Fish exploitation and changes in the fish community of Lake George, Uganda

Unlike Lake Victoria, the fisheries of Lake George have undergone gradual changes in the size and proportion of the major commercial fish species, the Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus: cichlidae) in the last 40 years (1950-1989). The size decreased from an average weight of 900g in 1950 to 430g in 1989 while percentage contribution in commercial catches during the same period declined from 92% to 36%. The over all annual commercial catches though showed a steady increase from the period 1950 when the fishery was opened to intensive and controlled exploitation, consistently high catches were observed in the 1960s and 1970s followed by a general decline in the early 1980s to amore or less stable fishery in the late 1980s. These changes are attributed to increased fishing pressure especially on the nil tilapia and to increased use of smaller gill net mesh sizes lower than the recommended 127mm mesh. The changes in gill net mesh have brought O. leucostictus, acichlid, into commercial catches confirming that the 88.9mm mesh size nets are used by the commercial fishermen to harvest smaller fish species. The commercial catches are presently dominated by the piscivorous fishes,(over 60%) whose contribution was less than 10% during initial exploitation of the virgin fishery in 1950.The piscivorous fish are mainly caught using hooks and lines. The entire fishery is believed to be exploited close to the maximum. The above trends serve to show the impact of exploitation on fish species diversity. Quantitive and qualitative changes of the major fish species on lake George are due to exploitation pressure unlike Lake Victoria where it is a combination of both exploitations and impact of fish introductions. There has been no fish introduction in Lake George.

The potential of community fish refuges (CFRs) in rice field agro-ecosystems for improving food and nutrition security in the Tonle Sap region

The fisheries sector in Cambodia contributes 8%–12% to national GDP and 25% - 30% to agricultural GDP, with an estimated 4.5 million people involved in fishing and associated trades. Fish and other aquatic animals are important food sources, contributing an estimated national average of 60% - 70% of total animal protein intake. Of the 2013 total fish production, 550,000 metric tons were harvested from freshwater habitats, of which rice field fisheries and small-scale family fisheries contributed approximately 20%. The productivity and value of rice field fisheries to households in rural Cambodia has been highlighted in a number of previous studies. The Fisheries Administration of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries plans to increase productivity from rice field fisheries and aquaculture at an annual rate of 15% to maintain supply for a growing population. This report draws mainly on the baseline and monitoring data from the Rice Field Fisheries Enhancement Project (RFFEP) during its implementation between 2012 and 2014. Reference is also made to the Fish on Farms project to highlight the relative contribution of fish from small-scale aquaculture compared to wild-caught fish.

Community-led resettlement: From a flood affected slum to a new society in Pune, India

This paper describes the resettlement process of a community devastated by annual floods, to newly constructed housing in Pune, India. The relocation from Kamgar Putala slum to a housing society at Hadapsar was organized by a community-led NGO partnership in 2004. The housing development was coordinated by the local NGO Shelter Associates with significant community participation. The housing has been revisited in 2010 to evaluate the sustainability of the resettlement project’s delivery model via stakeholder perception. The process of organizing for resettlement after natural disaster is described along with the implementation and evaluation of the new housing nearly six years after initial occupation. The strong partnership approach overcame a series of political and financial hurdles at various stages of the relocation project. The story of resettling Kamgar Putala is detailed alongside an outline of the current political climate for an alternative slum-upgrading policy in India and Pune. The advantages of an empowered community supported by an influential local NGO demonstrate a commendable team effort which has tackled the threat of floods. The paper highlights the merits of a community-led partnership approach to housing development for achieving sustainable urban development as well as the alleviation of poverty in a developing context.

Responses to seasonal changes in nutrient quality and patchiness of food in a multigroup community of Tibetan macaques at Mt. Emei

Provisioning along pedestrian trails by tourists much increased the nutrient quality and patchiness of food (NqPF)for Tibetan macaques (Macaca thibetana) at Mt Emei in spring and summer. In the habitat at a temperate-subtropical transition zone, the mncaque's NqPF could be ordered in a decreasing rank from spring summer to autumn to winter With the aid of a radio-tracking system, I collected ranging data on a multigroup community in three 70-day periods representing the different seasons in 1991-92, Rank-order correlation on the data show that with the decline of NqPF; the groups tended to increase days away from the trail, their effective range size (ERS) their exclusive area (EA) and the number of days spent in the EA, and reduced their group/community density and the ratio of the overlapped range to the seasonal range (ROR). In icy/snowy winter; the macaques searched for mature leaves slowly and carefully in the largest seasonal range with a considerable portion that was nor used in other seasons. Of the responses, the ROR decreased with the reduction in group/community density; and the ERS was the function of both group size (+) and intergroup rank (-) when favorite food was highly clumped. All above responses were clearly bound to maximize foraging effectiveness and minimize energy expenditure, and their integration in term of changes in time and space leads to better understanding macaque ecological adaptability. Based on this study and previous work on behavioral and physiological factors, I suggest a unifying theory of intergroup interactions. Ir! addition, as the rate of behavioral interactions,was also related to the group density, I Waser's (1976) gas model probably applies to behavioral, as well as spatial, data on intergroup interactions.

Development of teaching resources for physical modelling community

Physical modelling of interesting geotechnical problems has helped clarify behaviours and failure mechanisms of many civil engineering systems. Interesting visual information from physical modelling can also be used in teaching to foster interest in geotechnical engineering and recruit young researchers to our field. With this intention, the Teaching Committee of TC2 developed a web-based teaching resources centre. In this paper, the development and organisation of the resource centre using Wordpress. Wordpress is an open-source content management system which allows user content to be edited and site administration to be controlled remotely via a built-in interface. Example data from a centrifuge test on shallow foundations which could be used for undergraduate or graduate level courses is presented and its use illustrated. A discussion on the development of wiki-style addition to the resource centre for commonly used physical model terms is also presented. © 2010 Taylor & Francis Group, London.

Community-led resettlement: From a flood-affected slum to a new society in Pune, India

This paper describes the resettlement process of a community devastated by annual floods, to newly constructed housing in Pune, India. The relocation from Kamgar Putala slum to a housing society at Hadapsar was organized by a community-led NGO partnership in 2004. The housing development was coordinated by the local NGO Shelter Associates with significant community participation. The housing has been revisited in 2010 to evaluate the sustainability of the resettlement project's delivery model via stakeholder perception. The process of organizing for resettlement after natural disaster is described along with the implementation and evaluation of the new housing nearly six years after initial occupation. The strong partnership approach overcame a series of political and financial hurdles at various stages of the relocation project. The story of resettling Kamgar Putala is detailed alongside an outline of the current political climate for an alternative slum-upgrading policy in India and Pune. The advantages of an empowered community supported by an influential local NGO demonstrate a commendable team effort which has tackled the threat of floods. The paper highlights the merits of a community-led partnership approach to housing development for achieving sustainable urban development as well as the alleviation of poverty in a developing context. © 2011 Taylor & Francis.

Diatom community succession in the recent history of a eutrophic Yunnan Plateau lake, Lake Dianchi, in subtropical China

Fish introduction, eutrophication and disappearance of aquatic vegetation are important disturbances of aquatic ecosystems, especially in plateau lakes, which are generally considered to be very vulnerable. Fish were introduced to Lake Dianchi, a eutrophic plateau lake in southwest China, in the late 1950s and 1970s. After the introduction, invasive fish became the dominant species, and the total fish yield increased. Meanwhile, the trophic level of Lake Dianchi had a tendency to increase in the past decades because of the increases in human activities in the watershed area. In addition, the area of aquatic vegetation decreased from more than 90 to 1.8% of the lake area from the 1950s to 2000. This study investigated the effects of fish introduction, eutrophication and aquatic vegetation on the diatom community of Lake Dianchi by examining the changes of microfossil diatom assemblage and abundance. Results showed that the absolute abundance and diatom assemblages changed after fish were introduced. The endemic species, Cyclotella rohomboideo-elliptica, disappeared with the introduction of fish and increasing trophic levels after 1958. Fragilaria crotonensis entered into the lake with the introduction of fish and gradually thrived in the lake after 1958. Diatom species numbers also decreased gradually from 21 to 9 from the past to present. Epiphytic diatoms disappeared with the decrease of aquatic vegetation after 1985. Our study indicated that eutrophication was the most important process determining diatom abundance, and fish introduction was a secondary process determining diatom abundance, while aquatic vegetation had a more important role in structuring the diatom community in this eutrophic plateau lake.

Plankton Community Succession in Artificial Systems Subjected to Cyanobacterial Blooms Removal using Chitosan-Modified Soils

Using artificial systems to simulate natural lake environments with cyanobacterial blooms, we investigated plankton community succession by polymerase chain reaction-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (PCR-DGGE) fingerprinting and morphological method. With this approach, we explored potential ecological effects of a newly developed cyanobacterial blooms removal method using chitosan-modified soils. Results of PCR-DGGE and morphological identification showed that plankton communities in the four test systems were nearly identical at the beginning of the experiment. After applying the newly developed and standard removal methods, there was a shift in community composition, but neither chemical conditions nor plankton succession were significantly affected by the cyanobacteria removal process. The planted Vallisneria natans successfully recovered after cyanobacteria removal, whereas that in the box without removal process did not. Additionally, canonical correspondence analysis indicated that other than for zooplankton abundance, total phosphorus was the most important environmental predictor of planktonic composition. The present study and others suggest that dealing with cyanobacteria removal using chitosan-modified soils can play an important role in controlling cyanobacterial blooms in eutrophicated freshwater systems.

Aerobic biodegradation of hexachlorobenzene by an acclimated microbial community

The aerobic degradation of hexachlorobenzene (HCB) by an acclimated microbial community which isolated from a contaminated site and acclimated in our laboratory was investigated. The enriched microbial community was capable of biodegrading HCB when cultivated in minimal salts medium and supplied HCB as the sole carbon source. The efficiencies of microbial community in the degradation of HCB under different pH and temperatures were examined. The phylogenetic analysis for the nearly complete sequences of 16S rDNA demonstrated that the bacteria assemblage in the microbial community was dominated by Azospirillum and Alcaligenes groups.

Genetic Diversity of the Plankton Community and Its Relation to Taxonomic Composition and Environmental Factors in Lake Xiliang

Genetic diversity of the plankton community in Lake Xiliang was depicted by polymerase chain reaction-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (PCR-DGGE) fingerprinting. Seventy-seven bands (33 of 16S rDNA and 44 of 18S rDNA) were detected, sixty-two planktonic taxa were identified in six sample stations in November 2007. The most common taxa were Ceratium hirundinella, Bdelloidea, Keratella cochlearis, Polyarthra trigla, and copepod nauplii. Based on environmental factors, taxonomic composition, and PCR-DGGE fingerprinting, unweighted pair-group method using arithmetic averages clustering and principal components analysis were used to analyze habitat similarities. There was distinct spatial heterogeneity in Lake Xiliang, and the genetic diversity of the plankton community was closely related to taxonomic composition and environmental factors.