Ceriantharia (Cnidaria) of the World: an annotated catalogue and key to species.

The diversity of Ceriantharia is known from studies formally describing species from the late 18th Century onwards. However, no nomenclators including a list and discussion of all valid species have been produced since a list discussed by Carlgren in 1912. The present nomenclator presents a complete list of adult species of Ceriantharia of the World, including a discussion on each species. It includes the three families (Arachnactidae, Botrucnidiferidae, Cerianthidae) and the currently accepted 54 species based on their adult form. This study serves as a presentation of the "state-of-the-art" list of species of Ceriantharia, and includes a species identification key to support taxonomic identification. Additional in-depth species-by-species investigations for almost all cerianthid species is still needed, as the information available for most of these species is quite superficial.

Economic performance and cost-effectiveness of using a DEC-salt social enterprise for eliminating the major neglected tropical disease, lymphatic filariasis.

BACKGROUND: Salt fortified with the drug, diethylcarbamazine (DEC), and introduced into a competitive market has the potential to overcome the obstacles associated with tablet-based Lymphatic Filariasis (LF) elimination programs. Questions remain, however, regarding the economic viability, production capacity, and effectiveness of this strategy as a sustainable means to bring about LF elimination in resource poor settings. METHODOLOGY AND PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We evaluated the performance and effectiveness of a novel social enterprise-based approach developed and tested in Léogâne, Haiti, as a strategy to sustainably and cost-efficiently distribute DEC-medicated salt into a competitive market at quantities sufficient to bring about the elimination of LF. We undertook a cost-revenue analysis to evaluate the production capability and financial feasibility of the developed DEC salt social enterprise, and a modeling study centered on applying a dynamic mathematical model localized to reflect local LF transmission dynamics to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of using this intervention versus standard annual Mass Drug Administration (MDA) for eliminating LF in Léogâne. We show that the salt enterprise because of its mixed product business strategy may have already reached the production capacity for delivering sufficient quantities of edible DEC-medicated salt to bring about LF transmission in the Léogâne study setting. Due to increasing revenues obtained from the sale of DEC salt over time, expansion of its delivery in the population, and greater cumulative impact on the survival of worms leading to shorter timelines to extinction, this strategy could also represent a significantly more cost-effective option than annual DEC tablet-based MDA for accomplishing LF elimination. SIGNIFICANCE: A social enterprise approach can offer an innovative market-based strategy by which edible salt fortified with DEC could be distributed to communities both on a financially sustainable basis and at sufficient quantity to eliminate LF. Deployment of similarly fashioned intervention strategies would improve current efforts to successfully accomplish the goal of LF elimination, particularly in difficult-to-control settings.

Effect of phase shift from corals to Zoantharia on reef fish assemblages.

Consequences of reef phase shifts on fish communities remain poorly understood. Studies on the causes, effects and consequences of phase shifts on reef fish communities have only been considered for coral-to-macroalgae shifts. Therefore, there is a large information gap regarding the consequences of novel phase shifts and how these kinds of phase shifts impact on fish assemblages. This study aimed to compare the fish assemblages on reefs under normal conditions (relatively high cover of corals) to those which have shifted to a dominance of the zoantharian Palythoa cf. variabilis on coral reefs in Todos os Santos Bay (TSB), Brazilian eastern coast. We examined eight reefs, where we estimated cover of corals and P. cf. variabilis and coral reef fish richness, abundance and body size. Fish richness differed significantly between normal reefs (48 species) and phase-shift reefs (38 species), a 20% reduction in species. However there was no difference in fish abundance between normal and phase shift reefs. One fish species, Chaetodon striatus, was significantly less abundant on normal reefs. The differences in fish assemblages between different reef phases was due to differences in trophic groups of fish; on normal reefs carnivorous fishes were more abundant, while on phase shift reefs mobile invertivores dominated.

HaviStat© v2.2: Application to estimate preference for habitat and resources / HaviStat© v2.2: Aplicación para estimar la preferencia por hábitat y recursos / HaviStat© v2.2: Aplicativo para estimar a preferência em habitats e recursos

HaviStat© v2.2 is available in Spanish and English. In this version reported errors and recommendations from v1.0 were fixed and implemented. HaviStat© allows users to perform the necessary mathematical, statistical and graphical procedures required to preliminarily infer use, selection, and preference for habitat/resources, and to estimate the niche breadth of species. In this new version radial diagrams, 22 indexes and 3 confidence intervals for animal preference evaluation, and 8 indexes for niche breadth estimation are available.

HaviStat© v2.2 está disponible en español e Inglés. En esta versión los errores y recomendaciones reportados para la versión v1.0 fueron corregidos e implementados. HaviStat© permite a los usuarios realizar los procedimientos matemáticos, estadísticos y gráficos para inferir de forma preliminar uso, selección and preferencia por hábitat/recursos, y estimar la amplitud de nicho de las especies. En esta nueva versión se incluyen diagramas radiales, 22 índices and 3 intervalos de confianza para evaluar preferencia animal, y 8 índices para estimar amplitud de nicho también están disponibles.

HaviStat© v2.2 está disponível em espanhol e inglês. Nesta versão os erros e as recomendações referenciados na versão v1.0 foram corrigidos e implementados. HaviStat© permite aos usuários realizar os procedimentos matemáticos, estatísticos e gráficos para inferir de forma preliminar o uso, seleção e preferência por hábitat/recursos e estimar a amplitude do nicho das espécies. Nesta nova versão, estão disponíveis, diagramas radiais, 22 índices e 3 intervalos de confiança para avaliar a preferencia animal, e 8 índices para estimar a amplitude do nicho.