Warm springs may be best winter refuge for Florida manatees

Warm springs offer better protection than other winter refuges for Florida manatees

2013-03-21

(Press-News.org) During the winter, manatees in Florida rely on warm-water refuges in the southern peninsula, and consistently return to one more specific areas. This new study assessed the proportion of manatees that use natural springs, power plant discharge areas, and passive 'thermal basins' that trap warm water for a week or more. They found that nearly half of all animals they counted sought out power plant outfalls for warmth, while approximately 17% chose warm springs. In the coldest periods the proportion at power plants can increase to two-thirds. Despite this relatively small proportion using warm-water springs, a comparison of manatees killed by cold weather revealed that hot springs offered them the best protection of the three refuges studied. The authors suggest that protecting and improving access to these warm springs may be critical for the long-term survival of Florida manatees.

INFORMATION:

Citation: Laist DW, Taylor C, Reynolds JE III (2013) Winter Habitat Preferences for Florida Manatees and Vulnerability to Cold. PLOS ONE 8(3): e58978. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0058978

Financial Disclosure: The authors have no support or funding to report.

Competing Interest Statement: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

PLEASE LINK TO THE SCIENTIFIC ARTICLE IN ONLINE VERSIONS OF YOUR REPORT (URL goes live after the embargo ends): http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0058978.

[Attachments] See images for this press release:

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

3-year olds know rules of sharing but don't follow them until older

2013-03-21

The authors note, "People who spend time with young children will know that they often favor themselves when sharing, but surprisingly they endorse equal sharing not just by other people but also in their own case. In our research, we were able to rule out a number of explanations for this early gap between word and deed." When the researchers gave 3-8-year-olds stickers they valued and asked them about sharing, children of all ages readily asserted that they themselves should share equally, and others should as well. However, when given the chance to actually share, ...

Fear factor increases, emotions decrease in books written in last 50 years

2013-03-21

The authors analyzed trends in the use of 'mood words' that convey joy, anger, fear and other emotions and found a general, overall decrease in the use of words that convey emotions. They found distinct historical periods of positive and negative moods in books that correlated with socio-political events like World War II, the Great Depression or the Baby Boom. In contrast to the five other moods studied, words that convey fear showed an opposite trend. Words conveying fear declined in use through the early 20th century but increased markedly since the 1970s, despite ...

Roman mausoleum tested for ancient earthquake damage

2013-03-21

Please cite the Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (BSSA) as the source of this information. Built under a sheer cliff, with a commanding view of the forum and castle in the ancient city of Pinara in Turkey, a Roman mausoleum has been knocked off-kilter, its massive building blocks shifted and part of its pediment collapsed. The likely cause is an earthquake, according to a new detailed model by Klaus-G. Hinzen and colleagues at the University of Cologne. They conclude that a 6.3 magnitude earthquake could have caused the damage, and their new finding gives ...

Can intraplate earthquakes produce stronger shaking than at plate boundaries?

2013-03-21

Please cite the Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (BSSA) as the source of this information. New information about the extent of the 1872 Owens Valley earthquake rupture, which occurs in an area with many small and discontinuous faults, may support a hypothesis proposed by other workers that these types of quakes could produce stronger ground shaking than plate boundary earthquakes underlain by oceanic crust, like many of those taking place along the San Andreas fault. Published estimates of the 1872 Owens Valley earthquake in southeastern California put ...

Maternal diabetes impairs methylation of imprinted gene in oocytes

2013-03-21

For the first time, researchers have shown that poorly controlled maternal diabetes has an adverse effect on methylation of the maternal imprinting gene Peg3, contributing to impaired development in offspring. Previous studies have revealed that offspring of diabetic mothers display a higher incidence of malformations and fetal death, even when a one-cell embryo is transplanted from a diabetic to a non-diabetic mother. Diabetic mothers' oocytes tend to exhibit reduced glucose metabolism, compromised communication between cumulus cells and oocytes, mitochondrial malfunction, ...

Researchers link Gulf War Illness to physical changes in brain fibers that process pain

2013-03-21

WASHINGTON — Researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center (GUMC) have found what they say is evidence that veterans who suffer from "Gulf War Illness" have physical changes in their brains not seen in unaffected individuals. Brain scans of 31 veterans with the illness, compared to 20 control subjects, revealed anomalies in the bundles of nerve fibers that connect brain areas involved in the processing and perception of pain and fatigue. The discovery, published online March 20 in PLOS ONE, could provide insight into the mysterious medical symptoms reported by more ...

Follow-up study describes declining efficacy of malaria vaccine candidate over 4 years

2013-03-21

Long-term follow-up of a phase II study from KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme and Oxford University researchers in Kenya shows that the efficacy of a malaria vaccine candidate, RTS,S, wanes over time and varies with exposure to the malaria parasite. The findings will help to inform which populations are likely to benefit most from the vaccine candidate. They also have important implications for the design of future clinical trials of this and other vaccine candidates and highlight the importance of long-term follow-up studies for assessing vaccine efficacy. The ...

New hope to beat malaria once and for all

2013-03-21

"The 4(1H)-quinolone-3- diarylethers are selective potent inhibitors of the parasite mitochondrial cytochrome bc1 complex," Professor Avery said. "These compounds are highly active against the types of malaria parasites which infect humans, Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax," she said. "What is really exciting about this study is that a new class of drugs based on the 4(1H)-quinolone-3- diarylethers would target the malaria parasite at different stages of its lifecycle." This provides the potential to not only kill the parasite in people who are infected, ...

97 percent of UK doctors have given placebos to patients at least once

2013-03-21

A survey of UK doctors found that 97% have prescribed placebo treatments to patients at least once in their career. Researchers at the Universities of Oxford and Southampton in the UK discovered that 97% of doctors have used 'impure' placebo treatments, while 12% have used 'pure' placebos. 'Impure' placebos are treatments that are unproven, such as antibiotics for suspected viral infections, or more commonly non-essential physical examinations and blood tests performed to reassure patients. 'Pure' placebos are treatments such as sugar pills or saline injections which ...

Women abused as children more likely to have children with autism

2013-03-21

Boston, MA — Women who experienced physical, emotional, or sexual abuse as children are more likely to have a child with autism than women who were not abused, according to a new study from Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH). Those who experienced the most serious abuse had the highest likelihood of having a child with autism — three-and-a-half times more than women who were not abused. "Our study identifies a completely new risk factor for autism," said lead author Andrea Roberts, research associate in the HSPH Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences. "Further ...

SNU researchers develop a new synthesis technology of single crystal 2D semiconductors, “Hypotaxy,” to enhance the commercialization of next-generation 2D semiconductors

[Press-News.org] Warm springs may be best winter refuge for Florida manatees
Warm springs offer better protection than other winter refuges for Florida manatees

Warm springs may be best winter refuge for Florida manatees

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES: