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More than 40 freely available and openly licensed textbooks are among our most downloaded items.
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Recent Submissions
First satellite track of a juvenile shortfin mako shark (Isurus oxyrinchus) in the Mediterranean Sea
Shea, Brendan D.; Chapple, Taylor K.; Echwikhi, Khaled; Gambardella, Chiara; Jenrette, Jeremy F.; Moro, Stefano; Schallert, Robert J.; Block, Barbara A.; Ferretti, Francesco (Frontiers, 2024-12-09)
The shortfin mako shark (Isurus oxyrinchus) is a highly mobile, coastal littoral, and epipelagic oceanic species broadly distributed in tropical, subtropical, and temperate seas worldwide (Rigby et al., 2019). In recent years, there has been growing recognition of the impacts of overfishing on shortfin mako populations, and the species is now listed as Endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) (Rigby et al., 2019). The species is listed as Critically Endangered in the Mediterranean Sea due to long-term and continuing exploitation coupled with inadequate management (Walls and Soldo, 2016). Of particular concern is the ongoing capture of juvenile mako sharks in the Central Mediterranean and the Strait of Sicily, which have been identified as potential nursery areas (Walls and Soldo, 2016; Cattano et al., 2023; Mancusi et al., 2023).
Even with significant declines in pelagic sharks regionally (Ferretti et al., 2008), sharks continue to be occasionally targeted in the Mediterranean Sea, though the most critical risk to shark populations in the region is bycatch in other fisheries (Bradai et al., 2018; Carpentieri et al., 2021). In the Mediterranean, most fishers typically retain their shark bycatch, with some estimates of shark discard rates as low as 1% (Megalofonou et al., 2005) even for protected species, though discard rates are likely to vary by season and gear (Carpentieri et al., 2021). Despite their imperiled status, shortfin mako sharks remain one of the region’s commonly encountered sharks for fishers, especially for longlines (Carpentieri et al., 2021), and sharks are typically retained despite falling under regional protections such as the Bern Convention, Bonn Convention, and Barcelona Convention (Serena et al., 2014). Of additional concern is the relatively unmonitored recreational fishery, which may additionally encounter high numbers of shortfin mako sharks, many of Frontiers in which are retained, but the scale of this fishery is not well known (Udovičić et al., 2019; Panayiotou et al., 2020). Concerningly, young-of-the-year (YOY) and juvenile specimens comprise the bulk of captured individuals reported in the Mediterranean (Saidi et al., 2019; Udovičić et al., 2019; Panayiotou et al., 2020; Cattano et al., 2023; Mancusi et al., 2023; Scacco et al., 2023). Given the life history of shortfin mako sharks, particularly their advanced age at maturity (Natanson et al., 2020), this frequent and ongoing capture of juvenile sharks represents a severe threat to regional populations, as many sharks will never reach maturity, let alone successfully reproduce. These losses highlight the need for more detailed information regarding the movement patterns and space use of juvenile shortfin mako sharks, for which little is known in the Mediterranean.
In recent years, a proliferation of telemetry studies has drastically improved our understanding of themovements and space use of large marine predators like shortfin mako sharks around the globe (Queiroz et al., 2019); however, virtually no study has focused on Mediterranean populations, especially sharks. Here, we report the satellite track from a pop-off archival tag (PAT) deployed on a juvenile shortfin mako shark in the Mediterranean Sea in May 2023. To our knowledge, this track represents the first satellite tag deployed on a shortfin mako shark in the Mediterranean Sea. We describe the horizontal and vertical movements the study shark performed over 54 days at liberty (DAL), discussing potential drivers for the observed movements and the implications of the track for the conservation of shortfin mako sharks regionally.
A study of the history of standardizing Virginia apples
Motz, F. A. (Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College and Polytechnic Institute, 1929)
From ecological menace to roadside attraction: 28 years of evidence support successful biocontrol of purple loosestrife
Blossey, Bernd; Nuzzo, Victoria; Endriss, Stacy B. (Wiley, 2024-12-03)
Introduction and spread of non-native plants provide ecologists and evolutionary biologists with abundant scientific opportunities. However, land managers charged with preventing ecological impacts face financial and logistical challenges to reduce threats by introduced species. The available toolbox (chemical, mechanical, or biological) is also rather limited. Failure to permanently suppress introduced species by mechanical and chemical treatments may result in biocontrol programs using host-specific insect herbivores. Regardless of the chosen method, long-term assessment of management outcomes on both the target species and associated biota should be an essential component of management programs. However, data to assess whether management results in desirable outcomes beyond short-term reductions of the target plant are limited. Here, we use implementation of a biocontrol program targeting a widespread wetland invader, Lythrum salicaria (purple loosestrife), in North America to track outcomes on the target plant over more than two decades in New York State. After extensive testing, two leaf-feeding beetles (Galerucella calmariensis and Galerucella pusilla; hereafter “Galerucella”), a root-feeding weevil (Hylobius transversovittatus) and a flower-feeding weevil (Nanophyes marmoratus), were approved for field releases. We used a standardized monitoring protocol to record insect abundance and L. salicaria stem densities and heights in 1-m2 permanent quadrats at 33 different wetlands and followed sites for up to 28 years. As part of this long-term monitoring, in 20 of these wetlands, we established a factorial experiment releasing either no insects (control), only root feeders, only leaf beetles, or root and leaf feeders. We documented reduced L. salicaria occupancy and stem densities following insect releases over time, irrespective of site-specific differences in starting plant communities or L. salicaria abundance. We could not complete our factorial experiment because dispersal of leaf beetles to root-feeder-only and control sites within 5 years invalidated our experimental controls. Our data show that it took time for significant changes to occur, and short-term studies may provide misleading results, as L. salicaria stem densities initially increased before significantly decreasing. Several decades after insect releases, prerelease predictions of significant purple loosestrife declines have been confirmed.
Introduction: The future is disabled
Shew, Ashley (MIT Technology Review, 2025)
Cyborg-Technology Relations
Shew, Ashley; Earle, Joshua (TU Delft OPEN, 2024-11-08)
We advocate for a philosophizing of cyborg-technology relations that takes account disabled technology users. First, we sketch out how tech-driven ableism (“technoableism”) is present in most discourse about technology, and then address how ableism has shaped accounts of disability in philosophy more broadly too. We examine this in historical and media context, then turn to what an unapologetic disability-forward approach to cyborg-technology relations looks like, and what it means to listen to the cyborgs we know and love. This work draws from the interdisciplinary field of disability studies and STS work on crip technoscience. We situate this work mostly within North American media and history of disability and Silicon Valley boosterism on tech, but accounts of technology and of disability are not unique to these locations.