Emplacement of the Photovoltaic Water Pumping System in Remote Areas by a Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Method: A Case Study

Utilizing the solar energy from photovoltaic panels integrated into a water pumping system to provide electricity for dispersed villages that have no access to backup systems not only reduces the electricity grid costs and environmental pollutants but also is an innovative approach in areas with sufficient solar irradiation. Therefore, identifying and studying the feasibility of stand-alone solar power plants in various locations is the first step in using this reliable source of energy. For this reason, 93 sites in the provinces of Razavi Khorasan, Northern Khorasan, and Southern Khorasan, Iran, were chosen by the renewable energy organization engineers as regions with high potential for establishing a solar water pumping station. The goals of this research were to prioritize the 93 sites and find the perfect location for the establishment of the aforementioned station. In order to investigate and prioritize these sites, a multi-criteria decision-making method, namely, TOPSIS (technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution), has been used. Therefore, the geographical locations of the sites and the weather in these provinces have been studied; consequently, 15 important and essential criteria, including slope, solar irradiation, precipitation, wind speed, relative humidity, altitude, distance from substation, distance from grid, obtainable solar energy capacity, distance from river, population, distance from city center, distance from road, average temperature, and number of dams in the vicinity of the site, have been chosen. All the aforementioned criteria have been weighted using the Shannon entropy method, and then the sites have been prioritized using the TOPSIS method. The results indicated that Sarayan, Isk, Esfadan, and Dasht Byaz in Southern Khorasan and then Beydokht 2 in Razavi Khorasan are the top five locations and Shosef in Southern Khorasan is the least favorite location for establishing a solar pumping station. In order to achieve more reliable results, sensitivity analysis was implemented.

Balancing Selection in Structured Populations of Three-Spined Sticklebacks

Balancing selection describes evolutionary processes that maintain genetic diversity. To date, the number of impacted genes and underlying biological functions remain elusive. Using 60 three-spined stickleback genomes (Gasterosteus aculeatus) from five recently diverged lake-river population-pairs, we performed genome-wide scans across two levels of organization: population-pairs and populations. We overlapped Tajima’s D and Watterson’s estimator metrics and verified signals with additional summary statistics, and evaluated alternative explanations: neutral evolution, population structure, associated overdominance, or demographic change. Candidate windows exhibiting signals of balancing selection spanned 2.31% (population-pair) and 3.10% (population) of the autosomes. These candidate windows had extended linkage disequilibrium and were enriched in intergenic and non-synonymous SNPs. We identified 715 (population-pair) and 1,010 (population) candidate genes under balancing selection. Importantly, using conservative thresholds, we found a small proportion of candidate genes overlapped with highly differentiated loci or regions of potential associated overdominance. There was little evidence of confounding effects originating from demographic change. Overall, candidate genes under balancing selection were associated with functions related to interactions with the environment (olfaction and receptor signalling pathways). Our results demonstrate selection that maintains standing genetic variation is common and evolves in response to local environmental pressures, playing an important role in adaptation.

Models and spatial patterns of deforestation in the Jeneberang watershed

Deforestation is an event of permanent land cover change from forest cover to non-forest cover. Deforestation events are very influential on the condition of a watershed area. One of the watersheds on the island of Sulawesi that has become a concern is the Jeneberang watershed because of its influence on the city of Makassar and is a priority watershed in Indonesia. This study aims to analyze the model and spatial pattern of deforestation in the Jeneberang watershed. The deforestation analysis model uses the binary logistic regression method by including factors such as a river, population density, road, count, and slope. Analysis of the spatial pattern of deforestation using Fragstat software based on three indices to describe the spatial pattern, namely the Clumpiness Index, Contiguity Mean Index, and Patch Density. The model of deforestation in the Jeneberang watershed shows the road network factor that has the most influence on the occurrence of deforestation. The road network is quite high in all areas in the Jeneberang watershed including the upstream part as a protection zone. The road network serves as community access between villages and sub-districts in Gowa Regency and connects other regencies such as Sinjai, Takalar, and Jeneponto. The spatial pattern of deforestation in the Jeneberang watershed is grouping, the level of connectivity is high, and it is not fragmented. This pattern shows that deforestation occurs in groups, is interconnected with previously deforested areas, and has a fairly large area. This pattern occurs at a relatively low rate and remains the same when the deforestation rate increases or decreases.

Does the Garra population (Teleostei: Cyprinidae: Labeoninae) from the Kol River drainage, Persian Gulf basin merit formal description?

Recognizing and defining a species has been a controversial concern for a long time. To define the variation and the limitation between different species, especially closely related taxa in a complex species group, several concepts have been proposed which may lead to different taxonomic decisions. When a taxonomist studies a specific taxon, she/he should adopt a species concept and provide a species limitation to define the studied taxa. Garra population from the Kol River drainage, Persian Gulf basin has already been considered as Garra sp., based on molecular data, and to date no taxonomic decision has been made to provide a specific name for it. The Kol population presents several morphological characters that distinguish it from congeners: fully scaled breast; 7–8 ½ branched dorsal-fin rays; caudal fin with 16–17 branched rays and well-developed mental disc with free lateral and posterior margins. It is also distinguished from all other congeners in the Garra rufa group in Iran, by having two fixed, diagnostic nucleotide substitutions in the mtDNA COI barcode region. Furthermore, the Kol population demonstrates some distinct osteological characteristics in comparison to its closest species G. mondica. Based on the integrative molecular phylogenetic and species delimitation analyses, and morphological, osteological and distribution range data presented here, we think that the Kol River population merits formal description and can be considered as a distinct taxonomic unit (species).

Chronic temperature stress effects on the liver proteome of two threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) populations using a novel DIA assay library

A data-independent acquisition (DIA) assay library was generated for the liver of threespine sticklebacks to evaluate alterations in protein abundance and functional enrichment of molecular pathways following either chronic warm (25°C) or cold (7°C) three-week temperature challenge in two estuarine populations. The DIA assay library was created from a data-dependent acquisition (DDA) based raw spectral library that was filtered to remove low quality or ambiguous peptides. Functional enrichment analyses using STRING identified larger networks that were significantly enriched by examining both the entire liver proteome and only significantly elevated or depleted proteins from the various comparisons. These systems level analyses revealed the unique liver proteomic signatures of two populations of threespine sticklebacks acclimated to chronic temperature stress. The Big lagoon population (BL) had a stronger response than the Klamath river population (KL). At 7°C, BL showed alterations in protein homeostasis that likely fueled a higher demand for energy, but both populations successfully acclimated to this temperature. The warm acclimation induced major increases in proteins involved in chromatin structure and transcription, while there were decreases in proteins related to translation and fatty acid metabolism. Functional enrichment analyses of the entire liver proteome uncovered differences in glycolysis and carbohydrate metabolism between the two populations and between the cold acclimated and control groups. We conclude that the synchronous regulatory patterns of many proteins observed in the liver of threespine sticklebacks provide more comprehensive insight into population-specific responses to thermal stress than the use of less specific pre-determined biomarkers.

Spatial Distribution and Land Use of Traditional Villages in Southwest China

Traditional villages are the historical and cultural heritage of people around the world. With the increases in urbanization and industrialization, the continuation of traditional villages and the inheritance of historical and cultural heritage are facing risk. Therefore, to grasp the spatial characteristics of them and the human–nature interaction mechanism in Southwest China, we analyzed the distribution pattern of traditional villages using the ArcGIS software. Then, we further analyzed the spatial clustering characteristics, influencing factors and landscape pattern, and put forward relevant protection countermeasures and suggestions. The results revealed that traditional villages in Southwest China were clustered, being mainly distributed in areas with relatively low elevation, gentle slopes, low relative positions, nearby water sources, and convenient transportation. They can be divided into four categories due to obvious differences in influencing factors such as elevation, slope, relative position, distance to the nearest river, population density, etc. The landscape pattern of traditional villages differed among the different clusters, being mainly composed of forests, shrubs, and cultivated land. With the increase in the buffer radius, the landscape pattern of them changed significantly. The results of this study reflect that traditional villages and the natural environment are interdependent, so the protection of traditional villages should carry out measures according to local conditions.

THE TUMNIN RIVER AND STRAIT OF TARTARY SOUTHWARDTO SOVETSKAYA GAVAN ON S.G. LEONTOVICH PICTURES FROM 1894

The article continues the series of publications investigating the photography collection made up by D.N. Anuchin at the turn of 19th and 20th century. Nowadays the collection is stored in The Earth Science Museum at Moscow State University. The present article deals with the pictures made by S.G. Leontovich during scouting expedition on the Tumnin river in 1894. This photo collection contains rich ethnographic and geographical material. With the help of the photographs it is possible to learn the landscapes of the Tumnin river, settlements structures of the Tumnin’s Orochi, get acquainted with the appearance of residential and religious buildings (yurts, huts, barns, shrines, grave cabins, etc.) and household items. Each photo is provided with detailed notes of Captain S.G. Leontovich providing better understanding of the Tumnin river population’ way of life and customs.

Feasibility of using surgical implantation methods for acoustically tagging alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus) with V5 acoustic transmitters

Anadromous alewives (Alosa pseudoharengus) are abundant in the Canadian Maritimes, where they support lucrative commercial fisheries. Little is known about their coastal movement, and their potential to interact with anthropogenic structures. Acoustic telemetry can provide detailed information on the spatiotemporal distribution and survival of fishes in coastal areas, using information transmitted from tagged fishes and recorded by moored receivers. However, few acoustic telemetry studies have been performed on clupeids as they are extremely sensitive to handling, and are often compromised by surgical tag implantation. This research assesses the feasibility of a surgical tagging protocol using novel High Residency acoustic tags in alewives, and establishes a baseline of short-term tagging effects. Alewives from the Gaspereau River population were tagged between 2018 (n = 29) and 2019 (n = 96) with non-transmitting models of Vemco/Innovasea V5 HR tags. Tagging effects were evaluated based on recovery rate, reflex impairment, and necropsy-based health assessments. Alewives responded well to tagging, with low mortality (3%) and no observed instances of tag shedding 72 hours post-surgery. The use of sutures to close the incision site had no effect on recovery times. Water temperature and spawning condition had the greatest effect on the behavioural response of fish to tagging. Our findings suggest that, with proper handling and smaller acoustic tags, telemetry studies on alewives are feasible.