 TEP ha -1 yr -1 ), the value of Turkey was lower.

MEPS Marine Ecology Progress Series Contact the journal Facebook Twitter RSS Mailing List Subscribe to our mailing list via Mailchimp HomeLatest VolumeAbout the JournalEditorsTheme Sections MEPS 539:255-269 (2015) - DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/meps11482 Patterns of home ranging, site fidelity, and seasonal spawning migration of barred sand bass caught within the Palos Verdes Shelf Superfund Site Garry N. Teesdale*, Barrett W. Wolfe, Christopher G. Lowe Department of Biological Sciences, California State University, Long Beach, 1250 Bellflower Blvd, Long Beach, California 90840, USA *Corresponding author: gnteesdale@gmail.com ABSTRACT: Barred sand bass Paralabrax nebulifer (Family: Serranidae; BSB) are among the most popular recreational game fishes in southern California and an important food fish. Patterns of residency and habitat use are critical for determining the potential for BSB to be impacted by point source anthropogenic contaminants prevalent in the densely populated coastal environment near Los Angeles, California. Home ranging behavior, degree of site fidelity, residency, habitat selection, and seasonal spawning migration of BSB were observed over 27 mo using a large, continuous coverage, fine-scale acoustic telemetry array (~20 km2). The 55 tagged individuals used small core areas (mean ± SD = 2682 ± 2005 m2 over 329 ± 227 d) and showed high affinity for the rock/sand ecotone at a depth of 20 to 30 m. Overall weekly residency to the array was 70 ± 25% of tagged fish present from the first tag date through the end of the study, with lower residency during the summer spawning season (June to August). Individuals leaving the array emigrated in a southeasterly direction 98% of the time, and 100% of the BSB detections outside the array occurred to the southeast of the Palos Verdes Shelf Superfund Site (PVSSS; 26.4 ± 0.8 km). BSB of legal size (>360 mm TL) exhibit high long-term site fidelity to small areas within the PVSSS and make seasonal migrations to spawning aggregations beyond the boundaries of the ‘do not consume’ zone defined by the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment in 2009. KEY WORDS: Barred sand bass · Paralabrax · Serranidae · Home range · Site fidelity · Spawning migration · Palos Verdes · Superfund · DDT · Acoustic telemetry · VPS Full text in pdf format PreviousNextCite this article as: Teesdale GN, Wolfe BW, Lowe CG (2015) Patterns of home ranging, site fidelity, and seasonal spawning migration of barred sand bass caught within the Palos Verdes Shelf Superfund Site. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 539:255-269. https://doi.org/10.3354/meps11482 Export citation RSS - Facebook - Tweet - linkedIn Cited by Published in MEPS Vol. 539. Online publication date: November 12, 2015 Print ISSN: 0171-8630; Online ISSN: 1616-1599 Copyright © 2015 Inter-Research.