OBJECTIVES To identify the status of compliance and enforcement of New Zealand's Fencing of Swimming Pools Act (FOSP Act), 10 years after its introduction, and to identify methods for improving both compliance with the act and the process of enforcement. METHODS A postal questionnaire was sent to all 74 authorities in New Zealand in which they were asked questions about their enforcement of t...

Information on the fine-scale movement of predators and their prey is important to interpret foraging behaviours and activity patterns. An understanding of these behaviours will help determine predator-prey relationships and their effects on community dynamics. For instance understanding a predator's movement behaviour may alter pre determined expectations of prey behaviour, as almost any aspec...

BACKGROUND The age of peak performance in elite endurance athletes has been investigated for elite marathoners, but not for elite Ironman triathletes. The aim of this study was to analyze the age of peak performance in swimming (3.8 km), cycling (180 km), running (42 km), and overall race time for elite female and male Ironman triathletes competing in Ironman Switzerland, a qualifier for the Ir...

Eggs released by broadcast-spawning marine invertebrates are often negatively buoyant. Blastulae and gastrulae of these species are commonly motile, with passive stability that leads to upward swimming in still water. The earliest occurrence of swimming in developing embryos of diverse invertebrates may therefore permit vertical migration in nature. I used turbulent and laminar shear flows to i...

The optimisation of undulatory underwater swimming is highly important in competitive swimming performance. Nineteen kinematic variables were identified from previous research undertaken to assess undulatory underwater swimming performance. The purpose of the present study was to determine which kinematic variables were key to the production of maximal undulatory underwater swimming velocity. K...

Recent experimental work has shown that eukaryotic cells can swim in a fluid as well as crawl on a substrate. We investigate the swimming behavior of Dictyostelium discoideum  amoebae who swim by initiating traveling protrusions at the front that propagate rearward. In our model we prescribe the velocity at the surface of the swimming cell, and use techniques of complex analysis to develop 2D m...

BACKGROUND Existing literature showed improved swimming performances for swimmers wearing wetsuits competing under standardized conditions in races held in pools on short to middle distances. Data about the influence of wetsuits on swimming performances in long and ultra-long open-water swimming races are missing. It is unknown whether the benefit of wearing wetsuits is comparable in men and wo...

Fishways have been developed to restore longitudinal connectivity in rivers. Despite their potential for aiding fish passage, fishways may represent a source of significant energetic expenditure for fish as they are highly turbulent environments. Nonetheless, our understanding of the physiological mechanisms underpinning fishway passage of fish is still limited. We examined swimming behaviour a...

Chain formation is common among phytoplankton organisms but the underlying reasons and consequences are poorly understood. Here we show that chain formation is strongly impaired by waterborne cues from copepod grazers in the dinoflagellate Alexandrium tamarense. Chains of Alexandrium cells exposed to copepod cues responded by splitting into single cells or shorter chains. Motion analysis reveal...