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Ocean acidification affects species populations and biodiversity through direct negative effects on physiology and behaviour. The indirect effects of elevated CO2 are less well known and can sometimes be counterintuitive. Reproduction lies at the crux of species population replenishment, but we do not know how ocean acidification affects reproduction in the wild. Here, we use natural CO2 vents at a temperate rocky reef and show that even though ocean acidification acts as a direct stressor, it can indirectly increase energy budgets of fish to stimulate reproduction at no cost to physiological homeostasis. Female fish maintained energy levels by compensation: They reduced activity (foraging and aggression) to increase reproduction. In male fish, increased reproductive investment was linked to increased energy intake as mediated by intensified foraging on more abundant prey. Greater biomass of prey at the vents was linked to greater biomass of algae, as mediated by a fertilisation effect of elevated CO2 on primary production. Additionally, the abundance and aggression of paternal carers were elevated at the CO2 vents, which may further boost reproductive success. These positive indirect effects of elevated CO2 were only observed for the species of fish that was generalistic and competitively dominant, but not for 3 species of subordinate and more specialised fishes. Hence, species that capitalise on future resource enrichment can accelerate their reproduction and increase their populations, thereby altering species communities in a future ocean., Ocean acidification affects species populations and diversity through direct negative effects on physiology and behavior, but the indirect effects are less clear. Using volcanic carbon dioxide vents as natural analogues of future ocean acidification, this study shows that elevated CO2 can stimulate fish reproduction in the wild through increased food abundance, leading to increased energy budgets at no cost to physiological homeostasis.

BackgroundRepeated invasive intracranial pressure (ICP) monitoring is desirable because many neurosurgical pathologies are associated with elevated ICP. On the other hand, it could become a risk for children to repeat sedation, anesthesia, or radiation exposure. As a non-invasive method, measurements of optic nerve sheath diameter (ONSD) has been revealed to accurately predict increased ICP. However, no studies have indicated a relationship among age, brain, and ventricular parameters in normal children, nor a prediction of increased ICP with artificial intelligence.Methods and findingsThis study enrolled 400 normal children for control and 75 children with signs of increased ICP between 2009 and 2019. Measurements of the parameters including ONSD on CT were obtained. A supervised machine learning was applied to predict suspected increased ICP based on CT measurements. A linear correlation was shown between ln(age) and mean ONSD (mONSD) in normal children, revealing mONSD = 0.36ln(age)+2.26 (R2 = 0.60). This study revealed a linear correlation of mONSD measured on CT with ln(age) and the width of the brain, not the width of the ventricles in 400 normal children based on the univariate analyses. Additionally, the multivariate analyses revealed minimum bicaudate nuclei distance was also associated with mONSD. The results of the group comparison between control and suspected increased ICP revealed a statistical significance in mONSD and the width of the ventricles. The study indicated that supervised machine learning application could be applied to predict suspected increased ICP in children, with an accuracy of 94% for training, 91% for test.ConclusionsThis study clarified three issues regarding ONSD and ICP. Mean ONSD measured on CT was correlated with ln(age) and the width of the brain, not the width of the ventricles in 400 normal children based on the univariate analyses. The multivariate analyses revealed minimum bicaudate nuclei distance was also associated with mONSD. Mean ONSD and the width of ventricles were statistically significant in children with signs of elevated ICP. Finally, the study showed that machine learning could be used to predict children with suspected increased ICP.

The ecological impacts of increasing global temperatures are evident in most ecosystems on Earth, but our understanding of how climatic variation influences natural selection and adaptive resilience across latitudes remains largely unknown. Latitudinal gradients allow testing general ecosystem-level theories relevant to climatic adaptation. We assessed differences in adaptive diversity of populations along a latitudinal region spanning highly variable temperate to subtropical climates. We generated and integrated information from environmental mapping, phenotypic variation and genome-wide data from across the geographical range of the rainbowfish Melanotaenia duboulayi, an emerging aquatic system for studies of climate change. We detected, after controlling for spatial population structure, strong interactions between genotypes and environment associated with variation in stream flow and temperature. Some of these hydroclimate-associated genes were found to interact within functional protein networks that contain genes of adaptive significance for projected future climates in rainbowfish. Hydroclimatic selection was also associated with variation in phenotypic traits, including traits known to affect fitness of rainbowfish exposed to different flow environments. Consistent with predictions from the "climatic variability hypothesis," populations exposed to extremes of important environmental variables showed stronger adaptive divergence and less variation in climate-associated genes compared to populations at the centre of the environmental gradient. Our findings suggest that populations that evolved at environmental range margins and at geographical range edges may be more vulnerable to changing climates, a finding with implications for predicting adaptive resilience and managing biodiversity under climate change.

This paper presents a proof-of-concept of the low supply voltage circuit technique for high resolution cyclic analog-to-digital converter (ADC). By utilizing substrate-voltage-control technique for SOTB CMOS, high resolution cyclic ADC can be realized at supply voltage as low as Vdd= 0.8V. A prototype 14bit cyclic ADC is designed and fabricated in 65nm SOTB CMOS technology. Measured DNL=-0.80/1.11LSB, INL=-5.05/3.49LSB are achieved while a 7.81kHz sinusoidal input is sampled at 62.5ksps.

Maintaining genetic diversity within captive breeding populations is a key challenge for conservation managers. We applied a multi-generational genetic approach to the captive breeding program of an endangered Australian freshwater fish, the southern pygmy perch (Nannoperca australis). During previous work, fish from the lower Murray-Darling Basin were rescued before drought exacerbated by irrigation resulted in local extinction. This endemic lineage of the species was captive-bred in genetically designed groups, and equal numbers of F1 individuals were reintroduced to the wild with the return of favourable habitat. Here, we implemented a contingency plan by continuing the genetic-based captive breeding in the event that a self-sustaining wild population was not established. F1 individuals were available as putative breeders from the subset of groups that produced an excess of fish in the original restoration program. We used microsatellite-based parentage analyses of these F1 fish to form breeding groups that minimized inbreeding. We assessed their subsequent parental contribution to F2 individuals and the maintenance of genetic diversity. We found skewed parental contribution to F2 individuals, yet minimal loss of genetic diversity from their parents. However, the diversity was substantially less than that of the original rescued population. We attribute this to the unavoidable use of F1 individuals from a limited number of the original breeding groups. Alternative genetic sources for supplementation or reintroduction should be assessed to determine their suitability. The genetic fate of the captive-bred population highlights the strong need to integrate DNA-based tools for monitoring and adaptive management of captive breeding programs.

Research in reintroduction biology has provided a greater understanding of the often limited success of species reintroductions and highlighted the need for scientifically rigorous approaches in reintroduction programs. We examined the recent genetic-based captive-breeding and reintroduction literature to showcase the underuse of the genetic data gathered. We devised a framework that takes full advantage of the genetic data through assessment of the genetic makeup of populations before (past component of the framework), during (present component), and after (future component) captive-breeding and reintroduction events to understand their conservation potential and maximize their success. We empirically applied our framework to two small fishes: Yarra pygmy perch (Nannoperca obscura) and southern pygmy perch (Nannoperca australis). Each of these species has a locally adapted and geographically isolated lineage that is endemic to the highly threatened lower Murray-Darling Basin in Australia. These two populations were rescued during Australia's recent decade-long Millennium Drought, when their persistence became entirely dependent on captive-breeding and subsequent reintroduction efforts. Using historical demographic analyses, we found differences and similarities between the species in the genetic impacts of past natural and anthropogenic events that occurred in situ, such as European settlement (past component). Subsequently, successful maintenance of genetic diversity in captivity-despite skewed brooder contribution to offspring-was achieved through carefully managed genetic-based breeding (present component). Finally, genetic monitoring revealed the survival and recruitment of released captive-bred offspring in the wild (future component). Our holistic framework often requires no additional data collection to that typically gathered in genetic-based breeding programs, is applicable to a wide range of species, advances the genetic considerations of reintroduction programs, and is expected to improve with the use of next-generation sequencing technology.

Genetic variation plays a pivotal role in species viability and the maintenance of population genetic variation is a main focus of conservation biology. Threatened species often show reduced genetic variation compared to non-threatened species, and this is considered indicative of lowered evolutionary potential, compromised reproductive fitness, and elevated extinction risk. The southern purple-spotted gudgeon, Mogurnda adspersa, is a small freshwater fish with poor dispersal potential that was once common throughout the Murray–Darling Basin (MDB) and along the central east coast of Australia. Its numbers and distribution have shrunk dramatically in the MDB due to flow alteration, degradation of habitat, decreasing water quality, and introduction of alien species. We used microsatellite DNA markers to assess population structure and genetic variation at both large (i.e. across basin) and fine (i.e. within river catchments) spatial scales using a substantial sampling effort across the species range (n = 579 individuals; 35 localities). The results consistently indicated very low levels of genetic variation throughout, including along the east coast where the species is relatively common. At the broader scale, three highly differentiated groups of populations were found, concordant with previously reported genealogical distinctiveness. Hence we propose each group as a distinct Evolutionarily Significant Unit. We also inferred a minimum of 12 management units in M. adspersa, with no appreciable gene flow between them. Our study discloses findings relevant for both long- and short-term management, as it informs on the geographic context in which conservation priorities should be defined and specifies biological units for population monitoring and translocations.

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons. org/licenses/by/4.0/., Habitat loss and fragmentation often result in small, isolated populations vulnerable to environmental disturbance and loss of genetic diversity. Low genetic diversity can increase extinction risk of small populations by elevating inbreeding and inbreeding depression, and reducing adaptive potential. Due to their linear nature and extensive use by humans, freshwater ecosystems are especially vulnerable to habitat loss and fragmentation. Although the effects of fragmentation on genetic structure have been extensively studied in migratory fishes, they are less understood in low-mobility species. We estimated impacts of instream barriers on genetic structure and diversity of the low-mobility river blackfish (Gadopsis marmoratus) within five streams separated by weirs or dams constructed 45–120 years ago. We found evidence of small-scale (, This work was supported by an Australian Research Council Linkage Grant (LP110200017) to Monash University, Flinders University of South Australia, the University of Canberra, and University of Montana. Funding and other support was also contributed by industry partner organizations namely, Melbourne Water Corporation, ACTEW Corporation, Victorian Department of Sustainability and Environment (now Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning) and Fisheries Victoria (now Department of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport and Resources). L.B.B. was supported by an ARC FT130101068 grant. This publication has been written with the support of the AgreenSkills+fellowship programme, which has received funding from the EU’s Seventh Framework Programme under grant agreement N° FP7-609398 (AgreenSkills+contract). Part of this work was carried out by using the resources of the INRA MIGALE (http://migale.jouy.inra.fr) and GENOTOUL (Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées) bioinformatics platforms and the Montpellier Bioinformatics Biodiversity platform services. RL was supported by the Agence Nationale de la Recherche (project GENOSPACE ANR-16-CE02-0008).

Species that disperse by means of planktonic larvae are typically not genetically structured along environmentally homogeneous coastlines. In contrast, those that lack a planktonic dispersal phase, or species with a short (

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited., Whilst adaptation and phenotypic plasticity might buffer species against habitat degradation associated with global climate change, few studies making such claims also possess the necessary and sufficient data to support them. Doing so requires demonstration of heritable variation in traits affecting fitness under new environmental conditions. We address this issue using an emerging aquatic system to study adaptation to climate change, the crimson-spotted rainbowfish (Melanotaenia duboulayi), a freshwater species from a region of eastern Australia projected to be affected by marked temperature increases. Captive born M. duboulayi of known pedigree were used to assess the long-term effects of contemporary and 2070-projected summer temperatures on the expression of genes previously identified in a climate change transcriptomics (RNA-Seq) experiment. Nearly all genes responded to increasing temperature. Significant additive genetic variance explained a moderate proportion of transcriptional variation for all genes. Most genes also showed broad-sense genetic variation in transcriptional plasticity. Additionally, molecular pathways of candidate genes co-occur with genes inferred to be under climate-mediated selection in wild M. duboulayi populations. Together, these results indicate the presence of existing variation in important physiological traits, and the potential for adaptive responses to a changing thermal environment.

This paper proposes a time–temperature-transformation diagram of an Mg–Zn–Gd alloy. An Mg 97 Zn 1 Gd 2 (at.%) alloy shows different precipitation sequences at low, medium and high temperatures. Low-temperature aging at 623 K led to strengthening of the Mg–Zn–Gd alloy, owing to the formation of profuse stacking faults and 14H long period stacking ordered structure from the supersaturated α-Mg matrix, respectively.

カワウ，アオサギおよびゴイサギの営巣地下にある2地域の土壌（福島県本宮および福岡県久留米）について，窒素動態を無機態窒素含量と安定同位体比の時系列変動を指標として解析した．顕著に高い無機態窒素含量（8 g/kg乾土）が孵化と雛の成長期に見出された．巣立ちと営巣地から見られなくなった後，無機態窒素含量は急速に低下した．土壌の硝化活性は，やや冷涼な本宮営巣区にくらべて温暖な久留米営巣区で高かった．硝化と連動した脱窒過程が繁殖期後期に顕著であることが特異的に高い硝酸態窒素の同位体比から推察された．カワウは繁殖およびねぐらとして1年を通じて森林を利用するために，土壌に連続的に糞窒素が搬入される．その結果，一時的に利用するサギ類に比較してカワウ営巣区ではアンモニア生成速度が高く維持されると推定された．

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited., Genetic diversity underpins the ability of populations to persist and adapt to environmental changes. Substantial empirical data show that genetic diversity rapidly deteriorates in small and isolated populations due to genetic drift, leading to reduction in adaptive potential and fitness and increase in inbreeding. Assisted gene flow (e.g. via translocations) can reverse these trends, but lack of data on fitness loss and fear of impairing population “uniqueness” often prevents managers from acting. Here, we use population genetic and riverscape genetic analyses and simulations to explore the consequences of extensive habitat loss and fragmentation on population genetic diversity and future population trajectories of an endangered Australian freshwater fish, Macquarie perch Macquaria australasica. Using guidelines to assess the risk of outbreeding depression under admixture, we develop recommendations for population management, identify populations requiring genetic rescue and/or genetic restoration and potential donor sources. We found that most remaining populations of Macquarie perch have low genetic diversity, and effective population sizes below the threshold required to retain adaptive potential. Our simulations showed that under management inaction, smaller populations of Macquarie perch will face inbreeding depression within a few decades, but regular small-scale translocations will rapidly rescue populations from inbreeding depression and increase adaptive potential through genetic restoration. Despite the lack of data on fitness loss, based on our genetic data for Macquarie perch populations, simulations and empirical results from other systems, we recommend regular and frequent translocations among remnant populations within catchments. These translocations will emulate the effect of historical gene flow and improve population persistence through decrease in demographic and genetic stochasticity. Increasing population genetic connectivity within each catchment will help to maintain large effective population sizes and maximize species adaptive potential. The approach proposed here could be readily applicable to genetic management of other threatened species to improve their adaptive potential.

A new set of 18 microsatellite loci was developed for the threatened Australian freshwater fish southern purple-spotted gudgeon Mogurnda adspersa (Eleotridae) using a next generation sequencing approach. A total of 84 fish from two populations (including one rescued into captivity) were successfully genotyped at all markers using a multiplex approach. As expected for threatened species, we observed relatively low genetic variation across most loci (average allelic diversity = 5.4; average heterozygosity = 0.380). No evidence for linkage disequilibrium was detected and all loci were in Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium. This new set of microsatellite markers will benefit substantially the ongoing conservation program of a critically endangered population of M. adspersa that involves captive breeding, relatedness and paternity analyses, reintroduction, and landscape genetics.

Malignant gliomas include hypoxic cells due to both excessive consumption and insufficient supply of oxygen within the tumor. Intratumoral hypoxic conditions are disadvantageous in term of the production of peroxide radicals, which induces DNA damage under irradiation. Cancer stem cells existing within hypoxic tumor tissue have also been considered to represent a likely cause of radioresistance. In glioblastoma, hypoxic conditions play an important role in the development of tumor progression. Therefore, we performed PET using 11C-methionine for detecting extent of tumor, and using 18F-FRP170 (18F-FRP170 PET) for detecting hypoxic cells in malignant brain tumors. We also examined on 18F-FRP170 PET with intratumoral oxygen pressure (tpO2 ) within glioblastoma measured using oxygen microelectrodes during tumor resection. Furthermore, we analyzed hypoxia-related genes, such as HIF-1 and VEGF, in high or low uptake areas of 18F-FRP170 PET. Mean tpO2 was significantly lower in the high-uptake area than in the low-uptake area. The specimens obtained from high-uptake areas, showed the increased expression of hypoxia-related genes. These findings suggest that high accumulation on 18F-FRP170 PET represents viable hypoxic tissues in glioblastoma.