Retrieval and Multi-scale Validation of Soil Moisture from Multi-temporal SAR Data in a Semi-Arid Tropical Region

The current study presents an algorithm to retrieve surface Soil Moisture (SM) from multi-temporal Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data. The developed algorithm is based on the Cumulative Density Function (CDF) transformation of multi-temporal RADARSAT-2 backscatter coefficient (BC) to obtain relative SM values, and then converts relative SM values into absolute SM values using soil information. The algorithm is tested in a semi-arid tropical region in South India using 30 satellite images of RADARSAT-2, SMOS L2 SM products, and 1262 SM field measurements in 50 plots spanning over 4 years. The validation with the field data showed the ability of the developed algorithm to retrieve SM with RMSE ranging from 0.02 to 0.06 m(3)/m(3) for the majority of plots. Comparison with the SMOS SM showed a good temporal behaviour with RMSE of approximately 0.05 m(3)/m(3) and a correlation coefficient of approximately 0.9. The developed model is compared and found to be better than the change detection and delta index model. The approach does not require calibration of any parameter to obtain relative SM and hence can easily be extended to any region having time series of SAR data available.

Internet e educação : a compressão espaço-temporal e o civismo

Discute a relação entre a Internet e a educação para o civismo. Parte-se de uma análise do processo de compressão espaço-temporal, que se acirra com o advento das Tecnologias de Informação e Comunicação (TIC). A imaterialidade das relações e o individualismo são consequências de um mesmo processo que afasta os homens do mundo e os vincula a simulacros, e a presença da técnica tende a dar força a esse processo. Dessa forma, a velocidade das trocas simbólicas realizadas através das infovias acaba por exercer diversos impactos nos processos educacionais, destacando-se a falta de cultura política. Trata-se de uma situação difícil de ser modificada, no entanto, ao debater a relação entre a Internet e a educação, o texto também procura apontar caminhos para a constituição de um civismo a partir da presença das TIC no cotidiano.

Wage differentials between Permanent and Temporal Contracts: Further Evidence

The main objective of this paper is to estimate wage differentials between permanent and temporal workers for different qualification levels and decompose such differentials to see which factors contribute more to explain them. The data we use is the "Encuesta de Estructura Salarial", a survey carried out in 1995 in all countries of the European Union, which contains very detailed information on wages and other characteristics for about 180.000 workers. The empirical results indicate that (a) the wage gap between permanent and temporal workers increases with qualification and it is smaller for females than for males, (b) when decomposing average wage differentials for each qualification level, we observe that the vast majority of such differential is explainedby differences in characteristics, and in particular by differences in tenure and occupation. With respect to differences in returns, our results indicate that the returns to tenure are higher for temporal workres relative to permanent workers for both males and females and for every qualification level. Returns to occupation are higher for permanent than for temporal workers, and the differenceis particularly high for females.

Fish assemblages and benthic habitats of Buck Island Reef National Monument (St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands) and the surrounding seascape: A characterization of spatial and temporal patterns

Since 1999, NOAA’s Biogeography Branch of the Center for Coastal Monitoring and Assessment (CCMA-BB) has been working with federal and territorial partners to characterize, monitor, and assess the status of the marine environment around northeastern St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. This effort is part of the broader NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program’s (CRCP) National Coral Reef Ecosystem Monitoring Program (NCREMP). With support from CRCP’s NCREMP, CCMA conducts the “Caribbean Coral Reef Ecosystem Monitoring project” (CREM) with goals to: (1) spatially characterize and monitor the distribution, abundance, and size of marine fauna associated with shallow water coral reef seascapes (mosaics of coral reefs, seagrasses, sand and mangroves); (2) relate this information to in situ fine-scale habitat data and the spatial distribution and diversity of habitat types using benthic habitat maps; (3) use this information to establish the knowledge base necessary for enacting management decisions in a spatial setting; (4) establish the efficacy of those management decisions; and (5) develop data collection and data management protocols. The monitoring effort in northeastern St. Croix was conducted through partnerships with the National Park Service (NPS) and the Virgin Islands Department of Planning and Natural Resources (VI-DPNR). The geographical focal point of the research is Buck Island Reef National Monument (BIRNM), a protected area originally established in 1961 and greatly expanded in 2001; however, the work also encompassed a large portion of the recently created St. Croix East End Marine Park (EEMP). Project funding is primarily provided by NOAA CRCP, CCMA and NPS. In recent decades, scientific and non-scientific observations have indicated that the structure and function of the coral reef ecosystem around northeastern St. Croix have been adversely impacted by a wide range of environmental stressors. The major stressors have included the mass Diadema die off in the early 1980s, a series of hurricanes beginning with Hurricane Hugo in 1989, overfishing, mass mortality of Acropora corals due to disease and several coral bleaching events, with the most severe mass bleaching episode in 2005. The area is also an important recreational resource supporting boating, snorkeling, diving and other water based activities. With so many potential threats to the marine ecosystem and a dramatic change in management strategy in 2003 when the park’s Interim Regulations (Presidential Proclamation No. 7392) established BIRNM as one of the first fully protected marine areas in NPS system, it became critical to identify existing marine fauna and their spatial distributions and temporal dynamics. This provides ecologically meaningful data to assess ecosystem condition, support decision making in spatial planning (including the evaluation of efficacy of current management strategies) and determine future information needs. The ultimate goal of the work is to better understand the coral reef ecosystems and to provide information toward protecting and enhancing coral reef ecosystems for the benefit of the system itself and to sustain the many goods and services that it offers society. This Technical Memorandum contains analysis of the first six years of fish survey data (2001-2006) and associated characterization of the benthos (1999-2006). The primary objectives were to quantify changes in fish species and assemblage diversity, abundance, biomass and size structure and to provide spatially explicit information on the distribution of key species or groups of species and to compare community structure inside (protected) versus outside (fished) areas of BIRNM. (PDF contains 100 pages).

Invariant-free deduction systems for temporal logic

In this thesis we propose a new approach to deduction methods for temporal logic. Our proposal is based on an inductive definition of eventualities that is different from the usual one. On the basis of this non-customary inductive definition for eventualities, we first provide dual systems of tableaux and sequents for Propositional Linear-time Temporal Logic (PLTL). Then, we adapt the deductive approach introduced by means of these dual tableau and sequent systems to the resolution framework and we present a clausal temporal resolution method for PLTL. Finally, we make use of this new clausal temporal resolution method for establishing logical foundations for declarative temporal logic programming languages. The key element in the deduction systems for temporal logic is to deal with eventualities and hidden invariants that may prevent the fulfillment of eventualities. Different ways of addressing this issue can be found in the works on deduction systems for temporal logic. Traditional tableau systems for temporal logic generate an auxiliary graph in a first pass.Then, in a second pass, unsatisfiable nodes are pruned. In particular, the second pass must check whether the eventualities are fulfilled. The one-pass tableau calculus introduced by S. Schwendimann requires an additional handling of information in order to detect cyclic branches that contain unfulfilled eventualities. Regarding traditional sequent calculi for temporal logic, the issue of eventualities and hidden invariants is tackled by making use of a kind of inference rules (mainly, invariant-based rules or infinitary rules) that complicates their automation. A remarkable consequence of using either a two-pass approach based on auxiliary graphs or aone-pass approach that requires an additional handling of information in the tableau framework, and either invariant-based rules or infinitary rules in the sequent framework, is that temporal logic fails to carry out the classical correspondence between tableaux and sequents. In this thesis, we first provide a one-pass tableau method TTM that instead of a graph obtains a cyclic tree to decide whether a set of PLTL-formulas is satisfiable. In TTM tableaux are classical-like. For unsatisfiable sets of formulas, TTM produces tableaux whose leaves contain a formula and its negation. In the case of satisfiable sets of formulas, TTM builds tableaux where each fully expanded open branch characterizes a collection of models for the set of formulas in the root. The tableau method TTM is complete and yields a decision procedure for PLTL. This tableau method is directly associated to a one-sided sequent calculus called TTC. Since TTM is free from all the structural rules that hinder the mechanization of deduction, e.g. weakening and contraction, then the resulting sequent calculus TTC is also free from this kind of structural rules. In particular, TTC is free of any kind of cut, including invariant-based cut. From the deduction system TTC, we obtain a two-sided sequent calculus GTC that preserves all these good freeness properties and is finitary, sound and complete for PLTL. Therefore, we show that the classical correspondence between tableaux and sequent calculi can be extended to temporal logic. The most fruitful approach in the literature on resolution methods for temporal logic, which was started with the seminal paper of M. Fisher, deals with PLTL and requires to generate invariants for performing resolution on eventualities. In this thesis, we present a new approach to resolution for PLTL. The main novelty of our approach is that we do not generate invariants for performing resolution on eventualities. Our method is based on the dual methods of tableaux and sequents for PLTL mentioned above. Our resolution method involves translation into a clausal normal form that is a direct extension of classical CNF. We first show that any PLTL-formula can be transformed into this clausal normal form. Then, we present our temporal resolution method, called TRS-resolution, that extends classical propositional resolution. Finally, we prove that TRS-resolution is sound and complete. In fact, it finishes for any input formula deciding its satisfiability, hence it gives rise to a new decision procedure for PLTL. In the field of temporal logic programming, the declarative proposals that provide a completeness result do not allow eventualities, whereas the proposals that follow the imperative future approach either restrict the use of eventualities or deal with them by calculating an upper bound based on the small model property for PLTL. In the latter, when the length of a derivation reaches the upper bound, the derivation is given up and backtracking is used to try another possible derivation. In this thesis we present a declarative propositional temporal logic programming language, called TeDiLog, that is a combination of the temporal and disjunctive paradigms in Logic Programming. We establish the logical foundations of our proposal by formally defining operational and logical semantics for TeDiLog and by proving their equivalence. Since TeDiLog is, syntactically, a sublanguage of PLTL, the logical semantics of TeDiLog is supported by PLTL logical consequence. The operational semantics of TeDiLog is based on TRS-resolution. TeDiLog allows both eventualities and always-formulas to occur in clause heads and also in clause bodies. To the best of our knowledge, TeDiLog is the first declarative temporal logic programming language that achieves this high degree of expressiveness. Since the tableau method presented in this thesis is able to detect that the fulfillment of an eventuality is prevented by a hidden invariant without checking for it by means of an extra process, since our finitary sequent calculi do not include invariant-based rules and since our resolution method dispenses with invariant generation, we say that our deduction methods are invariant-free.

Neural representation of auditory temporal structure

Neurons in the songbird forebrain nucleus HVc are highly sensitive to auditory temporal context and have some of the most complex auditory tuning properties yet discovered. HVc is crucial for learning, perceiving, and producing song, thus it is important to understand the neural circuitry and mechanisms that give rise to these remarkable auditory response properties. This thesis investigates these issues experimentally and computationally.

Extracellular studies reported here compare the auditory context sensitivity of neurons in HV c with neurons in the afferent areas of field L. These demonstrate that there is a substantial increase in the auditory temporal context sensitivity from the areas of field L to HVc. Whole-cell recordings of HVc neurons from acute brain slices are described which show that excitatory synaptic transmission between HVc neurons involve the release of glutamate and the activation of both AMPA/kainate and NMDA-type glutamate receptors. Additionally, widespread inhibitory interactions exist between HVc neurons that are mediated by postsynaptic GABA_A receptors. Intracellular recordings of HVc auditory neurons in vivo provides evidence that HV c neurons encode information about temporal structure using a variety of cellular and synaptic mechanisms including syllable-specific inhibition, excitatory post-synaptic potentials with a range of different time courses, and burst-firing, and song-specific hyperpolarization.

The final part of this thesis presents two computational approaches for representing and learning temporal structure. The first method utilizes comput ational elements that are analogous to temporal combination sensitive neurons in HVc. A network of these elements can learn using local information and lateral inhibition. The second method presents a more general framework which allows a network to discover mixtures of temporal features in a continuous stream of input.

Analysis of temporal structure in spike trains of visual cortical area MT

The temporal structure of neuronal spike trains in the visual cortex can provide detailed information about the stimulus and about the neuronal implementation of visual processing. Spike trains recorded from the macaque motion area MT in previous studies (Newsome et al., 1989a; Britten et al., 1992; Zohary et al., 1994) are analyzed here in the context of the dynamic random dot stimulus which was used to evoke them. If the stimulus is incoherent, the spike trains can be highly modulated and precisely locked in time to the stimulus. In contrast, the coherent motion stimulus creates little or no temporal modulation and allows us to study patterns in the spike train that may be intrinsic to the cortical circuitry in area MT. Long gaps in the spike train evoked by the preferred direction motion stimulus are found, and they appear to be symmetrical to bursts in the response to the anti-preferred direction of motion. A novel cross-correlation technique is used to establish that the gaps are correlated between pairs of neurons. Temporal modulation is also found in psychophysical experiments using a modified stimulus. A model is made that can account for the temporal modulation in terms of the computational theory of biological image motion processing. A frequency domain analysis of the stimulus reveals that it contains a repeated power spectrum that may account for psychophysical and electrophysiological observations.

Some neurons tend to fire bursts of action potentials while others avoid burst firing. Using numerical and analytical models of spike trains as Poisson processes with the addition of refractory periods and bursting, we are able to account for peaks in the power spectrum near 40 Hz without assuming the existence of an underlying oscillatory signal. A preliminary examination of the local field potential reveals that stimulus-locked oscillation appears briefly at the beginning of the trial.

Temporal and spatial variations in the quality of water in El Gergal Reservior, Seville, Spain

It is often difficult to define ‘water quality’ with any degree of precision. One approach is that suggested by Battarbee (1997) and is based on the extent to which individual lakes have changed compared with their natural ‘baseline’ status. Defining the base-line status of artificial lakes and reservoirs however, is, very difficult. In ecological terms, the definition of quality must include some consideration of their functional characteristics and the extent to which these characteristics are self-sustaining. The challenge of managing lakes in a sustainable way is particularly acute in semi-arid, Mediterranean countries. Here the quality of the water is strongly influenced by the unpredictability of the rainfall as well as year-to-year variations in the seasonal averages. Wise management requires profound knowledge of how these systems function. Thus a holistic approach must be adopted and the factors influencing the seasonal dynamics of the lakes quantified over a range of spatial and temporal scales. In this article, the authors describe some of the ways in which both long-term and short-term changes in the weather have influenced the seasonal and spatial dynamics of phytoplankton in El Gergal, a water supply reservoir situated in the south of Spain. The quality of the water stored in this reservoir is typically very good but surface blooms of algae commonly appear during warm, calm periods when the water level is low. El Gergal reservoir is managed by the Empresa Municipal de Abastecimiento y Saneamiento (EMASESA) and supplies water for domestic, commercial and industrial use to an area which includes the city of Seville and twelve of its surrounding towns (ca. 1.3 million inhabitants). El Gergal is the last of two reservoirs in a chain of four situated in the Rivera de Huelva basin, a tributary of the Guadalquivir river. It was commissioned by EMASESA in 1979 and since then the company has monitored its main limnological parameters on, at least, a monthly basis and used this information to improve the management of the reservoir. As a consequence of these intensive studies the physical, chemical and biological information acquired during this period makes the El Gergal database one of the most complete in Spain. In this article the authors focus on three ‘weather-related’ effects that have had a significant impact on the composition and distribution of phytoplankton in El Gergal: (i) the changes associated with severe droughts; (ii) the spatial variations produced by short-term changes in the weather; (iii) the impact of water transfers on the seasonal dynamics of the dinoflagellate Ceratium.

Some observations on the temporal variations of size of copepods and some answers to questions on their biology. [Translation from: Internationale Revue der Gesamten Hydrobiologie und Hydrographie 17 99-114, 1927.]

Until now observations on the temporal variation of size of freshwater copepods have not provided much information. Other observers only mention in passing this or that phenomenon from which it is possible to deduct termporal variations. In this study Cyclops strenuus s.l., a freshwater species of fairly wide distribution, is studied in two water bodies. The author studies the systematic, placing of inhabitants described as C. strenuus Fischer in both locations, their annual life cycle, and their annual size variations.

Caracterização espaço-temporal de plumas de sedimentos por sensoriamento remoto: um estudo de caso na foz do rio Paraíba do Sul.

Sedimentos em suspensão representam um dos principais fatores que afetam a qualidade dos sistemas aquáticos no mundo; influenciam os processos geomórficos de construção da paisagem e podem indicar problemas de erosão e perda de solo na bacia hidrográfica contribuinte. O seu monitoramento espacial e temporal é fundamental nas atividades de gestão ambiental de áreas costeiras. Nesse sentido, a hipótese básica desta pesquisa é que o padrão espacial e temporal de plumas de sedimentos costeiras associado ao regime hidrológico do rio pode ser caracterizado a partir de imagens orbitais de média resolução espacial. Para comprová-la, elegeu-se a foz do rio Paraíba do Sul como área de estudo para definição e teste metodológico, e formulou-se como principal objetivo mapear qualitativamente a pluma costeira deste rio a partir de imagens Landsat 5 e CBERS-2, ao longo do período compreendido entre 1985 e 2007. As datas avaliadas foram criteriosamente definidas através de três estratégias de análise, totalizando cinqüenta imagens. Pesquisa bibliográfica e avaliação da resposta espectral da feição de interesse nas imagens selecionadas consistiram nas etapas principais da definição da metodologia. As plumas foram então identificadas, mapeadas e extraídas; posteriormente, suas características espaciais e temporais foram analisadas por intermédio de sistemas de informação geográfica e avaliadas em conjunto com dados históricos de vazão. Os resultados indicam que a banda do vermelho forneceu uma melhor discriminação interna da pluma, sendo, portanto, utilizada como base para as análises realizadas neste trabalho. Com exceção do procedimento de correção atmosférica, a metodologia proposta consiste na utilização de técnicas simples de processamento digital de imagens, baseadas na integração de técnicas semi-automáticas e de análise visual. A avaliação do padrão dos sedimentos e dos mapas temáticos qualitativos de concentração de sedimentos em suspensão indica a forte diferenciação existente entre cenários representativos de épocas de cheia e seca do rio. Análises espaciais do comportamento da pluma contribuem ainda para um maior conhecimento do espaço geográfico, fornecendo subsídios aos mais variados setores do planejamento e gestão ambiental.

Ocorrência e distribuição espacial e temporal das larvas de anuros (Amphibia) em diferentes sistemas aquáticos da Ilha Grande (Rio de Janeiro)

Os girinos dos anuros podem ocorrer em inúmeros tipos de sistemas hídricos, desde ambientes relativamente simples e previsíveis, como na água acumulada em epífitas ou uma poça temporária, até hábitats aquáticos permanentes mais complexos, como os riachos. A interação entre os fatores ambientais bióticos e abióticos existentes nesses diferentes ambientes com os fatores históricos é essencial para explicar a estrutura das comunidades dessa fase de vida dos anuros. O entendimento sobre como estes fatores atuam e sua importância nos conduz a uma maior compreensão do que parece influenciar positivamente ou negativamente o estabelecimento dos girinos nos seus diferentes ambientes. Inicialmente, fornecemos uma discussão detalhada da importância desses fatores. Em seguida, avaliamos a estrutura da assembléia dos girinos e a sua estratégia de ocupação espacial e temporal em relação ao uso de diferentes sistemas aquáticos, temporários e permanentes (poças, terrenos alagados, riachos e ambientes artificiais) em uma área de Mata Atlântica na Ilha Grande (Rio de Janeiro). Posteriormente, propomos um experimento para avaliar como os girinos característicos de diferentes tipos de habitats hídricos respondem à condição adversa de ausência de água livre. Depois, é sugerida uma chave artificial de identificação para os girinos da Ilha Grande, com base nas espécies contempladas neste estudo. Por fim, apresentamos a descrição do girino de Proceratophrys tupinamba, provendo algumas informações sobre sua distribuição temporal e uso de microhabitats. Registramos girinos de 12 espécies de anuros, o que correspondeu a 71% dos anfíbios da Ilha Grande com larvas exotróficas em ambientes aquáticos. O espectro de habitats hídricos utilizados variou consistentemente entre as espécies. Girinos de Aplastodiscus eugenioi e Scinax trapicheiroi foram aqueles que utilizaram a maior quantia de tipos de habitats, ambos com cinco registros. A maioria das espécies teve suas maiores abundâncias em um ou dois tipos de corpos dágua onde ocorreu, portanto poucas destas espécies demonstram ter sido generalistas no uso de tipos de habitats aquáticos. A maior riqueza de espécies ocorreu em poças temporárias, em riachos intermitentes e no ambiente antropizado da calha artificial. Quando consideramos em termos de habitats hídricos, a maior riqueza ocorreu nas poças temporárias, nos riachos intermitentes, nos riachos permanentes e na calha artificial. Em nem todos os meses um determinado tipo de recurso hídrico manteve a sua riqueza máxima de girinos. Observamos que um mesmo tipo de sistema hídrico pode comportar espécies típicas de ambientes lênticos e outras adaptadas a ambientes lóticos, dependendo da estrutura em que o corpo dágua apresenta naquele período, como os riachos intermitentes, por exemplo. Entre os fatores abióticos medidos, o PH, o oxigênio dissolvido, a correnteza, a largura e a profundidade dos corpos dágua explicaram de forma mais importante a ocorrência e abundância das diferentes espécies de girinos. Portanto, consideramos que fatores ecológicos desempenham um importante papel na determinação da distribuição de girinos dentro e entre habitats que estes organismos ocupam. O experimento proposto mostrou que os tempos de sobrevivência entre as onze espécies contempladas e também entre os indivíduos de diferentes tamanhos em uma mesma espécie variaram consideravelmente. Isto é sugestivo de que estas espécies apresentam diferentes estratégias para tolerar uma condição de independência de água livre. Os fatores que pareceram mais influenciar negativamente na sobrevivência dos girinos foram: hábito nectônico, pequeno tamanho dos indivíduos, ocupação de ambientes lênticos e temporários e modo reprodutivo não-especializado. Alternativamente, os girinos com melhor desempenho em uma condição de independência de água livre foram de espécies de tamanho comparativamente grande ou médio, ocuparam preferencialmente ambientes lóticos e permanentes, apresentaram modos reprodutivos especializados e os hábitos dos girinos foram principalmente bentônicos. Neste contexto, pode se conjecturar que os girinos das espécies que utilizam ambientes permanentes sejam mais resistentes à condição de independência de água livre do que aquelas de habitats efêmeros. Considerando especial atenção para a biodiversidade dos anfíbios, a Ilha Grande apresenta uma elevada concentração de espécies endêmicas. Esta respeitável diversidade de anfíbios para a área estudada está relacionada com a cobertura vegetal de Mata Atlântica e a grande quantidade de corpos dágua na Ilha, tanto temporários quanto permanentes. A influência destas condições favoráveis para os anfíbios na região está demonstrada também na diversidade de modos reprodutivos, onde 13 dos 39 modos reprodutivos já descritos foram notados para os anfíbios da Ilha Grande. Este conjunto de fatores reafirma esta como uma das mais importantes áreas para a conservação da biodiversidade de anfíbios para o estado do Rio de Janeiro. Comparando a descrição do girino de Proceratophrys tupinamba com P. appendiculata, observamos algumas diferenças na proporção do corpo. Os girinos da espécie descrita foram mais abundantes durante a estação chuvosa (outubro-março), sendo esta distribuição positivamente relacionada com a precipitação média mensal. Os girinos são bentônicos e ocorrem mais frequentemente em porções de menor correnteza do riacho. Eles foram encontrados com maior freqüência expostos na areia, que também representou o microhabitat mais disponível entre aqueles no córrego estudado.

Spatial-temporal excess mortality patterns of the 1918-1919 influenza pandemic in Spain

Background: The impact of socio-demographic factors and baseline health on the mortality burden of seasonal and pandemic influenza remains debated. Here we analyzed the spatial-temporal mortality patterns of the 1918 influenza pandemic in Spain, one of the countries of Europe that experienced the highest mortality burden. Methods: We analyzed monthly death rates from respiratory diseases and all-causes across 49 provinces of Spain, including the Canary and Balearic Islands, during the period January-1915 to June-1919. We estimated the influenza-related excess death rates and risk of death relative to baseline mortality by pandemic wave and province. We then explored the association between pandemic excess mortality rates and health and socio-demographic factors, which included population size and age structure, population density, infant mortality rates, baseline death rates, and urbanization. Results: Our analysis revealed high geographic heterogeneity in pandemic mortality impact. We identified 3 pandemic waves of varying timing and intensity covering the period from Jan-1918 to Jun-1919, with the highest pandemic-related excess mortality rates occurring during the months of October-November 1918 across all Spanish provinces. Cumulative excess mortality rates followed a south-north gradient after controlling for demographic factors, with the North experiencing highest excess mortality rates. A model that included latitude, population density, and the proportion of children living in provinces explained about 40% of the geographic variability in cumulative excess death rates during 1918-19, but different factors explained mortality variation in each wave. Conclusions: A substantial fraction of the variability in excess mortality rates across Spanish provinces remained unexplained, which suggests that other unidentified factors such as comorbidities, climate and background immunity may have affected the 1918-19 pandemic mortality rates. Further archeo-epidemiological research should concentrate on identifying settings with combined availability of local historical mortality records and information on the prevalence of underlying risk factors, or patient-level clinical data, to further clarify the drivers of 1918 pandemic influenza mortality.

Spatial and temporal distribution of grouper larvae (Serranidae: Epinephelinae: Epinephelini) in the Gulf of Mexico and Straits of Florida

Little is known about the seasonality and distribution of grouper larvae (Serranidae: Epinephelini) in the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean off the coast of the southeast United States. Grouper larvae were collected from a transect across the Straits of Florida in 2003 and 2004 and during the Southeast Area Monitoring and Assessment Program spring and fall surveys from 1982 through 2005. Analysis of these larval data provided information on location and timing of spawning, larval distribution patterns, and interannual occurrence for a group of species not easily studied as adults. Our analyses indicated that shelf-edge habitat is important for spawning of many species of grouper—some species for which data were not previously available. Spawning for some species may occur year-round, but two peak seasons are evident: late winter and late summer through early fall. Interannual variability in the use of three important subregions by species or groups of species was partially explained by environmental factors (surface temperature, surface salinity, and water depth). A shift in species dominance over the last three decades from spring-spawned species (most of the commercial species) to fall-spawned species also was documented. The results of these analyses expand our understanding of the basic distribution and spawning patterns of northwest Atlantic grouper species and indicate a need for further examination of the changing population structure of individual species and species dominance in the region.