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Purpose: To examine the feasibility and utility of the Fitbit Charge HR to estimate physical activity among ambulatory children and youth with disabilities. Method: Participants (4–17 y old) with disabilities were recruited and asked to wear a Fitbit for 28 days. Feasibility was assessed as the number of participants who adhered to the 28-day protocol. Heat maps were generated to visually examine variability in step count by age, gender, and disability group. Between-group differences for wear time and step counts by age, gender, and disability type were assessed by independent sample t tests for gender and disability group, and a 1-way analysis of variance for age group. Results: Participants (N = 157; median age = 10 y; 71% boys; 71% nonphysical disabilities) averaged 21 valid days of wear time. Wear time was higher in girls than boys (mean difference = 18.0; 95% confidence interval [CI], 6.8 to 29.1), and in preadolescents (mean difference = 27.6; 95% CI, 15.5 to 39.7) and adolescents (mean difference = −21.2; 95% CI, −33.6 to −8.7) than children. More daily steps were taken by boys than girls (mean difference = −1040; 95% CI, −1465 to −615) and individuals with a nonphysical disability than a physical disability (mean difference = −1120; 95% CI, −1474 to −765). The heat maps showed peaks in physical activity on weekdays before school, at recess, lunchtime, and after school. Conclusion: The Fitbit is a feasible tool for monitoring physical activity among ambulatory children and youth with disabilities and may be useful for population-level surveillance and intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract--Lost or derelict fishing gear can impair fisheries by contributing to the depletion of target species populations and can reduce non-target fish and wildlife populations. We measured the density of [...]

OBJECTIVES: Cross-cultural comparisons in children's body composition, health-related fitness and physical activity (PA) are rare due to a shortage of comparable data, but such comparisons may help avert worrying global prevalence in childhood obesity, and declining fitness and PA. METHODS: We drew samples of Canadian and English children (10 years, n=1630, 50% boys) and adolescents (15 years, n=1406, 56% boys) from three separate, regional studies that conducted comparable school-based assessments (2006-2011). For each age-sex group, we assessed between-country differences for body composition (mass, height, BMI, waist circumference), cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF; 20 m shuttle run test), strength (handgrip) and self-reported PA. We used multiple regression to investigate whether between-country differences in fitness were explained by body composition and PA. RESULTS: At any age, Canadian boys and girls were taller, heavier, and had greater BMIs and waist circumferences. English children had higher CRF than Canadians, which was explained by differences in body composition and PA. Canadian children were significantly stronger, partly due to greater body size. There were no between-country differences in adolescent boys. Canadian adolescent girls reported more PA than their English counterparts, but neither PA nor body size explained why Canadian adolescent girls had greater CRF or strength. CONCLUSION: Future cross-cultural studies of PA should include indices of growth and fitness to better understand the relationship between intricate differences in PA and health outcomes. KEY WORDS: Physical fitness; physical endurance; muscle strength; body mass index; exercise OBJECTIFS: Rares sont les comparaisons interculturelles de la composition corporelle des enfants, de leur forme physique liee a la sante et de leur activite physique en raison du manque de donnees comparables, mais de telles comparaisons peuvent aider a eviter la menace de la prevalence mondiale inquietante de l'obesite juvenile, ainsi que le declin de la forme physique et de l'activite physique. METHODE: Nous avons extrait des echantillons d'enfants (10 ans, n=1 630, 50% de garcons) et d'adolescents (15 ans, n=1 406, 56% de garcons) canadiens et anglais de trois etudes regionales distinctes ayant mene des evaluations en milieu scolaire comparables (2006-2011). Pour chaque groupe d'age et de sexe, nous avons evalue les differences entre les deux pays pour ce qui est de la composition corporelle (masse, taille, IMC, perimetre ombilical), de la capacite cardiorespiratoire (CCR; course navette sur 20 metres), de la force (poigne) et de l'activite physique autodeclaree. Par regression multiple, nous avons cherche a determiner si les differences entre les deux pays au chapitre de la forme physique s'expliquaient par la composition corporelle et l'activite physique. RESULTATS: A tout age, les garcons et les filles canadiens etaient plus grands, plus lourds, et avaient un IMC et un perimetre ombilical plus eleves. Les enfants anglais avaient une CCR superieure a celle des Canadiens, ce qui s'expliquait par les differences dans leur composition corporelle et leur activite physique. Les enfants canadiens etaient significativement plus forts, en partie en raison de leur plus grande corpulence. Il n'y avait pas de differences entre les garcons adolescents des deux pays. Chez les filles, les adolescentes canadiennes ont declare faire davantage d'activite physique que les Anglaises, mais ni l'activite physique, ni la corpulence n'expliquaient pourquoi les adolescentes canadiennes avaient une CCR ou une force superieures. CONCLUSION: Les futures etudes interculturelles de l'activite physique devraient inclure des indices de croissance et de forme physique pour que l'on comprenne mieux le lien entre les differences subtiles des niveaux d'activite physique et les resultats sanitaires. MOTS CLES: aptitude physique; endurance physique; force musculaire; indice de masse corporelle; exercice physique, Obesity predisposes children to a myriad of cardiometabolic health complications, including elevated blood pressure, dyslipidemia, and insulin resistance. (1) In recent decades, Canada and England have witnessed an accelerated increase [...]

Protecting eggs from predators is common practice in sea turtle conservation, but routine protection of hatchlings is not. Of 42 loggerhead hatchlings observed emerging from 10 nests on undeveloped Onslow Beach, North Carolina, 24 % were preyed on by ghost crabs. In experimental trials, ghost crabs similarly threatened and captured neonate freshwater sliders, supporting their substitution as proxy for threatened and endangered sea turtle hatchlings in field experiments testing density dependence. Exploiting natural long-shore variation in ghost crab density, we show that a 2.6-fold higher ghost crab density resulted in 5 times more nocturnal threat encounters with sliders and 3.4 times more slider captures. Sliders released in simulated group emergences experienced lower per capita capture risk by ghost crabs than solitary sliders, implying predator dilution. Non-independence of egg and hatchling depredation motivates consideration of merging sea turtle egg and hatchling stages when modeling and managing food web interactions., Introduction Worldwide, sea turtles have experienced substantial and alarming declines in abundance over decades and centuries (Magnuson et al. 1990; Jackson 2001; Jackson et al. 2001; Bjorndal et al. 2010), [...]

In situ persistence of coastal marsh habitat as sea level rises depends on whether macrophytes induce compensatory accretion of the marsh surface. Experimental planters in two North Carolina marshes served to expose two dominant macrophyte species to six different elevations spanning 0.75 m (inundation durations 0.4-99 %). Spartina alterniflora and Juncus roemerianus exhibited similar responses--with production in planters suggesting initial increases and then demonstrating subsequent steep declines with increasing inundation, conforming to a segment of the ecophysiological parabola. Projecting inundation levels experienced by macrophytes in the planters onto adjacent marsh platforms revealed that neither species occupied elevations associated with increasing production. Declining macrophyte production with rising seas reduces both bioaccumulation of roots below-ground and baffle-induced sedimentation above-ground. By occupying only descending portions of the parabola, macrophytes in central North Carolina marshes are responding to rising water levels by progressive declines in production, ultimately leading to marsh drowning., Introduction Coastal marshes have been identified as habitats at high risk of loss and functional degradation (Scavia et al. 2002; Peterson et al. 2008) from accelerating sea-level rise (IPCC 2007; [...]

Previous studies of forest-dwelling bats have identified physical features of trees and forests that correlate with the presence of bats by comparing roost sites to paired, randomly selected sites. This method may be limited if the absence of bats from random sites cannot be confirmed. Our purpose was to address roosting ecology of female big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus) using a different approach. We quantified relative use of trees with 3 different types of cavity openings (long crevices, multiple holes, or single holes) and compared the relative use of these potential roosts to the availability of each roost type in the study area. Bats used trees with multiple holes and crevices significantly more often than expected based on their availability and trees with single holes less often than expected. Crevice roosts had significantly larger cavities than did single holes and roosting-group size was positively correlated with cavity volume. No relationship was found between cavity volume and tree height or stem diameter of roost trees, 2 variables that have been reported to correlate with roost selection in other studies of forest bats. Examination of our data suggests that the volume of roost cavities may be an important selection criterion for colonial, forest-living bats and that standard interpretations of the roost versus random-tree approach may not accurately identify patterns of roost selection in some systems. Key words: cavity volume, Chiroptera, forests, radiotelemetry, roosting ecology, tree cavities