Early Arrival Research Articles

Linking migration and microbiota at a major stopover site in a long-distance avian migrant

Migration is one of the most physical and energetically demanding periods in an individual bird’s life. The composition of the bird’s gut or cloacal microbiota can temporarily change during migration, likely due to differences in diets, habitats and other environmental conditions experienced en route. However, how physiological condition, migratory patterns, and other drivers interact to affect microbiota composition of migratory birds is still unclear. We sampled the cloacal bacterial microbiota of a long-distance migrant, the steppe buzzard (Buteo buteo vulpinus), at an important spring stopover bottleneck in Eilat, Israel, after crossing the ca. 1800 km Sahara Desert. We examined whether diversity and composition of the cloacal microbiota varied with body condition, sex, movement patterns (i.e., arrival time and migration distance), and survival. Early arrival to Eilat was associated with better body condition, longer post-Eilat spring migration distance, higher microbial α-diversity, and differences in microbiota composition. Specifically, early arrivals had higher abundance of the phylum Synergistota and five genera, including Jonquetella and Peptococcus, whereas the phylum Proteobacteria and genus Escherichia-Shigella (as well as three other genera) were more abundant in later arrivals. While the differences in α-diversity and Escherichia-Shigella seem to be mainly driven by body condition, other compositional differences associated with arrival date could be indicators of longer migratory journeys (e.g., pre-fueling at wintering grounds or stopover habitats along the way) or migratory performance. No significant differences were found between the microbiota of surviving and non-surviving individuals. Overall, our results indicate that variation in steppe buzzard microbiota is linked to variation in migratory patterns (i.e., capture/arrival date) and body condition, highlighting the importance of sampling the microbiota of GPS-tracked individuals on multiple occasions along their migration routes to gain a more detailed understanding of the links between migration, microbiota, and health in birds.

On the Bimodal Radial Solute Transport in Dual‐Permeability Porous Media

AbstractPorous media usually exhibit distinct transport properties of a dual domain, which is attributed to layering, fracturing, or aggregation. In this study, a mobile‐mobile (MM) model of radial solute transport consisting of two advection‐dispersion equations (ADEs) is presented to describe the bimodal (or double‐peaked) breakthrough curves (BTCs) through two distinct pore domains consisting of interrelated fast‐flow and slow‐flow domains. Transport processes, including advection, dispersion, and first‐order mass transfer between the two domains, were considered in the model. Semi‐analytical solutions were derived using a Laplace transform, matrix diagonalization and numerical Laplace inversion method, and the solutions were verified against the existing analytical solution for the mobile‐immobile (MIM) model under the special case of zero velocity in the slow‐flow domain. In addition, Markov Chain Monte Carlo is applied to estimate the MM model parameters using the experimental data. The results indicate that a larger transfer coefficient between the fast‐flow and the slow‐flow domains resulted in a weaker bimodal phenomenon for concentration distribution curves, which was notably more apparent when there was a greater variation in pore flow velocities between the two domains. Also, the MM model can be used to investigate other types of abnormal transport features such as late arrival and early arrival. Finally, the ADE, MIM, and MM models were used to interpret the experimental data conducted by Fernàndez‐Garcia et al. (2004, http://doi.org.10.1029/2004wr003112), and it was found that the proposed MM model can explain the bimodal feature of BTCs while the ADE and MIM models fail to do so.

Economic Activities and Traditional Activities of the Peoples of Central Asia are Highlighted in the Works of B.Kh. Karmisheva

: It is known that the unique natural and geographical features of the region have a significant impact on ethnic processes. The moderate climate of Central Asia, the early arrival of spring, long summer and warmer winters have long been specialized in two economic and cultural environments - irrigated agriculture along the marshy spring, river and its tributaries, as well as enabled the development of cattle breeding in the semi-steppe and mountain slopes.

Using Stacking methods based Genetic Algorithm to predict the time between symptom onset and hospital arrival in stroke patients and its related factors

Introduction: The early arrival of patients with acute ischemic stroke to start of treatment by recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rt-PA) within 4.5 hours after onset of stroke and its modeling by data mining methods is an important issue in care of stroke patients. In this paper, the aim was to provide methods to predict the time between symptom onset and hospital arrival in stroke patients and related factors, in addition to improve classification in minority class data, also to maintain the ability of classifying majority class data at an acceptable level.
 Methods: We included 676 patients with ischemic stroke who referred to hospital of Ardabil city in the northwest of Iran in 2018. A new method using a combination of machine learning algorithms and genetic algorithms has been proposed to solve this problem. The performances were evaluated with accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value. Results: In this study, the stacking technique provides a better result (accuracy 99.51%, sensitivity 100%, and specificity 99.40%) among all other techniques.
 Conclusion: Results of this study showed that this model can be used as a valuable tool for clinical decision making.

The role of rotation on the formation of second generation stars in globular clusters

ABSTRACT By means of 3D hydrodynamic simulations, we explore the effects of rotation in the formation of second-generation (SG) stars in globular clusters (GC). Our simulations follow the SG formation in a first-generation (FG) internally rotating GC; SG stars form out of FG asymptotic giant branch (AGB) ejecta and external pristine gas accreted by the system. We have explored two different initial rotational velocity profiles for the FG cluster and two different inclinations of the rotational axis with respect to the direction of motion of the external infalling gas, whose density has also been varied. For a low (10−24 g cm−3) external gas density, a disc of SG helium-enhanced stars is formed. The SG is characterized by distinct chemo-dynamical phase space patterns: it shows a more rapid rotation than the FG with the helium-enhanced SG subsystem rotating more rapidly than the moderate helium-enhanced one. In models with high external gas density ($10^{-23}\, {\rm g\ cm^{-3}}$), the inner SG disc is disrupted by the early arrival of external gas and only a small fraction of highly enhanced helium stars preserves the rotation acquired at birth. Variations in the inclination angle between the rotation axis and the direction of the infalling gas and the velocity profile can slightly alter the extent of the stellar disc and the rotational amplitude. The results of our simulations illustrate the complex link between dynamical and chemical properties of multiple populations and provide new elements for the interpretation of observational studies and future investigations of the dynamics of multiple-population GCs.

Deciphering the effect of exogenous lignocellulases addition on the composting efficiency and microbial communities

This study aimed to reveal the potential effects of exogenous lignocellulases addition on the composting efficiency and microbial communities. The lignocellulases addition at the mesophilic phase (MEP) greatly expedited the substrate conversion and the rise of temperature at the initial stage, driving the early arrival of thermophilic phase (THP), caused by the positive effects of Sphingobacterium and Brevundimonas. When being added at the THP, the potential functions and interactions of microbial communities were stimulated, especially for Thermobispora and Mycothermus, which prolonged the duration of the THP and expedited the humic acid formation. Simultaneous addition (MEP and THP) significantly altered the microbial community succession and activated the microbes that contributed to the lignocellulases secretion, exhibiting the highest cellobiohydrolase (36.19 ± 3.25 U· g−1 dw) and xylanase (47.51 ± 3.32 U·g−1 dw) activity at the THP. These findings provide new strategies that can be effectively utilized to improve the efficiency and quality of composting.

Arterial Wave Reflection and Aortic Valve Stenosis: Diagnostic Challenges and Prognostic Significance.

IntroductionArterial wave reflection is an important component of the left ventricular afterload, affecting both pressure and flow to the aorta. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the impact of wave reflection on transvalvular pressure gradients (TPG), a key parameter for the evaluation of aortic valve stenosis (AS), as well as its prognostic significance in patients with AS undergoing a transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR).Materials and MethodsThe study population consisted of 351 patients with AS (mean age 84 ± 6 years, 43% males) who underwent a complete hemodynamic evaluation before the TAVR. The baseline assessment included right and left heart catheterization, transthoracic echocardiography, and a thorough evaluation of the left ventricular afterload by means of wave separation analysis. The cohort was divided into quartiles according to the transit time of the backward pressure wave (BWTT). Primary endpoint was all-cause mortality at 1 year.ResultsEarly arrival of the backward pressure wave was related to lower cardiac output (Q1: 3.7 ± 0.9 lt/min vs Q4: 4.4 ± 1.0 lt/min, p < 0.001) and higher aortic systolic blood pressure (Q1: 132 ± 26 mmHg vs Q4: 117 ± 26 mmHg, p < 0.001). TPG was significantly related to the BWTT, patients in the arrival group exhibiting the lowest TPG (mean TPG, Q1: 37.6 ± 12.7 mmHg vs Q4: 44.8 ± 14.7 mmHg, p = 0.005) for the same aortic valve area (AVA) (Q1: 0.58 ± 0.35 cm2 vs 0.61 ± 0.22 cm2, p = 0.303). In multivariate analysis, BWTT remained an independent determinant of mean TPG (beta 0.3, p = 0.002). Moreover, the prevalence of low-flow, low-gradient AS with preserved ejection fraction was higher in patients with early arterial reflection arrival (Q1: 33.3% vs Q4: 14.9%, p = 0.033). Finally, patients with early arrival of the reflected wave (Q1) exhibited higher all-cause mortality at 1 year after the TAVR (unadjusted HR: 2.33, 95% CI: 1.17–4.65, p = 0.016).ConclusionEarly reflected wave arrival to the aortic root is associated with poor prognosis and significant aortic hemodynamic alterations in patients undergoing a TAVR for AS. This is related to a significant decrease in TPG for a given AVA, leading to a possible underestimation of the AS severity.

Large-Scale Climatic Patterns Have Stronger Carry-Over Effects than Local Temperatures on Spring Phenology of Long-Distance Passerine Migrants between Europe and Africa.

Simple SummarySpring in Europe has been trending earlier for almost half a century. Long-distance migrant birds, such as the Willow Warbler and Pied Flycatcher, which breed in Europe, have arrived earlier too. It is broadly accepted that warming springs in temperate regions explain the earlier arrival of migrants. However, migration started weeks earlier and thousands of kilometres away. There must be additional cues elsewhere triggering migration. Meteorologists have developed measures of atmospheric circulation which are related to climate variability in wide regions. One of them is the Southern Oscillation Index, which reflects El Niño/La Niña that cause droughts and floods in the southern hemisphere. Other atmospheric circulation patterns, measured by the North Atlantic Oscillation Index and Indian Ocean Dipole, help predict total rainfall for a whole season in various parts of Africa and Europe. Good rains are associated with plant growth and with insect abundance. Insects provide food for most of these migrants. Therefore, this paper asks the question: “Is the timing of arrival of long-distance migrants in spring related to the climates they experience in the places where they are over the year prior to arrival in Europe?” This paper says the answer is “Yes”.Earlier springs in temperate regions since the 1980s, attributed to climate change, are thought to influence the earlier arrival of long-distance migrant passerines. However, this migration was initiated weeks earlier in Africa, where the Southern Oscillation, Indian Ocean Dipole, North Atlantic Oscillation drive climatic variability, and may additionally influence the migrants. Multiple regressions investigated whether 15 indices of climate in Africa and Europe explained the variability in timing of arrival for seven trans-Saharan migrants. Our response variable was Annual Anomaly (AA), derived from standardized mistnetting from 1982–2021 at Bukowo, Polish Baltic Sea. For each species, the best models explained a considerable part of the annual variation in the timing of spring’s arrival by two to seven climate variables. For five species, the models included variables related to temperature or precipitation in the Sahel. Similarly, the models included variables related to the North Atlantic Oscillation (for four species), Indian Ocean Dipole (three), and Southern Oscillation (three). All included the Scandinavian Pattern in the previous summer. Our conclusion is that climate variables operating on long-distance migrants in the areas where they are present in the preceding year drive the phenological variation of spring migration. These results have implications for our understanding of carry-over effects.

Increase in protandry over time in a long-distance migratory bird.

Protandry is a widespread life‐history phenomenon describing how males precede females at the site or state of reproduction. In migratory birds, protandry has an important influence on individual fitness, the migratory syndrome, and phenological response to climate change. Despite its significance, accurate analyses on the dynamics of protandry using data sets collected at the breeding site, are lacking. Basing our study on records collected during two time periods, 1979 to 1988 and 2006 to 2016, we aim to investigate protandry dynamics over 38 years in a breeding population of willow warblers (Phylloscopus trochilus). Change in the timing of arrival was analyzed in males and females, and protandry (number of days between male and female arrival) was investigated both at population level and within breeding pairs. Our results show advancement in the arrival time at the breeding site in both sexes, but male arrival has advanced to a greater extent, leading to an increase in protandry both at the population level and within breeding pairs. We did not observe any change in sex ratio that could explain the protandry increase, but pronounced temperature change has occurred and been reported in the breeding area and along the migratory route. Typically, natural selection opposes too early arrival in males, but given warmer springs, this counteracting force may be relaxing, enabling an increase in protandry. We discuss whether our results suggest that climate change has induced sex‐specific effects, if these could be evolutionary and whether the timing of important life‐history stages such as arrival at the breeding site may change at different rates in males and females following environmental shifts.

Using Multiple Logistic Regression to Determine Factors Affecting Delaying Hospital Arrival of Patients with Acute Ischemic Stroke.

Early treatment of ischemic stroke patients who arrive at the hospital ≤4.5 hours after the onset of symptoms with recombinant tissue plasminogen activator is more beneficial and very important. This study is aimed to investigate the factors delaying the hospital arrival of patients with acute ischemic stroke by using multiple logistic regression analysis. This descriptive cross-sectional study was done on patients diagnosed with acute ischemic stroke who were referred to Ardabil city Training and Research hospital at 2018. All patients and/or patient relatives were interviewed and data were collected through a checklist including demographic and clinical data of patients to explore the involved factors delaying hospital arrival of patients and then analyzed using multiple logistic regression analysis. Of all included patients, only 25.3% arrived at the hospital in ≤ 4.5 hours. By using multivariate logistic regression analysis, living in cities (P = 0.007), cigarette consumption (P = 0.032), having valvular heart disease (P = 0.008), and gender (P = 0.049) were factors associated with an early arrival to the hospital. Results showed that most of the patients had a considerable delay in arriving at the hospital in ≤ 4.5 hours. Thus, providing health promotion strategies to improve society awareness of early symptoms of stroke, training of local physicians about the importance of early arrival of stroke patients, and more extended ambulance services in all cities and rural areas are necessary for better management of acute stroke patients in this area.

Geometrical-Feature-Preserving Adjoint Tomography of Near-Surface Structure with Seismic Early Arrival

Early arrival waveform inversion (EWI) is an essential approach to obtaining velocity structures in near-surface. Due to suffering from a cycle‐skipping issue, it is difficult to reach the global minima for conventional EWI with the misfit function of least-squares norm (L2‐norm). Following the optimal transportation theory, we developed an EWI solution with a new objective function based on quadratic‐Wasserstein‐metric (W2-norm) to maintain the geometric characteristics of the distribution and improve the stability and convexity of the inverse problem. First, we gave the continuous form of the adjoint source and the Frechet gradient of the Wasserstein metric for seismic early arrival, which leads to an easy and efficient way to implement in the adjoint-state method. Then, we conducted two synthetic experiments on the target model containing some velocity anomalies and hidden layers to test its effectiveness in mapping accurate and high-resolution near-surface velocity structure. The results show that the W2-normed EWI can mitigate cycle-skipping issues compared with the L2-normed EWI. In addition, it can deal with hidden layers and is robust in terms of noise. The application to a real dataset indicates that this new solution can recover more details in the shallow structure, especially in the aspect of dealing with hidden layers.

Community science reveals links between migration arrival timing advance, migration distance and wing shape.

Substantial global data show that many taxa are shifting their phenologies in response to climate change. For birds, migration arrival dates in breeding regions have been shifting earlier, and there is evidence that both evolutionary adaptation and behavioural flexibility influence these shifts. As more efficient flyers may be able to demonstrate more flexibility to respond to changing conditions during migratory flight, we hypothesize that differences among passerine species in flight efficiency, as reflected by morphology, may be associated with the magnitude of shifts in arrival date in response to climate warming. We applied a logistic model to 18 years of eBird data to estimate mean arrival date for 44 common passerines migrating to northeast North America. We then used linear mixed-effects models to estimate changes in mean arrival date and compared these changes to morphological proxies for flight efficiency and migratory distance using phylogenetic generalized least squares models. On average, passerine species shifted their arrival dates 0.120 days earlier each year, with 27 of the 44 species shifting to significantly earlier arrival times, and two shifting to significantly later ones. Of the 15 species with non-significant shifts, 13 trended toward earlier arrivals. Longer migration distances and higher wing aspect ratios were associated with greater shifts toward earlier arrivals. Migration distance and aspect ratio were also significantly correlated to each other. This suggests that changes in arrival date are affected by factors pertaining to migratory flight over long distances namely, flight efficiency and migration distance. These traits may be able predict the magnitude of arrival date shift, and by extension identify species that are most at risk to climate change due to inflexible arrival timing.

Defining optimal implementation packages for delivering community-wide mass drug administration for soil-transmitted helminths with high coverage

BackgroundRecent evidence suggests that community-wide mass drug administration (MDA) may interrupt the transmission of soil-transmitted helminths (STH), a group of intestinal worms that infect 1.5 billion individuals globally. Although current operational guidelines provide best practices for effective MDA delivery, they do not describe which activities are most essential for achieving high coverage or how they work together to produce effective intervention delivery. We aimed to identify the various packages of influential intervention delivery activities that result in high coverage of community-wide MDA for STH in Benin, India, and Malawi.MethodsWe applied coincidence analysis (CNA), a novel cross-case analytical method, to process mapping data as part of the implementation science research of the DeWorm3 Project, a Hybrid Type 1 cluster randomized controlled trial assessing the feasibility of interrupting the transmission of STH using bi-annual community-wide MDA in Benin, India, and Malawi. Our analysis aimed to identify any necessary and/or sufficient combinations of intervention delivery activities (i.e., implementation pathways) that resulted in high MDA coverage. Activities were related to drug supply chain, implementer training, community sensitization strategy, intervention duration, and implementation context. We used pooled implementation data from three sites and six intervention rounds, with study clusters serving as analytical cases (N = 360). Secondary analyses assessed differences in pathways across sites and over intervention rounds.ResultsAcross all three sites and six intervention rounds, efficient duration of MDA delivery (within ten days) singularly emerged as a common and fundamental component for achieving high MDA coverage when combined with other particular activities, including a conducive implementation context, early arrival of albendazole before the planned start of MDA, or a flexible community sensitization strategy. No individual activity proved sufficient by itself for producing high MDA coverage. We observed four possible overall models that could explain effective MDA delivery strategies, all which included efficient duration of MDA delivery as an integral component.ConclusionEfficient duration of MDA delivery uniquely stood out as a highly influential implementation activity for producing high coverage of community-wide MDA for STH. Effective MDA delivery can be achieved with flexible implementation strategies that include various combinations of influential intervention components.

Desorption of CH4/CO2 from kerogen during explosive fracturing

Herein, the desorption behaviors of CO2/CH4 onto kerogen atomistic representation at higher temperatures and pressures and its inspirations of dividing stages on deflagration fracturing was clarified quantitatively via molecular simulation and mathematical model, as well as the effects of temperature and pressure. Molecular probe detection results suggested that accessible free volume of kerogen macromolecule was generated among different aliphatic chains or between the aliphatic chains and aromatic clusters, where the former type provides the primary free volume within the kerogen macromolecule. The quantitative division of desorption stages suggested four desorption stages via the established three critical pressures, start pressure (Pst), transition pressure (Ptr), and sensitive pressure (Pse), dividing the desorption properties into four stages: low efficiency desorption stage (P > Pst), slow desorption stage (Ptr < P < Pst), rapid desorption stage (Pse < P < Ptr), and sensitive desorption stage (P < Pse) respectively. All these three critical pressures firstly increase slowly and then significantly with the increasing temperature, indicating that high temperature was favorable for the early arrival of the rapid desorption stage and sensitive desorption stage. Both the pressure reductions for the former two stages keep stable for the temperature < 458 K. However, for the temperature > 458 K, the required pressure reduction for rapid desorption stage increases, suggesting that high temperature was also favorable for enhancement of shale gas production. Thus, the reservoir pressure was rather high after the deflagration fracturing process, resulting in the long duration of slow desorption stage and low efficiency desorption stage. The pressure reduction rate should be extended as long as possible to ensure the complete desorption of CH4, which could make an extension of the rapid desorption stage. The outcome of this paper was of broad interest for CO2 enhanced shale gas recovery and deflagration fracturing, as well as carbon capture and utilization engineering.

Pertussis toxin suppresses dendritic cell-mediated delivery of B. pertussis into lung-draining lymph nodes

The adenylate cyclase (ACT) and the pertussis (PT) toxins of Bordetella pertussis exert potent immunomodulatory activities that synergize to suppress host defense in the course of whooping cough pathogenesis. We compared the mouse lung infection capacities of B. pertussis (Bp) mutants (Bp AC− or Bp PT–) producing enzymatically inactive toxoids and confirm that ACT action is required for maximal bacterial proliferation in the first days of infection, whereas PT action is crucial for persistence of B. pertussis in mouse lungs. Despite accelerated and near complete clearance from the lungs by day 14 of infection, the PT− bacteria accumulated within the lymphoid tissue of lung-draining mediastinal lymph nodes (mLNs). In contrast, the wild type or AC− bacteria colonized the lungs but did not enter into mLNs. Lung infection by the PT− mutant triggered an early arrival of migratory conventional dendritic cells with associated bacteria into mLNs, where the PT− bacteria entered the T cell-rich paracortex of mLNs by day 5 and proliferated in clusters within the B-cell zone (cortex) of mLNs by day 14, being eventually phagocytosed by infiltrating neutrophils. Finally, only infection by the PT− bacteria triggered an early production of anti-B. pertussis serum IgG antibodies already within 14 days of infection. These results reveal that action of the pertussis toxin blocks DC-mediated delivery of B. pertussis bacteria into mLNs and prevents bacterial colonization of mLNs, thus hampering early adaptive immune response to B. pertussis infection.

NP-hardness of shortest path problems in networks with non-FIFO time-dependent travel times

We study the complexity of earliest arrival problems on time-dependent networks with non-FIFO travel time functions, i.e. when departing later might lead to an earlier arrival. In this paper, we present a simple proof of the weak NP-hardness of the problem for travel time functions defined on integers. This simplifies and reproduces an earlier result from Orda and Rom. Our proof generalizes to travel time functions defined on rational numbers and also implies that, in this case, the problem becomes harder, i.e. is strongly NP-hard. As arbitrary functions are impractical for applications, we also study a more realistic problem model where travel time functions are piecewise linear and represented by a sequence of breakpoints with integer coordinates. We show that this problem formulation is strongly NP-hard, too. As an intermediate step for this proof, we also show the strong NP-completeness of SubsetProduct on rational numbers.

Temperature and nutrient conditions modify the effects of phenological shifts in predator-prey communities.

Although there is mounting evidence indicating that the relative timing of predator and prey phenologies determines the outcome of trophic interactions, we still lack a comprehensive understanding of how the environmental context (e.g., abiotic conditions) influences this relationship. Environmental conditions not only frequently drive shifts in phenologies, but they can also affect the very same processes that mediate the effects of phenological shifts on species interactions. Therefore, identifying how environmental conditions shape the effects of phenological shifts is key to predicting community dynamics across a heterogeneous landscape and how they will change with ongoing climate change in the future. Here I tested how environmental conditions shape the effects of phenological shifts by experimentally manipulating temperature, nutrient availability, and relative phenologies in two predator-prey freshwater systems (mole salamander-bronze frog vs. dragonfly larvae-leopard frog). This allowed me to (1) isolate the effects of phenological shifts and different environmental conditions; (2) determine how they interact; and (3) evaluate how consistent these patterns are across different species and environments. I found that delaying prey arrival dramatically increased predation rates, but these effects were contingent on environmental conditions and the predator system. Although nutrient addition and warming both significantly enhanced the effect of arrival time, their effect was qualitatively different across systems: Nutrient addition enhanced the positive effect of early arrival in the dragonfly-leopard frog system, whereas warming enhanced the negative effect of arriving late in the salamander-bronze frog system. Predator responses varied qualitatively across predator-prey systems. Only in the system with a strong gape limitation were predators (salamanders) significantly affected by prey arrival time and this effect varied with environmental context. Correlations between predator and prey demographic rates suggest that this was driven by shifts in initial predator-prey size ratios and a positive feedback between size-specific predation rates and predator growth rates. These results highlight the importance of accounting for temporal and spatial correlations of local environmental conditions and gape limitation when predicting the effects of phenological shifts and climate change on predator-prey systems.

Effect of a cover crop on the aphid incidence is not explained by increased top-down regulation.

BackgroundCover crops can be used as a habitat management strategy to enhance the natural enemies and their temporal synchronization with a target pest. We examined the effect of winter oat intercropping within organic plum orchards on the natural enemy abundance and seasonal dynamics on the biological control of plum aphids in spring in Central Chile.MethodsWe compared the incidence and abundance of natural enemies and aphid pests from winter to the end of spring using two treatments: (1) plum trees with an oat cover crop (OCC) and (2) plum trees without a cover crop but with spontaneous vegetation (SV). We hypothesized that cover crops allow the development of winter cereal aphids, promoting the early arrival of natural enemies in spring, resulting in an earlier control of plum aphids.ResultsWinter cereal aphids developed well on the OCC, and as a result, a lower plum aphid incidence in spring was observed when compared to the SV. However, the abundance of natural enemies and the parasitism rates cannot explain the positive impacts of the oat cover crop on the aphid populations as there were no differences between treatments. A potential effect of the oat due to chemical and/or physical stimuli (bottom-up effects) could help to explain these results.

Non‐breeding distribution and at‐sea activity patterns of the smallest European seabird, the European Storm Petrel (Hydrobates pelagicus)

Determining the non‐breeding distribution and activity patterns of migratory animals is essential to understand the trade‐offs across breeding, moulting and migratory periods and to evaluate the differential levels of exposure of these animals to threats throughout the year. By taking advantage of the current miniaturization of geolocators, during the breeding season of 2019, we deployed geolocators on 10 European Storm PetrelsHydrobates pelagicusbreeding on Benidorm Island, Western Mediterranean, to determine the distribution and activity patterns of this small seabird species. Of the eight individuals that were recaptured with usable geolocation data, all individuals migrated to the North Atlantic Ocean, ranging between the Canary Islands and south of Iceland. They possibly take advantage of the more productive waters in the North Atlantic areas explored during the non‐breeding period compared with the Western Mediterranean areas explored during the breeding period. This migratory pattern contrasted with the partial migration described for individuals breeding in the Central Mediterranean. Tracked individuals were more synchronous in their prenuptial than in their postnuptial migratory phenology, probably due to a higher probability of breeding success related to earlier arrival to the breeding area. At‐sea activity data indicated that individuals spent more time on the water at night (and especially on those nights around the new moon) during the first half of the non‐breeding period (matching the dates of the moulting period of the species). Although birds may begin to moult their feathers while breeding, some seemed to overlap the moulting period with the postnuptial migration. Our results show that multi‐colony studies are needed to understand the drivers of distinct migratory patterns at intra‐ and inter‐population levels and how small migratory species trade‐off the overlap of moult with other energetically demanding activities such as breeding or migrating.

Preliminary Observations and Impact in Japan of the Tsunami Caused by the Tonga Volcanic Eruption on January 15, 2022

The tsunami caused by the Tonga submarine volcanic eruption that occurred at 13:15 Japan Time (JST) on January 15, 2022, exposed a blind spot in Japan’s tsunami monitoring and warning system, which was established in 1952 for local tsunamis and expanded to distant tsunamis after the 1960 Chile tsunami. This paper summarizes how the warning system responded to the unprecedented tsunami, the actual evacuation process, and the damage it caused in Japan. Initially, the tsunami from the volcanic eruption was expected to arrive at approximately midnight with amplitudes of less than 20 cm. However, a series of short waves arrived at approximately 21:00, a few hours earlier than expected. The early arrival of these sea waves coincided with a rapid increase in atmospheric pressure; then, the short-period component was predominant, and the wave height was amplified while forming wave groups. After a 1.2 m tsunami was observed in Amami City in southern Japan at 23:55 JST, the Japan Meteorological Agency issued a tsunami warning/advisory. The tsunami continued, and all advisories were cleared at 14:00 JST on January 16. Information about this tsunami and the response to it are summarized here, including the characteristics and issues of the actual tsunami evacuation situation in each region. There were no casualties, but the issues that emerged included difficulty evacuating on a winter night and traffic congestion due to evacuation by car and under the conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the coastal area, damage to fishing boats and aquaculture facilities was reported due to the flow of the tsunami. In addition, damage to aquaculture facilities, including those producing oysters, scallops, seaweed and other marine products, decreased the supply of marine products, and the economic impact is likely to increase in the future.