Ecology and life history of penaeid shrimps

Fourteen species of penaeid shrimps with commercial value in Batan Bay and Tigbauan-Guimbal waters were identified as follows: Penaeus monodon, P.semisulcatus, P.japonicus, Metapenaeus ensis, M.burkenroadi, M.endeavouri, Metapenaeopsis palmensis, M.stridulans, Trachypenaeus fulvus, and Parapenaeus longipes. Among the 14 penaeids, P.semisulcatus, M.ensis and M.palmensis were found to be the dominant species within each genus. There are seven existing fishing gears for shrimping in the Batan Bay and Tigbauan-Guimbal waters: fish corrals, lift net, filter net, gill net, skimming net, baby trawler and commercial trawler. In general, female penaeids are larger than males. The largest P.monodon female measured was 81 mm in carapace length with 23 g in body weight. The largest male measuring 59 mm in carapace length with 119 g of body weight was caught in Batan Bay. Judging from spermatozoa occurrence on both sexes of P.monodon, the biological minimum size for male is 37 mm in carapace length and 49 mm for female. A total of 133 Penaeus postlarvae obtained from the offshore were identified by comparison with those reared in the laboratory. The postlarvae of P.japonicus-latisulcatus complex were quite dominant (60 . 2%), followed by P.semisulcatus (18 . 0%), and P.merguiensis-indicus complex (17 . 3%). The number of P.monodon postlarvae was relatively small (4 . 5%). The modal carapace length of P.monodon postlarvae from the offshore was 1 . 3 mm with three or four dorsal and no ventral spines on the rostrum, while P.monodon fry from the shoreline had 2 . 3 mm with five or six dorsal and one or two ventral spines.

Origin of Gymnocypris przewalskii and phylogenetic history of Gymnocypris eckloni (Teleostei : Cyprinidae)

The origins and phylogenetic patterns were assessed for G. przewalskii and G. eckloni by analyzing the complete mtDNA cytochrome b gene sequence (1140bp). Phylogenetic analyses further supported that there were three mtDNA lineages (A-C) identified in G. przewalskii and G. eckloni, demonstrating that outer rakers of the first gill have little significance in the phylogeny of the Gymnocypris fishes. The network established showed that G. eckloni of the Yellow River specific haplotype A1 was a founder and it radiated all haplotypes of G. przewalskii which suggested G. przewalskii might only originate from one of two maternals of G. eckloni from the Yellow River. Fs test and mismatch analysis showed at least two expansion events in the population of G. przewalskii about 0.2734 Ma and 0.0658 Ma, while G. eckloni from Qaidam Basin could have experienced severe bottleneck effect about 0.0693 Ma. The population expansion was detected in subclades A1 and A21 with the most recent common ancestor (TMRCA) about 0.2308 +/- 0.01 Ma and 0.1319 +/- 0.015 Ma, respectively, which were within the geological age range of "Gonghe Movement" event that caused the separation of Lake Qinghai from the upper Yellow River. These results suggested the effect of the fish diversification by rapid uplift of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau in the Late Pleistocene.

Genetic variation and phylogeographic history of Picea likiangensis revealed by RAPD markers

Repeated cycles of retreat and recolonization during the Quaternary ice ages are thought to have greatly influenced current species distributions and their genetic diversity. It remains unclear how this climatic oscillation has affected the distribution of genetic diversity between populations of wind-pollinated conifers in the Qinghai-Tibetan region. In this study, we investigated the within-species genetic diversity and phylogenetic relationships of Picea likiangensis, a dominant forest species in this region using polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers. Our results suggest that this species has high overall genetic diversity, with 85.42% of loci being polymorphic and an average expected heterozygosity (H (E)) of 0.239. However, there were relatively low levels of polymorphism at population levels and the differences between populations were not significant, with percentages of polymorphic bands (PPB) ranging from 46.88 to 69.76%, Nei's gene diversity (H (E)) from 0.179 to 0.289 and Shannon's indices (Hpop) from 0.267 to 0.421. In accordance with our proposed hypothesis, a high level of genetic differentiation among populations was detected based on Nei's genetic diversity (G (ST) = 0.256) and AMOVA analysis (Phi (st) = 0.236). Gene flow between populations was found to be limited (Nm = 1.4532) and far lower than reported for other conifer species with wide distribution ranges from other regions. No clusters corresponding to three morphological varieties found in the south, north and west, respectively, were detected in either UPGMA or PCO analyses. Our results suggest that this species may have had different refugia during the glacial stages in the southern region and that the northern variety may have multiple origins from these different refugia.

The Queen's College, Cork: its origins and early history, 1803-1858

This work examines the origins and early history of the Queen's College, Cork. Designedly there is as much stress on the origins as on the early history, for it is the contention of the work that the College was something more than a legislative mushroom. It was very much in the tradition of the civic universities which added an exciting new dimension to academic life in these islands in the nineteenth century. The first chapter surveys university practice and thinking at the opening of the century, relying exclusively on published sources. The second chapter is devoted specifically to the state of learning in Cork during the period, and makes extensive use of hitherto unpublished manuscript material in relation to the Royal Cork Institution. The third chapter deals with the highly significant evidence on education embodied in the Report of the Select Committee on Irish Education of 1838. This material has not previously been published. In chapter four an extended study is made of relevant letters in the manuscript correspondence of Sir Robert Peel - even the most recent authoritative biography has ignored this material. The remaining three chapters are devoted more specifically to the College, both in the formulation or policy and in its practical working. In chapter six there is an extended survey of early College life based exclusively on hitherto unpublished manuscript material in the College Archives. All of these sources, together with incidental published material, are set out at the end of each chapter.

Religion, the study of religion and other products of transnational and colonial imaginings

The category of ‘religion’ as contemporary scholarship has demonstrated is a fairly recent innovation, dating back only a few hundred years in Western thought, and ‘world religions’ as we think of it and as we teach it is an even more recent category, emerging out of European colonialism. Thus the academic study of religion is both the product and, at times, the agent of colonial modes of knowledge. And yet, it is perhaps because ‘religion’ continues to be invented and reinvented through connections across cultures that investigating the work of religious ideas and practices offers such fruitful possibilities for understanding the work of culture and power. This article investigates religion and the study of religion as a mode of anti-colonial practice, seeking to understand how each have the potential to cross boundaries, build bridges and produce critical insights into assumptions and worldviews too often taken for granted.

Marine plankton phenology and life history in a changing climate: current research and future directions

Increasing availability and extent of biological ocean time series (from both in situ and satellite data) have helped reveal significant phenological variability of marine plankton. The extent to which the range of this variability is modified as a result of climate change is of obvious importance. Here we summarize recent research results on phenology of both phytoplankton and zooplankton. We suggest directions to better quantify and monitor future plankton phenology shifts, including (i) examining the main mode of expected future changes (ecological shifts in timing and spatial distribution to accommodate fixed environmental niches vs. evolutionary adaptation of timing controls to maintain fixed biogeography and seasonality), (ii) broader understanding of phenology at the species and community level (e.g. for zooplankton beyond Calanus and for phytoplankton beyond chlorophyll), (iii) improving and diversifying statistical metrics for indexing timing and trophic synchrony and (iv) improved consideration of spatio-temporal scales and the Lagrangian nature of plankton assemblages to separate time from space changes.

Chaetopterid tubes from vent and seep sites: Implications for fossil record and evolutionary history of vent and seep annelids

Vestimentiferan tube worms living at deep-sea hydrothermal vents and cold seeps have been considered as a clade with a long and continuing evolutionary history in these ecosystems. Whereas the fossil record appears to support this view, molecular age estimates do not. The two main features that are used to identify vestimentiferan tubes in the fossil record are longitudinal ridges on the tube's surface and a tube wall constructed of multiple layers. It is shown here that chaetopterid tubes from modern vents and seeps—as well as a number of fossil tubes from shallow-water environments—also show these two features. This calls for a more cautious interpretation of tubular fossils from ancient vent and seep deposits. We suggest that: current estimates for a relatively young evolutionary age based on molecular clock methods may be more reliable than the inferences of ancient “vestimentiferans” based on putative fossils of these worms; not all of these putative fossils actually belong to this group; and that tubes from fossil seeps should be investigated for chitinous remains to substantiate claims of their potential siboglinid affinities.

Phenotypic variation in shell form in the intertidal acorn barnacle Chthamalus montagui: distribution, response to predators and life history trade-offs.

The acorn barnacle Chthamalus montagui can present strong variation in shell morphology, ranging from flat conic to a highly bent form, caused by a substantial overgrowth of the rostrum plate. Shell shape distribution was investigated between January and May 2004 from geographical to microhabitat spatial scales along the western coast of Britain. Populations studied in the north (Scotland and Isle of Man) showed a higher degree of shell variation compared to those in the south (Wales and south-west England). In the north, C. montagui living at lower tidal levels and in proximity to the predatory dogwhelk, Nucella lapillus, were more bent in profile. Laboratory experiments were conducted to examine behavioural responses, and vulnerability of bent and conic barnacles to predation by N. lapillus. Dogwhelks did not attack one morphotype more than the other, but only 15 % of attacks on bent forms were successful compared to 75 % in conic forms. Dogwhelk effluent reduced the time spent feeding by C. montagui (11 %), but there was no significant difference between conic and bent forms. Examination of barnacle morphology indicated a trade-off in investment in shell structure and feeding appendages associated with being bent, but none with egg or somatic tissue mass. These results are consistent with C. montagui showing an induced defence comparable to that found in its congeners Chthamalus anisopoma and Chthamalus fissus on the Pacific coast of North America, but further work to demonstrate inducibility is required.