Suitable Environmental Conditions Research Articles

Assessing the conservation and restoration potential of biotopes in a central European region

AbstractChanging environmental conditions and land use are threatening biodiversity on a large scale, making successful conservation and restoration essential for maintaining biodiversity. Planning of such efforts profits from information about where conditions are suitable for biotopes, to evaluate how likely successful conservation or restoration is at these sites. This study uses the distribution model Maxent to identify varying levels of conservation and restoration potential for 29 different biotopes in the central European region of Bavaria, Germany, by comparing the environmentally suitable areas identified by models with the current distribution of each biotope. We identified a conservation potential when a biotope occurred under suitable environmental conditions and a restoration potential when suitable environmental conditions were present at a site where the biotope was not observed. We found that 69.57% of biotope observations occurred under suitable environmental conditions representing a large conservation potential. Also, 22 biotopes showed more restoration potential than their current distribution and both conservation and restoration potential showed a similar geographical distribution. The approach used in this study can provide valuable insights for conservation and restoration decision-making by suggesting priority areas for the conservation and restoration of multiple biotopes. Further, it could be applied in other regions globally and by incorporating future climate projections it could identify particularly resilient locations for biotope conservation or restoration.

Estimation of diagnostic sensitivity and specificity of abattoir registrations and bulk tank milk ELISA as herd-level tests for Fasciola hepatica using Bayesian latent class modelling

The common liver fluke, Fasciola hepatica, is a trematode parasite found worldwide, typically with a focal distribution due to its requirement for suitable climatic and environmental conditions to complete its lifecycle. Bovine fasciolosis causes suboptimal production and economic losses, including liver condemnation at slaughter. The lack of reliable diagnostic methods is a disadvantage to the increasing demand for surveillance and control. The aim of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of bulk tank milk (BTM) antibody testing and aggregated abattoir registrations (AAR) of liver fluke as herd-level tests for F. hepatica infection using Bayesian latent class models. Data from the abattoirs in 2019–2021 and BTM, sampled in the winter of 2020/2021, were collected from 437 herds on the southwest coast of Norway. The BTM samples were analysed with the SVANOVIR® F. hepatica-Ab ELISA test, with results given as an optical density ratio (ODR), and later dichotomized using the recommended cut-off value from the test manufacturer (ODR ≥0.3). Based on the BTM ELISA test, 47.8% of the herds tested positive. The AAR test was defined as the herd-level proportion of female slaughtered animals registered with liver fluke infection during the study period. For this test, three cut-offs were used (a proportion of 0.05, 0.1 and 0.2). The herds were split into two subpopulations (“Coastal” and “Inland”), which were expected to differ in true prevalence of F. hepatica infection based on climate-related and geographical factors. The diagnostic accuracies of both tests were estimated using Bayesian latent class models with minimally informative priors. Post-hoc analysis revealed that the maximum sum of sensitivity (Se) and specificity (Sp) of the tests was achieved with a herd-level proportion of ≥0.1 registered with liver fluke as the AAR test. Using this cut-off, the median estimate for the diagnostic accuracy of the BTM ELISA was 90.4% (84.0–96.2 95% Posterior Credible Interval (PCI)) for Se and 95.3% (90.6–100% PCI) for Sp, while the median estimate of Se for AAR was 87.5% (81.4–93.1% PCI) and the median estimate of Sp for AAR was 91.0% (85.2–96.5% PCI). The cut-off evaluation of the SVANOVIR® F. hepatica-Ab ELISA test for BTM confirmed the manufacturer's recommended cut-off of ODR ≥0.3 to denote positive and negative herds. This study suggests that AAR and BTM ELISA test can be used as herd-level tools to monitor liver fluke infection, so that appropriate interventions against infection can be implemented as necessary.

The use of ecological niche models improves biogeographic regionalization of the Balsas Depression, Mexico

AbstractAimBiogeographic regionalization classifies zones in terms of their biotas and contributes to understanding the ecological and historical factors that affect the distribution of species. We use Ecological Niche Modeling (ENM) to complement missing information on species distribution and thus improve the accuracy of biogeographic boundaries.LocationBalsas Depression Floristic Province, Mexico.MethodsBased on parameters documented in herbarium collections and environmental variables, ENM was carried out to determine the most suitable environmental conditions for a species to thrive (i.e., the species' ecological niche). The ENM and spatial analysis were used to obtain the biogeographic regionalization of the seasonally dry tropical forest (SDTF) in the Balsas Depression (BD), Mexico, through spatial analysis. Using the Maxent algorithm, we constructed ecological niche models (ENMs) of 134 flowering plant species distributed preferentially in the SDTF (characteristic species), most of them endemic to the BD. Subsequently, we obtained an incidence matrix based on the information from the 134 ENMs, which was used to analyze the turnover of species in Biodiverse software. The turnover matrix was used for Non‐metric Multidimensional Scaling (NMDS) ordination and clustering analyses. Finally, the environmental predictors most related to species turnover were identified using the relative environmental turnover method.ResultsThe clustering analysis divided the SDTF in the BD into four floristic districts — two located in its western part and two in the eastern region. The NMDS differentiated, in the first component, two districts in the western region and one in the eastern. Seven environmental variables contributed significantly to explaining the turnover of species in these districts; the most significant were the elevation, pH, and precipitation of the coldest quarter.Main ConclusionsThe use of ENM for the regionalization of areas with high species richness allows for a more detailed classification of subregions and the distribution patterns of the species that define their limits. This provides a more solid theoretical basis for the investigation of biogeographic patterns.

Application of land-use change model for supporting land-use planning in An Bien district, Kien Giang province, Vietnam

Forecasting land-use change is a critical step in assisting land-use planning, especially for coastal areas that are influenced by many economic and natural environmental factors. This study aims to estimate land use changes based for An Bien district, Mekong Delta based on multi-criteria assessment of factors affecting land use change. The model has been calibrated with the 2015 land-use map and verified with the 2020 map. The results of land-use change analysis in An Bien district were carried out according two scenarios: (i) forecasting the area under present conditions and (ii) forecasting land use area in the case of economic benefits and suitable environmental conditions for aquaculture production. Scenario 1 showed that the results will not change much compared to the current situation, in which rice-shrimp plays a leading role locality, however Scenario 2 showed that shrimp area will rapidly rise. In general, the simulation results allow users to explore future planning possibilities and serve as a basis for selecting appropriate land-use types.

An assessment on the nursing care quality in Sulu Sanitarium and General Hospital

This study assessed the extent of an Assessment on the Nursing Care Quality in Sulu Sanitarium and General Hospital as perceived by patients; and the significant difference in the extent of an Assessment on the Nursing Care Quality in Sulu Sanitarium and General Hospital as perceived by patients. With 100 samples taken through non-probability sampling method via purposive sampling, and with the use of weighted mean, standard deviation, t-test for independent samples, One-way ANOVA, and Pearson’s r, this study reveals the following findings: 1) Of the 100 respondents, mostly are within the age range of 13 years old & above, mostly are female with college level of education; 2) Nursing Care Quality in Jolo is very good; 3) Except for hospital where patient admitted, variables like age, gender, educational attainment, and ward admitted do not mediate in ways how respondents assess the Nursing Care Quality in Sulu Sanitarium and General Hospital; 4) This study seems to support Florence Nightingale's Environmental Theory, which provides a definition of Nursing as the utilization of the patient's environment to facilitate their recovery. The nurse takes the initiative to establish suitable environmental conditions that facilitate the progressive recovery of the patient's health. Additionally, external elements related to the patients’ surroundings have an impact on their biological and physiological processes, as well as their overall development.

Going back for the future: Incorporating Pleistocene fossil records of saiga antelope into habitat suitability models

AbstractAimMany species have suffered anthropogenic range contraction and no longer occupy all available suitable environmental conditions. This is particularly problematic for the construction of habitat suitability models (HSMs), which assume that a species' contemporary range reflects its full species–environment relationship. HSMs therefore risk underestimating suitable environment areas, and misinforming conservation decisions. Incorporating historic (centuries‐old) records partly reduces this bias, but even these records are also subject to human disturbance. We incorporated fossil records of the critically endangered saiga antelope (Saiga tatarica, L., 1776), alongside historic and current records, into current and future habitat suitability models. Saiga has experienced drastic range contraction and may have a truncated species–environment relationship. The results allowed us to test whether its current habitat provides optimal environmental conditions, or whether saiga should be considered a refugee species.LocationNorthern Hemisphere.TaxonSaiga tatarica (Bovidae, Artiodactyla).MethodsWe collated historic and fossil saiga occurrence records from published literature, museum archives and global databases. Modern occurrence records were obtained from the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List assessment. Four bioclimatic variables were downloaded from Worldclim.org. HSMs were generated through Maxent, using the maxnet package in R. Three HSMs were developed: present only, present historic and present fossil. Each of these models was projected onto current and two future (2070) climate change scenarios.ResultsSaiga fossil records increased the predicted suitable environment area by 783% and 1416% for current and future climate projections respectively. Our results suggest the saiga is not a refugee species but occupies only a portion of its potential environmental niche. The saiga's contemporary range is predicted environmentally suitable throughout all models and projections, and therefore in situ conservation management is recommended.Main ConclusionsThis study highlights the importance of incorporating fossil records into HSMs to better understand species–environment relationships and develop more robust conservation strategies for appropriate endangered species.

Preliminary Investigation on the Effect of Termites on Wood Decay in Selected Sri Lankan Timber Species


 
 
 Wood in suitable environmental conditions can be attacked by bacteria, fungi, insects, marine borers and some other biological organisms. Wood is the main biodegradation material which is naturally occurred in surrounding environment. As heartwood of wood consist most of the nonliving cells it shows more resistance to decay than sapwood. But insects can cause degrade in both heartwood and sapwood which are not preserved well. Termites belong to Class: Insecta, Order: Isoptera which are one of the most important as ecological contributors by breaking down the organic material of the wood structures directly. This study was done to analyze the effect of termites of selected 27 species with having different densities varying from 400 kg/m3 to 1100 kg/m3 at 12% moisture content. Ten pieces of each and every species of Wewarana, Jack, Badidel, Halmilla, Dawata, Walukeena, Hulanhik, Kaluwara, Hora, Pihimbiya, Damaniya, Godakirilla, Pelan, Hik, Etamba, Lunumidella, Diya Na, Palu, Mora, Kirihembiliya, Nedun, Kon, Kumbuk, Dummala, Milla, Kirikon and Burutha were stored in a separate same type wooden boxes and kept in same environmental conditions where termites can be seen in high densities for one year of time period in Head Office premises of State Timber Corporation at Battaramulla. According to the naked eye observations taken after one year time period Hora, Dummala, Godakirilla species were severely attack by termites while Halmilla, Walukeena, Pihimbiya, Damaniya, Pelan, Etamba, Lunumidella, Diya Na, Kirikon also attack at considerable level by termites. Other species were not attack by termites. Therefore altogether out of 27 species 12 were degraded by termites for the allocated one year time period. The other species of Wewarana, Jack, Bedidel, Dawata, Hulanhik, Kaluwara, Hik, Palu, Mora, Kirihembiliya, Nedun, Kon, Kumbuk, Milla, Burutha species were resistant to the termite attack during one year time period. However further studies are underway to develop the relationships of degradation due to termite attack with climatic conditions, geographical conditions, timber properties such as strength properties as well as the densities, mechanical properties with considerable time period which allocated to degrade.
 Keywords: Ttermites, Decay, Density, Time period
 
 

Evaluating the climatic suitability of Engytatus passionarius Minghetti et al. (Heteroptera, Miridae) as a biological control agent of the invasive stinking passion flower Passiflora foetida L. in Australia through ecological niche models

Passiflora foetida is a climbing vine, native to the Neotropical Region that is causing major economic and ecological damage in Australia, where it is rapidly spreading. Traditional control options, such as cutting, manual uprooting, and herbicide applications are only effective for local management. Currently, the plant bug Engytatus passionarius is the most promising biological control agent. Specificity tests performed in its native range in Argentina suggest it is highly specific to the plant, and it has not been observed in the field associated with other plants. As climate determines the establishment of insects, knowing if the environmental conditions suit their requirements is key to introducing a species in a region. Also, an overlap between the climatic niches of species is an indicator of similar requirements. To explore the possibilities of a successful establishment of E. passionarius in Australia, ecological niche models (ENM) were built for the plant bug and for the vine and their overlap was measured. The ENM projected to Australia recognized suitable environmental conditions for the establishment of E. passionarius in several regions where P. foetida is present, both for current and future scenarios. Moreover, the niche of the plant bug is almost completely overlapped with that of the vine. All the aforementioned evidence seems to indicate that E. passionarius has a good chance to become an effective biological control agent of P. foetida.

A comprehensive review of bug algorithms in path planning

The bug algorithm family is the well-known navigation algorithm for robots in unknown environments. However, different types of bug algorithms have their own priorities and weaknesses based on different environmental conditions. According to the characteristics of the bug navigation algorithms, the bug algorithm family is mainly divided into 4 parts. In this paper, four types of bug algorithms (original bug algorithm, M-line Bug, Angel Bug and Range Bug) are presented along with typical samples of each type. Each type of algorithm will be thoroughly explained and exemplified, highlighting its unique characteristics and the suitable environmental conditions for each algorithm. By presenting the basic logic behind each algorithm and examining the environmental conditions they are best suited for, this paper aims to provide researchers with a comprehensive understanding of the bug algorithm family. Ultimately, this knowledge will contribute to the advancement of navigation capabilities in robots operating in unknown and challenging environments.

An Assessment of Human Opportunistic Pathogenic Bacteria on Daily Necessities in Nanjing City during Plum Rain Season.

The plum rain season is a special climatic phenomenon in east Asia, which is characterized by persistent rainfall, a high temperature, and humidity, providing suitable environmental conditions for certain pathogenic bacteria, thus increasing the incidence of respiratory, gastrointestinal, and urinary diseases. However, studies on human opportunistic pathogenic bacteria communities during the plum rain season are still limited. In this study, the characteristics of human opportunistic pathogenic bacterial communities on daily necessities during the non-plum and plum rain seasons were investigated using high-throughput sequencing technology. The results revealed that the relative abundance of human opportunistic pathogenic bacteria was higher in the plum rain season (cotton cloth: 2.469%, electric bicycles: 0.724%, rice: 3.737%, and washbasins: 5.005%) than in the non-plum rain season (cotton cloth: 1.425%, electric bicycles: 0.601%, rice: 2.426%, and washbasins: 4.801%). Both temperature and relative humidity affected human opportunistic pathogenic bacterial communities. Stochastic processes dominated the assembly process of human opportunistic pathogenic bacterial communities, and undominated processes prevailed. The stability of the co-occurrence network was higher in the non-plum rain season than that in the plum rain season. In addition, the proportion of deterministic processes showed the same trend as the complexity of the co-occurrence network.

Comparative epigenetic and genetic spatial structure in Mediterranean mountain plants: a multispecies study.

Changes in epigenetic states can allow individuals to cope with environmental changes. If such changes are heritable, this may lead to epigenetic adaptation. Thus, it is likely that in sessile organisms such as plants, part of the spatial epigenetic variation found across individuals will reflect the environmental heterogeneity within populations. The departure of the spatial epigenetic structure from the baseline genetic variation can help in understanding the value of epigenetic regulation in species with different breadth of optimal environmental requirements. Here, we hypothesise that in plants with narrow environmental requirements, epigenetic variability should be less structured in space given the lower variability in suitable environmental conditions. We performed a multispecies study that considered seven pairs of congeneric plant species, each encompassing a narrow endemic with habitat specialisation and a widespread species. In three populations per species we used AFLP and methylation-sensitive AFLP markers to characterise the spatial genetic and epigenetic structures. Narrow endemics showed a significantly lower epigenetic than genetic differentiation between populations. Within populations, epigenetic variation was less spatially structured than genetic variation, mainly in narrow endemics. In these species, structural equation models revealed that such pattern was associated to a lack of correlation between epigenetic and genetic information. Altogether, these results show a greater decoupling of the spatial epigenetic variation from the baseline spatial genetic pattern in endemic species. These findings highlight the value of studying genetic and epigenetic spatial variation to better understand habitat specialisation in plants.

Research progress on animal habitat constructions from the perspective of urban biodiversity improvement

The accelerated urbanization process has caused problems such as habitat loss, isolation, and habitat quality decline, resulting in a sharp reduction in the richness and abundance of urban species. Constructing suitable habitat environmental conditions is the most direct and effective way to protect animals. In urban environment, habitat construction can be achieved by integrating species protection and landscape planning, which is also an important manifestation of biodiversity conservation at the ecosystem level. Understanding how to incorporate animal habitats into city plan and design is critical and urban planners would benefit from a review that holistically describes the steps and methods of animal habitat constructions. We conducted a review to highlight the animal habitats space resources and network structures. We synthesized the findings of research studies in the last 20 years to illuminate the investigation, assessment, planning and management of animal habitats. As habitat degradation and fragmentation in anthropogenic environments, our findings suggest city planners should consider ecological background investigation, habitat suitability assessment, habitat planning strategies and animal habitat management as four key steps of mitigation to alleviate these impacts. This study will provide a useful reference to improve animal survival quality and communication. Through this study, the consolidated research can aid in sustainable development and innovation to promote the ecological function of urban green space and the harmonious coexistence of humans and animals.

Building Resource Potential in Hospitality

The resource potential of hotel organizations is able to contain data not only on the resources of the enterprise, but also on its capabilities. The development of resource potential can be carried out in suitable environmental conditions, as well as with the availability of specialized technologies. No less important in the development of resource potential are human and managerial resources. The direction in which capacity development is carried out reflects the investment positive aspects and is able to determine the demand for services in the hotel industry.The actual vector of development will be analyzed in accordance with the components of the resource potential: financial, information, personnel, organizational and, of course, innovative. The study will take into account aspects of organizational impact, namely the values of top management or the hotel chain for successful further development.Due to the outflow of a large number of international hotel chains, the suspension of the development of hotel projects, with the closure of business enterprises whose activities focused on the supply of new goods, technical units for hotels, a strong impact on the current situation was formed and exerted. All these processes, in turn, make it difficult to build forecasts and prospects.

Environmental predictors for the restoration of a critically endangered coral, Acropora palmata, along the Florida reef tract.

The population decline and lack of natural recovery of multiple coral species along the Florida reef tract have instigated the expanding application of coral restoration and conservation efforts. Few studies, however, have determined the optimal locations for the survival of outplanted coral colonies from restoration nurseries. This study predicts the optimal locations for Acropora palmata colonies along the Florida reef tract using a boosted-regression-tree model to examine the relationships between the occurrence of wild A. palmata and ten environmental variables. Our model results predicted A. palmata was most likely to occur in shallow reef habitats with (i) generally low mean chlorophyll-a concentrations (< 1 mg m-3), (ii) moderate fetch (3 kJ m-2), (iii) salinities between 20 and 37.5 ppt, (iv) temperatures between 20 and 32°C, (vi) low mean concentrations of total nitrogen (0.16 ppm), and (iv) irradiance between 26.5 and 53.5 mol m-2 s-1. The most suitable habitats for A. palmata were disproportionately allocated to reefs in Biscayne Bay, the Upper Keys, the western-lower Florida Keys, the Marquesas, and the Dry Tortugas. The middle Florida Keys had unfavorable environmental conditions for A. palmata habitat. Results from this study inform where A. palmata, outplanted as part of restoration and conservation efforts, would have suitable environmental conditions to persist over time. This study also provides decision-making support for management focused on the conservation and restoration of the endangered species A. palmata along the Florida reef tract.

What explains the high island endemicity of Philippine Rafflesia? A species distribution modeling analysis of three threatened parasitic plant species and their hosts.

Rafflesia are rare holoparasitic plants. In the Philippines, all but one species are found only on single islands. This study aimed to better understand the factors contributing to this distributional pattern. Specifically, we sought to determine whether narrow environmental tolerances of host and/or parasite species might explain their island endemicity. We used Maxent species distribution modeling to identify areas with suitable habitat for R. lagascae, R. lobata, and R. speciosa and their Tetrastigma host species. These analyses were carried out for current climate conditions and two future climate change scenarios. Although species distribution models indicated suitable environmental conditions for the Tetrastigma host species in many parts of the Philippines, considerably fewer areas were inferred to have suitable conditions for the three Rafflesia species. Some of these areas are on islands from which they have not been reported. All three species will face significant threats as a result of climate change. Our results suggest that limited inter-island dispersibility and/or specific environmental requirements are likely responsible for the current pattern of island endemicity of the three Rafflesia species, rather than environmental requirements of their Tetrastigma host species.

Detection of antibiotics resistance andefflux pumps production in clinical Acinetobacter baumannii isolates

Acinetobacter baumannii is considered one of the important pathogenic bacteria and responsible for several nosocomial and community infections in humans, such as the lungs (pneumonia), the bloodstream of ICU patients, burns, surgical wounds and meningitis. During the period from September to the end of December 2022, a total of 210 blood specimens were collected inDiyala governorate Baqubah Teaching Hospital, Iraq.To investigate the prevalence of bacterial isolates among ICU patients by identifying bacteria depending on suitable media under suitable environmental conditions for growth, morphological characteristics, biochemical tests, and confirmation of identification isolates by molecular detection of blaOXA- 51gene, antibiotic resistance, phenotypic and molecular detection of efflux pumps adeF gene, and activity of ciprofloxacin andresveratrol on gene expression. The percentage positive growth of A. baumannii isolates from blood specimens among ICU patients was 12 %, and the highest resistance of 25 isolates against fourteen types of antibiotics was equal to cefotaxime (100 % ), ticarcillin-clavulanate, and ceftriaxone ( 96 %), and ( 92 % )for each of Cefepime and Tobramycin, the lowest percentage was for doxycycline (64 % ).MIC value for ciprofloxacin and doxycycline between (8- 512 mg/ml) and ( 4 - 128 mg/ml) respectively. Molecular studies indicate the presence of blaOXA- 51gene and adeF in all isolates under study ( 100 % ). The treatment of resistance isolates with ciprofloxacin, resveratrol and their combination resulted in reduction of adeF gene. The resveratrol effect on efflux pumps gene adeF gene expression occurred for the first time in Iraq and even at the level of the Arab world.

Identification of soil properties associated with the peasant perception of the suitability of the land for growing organic coffee: the case of traditional agriculture in the “Mixteca Alta” mountains of Oaxaca, México

ABSTRACT A failure to select a suitable location to grow organic coffee translates into low plantation productivity and degradation of such agroecosystems. Therefore, we need to know a priori the suitable environmental conditions. Twenty-eight soil profiles were described in this study in the Mixteca Alta, Oaxaca. Physical and chemical properties were measured, and a regression model approach identified the main properties associated with the peasant perception of soil suitability for organic coffee production. We found that peasant perception of high soil suitability is in altitudes higher than 1400 masl, soil depth greater than 1 m, slightly basic condition in its maximum pH value, 0.4 to 1 dS m−1 of Electric Conductivity at its maximum, and low values of Na.

The drivers of dark diversity in the Scandinavian mountains are metric‐dependent

AbstractQuestionDark diversity refers to the set of species that are not observed in an area but could potentially occur based on suitable local environmental conditions. In this paper, we applied both niche‐based and co‐occurrence‐based methods to estimate the dark diversity of vascular plant species in the subarctic mountains. We then aimed to unravel the drivers explaining (a) why some locations were missing relatively more suitable species than others, and (b) why certain plant species were more often absent from suitable locations than others.LocationThe Scandinavian mountains around Abisko, northern Sweden.MethodsWe calculated the dark diversity in 107 plots spread out across four mountain trails using four different methods: two co‐occurrence‐based (Beals’ index and the hypergeometric method) and two niche‐based (the climatic niche model and climatic niche model followed by species‐specific threshold). We then applied multiple Generalized Linear Mixed‐Effects Models and General Linear Models to determine which habitat characteristics and species traits contributed the most to dark diversity.ResultsThe study showed a notable divergence in the predicted drivers of dark diversity depending on the method used. Nevertheless, we can conclude that plot‐level dark diversity was generally 17% higher in areas at low elevations and 31% higher in areas with a low species richness.ConclusionOur findings call for caution when interpreting statistical findings of dark‐diversity estimates. Even so, all analyses point toward an important role for natural processes such as competitive dominance as the main driver of the spatial patterns found in dark diversity in the northern Scandes.

Effects of temperature, salinity, and light on the growth performance, survival, final biomass, and digestive enzyme activities of juvenile Sipunculus nudus

Enhancing the culture technology of Sipunculus nudus by improving the environmental conditions is a crucial means to address its scarcity. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of different environmental factors on the growth performance, survival, final biomass (FB), and digestive enzyme activity of juvenile S. nudus through three separate single-factor culture experiments. The period set for all experiments was 30 days. In the temperature experiment (five groups were set up: 15 °C, 20 °C, 25 °C, 30 °C, and 35 °C), juvenile S. nudus obtained high growth performance in the water temperature of 25–35 °C, but the survival rate (SR) of the 35 °C group was significantly lower than those of the 25 °C and 30 °C groups (P < 0.05). The optimal water temperature for the juvenile was 27.59 °C by fitting the regression equation using FB as the evaluation index. In the salinity experiment (five groups were set up: 15‰, 20‰, 25‰, 30‰, and 35‰), the juvenile S. nudus could obtain high growth performance and lipase activity in the salinity of 15–20‰ group, but the SR, protease activity, and amylase activity of 15‰ groups were significantly lower than those of the 20‰ groups (P < 0.05). By fitting the regression equation using FB as the evaluation index, the best salinity for juveniles was 19.93‰. In the light experiment (four groups were set up: natural light, semi-shade, light, and full-shade), the growth performance, FB, and lipase activity of the juveniles in the natural light group were significantly higher than those of the three other groups (P < 0.05), whereas the SR of the full-shade group was significantly lower than those of the three other groups (P < 0.05). This study provides a theoretical basis for exploring the suitable environmental conditions for the culture of S. nudus.

Cash Economy and Store-Bought Food Biases in Food Security Assessments of Inuit Nunangat

Researchers, community organisations, and Inuit leaders increasingly question the suitability of methods to assess the prevalence of food insecurity in Inuit Nunangat (the Inuit homeland in Canada). Of particular contention is the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Household Food Security Survey Module (HFSSM), applied in modified form as part of Health Canada’s nationwide Canadian Community Health (CCHS) and Aboriginal Peoples Surveys. The 18-question HFSSM is the primary survey tool used by the Government of Canada to assess food security prevalence, yet the Module asks only about the affordability of store-bought foods (also termed ‘market foods’ elsewhere in literature) when collecting data to designate food security status. This is despite communities in Inuit Nunangat having complex ‘dual’ or ‘mixed’ food systems and foodways: relying on foods harvested from ancestral lands (country foods) in combination with store-bought foods to sustain mixed cash-subsistence economies and diets. Sourcing country foods requires money for the purchase of equipment and machinery. However, they also have numerous access and availability criteria dictated by non-financial factors. In this paper, we explore the problem of the monetary bias (the focus on an individual or household’s ability to purchase foods) in the HFSSM and discuss the knock-on effects of using monetary metrics as the sole means of measuring and monitoring food security in dual food environments. We contend that relying on monetary access as a measure presents an incomplete picture of the reality of food insecurity in Inuit Nunangat. Presently, there is little consideration of the nuance of social norms and cultural values that govern dual food systems or the importance of less tangible non-financial factors that might affect food access (e.g. knowledge of where and how to harvest and maintain machinery, suitable environmental conditions for travel, conducive harvest regulations, social relationships, and ecological stability). Ultimately, this contributes to restricted policy-level understandings of what it means to ensure stable, culturally adequate, and just food systems, and limits self-determination in northern food environments.