The consumptive and nonconsumptive effects of predators on their prey and the indirect effects of these interactions that cascade through food webs have been studied for over half a century. In the northwest Atlantic, the stock of black sea bass (Centropristis striata) steeply declined during the 1980s. While population crashes of fished bivalve species coincided with those of black sea bass, the role of black sea bass in driving trophic cascades that indirectly influence bivalve survival has largely been overlooked. Over the past decade, black sea bass have not only been recovering in abundance but warming water temperatures have been driving a northward expansion of the extent of their seasonal migration, resulting in a particularly strong relative recovery along the south shore of Long Island, New York. To explore whether black sea bass alter the foraging rates of mud crabs (Dyspanopeus sayi) on a species of bivalve, blue mussels (Mytilus edulis), we manipulated the presence and position of sea bass within an array of mesocosm tanks. We found that the presence of black sea bass reduced the proportion of blue mussels consumed by mud crabs. Black sea bass presence indirectly elevated blue mussel survival by as much as 47.7% by reducing mud crab per capita consumption of blue mussels by 57.9%. However, there were limitations to the nonconsumptive effects of black sea bass that appeared to depend on their proximity to mud crabs. While our results are from an experimental setup with a simplified food chain and are context dependent, they emphasize the importance of studying how nonconsumptive effects of specific marine predators influence trophic cascades from both conceptual and applied coastal resource management standpoints. Our results suggest that the recovery of black sea bass may bode well for the population restoration of several species of bivalves within estuaries throughout their range. Further, our study provides evidence that indicates that the nonconsumptive effects of a recovering marine predator can indirectly elevate the survival of a basal food resource species.

In mammalian females, quiescent primordial follicles serve as the ovarian reserve and sustain normal ovarian function and egg production via folliculogenesis. The loss of primordial follicles causes ovarian aging. Cellular senescence, characterized by cell cycle arrest and production of the senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP), is associated with tissue aging. In the present study, we report that some quiescent primary oocytes in primordial follicles become senescent in adult mouse ovaries. The senescent primary oocytes share senescence markers characterized in senescent somatic cells. The senescent primary oocytes were observed in young adult mouse ovaries, remained at approximately 15% of the total primary oocytes during ovarian aging from 6 months to 12 months, and accumulated in aged ovaries. Administration of a senolytic drug ABT263 to 3-month-old mice reduced the percentage of senescent primary oocytes and the transcription of the SASP cytokines in the ovary. In addition, led to increased numbers of primordial and total follicles and a higher rate of oocyte maturation and female fertility. Our study provides experimental evidence that primary oocytes, a germline cell type that is arrested in meiosis, become senescent in adult mouse ovaries and that senescent cell clearance reduced primordial follicle loss and mitigated ovarian aging phenotypes.

Myosins are required for clathrin-mediated endocytosis, but their precise molecular roles in this process are not known. This is, in part, because the biophysical properties of the relevant motors have not been investigated. Myosins have diverse mechanochemical activities, ranging from powerful contractility against mechanical loads to force-sensitive anchoring. To better understand the essential molecular contribution of myosin to endocytosis, we studied the in vitro force-dependent kinetics of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae endocytic type I myosin called Myo5, a motor whose role in clathrin-mediated endocytosis has been meticulously studied in vivo. We report that Myo5 is a low-duty-ratio motor that is activated 10-fold by phosphorylation, and that its working stroke and actin-detachment kinetics are relatively force-insensitive. Strikingly, the in vitro mechanochemistry of Myo5 is more like that of cardiac myosin than like that of slow anchoring myosin-1s found on endosomal membranes. We therefore propose that Myo5 generates power to augment actin assembly-based forces during endocytosis in cells.

Water availability limits plant growth and production in almost all terrestrial ecosystems(1-5). However, biomes differ substantially in sensitivity of aboveground net primary production ( ANPP) to between-year variation in precipitation(6-8). Average rain-use efficiency ( RUE; ANPP/precipitation) also varies between biomes, supposedly because of differences in vegetation structure and/or biogeochemical constraints(8). Here we show that RUE decreases across biomes as mean annual precipitation increases. However, during the driest years at each site, there is convergence to a common maximum RUE (RUEmax) that is typical of arid ecosystems. RUEmax was also identified by experimentally altering the degree of limitation by water and other resources. Thus, in years when water is most limiting, deserts, grasslands and forests all exhibit the same rate of biomass production per unit rainfall, despite differences in physiognomy and site-level RUE. Global climate models(9,10) predict increased between-year variability in precipitation, more frequent extreme drought events, and changes in temperature. Forecasts of future ecosystem behaviour should take into account this convergent feature of terrestrial biomes.

Pyroclastic flows entering the sea may cause tsunamis at coastal volcanoes worldwide, but geophysically monitored field occurrences are rare. We document the process of tsunami generation during a prolonged gigantic collapse of the Soufriere Hills volcano lava dome on Montserrat on 12-13 July 2003. Tsunamis were initiated by large-volume pyroclastic flows entering the ocean. We reconstruct the collapse from seismic records and report unique and remarkable borehole dilatometer observations, which recorded clearly the passage of wave packets at periods of 250-500 s over several hours. Strain signals are consistent in period and amplitude with water loading from passing tsunamis; each wave packet can be correlated with individual pyroclastic flow packages recorded by seismic data, proving that multiple tsunamis were initiated by pyroclastic flows. Any volcano within a few kilometers of water and capable of generating hot pyroclastic flows or cold debris flows with volumes greater than 5 x 10(6) m(3) may generate significant and possibly damaging tsunamis during future eruptions.

RNA from highly purified germline stem cells prepared from ovaries overexpressing Dpp from c587-GAL4 was profiled. This is replicate 3. See Kai et al. (2005). Developmental Biology, in press.

RNA from dissected ovary tips of c587-GAL4; hsbam UAS-dpp females 20hr after a single heat shock to induce GSC differentiation ; expt 2; these tips lack GSCs; See Kai et al. (2005). Developmental Biology, in press.

We present near-infrared light curves of supernova (SN) 2011fe in M101, including 34 epochs in H band starting 14 days before maximum brightness in the B band. The light curve data were obtained with the WIYN High-Resolution Infrared Camera. When the data are calibrated using templates of other Type Ia SNe, we derive an apparent H-band magnitude at the epoch of B-band maximum of 10.85 +/- 0.04. This implies a distance modulus for M101 that ranges from 28.86 to 29.17 mag, depending on which absolute calibration for Type Ia SNe is used.