Hemispheric asymmetry in ocean change and the productivity of ecosystem sentinels.

Climate change and other human activities are causing profound effects on marine ecosystem productivity. We show that the breeding success of seabirds is tracking hemispheric differences in ocean warming and human impacts, with the strongest effects on fish-eating, surface-foraging species in the north. Hemispheric asymmetry suggests the need for ocean management at hemispheric scales. For the north, tactical, climate-based recovery plans for forage fish resources are needed to recover seabird breeding productivity. In the south, lower-magnitude change in seabird productivity presents opportunities for strategic management approaches such as large marine protected areas to sustain food webs and maintain predator productivity. Global monitoring of seabird productivity enables the detection of ecosystem change in remote regions and contributes to our understanding of marine climate impacts on ecosystems.

Marine no-take zone rapidly benefits endangered penguin.

No-take zones may protect populations of targeted marine species and restore the integrity of marine ecosystems, but it is unclear whether they benefit top predators that rely on mobile pelagic fishes. In South Africa, foraging effort of breeding African penguins decreased by 30 per cent within three months of closing a 20 km zone to the competing purse-seine fisheries around their largest colony. After the fishing ban, most of the penguins from this island had shifted their feeding effort inside the closed area. Birds breeding at another colony situated 50 km away, whose fishing grounds remained open to fishing, increased their foraging effort during the same period. This demonstrates the immediate benefit of a relatively small no-take zone for a marine top predator relying on pelagic prey. Selecting such small protected areas may be an important first conservation step, minimizing stakeholder conflicts and easing compliance, while ensuring benefit for the ecosystems within these habitats.

Comparative Studies of Casein Breakdown in Cheddar Cheese Manufactured from Lactose-Hydrolysed Milk.

Scottish Cheddar cheese (12 trials) was produced from full-fat milk and from the same milk treated with different preparations of (ß-D-galatosidase. Appreciable hydrolysis of the casein fractions was evident in 6-month old Cheddar cheese using lactose hydrolysing enzyme containing a high level of natural protease. Lactose hydrolysis of milk up to 60% slightly accelerated the ripening process of Cheddar cheese, but greater judge preference of the enzyme-treated cheese was reported by the taste panelists as compared with the control.