Mite not make it home: tracheal mites reduce the safety margin for oxygen delivery of flying honeybees

2001 ◽  
Vol 204 (4) ◽  
pp. 805-814 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.F. Harrison ◽  
S. Camazine ◽  
J.H. Marden ◽  
S.D. Kirkton ◽  
A. Rozo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Metabolic Rate ◽  
Oxygen Delivery ◽  
Safety Margin ◽  
Exchange Capacity ◽  
Late Winter ◽  
Excess Capacity ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Acarapis Woodi ◽  
Safety Margins ◽  
Tracheal Mites

Many physiological systems appear to have safety margins, with excess capacity relative to normal functional needs, but the significance of such excess capacity remains controversial. In this study, we investigate the effects of parasitic tracheal mites (Acarapis woodi) on the safety margin for oxygen delivery and flight performance of honeybees. Tracheal mites did not affect the flight metabolic rate of honeybees in normoxic (21% oxygen) or hyperoxic (40% oxygen) air, but did reduce their metabolic rate relative to uninfected bees when flying in hypoxic air (5 or 10% oxygen), demonstrating that mites reduced the safety margin for tracheal oxygen delivery. The negative effects of mites on flight metabolic rate in hypoxic atmospheres were graded with the number of mites per trachea. For example, in 10% oxygen atmospheres, flight metabolic rate was reduced by 20% by moderate mite infection and by 40% by severe mite infection. Thus, the safety margin for oxygen delivery in honeybees allows them to retain normal flight metabolic rate and behavior despite tracheal mite infection under most conditions. However, the reduction in tracheal gas-exchange capacity may constrain activities requiring the highest metabolic rates, such as flying in cool weather. In support of this hypothesis, bees that were unable to return to the hive during late-winter flights showed significantly higher levels of mite infection than bees that returned safely.

scholarly journals Bootstrap and Order Statistics for Quantifying Thermal-Hydraulic Code Uncertainties in the Estimation of Safety Margins

2008 ◽  
Vol 2008 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Enrico Zio ◽  
Francesco Di Maio
Keyword(s):  
Confidence Interval ◽  
Order Statistics ◽  
Nuclear Reactor ◽  
Safety Margin ◽  
Fuel Cladding ◽  
Complete Group ◽  
Bootstrap Technique ◽  
Safety Margins ◽  
Group Distribution

In the present work, the uncertainties affecting the safety margins estimated from thermal-hydraulic code calculations are captured quantitatively by resorting to the order statistics and the bootstrap technique. The proposed framework of analysis is applied to the estimation of the safety margin, with its confidence interval, of the maximum fuel cladding temperature reached during a complete group distribution blockage scenario in a RBMK-1500 nuclear reactor.

scholarly journals Effect of Oxytetracycline and Chlortetracycline on Bacterial Community Growth in Agricultural Soils

Agronomy ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 1011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vanesa Santás-Miguel ◽  
Manuel Arias-Estévez ◽  
Montserrat Díaz-Raviña ◽  
María José Fernández-Sanjurjo ◽  
Esperanza Álvarez-Rodríguez ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Organic Carbon ◽  
Bacterial Community ◽  
Total Organic Carbon ◽  
Agricultural Soils ◽  
Exchange Capacity ◽  
Soil Parameters ◽  
Leucine Incorporation ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Input Variables ◽  
Community Growth

Toxicity on soil bacterial community growth caused by the antibiotics oxytetracycline (OTC) and chlortetracycline (CTC) was studied in 22 agricultural soils after 1, 8 and 42 incubation days. The leucine incorporation method was used with this aim, estimating the concentration of each antibiotic which caused an inhibition of 50% in bacterial community growth (log IC50). For OTC, the mean log IC50 was 2.70, 2.81, 2.84 for each of the three incubation times, while the values were 2.05, 2.22 and 2.47 for CTC, meaning that the magnitude of OTC toxicity was similar over time, whereas it decreased significantly for CTC with incubation time. In addition, results showed that the toxicity on bacterial community growth due to CTC is significantly higher than when due to OTC. Moreover, the toxicity on bacterial community growth due to both antibiotics is dependent on soil properties. Specifically, an increase in soil pH and silt content resulted in higher toxicity of both antibiotics, while increases in total organic carbon and clay contents caused decreases in OTC and CTC toxicities. The results also show that OTC toxicity can be well predicted by means of specific equations, using the values of pH measured in KCl and those of effective cation exchange capacity as input variables. CTC toxicity may be predicted (but with low precision) using pH measured in KCl and total organic carbon. These equations may help to predict the negative effects caused by OTC and CTC on soil bacteria using easily measurable soil parameters.

Design, limitations and sustained metabolic rate: lessons from small mammals

2002 ◽  
Vol 205 (19) ◽  
pp. 2963-2970 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leonardo D. Bacigalupe ◽  
Francisco Bozinovic
Keyword(s):  
Energy Expenditure ◽  
Metabolic Rate ◽  
Small Mammals ◽  
Energy Demand ◽  
Energy Budgets ◽  
Clear Understanding ◽  
Optimized Design ◽  
Excess Capacity ◽  
Design Constraints ◽  
Physiological Limits

SUMMARY Physiological limitations affect an organism's capacity to acquire and expend energy over long periods of activity. These limitations could be related to the central machinery used for acquiring, processing and allocating energy, or by the energy-consuming machinery. Another possibility is that the capacities of central and peripheral organs and tissues are co-adjusted,implying an optimized design. Given the important consequences that rates of energy expenditure have on many ecological aspects of animal life, we need to understand which factors impose ceilings on sustained metabolic rate. Ceilings on sustainable energy expenditure represent the limit below which all the activities performed by an individual must occur. There have been many studies of design constraints on energy budgets, but the different procedures used to identify the type of physiological limitation do not necessarily resolve which factors actually impose metabolic ceilings in small mammals, which precludes a clear understanding of the ecological and evolutionary consequences of design constraints on energy budgets. We propose that the following steps are necessary to identify the physiological limits on sustained metabolic rate:(1) combining peak energy demands to differentiate a central limitation from a peripheral limitation; (2) pushing the animals to their physiological limits(e.g. asymptotic food intake); (3) testing for a central excess capacity (if the limit is set peripherally), or a peripheral excess capacity (if there is a central limitation); (4) utilizing different levels of energy demand to test for symmorphosis.

scholarly journals Development and evaluation of a real-time PCR assay for the detection of Acarapis woodi (tracheal mites) in Apis mellifera

Apidologie ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 47 (5) ◽  
pp. 691-702
Author(s):  
Catia Delmiglio ◽  
Qing Hai Fan ◽  
Sherly George ◽  
Lisa Ward ◽  
Giles Budge ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Apis Mellifera ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Real Time Pcr ◽  
Pcr Assay ◽  
Acarapis Woodi ◽  
Tracheal Mites

Commentary on the basic philosophy and recent development of safety margins

1976 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 409-416 ◽  
Author(s):  
Franz Knoll
Keyword(s):  
Safety Margin ◽  
Building Code ◽  
Structural Failure ◽  
Design Rules ◽  
Human Errors ◽  
Safety Margins ◽  
Low Levels ◽  
Basic Philosophy

The principal effects influencing safety margins are recapitulated. Human errors are found to be the major source of structural failure. A revised format for safety margins is proposed, using partial factors, one of which should represent the effects of human errors. It should be used as a basic safety margin, reflecting the fact of the importance of human errors.Recent changes in design rules as set forth in the National Building Code of Canada 1975, are discussed and criticized for having reduced effective safety margins to unacceptably low levels. Examples are given to illustrate possible consequences of the use of such low safety margins.

Metabolic rate does not scale with body mass in cultured mammalian cells

2007 ◽  
Vol 292 (6) ◽  
pp. R2115-R2121 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melanie F. Brown ◽  
Tyson P. Gratton ◽  
Jeffrey. A. Stuart
Keyword(s):  
Metabolic Rate ◽  
Body Mass ◽  
Oxygen Delivery ◽  
Mammalian Cells ◽  
Cultured Cells ◽  
Mammalian Species ◽  
Cellular Respiration ◽  
Metabolic Rates ◽  
Respiration Rates ◽  
Species Specific

The allometric scaling of metabolic rate with organism body mass can be partially accounted for by differences in cellular metabolic rates. For example, hepatocytes isolated from horses consume almost 10-fold less oxygen per unit time as mouse hepatocytes [Porter and Brand, Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol 269: R226–R228, 1995]. This could reflect a genetically programmed, species-specific, intrinsic metabolic rate set point, or simply the adaptation of individual cells to their particular in situ environment (i.e., within the organism). We studied cultured cell lines derived from 10 mammalian species with donor body masses ranging from 5 to 600,000 g to determine whether cells propagated in an identical environment (media) exhibited metabolic rate scaling. Neither metabolic rate nor the maximal activities of key enzymes of oxidative or anaerobic metabolism scaled significantly with donor body mass in cultured cells, indicating the absence of intrinsic, species-specific, cellular metabolic rate set points. Furthermore, we suggest that changes in the metabolic rates of isolated cells probably occur within 24 h and involve a reduction of cellular metabolism toward values observed in lower metabolic rate organisms. The rate of oxygen delivery has been proposed to limit cellular metabolic rates in larger organisms. To examine the effect of oxygen on steady-state cellular respiration rates, we grew cells under a variety of physiologically relevant oxygen regimens. Long-term exposure to higher medium oxygen levels increased respiration rates of all cells, consistent with the hypothesis that higher rates of oxygen delivery in smaller mammals might increase cellular metabolic rates.

scholarly journals Assessment of Hand Function Through the Coordination of Contact Forces in Manipulation Tasks

2013 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-160 ◽  
Author(s):  
Slobodan Jaric ◽  
Mehmet Uygur
Keyword(s):  
Hand Function ◽  
Safety Margin ◽  
Tangential Component ◽  
Contact Forces ◽  
Load Force ◽  
Dominant Hand ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Relative Safety ◽  
Safety Margins ◽  
Mechanical Factors

Exploration of force coordination has been one of the most often used approaches in studies of hand function. When holding and manipulating a hand-held object healthy individuals are typically able to highly coordinate the perpendicular (grip force; GF) with the tangential component of the contact force (load force; LF). The purpose of this review is to present the findings of our recent studies of GF-LF coordination. Regarding the mechanical factors affecting GF-LF coordination, our data suggest that both different hand segments and their particular skin areas could have markedly different friction properties. It also appears that the absolute, rather than relative safety margin (i.e., how much the actual GF exceeds the minimum value that prevents slipping) should be a variable of choice when assessing the applied magnitude of GF. The safety margin could also be lower in static than in free holding tasks. Regarding the involved neural factors, the data suggest that the increased frequency, rather than an increased range of a cyclic LF could have a prominent detrimental effect on the GF-LF coordination. Finally, it appears that the given instructions (e.g., 'to hold' vs. 'to pull') can prominently alter GF-LF coordination in otherwise identical manipulation tasks. Conversely, the effects of handedness could be relatively week showing only slight lagging of GF in the non-dominant, but not in the dominant hand. The presented findings reveal important aspects of hand function as seen through GF-LF coordination. Specifically, the use of specific hand areas for grasping, calculation of particular safety margins, the role of LF frequency (but not of LF range) and the effects of given instructions should be all taken into account when conducting future studies of manipulation tasks, standardizing their procedures and designing routine clinical tests of hand function.

The hydraulic architecture of Eucalyptus trees growing across a gradient of depth-to-groundwater

2015 ◽  
Vol 42 (9) ◽  
pp. 888 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sepideh Zolfaghar ◽  
Randol Villalobos-Vega ◽  
Melanie Zeppel ◽  
Derek Eamus
Keyword(s):  
Hydraulic Conductivity ◽  
Leaf Area ◽  
Water Availability ◽  
Safety Margin ◽  
Hydraulic Architecture ◽  
Sapwood Area ◽  
Huber Value ◽  
Xylem Vulnerability ◽  
Safety Margins ◽  
Hydraulic Safety

Heterogeneity in water availability acts as an important driver of variation in plant structure and function. Changes in hydraulic architecture represent a key mechanism by which adaptation to changes in water availability can be expressed in plants. The aim of this study was to investigate whether differences in depth-to-groundwater influence the hydraulic architecture of Eucalyptus trees in remnant woodlands within mesic environments. Hydraulic architecture of trees was examined in winter and summer by measuring the following traits: Huber value (HV: the ratio between sapwood area and leaf area), branch hydraulic conductivity (leaf and sapwood area specific), sapwood density, xylem vulnerability (P50 and Pe) and hydraulic safety margins across four sites where depth-to-groundwater ranged from 2.4 to 37.5 m. Huber value increased significantly as depth-to-groundwater increased. Neither sapwood density nor branch hydraulic conductivity (sapwood and leaf area specific) varied significantly across sites. Xylem vulnerability to embolism (represented by P50 and Pe) in both seasons was significantly and negatively correlated with depth-to-groundwater. Hydraulic safety margins increased with increasing depth-to-groundwater and therefore trees growing at sites with deeper water tables were less sensitive to drought induced embolism. These results showed plasticity in some, but not all, hydraulic traits (as reflected in HV, P50, Pe and hydraulic safety margin) in response to increase in depth-to-groundwater in a mesic environment.

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