Emotional Competence (EC), which refers to individual differences in the identification, understanding, expression, regulation and use of one’s own emotions and those of others, has been found to be an important predictor of individuals’ adaptation to their environment. Higher EC is associated with greater happiness, better mental and physical health, more satisfying social and marital relationships and greater occupational success. While it is well-known that EC (as a whole) predicts a number of important outcomes, it is unclear so far which specific competency(ies) participate(s) in a given outcome. This is because no measure of EC distinctly measures each of the five core emotional competences, separately for one’s own and others’ emotions. This lack of information is problematic both theoretically (we do not understand the processes at stake) and practically (we cannot develop customized interventions). This paper aims to address this issue. We developed and validated in four steps a complete (albeit short: 50 items) self-reported measure of EC: the Profile of Emotional Competence. Analyses performed on a representative sample of 5676 subjects revealed promising psychometric properties. The internal consistency of scales and subscales alike was satisfying, factorial structure was as expected, and concurrent/discriminant validity was good.

We present new and revised data for the phocine distemper virus (PDV) epidemics that resulted in the deaths of more than 23 000 harbour seals Phoca vitulina in 1988 and 30 000 in 2002. On both occasions the epidemics started at the Danish island of Anholt in central Kattegat, and subsequently spread to adjacent colonies in a stepwise fashion. However, this pattern was not maintained throughout the epidemics and new centres of infection appeared far from infected populations on some occasions: in 1988 early positive cases were observed in the Irish Sea, and in 2002 the epidemic appeared in the Dutch Wadden Sea, 6 wk after the initiation of the outbreak at Anholt Island. Since the harbour seal is a rather sedentary species, such 'jumps' in the spread among colonies suggest that another vector species could have been involved. We discussed the role of sympatric species as disease vectors, and suggested that grey seal populations could act as reservoirs for PDV if infection rates in sympatric species are lower than in harbour seals. Alternatively, grey seals could act as subclinical infected carriers of the virus between Arctic and North Sea seal populations. Mixed colonies of grey and harbour seal colonies are found at all locations where the jumps occurred. It seems likely that grey seals, which show long-distance movements, contributed to the spread among regions. The harbour seal populations along the Norwegian coast and in the Baltic escaped both epidemics, which could be due either to genetic differences among harbour seal populations or to immunity. Catastrophic events such as repeated epidemics should be accounted for in future models and management strategies of wildlife populations. KEY WORDS: Epizootic · Harbour seal · Mass mortality · Phocine distemper virus Resale or republication not permitted without written consent of the publisherDis Aquat Org 68: [115][116][117][118][119][120][121][122][123][124][125][126][127][128][129][130] 2006 natural reductions in food supply driven by El Niño conditions have led to high levels of mortality (Trillmich & Dellinger 1991).There is also increasing evidence for mortality resulting from infectious disease. In 1988, up to 60% of North Sea harbour seals Phoca vitulina died during an outbreak of a then newly discovered distemper virus identified by inclusion bodies (e.g. Dietz et al. 1989a, Bergman et al. 1990. This virus was isolated and described as a morbillivirus, phocine distemper virus (PDV) (Osterhaus & Vedder 1988). Subsequently, related dolphin and porpoise morbilliviruses were isolated from cetaceans (Barrett et al. 1993), and widespread screenings suggest that many populations of pinnipeds, cetaceans and sirenians in the North Atlantic had been exposed to these viruses prior to and after the 1988 PDV outbreak (Dietz et al. 1989b, Duignan et al. 1995a,b,c, 1997a,b, Van Bressem et al. 2001. Clinical signs of disease were not recorded in many of the populations in which morbillivirus antibodies were detected (Duignan et al. 1995b, Nielsen et al. 20...

The number of offshore wind farms is increasing rapidly, leading to questions about the environmental impact of such farms. In the Netherlands, an extensive monitoring programme is being executed at the first offshore wind farm (Offshore Windfarm Egmond aan Zee, OWEZ). This letter compiles the short-term (two years) results on a large number of faunal groups obtained so far. Impacts were expected from the new hard substratum, the moving rotor blades, possible underwater noise and the exclusion of fisheries. The results indicate no short-term effects on the benthos in the sandy area between the generators, while the new hard substratum of the monopiles and the scouring protection led to the establishment of new species and new fauna communities. Bivalve recruitment was not impacted by the OWEZ wind farm. Species composition of recruits in OWEZ and the surrounding reference areas is correlated with mud content of the sediment and water depth irrespective the presence of OWEZ. Recruit abundances in OWEZ were correlated with mud content, most likely to be attributed not to the presence of the farm but to the absence of fisheries. The fish community was highly dynamic both in time and space. So far, only minor effects upon fish assemblages especially near the monopiles have been observed. Some fish species, such as cod, seem to find shelter inside the farm. More porpoise clicks were recorded inside the farm than in the reference areas outside the farm. Several bird species seem to avoid the park while others are indifferent or are even attracted. The effects of the wind farm on a highly variable ecosystem are described. Overall, the OWEZ wind farm acts as a new type of habitat with a higher biodiversity of benthic organisms, a possibly increased use of the area by the benthos, fish, marine mammals and some bird species and a decreased use by several other bird species.

Summary 1.If animals moved randomly in space, the use of different habitats would be proportional to their availability. Hence, deviations from proportionality between use and availability are considered the tell-tale sign of preference. This principle forms the basis for most habitat selection and species distribution models fitted to use-availability or count data (e.g. MaxEnt and Resource Selection Functions).2. Yet, once an essential habitat type is sufficiently abundant to meet an individual's needs, increased availability of this habitat type may lead to a decrease in the use/availability ratio. Accordingly, habitat selection functions may estimate negative coefficients when habitats are superabundant, incorrectly suggesting an apparent avoidance. Furthermore, not accounting for the effects of availability on habitat use may lead to poor predictions, particularly when applied to habitats that differ considerably from those for which data have been collected. 3. Using simulations, we show that habitat use varies non-linearly with habitat availability, even when individuals follow simple movement rules to acquire food and avoid risk. The results show that the impact of availability strongly depends on the type of habitat (e.g. whether it is essential or substitutable) and how it interacts with the distribution and availability of other habitats. 4. We demonstrate the utility of a variety of existing and new methods that enable the influence of habitat availability to be explicitly estimated. Models that allow for non-linear effects (using b-spline smoothers) and interactions between environmental covariates defining habitats and measures of their availability were best able to capture simulated patterns of habitat use across a range of environments.5. An appealing aspect of some of the methods we discuss is that the relative influence of availability is not defined a priori, but directly estimated by the model. This feature is likely to improve model prediction, hint at the mechanism of habitat selection, and may signpost habitats that are critical for the organism's fitness.

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The rapid increase in development of offshore wind energy in European waters has raised concern for the possible environmental impacts of wind farms. We studied whether harbour porpoise occurrence has been affected by the presence of the Dutch offshore wind farm Egmond aan Zee. This was done by studying acoustic activity of porpoises in the wind farm and in two reference areas using stationary acoustic monitoring (with T-PODs) prior to construction (baseline: . The results show a strong seasonal pattern, with more activity recorded during winter months. There was also an overall increase in acoustic activity from baseline to operation, in line with a general increase in porpoise abundance in Dutch waters over the last decade. The acoustic activity was significantly higher inside the wind farm than in the reference areas, indicating that the occurrence of porpoises in this area increased as well. The reasons of this apparent preference for the wind farm area are not clear. Two possible causes are discussed: an increased food availability inside the wind farm (reef effect) and/or the absence of vessels in an otherwise heavily trafficked part of the North Sea (sheltering effect).

Perfluorinated acids (PFAs) are today widely distributed in the environment, even in remote arctic areas. Recently, perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) has been identified in marine mammals all over the world, but information on the compound-specific tissue distribution remains scarce. Furthermore, although longer perfluorinated carboxylic acids (PFCAs) are used in industry and were shown to cause severe toxic effects, still little is known on potential sources or their widespread distribution. In this study, we report for the first time on levels of longer chain PFCAs, together with some short chain PFAs, perfluorobutane sulfonate (PFBS) and perfluorobutanoate (PFBA), in liver, kidney, blubber, muscle, and spleen tissues of harbor seals (Phoca vitulina) from the Dutch Wadden Sea. PFOS was the predominant compound in all seal samples measured (ranging from 89 to 2724 ng/g wet weight); however, large variations between tissues were monitored. Although these are preliminary results, it is, to our knowledge, the first time that PFBS could be found at detectable concentrations (2.3 ( 0.7 ng/g w wt) in environmental samples. PFBS was only detected in spleen tissue. PFCA levels were much lower than PFOS concentrations. The dominant PFCA in all tissues was PFNA (perfluorononanoic acid), and concentrations generally decreased in tissues for all other PFCA homologues with increasing chain length. No clear relationship between PFOS levels in liver and kidney was observed. Furthermore, hepatic PFDA (perfluorodecanoic acid) levels increased with increasing body length, but in kidney tissue, PFDA levels showed an inverse relationship with increasing body length. These data suggest large differences in tissue distribution and accumulation patterns of perfluorinated compounds in marine organisms.

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