Sweepstakes reproductive success is absent in a New Zealand snapper (Chrysophrus auratus) population protected from fishing despite "tiny" N /N ratios elsewhere.

A landmark study published in 2002 estimated a very small N /N ratio (around 10 ) in a population of pink snapper (Chrysophrys auratus, Forster, 1801) in the Hauraki Gulf in New Zealand. It epitomized the tiny N /N ratios (<10 ) reported in marine species due to the hypothesized operation of sweepstakes reproductive success (SRS). Here we re-evaluate the occurrence of SRS in marine species and the potential effect of fishing on the N /N ratio by studying the same species in the same region, but in a population that has been protected from fishing since 1975.

neogen: A tool to predict genetic effective population size (N ) for species with generational overlap and to assist empirical N study design.

Molecular genetic estimates of population effective size (N ) lose accuracy and precision when insufficient numbers of samples or loci are used. Ideally, researchers would like to forecast the necessary power when planning their project. neogen (genetic N for Overlapping Generations) enables estimates of precision and accuracy in advance of empirical investigation and allows exploration of the power available in different user-specified age-structured sampling schemes.

Data and methods for studying commercial motor vehicle driver fatigue, highway safety and long-term driver health.

This article summarizes the recommendations on data and methodology issues for studying commercial motor vehicle driver fatigue of a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine study. A framework is provided that identifies the various factors affecting driver fatigue and relating driver fatigue to crash risk and long-term driver health. The relevant factors include characteristics of the driver, vehicle, carrier and environment.

Can estimates of genetic effective population size contribute to fisheries stock assessments?

Sustainable exploitation of fisheries populations is challenging to achieve when the size of the population prior to exploitation and the actual numbers removed over time and across fishing zones are not clearly known. Quantitative fisheries' modeling is able to address this problem, but accurate and reliable model outcomes depend on high quality input data. Much of this information is obtained through the operation of the fishery under consideration, but while this seems appropriate, biases may occur.

The complete mitochondrial genome of the sandbar shark Carcharhinus plumbeus.

The sandbar shark, Carcharhinus plumbeus, a major representative species in shark fisheries worldwide is now considered vulnerable to overfishing. A pool of 774,234 Roche 454 shotgun sequences from one individual were assembled into a 16,706 bp mitogenome with 33× average coverage depth. It comprised 13 protein coding genes, 22 transfer RNA's, 2 ribosomal genes and 2 non-coding regions, typical of a vertebrate mitogenome.