THE IMPACT OF GRAZING ON COMMUNITIES OF GROUND-DWELLING SPIDERS (ARANEAE) IN UPLAND VEGETATION TYPES

Adult spider communities were sampled by pitfall trapping over a 24-month period in plots subjected to a range of grazing regimes on five vegetation types on a hill farm in County Antrim, north-east Ireland. Spider community composition was influenced by vegetation type and grazing regime. Variation in the number of individuals and species diversity was also apparent between vegetation types and grazing regime. Plots grazed by all herbivores were characterised by the predominance of species characteristic of disturbed land. Inbye land and areas where grazing had ceased had characteristic coloniser species. The spiders Erigone dentipalpis, Allomengea scopigera and Centromerita bicolor were trapped with greater success in vegetation types where grass species dominated.

Anthropometric measurements from a cross-sectional survey of community dwelling subjects aged over 90 years of age

To measure anthropometric variables of weight, height, body mass index (BMI) and triceps skin fold thickness (TSF) and produce local percentiles for > 90 y old subjects. To assess prevalence of conventional measures of under nutrition (BMI at or below 18.5 kg/m2) or over nutrition (BMI values > 30 kg/m2) in this age group.

Parsing parallel evolution:Ecological divergence and differential gene expression in the adaptive radiations of thick-lipped Midas cichlid fishes from Nicaragua

The study of parallel evolution facilitates the discovery of common rules of diversification. Here, we examine the repeated evolution of thick lips in Midas cichlid fishes (the Amphilophus citrinellus species complex) - from two Great Lakes and two crater lakes in Nicaragua - to assess whether similar changes in ecology, phenotypic trophic traits and gene expression accompany parallel trait evolution. Using next-generation sequencing technology, we characterize transcriptome-wide differential gene expression in the lips of wild-caught sympatric thick- and thin-lipped cichlids from all four instances of repeated thick-lip evolution. Six genes (apolipoprotein D, myelin-associated glycoprotein precursor, four-and-a-half LIM domain protein 2, calpain-9, GTPase IMAP family member 8-like and one hypothetical protein) are significantly underexpressed in the thick-lipped morph across all four lakes. However, other aspects of lips' gene expression in sympatric morphs differ in a lake-specific pattern, including the magnitude of differentially expressed genes (97-510). Generally, fewer genes are differentially expressed among morphs in the younger crater lakes than in those from the older Great Lakes. Body shape, lower pharyngeal jaw size and shape, and stable isotopes (dC and dN) differ between all sympatric morphs, with the greatest differentiation in the Great Lake Nicaragua. Some ecological traits evolve in parallel (those related to foraging ecology; e.g. lip size, body and head shape) but others, somewhat surprisingly, do not (those related to diet and food processing; e.g. jaw size and shape, stable isotopes). Taken together, this case of parallelism among thick- and thin-lipped cichlids shows a mosaic pattern of parallel and nonparallel evolution. © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Health care needs of community-dwelling older adults

Objective. To identify, assess, and rank the importance of health care needs of community-dwelling older adults. Method. A structured telephone interview with 107 respondents (physicians, direct service providers and administrators) about the importance of a list of 31 health care needs of older adults. Respondents also identified the single most important health issue facing local older adults now and in the next 5 to 10 years. Results. The five most important health care needs, in descending order, are: care-giver support services, community long-term care services services for people with demential/Alzheimer's disease, palliative/end-of-life care, and services for cancer patients and their families. Community long-term care services were identified as the single most important health issue both now and in the next 5 to 10 years. Conclusion. The study findings should be of value to health and social service researchers, planners, providers and administrators regarding the needs of community-dwelling older adults.

Modelling the response of fresh groundwater to climate and vegetation changes in coral islands

In coral islands, groundwater is a crucial freshwater resource for terrestrial life, including human water supply. Response of the freshwater lens to expected climate changes and subsequent vegetation alterations is quantified for Grande Glorieuse, a low-lying coral island in the Western Indian Ocean. Distributed models of recharge, evapotranspiration and saltwater phytotoxicity are integrated into a variable-density groundwater model to simulate the evolution of groundwater salinity. Model results are assessed against field observations including groundwater and geophysical measurements. Simulations show the major control currently exerted by the vegetation with regards to the lens morphology and the high sensitivity of the lens to climate alterations, impacting both quantity and salinity. Long-term changes in mean sea level and climatic conditions (rainfall and evapotranspiration) are predicted to be responsible for an average increase in salinity approaching 140 % (+8 kg m-3) when combined. In low-lying areas with high vegetation density, these changes top +300 % (+10 kg m-3). However, due to salinity increase and its phytotoxicity, it is shown that a corollary drop in vegetation activity can buffer the alteration of fresh groundwater. This illustrates the importance of accounting for vegetation dynamics to study groundwater in coral islands.

Appropriate treatment of depression in older community-dwelling adults

No abstract available

Exploring the prevalence of and factors associated with pain: a cross-sectional study of community-dwelling people with dementia

Few pain studies have made community-dwelling people with dementia (PWD) their focus. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of pain among this patient population and to explore medication use. Moreover, we sought to investigate patient and caregiver variables associated with the presence of pain. Community-dwelling PWD and their caregivers were recruited between May 2009 and July 2012 from outpatient memory clinics in Northern Ireland to take part in a face-to-face structured interview with a researcher. Patients' cognitive status and presence of depression were established. A full medication history was taken. Both patients and caregivers were asked to rate patients' pain, at the time of the interview and on an average day, using a 7-point verbal descriptor scale. From the 206 patients who were eligible to take part, 75 patient-caregiver dyads participated in the study (participation rate = 36.4%). The majority of patients (92.0%) had dementia classed as mild or moderate. Pain was commonly reported among the sample, with 57.3% of patients and 70.7% of caregivers reporting patient pain on an average day. Significant differences were found between patients' and caregivers' reports of pain. Two-fifths of patients (40.0%) were prescribed analgesia. Antipsychotic, hypnotic and anxiolytic drug use was low, whereas antidepressant drugs were prescribed more commonly. Presence of pain was unaffected by dementia severity; however, the use of prescribed analgesic medication was a significant predictor of the presence of pain in these patients, whether reported by the patient or their caregiver 'right now' or 'on an average day' (P < 0.001). Patient and caregiver recruitment was challenging, and remains a barrier to research in this area in the future.

Late Holocene sea-level fall and turn-off of reef flat carbonate production: Rethinking bucket fill and coral reef growth models

Relative sea-level rise has been a major factor driving the evolution of reef systems during the Holocene. Most models of reef evolution suggest that reefs preferentially grow vertically during rising sea level then laterally from windward to leeward, once the reef flat reaches sea level. Continuous lagoonal sedimentation ("bucket fill") and sand apron progradation eventually lead to reef systems with totally filled lagoons. Lagoonal infilling of One Tree Reef (southern Great Barrier Reef) through sand apron accretion was examined in the context of late Holocene relative sea-level change. This analysis was conducted using sedimentological and digital terrain data supported by 50 radiocarbon ages from fossil microatolls, buried patch reefs, foraminifera and shells in sediment cores, and recalibrated previously published radiocarbon ages. This data set challenges the conceptual model of geologically continuous sediment infill during the Holocene through sand apron accretion. Rapid sand apron accretion occurred between 6000 and 3000 calibrated yr before present B.P. (cal. yr B.P.); followed by only small amounts of sedimentation between 3000 cal. yr B.P. and present, with no significant sand apron accretion in the past 2 k.y. This hiatus in sediment infill coincides with a sea-level fall of similar to 1-1.3 m during the late Holocene (ca. 2000 cal. yr B.P.), which would have caused the turn-off of highly productive live coral growth on the reef flats currently dominated by less productive rubble and algal flats, resulting in a reduced sediment input to back-reef environments and the cessation in sand apron accretion. Given that relative sea-level variations of similar to 1 m were common throughout the Holocene, we suggest that this mode of sand apron development and carbonate production is applicable to most reef systems.

Otimização da fragmentação e dos processos de fixação na reprodução assexuada do coral mole Sarcophyton sp.

Dissertação de mestrado, Aquacultura e Pescas (Aquacultura), Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade do Algarve, 2015

Neuroendocrinology of cooperation: the role of neuropeptides on the modulation of mutualistic behaviour of the Indo-Pacific Cleaner Wrasse (Labroides dimidiatus)

Tese de doutoramento, Ciências do Mar, da Terra e do Ambiente, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade do Algarve, 2015