Natural Environment Research Council Research Articles

The uptake of silica during the spring bloom in the Northeast Atlantic Ocean

A full understanding of the biogeochemical cycling of silica in the North Atlantic is hampered by a lack of estimates of silica uptake by phytoplankton. We applied the 32Si radiotracer incubation technique to determine silica uptake rates at 10 sites during the UK‐(Natural Environment Research Council) Faroes‐Iceland‐Scotland hydrographic and environmental survey (FISHES) cruise in the Northeast Atlantic, May 2001. Column silica uptake rates ranged between 6 and 166 mmol Si m−2 d−1; this data set was integrated with concurrent hydrographic, chemical, and primary productivity data to explain these changes in silica uptake in terms of the progress of the spring bloom. In order to interpret data covering a relatively large spatial and temporal scale, we used mean photic zone silica concentration as a proxy time‐series measure of diatom bloom progression. Both absolute and specific silica uptake rates were highest at dissolved silica concentrations >2 µmol L−1. Si and C uptake were vertically decoupled at those stations where surface silica was strongly depleted. Absolute primary productivity was not strongly correlated with dissolved silica concentrations, owing to either exhaustion of silica at diatom‐dominated stations or to dominance of the community by other phytoplankton. Silica uptake as a function of increased substrate concentration was linear up to 25 µmol L−1; we consider some possible reasons for the nonhyperbolic response.

The Use of GPS Measurements for Water Vapor Determination

Abstract A workshop on the use of Global Positioning System (GPS) measurements in weather and climate with emphasis on water vapor determination, was organized by the National Environmental Research Council's (NERC) Environmental Systems Science Centre (ESSC), at the University of Reading, Reading, United Kingdom, and took place there 29–31 August 2001. This paper gives a broad overview and general background of the use of GPS data for weather and climate. It outlines the objectives of the workshop and presents ongoing national, regional, and international activities both for ground-based and satellite-based systems. This includes work in the United States, China, and Japan, and different European efforts, including activities under European Community programs. Data assimilation of GPS data for weather prediction and climate is discussed as are ways in which to develop GPS-based systems to become an integrated part of the World Weather Watch. This includes ways of systematically using GPS data from the in...

Modelling solute transport in the Tweed Estuary, UK using ECoS

Predictions of the tidal variation in water elevation and the advection–dispersion of solutes have been made for the Tweed River Estuary (UK) by application of a modelling package called ECoS. The estuarine model consisted of a one-dimensional hydrodynamic scheme with tidally variable channel cross-sectional area. The model was driven by predicted tidal elevation at the mouth of the estuary, and combined fluvial inputs observed for the River Tweed at the head of the estuary and the River Whiteadder, a tributary within the tidal reaches. Model results were compared to field data collected during routine surveys of the river estuary, conducted as part of Natural Environment Research Council Land–Ocean Interaction Study (LOIS). Validation protocols showed that the model reproduced tidal- and river flow-driven changes in surface elevation, and explained over 90% of the variation in salinity when field data were averaged through the water column. The study demonstrates that ECoS can be used to model tidal hydrodynamic processes, and that in a stratified estuary a depth-averaged model is able to replicate depth-averaged data. However, in rapidly rising and partially stratified estuaries with highly variable river flows, sufficient and appropriate data must be available for model set-up and validation. This has implications for how field studies should be planned and conducted.

A preliminary net sediment budget for the Humber Estuary

The Humber Estuary has been the subject of considerable research activity over recent years. Drawing on results from the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)-funded Land–Ocean Interaction Study (LOIS) and work to underpin the strategic planning of flood defences by the Environment Agency (EA), a preliminary budget of the net sediment exchanges has been developed. The net exchanges are presented in the context of gross movements. The results highlight the fact that the budget is finely balanced, with the net exchanges being very small residuals, one or two orders of magnitude less than the gross exchanges taking place.

Reply: Formation and reorientation of structure in the surge‐type glacier Kongsvegen, Svalbard

Journal of Quaternary ScienceVolume 18, Issue 1 p. 99-100 Correspondence Reply: Formation and reorientation of structure in the surge-type glacier Kongsvegen, Svalbard J. Woodward, J. Woodward British Antarctic Survey, Natural Environment Research Council, High Cross, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 OET, EnglandSearch for more papers by this authorT. Murray, Corresponding Author T. Murray t.murray@geography.leeds.ac.uk School of Geography, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, EnglandSchool of Geography, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, EnglandSearch for more papers by this authorA. McCAIG, A. McCAIG School of Earth Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, EnglandSearch for more papers by this author J. Woodward, J. Woodward British Antarctic Survey, Natural Environment Research Council, High Cross, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 OET, EnglandSearch for more papers by this authorT. Murray, Corresponding Author T. Murray t.murray@geography.leeds.ac.uk School of Geography, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, EnglandSchool of Geography, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, EnglandSearch for more papers by this authorA. McCAIG, A. McCAIG School of Earth Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, EnglandSearch for more papers by this author First published: 13 January 2003 https://doi.org/10.1002/jqs.736Citations: 10AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article.Citing Literature Volume18, Issue1January 2003Pages 99-100 RelatedInformation

Sex-dependent diel vertical migration in northern krill Meganyctiphanes norvegica and its consequences for population dynamics

MEPS Marine Ecology Progress Series Contact the journal Facebook Twitter RSS Mailing List Subscribe to our mailing list via Mailchimp HomeLatest VolumeAbout the JournalEditorsTheme Sections MEPS 260:173-188 (2003) - doi:10.3354/meps260173 Sex-dependent diel vertical migration in northern krill Meganyctiphanes norvegica and its consequences for population dynamics Geraint A. Tarling* British Antarctic Survey, Natural Environment Research Council, High Cross, Madingley Rd, Cambridge CB3 0ET, UK *Email: gant@bas.ac.uk ABSTRACT: The diel vertical migration (DVM) and population dynamics of northern krill were investigated in the Clyde Sea over several years using depth-discrete net-sampling and a moored 300 kHz acoustic Doppler current profiler. Krill performed DVM throughout each year of sampling. The respective arrival and departure of the krill scattering layer to and from the upper layers occurred consistently 30 min after sunset and 30 min before sunrise. DVM of males and females was different, with females migrating closer to the surface at night than males of equivalent size. The sex ratio was initially 1:1 when juveniles matured into adults after their first winter, but the ratio became increasingly biased towards males as the season progressed such that, by October, the ratio was close to 3:1. A deterministic individual-based model, in which predation risk was a function of the light available to visual predators, showed that the bias could be accounted for by the difference in risk taken by males and females as a result of their DVMs. The same model also showed that, during summer, the difference in these DVMs resulted in females making a net energy gain that was 40% higher than that of males. The predicted net energy gain for females met the immediate energetic demand for egg production as well as providing a surplus that could offset any future decline in food availability. The model did not predict the observation that the decline in male numbers was greater than that of females over the winter. This may be a result of females being more able to cope with starvation through reabsorption of their lipid-rich ovaries. The greater demand for energy to fuel reproduction appeared to be driving females to undertake a riskier DVM than males. This drive is likely to be common to most euphausiid species. KEY WORDS: Euphausiid · Behaviour · Sex ratio · Mortality · Predation · Zooplankton · Acoustic Doppler current profiler · DVM Full text in pdf format PreviousNextExport citation RSS - Facebook - Tweet - linkedIn Cited by Published in MEPS Vol. 260. Online publication date: September 30, 2003 Print ISSN: 0171-8630; Online ISSN: 1616-1599 Copyright © 2003 Inter-Research.

A worthwhile investment: research-council scientists speak out.

This article looks at the work of two of the UK's research councils and the way their funding contributes to science at large, and to the scientists themselves. Nina Morgan talks to three scientists from the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council and three from the Natural Environment Research Council about their interests and enthusiasms.

Accounting Error Leads to Funding Drought

U.K. RESEARCHCAMBRIDGE, U.K.-- A major British research funding agency has canceled an entire round of grants, worth $19 million, in an attempt to fend off a cash crisis. Last week's decision by the Natural Environmental Research Council has infuriated scientists in fields ranging from atmospheric and polar sciences to freshwater biology.

Europe ramps up its research goals

Europe ramps up its research goals

Chapter 20 Nirex and the great denouement

Abstract We saw in Chapter 14 how the British Geological Survey came under pressure in various ways in the 1980s - the 'Thatcher yeaars'. Some of its basic funding was diverted to the universities, and one of the reasons for the collaboration between the Survey and the universities was that it provided a means whereby it could recoup its 'own' money, so to speak, via the NERC-funded PhD studentships. However, that in itself was insufficient, and increasingly the Survey had to go into the market to help fund its activities through contract or consulting activities. With its large staff and accumulated experience and databases, the BGS (or Institute of Geological Sciences before the beginning of 1984) could readily aspire to be the largest and best geological consulting agency in Britain, although taking on a consultative role entailed a change in its ethos. We can see this manifested in 1991 when three new divisions were established: International, Marketing, and Corporate Coordination and Information. The posts of Chief Geologist, Chief Geochemist and Chief Geophysicist were abolished. Four new programme divisions were established: Thematic Maps and Onshore Surveys; Petroleum Geology, Geophysics and Offshore Surveys; minerals and Geochemical Surveys; and Groundwater and Geotechnical Surveys (Hackett 1999, p. 7). A considerable amount of the BGS's consulting work had to do wth the nuclear industry and radioactive waste disposal. 1 In the early 1970s, the BGS (then IGS) and the Natural Environment Research Council began to focus on the pending major problem of nuclear waste disposal, and in

The derivation of areal reduction factor of storm rainfall from its scaling properties

We present a method of modeling the areal reduction factor (ARF) of storm rainfall. The ARF is widely used in reducing point rainfall to obtain areal average values for the same duration, probability of exceedance, and specified area. The concepts of scaling and multiscaling, developed in recent years, provide a powerful framework for studying spatial and temporal variability of hydrological processes. It is our view that ARF must reflect the scaling properties of rainfall in space and time. We develop a simple statistical approach to the ARF of extreme storm rainfall based on the scaling properties of the underlying process in space and time. We derive the scaling relations of mean rainfall intensity over an area A and for a duration T using the concepts of dynamic scaling and statistical self‐affinity. A new physically based formula for the ARF is then obtained. Applications are made to observations from the metropolitan area of Milan, Italy, and to data in the United Kingdom, as given in the Natural Environmental Research Council Flood Studies Report. These studies indicate that storm rates in space and time are scaling for extreme events, and hence this concept is shown to provide a useful practical approach to the evaluation of design storms for specified areas.

Collation, management and dissemination of environmental research relating to urban areas in the UK. The approach used within the Natural Environment Research Council's URGENT Programme

The Urban Regeneration and the Environment Programme (URGENT) is a wide-ranging research programme concerned with the restoration and regeneration of urban conurbations in the UK. Its aim is to integrate urban ecological and environmental research across the geological, terrestrial, freshwater and atmospheric sciences. It is funded and managed by the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) as one of their thematic programmes, but works in partnership with city authorities, industry and regulatory bodies. The URGENT programme has funded 40 projects in UK institutes and universities covering a wide variety of scientific research and is generating data, models and other information outputs across a broad spectrum. In anticipation of the creation of this valuable data resource and in response to the need to disseminate the results of the research as widely as possible, data management and quality assurance methods were implemented at the start of the programme. The evolution of the URGENT data management plan, its implementation within the research programme and the lessons learnt for the future are discussed.

Nests as ornaments: revealing construction by male sticklebacks

Barber, I., Nairn, D., Huntingford, F. A. (2001). Nests as ornaments: revealing construction by male sticklebacks. Behavioural Ecology, 12, (4), 390-396. Sponsorship: UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) grant (GR3/10349).

Controversy in conservation

‘Almost half of the higher plants on the shortlist for conservation in the UK's Biodiversity Action Plans are taxonomically controversial – experts disagree on whether they are distinct species,’ says Pete Hollingsworth (Royal Botanic Garden, London, UK) in the latest issue of the bulletin of the Natural Environmental Research Council (NERC). The comment follows from the recent discovery that a supposedly rare orchid turned out not to be a distinct species and highlights the difficulty of earmarking species for conservation. Scientists discovered the orchid species in the 1980s, Epipactis youngiana, and gave the orchids full conservation status and legal protection. However, under scrutiny, scientists now consider the orchid to be part of an already known species. [Ahuja, A. (2001) The Times (London) 2 April] TS

Three-dimensional X-band SAR imaging of a small conifer tree

High spatial resolution 3-D SAR imagery was recorded by the UK's Natural Environment Research Council GB-SAR Microwave Measurement Facility at the University of Sheffield. X-band VV polarisation measurements were made using a near-field monostatic imaging system inside an anechoic chamber. The measurement process employs vector network analyser techniques to sample backscattered signals over a 2-D aperture, allowing a 3-D reconstruction of a target. This technique is used to provide a detailed 3-D map of the spatial scattering behaviour of a small Colorado Blue Spruce tree (Picea pungens glauca). The images produced are at a sufficiently high spatial resolution (∼5cm) that individual plant components can be discerned. An ability to select any volume pixel from within the target allows features in the microwave reconstruction to be readily associated with structures in the tree. The scattering behaviour associated with the uppermost set of branches shows it to be dominated by scattering from the branch tips.

Appendix: Data management and data archive for the HYREX Programme

Abstract. Since the mid 1980s, changes in political imperatives plus technological changes in computer hardware and software have heightened the awareness of the economic value and importance of quality datasets to scientific research. The Natural Environment Research Council’s (NERC) interdisciplinary Thematic and Special Topic Programmes have highlighted the need for a coherent data management policy to provide and preserve these quality datasets for posterity. The Hydrological Radar EXperiment (HYREX) Special Topic Programme brought together multi-disciplinary researchers from UK public sector laboratories and universities. In this paper, the HYREX data management strategy, its problems and its solutions are discussed. The HYREX data archive, situated at NERC’s British Atmospheric Data Centre, is described. Keywords: radar, data, archive, web, storm, flood

Simulated performance of remote sensing ocean colour algorithms during the 1996 PRIME cruise

Coincident pigment and underwater radiometric data were collected during a cruise along the 20°W meridian from 60°N to 37°N in the north-eastern Atlantic Ocean as part of the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) thematic programme: plankton reactivity in the marine environment (PRIME). These data were used to simulate the retrieval of two bio-optical variables from remotelysensed measurements of ocean colour (for example by the NASA Sea-viewing wide field-of-view sensor, SeaWiFS), using two-band semi-empirical algorithms. The variables considered were the diffuse attenuation coefficient at 490 nm, ( K d(490), units: m −1) and the phytoplankton pigment concentration expressed as optically-weighted chlorophyll- a concentration [ C a , units: mg m −3]. There was good agreement between the measured and the retrieved bio-optical values. Algorithms based on the PRIME data were generated to compare the performance of local algorithms (algorithms which apply to a restricted area and/or season) with global algorithms (algorithms developed on data from a wide variety of water masses). The use of local algorithms improved the average accuracy, but not the precision, of the retrievals: errors were still ±36% ( K d) and ±117% ( C a ) using local algorithms.

Large‐scale processes in ecology and hydrology

1. Several papers published in the 1980s stressed the importance of scaling issues, the inter‐relatedness of patterns and processes at different scales of time and space, to our understanding of ecological systems. Scaling issues are of major theoretical interest and increasingly are of considerable applied importance. 2. In recognition of this, the Natural Environment Research Council, in partnership with the Scottish Executive Rural Affairs Department, funded a Thematic Programme entitled ‘Large‐scale Processes in Ecology and Hydrology’. The principal aim of this Programme was to integrate recent major developments in information resources and technologies with current theory in order to improve understanding of large‐scale patterns and processes and their relationship to patterns and processes at smaller scales. 3. The Thematic Programme, which ran from 1995 until 1999, funded six research projects that have generated a large body of published papers. This volume, dedicated to the findings of the Programme, brings together outputs from all six projects with the aim of ensuring a rapid and widespread dissemination of the Programme's findings. A brief résumé of each of the papers is presented. 4. The papers in this volume cover a wide variety of subjects ranging from ions to the flora and fauna of the United Kingdom. Nonetheless, each study has sought in various ways to quantify observed spatio‐temporal patterns at a range of scales, to determine whether those patterns are consistent across scales and to identify the interactions between small‐scale patterns and processes and those at larger scales. The importance of the spatial and temporal scales at which studies are conducted, the key role played by dispersal in spatial population dynamics, and the diversity of ways in which large‐scale patterns and processes relate to those at smaller scales are highlighted in many of the papers. 4. All of the papers presented here have direct relevance to applied issues. These issues are diverse and include the control of invasive alien species, the conservation of declining, threatened or endangered species, the development of survey techniques, strategies for farmland, woodland and forestry management, and the assessment of pollution sensitivity. Thus, the Thematic Programme has addressed issues of considerable theoretical interest and has at the same time generated results and predictive models that are of considerable practical and policy relevance.

Large‐scale ecology and hydrology: an introductory perspective from the editors of the Journal of Applied Ecology

1. Five key features characterize large‐scale factors in ecology: (a) they incorporate some of the most major of all ecological phenomena – the ranges of organisms, patterns of diversity, variations in ecosystem character and environmental processes such as climate, biogeochemical cycles, dispersal and migration; (b) they involve interactions across scales through both top‐down and bottom‐up processes; (c) they are multifaceted, and hence require an interdisciplinary perspective; (d) they reflect the cumulative effects of anthropogenic change across all scales, and so have direct relevance to environmental management; (e) they invariably exceed the range of classical ecological experiments, and so require alternative approaches to hypothesis testing. 2. Against this background, a recent research initiative on large‐scale ecology and hydrology was funded jointly by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and the Scottish Executive Rural Affairs Department (SERAD). Outputs from this programme are reported in this special issue of the Journal of Applied Ecology, and they illustrate some of the ecological research that is currently in progress in the UK at large spatio‐temporal scales. 3. The spatial scales investigated in the papers range from hectares to whole continents, and much of the work reported here involves modelling. Although the model outputs are intrinsically valuable, several authors express the need for improved validation and testing. We suggest that this is an area requiring much development, and will need considerable innovation due to the difficulties at the scales involved (see 1d). Possible methods include: model applications to new circumstances; large‐scale environmental manipulations; large‐scale surveys that mimic experimental protocols; support from process studies at smaller scales. These alternatives are not mutually exclusive, and all can allow robust hypothesis testing. 4. Much of the work reported here is interdisciplinary linking, for example, geographical, mathematical, hydrological, hydrochemical and ecological concepts (see 1c). We suggest that even stronger links between environmental disciplines will further aid large‐scale ecological research. 5. Most important in the context of the Journal of Applied Ecology, the work reported in this issue reveals that large‐scale ecology already has applied value. Sectors benefiting include the conservation of biodiversity, the control of invasive species, and the management of land and water resources. 6. Large‐scale issues continue to affect many applied ecologists, with roughly 30–40% of papers published in the Journal of Applied Ecology typically confronting such problems. This special issue adds to the growing body of seminal contributions that will add impetus to further large‐scale work. Moreover, occurring in a period when other areas of biology are increasingly reductionist, this collection illustrates that, at least with respect to large‐scale environmental problems, ecology still holds centre ground.

Fitness components of seasonal reproduction: an analysis using Nereis virens as a life history model

The reproductive cycles of the majority of marine invertebrates are strongly seasonal with highly synchronised patterns of spawning. It has become accepted that a distinction can be made between proximate factors and ultimate factors in the causation of seasonal reproduction. We briefly review these concepts and the hypotheses that have been developed about the nature of the ultimate factors that cause the fitness benefit and that ‘explain’ the adaptive significance of seasonal reproduction. We use a model based on the life history of the polychaete Nereis virens and demonstrate that seasonal reproduction may have impacts on adult components of fitness (i.e. reproductive value at age of first maturity), as well as on fertilisation rate and survival to age at first maturity. The results are discussed in the context of the programme PNDR and the related UK Natural Environment Research Council thematic programme ‘Developmental Physiology of Marine Organisms’ (NERC-DEMA). © 2000 Ifremer/CNRS/IRD/Éditions scientifiques et médicales Elsevier SAS life history / fitness / modelling / breeding / Nereis virens