Search results for "Fin"
showing 10 items of 15836 documents
Revision of the calcareous fen arachnofauna: habitat affinities of the fen-inhabiting spiders
2018
Calcareous fens are one of the most species-rich habitats of the temperate zone of the Northern Hemisphere. In spite of this species richness, however, calcareous fens are still rather poorly investigated. Consequently, the data of the fen-associated spider fauna are also largely lacking. The aim of the research was to study the spider fauna of the calcareous fens of Latvia and to draw conclusions about what kind of spider species and ecological groups typically inhabit calcareous fen habitats. Spiders were sampled in the summer months of 2010, 2011, and 2012 at nine different calcareous fens of the coastal lowland of Latvia. The spider collection was performed by pitfall traps and a sweep …
Trends in summer presence of fin whales in the Western Mediterranean Sea Region: new insights from a long-term monitoring program
2020
Background The Mediterranean subpopulation of fin whale Balaenoptera physalus (Linnaeus, 1758) has recently been listed as Vulnerable by the IUCN Red List of threatened species. The species is also listed as species in need of strict protection under the Habitat Directive and is one of the indicators for the assessment of Good Environmental Status under the MSFD. Reference values on population abundance and trends are needed in order to set the threshold values and to assess the conservation status of the population. Methods Yearly summer monitoring using ferries as platform of opportunity was performed since 2008 within the framework of the FLT Med Network. Data were collected along sever…
Developing an orientation and cutting point determination algorithm for a trout fish processing system using machine vision
2019
Abstract Fish processing in small and medium fish supplying centers requires an intelligent system to operate on different sizes. Therefore, an image processing algorithm was developed to extract the proper head and belly cutting points according to the trout dimensions. The algorithm detects the fish orientation and location of pectoral, anal, pelvic, and caudal fins. In this study, each of the trout images was divided into slices along its length in order to segment the fins and extract cutting points. The channel ‘B’ of RGB color space was considered in both initial segmentation and fin detection stages among the examined channels of RGB, HSV, and L*a*b* color spaces. The back-belly and …
Applying economic and ecological criteria to design cost-effective monitoring for elusive species
2020
Abstract Monitoring programs of long-lived and elusive species often incur high costs in terms of field effort and economical budget, but both components are often considered separately. Also, there is scant information on the use of reliable detectability estimates under imperfect detection conditions based on environmental factors, which is key to accurately estimate financial costs and define optimum monitoring strategies. In this study, we use an intensive survey program (2017–2018) of the Egyptian vulture Neophron percnopterus population in Bizkaia (northern Spain) to model detectability at nests taking into account imperfect detection. Our main goal is to estimate both the number and …
MAB2.0 project: Integrating algae production into wastewater treatment
2018
Abstract Different species of microalgae are highly efficient in removing nutrients from wastewater streams and are able to grow using flue gas as a CO2 source. These features indicate that application of microalgae has a promising outlook in wastewater treatment. However, practical aspects and process of integration of algae cultivation into an existing wastewater treatment line have not been investigated. The Climate-KIC co-funded Microalgae Biorefinery 2.0 project developed and demonstrated this integration process through a case study. The purpose of this paper is to introduce this process by phases and protocols, as well as report on the challenges and bottlenecks identified in the cas…
Voles and weasels in the boreal Fennoscandian small mammal community : What happens if the least weasel disappears due to climate change?
2019
Climate change, habitat loss and fragmentation are major threats for populations and a challenge for individual behavior, interactions and survival. Predator–prey interactions are modified by climate processes. In the northern latitudes, strong seasonality is changing and the main predicted feature is shortening and instability of winter. Vole populations in the boreal Fennoscandia exhibit multiannual cycles. High amplitude peak numbers of voles and dramatic population lows alternate in 3–5‐year cycles shortening from North to South. One key factor, or driver, promoting the population crash and causing extreme extended lows, is suggested to be predation by the least weasel. We review the ar…
Predator encounters have spatially extensive impacts on parental behaviour in a breeding bird community.
2016
Predation risk has negative indirect effects on prey fitness, partly mediated through changes in behaviour. Evidence that individuals gather social information from other members of the population suggests that events in a community may impact the behaviour of distant individuals. However, spatially wide-ranging impacts on individual behaviour caused by a predator encounter elsewhere in a community have not been documented before. We investigated the effect of a predator encounter (hawk model presented at a focal nest) on the parental behaviour of pied flycatchers ( Ficedula hypoleuca ), both at the focal nest and at nearby nests different distances from the predator encounter. We show tha…
FOOD MAKES YOU A TARGET: DISENTANGLING GENETIC, PHYSIOLOGICAL, AND BEHAVIORAL EFFECTS DETERMINING SUSCEPTIBILITY TO INFECTION
2010
Genetics, physiology, and behavior are all expected to influence the susceptibility of hosts to parasites. Furthermore, interactions between genetic and other factors are suggested to contribute to the maintenance of genetic polymorphism in resistance when the relative susceptibility of host genotypes is context dependent. We used a maternal sibship design and long- and short-term food deprivation treatments to test the role of family-level genetic variation, body condition, physiological state, and foraging behavior on the susceptibility of Lymnaea stagnalis snails to infection by a trematode parasite that uses chemical cues to locate its hosts. In experimental exposures, we found that sna…
Interspecific interactions influence contrasting spatial genetic structures in two closely related damselfly species
2014
Spatial genetic structure (SGS) is largely determined by colonization history, landscape and ecological characteristics of the species. Therefore, sympatric and ecologically similar species are expected to exhibit similar SGSs, potentially enabling prediction of the SGS of one species from that of another. On the other hand, due to interspecific interactions, ecologically similar species could have different SGSs. We explored the SGSs of the closely related Calopteryx splendens and Calopteryx virgo within Finland and related the genetic patterns to characteristics of the sampling localities. We observed different SGSs for the two species. Genetic differentiation even within short distances …
Combustion Properties of Birch (Betula pendula) Black Liquors From Sulfur-Free Pulping
2016
Sulfur-free pulping has an environmental advantage over the traditional kraft process. This article describes the combustion properties of the black liquors produced from silver birch (Betula pendula) sawdust using three different cooking processes: two sulfur-free cooks (soda-anthraquinone and oxygen-alkali), and one reference kraft cook. It also considers the corresponding black liquors from an integrated forest biorefinery, in which a hot-water pretreatment of feedstock was performed prior to pulping. With the same cooking time, the total burning times for the sulfur-free black liquors were higher (15–55%) than those for the conventional kraft black liquors. However, no significant diffe…