Climate warming, marine protected areas and the ocean-scale integrity of coral reef ecosystems

Coral reefs have emerged as one of the ecosystems most vulnerable to climate variation and change. While the contribution of a warming climate to the loss of live coral cover has been well documented across large spatial and temporal scales, the associated effects on fish have not. Here, we respond to recent and repeated calls to assess the importance of local management in conserving coral reefs in the context of global climate change. Such information is important, as coral reef fish assemblages are the most species dense vertebrate communities on earth, contributing critical ecosystem functions and providing crucial ecosystem services to human societies in tropical countries. Our assessment of the impacts of the 1998 mass bleaching event on coral cover, reef structural complexity, and reef associated fishes spans 7 countries, 66 sites and 26 degrees of latitude in the Indian Ocean. Using Bayesian meta-analysis we show that changes in the size structure, diversity and trophic composition of the reef fish community have followed coral declines. Although the ocean scale integrity of these coral reef ecosystems has been lost, it is positive to see the effects are spatially variable at multiple scales, with impacts and vulnerability affected by geography but not management regime. Existing no-take marine protected areas still support high biomass of fish, however they had no positive affect on the ecosystem response to large-scale disturbance. This suggests a need for future conservation and management efforts to identify and protect regional refugia, which should be integrated into existing management frameworks and combined with policies to improve system-wide resilience to climate variation and change

Performance of the CMS Cathode Strip Chambers with Cosmic Rays

The Cathode Strip Chambers (CSCs) constitute the primary muon tracking device in the CMS endcaps. Their performance has been evaluated using data taken during a cosmic ray run in fall 2008. Measured noise levels are low, with the number of noisy channels well below 1%. Coordinate resolution was measured for all types of chambers, and fall in the range 47 microns to 243 microns. The efficiencies for local charged track triggers, for hit and for segments reconstruction were measured, and are above 99%. The timing resolution per layer is approximately 5 ns

Performance of CMS muon reconstruction in pp collision events at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

The performance of muon reconstruction, identification, and triggering in CMS has been studied using 40 inverse picobarns of data collected in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV at the LHC in 2010. A few benchmark sets of selection criteria covering a wide range of physics analysis needs have been examined. For all considered selections, the efficiency to reconstruct and identify a muon with a transverse momentum pT larger than a few GeV is above 95% over the whole region of pseudorapidity covered by the CMS muon system, abs(eta) < 2.4, while the probability to misidentify a hadron as a muon is well below 1%. The efficiency to trigger on single muons with pT above a few GeV is higher than 90% over the full eta range, and typically substantially better. The overall momentum scale is measured to a precision of 0.2% with muons from Z decays. The transverse momentum resolution varies from 1% to 6% depending on pseudorapidity for muons with pT below 100 GeV and, using cosmic rays, it is shown to be better than 10% in the central region up to pT = 1 TeV. Observed distributions of all quantities are well reproduced by the Monte Carlo simulation.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

Performance of CMS muon reconstruction in pp collision events at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

The performance of muon reconstruction, identification, and triggering in CMS has been studied using 40 inverse picobarns of data collected in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV at the LHC in 2010. A few benchmark sets of selection criteria covering a wide range of physics analysis needs have been examined. For all considered selections, the efficiency to reconstruct and identify a muon with a transverse momentum pT larger than a few GeV is above 95% over the whole region of pseudorapidity covered by the CMS muon system, abs(eta) < 2.4, while the probability to misidentify a hadron as a muon is well below 1%. The efficiency to trigger on single muons with pT above a few GeV is higher than 90% over the full eta range, and typically substantially better. The overall momentum scale is measured to a precision of 0.2% with muons from Z decays. The transverse momentum resolution varies from 1% to 6% depending on pseudorapidity for muons with pT below 100 GeV and, using cosmic rays, it is shown to be better than 10% in the central region up to pT = 1 TeV. Observed distributions of all quantities are well reproduced by the Monte Carlo simulation.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

Bacterial endosymbiont Cardinium cSfur genome sequence provides insights for understanding the symbiotic relationship in Sogatella furcifera host

Background: Sogatella furcifera is a migratory pest that damages rice plants and causes severe economic losses. Due to its ability to annually migrate long distances, S.furcifera has emerged as a major pest of rice in several Asian countries. Symbiotic relationships of inherited bacteria with terrestrial arthropods have significant implications. The genus Cardinium is present in many types of arthropods, where it influences some host characteristics. We present a report of a newly # identified strain of the bacterial endosymbiont Cardinium cSfur in S. furcifera. Result: From the whole genome of S. furcifera previously sequenced by our laboratory, we assembled the whole genome sequence of Cardinium cSfur. The sequence comprised 1,103,593 bp with a GC content of 39.2%. The phylogenetic tree of the Bacteroides phylum to which Cardinium cSfur belongs suggests that Cardinium cSfur is closely related to the other strains (Cardinium cBtQ1 and cEper1) that are members of the Amoebophilaceae family. Genome comparison between the host-dependent endosymbiont including Cardinium cSfur and freeliving bacteria revealed that the endosymbiont has a smaller genome size and lower GC content, and has lost some genes related to metabolism because of its special environment, which is similar to the genome pattern observed in other insect symbionts. Cardinium cSfur has limited metabolic capability, which makes it less contributive to metabolic and biosynthetic processes in its host. From our findings, we inferred that, to compensate for its limited metabolic capability, Cardinium cSfur harbors a relatively high proportion of transport proteins, which might act as the hub between it and its host. With its acquisition of the whole operon related to biotin synthesis and glycolysis related genes through HGT event, Cardinium cSfur seems to be undergoing changes while establishing a symbiotic relationship with its host. Conclusion: A novel bacterial endosymbiont strain (Cardinium cSfur) has been discovered. A genomic analysis of the endosymbiont in S. furcifera suggests that its genome has undergone certain changes to facilitate its settlement in the host. The envisaged potential reproduction manipulative ability of the new endosymbiont strain in its S. furcifera host has vital implications in designing eco-friendly approaches to combat the insect pest

Copy number elevation of 22q11.2 genes arrests the developmental maturation of working memory capacity and adult hippocampal neurogenesis

Working memory capacity, a critical component of executive function, expands developmentally from childhood through adulthood. Anomalies in this developmental process are seen in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), schizophrenia and intellectual disabilities (ID), implicating this atypical process in the trajectory of developmental neuropsychiatric disorders. However, the cellular and neuronal substrates underlying this process are not understood. Duplication and triplication of copy number variants of 22q11.2 are consistently and robustly associated with cognitive deficits of ASD and ID in humans, and overexpression of small 22q11.2 segments recapitulates dimensional aspects of developmental neuropsychiatric disorders in mice. We capitalized on these two lines of evidence to delve into the cellular substrates for this atypical development of working memory. Using a region- and cell-type-selective gene expression approach, we demonstrated that copy number elevations of catechol-O-methyl-transferase (COMT) or Tbx1, two genes encoded in the two small 22q11.2 segments, in adult neural stem/progenitor cells in the hippocampus prevents the developmental maturation of working memory capacity in mice. Moreover, copy number elevations of COMT or Tbx1 reduced the proliferation of adult neural stem/progenitor cells in a cell-autonomous manner in vitro and migration of their progenies in the hippocampus granular layer in vivo. Our data provide evidence for the novel hypothesis that copy number elevations of these 22q11.2 genes alter the developmental trajectory of working memory capacity via suboptimal adult neurogenesis in the hippocampus.Peer reviewe

Performance studies of the CMS strip tracker before installation

Peer reviewe

Search for Dark Matter and Supersymmetry with a Compressed Mass Spectrum in the Vector Boson Fusion Topology in Proton-Proton Collisions at root s=8 TeV

Peer reviewe