AbstractThis article highlights Marysia Zalewski's scholarship as reflective and generative of the multifarious sources and contributions of feminist IR and its 'scavenger methodologies', which seek to centre subjects, processes, and practices historically excluded, ignored, and minimised. The productive depth of her scholarship is evident in the uniqueness of each article in this collection, all of which distinctly document the uses to which Zalewski's writings can be uniquely put. Each of the articles performs a 'turning operation' of sorts on the elementals of feminist IR (gender/women/power/difference) and brings further elaborations of masculinities, sexualities, silences as well as screams, that shift and change what is taken to be feminist research/method – at each point disordering our sensibilities and our assumptions as to what we do when we do feminist work.
Accurate measures of nematode fecundity can provide important information for investigating parasite life history evolution, transmission potential, and effects on host health. Understanding differences among fecundity assessment protocols and standardizing methods, where possible, will enable comparisons across different studies and host and parasite species and systems. Using the trichostrongyle nematode Cooperia fuelleborni isolated from wild African buffalo (Syncerus caffer), we compared egg recovery and enumeration between two methods for measuring the fecundity of female worms. The first method, in utero egg count, involves visual enumeration of the eggs via microscopic inspection of the uterine system. The second method, ex utero egg count, involves dissolving the same specimens from above in a sodium chloride solution to release the eggs from the female's uterus, then enumeration under an inverted microscope. On average, the ex utero method resulted in 34% more eggs than the in utero method. However, results indicate that the two methods used to quantify parasitic nematode fecundity are highly correlated. Thus, while both methods are viable options for estimating relative nematode fecundity, we recommend caution in undertaking comparative studies that utilize egg count data collected using different methods. ; National Science Foundation Ecology of Infectious Diseases Grant [DEB-1102493, EF-0723928]; Georgia Museum of Natural History's Joshua Laerm Academic Support Award for Undergraduate Research; NSFNational Science Foundation (NSF) [DEB-1102493]; NSF Population of Infectious Diseases REU Program at the University of Georgia [DBI-1156707] ; Many thanks to South Africa National Parks Veterinary Services for assistance with the animal capture operations. We thank R. Spaan, J. Spaan, A. Majewska, J. Alagappan, C. Becker, B. Beechler, E. Belinfante, E. Gorsich, C. Gondhalekar, C. Hebbale, T. Lavelle, L. Leathers, L. Megow, T. Mowla, A. Petrelli, K. Raum, N. Rogers, K. Sakamoto, P. Snyder, and M. Smith for invaluable assistance in the field and in the lab. All animal protocols were approved by the UGA Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (AUP#: A2013 08-017-Y1-A0; AUP#: A2010 10-190-Y3-A5). This work was funded by the National Science Foundation Ecology of Infectious Diseases Grant to VOE and AEJ (DEB-1102493, EF-0723928). LVA was supported by a Georgia Museum of Natural History's Joshua Laerm Academic Support Award for Undergraduate Research and an NSF REU supplement to DEB-1102493; JR was supported by the NSF Population of Infectious Diseases REU Program at the University of Georgia (DBI-1156707). ; Public domain authored by a U.S. government employee
Funded by Department of Energy and Climate Change (UK), BES, ASAB, Greenpeace, Environmental Trust, Scottish Natural Heritage, Scottish Government, Whale and Dolphin Conservation, Talisman Energy (UK) Ltd., DECC, Chevron, Natural Environment Research Council Acknowledgments Funding for this work was provided by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (UK). Photo-identification data were collected during a series of grants and contracts from the BES, ASAB, Greenpeace Environmental Trust, Scottish Natural Heritage, Scottish Government, Whale and Dolphin Conservation, Talisman Energy (UK) Ltd., DECC, Chevron, and the Natural Environment Research Council. All survey work was carried out under Scottish Natural Heritage Animal Scientific Licences. The authors have no conflict of interest to declare. We thank Mark Bravington for his helpful advice at the early stages of this work and two anonymous reviewers for their useful comments on the manuscript. ; Peer reviewed ; Publisher PDF
Stereology is the tridimensional interpretation of bidimensional sections of a structure, widely used in fields such as mineralogy, medicine, and biology. This paper proposes a general software to do stereological analysis, called STERapp, with a friendly graphical interface to enable expert supervision. It includes a module to estimate fish fecundity (number of mature oocytes in the ovary), which has been used by experts in fish biology in two Spanish marine research centers since 2020 to estimate the fecundity of five fish species with different reproductive strategies and oocytes characteristics. This module encloses advanced computer vision and machine learning techniques to automatically recognize and classify the cells in histological images of fish gonads. The automatic recognition algorithm achieved a sensitivity of 55.6%, a specificity of 64.8%, and an average precision of 43.1%. The accuracies achieved for oocyte classification were 84.5% for the maturity stages and 78.5% for the classification regarding presence/absence of the nucleus. This facilitates the analysis and saves experts' time. Hence, the SUS questionnaire reported a mean score of 81.9, which means that the system was perceived from good to excellent to develop stereological analysis for the estimation of fish fecundity ; This work received financial support from the Xunta de Galicia (Centro singular de investigación de Galicia, accreditation 2020–2023) and the European Union (European Regional Development Fund—ERDF), Project MTM2016-76969-P, as well as from the National Program of collection, management, and use of data in the fisheries sector and support for scientific advice regarding the Common Fisheries Policy (co-funded by the European Union through the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund) in the provision of histological images of Atlantic mackerel and Roughhead grenadier ; SI
SummaryIn 1966, a National Survey on Fecundity and Fertility was organized in Belgium. Approximately 3000 married women under 41 years of age and living with their husbands were interviewed and asked about their reproductive histories. The present paper records the sociobiological aims and methods and some preliminary results of this survey. The aims were to:(1) study the influences of contraception on human needs and qualities, in this case mainly potential fecundity;(2) study the influence of attempts to increase the potential fecundity level in modern society on fecundity gene frequencies;(3) study the influences of the overall socio-cultural environment on fecundity and fertility variables with particular reference to differences in social status in Western society;(4) analyse the role of social assortment of fecundity and fertility variables on the biological structure, and possibly the composition, of modern populations.A relatively large, but far from complete body of data has been collected on a number of individual fecundity and fertility variables, on the medical processes employed to increase fecundity, on contraception, and on a number of conventional sociological and demographic variables.The principles underlying the present approach to the study of fecundity are explained, and a few preliminary results for one of the general fecundity classifications are shown.The information collected on contraception has been qualitatively analysed and a correction and evaluation method is described. Data on the use of the different contraceptive methods show that substantial sections of the Belgian population are limiting their family size in a way which is inefficient, from both sexual and familial standpoints.
In: Human biology: the international journal of population genetics and anthropology ; the official publication of the American Association of Anthropological Genetics, Band 79, Heft 5, S. 479-490
The population of noble crayfish (Astacus astacus) was researched in quarries of an old brick plant in Molodechno district of Minsk region. Rare disappearing noble crayfish was found in 10 closed quarries. The presence of crayfish in closed quarries that are not connected with watercourses indicates that these populations were created by man. The population of noble crayfish in the quarries of an old brick factory is characterized by a high number. The average catch by eel traps was 1.31 ± 0.77 individuals/trap/day. Crayfish in the first and second year of life grew faster in quarries than in other habitats, but subsequently the average size of individuals in the quarry was smaller in comparison with the general model of noble crayfish growth in Belarus. Individuals that were older than 6 years have not been found in quarries. This indicates that there are factors that determine high mortality rate in older age groups. However, favorable conditions for the growth of juveniles allow the population to maintain their numbers at a high level. The reason for this phenomenon remains unknown. The size of noble crayfish individuals reaching puberty and the fertility is comparable to those from other habitats. In the quarry, the minimum length of an oviparous female was 7.2 cm. Egg-laying females in the 7.0-7.9 cm size class were 16.7 %, in the 8.0-8.9 cm size class - 38.8, in the 9.0-9.9 cm size class - 70.6 %, in the size class of 10.0-10.9 cm all the females were oviparous.The population of noble crayfish from the quarries of Molodechno district should be considered as donor population for carrying out resettlement into the water bodies of the river Neman.
Common carp Cyprinus carpio is one of the top global invasive vertebrates and can cause significant ecological damage. The Australian Government's National Carp Control Program (NCCP) proposes to release Koi herpesvirus (KHV) to eradicate feral carp in one of the largest ecological interventions ever attempted. Ecological and human health risks have been highlighted regarding the release of a highly pathogenic viral biocontrol for an aquatic species. The efficacy of KHV has also been questioned, and it has not been demonstrated to produce lasting population reductions. We developed an individual-based model (IBM) to examine the ecological and evolutionary response of a carp population after KHV release. This simulated the interaction between fish life history, viral epidemiology, host genetic resistance and population demography to critically evaluate the impact of KHV release under optimal conditions and a 'best-case scenario' for disease transmission. KHV will rarely result in prolonged reductions or population extinctions. Crucially, realistic scenarios result in a rapidly rebounding population of resistant individuals. Additional measures aimed to reduce carp population recovery rate (e.g. with genetic engineering) require rapid efficacy to significantly reduce carp numbers alongside KHV. Fish fecundity has an overwhelming influence on viral efficacy as a biocontrol agent when combined with genetic resistance within a population. A high probability of population extinction is only met when carp fecundity is reduced to 1% of biological observations. Synthesis and applications. We use an individual-based model to evaluate the efficacy of Koi herpesvirus biocontrol in Common Carp, and find that high host fecundity combined with genetic resistance results in rapid population rebound after initial large fish kills. Biocontrol approaches relying on natural selection lose efficacy over successive generations as resistance genes increase in frequency. Given the intense logistical effort and risks to ecosystems and human health associated with large fish kills after viral release, we suggest that sustained manual removal, alongside ecological restoration to favour recovery of native species, provides a risk-free approach to reducing populations.
In: Ecotoxicology and environmental safety: EES ; official journal of the International Society of Ecotoxicology and Environmental safety, Band 171, S. 871-877