For biological populations that form aggregations (or clusters) of individuals, cluster size is an important parameter in line-transect abundance estimation and should be accurately measured. Cluster size in cetaceans has traditionally been represented as the total number of individuals in a group, but group size may be underestimated if group members are spatially diffuse. Groups of false kill...

Biological invasions generally induce profound effects on the structure of resident communities. In Mayotte, where Aedes aegypti and Ae. lilii were already present, the recent introduction of Ae. albopictus raises public health concerns because it may affect the risk of arbovirus transmission. Entomological surveys were carried out in six locations on the island following a transect defined by ...

Understanding of the nitrogen (N) cycle and its spatial variability is important for managing ecosystems. Soil δ15N, as an important indicator of different soil nitrogen cycling processes, may provide critical information about the spatial variability in soil N cycling. The objective of this study was to examine the dominant landscape scale variability of δ15N, the location of the variability a...

Dinitrogen (N2) fixation was investigated together with organic matter composition in the mesopelagic zone of the Bismarck (Transect 1) and Solomon (Transect 2) Seas (Southwest Pacific). Transparent exopolymer particles (TEP) and the presence of compounds sharing molecular formulae with saturated fatty acids and sugars, as well as dissolved organic matter (DOM) compounds containing nitrogen (N)...

Unprecedented rapid urbanization in China during the past several decades has been accompanied by extensive urban landscape renewal, which has increased the urban thermal environmental risk. However, landscape change is a sufficient but not necessary condition for land surface temperature (LST) variation. Many studies have merely highlighted the correlation between landscape pattern and LST, wh...

We estimated humpback and blue whale abundance from 1991 to 1997 off the west coast of the U.S. and Mexico comparing capture-recapture models based on photographically identified animals and line-transect methods from ship-based surveys. During photo-identification research we obtained 4,212 identifications of 824 humpback whales and 2,403 identifications of 908 blue whales primarily through no...

Systematic aerial line-transect surveys of beluga whales, Delphinapterus leucas, were conducted in James Bay, eastern Hudson Bay, and Ungava Bay from 14 August to 3 September 2001. An estimated 7901 (SE = 1744) and 1155 (SE = 507) belugas were present at the surface in the offshore areas of James Bay and Hudson Bay, respectively. An additional 39 animals were observed in estuaries during the co...

Urbanization is accelerating across the globe, elevating the importance of studying urban ecology. Urban environments exhibit several factors affecting plant growth and function, including high temperatures (particularly at night), CO(2) concentrations and atmospheric nitrogen deposition. We investigated the effects of urban environments on growth in Quercus rubra L. seedlings. We grew seedling...