Hornera currieae n. sp. (Cyclostomatida: Horneridae): a new bathyal cyclostome bryozoan with reproductively induced skeletal plasticity

Zootaxa ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 5020 (2) ◽  
pp. 257-287
Author(s):  
PETER B. BATSON ◽  
YUTA TAMBERG ◽  
DENNIS P. GORDON ◽  
MARIANNE NEGRINI ◽  
ABIGAIL M. SMITH

Here we describe a new hornerid, Hornera currieae n. sp. (Bryozoa: Cyclostomatida) from bathyal depths across the New Zealand region. Colonies are irregular, finely branched fans attaining ~40 mm or more in height. Key characters include: (1) thick, semi-hyaline porcellanous skeleton; (2) loss or reduction of nervi (longitudinal striae) away from growing tips; (3) sparse, threadlike cancelli; and (4) small (61–87 µm), widely spaced autozooidal apertures. Diagnostic hornerid traits possessed by H. currieae n. sp. include vertical ancestrular tube, periancestrular budding of daughter zooids, and skeletal ultrastructure dominated by hexagonal semi-nacre grading to pseudofoliated fabric. The abfrontal incubation chamber develops from a cryptic tube arising from the frontally positioned aperture of the fertile zooid. We used SEM, micro-CT and electron backscatter diffractometry (EBSD) to investigate the ultrastructure and internal architecture of H. currieae n. sp. EBSD reveals that crystalline c-axes of laminated crystallites are perpendicular to skeletal walls. Threadlike cancelli, which traverse secondary calcification, connect autozooidal chambers to the colony-wide hypostegal cavity. Micro-CT reveals that abfrontal cancelli usually bend proximally towards the base, but turn distally towards reproductively active regions of the colony in synchrony with gonozooid development. The zone of affected cancelli extends for 4–7 branch internodes below the gonozooid. We assessed whether skeletal ultrastructure was similarly affected, but neither cancellus direction, nor gonozooid proximity, were predictive of the crystallite imbrication direction. We hypothesise that (1) hornerid cancelli are active conduits for colonial metabolite transport and (2) that changes in gradients of metabolites and/or reproductive morphogens within the hypostegal cavity affect cancellus morphogenesis. Potentially, H. currieae n. sp. skeletons may preserve a record of intra-colony metabolite translocation dynamics over time.  

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Joy ◽  
KJ Foote ◽  
P McNie ◽  
M Piria

© 2019 CSIRO. The number of New Zealand's freshwater fish listed as threatened has increased since 1992 when the first New Zealand threat classification system list was compiled. In this study, temporal and land cover-related trends were analysed for data on freshwater fish distribution, comprising more than 20 000 records for the 47 years from January 1970 to January 2017 from the New Zealand Freshwater Fish Database. The analysis included individual species abundance and distribution trends, as well as an index of fish community integrity, namely the Index of Biotic Integrity (IBI). Of the 25 fish species that met the requirements for analysis to determine changes in the proportion of sites they occupied over time, 76% had negative trends (indicating declining occurrence). Of the 20 native species analysed for the proportion of sites occupied over time, 75% had negative trends; 65% of these were significant declines and more species were in decline at pasture sites than natural cover sites. The average IBI score also declined over the time period and, when analysed separately, the major land cover types revealed that the IBI declined at pasture catchment sites but not at sites with natural vegetation catchments.


2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 86-107
Author(s):  
Azadeh Nilipour ◽  
Tracy-Anne de Silva ◽  
Xuedong Li

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nayyereh Aminisani ◽  
Chris Stephens ◽  
Fiona Alpass ◽  
Seyed Morteza Shamshirgaran

Abstract Background: This study aimed to examine the association of Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQOL) and multimorbidity (MM) and its correlates over time in New Zealand. Methods: People aged 55 years and over were invited to participate in a nationally representative population-based longitudinal study in 2006 and followed up biennially until 2016. Generalized Estimating Equations (GEE) with an exchangeable correlation matrix and robust standard errors adjusted for both time-constant and time-varying factors using baseline and five subsequent waves of data were used, to compare a range of factors related to changes in MM and HRQOL. Results: Of 2632 participants at baseline, 957 of the participants were classified as “MM participants”; 570 had two, and the rest had three chronic conditions. The results of the GEE regression models demonstrated that SF12-PCS decreased over time, and there was a significant difference in SF12-PCS between MM and Non-MM participants. Having MM was negatively associated with HRQOL-PCS [-3.00 (95 %CI -3.60, -2.49); p <0.001)]. Although the results showed an increase in SF12-MCS over time, the score of the mental dimension of HRQOL was lower among MM participants compared to Non-MM participants [-2.60, 95 %CI -3.09, -2.11]. Conclusions: According to this longitudinal study, there is an inverse association between MM and one of the most important health outcomes; HRQOL, in older adults.


2020 ◽  
pp. 450-476
Author(s):  
Nicola Peart ◽  
Prue Vines

New Zealand and Australia are named in that order in the title because New Zealand was the first to develop the discretionary family provision jurisdiction, in 1900, that now applies in New Zealand, Australia, and much of the common law world. This allows courts to make awards to family members from the estate of the deceased. Originally benefitting only the surviving spouse and children, family provision has extended the rules of eligibility in line with changes in the meaning of ‘family’. So as well as spouses, claims can also, in many of the Australasian jurisdictions, be made by civil partners, cohabitants, and same-sex partners. Most jurisdictions have also broadened the class of eligible children to include grandchildren and stepchildren who were being maintained by the deceased as well as children born of new reproductive techniques. Both New Zealand and Australia have significant indigenous populations and their eligibility to claim family provision is modified to accord with their customary law. Over time, the courts have adopted a much broader view of a deceased’s ‘moral duty’ to his or her family, particularly in regard to claims by adult children. The size of awards has increased correspondingly. The chapter discusses this development, as well as the increasing relevance of Indigenous customary law and how the courts deal with disentitling conduct. In view of the greatly expanded scope of family provision in New Zealand and Australia, testamentary freedom may be only an illusion in these jurisdictions.


2019 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 205031211987106
Author(s):  
Judy Wang ◽  
Jasamine Coles-Black ◽  
Matija Radojcic ◽  
Jason Chuen ◽  
Philip Smart

Objectives: High-quality research is fundamental to the advancement of surgical practice. Currently, there is no quantitative assessment of the research output of vascular surgeons in Australia and New Zealand. By conducting this bibliometric analysis, we aim to provide an objective representation of the trends in vascular surgery and guide future research. Methods: A list of all current vascular surgeons in Australia and New Zealand was compiled from the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons ‘Find a Surgeon’ website tool and correlated with the Australia and New Zealand Society for Vascular Surgery database. A Scopus search of each surgeon’s author profile over the last 20 years was conducted. Results: In total, 2120 articles were published by 208 Australasian vascular surgeons between 1998 and July 2018, with an overall increase in publications over time. Audits or case series were the most published type of study and only 8% of the publications were of high-level evidence. The most popular topics were thoracoabdominal aortic pathologies (24%), followed by peripheral arterial disease (15%). Chronological analysis illustrates an increasing volume of peripheral arterial disease research over time and there is a clear trend towards more endovascular and hybrid surgery publications. The top 10 (5%) highest publishing authors by h-index account for 41% of all publications and 49% of all citations and are also responsible for producing significantly more high-level evidence research. Conclusion: Australasian vascular surgeons have made a significant contribution to medical research. However, the majority of these articles are of low-level evidence. In this time, there has been an increasing number of publications on endovascular and hybrid surgery in keeping with the trend in clinical practice. These areas, as well as research regarding peripheral arterial disease, show potential for high-evidence research in the future.


Urban Science ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristian Silva

Urban sprawl has been discussed extensively with regard to its negative impacts. On this basis, regulations have been put in place to control sprawling suburbanization, including the establishment of restricted areas for expansion defined by administrative urban boundaries. Overall, these measures have not been at all successful, considering that city-regions continue to expand inorganically, often reinforcing urban sprawl patterns. As clear evidence of the weaknesses of planning regimes of control, these unsuccessful attempts are partly explained by a series of policy ambiguities that contradict the meaning of planning as a prescriptive discipline. This ambiguity is justified by the need to frame flexible regulations that allow adaptation to unforeseen events over time. In this paper, using the case of Auckland, New Zealand, it is demonstrated that instead of planning flexibility, there is planning “ambiguity” accompanied by weak opposition from rural regimes, which deliberately contributes to urban sprawl. This is relevant considering that the inorganic encroachment of rural lands diminishes the huge environmental potential of the peri-urban space of Auckland, its ecosystem services, and agricultural activities—all elements that encourage the creation of more environmentally sustainable peripheral landscapes as a counterpoint to traditional sprawling suburbanization.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthias Seidel ◽  
Yûsuke N. Minoshima ◽  
Richard A. B. Leschen ◽  
Martin Fikácek

The New Zealand endemic beetle genus Saphydrus Sharp, 1884 (Coleoptera:Hydrophilidae:Cylominae) is studied in order to understand its phylogenetic position, species-level systematics, biology and distribution, and to reveal reasons for its rarity. The first complete genus-level phylogeny of Cylominae based on two mitochondrial (cox1, 16S) and two nuclear genes (18S, 28S) covering 18 of 19 genera of the subfamily reveals Saphydrus as an isolated lineage situated in a clade with Cylorygmus (South America), Relictorygmus (South Africa) and Eurygmus (Australia). DNA is used to associate two larval morphotypes with Saphydrus: one of them represents the larvae of S. suffusus Sharp, 1884; the other, characterised by unique characters of the head and prothorax morphology, is revealed as sister but not closely related to Saphydrus. It is described here as Enigmahydrus, gen. nov. with a single species, E. larvalis, sp. nov., whose adult stage remains unknown. Saphydrus includes five species, two of which (S. moeldnerae, sp. nov. and S. tanemahuta, sp. nov.) are described as new. Larvae of Enigmahydrus larvalis and Saphydrus suffusus are described and illustrated in detail based on DNA-identified specimens. Candidate larvae for Saphydrus obesus Sharp, 1884 and S. tanemahuta are illustrated and diagnosed. Specimen data are used to evaluate the range, altitudinal distribution, seasonality and population dynamics over time for all species. Strongly seasonal occurrence of adults combined with other factors (winter occurrence in S. obesus, occurrence at high altitudes in S. tanemahuta) is hypothesised as the primary reason of the rarity for Saphydrus species. By contrast, Enigmahydrus larvalis underwent a strong decline in population number and size since the 1970s and is currently known from a single, locally limited population; we propose the ‘nationally threatened’ status for this species. http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:28D87163-29E8-418C-9380-262D3038023A


2017 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 200-213 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samantha Stronge ◽  
Petar Milojev ◽  
Chris G. Sibley

It is a common conception that entitlement is increasing among younger generations over time. However, although there is some evidence for this trend, other findings are less conclusive. The current research investigated change in psychological entitlement across the adult lifespan for men and women (ages 19-74), using six annual waves of data (2009-2014) from the New Zealand Attitudes and Values Study ( N = 10,412). We employed Cohort-Sequential Latent Growth Modeling to assess mean-level change in entitlement. Entitlement was found to be generally unchanging over time for both men and women, with only those aged 65 and above showing increasing entitlement. Entitlement showed a steady downward trend across age. These findings from a large national probability sample suggest that change in entitlement may follow a decreasing developmental trend across the lifespan. In New Zealand, at least, there is no evidence for a narcissism epidemic.


2019 ◽  
Vol 100 (6) ◽  
pp. 1726-1749 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heather A York ◽  
Bernal Rodríguez-Herrera ◽  
Richard K Laval ◽  
Robert M Timm ◽  
Kaitlin E Lindsay

Abstract With more than 1,400 species of bats described worldwide, the order Chiroptera is second only to rodents in ecological and taxonomic diversity. Bats play critically important roles in natural systems as seed and pollen dispersers, predators of invertebrates and vertebrates, and sanguinivores. The Central American countries of Costa Rica and Nicaragua have at least 123 species of bats (in nine families and 66 genera), or nearly 10% of the world's known species. Because of the importance of proper species identification for ecological and systematic studies and conservation efforts, we present a dichotomous key to the bats of this region. Our goal is the positive, in-hand identification of living bats that may be released unharmed after identification. Identifying Neotropical bats and understanding the taxonomic changes that affect the names used for the various species over time can be a challenge. This key includes the 123 species known to occur in Costa Rica and Nicaragua as well as three that are expected to occur in these countries but which have not yet been recorded. We provide illustrations of key characters useful for differentiating bats to species and updated taxonomic notes to assist the reader in assessing the literature. Con más de 1,400 especies de murciélagos descritos en todo el mundo, el orden Chiroptera es el segundo más diverso después de los roedores respecto a taxonomía. Los murciélagos juegan papeles de importancia crítica en los sistemas naturales como dispersores de semillas, polinizadores, depredadores de vertebrados e invertebrados, así como hematófagos. Costa Rica y Nicaragua presentan al menos 123 especies de murciélagos (en 9 familias y 66 géneros), casi el 10% de las especies conocidas en el mundo. Debido a la importancia de la identificación precisa de las especies para los estudios ecológicos, sistemáticos y de conservación, presentamos una clave dicotómica para los murciélagos de esta región. Nuestro objetivo es la identificación correcta con los murciélagos in vivo y que se pueden liberar sin daño después de la identificación. La caracterización de los murciélagos neotropicales y el seguimiento del estatus taxonómico de cada especie puede ser un reto en el proceso de identificación. Esta clave incluye las 123 especies conocidas en Costa Rica y Nicaragua, así como 3 no registradas pero con distribución potencial. Proporcionamos ilustraciones de características claves útiles para diferenciar murciélagos al nivel de la especie y notas taxonómicas actualizadas para ayudar al lector a la identificación.


2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (11) ◽  
pp. 92 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rick Kool ◽  
Judy Lawrence ◽  
Martin Drews ◽  
Robert Bell

Sea-level rise increasingly affects low-lying and exposed coastal communities due to climate change. These communities rely upon the delivery of stormwater and wastewater services which are often co-located underground in coastal areas. Due to sea-level rise and associated compounding climate-related hazards, managing these networks will progressively challenge local governments as climate change advances. Thus, responsible agencies must reconcile maintaining Levels of Service as the impacts of climate change worsen over the coming decades and beyond. A critical question is whether such networks can continue to be adapted/protected over time to retain Levels of Service, or whether eventual retreat may be the only viable adaptation option? If so, at what performance threshold? In this paper, we explore these questions for stormwater and wastewater, using a dynamic adaptive pathway planning (DAPP) approach designed to address thresholds and increasing risk over time. Involving key local stakeholders, we here use DAPP to identify thresholds for stormwater and wastewater services and retreat options, and for developing a comprehensive and area-specific retreat strategy comprising pathway portfolios, retreat phases, potential land use changes, and for exploring pathway conflicts and synergies. The result is a prototype for an area near Wellington, New Zealand, where a managed retreat of water infrastructure is being considered at some future juncture. Dynamic adaptive strategies for managed retreats can help to reduce future disruption from coastal flooding, signal land use changes early, inform maintenance, and allow for gradual budget adjustments by the agencies that can manage expenditure over time. We present this stepwise process in a pathway form that can be communicated spatially and visually, thereby making a retreat a more manageable, sequenced, adaptation option for water agencies, and the communities they serve.


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