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Anthropogenic disturbances intertwined with climatic changes can have a large impact on the upper trophic levels of marine ecosystems, which may cascade down the food web. So far it has been difficult to demonstrate multi-level trophic cascades in pelagic marine environments. Using field data collected during a 33-year period, we show for the first time a four-level community-wide trophic cascade in the open Baltic Sea. The dramatic reduction of the cod (Gadus morhua) population directly affected its main prey, the zooplanktivorous sprat (Sprattus sprattus), and indirectly the summer biomass of zooplankton and phytoplankton (top-down processes). Bottom-up processes and climate–hydrological forces had a weaker influence on sprat and zooplankton, whereas phytoplankton variation was explained solely by top-down mechanisms. Our results suggest that in order to dampen the occasionally harmful algal blooms of the Baltic, effort should be addressed not only to control anthropogenic nutrient inputs but also to preserve structure and functioning of higher trophic levels.
The sensitivity of different trophic levels to anthropogenic stress and climate variations has important implications in the functioning of pelagic ecosystems, as it may synchronize or uncouple ecological interactions the consequences of which may propagate through the food web (Edwards & Richardson 2004; Litzow & Ciannelli 2007). This is particularly relevant in the current period of rapid climate change which has resulted in changes in the distribution of top predators such as fishes (Perry et al. 2005) and lower trophic levels (Beaugrand et al. 2002). Community-wide trophic cascades, defined by top-down control by predators and the propagation of indirect mutualism between non-adjacent trophic levels, have been described in a variety of systems (Pace et al. 1999; Shurin et al. 2002). However, it has been difficult to demonstrate trophic cascades in real marine systems, although promising examples exist from manipulated marine mesocosms and field experiments (Micheli 1999; Shurin et al. 2002) as well as benthic communities (Estes et al. 1998; Halpern et al. 2006). On the other hand, in pelagic marine ecosystems, most of the evidence of top-down regulation is based on inverse relationships between two adjacent trophic levels, e.g. between top predators and their prey (Pauly et al. 1998; Worm & Myers 2003) or between planktivorous fish and zooplankton (Micheli 1999; Casini et al. 2006), although indications of three-level trophic cascades have been provided (Shiomoto et al. 1997). To our knowledge only two studies, one in the eastern Scotian Shelf (Frank et al. 2005) and one in the Black Sea (Daskalov et al. 2007), have showed clear evidence of trophic cascades involving more than three trophic levels in marine pelagic ecosystems. Moreover, the investigations that have revealed multi-level trophic cascades in marine systems have often overlooked the potential contemporary effects of bottom-up (resource-mediated) processes and climate–hydrological forces, which have the potential to affect entire food webs (e.g. Beaugrand & Reid 2003; Ware & Thomson 2005). The simultaneous investigation of top-down, bottom-up and hydrological forces would help reveal how resilient food webs are to the combined effect of resource-mediated and predator-mediated forces. This would also provide a deeper understanding of ecosystem functioning and elucidate the causes of ecosystem change (Menge et al. 1997; Winder & Schindler 2004).
Using the information collected during the past three decades (1974–2006), we investigated the potential occurrence in summer of a community-wide trophic cascade in the Baltic Sea pelagic ecosystem, involving four levels of the food web: piscivorous fish (the gadoid cod, Gadus morhua), zooplanktivorous fish (the clupeids: sprat, Sprattus sprattus and herring, Clupea harengus), zooplankton and phytoplankton. The relative importance of both bottom-up processes and climate–hydrological factors was also estimated. We focus on the past three decades because they encompass the period of both cod and clupeid analytical stock assessment estimates (International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) 2007) as well as of regular field measurement of the lower trophic levels (i.e. zooplankton and phytoplankton). This period is characterized by very low population levels of the piscivorous seals (grey seal Halichoerus grypus, ringed seal Phoca hispida and common seal Phoca vitulina) and harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) which were abundant at the beginning of the 1900s, but decreased drastically afterwards due to human activities (Österblom et al. 2007). Hence, in our study period cod has been, together with man, the dominant top predator in the open Baltic Sea (Harvey et al. 2003). We show evidence that during summer, top-down processes are stronger than both bottom-up and climate–hydrological forces in the Baltic Sea pelagic ecosystem.
Time series of cod biomass (age 2+) and biomass and abundance of sprat and herring (age 1+) at the start of the year in the Baltic Sea were calculated using a virtual population analysis and retrieved from the annual stock assessment report (ICES 2007). The Latvian Fish Resources Agency (LATFRA) provided data on the density (abundance per 1m3) of the major zooplankton species in the Gotland Basin (central Baltic Sea, i.e. the copepods Pseudocalanus spp., Temora longicornis, Acartia spp. and the cladocerans Bosmina coregoni maritima, Evadne nordmanni and Podon spp.). These species represent also the main zooplankton prey for clupeids in the study area (Kornilovs et al. 2001; Möllmann et al. 2004). The biomass of each zooplankton species per 1m3 was estimated using standard wet weights (Hernroth 1985). Sampling was performed in daytime at several depths from the surface down to a maximum depth of 100m (or to sea bottom for shallower stations). Further details on sampling procedure and plankton identification are described in Kornilovs et al. (2001). The zooplankton data were constructed averaging the biomass calculated for the deeper (more than 100m depth) and shallower (50–80m depth) stations. Chlorophyll a (μgl−1) sampled in the Gotland Basin was extracted from the Helsinki Commission (HELCOM) database stored in the ICES website (www.ices.dk). Chlorophyll a was averaged over 0–20m depth (samples at surface and at 5m depth intervals). The profiles of temperature, salinity and nutrients (nitrate and phosphate), collected monthly in the Gotland Basin, were provided by the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI; available at www.smhi.se). Water temperature (°C) and salinity (psu) were averaged over the 0–100m depth strata (samples at surface and at 10m depth intervals). Nutrients (μmoll−1) were averaged over 0–50m depth (samples at surface and at 10m depth intervals). North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) winter index (December–March) was used as an indicator of large-scale climate forcing (available at the Climate Analysis Section website www.cgd.ucar.edu/cas/jhurrell/indices.html). NAO in winter is acknowledged to influence spring and summer hydrological and biological features in the Baltic Sea (Dippner et al. 2001; Hänninen et al. 2003; MacKenzie & Köster 2004).
Instead of using annual mean values, we focused our analysis on the summer period, which corresponds to the annual peak of zooplanktivorous fish feeding intensity (Aro 1989; Möllmann et al. 2004) and zooplankton production (Möllmann et al. 2000). This offers the possibility to investigate potential multilevel top-down regulation. In fact, the seasonality characteristic of temperate environments implies the occurrence of season-specific trophic interactions (Worm et al. 2000), which could be masked if annual averages are employed. Also, summer corresponds to the season of occurrence of cyanobacterial blooms (Finni et al. 2001) and to the current main spawning season of cod (Wieland et al. 2000). Data from other seasons, however, were also used in order to investigate the bottom-up and climate-hydrological forces acting on the trophic levels.
The potential occurrence of trophic cascades was initially investigated using Pearson correlations and cumulative z-scores (cumulative sum methods, e.g. Molinero et al. 2005). The z-scores are standardized anomalies, calculated by taking the deviations from the mean of the investigated time series and dividing by the standard deviation. Plots of the cumulative z-scores indicate periods with predominantly positive or negative anomalies in the time series (shown by upward or downward trends in the z-scores), and can be used to detect in a simple way the intensity and duration of homogenous periods within the time series (Molinero et al. 2005).
Successively, the relative importance of top-down, bottom-up and climate–hydrological forces on the different trophic levels was investigated by general linear models (GLMs). Firstly, for each trophic level, all the hypothesized predictors (selected a priori on the basis of recognized ecological, biological and physiological mechanisms; table S1 in the electronic supplementary material) were included in the GLM analysis (initial model). Secondly, a backward stepwise model selection based on the Mallows' Cp information criteria (Mallows 1973) was applied to find the best possible subset of predictors (final model).
The Mallows' Cp is computed as
where yp is the predicted value of y from the p predictors; s2 is the residual mean square after regression on the complete set of predictors; and n is the sample size.
Cp, similar to other model selection criteria, accounts simultaneously for the degrees of freedom used and the goodness of fit, and tends to find the best subset that includes only the most important predictors among the hypothesized response variables. Therefore, a model with lower Cp has more explanatory power, and hence is preferred, compared with a model with higher Cp. At each step of the backward stepwise model selection procedure, the models were screened by the ecological criterion, which implies that the sign of the relationship between certain variables cannot be accepted although selected by the GLM owing to the lack of ecological basis (Dippner et al. 2001; Casini et al. 2006). For example, there is no ecological basis for temperature to affect negatively sprat abundance in the Baltic Sea (MacKenzie & Köster 2004). Thus if some of the relationships found in the models were not fulfilling the ecological criterion, the variable was excluded and the backward selection was continued. The final models were, therefore, selected based on the following criteria when fulfilled at the same time: parsimonious principle (the largest amount of deviance explained with the minimum number of predictors, i.e. with the lowest Cp) and meaningful ecological relationships. We calculated the proportion of the total deviance explained by the initial and final models, the probability value of the models and the proportion of the total deviance explained by each predictor. Residuals of the final models were analysed using graphical methods (Cleveleland 1993) to check for departure from the model assumptions or other anomalies in the data. Residuals were also tested for autocorrelation. Before the GLM analyses, missing values were estimated using a linear trend regression (five data points for chlorophyll a, three data points for zooplankton and nutrients and two data points for salinity and temperature) and data standardized (X=X−mean/s.d.). The outcomes of GLMs were also compared with the results of generalized additive models (GAMs) using the same parameters and procedure to evaluate the robustness of the observed patterns to the analytical tool used.
For the lower trophic levels (zooplankton and phytoplankton), the values of the predictors were taken in the same year of the response variables, since we assumed that the high turnover rates of zooplankton and phytoplankton would make them responding promptly (the same year) to changes in the environment. On the other hand, for sprat the use of a different approach was needed due to the co-occurrence in the population of several cohorts persisting in time (years). Therefore, the input data for the GLM analysis for sprat were prepared following two different approaches: (i) we tested the effect of the predictors on sprat population with 1-year lag (sprat biomass and abundance are calculated for the 1 January of each year, therefore the predictors at t−1 can be compared to sprat population). This approach gives a snapshot of the effect of the predictors on the response; (ii) we constructed the predictors' time series as to represent their potential influence on sprat population over the period of existence of a cohort. Since the sprat population is mainly constituted of eight age classes (from 1 to 7, plus the 8+ constituted of all the ages older than 7 years pooled together; ICES 2007), sprat biomass and abundance at time t are the result of forces that have acted over the previous 8 years (i.e. at years t−1, t−2,…,t−8). However, since on average approximately 90% of the sprat population are constituted of 1- to 4-year-old fish (ICES 2007), we used predictor values only from t−1 to t−4 in this analysis, which decreased the influence of age classes scarcely represented in the sprat population and the loss of too many data points for the analysis. The responses (sprat biomass and abundance) at time t, thus, were related to the 4-year mean (at time t−1,…,t−4) of each predictor. The same approach was used by MacKenzie & Köster (2004) in the investigation of temperature effects on Baltic sprat landings 3 years ahead. The Gotland Basin represents the area with the most complete time series in the SMHI database and most extensively covered by zooplankton sampling. Hydrological conditions (but also zooplankton time series) are highly intercorrelated between the main areas of sprat occurrence and recruitment (Möllmann et al. 2000; MacKenzie & Köster 2004). Thus, hydrological and zooplankton data from other areas would most probably have the same effect on the sprat population as those from the Gotland Basin (MacKenzie & Köster 2004). Only sprat was initially included in the analysis because this species is by far the main prey for cod (Horbowy 1996; ICES 2006) and the major zooplantivore (Rudstam et al. 1992; Casini et al. 2004) in the open Baltic Sea. We do not exclude, however, the impact of other pelagic fish on zooplankton. For this reason, we also used herring in the GLMs, both as single predictor and pooled together with sprat (total clupeids).
Statistical analyses were performed using Statistica v. 6, S-PLUS v. 6.1 for Windows, and R.
We observed a community-wide trophic cascade in the Baltic Sea (figure 1a–c) caused by the sharp decline in cod biomass which began in the early 1980s. Since the early 1990s, the cod stock has been low and has not shown any tendency to recover (figure 1a). The severe decline of the top piscivorous fish has been followed by a drastic increase in its main prey, the zooplanktivorous sprat (figure 1a,b). Also, during the mid-1970s the sprat population was fairly high coinciding with a relatively low cod biomass. The correlations between cod biomass and sprat biomass and abundance were negative (respectively, r=−0.63 and −0.60, n=33). Since the mid-1990s, the sprat stock has been high, although rather variable (figure 1a,b). During the observed period, total zooplankton biomass first increased and then decreased following inverse sprat population development (sprat biomass–zooplankton biomass, r=−0.53, n=33; sprat abundance–zooplankton biomass, r=−0.59, n=33; figure 1b), whereas phytoplankton biomass (chlorophyll a) showed an inverse pattern to zooplankton biomass (r=−0.47, n=28; figure 1c). The negative relationships between adjacent trophic levels were also identified by the z-scores (figure S1 in the electronic supplementary material).
Cross-correlation function and z-scores demonstrated that the highest correlation between cod biomass and sprat biomass occurred at a lag of +3 years (r=−0.71, n=33) and between cod biomass and sprat abundance at a lag of +5 years (r=−0.73, n=33). The delay can be explained not only by the cumulative direct effect of cod feeding on the same sprat cohort during several successive years but also by the indirect effects of cod predation on sprat reproductive output which will have a delayed effect on the sprat population. On the other hand, zooplankton and phytoplankton responded promptly (the same year) to the increase in sprat abundance. Non-adjacent trophic levels were positively correlated (cod–zooplankton at a lag of +3 years, r=0.46, n=33; sprat biomass–phytoplankton, r=0.62, n=28; sprat abundance–phytoplankton r=0.63, n=28), suggesting the existence of indirect mutualism between non-adjacent trophic levels and reinforcing the evidence of trophic cascades in the Baltic Sea.
The stock of the other main prey for cod in the Baltic Sea, the herring, decreased until the beginning of 2000 when a slight increase started to occur (figure 2a). Temperature showed a general albeit weak increasing trend, whereas salinity strongly dropped up to the early 1990s and increased afterwards (figure 2b). The NAO winter index (December–March) presented strong inter-annual oscillations, with a slight increase up to the early 1990s followed by a decrease. Total summer nutrients concentration rose from the 1960s up to the early 1990s and levelled off afterwards (figure 2c).
The results of the GLM modelling showed that top-down forces played the most important role in shaping each trophic level (tables 1 and and2;2; figure 3a–c). Concerning the sprat models, cod biomass explained the largest proportion of models' deviance irrespective of the approach used to construct the predictors' time series. We show here the outcome of the sprat model approach (ii) (the results of the approach (i) are presented in the electronic supplementary material, table S2). Accordingly, the predictors included in the sprat biomass initial model were cod biomass, larval sprat prey biomass in May (Acartia spp. and T. longicornis) and NAO winter index (initial model, 59.2% of the deviance explained), since temperature and summer zooplankton biomass did not fulfil the ecological criterion (table 1). Cod biomass and NAO were also included in sprat final model (56.6% of the deviance explained), since the elimination of either of those would have increased the Cp of the model. Cod and NAO explained, respectively, 76.7 and 23.3% of the deviance of the sprat biomass final model (table 2). Also in the sprat abundance model, only cod biomass and NAO were the predictors present in the final model (48.6% of the deviance explained by the model), with cod explaining almost all the deviance (table 2; figure 3a). The results of the GLM using the 4-year mean of the predictors (i.e. averaged at t−1,…,t−4, see §2) were very similar to those using either 3- and 5-year means (predictors averaged, respectively, at t−1,…,t−3 and t−1,…,t−5). Sprat fishing mortality was not included as a predictor in the sprat models because it followed a pattern similar to sprat stock development (figure S2 in the electronic supplementary material); this probably indicates that during the past three decades, the sprat stock level has influenced sprat fishing mortality (a higher population level usually allows the fishing quotas to raise) and not the opposite (ICES 2007).
The parameters included in the zooplankton biomass initial model were sprat biomass, temperature and salinity (average May–August) and NAO winter index (40.3% of the deviance explained by the initial model), whereas chlorophyll a (average May–August) was excluded from the analysis since it did not fulfil the ecological criterion (because it was negatively correlated to zooplankton, contradicting the expectation of bottom-up regulation; table 1). Only sprat biomass and NAO were present in the final model (36.6% of the deviance explained), with sprat biomass explaining the largest fraction of the deviance (table 2). The use of sprat abundance as a top-down predictor improved both the initial and final zooplankton models (41.6 and 39.1 of the deviance explained, respectively; tables 1 and and2;2; figure 3b). The same results were obtained when using chlorophyll a in May and August separated as single predictors. When herring abundance or biomass was introduced in the zooplankton GLM as a predictor, they were excluded because they did not fulfil the ecological criterion (their relation to zooplankton had slightly positive signs). Moreover, using total clupeid (sprat+herring) biomass or abundance as a top-down force, the deviance explained by both the initial and final models was lower than that in the models with only sprat (table S3 in the electronic supplementary material). Zooplankton biomasses in spring and summer were not correlated (r=−0.04, Pr=0.84, n=33).
The phytoplankton (i.e. chlorophyll a) initial model included zooplankton biomass, temperature and salinity (which together explained 24.4% of the deviance), with zooplankton biomass explaining almost all the model deviance (table 1). Zooplankton biomass was the only predictor present in the final model (22.2% of the deviance explained; table 2; figure 3c). The same final model was obtained when using temperature, salinity and nutrients integrated over the 0–20m depth interval, as well as with nutrients separated in nitrate and phosphate. Chlorophyll a values in spring and summer were not correlated (r=−0.26, Pr=0.18, n=28).
Residuals of the final models were homogeneous and did not strongly violate normality assumption. Residuals were not autocorrelated, except for the sprat models in which they showed a very weak autocorrelation at lag 1 (figure S3 in the electronic supplementary material). GLM analyses showed results consistent with GAMs, which is a predominant importance of top-down forces on climate-hydrological forces on all the trophic levels.
Our study provides evidence that changes at the top of the food web can affect the entire ecosystem down to the level of the primary producers in open marine systems. This also highlights the importance of ecosystem-wide top-down control in pelagic marine ecosystems, which are generally considered to be mainly regulated by bottom-up processes and climate variations (e.g. Beaugrand & Reid 2003; Ware & Thomson 2005). The strength of trophic cascades, in fact, is considered generally weak in marine pelagic habitats (Shurin et al. 2002), and multi-level top-down regulation has been very seldom reported from marine open systems (Frank et al. 2005; Daskalov et al. 2007). The detection of a clear trophic cascade in the semi-enclosed Baltic Sea was probably simplified by the relatively low complexity of its ecosystem, characterized by low diversity, simple food web and weak omnivory, factors that make ecosystems particularly prone to top-down regulation (Pace et al. 1999; Bascompte et al. 2005; Frank et al. 2007).
Here we showed for the Baltic Sea that the decrease in the main top predator (the piscivorous cod) cascaded down the food web, directly affecting its main prey (the zooplanktivorous sprat) and indirectly zooplankton and phytoplankton. The cod drop is probably mostly related to high fishing pressure, but was also facilitated by recruitment failure caused by the lack of salt- and oxygen-rich water inflows from the North Sea which reduced the water volume suitable for cod reproduction (ICES 2006, 2007). The explosion of sprat after the cod collapse occurred probably because (i) in the current Baltic Sea ecosystem cod is the most important piscivore (Harvey et al. 2003; ICES 2006) and (ii) sprat is the main prey for cod in the Baltic Sea (Horbowy 1996; ICES 2006). The increase in the sprat population due to predation release has evidently not been hampered by the increased fishing mortality. Our analysis showed that climate changes (i.e. positive phase of the NAO) have contributed to the outburst of sprat population, probably enhancing growth and gonadal maturation of the spawners as well as the production and survival of eggs and larvae (MacKenzie & Köster 2004; Nissling 2004). A positive phase of NAO may also potentially increase the production of the main food items for larval sprat (Alheit et al. 2005; Möllmann et al. 2008), i.e. the copepods Acartia spp. and T. longicornis (Grauman et al. 1986; Voss et al. 2003). The other main prey for Baltic cod, the herring, did not promptly react to the decrease in the top-predator probably owing to the considerably lower predation mortality experienced by herring compared with sprat, irrespective of prey species abundance (ICES 2006). However, other factors could have delayed herring recovery during the last two decades, including high fishing pressure (ICES 2007) and degradation of coastal spawning grounds due to eutrophication (Cederwall & Elmgren 1990).
The strong relationship between sprat and zooplankton is largely explained by the strict zooplanktivorous nature of sprat (Rudstam et al. 1992; Casini et al. 2004) and is mechanistically supported by the strong density-dependent fluctuations in sprat growth due to feeding competition in the Baltic Sea (Casini et al. 2006). This appears to have had cascading effects even on piscivorous seabirds (Österblom et al. 2006). Möllmann et al. (2008) showed that sprat can exert significant control on the population of the copepod Pseudocalanus spp. during spring, when this plankter alone constitutes nearly the entire zooplankton biomass. During summer, on the other hand, the zooplankton diversity largely increases in the Baltic Sea and sprat feed intensively on all the main zooplankton species (Kornilovs et al. 2001; Möllmann et al. 2004). Summer corresponds also to the most important period in shaping sprat body condition before overwintering (Casini et al. 2006). Overall, these facts emphasize the strong sprat–zooplankton community interaction in summer showed here. According to the literature (e.g. Möllmann et al. 2000; Hänninen et al. 2003), important factors regulating zooplankton in the Baltic are also salinity, temperature and climate in general, with the different species having specific abiotic preferences. However, our study showed that zooplankton biomass at the community level is mainly regulated by sprat predation. Particularly interesting is the inability of herring to regulate summer zooplankton in the open sea even in periods of high herring population level, as in the 1970s and early 1980s which corresponded to a period of relatively low sprat stock (ICES 2007). Herring is an obligate zooplanktivore only during its early life stages that are confined to coastal areas (Aro 1989), and switch to nektobenthic preys as a function of size and age (Rudstam et al. 1992; Casini et al. 2004), this probably weakens the magnitude of the interaction strength between herring and zooplankton in the open Baltic. Evidently, the different spatial and ontogenetic patterns in the feeding habits of herring and sprat do not permit herring to fill the functional gap as zooplankton regulator in the open areas of the Baltic Sea during periods of low sprat abundance. This reinforces the general view that in the open Baltic Sea sprat is a keystone species, not only as the main prey for cod but also as major regulator of the lower trophic levels.
Sprat, in turn, via regulating zooplankton dynamics, also indirectly affect summer phytoplankton biomass. These results suggest that top-down forces acting on plant biomass in pelagic habitats may be more important than commonly thought, and contradict the common view that eutrophication and climate changes have been the main causes of the recent increase in summer phytoplankton production in the Baltic Sea (e.g. Finni et al. 2001). Previous studies have shown that the spring phytoplankton biomass (chlorophyll a) also increased during the last decades in the central Baltic (Wasmund et al. 1998). However, while the intensity of the spring bloom is mainly affected by the winter nutrient level (Wasmund et al. 1998; Fleming & Kaitala 2006), we propose that the summer bloom is mostly top-down driven. The absence of relationship between spring and summer chlorophyll a also suggests that spring and summer blooms are not directly coupled but are possibly driven by different mechanisms. Micheli (1999) showed that the presence of zooplanktivores can control herbivores in open pelagic ecosystems, but mesozooplankton commonly has no effect on the phytoplankton. On the other hand, mesocosm experiments indicated that the indirect effect of zooplanktivores on phytoplankton may become significant when nutrients are added (Micheli 1999), results that are also corroborated in some benthic habitats (e.g. Deegan et al. 2007). Thus, the clear positive effect of increased sprat on the summer phytoplankton in the Baltic Sea might have been aided by the high level of eutrophication. This interpretation is supported by simple food chain models (Oksanen et al. 1981), although other experimental studies have shown no consistent effect of system productivity on the magnitude of the herbivore effect on plant (e.g. Borer et al. 2005). In the Baltic Sea, the summer phytoplankton community is largely constituted of cyanobacteria whose intense blooms have before been attributed to eutrophication and high temperature (Finni et al. 2001). However, cyanobacterial blooms can be directly suppressed before the build up process of the filamentous cover when there is sufficient amount of grazing zooplankton in the system (e.g. Chan et al. (2006) and references therein). In the Baltic Sea, in particular, zooplankton is acknowledged to feed also on the toxic species of cyanobacteria (see Karjalainen et al. (2007) and references therein). Hence, it can be suggested that the current sprat predation-induced low biomass of summer zooplankton may have increased the probability for cyanobacterial blooms to occur in the Baltic Sea.
Our results emphasize the importance of preserving ecosystem structure and functioning. We showed that a large decrease of the cod population has cascaded down the food web influencing the whole open Baltic Sea ecosystem, from planktivorous fish to primary producers. These findings highlight the fact that, in order to dampen the summer blooms of phytoplankton, often characterized by potentially toxic species (Karjalainen et al. 2007), effort should be made not only to control anthropogenic nutrient inputs but also to prevent large changes at the higher levels of the food web. This is especially urgent in naturally low-diversity ecosystems, as the Baltic Sea, where there is no or lower species compensation. A relevant question to ask, given that trophic cascades can be viewed as a major perturbation of the systems, is whether the observed changes are easily reversible or not. In fact, in the current Baltic Sea ecosystem, the zooplanktivorous cod larvae may suffer food competition with the high sprat population which can, in turn, undermine both cod and ecosystem recovery. There is, therefore, the need for linking the complexity underlying food web dynamics to ecological resilience (Carpenter & Folke 2006) for the Baltic Sea both in space and time. However, the population development of other organisms (e.g. jellyfish and invasive ctenophores; Barz et al. 2006; Haslob et al. 2007) should be monitored and their impact on the Baltic food web must be carefully evaluated, especially in scenarios of rapid climate change.
We are very grateful to the Latvian Fish Resources Agency that furnished the zooplankton raw data. Profiles of temperature, salinity and nutrients were kindly provided by the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI), SHARK database. We also thank the Helsinki Commission and the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) for the chlorophyll a profiles. We are grateful to F. Vitale and A. Belgrano for their valuable comments on previous drafts of the manuscript, and V. Bartolino for statistical assistance with the GLMs. The constructive criticisms of three anonymous reviewers considerably improved the manuscript. Mic. Cas. was partially funded by Oscar och Lili Lamms Minne Stiftelsen. J.-C.M. is funded by the priority programme AQUASHIFT (the impact of climate variability on aquatic ecosystems; IFM-GEOMAR).
Three tables, three figures and references
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Airport Development
Airport Development
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Cobbetts' finance litigation practice and debt recovery team Incasso will not join the rest of the firm when it moves to fellow Manchester firm DWF as part of a pre-pack administration deal, with the former opting instead to join Walker Morris while the debt recovery team is seeking a new home.
Cobbetts partner Andrew Bennett and his finance litigation team will not move over to DWF, which acquired Cobbetts in a pre-pack deal yesterday (6 February 2013), due to potential conflicts following DWF's merger with professional indemnity specialists Fishburns (18 January 2013), says the firm. Bennett's finance litigation team will instead move to Walker Morris.
Walker Morris also had a role acting in Cobbetts' administration. The firm, led by restructuring partner Simon Clark, advised Cobbetts' bank Lloyds on the firm's lending position. Walker Morris managing partner Ian Gilbert said that the firm's advice to Lloyds, and its acquisition of the Cobbetts team were discrete events that had no bearing on each other. He added that the firm did not expect to make any redundancies following the acquisition of Cobbetts' finance litigation team.
DWF will also not acquire Cobbetts' debt recovery team, Incasso. According to a statement from the firm, DWF is "supporting those involved including assisting in the day to day management of client affairs for the immediate future, whilst the long term direction of the business can be determined."
Walker Morris will inherit a team of 27, including two partners, as part of the deal.
DWF has said that it will honour all Cobbetts' training contracts – including those who had agreed positions but were yet to start at the firm – as part of the pre-pack deal.
In a statement, DWF managing partner Andrew Leaitherland, said: "Both firms agreed that this was the best route forward and so the process was a smooth one, with the two parties working towards the same outcome. This is the latest milestone in what is already proving to be a positive year for DWF and one that continues along our clearly defined plan of strategic growth. It's crucial that when exploring deals such as these we are certain that the move is the right one, and we're extremely confident that this is the case, with it further reinforcing our sector expertise, business knowledge and our ability to best serve our clients' business interests."
Cobbetts had 491 staff in total, 72 of which were partners, based across Birmingham, Leeds, London and Manchester.


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Review of the Book "Namesake" (Jhumpa Lahiri)
the name sake is a story of settlement and family bonding, truth and lies trust and betryal and the life of the main character Gogol.
the namesake is a novel about a Bengali family migrated and settled in suburban America. the couple Ashoke and Ashima start their lives in a foreign country with no godfathers in the country. Ashoke is a professor in a renowned university and Ashima is a librarian. Ashima gives birth to two children Gogol (named after Ashoke's favourite author Nikolai Gogol) and Sonia. the story mainly revolves around Gogol. Gogol grows up in suburban America and wishes to scrach off his awkward name along with the values it inherits. he renames himself as Nikhil.
he starts his college life with his new name Nikhil. in the mean time he had fallen in love with a girl named Ruth whom he had met in a train. they make love wherever they go but break up soon due to some misunderstandings. then he meets Maxim with whom he stays after Ruth leaves him. Maxim was also liked by Gogol's family. but they also broke up due to some other reason. he was finally married to a childhood Indian friend named Mousomi. the marriage was successful for a year and a half. soon Mousomi betrayed him by having an affair with another professor.
this is the story of the namesake which ends abruptly but with a good moral to forgive and forget.


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|Reviews for The Canary's Secret
| DanverSisters chapter 12 . 10/17/2010
great chapter. can't wait for you to bring Carolyn back!
| GoddessAnjanee chapter 12 . 10/6/2010
I so loved this chapter. :)
| supernena25 chapter 12 . 10/4/2010
I liked the chap and I couldn't stop laughing about Gabby and the thoughts of Helena and Barbara XD, at this rate Dinah is either kill any of them or escape and get seriously hurt; she does need a name and apparently Alfred is the only smart one who has realize that.
I'm sorry but I vote to keep her dead not cause I hate Carolyn or anything but Dinah finally has her family and Carolyn has already made a lot of damage; but that is your desicion after all. Good luck making it and I'll keep waiting for the next D
| GoddessAnjanee chapter 11 . 9/22/2010
Well done :)
Update soon :)
| supernena25 chapter 11 . 9/20/2010
I feel sorry for Gabby, but she's a great friend. Bruce really needs help to deal with his daughters, he doesn't suck as a father but he's not good either and also Dinah is a telepath I think she knows what he was thinking.
Great chap it was nice to see Dinah behave as typical teenager jajaja D
| GoddessAnjanee chapter 10 . 9/8/2010
Love your story :)
| red lighting chapter 10 . 9/6/2010
love it
| supernena25 chapter 10 . 9/5/2010
Dinah's power is so cool! But yeah Barbara can and will kill her for that and maybe get grounded for eternity. I'm curious about how this is gonna develop so please don't stop I need more. Awesome chap BTW D
| supernena25 chapter 9 . 8/16/2010
They so pissed Dinah off, she's gonna scape I know it. I love how they act as sisters is funny and we already knew Barbara had a lot of patience XD
Keep going, I'll be waiting D
| GoddessAnjanee chapter 9 . 8/16/2010
Well done as always! :) :)
| GoddessAnjanee chapter 8 . 8/13/2010
Well done indeed :)
Update soon, I really enjoyed reading The Canary's Secret.
| GoddessAnjanee chapter 7 . 8/13/2010
This story really grabs and holds my attention. :)
| sci-fi.geekazoid chapter 2 . 8/9/2010
actually, according to BATMAN records, he had blue eyes, love it so far though
| DanverSisters chapter 8 . 8/3/2010
this is great would be cool is carolyn comes back!
| supernena25 chapter 8 . 8/3/2010
Clark is paying a visit it will be nice if it wasn't for work, but they are good friends. Helena and Dinah are acting more like sisters it was great and Bruce really has a thing for blonds jajajaja; Alfred is the best I've always love him.
Great chap, waiting for more D


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Given that we can never be entirely sure what the engineers at Google and the other major search engines are thinking now, making predictions about what will happen in the coming year is always a little bit of a dicey proposition. There are three search engine optimization trends that seem certain to continue for the foreseeable future: Read more
Archive for Search Engine Optimization
What to Expect From SEO in 2013?
What Makes Search Engine Optimization So Hard?
Open up the discussion about search engine optimization with a group of web designers or seasoned business owners, and you'll quickly arrive at one conclusion: It's worth all the hard work you put into it, but it is a lot of hard work. Why is that?
Although Google and the other major search engines are fairly secretive about the algorithms they use to determine search order rankings – algorithms that are constantly changing – the major elements of search engine positioning (like content, page headings, inbound links, etc.) have been known for some time. With that in mind, it seems like it should be fairly simple to get to work on optimizing your site and watch your rankings improve. Read more
Why the Wrong Search Engine Optimization Team Can Cost You More Than You Might Think?
In web design, and life in general, it's often hard to get people to do things for their own good. Doctors try to get patients to cut back on smoking and fatty foods, lawyers advise their clients to stay quiet, and friends warn each other about that person that just shouldn't be dated… even though a lot of this advice is ultimately ignored. Read more


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Using a sponge wedge, apply Outlast Stay Fabulous 3-in-1 Foundation starting at the center of your face and blending outward toward the hairline.
Apply the darkest shade of Instant Cheek Bones in Purely Plum to the hollow space below your cheekbones. Swipe the medium shade across the apples of your cheeks and upward toward the hairline. Highlight the tops of your cheeks with the lightest shade for a youthful glow.
Line upper lash lines with LiquilineBlast Eyeliner in Brown Blaze.
Sweep the middle shade of Eye Enhancers 3-Kit Shadows in Shimmering Sands across eyelids. Blend the darkest shade into your creases for smoky definition. Highlight your brow bones with the lightest shade applied under the natural arch of your brows.
Finish with Clump Crusher Mascara in Black applied to upper and lower lashes.
For long-lasting, shiny lipcolor, apply Outlast All-Day Lipcolor in Blushed Mauve all over lips.


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Title: 108 Reasons Why
Author: Amethyst Hunter
Fandom/Genre: Get Backers, humor
Characters: Akabane, Ginji, Ban, Shido, Kazuki
Rating: R (Ban's cussing and various innuendoes)
Warnings/Spoilers: Canonically, Akabane is noted in the GB manga as having 108 blades all hidden in his body. For the purposes of this fic, I gave him a couple extra ones to play with. XD
Disclaimer: I do not own.
Summary: Oh, Get Backers, how doth Akabane adore thee? Let him count the ways...!
Worst. Job. Ever.
Make that
worst. Fucking. job. ever, thought Ban as he struggled not to wiggle his nose, much less scratch it. Goddamned itch would just have to come at a time like this! If he moved even a tenth of an inch he'd have an infinitely worse problem to deal with, Akabane had gleefully warned him as the hat-wearing freak delicately placed one of his scalpels, edge down, on the very tip of Ban's nose. Right where the itch happened to be, of course.
But better an itchy nose than a lack of one. Ban just hoped to God he wouldn't have to sneeze.
Beside him, Ginji whimpered for the thousandth time. Akabane tended to have that kind of effect on him, just one of many reasons why the jackal pissed Ban off so much. For a former gang leader, Ginji sure was lacking in balls. It'd be nice to hear him whine something other than "Akabane-saaaaaaaaan" every time he got a scalpel put on his body.
"And special ones, no less," the jackal was cheerfully explaining to them as he divvied up his knives. Another one went on Ban's forehead. "So that you can't try to pull them all out of me the way you did when we first met." He smiled indulgently at Ginji as though he were a favorite pet. "Much though I admire your talents and resourcefulness, Ginji-kun, I'm afraid that isn't an experience I wish to repeat." Snick went the blade as it exited some spot on Akabane's hand; it was neatly deposited business-side down in a vertical hover position above Ginji's cheek, below the eye. The tears there – good Christ, Ginji, grow a spine, will you! – were briefly split by the tip of the scalpel before rolling down the side of Ginji's face.
Akabane paused to admire this. "Oh, Ginji-kun," he sighed, and leaned over to place a kiss on Ginji's forehead, one of the few places on his body that wasn't under immediate threat of evisceration. "You know every part of you is one more new detail I find enjoyable." He peered down at his terrified prey and grinned, touching the blunt tip of a scalpel that was over Ginij's left hand. "This, for example. You have lovely hands, did you know that?" Gloved fingers slid down the length of the scalpel to stroke over Ginji's own fingers. "So quick to show gentleness...and yet so powerful when they crackle with Reitai's lifeforce."
He touched another scalpel, this one on top of Ban's right shoulder. "And this. This is where your power comes from, doesn't it? Oh, I don't mean your Jagan. Your strength...how it flows through your muscles –" the gloves wandered along the length of Ban's arm, forcing him to suppress another series of twitches – "just waiting for the right...opportunity to come by so that it might slake its desire..." His voice sounded almost breathless for a moment, as though he were reciting love poetry. If one was a bloodthirsty nutjob this would definitely be said bloodthirsty nutjob's idea of love poetry.
Ban decided that Akabane really needed to get laid, the sooner the better. Maybe if somebody gave the pretty transporter a good screwing hat-boy might lay off his carving habits for a while.
"Akabane-saaaaaaaaaan," Ginji cried. "There are better ways to show somebody you like them, you know! Ways that don't involve sharp objects!"
"But then it wouldn't be as much fun! You know how important having fun is to me," Akabane said slyly after pointing a scalpel at Ban's biceps. "And this way I am assured of your complete attention. We always seem to be interrupted by the most tedious chores whenever we meet."
"More like it's a tedious chore to be interrupted by you," Ban snapped. Which was how they'd gotten into this mess in the first place. He and Ginji had accepted a recovery job near the Mugenjou district, which should've been a red flag right there, except that their employer had promised them a lovely sum in exchange for their services. Of course a rival transport service was all over that action like white on rice, and as luck would have it that transport service had turned out to be Dr. Jackal himself. After relieving them of said recovered item Akabane had proceeded to threaten Ginji with instant death unless Ban obeyed orders, hence their current predicament involving a dual pincushion balancing act. Joy upon joys.
So here he was, lying on the ground of some stupid alley being tormented by a witch-hat-wearing psychotic with a surgical scalpel fetish. The itch on his nose was growing worse. God, just to twitch it, even a little...!
"Ah, ah. Mustn't move, Midou-kun," Akabane gently scolded. "My scalpels are made of a special substance infused with my energy, and that is linked with yours. If you move even just a tiny bit – " He made a quick slashing motion with his fingers and winked at them. "Well, I would hate for Ginji-kun or you to find out the hard way what might happen if you do that." The twinkle in his eyes strongly suggested the opposite. Remorse simply wasn't in the jackal's vocabulary.
Ban couldn't move his arms, but he still had use of his hands. He flicked a glance at his left fist, then at Akabane, and shot a middle finger skyward. Inwardly he willed the psychopath to come closer so I can look into those pretty purple eyes, you trenchcoated nutcase bastard! A good dose of Jagan was the only thing that would save their butts now.
Unfortunately Akabane knew it as well. He chuckled at Ban's vulgarity and turned to deposit a scalpel to match the one balancing on Ginji's other cheek. "Dear Ginji-kun. Your eyes are so beautiful when they're filled with tears, did you know?"
"N-No. Akabane-saaaan, do you have to put them on my fa- my faaaaace?"
Unlike Ginji, the jackal wasn't stupid. He'd been cleverly avoiding eye contact with Ban the entire time, and that big black hat was a perfect asset. The brim easily concealed most of his face.
Why won't this fucking itch GO AWAY?
"But you don't cry, do you, Midou-kun?" Akabane said in that peculiar drawl that made Ban's hair stand on edge. And his inner warning system was screaming overload, as the jackal came closer...
Something moved in his peripheral vision. Ban couldn't turn his head – a scalpel was aimed at his throat; to turn would have guaranteed him an unwelcome hole there – but his eyes tried to follow the movement. To his horror he realized that what was entering his line of vision wasn't Akabane himself, but –
"I would love to see your beautiful eyes, but there's the matter of that pesky Jagan of yours. So let's just take care of that right now, shall we?"
- his scalpels.
FUCK! Fuck fuck fuckity FUCK!
Akabane reached up and took down his hat, which he tucked underneath one arm. He ran a cursory hand through his unruly mane and leaned over Ban with a smile. "Much better," he pronounced as two blades settled themselves directly above Ban's pupils. The goddamn things were so close that his eyelashes repeatedly brushed them as his lids fluttered – an involuntary reaction to having sharp things pointed too close for comfort at his eyes.
"Relax, Midou-kun. They won't move – so long as you don't," Akabane said with a nasty little giggle. "I wouldn't attempt to use the Jagan if I were you. Energy blades have a unique skill for sensing and reacting to bodily changes."
Considering his precarious situation Ban wisely decided against his first instinct, that of snarling "I'm gonna fuckin' kill you." He settled for a terse "That's enough! Take the box and go, leave us alone."
"But where would the fun in that be?" Akabane grinned. He let a knife slip from between his fingers, the thirty-fourth one for Ginji, if Ban's count could be trusted. Or maybe it was forty-fourth. He'd lost track right about the time Akabane had stuck scalpels over his stomach and lungs.
At least, he noted with no small relief, the itch on his nose was gone now. Amazing how having knives pointed directly in one's line of sight could cure that.
"And one more there for you," the jackal was happily cooing now to Ban as he pulled another knife and arranged it to his liking. Ban couldn't see where it went but since Akabane was hovering in the vicinity of his torso he guessed it was somewhere near.
"Ban-chaaaaaaaan." Ginji's whine was definitely past the point of pathetic. "I gotta goooo..."
"Sure, just pick yourself up and walk right on over to that gas station we passed," Ban said through gritted teeth. "I'm sure our host here wouldn't mind waiting while you deal with more urgent problems!" God, these things were right over his FUCKING EYES! He could feel the beginnings of tears trigger his blinking reflex, already abused by the proximity of scalpels.
Akabane paused in the act of laying a scalpel over Ginji's knee. "I do apologize for the inconvenience, Ginji-kun." His apology was all the more disturbing for its apparent sincerity. A million stalking psycho killers in the world and they had to get stuck with the one that made everything into a big tea party. Ban often wished he'd just cut the crap and be a normal homicidal maniac like all the others. Even something along the lines of Fudou Takuma would be appreciated. Akabane Kuroudo was the only nutcase he knew of who placed as high an importance on good manners as he did the business of dealing death.
"But I'm almost finished here with my decorative work. It would be a shame to mess it all up, don't you think?" There was a coyness to his tone that indicated he would probably be happy either way, whether the Get Backers chose to remain hostage or attempt to fight their way to freedom – and since the latter option was arguably the bloodier, Akabane would doubtless like that even better.
"How many more do we have to go?" Ban muttered, wondering how long it would take for Ginji to lose the struggle with his bladder. At least it would take his focus off the blades poised above his eyes, even if only for a minute or two...
"This makes one hundred and eight between the two of you now."
He wasn't able to see it of course, but Ban was certain Jackal was wearing one of the smuggest expressions he'd ever seen on the bastard. He sounded so delighted with himself, as if he'd just completed a difficult masterpiece. Which he supposed was possible in a sick sort of way if you looked at it from Akabane's point of view. It wasn't every day that the Get Backers ran into something – someone – who could terrify Ginji to the point of pissing his pants.
Or needing to, anyway. "Baaaaaaaan-chaaaaan," his partner moaned, and then abruptly switched his concentration from hygiene needs. "Wait – there are a hundred and eight knives on BOTH of us?" he squealed.
Two of which are about to GORE OUT MY FUCKING EYES, assholes!
"Not one hundred and eight apiece, Ginji-kun," Akabane explained with a hint of condescension. Even psycho murderers had their sources of pride. "I divided my cache equally between you and Midou-kun. Fifty-four for him and fifty-four for you. Two more blades, and we'll be set!" Daintily he clapped his gloved hands together, pleased with his designs. "Just think of it as one hundred and eight reasons why I love you two so much," Akabane purred.
"I thought you only had a hundred and eight scalpels," Ban hissed, feeling the pinprickle of unease cutting across the back of his neck again. "What, you gonna whip out that sword of yours and break it in half, one piece for each of us?"
Akabane softly giggled in that creepy manner of his. "The more experience we garner from our meetings, Midou-kun, the better we get with our...talents. I've recently expanded my capabilities."
Snick. Snick.
"And I saved the best for last."
And then the sick freak was moving, oh God no please not where I think he's going to, and Ginji was outright sobbing now from both terror and discomfort and Akabane had a knife in each hand and he was patting them in a place that Ban never, ever would have in a million years let that sonofablack-hat-wearing-bitching bastard touch no matter how many layers of cloth or glove were between them, and really, he knew he could think of a zillion and one stinging smart-assed wisecracks to make about Jackal's new focus on their crotches but he couldn't even make the words form on his lips because if he did then the fucking knives would gouge out his eyes, and he may have hated their inherent curse but that didn't mean they weren't still important to him, because they were as much a part of him as anything else, they were his eyes, for God's sake, his fucking goddamned precious EYES –
"Excuse me. Are we interrupting anything?"
Oh God, if he weren't restrained by the thought of fifty-four razor-sharp surgical blades ripping into him like glass through a sheet of paper he would've kissed both the thread-spool and the monkey circus, full-on lips and tongue action for sure. Well, maybe. At least the lips part for sure, for the two of them. Monkey man didn't deserve any tongue, Ban decided. Then again, it might just piss Shido off even more, which was always an enjoyable bonus.
Akabane's response would have been along the lines of 'yes, you ARE interrupting something very important' had he deigned to speak to them, but breeding dictated that his displeasure manifest itself in more subtle ways. Like the tiny quiver that rippled through a sea of scalpels atop the bodies of Ban and Ginji. "Why, it seems we have unexpected visitors," he remarked casually as he set his hat back atop his head and adjusted the brim. "Come to join the fun, have we?"
"We do so hate being left out of the loop," Kazuki said, equally as pleasant but for the coolly hard edge underscoring his voice. He had no personal dislike of the transporter per se but he wasn't unfamiliar with Akabane's tricks either. His loyalty was centered on Ginji, who obviously wasn't having fun.
"Hey Snakeface," Shido called. "You so broke that you gotta take up work as a masochist now?"
Fucker! "About time you showed up! Why don't you take your fleas and go play with Jackal here?" Ban snapped. Then he had an idea. He said to Akabane, "Monkey boy's a real strong fighter, you know. Too bad you're all out of knives..."
"Two scalpels to go," Ginji reminded him most unhelpfully.
Akabane chuckled, a silvery sound that echoed dimly in the alley. "I'm afraid I have no use for fur and feathers. I prefer challenges that are a little more exciting than that."
Ban wasn't sure if he ought to be pissed or amused by Jackal's rejection of Shido as an opponent.
Kazuki spared him the trouble of further thought on the matter. "I don't think that you'll find what you're seeking today, Dr. Jackal," he said calmly. Ban heard the tinkle of a bell and hoped it meant a limb-severing thread was being prepared for use. "The Get Backers are needed at the Honky Tonk for an assignment. Surely a professional like you would understand the necessity of business taking precedence over pleasure?"
"Indeed I do," Akabane replied smoothly. "However, as you can see, Midou-kun and Ginji-kun already have a prior commitment."
Damn right we do – a commitment to ripping off your fucking head and stuffing all one hundred and eight of these sonsofbitchin' knives of yours down the bloody stump of your neck!
"True," Kazuki mused aloud. "But, Dr. Jackal, there is always the possibility that you have been or will be hired to transport whatever it is that the Get Backers are required to recover. I'm sure you wouldn't want to miss out on such an interesting opportunity, would you?"
There was silence for a few minutes while Akabane digested this. Meanwhile Ban tried to conjure a fantasy of Kazuki's threads dicing the jackal into many thousands of bloody bits while Shido called forth an army of alley rats to feast on the pieces. Since closing his eyes was out of the question – he was too afraid of what the scalpels might do to his lids; Akabane would probably have some nasty little scars etched on them just for the hell of it – this made imagination considerably more difficult. But oh God, he'd like to be able to look at something else besides knives, preferably soon –
A regretful sigh came from Akabane. "I suppose you have a point, Kazuki-san."
Oh yes oh God thank you thank you – Ban let go of the breath he hadn't realized he was holding; it exhaled from his chest in a painful whoosh as he saw the knives retract from their holding pattern over his eyes, his face, his torso – everywhere that they'd been placed. The same was true for Ginji who was whimpering with gratitude – for both Kazuki's intervention and Akabane's withdrawal, it figured – and then he was up and off the ground, scooting over to Ban in a flash.
Ban allowed him all of two seconds' worth a hug, and then he was flying from his spot towards Akabane with the full intention of tearing out the bastard's throat with a well-placed Snakebite. But strings shooting from seemingly out of nowhere wrapped around his arms and yanked him backwards.
"I thought we agreed we had other things to attend to just now," Kazuki reminded him none too subtly.
Goddammit! His teeth were probably near worn to the root from all the jaw-grinding he'd done today. Ban roasted Akabane with a fierce glare. "The next time I meet your skinny ass I'm gonna pound it like a tent peg into the ground!"
Violet eyes flared with twisted hunger and the tip of a pink tongue darted out to lick a moist pair of lips. "I'll certainly be looking forward to that, Midou-kun," Akabane purred huskily.
He picked up the box he'd snatched from them and offered Ginji – still cowering behind Ban – a parting smile. "See you later, Ginji-kun. I hope your recovery goes well."
"...thank you...?"
The Jackal tipped his hat in farewell to Kazuki and Shido. "A good day to you as well. Until next time we meet." And with that, he sauntered back down the shadowy alley from whence he'd originally materialized.
"He totally wants your body," Shido said to Ban, after Akabane had gone well out of earshot.
"Fuck you, monkey-brain."
"I'm serious, did you get a load of those bedroom eyes he was making at you before he left?"
"It's gonna be a lot harder for you to call up all your critter-friends if you have no face to speak with," Ban warned, flexing his hand for emphasis. Remembering his earlier vow about paying homage to their rescuers, he decided they could just fuck it and forget about it. No way was he going to be that generous with his world-famous French kisses.
Ginji however had no such compulsion. He plastered himself onto Kazuki first, then Shido, with profuse thanks. "I'm so GLAD you guys showed up!" he half-sobbed-half-squealed.
Kazuki gave him a modest shrug. "Local grapevine had it that there was a party around these parts needing to be broken up," he said with a wink, tugging at one of the bells on his hair.
Ban fished out a cigarette and lit up. "So there isn't really an assignment waiting for us?"
"No, that part's for real," Shido said, an evil grin curling his mouth. "I was gonna just grab Ginji and split, but Kazuki convinced me that you and Jackal would rather wait until a more private time to consummate your relationship. A hundred and eight reasons, indeed."
"That's it. You're DEAD, monkey trainer!"
"Come and get it if you think you're man enough, snakey!"
And the worst part was, Ban thought later while nursing a foul cigarette and a fouler temper, he didn't even get around to giving monkey-man one Snakebite, let alone a hundred and eight of them, because Kazuki told Ginji to shock them both unconscious so he could tie them up in threads and drag them back to the Honky Tonk.


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Temperature dependence of the Tafel slope for oxygen reduction on platinum in concentrated phosphoric acid
- Received:
- Revised:
- Cite this article as:
- Clouser, S.J., Huang, J.C. & Yeager, E. J Appl Electrochem (1993) 23: 597. doi:10.1007/BF00721951
- Citations
- 601 Downloads
Oxygen reduction on bright platinum in concentrated H3PO4 has been investigated with the rotating disc electrochemical technique at temperatures from 25 to 250° C and oxygen pressures up to 1.77 MPa. Cyclic voltammetry has been employed to study the anodic film formed on platinum in concentrated H3PO4 and the possible electroreduction of H3PO4 on platinum. The apparent transfer coefficient for the oxygen reduction has been found to be approximately proportional to temperature rather than independent of temperature. Such behaviour is difficult to reconcile with accepted theories for the effect of electrode potential on the energy barriers for electrode processes. It is of importance to establish an understanding of this phenomenon. Possible factors which can contribute to the temperature dependence of the transfer coefficient but which would not necessarily result in a direct proportionality to temperature include potential dependent adsorption of solution phase species, restructuring of the solution in the compact layer, proton and electron tunnelling, a shift in rate-determining step, changes in the symmetry of the potential energy barrier, penetration of the electric field into the electrode phase, insufficient correction for ohmic losses, and impurity effects.
- α
transfer coefficient
- β
symmetry factor
- β′
temperature independent component of β
- ν
stoichiometric number
- ω
rotation rate (r.p.m.)
- a,c
constant and temperature coefficient in Equation 4 (no unit and K−1, respectively)
slope of Koutecky-Levich plot (mA cm−2 (r.p.m.)1/2)
- b
Tafel slope (V dec.−1)
potential (V)
Faraday (C mol−1)
- i
current density (A cm−2)
- iL
diffusion limiting current density (A cm−2)
temperature independent component of Tafel slope (V dec−1.)
gas constant (J mol−1 K−1)
temperature (K)
- n
number of electrons
- \((^{\ddag } ){\rm O}\)
standard free energy of activation for forward process (J mol−1)
- \((^{\ddag } ){\rm O}\)
standard enthalpy of activation for forward process (J mol−1)
- \((^{\ddag } ){\rm O}\)
standard entropy of activation for forward process (J mol−1 K−1)


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CRE India one of the top most growning real estate company in India. CRE India offers commercial projects and focused solely on Commercial – Office space , IT and high street retail properties in India. CRE India projects are spread as we are across all major metropolitan major cities in India like Delhi (NCR), Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Jaipur, Lucknow, Pune, Ahmedabad, Indore, Bhopal, Chandigarh.Link Details
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She got married in 2005 in Texas. Her husband says that she will be deported if she divorces him. I am not familiar with the naturalization process and do not know exactly where she is in it. If possible, please explain the steps of becoming ...
The first step is to obtain permanent resident status, or what is referred to as the "green card". If they are married less than 2 years at that time, USCIS will grant her conditional status for 2 years, and then she must file another form to show the couple is still together or they have divorced but the marriage is real. Once she has been a permanent resident for 3 years (if still together) or five years (if no longer together), she can apply for US Citizenship if she otherwise qualifies. There are provisions in the law for her to sponsor herself for her "green card" if there is domestic abuse and he is not willing to sponsor her. Many agencies assist women in these situations that may have limited means and cannot hire a private attorney. In Atlanta, Catholic Social Services is one such agency. They likely have a counterpart in Texas. If she would like to have a free consultation with our firm, I would be happy to speak to her.See question
Im trying to get my husbands papers but he has no proof of income but I do have my income
Are you seeking to sponsor your husband for permanent resident status and you are a US citizen with income and he has no income? If that is the case, then yes you can sponsor him and you will be completing the I864 application of support using your own income. If it is not sufficient to meet the I864 requirements, you would need a co sponsor as well (could not be your husband if he did not earn his income legally in the US). If he qualifies for adjustment of status the I864 is attached; if not, he would be consular processing and the I864 is provided at that stage (be aware of any potential bars that could apply to him if consular processing). Our firm offers a free consultation and I am happy to speak to you further to ascertain the exact facts of your case so I can accurately respond to your inquiry. There are many issues involved with sponsoring someone for permanent residency-the income issue is only one part.See question


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The Scottsdale Scorpions got another win on Tuesday, running their Arizona Fall League record to 5-2 with the help of some strong performances from Nationals players.
Brad Peacock pitched two scoreless innings, striking out three batters and throwing just 26 pitches. He walked one batter, but didn't give up a hit. Cole Kimball pitched the last two innings of the game, recording a save in the Scorpions' 5-4 win over the Surprise Rafters. He allowed one hit and struck out one. Kimball is further along in the Nationals' system than Peacock is, and could have a chance to reach the majors as part of the Nationals' bullpen this year.
The three Nationals position prospects that played on Tuesday all contributed to the win, as well. Stephen Lombardozzi, playing second base, drew a walk and scored a run on an 0-for-3 day. Derek Norris drove in a run with a triple, and MIchael Burgess was 1-for-3 with a pair of runs.
Tonight's Scorpions game, of course, will be the most anticipated of the Arizona Fall League season. That's when Bryce Harper makes his AFL debut, at 9:35 Eastern time, against the Mesa Solar Sox.


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Inspired Catering Services
Castro Boateng, Executive Chef and his professional team are pleased to offer fine catering services for corporate events, wedding receptions, cooking classes, wine-tastings, foraging adventures, dinner parties and celebrations of all description.
As the preferred caterer for many fine venues, corporate clients and partners in Victoria BC and throughout Vancouver Island, we ensure that every aspect of your successful event is perfectly executed – whether it be an intimate gourmet dinner, an elegant wedding or a large business function.
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Castro Boateng, Executive Chef
Victoria BC Canada
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
Phone: 250.588.9398


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- Annelieke Maria Karien Harmsen, Rosa María Egea-Gámez, Frank P Garssen, Eric Van Dulken, Annelies Toor, Frank Willem Bloemers
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Unintentional falls are a common cause of injury, especially among older persons. This study evaluates risk factors such as gender and age on morbidity and mortality after unintentional falls. Data were collected retrospectively for patients with a unintentional fall who were presented to the emergency department in 2013. A total of 3,217 patients were… (More)
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Should there be Revenue Sharing limits?
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Registered User
Join Date: May 2009
Location: New Orleans
Posts: 4,932
vCash: 500
Originally Posted by
I don't think it is in the leagues best interest to help a team that isn't helping itself. Propping up teams in emerging markets makes sense, if they're run well eventually they will gain a fan base, add to national TV numbers and make money for themselves and everyone else. That's a good investment.
Giving money to Charles Wang so he can continue to run a mickey mouse operation with little chance of ever being successful is a bad investment.
The Predators, on the other hand, run a tight ship. They draft and develop well, sign good contracts and have had good success. It's not because their building is better than the Islanders, it's because they are run better.
Help the teams that are helping themselves.
Sorry, I was busy writing an epic about your previous post.
Let's recap what you're saying.
In 2010-11…
The Predators were good, the Islanders were bad.
The Predators got $12 million from the state and city in subsidy. The Islanders got nothing.
The Predators got $12 to $15 million from the NHL Revenue Sharing. The Islanders got nothing.
The Predators paid their players $51,387,500 in paychecks (not phantom cap dollars via buyouts and bonuses)
The Islanders paid their players $29,727,500 in paychecks (not phantom cap dollars via buyouts and bonuses)
The Predators performed better on the ice.
What does that tell you about the relationship between available money and on-ice success? Your use of the Panthers is fine to argue that they Panthers don't deserve to get revenue sharing. But the Islanders haven't got a single dime of revenue sharing. Sucked before it existed, sucked after it existed. Never got a dime. Changed GMs and owners 4-5 times. The only constant has been their crappy arena and horrible lease (and stagnant politicians in Nassau and Hempstead).
I am by no means trashing the Preds here. (I like the Preds. I'm the guy on the BOH forum that defends non-traditional markets more than anyone. Hell, I even own a Preds t-shirt).
Your argument boils down to:
-- It's really hard to be good without money.
-- If you don't have the money to be good, but get some for free and are good you deserve money.
-- If you don't have the money to be good, but don't get any for free and aren't good, you don't deserve money.
That's circular at best.
Last edited by KevFu: 11-06-2012 at
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Know more about this business than we do? Cool! Please submit any corrections or missing details you may have.Help us make it right
Asia Chiropractic Clinic practices at 2505 Southeast Hawthorne Boulevard Suite A, Portland, OR 97214. Chiropractors diagnose and treat common spinal misalignments that can occur from lifestyle or injuries causing pain, discomfort and degenerative conditions.
Asia Chiropractic Clinic may be able to treat; back pain, sciatica, neck pain, shoulder pain, headaches, sports injuries, and auto...
Be the first OregonLive.com user to add photos or videos of Asia Chiropractic Clinic
Asia Chiropractic Clinic can be found at Se Hawthorne Blvd 2505. The following is offered: Chiropractic Offices. The entry is present with us since Sep 10, 2010 and was last updated on Nov 14, 2013. In Portland there are 60 other Chiropractic Offices. An overview can be found here.
Asia Chiropractic Clinic is a Chiropractor facility at 2505 Southeast Hawthorne Boulevard Suite A in Portland, OR.


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Cannes: located in a quiet residential area, contemporary-style villa with a sea view. It consists of an entrance hall, a large living room, a dining room, a large fully fitted kitchen and 4 bedrooms with bathrooms. Landscaped garden of 1,500 m² with an infinity pool and a spa area. Laundry room, pantry, sauna. Garage.
Villa – Cannes, Côte d'Azur (French Riviera), France
1,780,000 €
Total area: 255 m² 4 bedrooms 3 separate bathrooms
- Land area: 1,500 m²
- Built in 2005
- 2-floor building
- Total rooms: 6
- Sea view
- Mountain view
- Garden


text: Serafina Fabulous Grill serves authentic Northern Italian cuisine originating from family recipes handed down through generations of cooks, and adapted by a team of professional chefs. Serafina's inventive pastas and risottos come to life with the accompaniment of the freshest locally grown ingredients. The restaurant's sought-after thin-crust pizzas are made with Italian four, filtered water, extra virgin olive oil and sea salt from Sicily; the pies are cooked in hand-built ovens fueled by cherry wood. Delicious desserts and an extensive wine list satisfy every craving.


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Company Overview
Frontier Communications Corp (NYSE:FTR) specializes in the communications industry. It is primarily a phone company but also offers a whole range of other services including internet access and television services. As of the end of 2011, it operates in 27 states and services 5.3 million access line, and 1.8 million broadband connections. Its main competitors include CenturyLink (NYSE:CTL), Telephone & Data Systems (NYSE:TDS), and General Communication (NASDAQ:GNCMA).
In 2011, it recorded revenues of $5.243 billion, up $1.445 billion from the previous year, operating income of $900 million, up $128 million, and net income of $150 million, down $3 million. At the end of 2011, it had total assets of $17.461 billion, and total equity of $4.455 billion.
Investment Thesis
Frontier's compelling fundamentals are perhaps the most attractive thing about the company. The firm is focusing on an aggressive marketing strategy to add new customers while increasing customer retention rates. It is also developing its services and providing new products to its consumers.
Furthermore, Frontier is attempting to increase its profitability while expanding which seems to be somewhat successful over the short run. In 2011, it recorded free cash flows of $748 million, up $104 million from the previous year. It also managed to increase capital expenditures by $247 million to $825 million. This impressive leap in capital expenditures led to marginally lower net income of $150 million, down $3 million from the previous year. Therefore, investors in Frontier should expect a sharp increase in net income as it starts to profit off these investments. Also, its acquisitions of certain Verizon assets are expected to produce strong profits and create steady cash flow while saving hundred of millions for the company in the form of lower costs.
Dividend Opportunity
Frontier has a very high dividend of 12.0% which is partly due to the falling share price. Nonetheless it can easily support this high dividend as it is supported by a strong free cash flow. Frontier recorded cash from operations of $1.573 billion in 2011. It already spends over half of its cash from operations on capital expenditures, $825 million. Therefore, it had a free cash flow of $748 million which it had free to spend on tackling debt levels and paying shareholders back in dividends. Its debt to equity ratio is just 1.7 compared to an industry average of 2.4. Consequently, it can easily tackle its debt while maintaining steady dividends to shareholders.
Frontier has paid a dividend in the past so there is no reason to suggest it won't continue to in the future. The dividend declined almost 50% this year to just 10 cents, however, this is not due to bad margins but rather expansion. The company's acquisition of some of Verizon's assets meant that it had to sacrifice some of the dividend to help long term growth. This should be an attractive sign for long term investors that the company is more concerned with consistent and high long term growth then poor results in the short term. Frontier should benefit hugely from its new assets as soon as it has them fully integrated.
However, Frontier does carry some risks. Primarily, competition is an issue which may force Frontier to lower its pricing, consequently hurting its revenues. Frontier faces competition across its diversified range of products and services which will continue to plague it as it tries to move forward. However, Frontier has positioned itself well in the market as an efficient carrier, and has already implemented important cost cutting strategies to try to counter any declining revenues. The cutting of the dividend has also given itself some monetary leverage if it is needed.
Another potentially problematic issue for the company is a decline in regulatory funding. Frontier does get important subsidy payments from the Federal Universal Service Fund which are continuing to decline. However, Frontier has grown very well over the past few years. From 2009 to 2011, revenues grew by 250%. Therefore, it relies less and less on these payments to conduct its business.
Frontier Communications Corp presents a mouth watering dividend opportunity for any investor. The dividend is safe and will likely increase as soon as the integration of Verizon's assets is complete. It might even go back to its old level by 2013 which would mean the company would pay more than a 20% dividend at the current price level. However, if you are looking for value, Frontier has that too. Morningstar rates its fair value $6.50 per share, and advises that one should consider buying at $3.90. It also gives it a 5-star rating. Therefore, it is certainly a buy for the value investor as well.
Disclosure: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, but may initiate a long position in FTR over the next 72 hours.


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Behind the Curve: An Analysis of the Investment Behavior of Private Equity Funds
€ 29,50
Sofort lieferbar
Januar 2013
BeschreibungIn the domain of corporate acquisitions, leveraged buyouts (LBO) have gained tremendous importance since their first appearance in the late 1970's. After having suffered from different economic downturns throughout the years, buyouts have become a major force in the worldwide economy, and reached a record accumulated transaction value of $878bn in 2007. LBOs are generally conducted by a private equity (PE) firm through a buyout fund. The fund manager raises a certain amount of equity from outside investors, and invests it into later-stage companies for an average holding period of around five years. An important characteristic of an LBO is that investments are not only financed by equity capital from the fund but, also with a significant amount of debt which is raised individually on a deal-by-deal basis. Moreover, the compensation of both fund managers, and equity investors is not based on the individual investment itself but, on the success of the whole fund. As a result, the particular conditions of buyout investments in a fund setting, as well as the distinct incentive structure of buyout funds, facilitate an increased sensitivity of fund managers with regard to the current state of their fund. This may also influence their leverage and pricing decisions on the transaction level.Corresponding research on buyout structuring is still in its infancy. While there is an increasing amount of empirical literature on the various determinants of leverage and pricing in buyout transactions, little is known about how the investment behavior of buyout funds drives these structuring decisions. A notable exception is the work by Axelson, et al. (2009), who developed a theoretical model that is based on a principal agent conflict between fund managers and outside investors. The model provides a number of predictions on how the investment behavior of fund managers impacts leverage, and decisions about prices at investment entry.The main goal of this study is to identify the forces behind these decisions, and to verify empirically the predictions of the Axelson, et al. (2009) model. Therefore, the work of Axelson, et al. (2009), supplemented with additional literature on LBO leverage and pricing, as well as the investment behavior of buyout funds, forms the theoretical part of the study. Based on the findings of this theoretical part, three hypotheses are formulated, and tested through the use of comprehensive investment pressure variables that were developed on the basis of a representative dataset of 1,190 buyout transactions which were completed between 1985 and 2009.
PortraitDipl. Kfm. Christian Deger was born in Karlsruhe, in 1986. The author graduated in Technology and Management Oriented Business Administration at the Technical University of Munich where his main focus was on Controlling and Entrepreneurial Finance. He was a scholar, and was supported by the German National Merit foundation. Further, he holds an Honors Degree in Technology Management from the Center for Digital Technology and Management, a joint institution of the two Munich universities and the elite network of Bavaria. After graduating in 2011, in his role as Venture Manager at Barikuta Partners, Christian Deger became responsible for building the South East Asian business unit of PAYRETO, a leading BPO company for payment providers. In the beginning of 2012, he co-founded the mobile payment company payworks where he currently serves as the Managing Director for Sales and Business Development.
Untertitel: Paperback. Sprache: Englisch.
Verlag: Diplomica Verlag GmbH
Erscheinungsdatum: Januar 2013
Seitenanzahl: 80 Seiten
Format: kartoniert