Phenology and seasonality in the tropical deciduous forest of Bandipur, South India

A long term study on the phenology of tree species of tropical dry deciduous forest ecosystem of Bandipur, South India has revealed patterns of strong seasonality with respect to leaf and fruit initiation as well as their abscission. The distribution of the duration of the various phenological events was observed to be skewed and there was little interannual variation in events such as flowering and fruiting. This suggests that there are, perhaps, no mast flowering or fruiting species present in the deciduous forests. The phenological changes appear to influence the food, feeding, movement patterns and sociality of the major mammals of this dry deciduous ecosystem.

Season of birth and location of residence: Defining the role of ultraviolet radiation exposure on childhood temperament and behaviour

This thesis added new insight to research knowledge about the role that season and ultraviolet radiation (UV) exposure during pregnancy has on children's temperament and behaviours, using a nation-wide longitudinal study. It was found that young children born in summer months are likely to have problematic behaviours. The thesis also found that summer-born children are likely to receive lowest levels of UV exposure during the gestational period. Finally, this work showed that low gestational UV exposure is associated with an increased risk of behavioural problems in children.

Preterm Birth and Surgical Treatment of the Uterine Cervix

Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer among women globally. Most, probably all cases, arise through a precursor, cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN). Effective cytological screening programmes and surgical treatments of precancerous lesions have dramatically reduced its prevalence and related mortality. Although these treatments are effective, they may have adverse effects on future fertility and pregnancy outcomes. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of surgical treatment of the uterine cervix on pregnancy and fertility outcomes, with the focus particularly on preterm birth. The general preterm birth rates and risk factors during 1987–2005 were studied. Long-term mortality rates of the treated women were studied. In this study, information from The Medical Birth Register (MBR), The Hospital Discharge Register (HDR), The Cause-of-Death Register (CDR), and hospital records were used. Treatments were performed during 1987–2003 and subsequent deliveries, IVF treatments and deaths were analyzed. The general preterm birth rate in Finland was relatively stable, varying from 5.1% to 5.4% during the study period (1987 to 2005), although the proportion of extremely preterm births had decreased substantially by 12%.The main risk factor as regards preterm birth was multiplicity, followed by elective delivery (induction of delivery or elective cesarean section), primiparity, in vitro fertilization treatment, maternal smoking and advanced maternal age. The risk of preterm birth and low birth weight was increased after any cervical surgical treatment; after conization the risk of preterm birth was almost two-fold (RR 1.99, 95% CI 1.81– 2.20). In the conization group the risk was the highest for very preterm birth (28–31 gestational weeks) and it was also high for extremely preterm birth (less than 28 weeks). In this group the perinatal mortality was also increased. In subgroup analysis, laser ablation was not associated with preterm birth. When comparing deliveries before and after Loop conization, we found that the risk of preterm birth was increased 1.94-fold (95% CI 1.10–3.40). Adjusting for age, parity, or both did not affect our results. Large or repeat cones increased the risk of preterm birth when compared with smaller cones, suggesting that the size of the removed cone plays a role. This was corroborated by the finding that repeat treatment increased the risk as much as five-fold when compared with the background preterm birth rate. We found that the proportion of IVF deliveries (1.6% vs. 1.5%) was not increased after treatment for CIN when adjusted for year of delivery, maternal age, or parity. Those women who received both treatment for CIN and IVF treatment were older and more often primiparous, which explained the increased risk of preterm birth. We also found that mortality rates were 17% higher among women previously treated for CIN. This excess mortality was particularly seen as regards increased general disease mortality and alcohol poisoning (by 13%), suicide (by 67%) and injury death (by 31%). The risk of cervical cancer was high, as expected (SMR 7.69, 95% CI 4.23–11.15). Women treated for CIN and having a subsequent delivery had decreased general mortality rate (by -22%), and decreased disease mortality (by -37%). However, those with preterm birth had increased general mortality (SMR 2.51, 95% CI 1.24–3.78), as a result of cardiovascular diseases, alcohol-related causes, and injuries. In conclusion, the general preterm birth rate has not increased in Finland, as in many other developed countries. The rate of extremely preterm births has even decreased. While other risk factors of preterm birth, such as multiplicity and smoking during pregnancy have decreased, surgical treatments of the uterine cervix have become more important risk factors as regards preterm birth. Cervical conization is a predisposing factor as regards preterm birth, low birth weight and even perinatal mortality. The most frequently used treatment modality, Loop conization, is also associated with the increased risk of preterm birth. Treatments should be tailored individually; low-grade lesions should not be treated at all among young women. The first treatment should be curative, because repeat treatments are especially harmful. The proportion of IVF deliveries was not increased after treatment for CIN, suggesting that current treatment modalities do not strongly impair fertility. The long-term risk of cervical cancer remains high even after many years post-treatment; therefore careful surveillance is necessary. In addition, accidental deaths and deaths from injury were common among treated women, suggesting risk-taking behavior of these women. Preterm birth seems be associated with extremely high mortality rates, due to cardiovascular, alcohol-related and injury deaths. These women could benefit from health counseling, for example encouragement in quitting smoking.

The Effect of Intrauterine Growth Restriction on Long-Term Outcome in Very or Extremely Low Birth Weight Infants

The project consisted of two long-term follow-up studies of preterm children addressing the question whether intrauterine growth restriction affects the outcome. Assessment at 5 years of age of 203 children with a birth weight less than 1000 g born in Finland in 1996-1997 showed that 9% of the children had cognitive impairment, 14% cerebral palsy, and 4% needed a hearing aid. The intelligence quotient was lower (p<0.05) than the reference value. Thus, 20% exhibited major, 19% minor disabilities, and 61% had no functional abnormalities. Being small for gestational age (SGA) was associated with sub-optimal growth later. In children born before 27 gestational weeks, the SGA had more neuropsychological disabilities than those appropriate for gestational age (AGA). In another cohort with birth weight less than 1500 g assessed at 5 years of age, echocardiography showed a thickened interventricular septum and a decreased left ventricular end-diastolic diameter in both SGA and AGA born children. They also had a higher systolic blood pressure than the reference. Laser-Doppler flowmetry showed different endothelium-dependent and -independent vasodilation responses in the AGA children compared to those of the controls. SGA was not associated with cardio-vascular abnormalities. Auditory event-related potentials (AERPs) were recorded using an oddball paradigm with frequency deviants (standard tone 500 Hz and deviant 750-Hz with 10% probability). At term, the P350 was smaller in SGA and AGA infants than in controls. At 12 months, the automatic change detection peak (mismatch negativity, MMN) was observed in the controls. However, the pre-term infants had a difference positivity that correlated with their neurodevelopment scores. At 5 years of age, the P1-deflection, which reflects primary auditory processing, was smaller, and the MMN larger in the preterm than in the control children. Even with a challenging paradigm or a distraction paradigm, P1 was smaller in the preterm than in the control children. The SGA and AGA children showed similar AERP responses. Prematurity is a major risk factor for abnormal brain development. Preterm children showed signs of cardiovascular abnormality suggesting that prematurity per se may carry a risk for later morbidity. The small positive amplitudes in AERPs suggest persisting altered auditory processing in the preterm in-fants.

Modelling boreal forest CO2 exchange and seasonality

Man-induced climate change has raised the need to predict the future climate and its feedback to vegetation. These are studied with global climate models; to ensure the reliability of these predictions, it is important to have a biosphere description that is based upon the latest scientific knowledge. This work concentrates on the modelling of the CO2 exchange of the boreal coniferous forest, studying also the factors controlling its growing season and how these can be used in modelling. In addition, the modelling of CO2 gas exchange at several scales was studied. A canopy-level CO2 gas exchange model was developed based on the biochemical photosynthesis model. This model was first parameterized using CO2 exchange data obtained by eddy covariance (EC) measurements from a Scots pine forest at Sodankylä. The results were compared with a semi-empirical model that was also parameterized using EC measurements. Both of the models gave satisfactory results. The biochemical canopy-level model was further parameterized at three other coniferous forest sites located in Finland and Sweden. At all the sites, the two most important biochemical model parameters showed seasonal behaviour, i.e., their temperature responses changed according to the season. Modelling results were improved when these changeover dates were related to temperature indices. During summer-time the values of the biochemical model parameters were similar at all the four sites. Different control factors for CO2 gas exchange were studied at the four coniferous forests, including how well these factors can be used to predict the initiation and cessation of the CO2 uptake. Temperature indices, atmospheric CO2 concentration, surface albedo and chlorophyll fluorescence (CF) were all found to be useful and have predictive power. In addition, a detailed simulation study of leaf stomata in order to separate physical and biochemical processes was performed. The simulation study brought to light the relative contribution and importance of the physical transport processes. The results of this work can be used in improving CO2 gas exchange models in boreal coniferous forests. The meteorological and biological variables that represent the seasonal cycle were studied, and a method for incorporating this cycle into a biochemical canopy-level model was introduced.

Very Low Birth Weight Infants as Young Adults : Focus on aspects of cognition, behavior and sleep

Major advances in the treatment of preterm infants have occurred during the last three decades. Survival rates have increased, and the first generations of preterm infants born at very low birth weight (VLBW; less than 1500 g) who profited from modern neonatal intensive care are now in young adulthood. The literature shows that VLBW children achieve on average lower scores on cognitive tests, even after exclusion of individuals with obvious neurosensory deficits. Evidence also exists for an increased risk in VLBW children for various neuropsychiatric disorders such as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and related behavioral symptoms. Up till now, studies extending into adulthood are sparse, and it remains to be seen whether these problems persist into adulthood. The aim of this thesis was to study ADHD-related symptoms and cognitive and executive functioning in young adults born at VLBW. In addition, we aimed to study sleep disturbances, known to adversely affect both cognition and attention. We hypothesized that preterm birth at VLBW interferes with early brain development in a way that alters the neuropsychological phenotype; this may manifest itself as ADHD symptoms and impaired cognitive abilities in young adulthood. In this cohort study from a geographically defined region, we studied 166 VLBW adults and 172 term-born controls born from 1978 through 1985. At ages 18 to 27 years, the study participants took part in a clinic study during which their physical and psychological health was assessed in detail. Three years later, 213 of these individuals participated in a follow-up. The current study is part of a larger research project (The Helsinki Study of Very Low Birth Weight Adults), and the measurements of interest for this particular study include the following: 1) The Adult Problem Questionnaire (APQ), a self-rating scale of ADHD-related symptoms in adults; 2) A computerized cognitive test battery designed for population studies (CogState®) which measures core cognitive abilities such as reaction time, working memory, and visual learning; 3) Sleep assessment by actigraphy, the Basic Nordic Sleep Questionnaire, and the Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire. Actigraphs are wrist-worn accelerometers that separate sleep from wakefulness by registering body movements. Contrary to expectations, VLBW adults as a group reported no more ADHD-related behavioral symptoms than did controls. Further subdivision of the VLBW group into SGA (small for gestational age) and AGA (appropriate for gestational age) subgroups, however, revealed more symptoms on ADHD subscales pertaining to executive dysfunction and emotional instability among those born SGA. Thus, it seems that intrauterine growth retardation (for which SGA served as a proxy) is a more essential predictor for self-perceived ADHD symptoms in adulthood than is VLBW birth as such. In line with observations from other cohorts, the VLBW adults reported less risk-taking behavior in terms of substance use (alcohol, smoking, and recreational drugs), a finding reassuring for the VLBW individuals and their families. On the cognitive test, VLBW adults free from neurosensory deficits had longer reaction times than did term-born peers on all tasks included in the test battery, and lower accuracy on the learning task, with no discernible effect of SGA status over and above the effect of VLBW. Altogether, on a group level, even high-functioning VLBW adults show subtle deficits in psychomotor processing speed, visual working memory, and learning abilities. The sleep studies provided no evidence for differences in sleep quality or duration between the two groups. The VLBW adults were, however, at more than two-fold higher risk for sleep-disordered breathing (in terms of chronic snoring). Given the link between sleep-disordered breathing and health sequelae, these results suggest that VLBW individuals may benefit from an increased awareness among clinicians of this potential problem area. An unexpected finding from the sleep studies was the suggestion of an advanced sleep phase: The VLBW adults went to bed earlier according to the actigraphy registrations and also reported earlier wake-up times on the questionnaire. In further study of this issue in conjunction with the follow-up three years later, the VLBW group reported higher levels of morningness propensity, further corroborating the preliminary findings of an advanced sleep phase. Although the clinical implications are not entirely clear, the issue may be worth further study, since circadian rhythms are closely related to health and well-being. In sum, we believe that increased understanding of long-term outcomes after VLBW, and identification of areas and subgroups that are particularly vulnerable, will allow earlier recognition of potential problems and ultimately lead to improved prevention strategies.

Magnetic resonance imaging and ultrasonography in brachial plexus birth injury

Brachial plexus birth injury (BPBI) is caused by stretching, tearing or avulsion of the C5-C8 or Th1 nerve roots during delivery. Foetal-maternal disproportion is the main reason for BPBI. The goal of this study was to find out the incidence of posterior subluxation of the humeral head during first year of life in BPBI and optimal timing of the ultrasonographic screening of the glenohumeral joint. The glenohumeral congruity and posterior subluxation of the humeral head associated to muscle atrophy were assessed and surgical treatment of the shoulder girdle as well as muscle changes in elbow flexion contracture were evaluated. The prospective, population based part of the study included all neonates born in Helsinki area during years 2003-2006. Patients with BPBI sent to the Hospital for Children and Adolescents because of decreased external rotation, internal rotation contracture or deformation of the glenohumeral joint as well as patients with elbow flexion contracture were also included in this prospective study. The incidence of BPBI was calculated to be 3.1/1000 newborns in Helsinki area. About 80% of the patients with BPBI recover totally during the follow-up within the first year of life. Permanent plexus injury at the age of one year was noted in 20% of the patients (0.64/1000 newborns). Muscle imbalance resulted in sonographically detected posterior subluxation in one third of the patients with permanent BPBI. If muscle imbalance and posterior subluxation are left untreated bony deformities will develop. All patients with internal rotation contracture of the glenohumeral joint presented muscle atrophy of the rotator cuff muscles. Especially subscapular and infraspinous muscles were affected. A correlation was found particularly between greatest thickness of subscapular muscle and subluxation of the humeral head, degree of glenoid retroversion, as well as amount of internal rotation contracture. Supinator muscle atrophy was evident among all the studied patients with elbow flexion contracture. Brachial muscle pathology seemed to be an important factor for elbow flexion contracture in BPBI. Residual dysfunction of the upper extremity may require operative treatment such as tendon lengthening, tendon transfers, relocation of the humeral head or osteotomy of the humerus. Relocation of the humeral head improved the glenohumeral congruency among patients under 5 years of age. Functional improvement without remodeling of the glenohumeral joint was achieved by other reconstructive procedures. In conclusion: Shoulder screening by US should be done to all patients with permanent BPBI at the age of 3 and 6 months. Especially atrophy of the subscapular muscle correlates with glenohumeral deformity and posterior subluxation of the humeral head, which has not been reported in previous studies. Permanent muscle changes are the main reason for diminished range of motion of the elbow and forearm. Relocation of the humeral head, when needed, should be performed under the age of 5 years.

Preterm birth and risk factors for chronic disease : Helsinki Study of Very Low Birth Weight Adults

Background: The improved prognosis of early preterm birth has created a generation of surviving very low birth weight (< 1500 g, VLBW) infants whose health risks in adulthood are poorly known. Of every 1000 live-born infants in Finland, about 8 are born at VLBW. Variation in birth weight, even within the normal range, relates to considerable variation in the risk for several common adult disorders, including cardiovascular disease and osteoporosis. Small preterm infants frequently exhibit severe postnatal or prenatal growth retardation, or both. Much reason for concern thus exists, regarding adverse health effects in surviving small preterm infants later lives. We studied young adults, aiming at exploring whether VLBW birth and postnatal events after such a birth are associated with higher levels of risk factors for cardiovascular disease or osteoporosis. Subjects and Methods: A follow-up study for VLBW infants began in 1978; by the end of 1985, 335 VLBW survivors at Helsinki University Central Hospital participated in the follow-up. Their gestational ages ranged from 24 to 35 weeks, mean 29.2 and standard deviation 2.2 weeks. In 2004, we invited for a clinic visit 255 subjects, aged 18 to 27, who still lived in the greater Helsinki area. From the same birth hospitals, we also invited 314 term-born controls of similar age and sex. These two study groups underwent measurements of body size and composition, function of brachial arterial endothelium (flow-mediated dilatation, FMD) and carotid artery intima-media thickness (cIMT) by ultrasound. In addition, we measured plasma lipid concentrations, ambulatory blood pressure, fasting insulin, glucose tolerance and, by dual-energy x-ray densitometry, bone-mineral density. Results: 172 control and 166 VLBW participants underwent lipid measurements and a glucose tolerance test. VLBW adults fasting insulin (adjusted for body mass index) was 12.6% (95% confidence interval, 0.8 to 25.8) higher than that of the controls. The glucose and insulin concentrations 120 minutes after 75 g glucose ingestion showed similar differences (N=332) (I). VLBW adults had 3.9 mmHg (1.3 to 6.4) higher office systolic blood pressure, 3.5 mmHg (1.7 to 5.2) higher office diastolic blood pressure (I), and, when adjusted for body mass index and height, 3.1 mmHg (0.5 to 5.5) higher 24-hour mean systolic blood pressure (N=238) (II). VLBW birth was associated neither with HDL- or total cholesterol nor triglyceride concentrations (N=332) (I), nor was it associated with a low FMD or a high cIMT (N=160) (III). VLBW adults had 0.51-unit (0.28 to 0.75) lower lumbar spine Z scores and 0.56-unit (0.34 to 0.78) lower femoral neck Z scores (N=283). Adjustments for size attenuated the differences, but only partially (IV). Conclusions: These results imply that those born at VLBW, although mostly healthy as young adults, already bear several risk factors for chronic adult disease. The significantly higher fasting insulin level in adults with VLBW suggests increased insulin resistance. The higher blood pressure in young adults born at VLBW may indicate they later are at risk for hypertension, although their unaffected endothelial function may be evidence for some form of protection from cardiovascular disease. Lower bone mineral density around the age of peak bone mass may suggest increased risk for later osteoporotic fractures. Because cardiovascular disease and osteoporosis are frequent, and their prevention is relatively cheap and safe, one should focus on prevention now. When initiated early, preventive measures are likely to have sufficient time to be effective in preventing or postponing the onset of chronic disease.

Preterm birth and risk factors for chronic disease : Helsinki Study of Very Low Birth Weight Adults

Background: The improved prognosis of early preterm birth has created a generation of surviving very low birth weight (PIENEMPI KUIN 1500 g, VLBW) infants whose health risks in adulthood are poorly known. Of every 1000 live-born infants in Finland, about 8 are born at VLBW. Variation in birth weight, even within the normal range, relates to considerable variation in the risk for several common adult disorders, including cardiovascular disease and osteoporosis. Small preterm infants frequently exhibit severe postnatal or prenatal growth retardation, or both. Much reason for concern thus exists, regarding adverse health effects in surviving small preterm infants later lives. We studied young adults, aiming at exploring whether VLBW birth and postnatal events after such a birth are associated with higher levels of risk factors for cardiovascular disease or osteoporosis. Subjects and Methods: A follow-up study for VLBW infants began in 1978; by the end of 1985, 335 VLBW survivors at Helsinki University Central Hospital participated in the follow-up. Their gestational ages ranged from 24 to 35 weeks, mean 29.2 and standard deviation 2.2 weeks. In 2004, we invited for a clinic visit 255 subjects, aged 18 to 27, who still lived in the greater Helsinki area. From the same birth hospitals, we also invited 314 term-born controls of similar age and sex. These two study groups underwent measurements of body size and composition, function of brachial arterial endothelium (flow-mediated dilatation, FMD) and carotid artery intima-media thickness (cIMT) by ultrasound. In addition, we measured plasma lipid concentrations, ambulatory blood pressure, fasting insulin, glucose tolerance and, by dual-energy x-ray densitometry, bone-mineral density. Results: 172 control and 166 VLBW participants underwent lipid measurements and a glucose tolerance test. VLBW adults fasting insulin (adjusted for body mass index) was 12.6% (95% confidence interval, 0.8 to 25.8) higher than that of the controls. The glucose and insulin concentrations 120 minutes after 75 g glucose ingestion showed similar differences (N=332) (I). VLBW adults had 3.9 mmHg (1.3 to 6.4) higher office systolic blood pressure, 3.5 mmHg (1.7 to 5.2) higher office diastolic blood pressure (I), and, when adjusted for body mass index and height, 3.1 mmHg (0.5 to 5.5) higher 24-hour mean systolic blood pressure (N=238) (II). VLBW birth was associated neither with HDL- or total cholesterol nor triglyceride concentrations (N=332) (I), nor was it associated with a low FMD or a high cIMT (N=160) (III). VLBW adults had 0.51-unit (0.28 to 0.75) lower lumbar spine Z scores and 0.56-unit (0.34 to 0.78) lower femoral neck Z scores (N=283). Adjustments for size attenuated the differences, but only partially (IV). Conclusions: These results imply that those born at VLBW, although mostly healthy as young adults, already bear several risk factors for chronic adult disease. The significantly higher fasting insulin level in adults with VLBW suggests increased insulin resistance. The higher blood pressure in young adults born at VLBW may indicate they later are at risk for hypertension, although their unaffected endothelial function may be evidence for some form of protection from cardiovascular disease. Lower bone mineral density around the age of peak bone mass may suggest increased risk for later osteoporotic fractures. Because cardiovascular disease and osteoporosis are frequent, and their prevention is relatively cheap and safe, one should focus on prevention now. When initiated early, preventive measures are likely to have sufficient time to be effective in preventing or postponing the onset of chronic disease.

Birth of the European individual : Outline of a theory of legal practice

The modern subject is what we can call a self-subjecting individual. This is someone in whose inner reality has been implanted a more permanent governability, a governability that works inside the agent. Michel Foucault s genealogy of the modern subject is the history of its constitution by power practices. By a flight of imagination, suppose that this history is not an evolving social structure or cultural phenomenon, but one of those insects (moth) whose life cycle consists of three stages or moments: crawling larva, encapsulated pupa, and flying adult. Foucault s history of power-practices presents the same kind of miracle of total metamorphosis. The main forces in the general field of power can be apprehended through a generalisation of three rationalities functioning side-by-side in the plurality of different practices of power: domination, normalisation and the law. Domination is a force functioning by the rationality of reason of state: the state s essence is power, power is firm domination over people, and people are the state s resource by which the state s strength is measured. Normalisation is a force that takes hold on people from the inside of society: it imposes society s own reality its empirical verity as a norm on people through silently working jurisdictional operations that exclude pathological individuals too far from the average of the population as a whole. The law is a counterforce to both domination and normalisation. Accounting for elements of legal practice as omnihistorical is not possible without a view of the general field of power. Without this view, and only in terms of the operations and tactical manoeuvres of the practice of law, nothing of the kind can be seen: the only thing that practice manifests is constant change itself. However, the backdrop of law s tacit dimension that is, the power-relations between law, domination and normalisation allows one to see more. In the general field of power, the function of law is exactly to maintain the constant possibility of change. Whereas domination and normalisation would stabilise society, the law makes it move. The European individual has a reality as a problem. What is a problem? A problem is something that allows entry into the field of thought, said Foucault. To be a problem, it is necessary for certain number of factors to have made it uncertain, to have made it lose familiarity, or to have provoked a certain number of difficulties around it . Entering the field of thought through problematisations of the European individual human forms, power and knowledge one is able to glimpse the historical backgrounds of our present being. These were produced, and then again buried, in intersections between practices of power and games of truth. In the problem of the European individual one has suitable circumstances that bring to light forces that have passed through the individual through centuries.

A factor model of seasonality in stock returns

Published as an article in: The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, 2004, vol. 44, issue 2, pages 224-236.

Development of kelp rockfish, Sebastes atrovirens (Jordan and Gilbert 1880), and brown rockfish, S. auriculatus (Girard 1854), from birth to pelagic juvenile stage, with notes on early larval development of black-and-yellow rockfish, S. chrysomelas (Jordan and Gilbert 1880), reared in the laboratory (Pisces: Sebastidae).

Larval kelp (Sebastes atrovirens), brown (S. auriculatus), and blackand-yellow (S. chrysomelas) rockfish were reared from known adults, to preflexion stage, nine days after birth for S. chrysomelas, to late postflexion stage for S. atrovirens, and to pelagic juvenile stage for S. auriculatus. Larval S. atrovirens and S. chrysomelas were about 4.6 mm body length (BL) and S. auriculatus about 5.2 mm BL at birth. Both S. atrovirens and S. auriculatus underwent notochord flexion at about 6–9 mm BL. Sebastes atrovirens transform to the pelagic juvenile stage at about 14–16 mm BL and S. auriculatus transformed at ca. 25 mm BL. Early larvae of all three species were characterized by melanistic pigment dorsally on the head, on the gut, on most of the ventral margin of the tail, and in a long series on the dorsal margin of the tail. Larval S. atrovirens and S. auriculatus developed a posterior bar on the tail during the flexion or postflexion stage. In S. atrovirens xanthic pigment resembled the melanistic pattern throughout larval development. Larval S. auriculatus lacked xanthophores except on the head until late preflexion stage, when a pattern much like the melanophore pattern gradually developed. Larval S. chrysomelas had extensive xanthic pigmentation dorsally, but none ventrally, in preflexion stage. All members of the Sebastes subgenus Pteropodus (S. atrovirens, S. auriculatus, S. carnatus, S. caurinus, S. chrysomelas, S. dalli, S. maliger, S. nebulosus, S. rastrelliger) are morphologically similar and all share the basic melanistic pigment pattern described here. Although the three species reared in this study can be distinguished on the basis of xanthic pigmentation, it seems unlikely that it will be possible to reliably identify field-collected larvae to species using traditional morphological and melanistic pigmentation characters. (PDF file contains 36 pages.)