Sei whale (Balaenoptera borealis) ecology and management in the North Atlantic

Tese de Doutoramento em Ciências do Mar, especialidade em Ecologia Marinha.

Chemical composition and tissue energy density of the cuttlefish (Sepia apama) and its assimilation efficiency by Diomedea albatrosses.

The cuttlefish Sepia apama Gray (Mollusca: Cephalopoda) is a seasonally abundant food resource exploited annually by moulting albatrosses throughout winter and early spring in the coastal waters of New South Wales, Australia. To assess its nutritional value as albatross forage, we analysed S. apama for water, lipid protein, ash contents, energy density and amino acid composition. Because albatrosses consistently consume S. apama parts preferentially in the order of head, viscera and mantle, we analysed these sections separately, but did not identify any nutritional basis for this selective feeding behaviour. The gross energy value of S. apama bodies was 20.9 kJ/g dry mass, but their high water content (>83%; cf <70% for fish) results in a relatively low energy density of 3.53 kJ/g. This may contribute to a need to take large meals, which subsequently degrade flight performance. Protein content was typically >75% dry mass, whereas fat content was only about 1%. Albatrosses feed on many species of cephalopods and teleost fish, and we found the amino acid composition of S. apama to be comparable to a range of species within these taxa. We used S. apama exclusively in feeding trials to estimate the energy assimilation efficiency for Diomedea albatrosses. We estimated their nitrogen-corrected apparent energy assimilation efficiency for consuming this prey to be 81.82 ± 0.72% and nitrogen retention as 2.90 ± 0.11 g N kg^-1 d^-1. Although S. apama has a high water content and relatively low energy density, its protein composition is otherwise comparable to other albatross prey species. Consequently, the large size and seasonal abundance of this prey should ensure that albatrosses remain replete and adequately nourished on this forage while undergoing moult.

Morfologia em alta resolução espacial de estrelas de tipo Mira e R Corenae Borealis

Mira and R Coronae Borealis (R CrB) variable stars are evolved objects surrounded by circumstellar envelopes (CSE) composed of the ejected stellar material. We present a detailed high-spatial resolution morfological study of the CSE of three stars: IRC+10216, the closest and more studied Carbon-Rich Mira; o Ceti, the prototype of the Mira class; and RY Sagitarii (RY Sgr), the brightest R CrB variable of the south hemisphere. JHKL near-infrared adaptive optics images of IRC+10216 with high dynamic range and Vband images with high angular resolution and high depth, collected with the VLT/NACO and VLT/FORS1 instruments, were analyzed. NACO images of o Ceti were also analyzed. Interferometric observations of RY Sgr collected with the VLTI/MIDI instrument allowed us to explore its CSE innermost regions (»20 40 mas). The CSE of IRC+10216 exhibit, in near-infrared, clumps with more complex relative displacements than proposed in previous studies. In V-band, the majority of the non-concentric shells, located in the outer CSE layers, seem to be composed of thinner elongated shells. In a global view, the morphological connection between the shells and the bipolar core of the nebulae, located in the outer layers, together with the clumps, located in the innermost regions, has a difficult interpretation. In the CSE of o Ceti, preliminar results would be indicating the presence of possible clumps. In the innermost regions (.110 UA) of the CSE of RY Sgr, two clouds were detected in different epochs, embedded in a variable gaussian envelope. Based on a rigorous verification, the first cloud was located at »100 R¤ (or »30 AU) from the centre, toward the east-north-east direction (modulo 180o) and the second one was almost at a perpendicular direction, having aproximately 2£ the distance of the first cloud. This study introduces new constraints to the mass-loss history of these kind of variables and to the morphology of their innermost CSE regions

Flandria Borealis : Eigentliche Verzeichnus der Graefschafft Flandern, wie dieselbige uff der kanten ins NordOosten gegen Selant zu gelegen, an welchem ort die Statische Armey ihren ersten einfall gethan, mit beigefugter Narration oder erzehlung was sich von anfang Maiens uff jeder platzen zugetragen, Im Iahr Christi 1604

Bibliogr. Nachweis: Geschichtsblätter / Hogenberg, Nr. 372