Search results for "Veterinary Science"
showing 10 items of 2359 documents
Do enchytraeid worms and habitat corridors facilitate the colonisation of habitat patches by soil microbes?
2004
Due to their high abundance and ubiquitous existence, microbes are considered to be efficient colonisers of newly established habitats. To shed light on the dispersal mechanisms of soil microbes, a controlled microcosm experiment was established. In these microcosms, the dispersal of microbes from a source humus patch to originally sterile humus patches (embedded in a mineral soil matrix) was followed for 16 months, applying 16S and 18S ribosomal DNA-based PCR-DGGE molecular methods. Specifically, the role of enchytraeid worms and habitat (humus) corridors as possible facilitators of microbe dispersal was studied. The results showed that enchytraeid worms function efficiently as vectors for…
Afforested fields benefit nutrient-demanding fungi
2015
Impaired ecosystems are converted back to natural ecosystems or some other target stage by means of restoration and management. Due to their agricultural legacy, afforested fields might be valuable compensatory habitats for rare fungal species that require nutrient-rich forest soils. Using a large-scale field experiment in Finland, we studied community composition of macrofungi (agarics and boletes) on former fields, which had been afforested as monocultures 20 years ago using native spruce Picea abies, pine Pinus sylvestris, and birch Betula pendula. We studied the effect of soil quality, tree species, and site on community composition and structure. Many nutrient-demanding as well as rare…
2021
Without insights into the threats affecting species across their distributions and throughout their annual cycles, effective conservation management cannot be applied. The Whenua Hou diving petrel Pelecanoides whenuahouensis (WHDP) is a Critically Endangered small seabird whose offshore habits and threats are poorly understood. We tracked WHDPs year-round in 2015/16, 2017/18, and 2018/19 using global location-sensing immersion loggers to identify offshore distribution, movements, behaviour, and overlap with commercial fishing effort. During the breeding period, WHDPs ranged from southern Aotearoa (New Zealand) to Maukahuka (Auckland Islands). After breeding, WHDPs migrated southwest towards…
Control of off-flavor compounds in a full-scale recirculating aquaculture system rearing rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss
2020
Fish is increasingly produced in recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS), which can offer some production and environmental benefits. Unfortunately, there is a tendency to develop off-flavors in RA...
The use of a spatial model of economic efficiency to predict the most likely outcomes under different fishing strategy scenarios
2021
The current European Union has been progressively implementing since January 2014 a discard ban which includes the obligation to land unwanted catch for certain regulated species and sizes. Although a full enforcement of the landing obligation has a direct impact on discard reduction through more responsible and selective fishing, fishers argue that it will prompt both a decrease in incomes and an increase in working time onboard. Thus, the measure is in a hold in south-western waters due to the difficulties to implement the ban in mixed fisheries This paper analyzes some possible scenarios which fishers could face under the landing obligation. It is shown the construction of a spatial bio-…
Integrating spatial management measures into fisheries: The Lepidorhombus spp. case study
2020
Most fisheries management systems rely on a set of regulatory measures to achieve desired objectives. Controls on catch and effort are usually supplemented with gear restrictions, minimum landing sizes, and in the framework of the new common fisheries policy, limitation of discards and by-catch. However, the increasing use of spatial management measures such as conservation areas or spatial and temporal area closures faces new challenges for fishery managers. Here we present an integrated spatial framework to identify areas in which undersized commercial species are more abundant. Once these areas are identified they could be avoided by fishers, minimizing the fishing impact over the immatu…
Discard ban: A simulation-based approach combining hierarchical Bayesian and food web spatial models
2020
12 pages, 6 figures, 6 tables, 2 appendixes, supplementary data https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2019.103703
The ability of fish ecolabels to promote a change in the sustainability awareness
2021
Abstract Researchers, environmentalists, as well as fisheries and retailers, have been focusing their attention on the design, use and effects that fish ecolabels have on sustainability. The fish processing industry and large retailers have rapidly adopted several market-based standards, with consequences for two major stakeholders: fishermen and consumers. Although the standards have shown rather positive results, from the perspectives of marine biodiversity conservation, the fish industry and trade, it is not clear how they are able to support a change in people’s awareness about sustainability. For this reason, the present work reviews and analyses the literature, produced in the last te…
Assessing multiple sources of data to detect illegal fishing, trade and mislabelling of elasmobranchs in Greek markets
2020
Abstract Elasmobranchs, extremely charismatic and threatened animals, still are an important economic source for fishers in many parts of the world, providing significant income through trade. Even though Greek seas host at least 67 elasmobranch species, our knowledge about their biology and ecology is to a large extent unknown. In the present study the integration of conventional (legislation, official data from fisheries landings and fish market value and import/export data) and unconventional (social media) sources of data, accompanied with the use of genetics, aim at outlining the elasmobranch fisheries and trade in Greece and identifying “weak spots” that sabotage their conservation. R…
Small-scale shrimp fisheries bycatch: a multi-criteria approach for data-poor situations
2020
Abstract Bycatch and discards from small-scale fisheries (SSF) are usually ignored when compared with industrial fisheries, not only by policy-makers, but also by scientists. Therefore, SSF social, economic and ecological impacts are poorly known and especially in the context of incidental catches, regardless of whether they become bycatch or discards. Such neglect is worrisome due to the role that SSF play in food security and poverty alleviation, particularly in coastal and rural communities in developing countries. In this study, a combination of sampling data and the fishers' behavior (specifically the basis of their decision on where to fish) were used. Bayesian models were applied to …