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Knowledge of species' ecological requirements is key for designing effective conservation management. In butterflies, the needs of larval stages are often the most specialised part of the life-cycle, but for many species information on this is lacking. The Mountain Ringlet Erebia epiphron is a cold-adapted butterfly found in alpine grasslands in mountainous regions of Europe. Efforts to devise conservation strategies for this climate change-threatened species are hampered due to its basic ecology being poorly understood. Here, we describe a study on the autecology of Mountain Ringlets at sites across its British distribution, focusing on the habitat preferences of egg-laying females as a proxy for larval preferences. Female Mountain Ringlets placed their eggs predominantly on Nardus stricta and Festuca ovina, but also on several other host plant species, suggesting larvae may be more broadly polyphagous than previously realised. Sites chosen for eggs had higher abundance of larval host plants, intermediate leaf litter cover, and lower cover of grass tussocks than random locations, as well as a shorter and sparser grass sward. Although the main host plant is ubiquitous in upland areas of Britain, our findings suggest that this butterfly's egg and larval stages have specialised ecological requirements, requiring specific microhabitat features characterised by a narrow range of vegetation composition and structural characteristics. Many habitat associations are liable to be explicable as adaptations to ensure placement of eggs and larvae in sites within optimal (warm or buffered) microclimates. We tentatively suggest that the distribution of Mountain Ringlets in the landscape is thermally-constrained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the reasons for the emergence of the new geological epoch called the Anthropocene. It states that the new epoch has been affecting both the coral reefs and other ecosystems on the planet. It also suggests that scientists should reshape the coral reef ecosystems to survive the Anthropocene together with humans.

About 50 species of small, demersal fish live together on a shallow mud bottom in Moreton Bay, Queensland, Australia. The patterns of coexistence of these fish in this topographically uniform, but hydrologically unpredictable, habitat were studied using partitioned information statistics. The patterns were considered simultaneously over several environmental scales and biological levels. It was found that the community patterns were insensitive to the scale of the environment, but seemed to be coupled over supraspecific biological levels. It is suggested that supraspecific coupling allowed this complex community to exist in a simple environment. A theory of community organization, which involves the concept of connectedness, is proposed. This theory explains the above phenomena and also reconciles, in a general context, the predictability and unpredictability theories of community organization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A large survey program was conducted during 1985/1986 to determine the extent of activity of the crown-of-thorns starfish, Acanthaster planci, and its broad effects on the coral communities of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR). The perimeters of 228 reefs (about 9% of reefs in the GBR system) were surveyed within 1 year using rapid survey, manta tow techniques. These reefs encompassed the broad latitudinal and longitudinal gradients within the GBR. Approximately 27% (62 reefs) of the reefs surveyed had recently experienced (18%), or were experiencing (9%), an outbreak of the crown-of-thorns starfish. These outbreaks were mainly confined to reefs in the central third of the GBR (between Lizard Island and Townsville) and had affected, to varying degrees, approximately 65% of the reefs surveyed within this region. A greater proportion of mid-shelf reefs had experienced outbreaks than outer-shelf reefs, although this difference was not statistically significant. Of the small number of inner-shelf reefs surveyed, none had been recently affected by an outbreak. Large active outbreaks of starfish were reported on many of the reefs located off Townsville while much smaller outbreaks were found on several reefs at the southern end of the GBR, in the Swain Reef complex. Almost 86% of reefs currently experiencing an outbreak had moderate to high coral mortality over at least a third of their perimeters. Only 10% of reefs with active outbreaks had high coral mortality over most of their windward and leeward margins. A similar proportion of reefs had low to moderate coral mortality over less than a third of their perimeters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The crinoid community of Davies Reef, a midshelf reef in the central Great Barrier Reef, was systematically sampled in all major crinoid habitats. A total of 294 individuals of 27 species-level taxa was found in 25 sites across the reef. Of these 27 taxa, 20 were confidently assigned to known species. The 25 sitesx27 taxa matrix was subjected to an array of pattern extraction and diagnostic techniques - numerical classification, ordination and minimum spanning trees - to elucidate the structure of the community. These analyses revealed a consistent structure characterized by a species-rich ensemble around the periphery of the reef which was attenuated towards the inside of the reef. This structure contrasts strongly with the patterns seen in other major reef communities, such as hard and soft corals, fish or sponges. In these communities, different parts of the reef are characterized by distinctive sets of species, a depthbased zonation of the communities is evident, and the fore-reef slope typically supports a different ensemble from the back-reef slope. We conclude that the crinoid community offers a significant opportunity to observe the coral reef ecosystem from a different perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The question of whether population numbers are predictable in coral reef communities is confronted directly by trying to predict abundances of benthic taxa both within and between two reefs on the central Great Barrier Reef. Using models derived via the Group Method of Data Handling (GMDH), taxon abundances were found to be more predictable at Davies Reef than at Myrmidon Reef and a significant number of taxa showed consistent predictability patterns in all tests. For most taxa, the predictability of benthic abundances increased steadily with increasing spatial scale. Water depth figured prominently in almost all of the models obtained, emphasizing its importance as a physical determinant of local taxon abundances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A rapid benthic line-transect survey method for use by non-specialist observers is described. At both Davies Reef (mid-continental shelf) and Myrmidon Reef (outer-continental shelf) in the central Great Barrier Reef a set of 6 sites of varying depths on the reef flat, crest and slope were sampled using this method. At least 10 contiguous 10 m transects were made at each site. Benthic organisms were recorded as life forms with categories based on both high level taxa and morphologies, and including scleractinian corals, alcyonarians, sponges, algae and others. Percentage cover data for 19 benthic categories are presented for all sites. Coral cover on both reefs is high on the crest and slope but low on the reef flat. At all sites the cover of soft corals and sponges is much less than cover of hard corals and algae. Abundances of soft corals and sponges increase with depth. Analysis of gaps between hard corals show that many colonies grow close to each other (<1 cm)even when total coral cover is low. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much debate has surrounded the notion that outbreaks of the crown-of-thorns starfish ( Acanthaster planci) have occurred in the geological past and hence are natural phenomena. As this debate has recently been renewed, we have reassessed statistically data presented by Frankel (1977, 1978) as evidence for the occurrence of past outbreaks. This was done using Frankel's data as well as those from extensive starfish surveys conducted prior to the commencement of his research. Our analysis of these data indicates that the occurrence of A. planci remains in recent sediments is independent of whether or not the reef from which the sample was collected had experienced a recent outbreak. Based on this premise, it is not possible to infer from Frankel's data the occurrence of past outbreaks from similar material in much older sediments. Thus while the data presented by Frankel (1977, 1978) may show that A. planci has existed within the Great Barrier Reef for at least several thousand years it does not demonstrate that outbreaks of this starfish have occurred in the geological past. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The morphological life-forms, that is to say, physiognomic-structural attributes, of two coral reef communities were used in a numerical analysis to determine the power of these attributes in recovering the underlying community structure. We used 17 attributes from the benthic communities at 6 reef slope sites on each of a midshelf and off-shore reef of the central Great Barrier Reef. These reefs had been previously well studied by traditional species-level means for several major taxonomic groups such as corals, fish and soft corals. Our multivariate analyses were able to recover broad patterns of between-reef affinity and discrete within-reef zonation patterns similar to those found in earlier studies, and in broad accord with the prevailing model of reef community structure, but with far greater efficacy. But perhaps more importantly, by placing all the benthos within the same context for the first time, our analyses were able to recover new patterns of community structure independent of the ones described earlier. This suggests that single-model explantations for the complex phenomena of coral reefs are likely to be inadequate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a new method for extracting a comprehensive suite of biologically significant parameters from line transect data of coral communities. In addition to the percentage coral cover (the traditionally extracted parameter), the method extracts the population density of the coral colonies, their mean diameter and associated standard deviation and, for adequate data, their size frequency distribution. The method assumes only that the coral colonies form a system of non-overlapping circles in the plane, that the diameters of the circles are random quantities with an unknown distribution function, and that the transects are placed randomly. We test the method on both theoretical and real data to show that it performs as well as, if not better than, current methods in extracting the traditional parameter as well as being able to extract the additional useful parameters indicated. Because the method makes few restrictive assumptions and seems robust when used with field data, we suggest that it has wide application wherever line transects are used for ecological survey. The method is implemented in a Fortran program available from the senior author. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This article focuses on a study which examined the use of ORSAB (Oxacillin Resistance Screening Agar Base) for isolation and detection of MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) in a routine clinical laboratory. The study was divided into two parts: part 1 examined the effectiveness of ORSAB as compared with LSM agar after 24 h and 48 h incubation and part 2 compared the ability and accuracy of four media (ORSAB agar, LSM agar, MSA and DNase agar) to differentiate and identify MSSA and MRSA clinical isolates. Both ORSAB and LSM agar achieved a high level of sensitivity and specificity for detection of positive MRSA swabs. In part 2 of the study, no difference was found between ORSAB agar, LSM agar, MSA and DNase agar.

The article presents a case study in which laboratory findings from 27 different cases of pneumococcal bacteraemia occurring in patients attending the Concord Repatriation General Hospital, Concord, Australia, were analysed within a 1-year period. Blood culture bottles were inoculated by medical officers as recommended by the manufacturer. Susceptibility testing was performed using the disc diffusion methods described by the National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards. Results indicate that the interpretation of blood culture smears for diagnosis of pneumococcal bacteraemia can be problematic. This is largely due to the morphological changes that arise from production of autolysins.