Researchers ready NASA's SPHEREX space telescope for 2025 launch

by Whitney Clavin, California Institute of Technology
JPL Director Laurie Leshin poses with SPHEREx at JPL. The instrument is mounted to a vibration table for simulating shaking during launch. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

NASA's SPHEREx space telescope has been tucked inside a custom-built chamber on and off for the past two months undergoing tests to prepare it for its two-year mission in space. SPHEREx, which stands for Spectro-Photometer for the History of the universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer, is set to launch into orbit around Earth no later than April 2025.

It will map the entire sky in infrared wavelengths of light, capturing not only images of hundreds of millions of stars and galaxies but spectra for these objects as well. Spectra are created by instruments that break apart light into a rainbow of wavelengths, revealing new details about a cosmic object's composition, distance, and more.

"It's a small telescope, but it gathers an enormous amount of light thanks to its very wide field of view," explains Stephen Padin, a research professor of physics at Caltech and member of the SPHEREx team. "This will be the first all-sky near-infrared spectroscopic survey."

The telescope is tilted to allow SPHEREx to map the entire sky. SPHEREx must carry out its observations without letting sunlight into the thermal system, which means the sun must always be more than 90 degrees off the central axis. If the telescope were pointed straight up, this constraint would leave two holes in the map coverage, located at the north and south ecliptic poles. By tipping the telescope slightly toward the sun, SPHEREx avoids these coverage holes while also preventing sunlight from entering the thermal system. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

The SPHEREx telescope and detectors will stay cold in space with the help of three "V-groove" radiators, seen here at the bottom of the telescope. Nicknamed the "jewels that keep SPHEREx cool," these radiators emit thermal energy as infrared radiation out to the sides, and into the cold of space. The radiators are staged such that each one reaches a lower temperature as you move toward the top. The last radiator stage is a plate, located near the top of the telescope, which provides the lowest temperature stage for the long-wavelength detectors. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech


To ready SPHEREx for its journey, scientists and engineers at Caltech and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), which is managed by Caltech for NASA, have been busy testing SPHEREx's detectors and optics in a basement lab at Caltech's Cahill Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics.

Because performing these tests requires simulating the extremely cold vacuum of space, the SPHEREx team enlisted colleagues at the Korean Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI) to build a specialized chamber for this purpose. The SUV-sized chamber cools the telescope to about minus 350 degrees Fahrenheit (about minus 200 degrees Celsius).

"A series of measurements inside the chamber will test that the telescope is in focus and stays in focus through the shaking of launch," says Jamie Bock, the principal investigator of the mission, professor of physics at Caltech, and senior research scientist at JPL. "The chamber will later be used to characterize SPHEREx's spectrometer, which will capture detailed spectral information for every point on the sky."

Last year, the custom chamber was lowered into the basement of Cahill with the help of a 30-ton crane, as seen in a timelapse video. The telescope was then carefully prepared to be placed in the chamber, a process that included wrapping parts of the telescope in a foil material to block out stray light and to keep the telescope cool. A second timelapse video shows team members loading the telescope into the chamber.

To test whether the telescope is in focus, the team uses a collimator, basically a telescope operating in reverse, to shine an artificial star into the chamber and onto the detectors. The chamber was designed with a gold-coated sapphire window that allows the team to project the artificial star into the chamber while reflecting heat from the laboratory away from the chamber.

"The lab is glowing at infrared wavelengths," explains Phil Korngut, a scientific researcher at Caltech and instrument scientist for the SPHEREx team. "We need to keep that nasty thermal background light from getting into the telescope because it would totally swamp the detectors."



In between tests at Caltech, the telescope is being shipped to JPL, where a large mechanical shaker is mimicking the vibrations that SPHEREx will experience when it blasts off into space aboard a rocket. Once SPHEREx passes the tests at Caltech and JPL, it will be shipped to Ball Aerospace in Boulder, Colorado, for integration with the spacecraft starting in March 2024.

The mission's maps of the sky will showcase stars and galaxies throughout the universe in just over 100 different infrared wavelengths of light. Its images and spectral data will allow astronomers to trace the large-scale structure of the universe to answer fundamental questions about the first moments after the birth of our cosmos 13.8 billion years ago. SPHEREx will also help answer the mystery of how water arrived on Earth by studying the abundance of water and other ices in regions where stars and planetary systems are forming.

"Our mission is complementary to others like JWST and the future Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope," says Chi Nguyen, a postdoctoral scholar research associate at Caltech and member of the SPHEREx team. "They look at objects in detail, whereas we map out the whole sky and look more at global features."

SPHEREx is managed by JPL for NASA's Astrophysics Division within the Science Mission Directorate in Washington, D.C. Ball Aerospace will supply the spacecraft. The science analysis of the SPHEREx data will be conducted by a team of scientists located at 10 institutions across the U.S. and in South Korea. Data will be processed and archived at IPAC at Caltech. The SPHEREx data set will be publicly available.


Provided by California Institute of Technology


Test chamber for NASA's new cosmic mapmaker makes dramatic entrance

 

One in three children who've been in care system enter youth justice system, UK research shows

by Lancaster University

Median cautions or convictions for those with youth justice involvement, by care 

experience and ethnic group major. 

Care Experience, Ethnicity and Youth Justice Involvement: Key Trends and Policy 

Implications (2023).

An unprecedented study of 2.3m children has found that one in three children born between 1996 and 1999 who had experience of the care system received a youth justice caution or conviction between the ages of 10 and 17, compared with just 4% of those without experience of care.

This figure was even higher for some ethnic groups, with a total of 39% of Black Caribbean, 38% of White and Black African and 42% of White and Black Caribbean children who'd been in care involved in the youth justice system.

Of all children in the study, custodial sentences were almost twice as common among Black and Mixed ethnicity children who'd been in care compared to White children who'd been in care.

The study found that 5% of White children who'd been in care received a custodial sentence—with 9% of Black and Mixed ethnicity children who'd been in care sentenced to custody.

Dr. Claire Fitzpatrick, Senior Lecturer in Criminology at Lancaster University and co-author of the report, said, "The findings from this research led by Dr. Katie Hunter are deeply concerning and ought to be taken very seriously. In particular, the extent of justice-system over-representation that has been revealed is shocking.

"This research demonstrates the importance of using more detailed ethnicity information when considering inequalities in youth justice involvement, particularly for those who have been in care. It highlights the serious need to ensure that all children can benefit from efforts at preventing unnecessary criminalization, no matter who they are or where they have come from."

The research, authored by Manchester Metropolitan University and Lancaster University, is the largest ever study of its kind in England, demonstrating that children who'd been in care—and particularly those who are Black—are statistically over-represented in the criminal justice system.

The report also emphasizes that high levels of youth justice involvement among children who've been in care are not an inevitability but a sign that somewhere along the line, they have been failed.

An Administrative Data Research UK Research Fellowship project, the study analyzed new linked data from the Ministry of Justice and Department for Education. It included four cohorts of children born between 1996 and 1999, with snapshot demographic information extracted from the 2006 to 2009 educational censuses when they were aged ten, the minimum age of criminal responsibility in England and Wales.

The resulting dataset contains information for approximately 2.3m children, comprising demographic information—including gender and ethnicity—information about children's services involvement and/or youth justice involvement. The data included 50,000 children who had experience of being in care including foster care, children's homes and kinship care.

Based on the report findings, the authors have outlined a series of policy recommendations, including improving the availability of linked data from the justice system and other government departments, the publication of data using detailed ethnicity categories, a statutory duty on local authorities to prevent unnecessary criminalization of children in care and care leavers, and promoting understanding across youth justice agencies of the needs of children who've been in care in order to improve support.

Dr. Katie Hunter, Lecturer in Criminology at Manchester Metropolitan University and lead author of the study, said, "As a result of this analysis, we now know the shocking extent of criminalization among care-experienced children in England. It also reveals what individuals working in the field have long suspected—that racially minoritized care-experienced children are especially vulnerable to youth justice involvement and imprisonment.

"Clearly, we need urgent action from government to prevent the unnecessary criminalization of children in care and care leavers which takes account of the specific needs of minoritized groups. We also need to keep in mind that youth justice involvement among children who've been in care is not an inevitability. We must avoid stigmatizing these children—this is about over-criminalization and system failures."

The report, Care Experience, Ethnicity and Youth Justice Involvement: Key Trends and Policy Implications, is authored by Dr. Katie Hunter at Manchester Metropolitan University, as well as Professor Brian Francis and Dr. Claire Fitzpatrick at Lancaster University.

More information: Report: www.adruk.org/fileadmin/upload … ing-Katie-Hunter.pdf

Provided by Lancaster University The unfair 'double whammy' of minority ethnic children in care

 

Generative AI already being used in majority of college classrooms, according to new survey

by Wiley

Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

A new report from Wiley suggests that generative artificial intelligence (AI) is already being used in the majority of college classrooms—and that number could climb quickly.

The majority (58%) of college instructors who responded to Wiley's recent survey say they or their students are already using generative AI in their classrooms, according to the company's new report, "Higher Ed's Next Chapter, 2023–2024." And another third of those who aren't say they'd consider using it in the future.

More than 60% of instructors are somewhat or very familiar with generative AI tools.

"The whirlwind that is generative AI has swept across our college campuses with remarkable speed, and there's no going back," said Smita Bakshi, senior vice president of academic learning at Wiley. "It's important for college instructors to educate themselves and their students on effective and appropriate use of this new technology in the classroom."

Generative AI's growth is happening quickly, and respondents expect that trend to continue. Two-thirds of instructors say they expect their program or department will use more technology over the next three years, and nearly six in ten anticipate AI-based tools, virtual/augmented reality, or courseware with flexible assignment types will be important in delivering their courses three years from now.

The quick adoption of AI technology does not come without its concerns. Just around one third of instructors say they feel somewhat or very positive about AI usage. The large majority believe it will allow students to cheat more easily and make it harder to detect cheating. More than six in ten are looking for new ideas and solutions to address these concerns.

A recent study from zyBooks and the University of California suggested that simple, low-effort methods can help reduce cheating in college courses, such as discussing academic integrity with students early in the course, requiring an academic integrity quiz, and demonstrating anti-cheating tools the instructor has available.

The rise of technology and AI is one of four emerging trends in higher education identified in the report. The other three trends are:

• Students are concerned that they're not well prepared for their post-graduation lives.
• Students are searching for meaningful careers.
• Instructors are prioritizing student needs despite challenges of their own.

Some data on AI were generated in an August 2023 survey consisting of responses from 1,078 instructors in North America from various disciplines (including business, math, science, psychology, and technology). Other data were gathered in August 2022 in a survey of 2,452 instructors.

Provided by Wiley 

Survey: Higher confidence in academic integrity of remote instruction among college instructors

 

Two new species of ancient primates resembling lemurs identified

by University of Texas at Austin

Artist's reconstruction of the two species described in the paper—Mytonius williamsae (L) 

and Diablomomys dalquesti (R)—in Big Bend country in West Texas 44 million years ago

 in the middle Eocene. The volcano on the skyline is a reminder of the active volcanism

 that was occurring in this part of Texas during the Eocene and Oligocene epochs.

 Image: Randwulph. Credit: University of Texas at Austin

Fossil evidence from the Tornillo Basin in West Texas and the Uinta Basin in Utah reveals two new species of omomyids—a family of small-bodied early primates from the Eocene epoch. The findings also clarify previously disputed taxonomic distinctions among these primates, according to researchers from The University of Texas at Austin, Des Moines University in Iowa and Midwestern University in Arizona.

The study, published in the Journal of Human Evolution, significantly expands the fossil record of primates from these regions and also allowed the researchers to confirm the existence of three distinct genera of omomyids.

"Since fossil primates were first discovered in North America in the 1860s, only a handful of specimens from the late middle Eocene of Texas and Utah have been described," said Chris Kirk, professor of anthropology at UT and first author on the paper. "For the larger members of the extinct primate family Omomyidae, these small sample sizes have led to some confusion, with past authors unable to agree whether there are one, two or three genera represented."

Omomyids initially had body masses below 500 grams, but some evolved to double that size during the late middle Eocene. The two new species identified—from the genera Ourayia and Mytonius—are on the larger end of the spectrum. They probably resembled present-day small to medium-size lemurs and consumed a diet of fruit and leaves.

Both new species appear to be endemic to the Tornillo Basin and differ from fossil primates found in other parts of North America.

"This distinctiveness of the West Texas primate community suggests that they were evolving at least partly in isolation, with perhaps relatively few opportunities for migration or gene flow with communities of primates living in other parts of North America at the same time," Kirk said. "Eocene primates in the Big Bend may also have been adapting to the local environmental conditions."

The study also expanded the fossil evidence of three previously discovered species—Diablomomys dalquesti, Mytonius hopsoni and Ourayia uintensis—painting a clearer picture of these primates' anatomies and diets.

Previous studies on the evolution of Eocene primates focused on earlier periods and regions with more abundant fossil samples, such as Bighorn and Bridger basins in Wyoming. Increasing the sample of fossil primates from different regions may offer insights into the changing environmental factors that shaped these divergent populations.

"The fact that more than 150 years after the first Eocene primates from North America were first described, I can travel eight hours from my home in Austin and find new species of fossil primates in the Big Bend country is still astonishing to me," Kirk said.

"There is so much interesting research that remains to be done on these Texas primates. It's a reminder of how many gaps still exist in the fossil record, and how many important paleontological discoveries are waiting to be made, sometimes even more or less in our own back yards."

More information: E. Christopher Kirk et al, New specimens of middle Eocene omomyines (Primates, Omomyoidea) from the Uinta Basin of Utah and the Tornillo Basin of Texas, with clarification of the generic status of Ourayia, Mytonius, and Diablomomys, Journal of Human Evolution (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2023.103425

Journal information: Journal of Human Evolution 

Provided by University of Texas at Austin Three previously unknown ancient primates identified

 

Avoiding the 'nothingburger' effect in government contractor mergers and acquisitions

by Benjamin Kessler, George Mason University

Illustrations of customer asset strategies: Government customer penetration and 

government customer expansion.

 Credit: Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science (2023). DOI: 10.1007/s11747-023-00955-1

In love and business alike, the laws of attraction can be obscure. Companies pursue mergers and acquisitions (M&A) for a host of reasons ranging from gaining market share to gaming the tax system. In his recently published research, Brett Josephson, associate dean for executive development and associate professor of marketing at George Mason University, pondered one particularly mysterious M&A motivator: customer strategy.

"We suspected one of the primary reasons firms were buying each was for the other company's customer assets," Josephson says. "But the information was hidden behind the firewalls of these companies. Companies are not going to reveal their customer portfolio unless they are forced to."

To test his hypothesis, Josephson turned to the government contracting (GovCon) sector, where vendor disclosures are a requirement for doing business. Moreover, M&A activity in the federal GovCon ecosystem has been extremely robust in recent years, as the competitive conditions increasingly favor entities with scale advantages.

"In the business-to-government (B2G) space, companies have difficulty achieving organic growth due to regulatory oversight, budgeting challenges and the unique nature of this sector," Josephson says. "So they often turn to M&A's to fuel growth and increase profitability, but we really don't know whether and when these activities actually lead to increased returns."

Josephson's paper for Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, co-authored by Shuai Yan of University of Stavanger and Ju-Yeon Lee of Iowa State University, poses the question: Do equity markets prefer M&As between companies who serve the same customers, or different ones?

In theory, either strategy could work. Doubling down with shared customers—which the paper terms customer penetration—could reinforce key relationships with major government agencies and take advantage of scale benefits. Gaining access to new customers— or customer expansion—has obvious virtues of access to new markets and revenue streams, but could be thwarted by the steep learning curve B2G firms face when onboarding new clients.

The researchers analyzed market response to 422 M&A deals during the period 2001-2017, where both target and acquirer were government contractors. For each M&A pairing, they assessed customer penetration and customer expansion by comparing value generated by contracts from shared customers against those from customers new to the acquirer.

They found that investors reacted positively to news of M&As that were heavily weighted toward customer expansion—in other words, a customer expansion focus was associated with higher short-term cumulative abnormal returns (firm share price increased more than expected). The opposite was true of M&As where customer penetration dominated. Deals that were more evenly split between the two strategies also met with a slightly negative investor response.

Josephson suggests that markets are generally aware of the uphill battle that may lie ahead for contractors that consolidate in order to win more business from an existing customer. Thanks to the unique power dynamic that occurs when your client is also your potential regulator, these attempts can backfire if a government agency perceives that the deal would inordinately increase its dependency on a single vendor.

Highly specific vendor requirements can also make consolidated firms ineligible to retain the government contracts they previously serviced as separate entities. These are just a couple of the reasons why investors perceive customer penetration as generally unlikely to pay off in the short term.

"With customer penetration, it's hard to change pricing schema and net 'unexpected' new revenue," Josephson further explains. "Your income statement may change, but that's not an exciting story for investors. There's an impression of diminishing returns."

The "nothingburger" effect of customer penetration M&A was diminished when product-based contractors absorbed service-based companies. The mix of offerings added a dimension of diversification to the deal that apparently interested investors. With customer expansion M&As, it had the opposite effect—firm values went down as investors may have considered it a risky proposition to try integrating these two doubly different entities.

However, both types of M&A were generally more successful when the customers serviced by target and acquirer were in growth areas of the federal budget, e.g. cybersecurity or anti-terrorism in the post-9/11 period. "Government contracting companies are looking for fast-moving streams, with budgets rising faster in certain sectors than the federal budget as a whole," Josephson says.

He cautions that his findings may not equally apply to all M&As in the B2G space, because not all deals are geared toward share price maximization. For example, it is often the case that companies would rather merge than compete with one another. But these sorts of anti-competitive deals are the ones most likely to raise regulator eyebrows and prompt accusations of favoritism.

The particularities of the B2G sector may complicate the applicability of these findings to the broader economy. However, tighter regulatory oversight places some industries in a roughly analogous position to B2G. Josephson says, "We believe our findings will stand up within highly regulated markets such as telecom and pharma that have a large base of commercial customers."

More information: Shuai Yan et al, The effect of customer asset strategies on acquisition performance in business-to-government markets, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science (2023). DOI: 10.1007/s11747-023-00955-1

Journal information: Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science 

Provided by George Mason University A 'power boost' for customers is key to enhancing engagement and well-being, suggests study

 

New Indo-European language discovered during excavation in Turkey

by Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg

At this excavation site at the foot of Ambarlikaya in Boğazköy-Hattusha in Turkey, a 

cuneiform tablet with a previously unknown Indo-European language was discovered. 

Credit: Andreas Schachner / Deutsches Archäologisches Institut

An excavation in Turkey has brought to light an unknown Indo-European language. Professor Daniel Schwemer, an expert for the ancient Near East, is involved in investigating the discovery.

The new language was discovered in the UNESCO World Heritage Site Boğazköy-Hattusha in north-central Turkey. This was once the capital of the Hittite Empire, one of the great powers of Western Asia during the Late Bronze Age (1650 to 1200 BC).

Excavations in Boğazköy-Hattusha have been going on for more than 100 years under the direction of the German Archaeological Institute. The site has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1986; almost 30,000 clay tablets with cuneiform writing have been found there so far. These tablets, which were included in the UNESCO World Documentary Heritage in 2001, provide rich information about the history, society, economy and religious traditions of the Hittites and their neighbors.

Yearly archaeological campaigns led by current site director Professor Andreas Schachner of the Istanbul Department of the German Archaeological Institute continue to add to the cuneiform finds. Most of the texts are written in Hittite, the oldest attested Indo-European language and the dominant language at the site. Yet the excavations of this year yielded a surprise: Hidden in a cultic ritual text written in Hittite is a recitation in a hitherto unknown language.

Hittites were interested in foreign languages

Professor Schwemer, head of the Chair of Ancient Near Eastern Studies at Julius-Maximilians-Universität (JMU) Würzburg in Germany, is working on the cuneiform finds from the excavation. He reports that the Hittite ritual text refers to the new idiom as the language of the land of Kalašma. This is an area on the north-western edge of the Hittite heartland, probably in the area of present-day Bolu or Gerede.

The discovery of another language in the Boğazköy-Hattusha archives is not entirely unexpected, as Prof. Schwemer explains: "The Hittites were uniquely interested in recording rituals in foreign languages."

Such ritual texts, written by scribes of the Hittite king reflect various Anatolian, Syrian, and Mesopotamian traditions and linguistic milieus. The rituals provide valuable glimpses into the little known linguistic landscapes of Late Bronze Age Anatolia, where not just Hittite was spoken. Thus cuneiform texts from Boğazköy-Hattusha include passages in Luwian and Palaic, two other Anatolian-Indo-European languages closely related to Hittite, as well as Hattic, a non-Indo-European language. Now the language of Kalasma can be added to these.

More precise classification of the new language is in progress

Being written in a newly discovered language the Kalasmaic text is as yet largely incomprehensible. Prof. Schwemer's colleague, Professor Elisabeth Rieken (Marburg University), a specialist in ancient Anatolian languages, has confirmed that the idiom belongs to the family of Anatolian-Indo-European languages.

According to Rieken, despite its geographic proximity to the area where Palaic was spoken, the text seems to share more features with Luwian. How closely the language of Kalasma is related to the other Luwian dialects of Late Bronze Age Anatolia will be the subject of further investigation.

Provided by Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg Ancient Hittite cuneiform scripts will soon be accessible online

 

Understanding the role of pareidolia in early human cave art

by Durham University

A Paleolithic painting of an aurochs from the cave of La Pasiega. The Paleolithic artist

 traced the natural cracks in the cave wall when painting the head, horns, and back leg of 

the animal. Credit: Izzy Wisher, courtesy of the Gobierno de Cantabria

A psychological phenomenon where people see meaningful forms in random patterns, such as seeing faces in clouds, may have stimulated early humans to make cave art.

Research published in the Cambridge Archaeological Journal by the departments of Archaeology and Psychology at Durham University has found that Ice Age cave art made as early as 40,000 years ago was influenced in part by a visual psychological phenomenon called pareidolia.

Pareidolia and early human artists

The research team, led by Dr. Izzy Wisher, who was a Durham Ph.D. student at the time of the study, examined paintings of animals in caves in Northern Spain to look for any evidence that pareidolia had an influence on the early artists.

If so, they would have expected the majority of depictions to include features of the cave walls within them (such as cracks and curves) and to take relatively simple forms.

The researchers also used modified virtual reality gaming software to model the cave walls and replicate the light sources used by the artists, (most likely flickering firelight produced by small torches or lamps), to understand the visual effects on the cave wall by tracking the eye-movement of participants.

Influence and inspiration

Their study found that over 50% of depictions showed a strong relationship to the natural features of the cave wall and were simple in nature (lacking detail such as eyes or hair), suggesting strongly that pareidolia partly guided artists' creations.

Examples included where the curved edges of the cave wall were used to represent the backs of animals such as wild horses, or where natural cracks were used as bisons' horns.

However, pareidolia cannot explain all the images and the researchers believe that the art may have been part of a "creative conversation" with the cave walls—with early artists both guided by what they saw emerging from the cracks and shapes of the cave wall, but also using their own creativity.

Systematic testing

The team believes their study offers the first systematic testing of the much-discussed theory that pareidolia influenced cave artists and is the first to utilize simulated lighting conditions in virtual reality as part of this. It advances Durham's research into visual paleopsychology.

More information: Izzy Wisher et al, Conversations with Caves: The Role of Pareidolia in the Upper Palaeolithic Figurative Art of Las Monedas and La Pasiega (Cantabria, Spain), Cambridge Archaeological Journal (2023). DOI: 10.1017/S0959774323000288

Journal information: Cambridge Archaeological Journal 

Provided by Durham University Missing topographical elements of Paleolithic rock art revealed by stereoscopic imaging

 

Exotic tree species in the forest mean loss of grazing land for reindeer

by Sara-Lena Brännström, Umea University

Reindeer on winter grazing in pine forest. Credit: Tim Horstkotte

Semi-domesticated reindeer avoid winter habitats with exotic lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta), introduced from Northern America. Reduced food supply and dense stands probably contribute to the reindeers' avoidance behavior of areas with tall P. contorta-trees. This is reported by researchers from Umeå University and the Swedish University of Agriculture, SLU in the journal Forest Ecology and Management.

P. contorta [TH1] has been planted mainly in northern Sweden since the 1960s, as it is expected to grow faster than the native pine (P. sylvestris). However, it has been reported that both plants and animals can be negatively affected in stands with P. contorta. Reindeer herders have also reported that reindeer do not find enough forage in these stands, and that these stands can be an obstacle for their movements. Based on the reindeer herders' observations, the research group analyzed the reindeer's habitat selection in detail.

"Using GPS data from reindeer collected by reindeer herders in the herding district Vilhelmina norra, we analyzed how the reindeer moved in the landscape during three different winters. We investigated which areas the reindeer preferred to stay in and which they avoided. We were interested in investigating whether we could find the same behavioral pattern observed by reindeer herders," says Tim Horstkotte, research engineer at the Department of Ecology and Environmental Science (EMG) at Umeå University.

Using data on the reindeer's movement patterns over three winters, the research group investigated the reindeer's behavior on the herding district's winter pastures. They also investigated whether the amount of terricolous lichen differs in different forest types, as well as on which soil types the box pine grows.

Results consistent with observations

The study shows that tree height was an important factor in how much more reindeer avoid stands with P. contorta compared to stands with our native pine.

"If the P. contorta trees were higher than 3 meters, our results show that the reindeer avoided these areas relative to other forest types. Where the P. contorta trees were lower, the reindeer's choice of forest type was not affected—regardless of whether there was P. contorta in the stand or not," says Tim Horstkotte.

"It is also important to highlight that we also saw that there was less terricolous lichens in the P. contorta stands, even though P. contorta is often planted on dry land that is actually favorable for these lichens. This may indicate that planting P. contorta affects lichen occurrence negatively, even if the soil conditions should be favorable."

P. contorta is a challenge for many

Jörgen Sjögren, researcher at SLU in Umeå and who also participated in the study, emphasizes the importance of this type of investigations:

"Today, P. contorta in Sweden is planted on an area that covers just over 600,000 hectares. For having such a huge area with a tree species that does not originate on this side of the Atlantic, we know surprisingly little about the ecological consequences. This study contributes significantly to the state of knowledge."

The researchers point out that planting P. contorta on land that is suitable for terricolous lichens contributes to a reduction in winter grazing for the reindeer. Within the entire reindeer husbandry area in Sweden, access to winter pastures with a high presence of terricolous lichens is a bottleneck. This, in combination with other external pressures on reindeer herding, including climate change, makes the conditions for reindeer herding more difficult.

More information: Tim Horstkotte et al, Semi-domesticated reindeer avoid winter habitats with exotic tree species Pinus contorta, Forest Ecology and Management (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.foreco.2023.121062

Journal information: Forest Ecology and Management 

Provided by Umea University Supplementary feeding changing reindeer behavior and reindeer husbandry culture

 

The silver lining to storm surge: How some baby fish ride out hurricanes to success

by Bill Kearney, South Florida Sun Sentinel

Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

Humans loathe the deadly impact of storm surge, and for good reason. But new research shows how juvenile tarpon and snook can actually benefit from it. In turn, scientists are learning how to design more eco-friendly developments that help the fish survive.

Ongoing studies by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the Bonefish & Tarpon Trust show that young-of-the-year tarpon and snook take advantage of storm surge and king tides, essentially riding the water into remote semi-landlocked ponds. When the water recedes, the small tarpon and snook rule their new micro kingdoms, the proverbial big fish in small ponds.

Several studies pieced together indicate that spawning season for both tarpon and snook coincides with summer high tides and storm season, said JoEllen Wilson, a biologist with the Bonefish & Tarpon Trust.

"We have extra high water and winds that are pushing (the newborn fish) back into these habitats. They're adapted to be able to reach what we call ephemerally connected or intermittently connected locations."

The advantage of being swept into these shallow, often inhospitable ponds is twofold.

Firstly, the yearling tarpon and snook are protected from larger predatory fish such as sharks, jacks and adult snook that don't have access.

Secondly, they are precisely adapted to survive in low-oxygen water, giving them an advantage over both prey and rivals.

While most fish need to pass oxygen-rich water through their gills, tarpon are able to gulp air and absorb oxygen through their swim bladders, allowing them to survive in hot, low-oxygen conditions that kill competitors like snapper, sea trout or freshwater gar (some of the ponds are brackish or freshwater).

Young snook can't gulp air, but can survive in very low oxygen habitats as well.

As they mature, they seem to lose that ability.

"Once they reach these habitats, they're the sole large predatory fish that can survive in there," said the FWC's Matt Bunting, whose research tracked the yearling fish in and out of these isolated ponds on Florida's west coast. He said the same behavior plays out on the east coast as well.

Bunting, who grew up in Cooper City fishing for small tarpon in suburban canals and ponds, has seen juvenile tarpon surviving in water temperatures greater than 100 degrees, with dissolved oxygen levels at zero, "to the point where there's been a mass fish die-off in one of these ponds, and tarpon are the sole fish that are surviving," he said.

The result is that the yearling snook and tarpon can feast on little mosquito fish in these semi-landlocked ponds, and have all the food to themselves.

Bunting's research showed that the tarpon and snook will stay in the ponds from one to three years, but the closer they are to the estuary the earlier they might leave. Sometimes a king tide will bring enough water.

His study showed some fish left after three years—the time it took for a second tropical storm or hurricane surge to reach them.

To gain data, Bunting and his team outfitted yearling tarpon and snook with acoustic transmitters that would ping when the fish swam near any number of receivers installed in the pond and downstream creek system.

Researchers also placed water-level sensors in the ponds. The study showed that the fish would leave when water levels rose.

Bunting and his team tagged fish in the spring, when they were about 12 inches long and less than a year old. He said they would usually leave the ponds during flooding events in summer and fall.

No one knows exactly how small the fish are when they first get swept into the ponds.

But tarpon spawn offshore in spring and summer, and snook spawn in inlets in the summer.

Their fry are swept up and down coastal areas, and into estuaries where seek both shelter and food. Their ability to shelter in semi-landlocked ponds is an evolutionary tweak that gives them an advantage in a brutal fish-eat-fish world.

It's also something that conservationists can use to emphasize eco-friendly waterfront design.

Wilson's research looks at how best to redesign canal systems to benefit the survival of juvenile tarpon and snook. One study took a pre-existing canal area and built various shallow estuary environments off of it. Some had open creek mouths while others were semi-landlocked and shallow like the ponds in Bunting's study.

She found higher growth rates for baby tarpon and snook in the built estuaries than in the straight deep canals. She also found that the most productive environment for tarpon and snook was a shallow estuary creek with an open mouth for travel, but with a semi-landlocked shallow area in the back end for shelter.

Climate change, and the ensuing sea-level rise in Florida, are part of the equation.

King tides can now reach farther inland. And larger storm surge, due to more intense hurricanes, can do the same. Juvenile tarpon and snook seem adapted to it.

But what they're not adapted to is habitat loss. Florida is the fastest-growing state in the union, and now has 22 million people, double the population in the 1980s. Much of that growth is in coastal areas, where subdivisions gobble up estuaries and wetlands.

"Stormwater ponds can benefit fish," she said, "but they need to be designed to allow the occasional inflow and outflow of small fish."

By looking at both Bunting's natural pond study and her research, Wilson hopes to find a way for ecosystems and human development to coexist.

"Development is going to occur, especially in this region," she said. "The question is, can we develop in a way that also allows highly functioning nursery habitats (for tarpon and snook)?"

2023 South Florida Sun Sentinel.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Freshwater flow affects Everglades fish, but how?

 

Research reveals surprising influences on an employee's intention to quit

by David Bradley, Inderscience

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Research in the International Journal of Enterprise Network Management reveals unexpected factors that influence an employee's intentions to quit their job in information technology. The findings challenge the received wisdom and could shed light on the dynamic role of online professional networking and social media profile updates.

There has been much research in employee intention to quit as it can have a significant impact on a wide range of organizations. Conventionally, researchers have focused on factors such as job satisfaction and organizational commitment. These are the standard key indicators that can help predict which employees might be planning to leave and so allow organizations to perhaps manage staff turnover more effectively.

However, there was an obvious gap in understanding how online activities, such as updating job profiles on social media platforms and engaging in professional networking sites, affect a person's intention to leave a job.

Ashish Kumar Biswas of Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (Deemed to be University) in Hyderabad, R. Seethalakshmi of VIT-AP University in Amaravati, and Prabha Mariappan of Veltech University in Chennai, India, have employed a quantitative survey approach involving almost 600 participants and used a structural equation model to test their hypothesis and hopefully help fill this gap in our understanding of employee intention to quit.

The team found that, as one might anticipate, an increased engagement in professional networking sites ultimately influences an individual's intention to leave their current job and find employment elsewhere. This is not necessarily an obvious factor as many people might daydream about finding a new job and investigate their options, perhaps even uploading their CV (curriculum vitae or résumé) to a job-seekers web site, but a certain level of activity might nudge them towards quitting whereas casual interaction with such websites would not necessarily reinforce the tendency.

Online activity of this kind cannot be ignored as an influential factor in affecting an individual's intentions in much the same way as job satisfaction and level of engagement should not be ignored, especially if they are dwindling. Moreover, the research suggests that employee commitment to a job is dynamic and can fluctuate with changing circumstances.

The team suggests that even highly committed employees might intensify their job search efforts, but this doesn't necessarily translate to higher turnover rates. In contrast, those members of staff who are not committed to their jobs may choose to stay with their current employer for various reasons, such as a competitive job market or personal obligations, and perhaps because they do not see the opportunities that might exist via social media and job-seekers websites.

More information: Ashish Kumar Biswas et al, An emerging approach towards intention to quit among IT employees, International Journal of Enterprise Network Management (2023). DOI: 10.1504/IJENM.2023.132967

Provided by Inderscience UK survey shows 8% average drop in employee engagement since the pandemic