Are botanical gardens a risk for zooplankton invasions?

Abstract

A number of zooplankton invasions have been linked with the movement of plants to botanical and other public gardens. Although most of these records are historical, several recent examples indicate that aquatic fauna may still be transported by plant movements among gardens, or that there are unrecognised long-standing established populations in garden ponds around the world. We sampled 40 ponds from 10 gardens, in the United Kingdom and United States, to determine whether there is a high prevalence of non-indigenous zooplankton in garden ponds that could spread more widely if provided opportunity. No non-indigenous species were recorded from any of the gardens visited. We conclude that most wellestablished gardens do not pose a major threat for zooplankton invasions, mainly due to the destruction of ponds and associated populations through time, which apparently occurs commonly. In addition, ponds are regularly cleaned, insecticides are used on plants that may enter the water, and small fish are frequently added to conservatory ponds, further reducing the probability of zooplankton survival. Extirpation of populations may be occurring at a greater rate than re-introduction, due to greater restrictions on movement of plants, while the increasing focus on exsitu conservation and science rather than aesthetics by botanical gardens means that fewer aquatic plants are being moved.

Temporal and Spatial Variations in Abundance and Diversity of Zooplankton Fauna of Opa Reservoir, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Southwest Nigeria

“…Rotifera species were the most abundant zooplankton recorded within the study, which is in agreement with various studies previously carried out on Opa reservoir (Akinbuwa andAdeniyi, 1991, 1996;Ayodele and Adeniyi, 2006;Akindele and Adeniyi, 2013), as well as data on waterbodies in other parts of Nigeria (Ibrahim, 2009;Arimoro and Oganah, 2010;Okogwu, 2010;Imoobe, 2011 andEkpo, 2013), as well as other waterbodies in the world (Mageed and Konsowa, 2002;Duggan and Duggan, 2011). However, thirty-one (31) species of Rotifera recorded in the present study connote a reduction in the Rotifer composition of the reservoir as compared to sixty-one (61) species reported by Akinbuwa and Adeniyi in 1991.…”

The Comic Uncanny in John Banville's Eclipse

“…27 Furthermore, Duggan's contention that theatrical failing can be 'thought of as an act of subversion on the part of the unconscious' explicitly links phenomena like corpsing and d(r)ying to the unheimlich: 'Being in role can be figured as a home away from home; however, the unconscious might be seen to turn in or subvert itself by making the actor aware of the unhomely nature of this home away from home.' 28 Cleave's description of the perilousness of his craft chimes with this account: I learned to act, that was all, which really means I learned to act convincingly the part of an actor seeming not to act … The self-made man has no solid ground to stand on.…”

“…Discussing the symptoms of contemporary performance, Patrick Duggan deliberately 'bracket[s]' corpsing and drying 'within one term', namely 'failing', 19 in order to addresses trauma that 'is specific to the conditions of theatre': 20 'These failures not only unravel the performance event but also impact repeatedly and violently on the performers themselves in an uncanny echoing of trauma-symptoms.' 21 Building on the concepts of 'face' and 'line' in the sociologist Erving Goffman's 1955 essay 'On Face-Work', 22 this astute terminological amalgamation allows Duggan to suggest that 'both laughing and forgetting lines are moments in which the presentation the performer is making is dislodged and … the line the performer is taking or pursuing is no longer aligned with the face in which they find themselves': 23 the moment of failing produces a traumatic schism in which there is constant movement between what we might call character-self, actor/professional-self, and 'real'/personal-self. … In the moment of failing, each of these selves collapses and … the actor becomes caught in a dead space … As the actor becomes dislocated from all the selves they usually perform they have … 'no one to be'.…”

Assessing the diversity of New Zealand freshwater harpacticoid copepods (Crustacea: Copepoda) using mitochondrial DNA (COI) barcodes

“…For B. pygmaeus, such north-south patterns may also be the result of separate invasions from distinct Holarctic sources. For example, our South Island population was recorded from Dunedin Botanic Gardens, and such gardens are known as introduction sites for several zooplankton species (Duggan & Duggan 2011). Overall, the presence of Phyllognathopus species and B. pygmaeus in New Zealand is biogeographically interesting, as the family Phyllognathopodidae and the genus Bryocamptus are purportedly absent from Australia (Lewis 1984).…”