ALBERT

Description: When volcanic mountains slide into the sea, they trigger tsunamis. How big are these waves, and how far away can they do damage? Ritter Island provides some answers.

Description: Scientists have long attempted to explain why closely similar age patterns of death are characteristic of highly diverse human and nonhuman populations. Historical efforts to identify a general "law of mortality" from these patterns that applied across species ended in 1935 when it was declared that such a law did not exist. These early efforts were conducted using mortality curves based on all causes of death. The authors predict that if comparisons of mortality are based instead on "intrinsic" causes of death (i.e., deaths that reflect the basic biology of the organism), then age patterns of mortality consistent with the historical concept of a law might be revealed. Using data on laboratory animals and humans, they demonstrate that age patterns of intrinsic mortality overlap when graphed on a biologically comparable time scale. These results are consistent with the existence of a law of mortality following sexual maturity, as originally asserted by Benjamin Gompertz and Raymond Pearl. The societal, medical, and research implications of such a law are discussed.

Description: The authors regret an error in the published article, where incorrect data was used to produce Figure 2, showing the temporal development of pH over the duration of the experiment. The corrected Fig. 2 shows that the error did not affect the interpretation of nor the conclusions drawn from the present dataset. The original article has been corrected.

Description: With the increasing anthropogenic impacts on fish habitats, it has become more important to understand which primary resources sustain fish populations. This resource utilization can differ between fish life stages, and individuals can migrate between habitats in search of resources. Such lifetime information is difficult to obtain due to the large spatial and temporal scales of fish behavior. The otolith organic matrix has the potential to indicate this resource utilization and migration with δ13C values of essential amino acids (EAAs), which are a direct indication of the primary producers. In a proof-of-concept study, we selected the Acoupa weakfish, Cynoscion acoupa, as a model fish species with distinct ontogenetic migration patterns. While it inhabits the Brazilian mangrove estuaries during juvenile stages, it moves to the coastal shelf as an adult. Thus, we expected that lifetime resource utilization and migration would be reflected in δ13CEAA patterns and baseline values in C. acoupa otoliths. By analyzing the C. acoupa otolith edges across a size range of 12–119 cm, we found that baseline δ13CEAA values increased with size, which indicated an estuarine to coastal shelf distribution. This trend is highly correlated with inorganic δ13C values. The δ13CEAA patterns showed that estuarine algae rather than mangrove-derived resources supported the juvenile C. acoupa populations. Around the juvenile size of 40 cm, resource utilization overlapped with those of adults and mean baseline δ13CEAA values increased. This trend was confirmed by comparing otolith core and edges, although with some individuals potentially migrating over longer distances than others. Hence, δ13CEAA patterns and baseline values in otoliths have great potential to reconstruct ontogenetic shifts in resource use and habitats. The insight could aid in predictions on how environmental changes affect fish populations by identifying the controlling factors at the base of the food web.

Description: With the increasing anthropogenic impacts on fish habitats, it has become more important to understand which primary resources sustain fish populations. This resource utilization can differ between fish life stages, and individuals can migrate between habitats in search of resources. Such lifetime information is difficult to obtain due to the large spatial and temporal scales of fish behavior. The otolith organic matrix has the potential to indicate this resource utilization and migration with δ13C values of essential amino acids (EAAs), which are a direct indication of the primary producers. In a proof-of-concept study, we selected the Acoupa weakfish, Cynoscion acoupa, as a model fish species with distinct ontogenetic migration patterns. While it inhabits the Brazilian mangrove estuaries during juvenile stages, it moves to the coastal shelf as an adult. Thus, we expected that lifetime resource utilization and migration would be reflected in δ13CEAA patterns and baseline values in C. acoupa otoliths. By analyzing the C. acoupa otolith edges across a size range of 12–119 cm, we found that baseline δ13CEAA values increased with size, which indicated an estuarine to coastal shelf distribution. This trend is highly correlated with inorganic δ13C values. The δ13CEAA patterns showed that estuarine algae rather than mangrove-derived resources supported the juvenile C. acoupa populations. Around the juvenile size of 40 cm, resource utilization overlapped with those of adults and mean baseline δ13CEAA values increased. This trend was confirmed by comparing otolith core and edges, although with some individuals potentially migrating over longer distances than others. Hence, δ13CEAA patterns and baseline values in otoliths have great potential to reconstruct ontogenetic shifts in resource use and habitats. The insight could aid in predictions on how environmental changes affect fish populations by identifying the controlling factors at the base of the food web.

Description: With the increasing anthropogenic impacts on fish habitats, it has become more important to understand which primary resources sustain fish populations. This resource utilization can differ between fish life stages, and individuals can migrate between habitats in search of resources. Such lifetime information is difficult to obtain due to the large spatial and temporal scales of fish behavior. The otolith organic matrix has the potential to indicate this resource utilization and migration with δ13C values of essential amino acids (EAAs), which are a direct indication of the primary producers. In a proof-of-concept study, we selected the Acoupa weakfish, Cynoscion acoupa, as a model fish species with distinct ontogenetic migration patterns. While it inhabits the Brazilian mangrove estuaries during juvenile stages, it moves to the coastal shelf as an adult. Thus, we expected that lifetime resource utilization and migration would be reflected in δ13CEAA patterns and baseline values in C. acoupa otoliths. By analyzing the C. acoupa otolith edges across a size range of 12–119 cm, we found that baseline δ13CEAA values increased with size, which indicated an estuarine to coastal shelf distribution. This trend is highly correlated with inorganic δ13C values. The δ13CEAA patterns showed that estuarine algae rather than mangrove-derived resources supported the juvenile C. acoupa populations. Around the juvenile size of 40 cm, resource utilization overlapped with those of adults and mean baseline δ13CEAA values increased. This trend was confirmed by comparing otolith core and edges, although with some individuals potentially migrating over longer distances than others. Hence, δ13CEAA patterns and baseline values in otoliths have great potential to reconstruct ontogenetic shifts in resource use and habitats. The insight could aid in predictions on how environmental changes affect fish populations by identifying the controlling factors at the base of the food web.

Description: With the increasing anthropogenic impacts on fish habitats, it has become more important to understand which primary resources sustain fish populations. This resource utilization can differ between fish life stages, and individuals can migrate between habitats in search of resources. Such lifetime information is difficult to obtain due to the large spatial and temporal scales of fish behavior. The otolith organic matrix has the potential to indicate this resource utilization and migration with δ13C values of essential amino acids (EAAs), which are a direct indication of the primary producers. In a proof-of-concept study, we selected the Acoupa weakfish, Cynoscion acoupa, as a model fish species with distinct ontogenetic migration patterns. While it inhabits the Brazilian mangrove estuaries during juvenile stages, it moves to the coastal shelf as an adult. Thus, we expected that lifetime resource utilization and migration would be reflected in δ13CEAA patterns and baseline values in C. acoupa otoliths. By analyzing the C. acoupa otolith edges across a size range of 12–119 cm, we found that baseline δ13CEAA values increased with size, which indicated an estuarine to coastal shelf distribution. This trend is highly correlated with inorganic δ13C values. The δ13CEAA patterns showed that estuarine algae rather than mangrove-derived resources supported the juvenile C. acoupa populations. Around the juvenile size of 40 cm, resource utilization overlapped with those of adults and mean baseline δ13CEAA values increased. This trend was confirmed by comparing otolith core and edges, although with some individuals potentially migrating over longer distances than others. Hence, δ13CEAA patterns and baseline values in otoliths have great potential to reconstruct ontogenetic shifts in resource use and habitats. The insight could aid in predictions on how environmental changes affect fish populations by identifying the controlling factors at the base of the food web.