Shark Side of the Moon: Are Shark Attacks Related to Lunar Phase?

Animals across taxa have shown behaviors linked to moon phase (or the proxy of lunar illumination), and marine organisms are well-documented to calibrate certain activities with the moon. Few studies have looked at a possible connection between moon phase and shark attacks on humans, and the results have been preliminary or lacking relationships. We used nearly 50 years of shark attack data from across the globe to test for a relationship between shark attacks and moon phase. We examined factors of geography, shark species, and outcome of attack. From 12 relationships that we tested (totaling 120 comparisons), we found 12 significant outcomes, of which five were positive (i.e., more attacks than expected) and seven were negative (i.e., fewer attacks than expected). Specifically, all the instances of more shark attacks than expected occurred at lunar illumination >50%, while all the instances of fewer shark attacks than expected occurred at lunar illumination of <50%. The findings presented here provide global evidence that shark attacks may be related to moon phase, and such information could be useful toward evaluating attack risk and developing recommendations for water-based recreational activities.

Morfometri, Pemijahan, dan Indeks Kematangan Gonad Teripang Komersial di Perairan Pulau Nyamuk, Karimunjawa

Sea cucumbers are marine organisms that live in coral reef ecosystem habitats and their associations. Sea cucumbers have been used by communities as food, cosmetics and traditional medicine in various countries. The benefits and high economic value of sea cucumbers make fisheries activities occured massively and continuously. Sea cucumbers were large commodity from Indonesian waters. However, until now it has not received proportional attention. The lack of information on morphometry, spawning in various regions has made the commodity of sea cucumbers decreased. This research was conducted to determine the character of commercial sea cucumber commodities in Pulau Nyamuk, to the occurrence of spawning based on the moon phase. This research was conducted in September - November 2020. This research method uses an analysis approach of gonadal maturity index in determining the spawning of sea cucumbers. The results showed that commercial sea cucumbers in Pulau Nyamuk were Pisang (Holothuria sp.) and Gamat (Stichopus sp.) Sea cucumber. This sea cucumber weighs 300-690 grams wet. Sea Cucumbers, Pisang and Gamat tend to have high IKG values in the new moon phase with IKG index values >10%. Teripang merupakan organisme laut yang hidup pada habitat ekosistem terumbu karang dan asosiasinya. Teripang telah dimanfaatkan oleh masyarakat di sekitar pantai sebagai bahan makanan, kosmetik serta obat tradisional di berbagai negara. Manfaat serta nilai ekonomi teripang yang tinggi membuat aktivitas pemburuan terjadi secara masif dan terus menerus. Teripang juga merupakan komoditas besar yang berasal dari Perairan Indonesia. Namun hingga saat ini belum memperoleh perhatian yang proporsional. Minimnya informasi mengenai morfometri, pemijahan di berbagai daerah membuat komoditas teripang turun secara drastis. Penelitian ini dilakukan untuk mengetahui karakter komoditas teripang komersial di Pulau Nyamuk, hingga terjadinya pemijahan berdasarkan fase bulan. Penelitian ini bulan September - November 2020 di Perairan Pulau Nyamuk Kecamatan Karimunjawa, Kabupaten Jepara. Metode penelitian ini menggunakan pendekatan analisis indeks kematangan gonad dalam menentukan pemijahan teripang. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa teripang komersial di Pulau Nyamuk adalah jenis teripang Pisang (Holothuria sp.) dan Gamat (Stichopus sp.). Teripang ini mempunyai berat 300-690 gram basah. Teripang Pisang dan Gamat cenderung mempunyai nilai IKG yang tinggi pada bulan baru dengan nilai indeks IKG >10%.

Relationship of lunar phases and sex of the foetus: a retrospective study

Background: The relation of lunar phases at the time of conception to the sex of the child at birth has been touted as a method of sex selection by various birth calendars with controversial results. It is made to believe that indeed there is a relation of lunar phase at the time of conception/intercourse which results in birth of a particular gender. The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of the lunar phase on the possible relationship between lunar position at EDD/LMP and the gender of the child.Methods: One thousand and five deliveries were retrospectively analysed from 1 January 2016 to 31 December 2018 at the department of obstetrics and gynaecology of military hospital, Gwalior (latitude and longitude coordinates: 26.218287, 78.182831). Females having regular menstrual periods history around conception and in general their periods have been normal and regular were included in the study. Females having irregular menstrual periods history or having oligomenorrhoea/polymenorrhoea, ART/IVF conceptions were excluded from the study. Exact lunar phases were determined at the time of EDD and not with their LMP since that would automatically corelate well with LMP because of regularity of their periods. The actual date of birth was not considered while corelating with moon phase because of obvious reason of unexpected timing of labour.Results: The analysis revealed no significant correlation of gender of the child to lunar phases at EDD. This would indirectly corelate well with the LMP since the inclusion criterion had females having normal and regular menstrual periods.Conclusions: There is no predictable influence of the lunar phase on the gender of the baby. As expected, and in agreement with some recent studies this pervasive myth is not evidence based.

Pengukuran Kecerahan Langit Arah Zenit di Medan dan Serdang Bedagai Menggunakan Sky Quality Meter

Light pollution is a worldwide problem that affects fewer stars that can be seen at night. This study aims to measure the brightness of the sky in the zenith direction to minimize the effect of light pollution in observing celestial bodies. The research used the observation method of sky brightness level with SQM. Measurement of sky brightness was carried out in two places, namely in Medan and Serdang Bedagai. The SQM is mounted in a zenith direction and set to retrieve data every two seconds. Observations were made on November 10-13, 2018, during the new moon phase. The average value of sky brightness obtained in Medan is 18.05 mpsas and the NELM value is 4.00. Based on the Bortle scale, Medan is included in the ninth class area, namely the inner-city sky. Meanwhile, the average value of sky brightness obtained in Serdang Bedagai is 19.69 mpsas and the NELM value is 5.26. Based on the Bortle scale, Serdang Bedagai belongs to the sixth class area, namely bright suburban sky.

Relationship Between Multi-Factors and Short-Term Changes in Fishery Resources

The objective of this research is to explore the relationships among various multidimensional factor groups and the density of fishery resources of ecosystems in offshore waters and to expand the application of deep machine learning algorithm in this field. Based on XGBoost and random forest algorithms, we first conducted regulatory importance ranking analysis on the time factor, space factor, acoustic technology factor, abiotic factor, and acoustic density of offshore fishery resources in the South China Sea. Based on these analyses, data slicing is carried out for multiple factors and acoustic density, and the relationship between multidimensional factor group and the density of marine living resources in the ecosystem of offshore waters is elaborately compared and analyzed. Importance ranking shows that the concentration of active silicate at 20 m depth, water depth, moon phase perfection, and the number of pulses per unit distance (Ping) are the first-order factors with a cumulative contribution rate of 50%. The comparative analysis shows that there are some complex relationships between the multidimensional factor group and the density of marine biological resources. Within a certain range, one factor strengthens the influence of another factor. When Si20 is in the range of 0–0.1, and the moon-phase perfection is in the range of 0.3–1, both Si20 and moon-phase perfection strengthened the positive influence of water depth on the density of fishery biological resources.

Abiotic and Biotic Influences on the Movement of Reintroduced Chinese Giant Salamanders (Andrias davidianus) in Two Montane Rivers

Understanding animal movement is a key question in ecology and biodiversity conservation, which is particularly important for the success of reintroduction projects. The movement of critically endangered Chinese giant salamander (Andrias davidianus) remains poorly understood due to the rareness of wild individuals of this species. We lack movement details about the full annual cycle after reintroduction, especially the abiotic and biotic influences that affect its movement. We utilized pilot reintroduction projects as opportunities to fill in some knowledge gaps on their movement ecology. We released 31 juvenile captive-reared Chinese giant salamanders of two age groups in two rivers in the Qinling Mountains of central China and monitored their daily movements for 16 months using surgically implanted radio transmitters. We examined the impacts of individual traits (body mass, body condition) and environmental conditions (temperature, precipitation, and moon phase) on their daily movement patterns. Data were analyzed using a mixed-effects logistic regression model to understand the drivers of their movement tendency (i.e., whether they move or not) and a linear mixed-effects model was used to understand the drivers of their movement distance. We found that movement tendency of the older salamander cohort was positively affected by the moon phase, increasing near the Full Moon, whereas the younger cohort of animals were not impacted by the moon phase. For daily distance moved, we found temperature had a strong positive effect on both cohorts, whereas precipitation had moderate but opposite effects on the two cohorts Body mass and body condition did not have any significant impacts on either age classes’ movement tendency or distance. This study provides insight into the abiotic factors that impact the temporal and spatial movement ecology of reintroduced giant salamander, which will in turn help with designing best practices for future releases and conservation of this iconic montane aquatic predator.

A Cryptochrome adopts distinct moon- and sunlight states and functions as moonlight interpreter in monthly oscillator entrainment

Measuring time by the moon's monthly cycles is a wide-spread phenomenon and crucial for successful reproduction in countless marine organisms. In several species, such as the mass-spawning bristle worm Platynereis dumerilii, an endogenous monthly oscillator synchronizes reproduction to specific days. Classical work showed that this oscillator is set by full moon. But how do organisms recognize this specific moon phase? We uncover L-Cry's involvement: photoreduction and recovery kinetics of its co-factor FAD differ strongly when purified L-Cry is exposed to naturalistic moonlight, naturalistic sunlight, or their different successions. L-Cry's sun- versus moonlight states correlate with distinct sub-cellular localizations, indicating differential signalling. These properties enable a discrimination between sun- and moonlight, as well as moonlight duration as a moon phase indicator. Consistently, l-cry mutants re-entrain their circalunar phase less well than wild-type to naturalistic moonlight. But under artificially strong nocturnal light, l-cry mutants re-entrain faster than wildtype, suggesting that L-Cry at least partly blocks "wrong" light from impacting on this oscillator. Our work provides a new level of functional understanding of moon-regulated biological processes.

The Influence of Lunar Phase on the Germination of Creole Corn in a Controlled Environment

Although the influence of lunar phase on plant growth and development has been disregarded by most researchers, there is still little data in the literature regarding the influence of lunar phase within a controlled environment. Objective evaluates the influence of lunar phase on the germination of creole corn and on seedling development in a controlled environment. The experimental design was completely randomized with the following treatments: four lunar phases (full, waxing, waning and new), with four replications totaling 50 seeds per treatment. The treatments started on the first day of the waxing phase and extended to the full phase within the same month, respecting the germination period (nine days) and the length of each moon phase (roughly seven days). The following parameters were evaluated: germination rate, seedling length, fresh and dry weight of shoots and roots. Seedlings germinated during the waning lunar phase were longer and had greater fresh root weight and greater fresh and dry shoot weights than did seedlings germinated during the other phases. However, some limiting factors (long term experiments and in different places in the world) must be considered in future research to determine whether moon phase affects germination. Thus, longer-term, controlled, and modeled studies are needed to analyze external factors, which may influence the germination of cultivar seeds.