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Evaluating the effectiveness of a large multi-use MPA in protecting Key Biodiversity Areas for marine predators

1 June, 2020 by Iain Staniland, Mark Belchier, Norman Ratcliffe, Philip Trathan, Richard Phillips

Marine protected areas can serve to regulate harvesting and conserve biodiversity. Within large multi‐use MPAs, it is often unclear to what degree critical sites of biodiversity are afforded protection against…

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Improvements in Circumpolar Southern Hemisphere Extratropical Atmospheric Circulation in CMIP6 Compared to CMIP5

1 June, 2020 by Caroline Holmes, Gareth Marshall, Scott Hosking, Thomas Bracegirdle

One of the major globally relevant systematic biases in previous generations of climate models has been an equatorward bias in the latitude of the Southern Hemisphere (SH) mid‐latitude tropospheric eddy…

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Using ice cores and Gaussian process emulation to recover changes in the Greenland Ice Sheet during the last interglacial

25 May, 2020 by Irene Malmierca Vallet, Louise Sime

The shape and extent of the Greenland Ice Sheet (GIS) during the Last Interglacial (LIG) is a matter of controversy, with different studies proposing a wide range of reconstructions. Here,…

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Gene network analyses support subfunctionalization hypothesis for duplicated hsp70 genes in the Antarctic clam

20 May, 2020 by Melody Clark, Victoria Sleight

A computationally predicted gene regulatory network (GRN), generated from mantle-specific gene expression profiles in the Antarctic clam Laternula elliptica, was interrogated to test the regulation and interaction of duplicated inducible…

Read more on Gene network analyses support subfunctionalization hypothesis for duplicated hsp70 genes in the Antarctic clam

Introduced species and extreme weather as key drivers of reproductive output in three sympatric albatrosses

18 May, 2020 by Deborah Pardo, Richard Phillips

Invasive species present a major conservation threat globally and nowhere are their affects more pronounced than in island ecosystems. Determining how native island populations respond demographically to invasive species can…

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Using a calibrated upper living position of marine biota to calculate coseismic uplift: a case study of the 2016 Kaikōura earthquake, New Zealand

8 May, 2020 by Sofia-Katerina Kufner

The 2016 Mw=7.8 Kaikōura earthquake (South Island, New Zealand) caused widespread complex ground deformation, including significant coastal uplift of rocky shorelines. This coastal deformation is used here to develop a…

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The Gondwanan margin in West Antarctica: insights from Late Triassic magmatism of the Antarctic Peninsula

1 May, 2020 by Alex Burton-Johnson, Teal Riley

Triassic orthogneisses of the Antarctic Peninsula provide evidence for the Palaeozoic and Mesozoic geological evolution of southern Gondwana within Pangaea. These rocks are sporadically exposed in southeastern Graham Land and…

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U-Pb zircon geochronology from Haag Nunataks, Coats Land and Shackleton Range (Antarctica): constraining the extent of juvenile Late Mesoproterozoic arc terranes

1 May, 2020 by Teal Riley

Understanding the accretionary stages of Rodinia evolution and the arrangement of cratons and arc terranes is dependent upon high-precision geochronology from key piercing points of Mesoproterozoic rocks. U-Pb zircon dating…

Read more on U-Pb zircon geochronology from Haag Nunataks, Coats Land and Shackleton Range (Antarctica): constraining the extent of juvenile Late Mesoproterozoic arc terranes

Ontogenetic changes in habitat and trophic ecology of the giant Antarctic octopus Megaleledone setebos inferred from stable isotope analyses in beaks

8 April, 2020

The giant Antarctic Octopus Megaleledone setebos is the largest Southern Ocean octopod whose ecology is poorly known. Here, we study ontogenetic shifts of habitat and trophic ecology of M. setebos…

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First records of morphological diversity and ecology of periphytic cyanobacteria from Tukun River, Penang Forest Reserve, Malaysia

7 April, 2020 by Peter Convey

Despite the abundance of streams and rivers in Malaysia, the algal communities of these lotic ecosystems have remained largely unstudied. In a one-year floristic survey conducted from December 2014, 24…

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New information on the skull roof of Protoichthyosaurus (Reptilia: Ichthyosauria) and intraspecific variation in some dermal skull elements

1 April, 2020 by Mark Evans

A previously unrecognized specimen of Protoichthyosaurus prostaxalis, LEICT G142.1991, from the Lower Jurassic of Barrow-upon-Soar, Leicestershire, UK, includes an almost complete three-dimensional skull that provides new information on the configuration…

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Invasive non‐native species likely to threaten biodiversity and ecosystems in the Antarctic Peninsula region

1 April, 2020 by David Vaughan, David Barnes, Jonathan Shanklin, Kevin Hughes, Peter Convey, Simon Morley

The Antarctic is considered to be a pristine environment relative to other regions of the Earth, but it is increasingly vulnerable to invasions by marine, freshwater and terrestrial non‐native species.…

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Interpreting empirical estimates of experimentally derived physiological and biological thermal limits in ectotherms

1 April, 2020 by Simon Morley

Whole-organism function is underpinned by physiological and biological processes, which respond to temperature over a range of time scales. Given that environmental temperature controls biological rates within ectotherms, different experimental…

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Confronting Arctic Troposphere, Clouds, and Surface Energy Budget Representations in Regional Climate Models With Observations

23 March, 2020 by Tony Phillips

A coordinated regional climate model (RCM) evaluation and intercomparison project based on observations from a July–October 2014 trans‐Arctic Ocean field experiment (ACSE‐Arctic Clouds during Summer Experiment) is presented. Six state‐of‐the‐art…

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So far, so good… Similar fitness consequences and overall energetic costs for short and long-distance migrants in a seabird

16 March, 2020 by Richard Phillips

Although there is a consensus about the evolutionary drivers of animal migration, considerable work is necessary to identify the mechanisms that underlie the great variety of strategies observed in nature.…

Read more on So far, so good… Similar fitness consequences and overall energetic costs for short and long-distance migrants in a seabird

Spectral reflectance of whale skin above the sea surface: a proposed measurement protocol

10 March, 2020 by Hannah Cubaynes, Jennifer Jackson, Jaume Forcada, Philip Trathan, Peter Fretwell

Great whales have been detected using very‐high‐resolution satellite imagery, suggesting this technology could be used to monitor whales in remote areas. However, the application of this method to whale studies…

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Circumpolar terrestrial arthropod monitoring: a review of ongoing activities, opportunities and challenges with a focus on spiders

1 March, 2020 by Peter Convey

The terrestrial chapter of the Circumpolar Biodiversity Monitoring Programme (CBMP) has the potential to bring international multi-taxon, long-term monitoring together, but detailed fundamental species information for Arctic arthropods lags far…

Read more on Circumpolar terrestrial arthropod monitoring: a review of ongoing activities, opportunities and challenges with a focus on spiders

Computationally Predicted Gene Regulatory Networks in Molluscan Biomineralisation Identify Extracellular Matrix Production and Ion Transportation Pathways

1 March, 2020 by Melody Clark, Victoria Sleight

Motivation The molecular processes regulating molluscan shell production remain relatively uncharacterised, despite the clear evolutionary and societal importance of biomineralisation. Results Here we built the first computationally predicted gene regulatory…

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The distribution, abundance, status and global importance of giant petrels (Macronectes giganteus and M. halli) breeding at South Georgia

1 March, 2020 by Richard Phillips

Information on the status of giant petrels breeding at South Georgia was previously based on studies at a small number of the archipelago's breeding sites. Here, we report the results…

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Statistical optimisation of growth conditions and diesel degradation by the Antarctic bacterium, Rhodococcus sp. strain AQ5‒07.

1 March, 2020 by Peter Convey

Petroleum pollution is a major concern in Antarctica due to the persistent nature of its hydrocarbon components coupled with the region’s extreme environmental conditions, which means that bioremediation approaches are…

Read more on Statistical optimisation of growth conditions and diesel degradation by the Antarctic bacterium, Rhodococcus sp. strain AQ5‒07.

Combining correlative and mechanistic niche models with human activity data to elucidate the invasive potential of a sub‐Antarctic insect.

1 March, 2020 by Kevin Hughes, Peter Convey

Aim Correlative species distribution models (SDMs) are subject to substantial spatio‐temporal limitations when historical occurrence records of data‐poor species provide incomplete and outdated information for niche modelling. Complementary mechanistic modelling…

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Albatrosses and petrels at South Georgia as sentinels of marine debris input from vessels in the southwest Atlantic Ocean

1 March, 2020 by Claire Waluda, Richard Phillips

Increasing amounts of anthropogenic debris enter the ocean because of mismanagement in coastal communities and, despite a global ban on deliberate dumping, also from vessels, endangering wildlife. Assessing marine plastic…

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I/Ca in epifaunal benthic foraminifera: A semi-quantitative proxy for bottom water oxygen in a multi-proxy compilation for glacial ocean deoxygenation

1 March, 2020 by Claus-Dieter Hillenbrand

The decline in dissolved oxygen in global oceans (ocean deoxygenation) is a potential consequence of global warming which may have important impacts on ocean biogeochemistry and marine ecosystems. Current climate…

Read more on I/Ca in epifaunal benthic foraminifera: A semi-quantitative proxy for bottom water oxygen in a multi-proxy compilation for glacial ocean deoxygenation

Thirty years of marine debris in the Southern Ocean: annual surveys of two island shores in the Scotia Sea

1 March, 2020 by Claire Waluda, Iain Staniland, Kevin Hughes, Mari Whitelaw, Michael Dunn, Sally Thorpe

We report on three decades of repeat surveys of beached marine debris at two locations in the Scotia Sea, in the Southwest Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean. Between October…

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Effect of temperature on the growth of the commercially fished common whelk (Buccinum undatum, L.): A regional analysis within the Irish Sea

1 March, 2020 by Philip Hollyman

In response to increased demand in Asian markets, the commercial fishery for the common whelk (Buccinum undatum, L) has expanded in north-eastern Europe. In the Irish Sea region (ICES Area…

Read more on Effect of temperature on the growth of the commercially fished common whelk (Buccinum undatum, L.): A regional analysis within the Irish Sea

Discovery of microcystin-producing Anagnostidinema pseudacutissimum from cryopreserved Antarctic cyanobacterial mats

1 March, 2020 by Peter Convey

Microcystins (MCs) are secondary metabolites produced by cyanobacteria and have been well-documented in temperate and tropical regions. However, knowledge of the production of MCs in extremely cold environments is still…

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