National Park College

Reproductive strategies play a crucial role in the survival and persistence of fish populations. Spawning plasticity allows animals to respond to a variety of environmental conditions and thus maximize their differential reproductive success. Here, we report novel observations of spawning behavior by Lepisosteus osseus (Longnose Gar). On 18–19 February 2023, we observed Longnose Gar spawning in a floating vegetation mat within the run of the first-magnitude Ichetucknee Springs complex in north Florida. This novel behavior highlights a previously unpublished spawning mode in this species. Longnose Gar may spawn in floating vegetation mats to afford protection of offspring from predators, provide suitable substrate and ideal spawning habitat for egg adhesion and development, and confer favorable environmental conditions such as the ability to retain heat.

Despite known individual-level facilitators of cancer screening, the impact of work-related organizational-level characteristics on cancer screening is unknown particularly in the firefighter workforce who is experiencing a disproportionate burden of cancer. We examine the association between fire service organizational-level factors and implementation of cancer screening activities within Florida fire departments. We used a cross-sectional observational study design to survey fire department leaders attending the Florida Fire Chiefs' Association Health and Safety conference about cancer screening activities implemented by their fire departments. Measures assessing organizational-level characteristics include: fire department workforce size, total health and safety officers, fire department geographic location, employment type, leadership support and capacity. Among the 126 fire departments participating (response rate = 47.7%), approximately 44% reported some type of cancer screening activity in the 12 months prior to survey administration. The proportion of fire departments with two or more health and safety officers was significantly greater among those with cancer screening activities as compared with departments without cancer screening activities (46.3% vs. 24.2%; P = 0.016). There were no statistical differences noted for cancer screening activities among all other organizational-level characteristics including workforce size, fire department geographic location, employment type, leadership support, and individual capacity measures. Most organizational-level characteristics of a fire department evaluated in this study were not associated with cancer screening activities; however, having two or more dedicated health and safety officers supports the delivery of cancer screening activities. These officers may be a key to improving availability of cancer screening activities at work.

1. Dow B. Stough, MD (dbs4{at}cablelynx.com) 1. Hot Springs, Arkansas, USA ![][1] The 2016 ISHRS World Congress in Las Vegas featured Dr. Alan Jacobs as guest speaker. Dr. Jacobs is a Neuroendocrinologist in private practice after a stint as Assistant Professor of Neurology at

A novel bacterium was isolated from a freshwater hot spring, the Hale House Spring, located at Hot Springs National Park, Hot Springs, AR, USA. Cells of strain MP-01(T) stained Gram-negative, were rod-shaped, non-motile, strictly anaerobic and chemo-organotrophic and did not form spores. Growth occurred at 50-65 °C, with an optimum at 60 °C, at pH 6.0-8.0, with an optimum at pH 6.5-7.0, and at NaCl concentrations up to 0.5 % (w/v), with optimum growth in the absence of NaCl. Strain MP-01(T) was capable of fermentative growth on pyruvate or proteinaceous substrates as well as reducing Fe(III) and Mn(IV). Major fatty acids were iso-C15 : 0, iso-C16 : 0, anteiso-C17 : 0 and iso-C17 : 0. The polar lipids consisted of diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol and phosphatidylethanolamine and the major isoprenoid quinone was MK-10. In the polyamine pattern, sym-homospermidine was the predominant compound. The DNA G+C content was 62.7 mol%. Analysis of the 16S rRNA gene sequence of the isolate indicated that strain MP-01(T) represents the first reported cultivated member of subdivision 23 of the Acidobacteria. It is proposed that strain MP-01(T) represents a novel genus and species, for which the name Thermoanaerobaculum aquaticum gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain of Thermoanaerobaculum aquaticum is MP-01(T) ( = DSM 24856(T) = JCM 18256(T)).

</br>![][1]</img> A picture is worth a thousand words.… Well, forget the picture, we want your words. When this issue comes to press, we will be just weeks away from the San Francisco meeting. This meeting represents our big “coup de grace,” in which all the innovations from the past year

Four ruminally cannulated crossbred steers (882 lb) were used to investigate the effects of temporarily altering the levels of alfalfa in a high-concentrate diet on ruminal characteristics during a bout of experimentally induced subacute acidosis. A diet based on dry rolled corn with 8% alfalfa hay was fed before and after a 2-day challenge phase when steers were forced to consume 2.5% of their body weight in 90 minutes each day after a prior 24-hour fast. During the challenge phase, steers were fed diets containing 5, 8, 11, or 14% alfalfa. Feed intake quickly recovered for steers fed all but the 5% alfalfa diet, with a tendency for a linear (P<.11) decline in feed intake as alfalfa was decreased in the challenge diet. The intensity and duration of the pH drop were increased as the level of alfalfa decreased. Mean pH decreased, total VFA concentration increased, and the ratio of acetate:propionate decreased linearly (P<.06) as level of alfalfa decreased. Because the ruminal parameters measured for the 8% and 11% alfalfa diets were similar, the data suggest that temporarily increasing the basal diet to more than 11% alfalfa is necessary to mitigate the effects of a forced disruption in feed intake. Increasing the level of alfalfa hay from 8 to 14% of diet dry matter increased fluid dilution rate, lowered time that ruminal pH was below 5.5, and resulted in higher mean ruminal pH in steers with experimentally induced acidosis.

Three hundred eighty-four crossbred, yearling steers (810 lb) were used to evaluate soybean meal (SBM), sunflower meal (SFM), and combinations of the two as protein supplements and supplemental protein effects in diets containing silage or alfalfa as dietary roughage. All diets contained 1.0% urea (dry matter basis). An additional 2 percentage units of crude protein were either not provided or provided as SBM, SFM, or a 50:50 combination (protein basis) of SBM and SFM. Steers were implanted with Revalor-Sfi and fed experimental diets for 126 days. No interactions between protein supplementation and roughage source were observed. Daily feed intake and feed efficiency were unaffected by additional supplemental protein compared to urea alone. Averaged across both roughage sources, provision of supplemental SBM tended to increase daily gain. Dressing percentage decreased when supplemental SBM was provided and increased when alfalfa was fed as the roughage source. Based on carcass-adjusted performance, feeding alfalfa as the dietary roughage source improved daily gain by 3.9% and feed efficiency by 4.8% compared to sorghum silage. Carcass finish, marbling score, and carcasses grading Choice were unaffected by treatment. Carcass-adjusted growth rate and conversion efficiency were enhanced when alfalfa was fed independent of dietary crude protein concentration.