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Balancing urban development with environmental sustainability is a major challenge that is increasingly recognized in planning decisions. Urban development proposals are often approved with the expectation that deleterious impacts on native species will be constrained, but this assumption is rarely tested over sufficient timelines to confirm its validity for long‐lived, at‐risk species. We tracked changes in Blanding's turtle (Emydoidea blandingii) habitat availability and demography over 10 years near Ottawa, ON, Canada, to determine whether urban development and associated mitigation measures were sufficient to ensure long‐term population persistence. Suitable turtle habitat declined by 10% during the study, and wetland corridors were essentially lost. Habitat loss coincided with a marked reduction in adult turtle apparent survival, resulting in a 70% decline in population size. Adult females experienced the greatest decline, and despite wildlife fencing and culvert placement as conditions of project approval, turtle road mortality likely was the primary cause of the decline. Deterministic population viability analysis revealed that ~4 adult female road mortalities (of an initial 56 females) per year produced a comparable decline to that observed in our population estimates; at this rate, the population will likely breach its quasi‐extinction threshold (4 females) in under a decade. Accordingly, we infer that in our study area, approved urban development was not compatible with at‐risk turtle population viability. Our findings imply that urban development approval conditions, even when conducted in the context of seemingly robust species‐at‐risk protection, can be inadequate to ensure sustainability. We contend that if environmental sustainability is to be prioritized, urban development projects in areas occupied by at‐risk species must be subject to more stringent oversight during the planning, approval and implementation phases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A study of the "Ask an Expert" feature of StratSoy, a Web-based information system, surveyed 50 users and 48 using it for the first time. Topic areas of interest and web site features desired by respondents were identified. (JOW)

Biological invasions erode ecosystem functioning and occur more frequently in freshwater ecosystems than in terrestrial environments. Nonphysical deterrents may be used to limit invasive fish dispersal, without altering the streamflow or connectivity of a watershed. Little is currently known about how behavioral variation among individuals may affect the efficacy of a deterrent, although such variation has been shown to affect fish dispersal in other contexts, such as range expansion. Furthermore, deterrent effectiveness is rarely tested when fish are motivated to disperse. Across a control, CO2, and CO2 + deterrent treatment, we quantified the avoidance response of invasive Common Carp Cyprinus carpio to a combined acoustic‐stroboscopic deterrent. In the CO2 treatment, we motivated individuals to enter a novel environment by degrading the home chamber of a choice arena with a continuous infusion of CO2. In the CO2 + deterrent treatment we introduced acoustic and stroboscopic stimuli to delay the departure of the fish and evaluate the efficacy of the deterrent. Finally, we tested a subset of the fish multiple times to determine whether they consistently responded to the same concentration of CO2. We found that the acoustic and stroboscopic deterrent could detain the fish in an increasingly unfavorable environment. Common Carp took only 195 and 131 s, respectively, to swim between the chambers during the control and CO2 treatment but took an average of 596 s in the CO2 + deterrent treatment. High CO2 concentrations in the CO2 + deterrent treatment led to most fish eventually dispersing toward the deterrent stimuli. Avoidance behavior varied widely within the CO2 + deterrent treatment, and Common Carp expressed repeatable differences in the tank‐inflow CO2 concentrations that were observed during chamber departure. Such interindividual variation in deterrent avoidance indicates that some individuals within a given species are more likely to move past a deterrent than others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was designed as proof of principle and safety test of the novel technique, the Immediate Stabilization System (ISS). The technique is designed to immediately stabilize polymer-augmented pedicle screws (PAS) in deficient bone and avoid complications of loosening pedicle screws at the bone-screw interface, especially in osteoporotic patients. A polymer sleeve was designed as augmentation to improve screw anchorage after drilling the screw hole. By applying ultrasonic energy, the polymeric tube was molded into the pores of the host bone forming a strong and uniform bond with the adjacent bone. The original screw was then implanted into the denser bony environment leading to an enhanced immediate stability. The ISS-treated implants were compared to conventionally placed pedicle screws in ex-vivo cadaver bones (2 sheep spines, n = 6 implants per spine, total 12 screws) and in-vivo in a spinal sheep model (Swiss alpine sheep, n = 5, 4 implants per animal, total 20 screws). The primary stability of ISS-treated pedicle screws was increased in ex-vivo bone (+24% insertion torque (IT)) and in-vivo (+32.9% IT) in sheep spine. Removal torque (RT) was lower in the in PAS tested for 8 weeks in-vivo. The ISS technology demonstrated improved anchorage of pedicle screws in ex-vivo cadaver bones as well as in-vivo studies in sheep spine.

Copyright of SSEM-Journal is the property of Schwiez Zschr Sportmed Sporttraumatologie and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of SSEM-Journal is the property of Schwiez Zschr Sportmed Sporttraumatologie and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The current study investigated the behavioural response of Lepomis macrochirus following exposures to elevated carbon dioxide ( CO2). For this, L. macrochirus were held at ambient p CO2 (160 μatm p CO2) for 7 days, then exposed to elevated p CO2 (8300 μatm p CO2) for 5 days, and then returned to ambient conditions for a further 5 days to recover. At the end of each exposure period, several behavioural metrics were quantified (boldness, lateralization and activity). Data showed no change in lateralization and most metrics associated with performance and boldness. During the boldness test, however, average velocity, velocity in the thigmotaxis (outer) zone and proportion of activity in the thigmotaxis zone increased with p CO2 exposure. During post-exposure, average velocity of L. macrochirus decreased. In addition, individual rank was repeatable during the pre-exposure and post-exposure period in three of the 17 metrics investigated (average velocity in the middle zone, average velocity near object and total shuttles to the object zone), but not during the CO2 exposure period, suggesting that elevated p CO2 disrupted some behavioural performances. Overall, this study found elevated p CO2 caused disruption to behaviours of freshwater fishes such as L. macrochirus and effects do not appear to be as serious as has been shown for marine fishes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]