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Ecologists often feel that they need complete data before they are able to advise or make decisions. Thinking backwards, an idea from mathematics, suggests that we need to focus on the desired outcome to tell us which way to go for practical solutions for our ecological ambitions., (Crown Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Preventoria were established in the early part of the twentieth century at fresh air sites away from cities for the purposes of rest cures for children, usually for those who were at risk of contracting tuberculosis. This paper discusses preventoria in relation to their general landscapes, and outlines the types of landscapes in which preventoria are found, namely woods and forests, ocean, rivers and lakes, and agricultural settings. The preventorium movement is placed in historical landscape context, with urban planning, national parks, and other nineteenth century trends. Fresh air was the driving force of both treatment and locations of preventoria and sanatoria. Current movements in child health to combat obesity and 'nature-deficit-disorder' also call for greater engagement with fresh air, and stress the therapeutic value of natural landscape. Australia's oldest preventorium is examined as a case study of preventoria and the challenges which old preventoria are facing today to re-invent themselves in predominantly rural landscapes., (Crown Copyright © 2010. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

This article documents the addition of 512 microsatellite marker loci and nine pairs of Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) sequencing primers to the Molecular Ecology Resources Database. Loci were developed for the following species: Alcippe morrisonia morrisonia, Bashania fangiana, Bashania fargesii, Chaetodon vagabundus, Colletes floralis, Coluber constrictor flaviventris, Coptotermes gestroi, Crotophaga major, Cyprinella lutrensis, Danaus plexippus, Fagus grandifolia, Falco tinnunculus, Fletcherimyia fletcheri, Hydrilla verticillata, Laterallus jamaicensis coturniculus, Leavenworthia alabamica, Marmosops incanus, Miichthys miiuy, Nasua nasua, Noturus exilis, Odontesthes bonariensis, Quadrula fragosa, Pinctada maxima, Pseudaletia separata, Pseudoperonospora cubensis, Podocarpus elatus, Portunus trituberculatus, Rhagoletis cerasi, Rhinella schneideri, Sarracenia alata, Skeletonema marinoi, Sminthurus viridis, Syngnathus abaster, Uroteuthis (Photololigo) chinensis, Verticillium dahliae, Wasmannia auropunctata, and Zygochlamys patagonica. These loci were cross-tested on the following species: Chaetodon baronessa, Falco columbarius, Falco eleonorae, Falco naumanni, Falco peregrinus, Falco subbuteo, Didelphis aurita, Gracilinanus microtarsus, Marmosops paulensis, Monodelphis Americana, Odontesthes hatcheri, Podocarpus grayi, Podocarpus lawrencei, Podocarpus smithii, Portunus pelagicus, Syngnathus acus, Syngnathus typhle,Uroteuthis (Photololigo) edulis, Uroteuthis (Photololigo) duvauceli and Verticillium albo-atrum. This article also documents the addition of nine sequencing primer pairs and sixteen allele specific primers or probes for Oncorhynchus mykiss and Oncorhynchus tshawytscha; these primers and assays were cross-tested in both species., (© 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.)

The bluntnose minnow (Pimephales notatus) is abundant and widespread with a broad ecological niche. This species is also sexually dimorphic with strong competition between males during the mating season. We developed two genomic libraries enriched for microsatellite repeats - one dinucleotide and one tetranucleotide - and isolated 48 putative, novel microsatellite loci. Of those, we present 35 polymorphic and statistically independent microsatellite markers with two to 18 alleles per locus and heterozygosities ranging from 0.04 to 1. These markers will be useful for future behavioural, ecological, evolutionary and mating system studies using P. notatus., (© 2009 The Authors. Journal compilation © 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.)

The central stoneroller (Campostoma anomalum) is an abundant, widespread and sexually dimorphic stream minnow that is a useful model for mating system studies as well as a sentinel species for understanding population-level processes for fishes in headwater communities. We developed one genomic library enriched for dinucleotide repeats and isolated 48 putative, novel microsatellite loci. Of those, we present 32 polymorphic and independent microsatellite markers with 3 to 16 alleles per locus and heterozygosity ranging from 0.23 to 0.95. Hence, these markers will be useful for future behavioural, ecological and evolutionary studies using C. anomalum., (© 2008 The Authors. Journal compilation © 2008 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.)

The genus Etheostoma is a species-rich and ecologically important group of fishes in North America. The orangethroat darter (Etheostoma spectabile) is widely distributed and abundant in headwater streams throughout the central Midwest, and is an excellent model for ecological and mating system studies. We developed 23 novel, polymorphic, and independent microsatellite loci for E. spectabile. We found from two to 14 alleles per locus, and observed heterozygosities ranged from 0.39 to 1.0. These markers, in combination with others isolated from Etheostoma taxa, will be useful for ecological and evolutionary studies in the genus., (© 2008 The Authors. Journal compilation © 2008 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.)

We infer the phylogenetic relationships of finescale shiners of the genus Lythrurus, a group of 11 species of freshwater minnows widely distributed in eastern North America, using DNA sequences from the ND2 (1047 bp), ATPase8 and 6 (823 bp), and ND3 (421 bp) mitochondrial protein-coding genes. The topologies resulting from maximum parsimony, Bayesian, and maximum likelihood tree building methods are broadly congruent, with two distinct clades within the genus: the L. umbratilis clade (L. umbratilis + L. lirus + (L. fasciolaris + (L. ardens, L. matutinus))) and the L. bellus clade (L. fumeus + L. snelsoni + (L. roseipinnis + (L. atrapiculus + (L. bellus, L. algenotus)))). Support is weak at the base of several clades, but strongly supported nodes differ significantly from prior investigations. In particular, our results confirm and extend earlier studies recovering two clades within Lythrurus corresponding to groups with largely "northern" and "southern" geographic distributions. Several species in this genus are listed in the United States as threatened or of special concern due to habitat degradation or limited geographic ranges. In this study, populations assigned to L. roseipinnis show significant genetic divergence suggesting that there is greater genetic diversity within this species than its current taxonomy reflects. A full accounting of the biodiversity of the genus awaits further study.

Whole-body computed tomography X-ray scanning (X-ray CT) of wheat, cotton and radish growing in pots containing 350 g of a white sand: clay mixture produced images from which digital data of the volumetric water content were obtained. The volumetric water contents were spatially heterogeneous around the root and altered with the depth at which the image was taken. Data represent a 'snapshot in time' of the soil around single roots in a living soil-plant system. The volumetric water contents of soil around seedlings were assessed for the growth of two soil-borne fungi, Gaeumannomyces graminis var. tritici and Rhizoctonia solani. The heterogeneity of water content was biologically significant: water contents around the roots of wheat, radish and cotton were of a great enough range to suggest the existence of heterogeneous sites in the rhizosphere which might favour or restrict fungal growth. In soil surrounding wheat roots, the most favourable regions for the growth of G. graminis were nearest the root, suggesting that the inner rhizosphere might be more amenable to the growth of this pathogenic fungus than the outer region of the rhizosphere, and the bulk soil. The technique of X-ray CT enables spatial examination of the response of soil water to environmental treatments of the soil-root system, and the non-destructive observation of the effect of the spatial heterogeneity of volumetric water content upon fungal growth in the soil, over time and at a range of depths.