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There have been marked declines of UK harbour seal populations over at least the last decade. Protected areas, such as Special Areas of Conservation (SACs), provide one tool to improve the conservation status of these populations. However, the design and management of SACs is often limited by a lack of information on long-term patterns in the use of seal haul-out sites and foraging areas. The Moray Firth is the only UK region where long-term harbour seal population studies have been conducted in parallel with detailed studies of foraging ecology. We used this opportunity to investigate changes in the use of haul-out sites and foraging areas within two adjacent estuaries, where annual haul-out counts were made over a 20-year period. In 1988, >99% of seals and all mother-pup pairs were located at haul-out sites within an area that was subsequently designated as a SAC to protect harbour seals. In addition to previously reported declines in this area, we detected a shift in haul-out distribution resulting from the development of a new pupping site that, by 2008, held 37% of mother pup pairs in the area. Foraging areas of breeding females were compared in 1989 and 2009 using a combination of VHF and GPS-GSM telemetry, confirming that females foraged in broadly similar areas in both periods. This suggests that the development of this new pupping site was not driven by the need to forage further offshore, but instead was more likely due to local variation in haul-out site characteristics. These results are discussed in relation to potential drivers of haul-out site choice and the need to develop a broader suite of measures for managing habitat quality within this and other SACs for harbour seals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Flooding patterns and variations in the composition and successional trends of riparian vegetation in the upper and lower Red Deer River in southern Alberta, Canada, were studied in order to establish which flood regimes were most important in the regeneration and maintenance of riparian vegetation communities, with a particular focus on riparian poplars. The dominant riparian tree in the upper river is Populus balsamifera with some Picea glauca and in the lower river Populus deltoides (the plains cottonwood). Dendrochronological studies of the poplars along the river show that major periods of regeneration correspond with major flood events during the record period. Extensive cottonwood regeneration occurred in the period 1900-20, corresponding with a series of floods, some as high as the 1 in 100-year event. In addition, just prior to and during this period there was a significant reduction in use of the floodplain by bison, clearance of forests and a higher incidence of fires in upper reaches of the river and a series of high rainfall years. A series of floods greater than the 1 in 10-year flood occurred in the 1950s and stimulated the most extensive regeneration of poplars experienced since the 1920s. Parts of the lower Red Deer floodplain are now at elevations well above the 1 in 100-year flood event. It is suggested that fringe replenishment of riparian poplars is currently the dominant form of regeneration and that the large stands of mature poplars found on the floodplain, initiated during the end of the last century and first decades of this century, are unlikely to be replaced unless large floods (>1 in 50-year events) occur again. Construction of the Dickson Dam above the city of Red Deer in 1983 has led to attenuation of floods and a reduced likelihood that extensive flooding and poplar regeneration will occur again. A number of recommendations are made regarding flow management to both retain the fringe regeneration of poplars currently occurring and to stimulate more widespread regeneration of poplars on the floodplain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) relatedness was used to distinguish strains of Legionella-like organisms (LLO) from Legionella pneumophila. Two of these LLO strains, WIGA and MI 15, showed sufficient DNA relatedness to one another to be classified in the same species. The name Legionella bozemanii species nova is proposed for this new species. The type strain of L. bozemanii is WIGA (=ATCC 33217) Two other LLO strains, NY 23 and Tex-KL, were shown to represent a new species. The name Legionella dumoffii species nova is proposed for this species. The type strain of L. dumoffii is NY 23 (=ATCC 33279). These two species join L. pneumophila and L. micdadei in the genus Legionella. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pittsburgh pneumonia agent (PP A) was recently cultivated from infected egg yolk on charcoal yeast extract agar. PPA has now been isolated both from infected egg yolk and human lung tissue on charcoal yeast extract agar and on a new medium, buffered charcoal yeast extract agar. PPA resembles Legionella pneumophila and other Legionella-like organisms in requirements for growth and composition of fatty acids. It differs in genetic relatedness, antigenic composition, and colonial morphology and has distinctive characteristics that allow it to be identified. The name Legionella pittsburgensis species nova is proposed for this organism. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]