Southwestern England Research Articles

Comparison of direct and indirect soil organic carbon prediction at farm field scale

To advance sustainable and resilient agricultural management policies, especially during land use changes, it is imperative to monitor, report, and verify soil organic carbon (SOC) content rigorously to inform its stock. However, conventional methods often entail challenging, time-consuming, and costly direct soil measurements. Integrating data from long-term experiments (LTEs) with freely available remote sensing (RS) techniques presents exciting prospects for assessing SOC temporal and spatial change. The objective of this study was to develop a low-cost, field-based statistical model that could be used as a decision-making aid to understand the temporal and spatial variation of SOC content in temperate farmland under different land use and management. A ten-year dataset from the North Wyke Farm Platform, a 20-field, LTE system established in southwestern England in 2010, was used as a case study in conjunction with an RS dataset. Linear, additive and mixed regression models were compared for predicting SOC content based upon combinations of environmental variables that are freely accessible (termed open) and those that require direct measurement or farmer questionnaires (termed closed). These included an RS-derived Ecosystem Services Provision Index (ESPI), topography (slope, aspect), weather (temperature, precipitation), soil (soil units, total nitrogen [TN], pH), and field management practices. Additive models (specifically Generalised Additive Models (GAMs)) were found to be the most effective at predicting space-time SOC variability. When the combined open and closed factors (excluding TN) were considered, significant predictors of SOC were: management related to ploughing being the most important predictor, soil unit (class), aspect, and temperature (GAM fit with a normalised RMSE = 9.1%, equivalent to 0.4% of SOC content). The relative strength of the best-fitting GAM with open data only, which included ESPI, aspect, and slope (normalised RMSE = 13.0%, equivalent to 0.6% of SOC content), suggested that this more practical and cost-effective model enables sufficiently accurate prediction of SOC.

Proposal for a new meteotsunami intensity index

Abstract. Atmospherically generated coastal waves labelled as meteotsunami are known to cause destruction, injury, and fatality due to their rapid onset and unexpected nature. Unlike other coastal hazards such as tsunami, there exist no standardised means of quantifying this phenomenon, which is crucial to understand shoreline impacts and to enable researchers to establish a shared language and framework for meteotsunami analysis and comparison. In this study, we present a new five-level Lewis Meteotsunami Intensity Index (LMTI) trialled in the United Kingdom (UK) but designed for global applicability. A comprehensive dataset of meteotsunami events recorded in the UK was utilised, and the index's effectiveness was evaluated, with intensity level and spatial distribution of meteotsunami occurrence derived. Results revealed a predominant occurrence of Level 2 moderate intensity meteotsunami (69 %) in the UK, with distinct hotspots identified in south-western England and Scotland. Further trial implementation of the LMTI in a global capacity revealed its potential adaptability to other meteotsunami-prone regions, facilitating the comparison of events and promoting standardisation of assessment methodologies.

Evolution of the Palaeozoic mafic-ultramafic Lizard Complex (SW England) from zircon and baddeleyite U-Pb-Hf isotopic constraints: New thoughts on the convergence of Avalonia and Armorica

The Palaeozoic Lizard Complex of southwestern England is composed of a peridotite body with gabbro and intruded by granitic rocks. The peridotites are bounded by amphibolite schists and metasedimentary rocks with those in the southern region also intruded by granodiorite sheets. These granodiorites sheets are coeval with the Man-of-War Gneiss on islets south of the Lizard headland. To the north, the Lizard Complex is in tectonic contact with the Devonian Gramscatho Group. Zircon and baddeleyite U-Pb-Hf isotopic data and zircon REE chemistry presented here provide more accurate resolution of the Lizard Complex's evolution. The Old Lizard Head Series at the southern point of the Lizard headland is intruded by granodiorite bodies with ages of 488 ± 11 and 499 ± 7 Ma, indistinguishable from the 498 ± 11 Ma age for the Man-of-War Gneiss. Thus the rocks bounding the Lizard Complex are interpreted as a Cambrian (Miaolingian or older) volcano-sedimentary and felsic intrusions package. The inital εHf(498Ma) values of the Man O'War Gneiss zircons range from +8.1 to +9; these values fall below depleted mantle estimates and are indicative of some older crustal components in the source region of the gneisses. The Landewednack and Traboe Hornblende Schists bounding the Lizard Complex carry prismatic oscillatory-zoned zircons that have U-Pb ages of ca. 490 Ma (Cambrian) and are interpreted as volcano-sedimentary in origin. Structureless zircons and rims on oscillatory zircon in these schists have U-Pb ages of 390–370 Ma and are interpreted as metamorphic in origin. The Crousa Downs Gabbro was intruded into the Lizard Complex peridotite at low pressure, and relict baddeleyite in it has a U-Pb age of 416 ± 17 Ma (Lower Devonian). The baddeleyite is variably recrystallised to zircon, and separate zircons have a U-Pb age of 393 ± 11 Ma, interpreted as indicating growth of zircon from igneous baddeleyite recrystallisation. The initial εHf(416 Ma) of the zircon grains is +13.4 to +15.6, indicating the gabbro has a depleted mantle source, uncontaminated by older continental crust. The new geochronology demonstrates that the Traboe Hornblende Schists are not genetically related to the Crousa Downs Gabbro, as was proposed in some previous studies. Pyroxene granulite felsic intrusions in the margin of the Lizard peridotite have magmatic zircons with U-Pb ages of 384 ± 11 and 396 ± 9 Ma, agreeing with the previously acquired zircon U-Pb ages on the Kennack Gneiss intrusions in the Lizard Complex. The pyroxene granulite magmatic zircon shows a lack of enrichment in the heavy REE, indicative of initial zircon growth in equilibrium with garnet. Like the Kennack Gneisses, these granulite felsic intrusions carry older inherited zircons, showing that by ca. 395 Ma, the Lizard peridotite and the juvenile Crousa Downs Gabbro were tectonically underlain by older quartzo-feldspathic crustal rocks. Early Palaeozoic inherited zircon in one of the pyroxene granulite sheets has an initial εHf value of ∼ + 8, similar to the Man O'War Gneiss magmatic zircons. The new data from the Lizard Complex are compatible with, and provide additional time constraints for previously expressed models that distal to subduction farther south, the Lizard Complex is part of a narrow, short-lived rift that during extension was invaded by a peridotite diapir and then an early Devonian gabbro intrusion. This rift was then inverted by northerly-directed thrusting starting shortly after 400 Ma, as a Normanian terrane thrust-nappe advanced to override progressively the Devonian Gramscatho Group to the north. Melting deep in the tectonically thickened crust, at least part in the stability field of garnet, had started by 390 Ma. Thus, although the Lizard Complex has some similarities with ophiolites, it is not the remnant of a broad domain of oceanic lithosphere.

The effect of parental alcohol use on alcohol use disorder in young adulthood: Exploring the mediating roles of adolescent alcohol expectancies and consumption.

Parental alcohol use and problems are risk factors for alcohol use disorder (AUD), and these effects may be mediated by adolescent alcohol expectancies and consumption. In the present study, we tested the direct effects of mothers' and fathers' alcohol consumption on young adult AUD, as well as the indirect effects through adolescent maximum alcohol use, alcohol consumption, and alcohol expectancies. Participants were 5160 individuals (49.1% female) and their biological parents from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, a cohort study of children born in southwestern England during 1991 and 1992. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test associations of mothers' and fathers' alcohol use (assessed when children were 12 years old) with age 24 AUD. Potential mediator variables included the maximum number of alcoholic drinks consumed within a 24-h period by age 13.5 and alcohol expectancies and alcohol consumption at ages 17 and 20. Higher maternal and paternal alcohol use were associated with higher levels of alcohol consumption at age 17. Greater alcohol consumption, in turn, was related to a more severe presentation of AUD. The overall indirect effects of mothers' (b = 0.033, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.006, 0.059) and fathers' drinking (b = 0.041, 95% CI = 0.018, 0.064) on AUD were modest but significant, and were primarily comprised of adolescent alcohol consumption rather than alcohol expectancies. Our findings underscore the importance of both mothers' and fathers' drinking for the development of alcohol use and problems across adolescence and young adulthood.

Household Gods: The Religious Lives of the Adams Family by Sara Georgini

Reviewed by: Household Gods: The Religious Lives of the Adams Family by Sara Georgini Katherine Carté Household Gods: The Religious Lives of the Adams Family. By Sara Georgini. New York: Oxford University Press, 2019. 296 pages. Cloth, paper, ebook. In 1798, President John Adams wrote to the Massachusetts militia: “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious People. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”1 These words have had an enduring role in discussions of faith and the nation’s founding; even surrounded by quotation marks, these lines today yield upward of 28,000 hits in a Google search. The religious attitudes, habits, and even the stray comments of those within the pantheon of the “founding fathers” continue to draw remarkable attention. Often, investigations of these figures’ beliefs concerning religion fall into the category of ahistorical hagiography, regardless of whether they are intended to demonstrate their subjects’ orthodox piety or their tolerant liberality. Rarely do such studies take the opportunity of using a founder’s fame to shed light on broader religious trends, such as the evolving way religious elites confronted both confessional traditions and the nation’s growing religious diversity. In this context, Sara Georgini’s Household Gods: The Religious Lives of the Adams Family is truly a breath of fresh air. In a clearly written book intended for a wide audience, Georgini surveys the religious educations and practices of multiple generations of the prominent Massachusetts Adams family, spanning the seventeenth through early twentieth centuries. Along the way, she introduces readers to the evolution in theological perspectives of New England’s elites from providentially minded Puritans to cosmopolitan cultural critics. Each of the book’s chapters focuses on an era and a religious perspective representative of its protagonists. Household Gods begins chapter 1 with the story of the family’s progenitor, English Puritan Henry Adams, who migrated from Somerset in southwestern England to Braintree, Massachusetts in the late 1630s. Henry left few clear articulations of his thoughts and intentions or of his personal investment in the Puritan movement, but Georgini ably places him within the broad trends of the Puritan Great Migration that followed Archbishop William Laud’s religious persecutions. “Rather than functioning as a monolithic structure,” she writes, “Puritanism was able to spread largely because worshippers could seize on different messages and themes” (12–13). The theme for Henry, particularly as he built a life for his family in Massachusetts, was providentialism: he [End Page 651] believed the English had a divine responsibility to bring pure Protestantism to a safe harbor, away from the dangers of European corruption. Public service and national mission thus characterized the Adamses’ religious perspective from their earliest days in North America. Georgini uses the theme of providentialism to connect Henry to his great-grandson, the John Adams who rose to become the second U.S. president. Though this thread helps tie the two men together, it does as a result foreclose any detailed discussion of religious developments in New England during the eighteenth century, including the transformation of staunch Puritans into enlightened Unitarians. Providentialism undoubtedly remained powerful, however, and for John Adams it became first a source of confidence during the American Revolution and then a font of disappointment when, later in life, he contrasted his career’s shortcomings to his earlier aspirations for the nation. His anxiety about the religious condition of the United States in the early 1800s motivated his desperate assertion of the need for a “moral and religious people” for the Constitution’s survival. As Georgini argues, “John regarded his failure to translate New England Christianity to the national stage as one in an epic series of setbacks that plagued his family circle. His zeal to apply providentialist guidelines and to align Americans with the practices of godly republicanism had, in Adams’s mind, triggered his descent from political grace” (36) after his electoral loss in 1800. With this insightful comment, Household Gods transitions from largely reinforcing popular narratives about Protestant faith in early America to prodding those assumptions in new directions—away from mythic origins and toward change over time. While most of the subsequent Adamses remained within the elite Unitarianism that...

The Draining of the Fens: Projectors, Popular Politics, and State Building in Early Modern England by Eric H. Ash (review).

Reviewed by: The Draining of the Fens: Projectors, Popular Politics, and State Building in Early Modern England by Eric H. Ash Robert Markley (bio) The Draining of the Fens: Projectors, Popular Politics, and State Building in Early Modern England By Eric H. Ash. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2017. Pp. 296. In his 1704 work The Storm, a text that describes the devastation of the extratropical hurricane that struck southwestern England in November 1703, Daniel Defoe reminds his readers that "'tis not many Ages since these Countries [parts of Norfolk, Cambridge, Suffolk, Huntingdon, Northampton, and Lincolnshire] were universally one vast Moras or Lough, and the few solid parts unapproachable" (G. Strawbridge, 1704, p. 17). Defoe's characterization of the eastern fenlands of England as they existed "not many Ages past" rests on a chain of associations that encouraged his readers to view wetlands with horror. For centuries, the fenlands in eastern England frustrated efforts to extend networks of communication and transportation, as well as legal and financial control over land and people who often resisted metropolitan authority. For Defoe and his contemporaries, the draining of the fens in the seventeenth century remained a milestone of economic and even climatological progress—a large-scale reclamation project that had made the land more fertile and more conducive to good health and had stabilized property relations and extended state authority. Draining the fens, one of the largest engineering undertakings in seventeenth-century Europe, took place over decades and, according to its supporters, demonstrated that private investment in combination with the legal and financial support of the Crown could—at least in theory—remake a malarial-ridden landscape into a verdant, orderly, and profitable countryside. Eric H. Ash's compelling study traces the history of this project beginning in the 1570s, when draining the fens on a massive scale first began to take shape as a policy at Elizabeth's court, as would-be projectors and investors argued that their often-hazy ideas would be an unalloyed boon to agriculture, the sociopolitical order, Crown authority, and commercial development. In providing the first full-length history since H. C. Darby's classic The Draining of the Fens (1940), Ash brings together political, economic, engineering, and environmental history in enlightening ways. By the early 1600s, English and Dutch projectors had displaced cottagers and started digging channels to redirect water flows but experienced as many failures as successes. Ash is particularly adept at describing the complexities of these efforts and their unintended consequences. In the 1650s, the draining of the Great Level of the Fens finally was completed under Cromwell, after much expense, radical disruptions to traditional lifestyles, and a good deal of human suffering. Ash suggests that the persistence of these drainage projects over different regimes and many decades reflects the ideological [End Page 857] and sociopolitical assumptions about agricultural "improvement" that characterize sixteenth- and seventeenth-century attitudes toward wetlands. The ultimate success of projectors in transforming hundreds of thousands of acres into arable land came with myriad sociopolitical, economic, and environmental costs; in turn, these conflicts reflected the larger clash of interests that led to the English Civil War. The great virtue of Ash's study is that its detailed archival research shapes a powerful narrative about the ways that drainage projects disrupted traditional (and what we might now call—with caveats—sustainable) uses of the fenland's resources in the interests of economic profit and assertions of the nation-state's authority. Draining the fens inevitably led to conflicts between inhabitants of these wetland areas and agents of the Crown, provoking political and legal debates about the authority of the Crown to seize land, displace inhabitants, and undertake large-scale engineering efforts without the consent of those who made their living off the land. If the meandering streams and routinely submerged areas of the fens supported abundant wildlife and small-scale livestock operations, they also frustrated the nation-building goal of transforming "one vast Moras" into arable land. The concerns voiced by Defoe about agricultural productivity and profit that were the hallmarks of British efforts to colonize distant lands in North America had their origins in the internal colonization of the fenlands. Ash does...

Trickle down innovation? Creativity and innovation at the margins

ABSTRACT This paper explores the entanglement of the innovation discourse with discourses of power. Innovation is a frequent topic of archaeological research, but its implications for how we understand flows of power between individuals, groups, and regions has seen little attention. Here, we argue that our innovation narratives often blindly reproduce hierarchical relations which place dynamic cores in positions of power over their more passive peripheries and margins. In doing so, they obscure the complex and creative processes which occur in these marginal zones. We illustrate this discussion with an exploration of southwestern Britain and the resilience of people living at the margins of the Roman world. We argue that more attentiveness to these creative margins allows us to challenge the flattening hierarchies embedded in traditional innovation narratives, creating space for more complex and multi-layered stories of past innovation.

Permo-Triassic aeolian red clay of southwestern England and its palaeoenvironmental implications

Late Permian and Triassic red mudstones are widely distributed and exposed in southwestern England. This homogenous, massive mudstone succession has been extensively studied for its palaeoenvironmental potential. However, its origin and palaeoenvironment remain under debate. The Triassic Mercia mudstone was early proposed to be aeolian loessic clay based on collapse nature when wetted or loaded and its similarities with aeolian clay in Quaternary Australia, but lacks experimental confirmation and is not generally accepted. In comparison with aeolian red clay in China, here we confirmed that the Triassic Mercia mudstone, together with the Upper Permian Aylesbeare mudstone, was dominated by aeolian clay. This was based on lines of evidence regarding sedimentary structure, particle grain size, geochemistry, micromorphology, and pedogenic features. The results showed that the Mercia mudstone and the Aylesbeare mudstone had sedimentary structures and grain size distributions that were similar to the aeolian red clay in the Chinese Loess Plateau. The major chemical elements correlated well with the aeolian red clay, with the exception of minor discrepancies in CaO and K2O. The similarity in the rare earth element (REE) distribution of the Mercia mudstone and the Aylesbeare mustone with aeolian red clay inferred their similar origin. Widespread pedogenic features indicated the universal development of palaeovertisols forming in alternating wet/dry climates. It was hypothesised that Permo-Triassic southwestern England was dominated by aeolian dust accumulation in a seasonal wet/dry climate, whereas perennial lakes or longstanding rivers across the study area might not exist.

Stowaway Beetles: Carl Lindroth, the Ballast Theory, and Transatlantic Science in the Cold War

Abstract In his Faunal Connections between Europe and North America (1957), a landmark study of ecological introductions from Europe to North America that prefigured Alfred Crosby’s Columbian Exchange by three decades, Carl Lindroth sought to explain the distribution of fauna and particularly insects across the North Atlantic. It was the culmination of a multi-year investigation begun in 1949 that had seen the Swedish ecologist and entomologist collect insects in Newfoundland, compare his findings with other North American and European regions, and trace the origins of introduced insects to various sites in southwestern England. Through this work, he identified the ballast of sailing ships as a primary vector of insect introduction to the Americas, argued for the importance of recurring introductions of breeding pairs in successful colonization, and demonstrated the importance of examining a broad range of species introductions, not just those that directly mattered to human history. Conceived and executed in the context of the Cold War, Lindroth’s project benefited from governmental and institutional support that sought to promote transatlantic scientific cooperation and northern research. His path to researching and writing Faunal Connections reveals both the influence of geopolitics in shaping environmental ideas and the capacity for scientists to benefit from strategic funding opportunities while contributing little of strategic value. Lindroth’s work deserves reexamination, both for its substance and for what it can tell us about the ideas behind foundational texts like The Columbian Exchange and, indeed, the making of ideas about global ecological change.

Relative efficacy of biological control and cultural management for control of mollusc pests in cool climate vineyards

ABSTRACT Restrictions on the use of synthetic molluscicides highlight the importance of developing alternative control methods. Nevertheless, biocontrol agents can be costlier and less effective than synthetic counterparts. One means of increasing the efficacy of population suppression is to combine inundative biological control with habitat management to reduce population growth of target pests. Vineyards in the cool, wet climate of western England can suffer from outbreak densities of mollusc pests that damage expanding shoots, developing grapes and promote the transmission of fungal pathogens. In this study we combined the biocontrol agent Nemaslug – Phasmarhabditis hermaphrodita (Schneider) – with a simple habitat management approach (regular mowing) to suppress mollusc pests in vineyards in South Western England. Two sites were treated with NemaSlug and or mowing in a factorial design in early spring coinciding with bud burst and the start of mollusc growth and feeding. Mowing was effective management and resulted in the reduction of slug and snail populations and significantly less damaged vines. Nemaslug did not reduce slug numbers overall but did reduce bud damage, snail numbers and lowered the proportion of susceptible Deroceras spp in treated plots. However, effect sizes of nematode biocontrol were small, potentially because this product could not be applied to bare soil. Management practice for cool climate vineyards varies considerably from site to site. This study shows the value of simple habitat management for controlling a novel target and emphasises how consideration of pest biology can lead to effective alternatives.

Latitudinal variation in arrival and breeding phenology of the pied flycatcher Ficedula hypoleuca using large‐scale citizen science data

Many species have advanced the timing of annual reproductive cycles in response to climatic warming, sometimes leading to asynchrony between trophic levels, with negative population consequences. Long‐distance migratory birds, reliant on short seasonal food pulses for breeding, are considered particularly susceptible to such disjunction because late arrival may preclude optimal timing of egg‐laying. It is unknown whether the relative timing of arrival and egg‐laying is sufficiently plastic, in time and space, to enable an adaptive response when arrival times change relative to local food resources. We used citizen science data, describing pied flycatcher Ficedula hypoleuca arrival and egg‐laying dates, to explore temporal (2013–2016) and spatial (across Great Britain) variation in the phenology of arrival, laying and their difference. To assess the long‐term trend in arrival and laying at a single location, we used data from a long‐term field study. The arrival‐laying interval was consistently shorter in the north, driven by the contrast between spatial variation in arrival date and spatial invariance in laying date. To understand whether a short arrival‐laying interval may have consequences for productivity, we assessed the association between this interval and clutch size. We found no statistically significant correlation between these two variables. To examine long‐term changes in arrival and laying dates, we focussed on a single location in southwestern England. Both dates of first male arrival and first egg laid in a season advanced since 1986, with no evidence of interval shortening. Together, our results demonstrate spatial and annual variation in the arrival‐laying interval, with no detected effect on fecundity. Thus, the interval from arrival to laying is likely dictated by spatially and temporally varying local conditions, suggesting these migrant birds may have the ability to adapt this interval to align with local conditions and mitigate potential mismatch impacts.

The Origin of Romano-British Glass Bangles: Forgotten Artefacts from the Late Pre-Roman Iron Age

AbstractThis article reviews the emergence and development of Romano-British glass bangles in southern Britain by providing a fresh analysis of finds that also considers recent theoretical and historical advances in interpreting the transition from the late Iron Age to the Roman period. By analysing the emergence of bangles in terms of technological and stylistic transfer, it suggests that the technology used in their production and their visual elements have continental lineage. It also situates bangles amid indigenous developments in bodily adornments in southern Britain beforea.d. 43. By reconnecting British bangles with their continental European counterparts and contextualising them within political, social and cultural processes in south-western England during the late pre-Roman Iron Age, the article argues that the emergence of bangles in Britain did not occur in a vacuum after the Claudian invasion ina.d. 43 but formed an integral part of globalising networks of cross-Channel trade and connections with the European mainland in the early first centurya.d.

Obituary for Professor Michael J. Day

On 10th May 2020, Michael Day passed away at the age of 59 after a terminal illness with cancer. There have been many messages and tributes to him. He had many interests and activities as a veterinarian and was involved with the British Veterinary Small Animal Association (BSAVA), the World Small Animal Veterinary Association (WSAVA) as well as being the senior editor of the Journal of Comparative Pathology. There is an online book of condolence with many tributes at http://www.tolbc.com/MichaelDay. Michael trained as a veterinarian at Murdoch University, Perth, Western Australia. He had a profound interest in small animal immunology, infectious diseases and pathology which was focused in his residency and PhD studies performed at Murdoch. Having completed his PhD he held postdoctoral positions in Bristol and Oxford before joining the University of Bristol in 1990 as a lecturer in veterinary pathology in the Veterinary School. In 2017 he left Bristol Veterinary School as emeritus professor in veterinary pathology. Michael had been taught at Murdoch by Susan Shaw, who also joined the University of Bristol in 1990, and they forged a long-term collaborative friendship. For example, they co-authored a chapter entitled “Recent developments in atopic dermatitis of companion animals” (In: Williams HC, ed., Atopic dermatitis: the epidemiology, causes and prevention of atopic eczema. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000; 233–244). Michael was renowned for his ability to teach immunology to veterinary undergraduates and postgraduates by making the complex seem accessible. This ability was put to use helping residents of the European College of Veterinary Dermatology in their Immunology workshops in Split and ESVD members at a workshop in York. He lectured all over the world at international conferences about small animals and their immune-mediated and infectious diseases. He co-authored, with Ronald Schulz, a successful and popular textbook that has been widely used for teaching veterinary students (Veterinary immunology: principles and practice, 2nd edition. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 2013). He also wrote two other books published by CRC Press, Clinical immunology of the dog and cat and (co-authored with Susan Shaw) Arthropod-borne infectious diseases of the dog and cat. Michael was extraordinarily hard-working and meticulously organised. For example, when compiling the book Veterinary Allergy (Chichester, UK: Wiley, 2014), the editors asked him to write the introductory chapter on “The immunological basis of allergic diseases”. His was, as expected, the first manuscript submitted, on time and complete with no revisions required. Michael worked on various techniques during his residency and PhD studies on the immune system of companion animals, and this is reflected in one of his earliest publications entitled “Immunodiagnosis of autoimmune skin disease in the dog, cat and horse” (Day MJ, Penhale WJ, Aust Vet J 1986; 63: 65–68). His research training in Murdoch led to the establishment of a diagnostic laboratory at the University of Bristol that enabled clinicians to investigate various diseases and conditions; it included testing for immunoglobulins, ANA titres and interpretation of immunohistochemical results for various tissues. This helped to bring him into contact with many clinicians within and outside Bristol Veterinary School and with whom he collaborated, this work helped to contribute to Michael’s large list of over 340 publications. While at Bristol Veterinary School, Michael helped to develop the application of reagents in detecting canine immunoglobulin G subclasses, and this led to a series of studies of immune responses in various skin diseases in dogs including pyoderma, hypersensitivity disorders and immune-mediated diseases. He also published detailed substantial retrospective histopathological studies looking at demodicosis, auto-immune skin diseases, pyoderma and cutaneous lymphoma. Michael will be remembered by many for his engaging and collaborative approach to all things concerning the study of infectious and immune-mediated diseases in companion animals, as well as a substantial portfolio of work on experimental autoimmunity. He supervised numerous PhD students and postdoctoral fellows, and was an external examiner for many. In later years Michael explored his family history and, interestingly, it became apparent that his family had hailed from the southwestern England, from villages in the county of Somerset, before they moved out to Australia in the 19th Century. Consequently, when he worked for the University of Bristol and made his home in Cheddar in the Mendip Hills area of Somerset, he was not far from where his ancestors had set out for Australia. Our thoughts and sympathies are extended to his wife Mary and to his family.

An Enigmatic Neodiapsid Reptile from the Middle Triassic of England

ABSTRACT The fossil record of early diapsids is sparse, specimens are uncommon and often incomplete, and phylogenetic relationships are hard to determine. A new taxon of early diapsid, Feralisaurus corami from the Middle Triassic of Devon, south-western England, is here named and described from an incomplete but mostly articulated skeleton, comprising skull, vertebrae, pectoral girdle, ribs, and the right forelimb. CT scanning and the resultant 3D model of the skeleton reveal anatomical details otherwise buried in the sandstone matrix. This new diapsid is characterized by a plesiomorphically high maxilla without a prominent nasal process, a quadrate with a lateral conch, a low jugal with small posterior process, conical teeth with pleurodont implantation, a high coronoid process, notochordal vertebrae, a long humerus with an entepicondylar foramen, rod-like clavicles, a ‘T’-shaped interclavicle, and a ventrolateral process of the scapulocoracoid. Phylogenetic analyses, although showing generalized weak support, retrieved Feralisaurus within Neodiapsida or stem-group Lepidosauromorpha: its morphology supports the latter hypothesis. This specimen adds to our knowledge of the early diversification of Lepidosauromorpha and of English Middle Triassic terrestrial faunas.

Osteological redescription of the Late Triassic sauropodomorph dinosaur Thecodontosaurus antiquus based on new material from Tytherington, southwestern England

ABSTRACT Thecodontosaurus antiquus is a basal sauropodomorph from the Rhaetian locality of Durdham Down in Bristol, U.K. Sauropodomorph material putatively assigned to this species was found at the nearby site of Tytherington. Here, we describe the Tytherington specimens and compare them with T. antiquus and other Late Triassic sauropodomorphs from Britain. We find that this material can be assigned to T. antiquus based on multiple shared morphological traits, and we provide a revised diagnosis of this taxon. The new anatomical information from the Tytherington specimens enriches the osteology of the species, particularly of previously unknown parts of the skeleton such as the skull. We find poor anatomical support to distinguish the contemporary Pantydraco caducus from T. antiquus, such that the former might represent a juvenile of the latter. We also discuss the questionable validity of Asylosaurus yalensis. Thecodontosaurus antiquus is one of the most basal sauropodomorphs that show craniodental traits related to herbivory, while retaining a plesiomorphic limb morphology and posture. This taxon was an important component of Rhaetian insular ecosystems of southwestern Britain.

A Newfoundland Treasury of Terms for Ice and Snow: A Lexicon and Photographic Essay

A Newfoundland Treasury of Terms for Ice and SnowA Lexicon and Photographic Essay Marlene Creates (bio) Click for larger view View full resolution Ballicattered, Blast Hole Pond River, Newfoundland, Winter 2012–13 Ballicattered means covered with a layer of ice formed by the action of spray or waves along the shoreline of the sea, ponds, or rivers.1 [End Page 13] Click for larger view View full resolution Clinkerbells, Blast Hole Pond River, Newfoundland, Winter 2012–13 Clinkerbells are icicles. Click for larger view View full resolution Brickle Ice, Blast Hole Pond River, Newfoundland, Winter 2012–13 Brickle ice is ice that is brittle and easily broken. [End Page 14] Click for larger view View full resolution Mother Carey is plucking her chickens, Blast Hole Pond River, Newfoundland, Winter 2012–13 "Mother Carey is plucking her chickens" is an expression for snow falling in large, fluffy clumps. Mother Carey's chickens is a name for storm petrels—small birds that live out at sea. When observed near and, they warn of an impending storm. Mother Carey is said to be derived from the Latin mater cara, meaning "mother dear," apparently a reference to the Virgin Mary. [End Page 15] Click for larger view View full resolution Pancake Ice, Conception Bay, Newfoundland, March 2014 Thin sheets of ice that do not impede navigation are called pancake ice. Click for larger view View full resolution Scattering Ice, Conception Bay, Newfoundland, March 2014 Scattering ice is an ice field that is breaking into fragments and dispersing. [End Page 16] Click for larger view View full resolution Slack Ice, Conception Bay, Newfoundland, March 2014 An ice field in loose pieces is described as slack ice. Click for larger view View full resolution Sish, Conception Bay, Newfoundland, March 2014 Fine, granulated ice floating on the surface of the sea is sish. [End Page 17] The word treasury usually describes a collection of highly valued poems; it is used in the title A Newfoundland Treasury of Terms for Ice and Snow to describe a collection of highly valued poetic terms. There is a wide local vocabulary in Newfoundland and Labrador to distinguish specific phenomena in the continuous modulations of winter weather. These photographs represent just eight of over eighty local terms I found that name different conditions of ice (especially sea ice), snow, and winter weather, which I have documented in still photographs, poetry, and video.2 Some additional terms in my treasury include dwy, living screecher of a storm, crudly snow, scuddy weather, buckly ice, lolly, slatchy water, pummy, slottery snow, devil's blanket, drift-ice, clumper, knot of ice, copy pans, embayed ice, raftering ice, and slob. There are words from many linguistic groups in the local vocabulary. Several of the terms are from seventeenth-century English, brought to Newfoundland with the settlers, such as clinkerbell (also conkerbill and conkerbell), an old Wessex term for icicle.3 Most of the European settlers in Newfoundland originated in southwestern England and southeastern Ireland.4 Some of the other linguistic groups who settled here, or with whom Newfoundlanders have been in contact, include the Indigenous Inuit, Innu, and Mi'kmaq, as well as other seafaring people such as the Scots, Welsh, Norman and Breton French, Portuguese, Basque, and Spanish. Many terms survived in Newfoundland after falling out of use in their original countries, while others arose from particular occupational activities in this climate. The terms in this treasury are precise, practical, evocative, sonic, and lyrical. The local dialect is important because knowing these words helps us actually see different phenomena, instead of winter being just a cold, white blur.5 As noted by the British author and essayist Robert Macfarlane, "A basic literacy of landscape is falling away up and down the ages. … And what is lost along with this literacy is something precious: … the power that certain terms possess to enchant our relations with nature and place."6 These terms are also important to me because some of them would have been in the mouths of my Newfoundland ancestors. This vocabulary is now a fragile, intangible artifact. The loss of local linguistic complexity is a result of major changes in Newfoundland and Labrador, particularly the...

Zircons to the front: accretionary history of the Rheno-Hercynian active margin (Variscides, Germany)

Our paper reports the detrital zircon record from Late Devonian to late Carboniferous foreland basin deposits in the Rheno-Hercynian (RH) Variscides of Germany. Together with a review of petrography and detrital mineral ages from the literature, the data permit to reconstruct accretion and exhumation along the RH active margin. From Frasnian to latest Carboniferous, the main source (now eroded) was a north-Armorican microcontinent (Franconia) with magmatic rocks representing late Neoproterozoic arc or back-arc, Cambro-Ordovician rift and Silurian–Early Devonian subduction of the Rheic ocean and (or) RH rifting. At ca. 380 Ma, detrital magmatic zircons combined with high- to medium-pressure mica and detrital glaucophane suggest the existence of a paired metamorphic belt at the RH tectonic front. From the Viséan onwards, zircons reveal younging of granitoid debris from ca. 380–360 Ma in Late Devonian sediments to ca. 320–300 Ma in the Westphalian C–D and Stephanian. Greywackes of the Namurian A record a change from dominant magmatic clasts toward meta-arenites associated with Baltoscandian zircons, which document accretion to and exhumation from the base of the orogenic wedge. Their source must be sought in metamorphosed Devonian sandstones of the type presently encountered in parts of the active margin crystallines (Mid-German Crystalline High), but in eroded higher units. Basal accretion implies heating of the lower plate beyond the brittle–ductile boundary and supports the model of a high-temperature regime before and during Variscan collision. Palinspastic restoration of the estimated volume of recycled material yields >100 km of distal shelf deposits lost in the process, which adds to the known shortening of the RH basin. The Variscan geology of southwestern England and southern Portugal and provenance studies in those areas are compatible with a geodynamic evolution similar to that in Germany.

Proneness of European Catchments to Multiyear Streamflow Droughts

AbstractDroughts can have severe ecological, social, and economic impacts. Some impacts are particularly severe if droughts last longer than 1 year and water stores are not fully replenished. The proneness of European catchments to multiyear droughts has not been studied extensively, even though such events pose a great challenge for water resources management in many regions. In this study, we assess regions and catchments in Europe that might be prone to multiyear droughts by stochastically simulating long discharge records. The simulation approach uses phase randomization and the flexible, four‐parameter kappa distribution to generate potential realizations of (long) drought events. Both observed and stochastically simulated series are used to identify multiyear drought events. Catchments prone to multiyear droughts are located in southern France, central Europe, and southwestern England. To assess potential future changes in the proneness to multiyear events, we follow a purely empirical approach. We link the proneness of a catchment to multiyear events to its low‐flow regime as described by the seasonality ratio. Our results show that catchments with a melt‐dominated flow regime are generally not affected by multiyear droughts, whereas many catchments with a rainfall‐dominated flow regime show such proneness. We further find that catchments experiencing regime changes toward a rainfall‐dominated flow regime might be more affected by multiyear droughts in the future. Overall, four regions stood out that might potentially become more affected in the future if historical trends in regimes continue: southeastern England, southeastern France, central Norway, and the Pre‐Alps.

Ultrastructure, phylogeny and histopathology of two novel haplosporidians parasitising amphipods, and importance of crustaceans as hosts.

This study provides morphological, ultrastructural and phylogenetic characterization of 2 novel species of Haplosporidia (Haplosporidium echinogammari n. sp. and H. orchestiae n. sp.) infecting amphipods of the genera Echinogammarus and Orchestia collected in southwestern England. Both parasites infect the connective tissues associated with the digestive gland and the tegument, and eventually infect other organs causing disruption of host tissues with associated motor impairment and fitness reduction. Prevalence of infection varied with host species, provenance and season, being as high as 75% for individuals of E. marinus infected with H. echinogammari in June (n = 50). Although no spores were found in any of the infected amphipods examined (n = 82), the morphology of monokaryotic and dikaryotic unicellular stages of the parasites enabled differentiation between the 2 new species. Phylogenetic analysis of the new species based on the small subunit (SSU) rDNA gene placed H. echinogammari close to H. diporeiae in haplosporidian lineage C, and H. orchestiae in a novel branch within Haplosporidium. Genetic diversity of the haplosporidians infecting these and other amphipod species was evaluated and compared to morphological and ultrastructural changes to host tissues. The phylogenetic relationship of haplosporidian infections in other crustacean hosts is discussed after inclusion into the analysis of 25 novel SSU rDNA sequences obtained from crabs, isopods and crayfish.

Reduced egg shedding in nematode-resistant ewes and projected epidemiological benefits under climate change

Global livestock production is facing serious new challenges, including climate-driven changes in parasite epidemiology, and anthelmintic resistance, driving a need for non-chemotherapeutic methods of parasite control. Selecting for genetic resistance to gastrointestinal nematode infection could reduce reliance on chemical intervention and mitigate increases in parasite challenge due to climate change. Ewes of the composite Exlana breed with a range of estimated breeding values (EBVs) based on nematode faecal egg counts (FECs) were monitored during the peri-parturient period on two farms in southwestern England. Ewes with low EBVs (“resistant”) had lower FECs during the peri-parturient period than those with high EBVs (“susceptible”): the mean FEC was reduced by 23% and 34% on Farms 1 and 2, respectively, while the peak FEC was reduced by 30% and 37%, respectively. Neither EBV nor FEC were correlated with key performance indicators (estimated milk yield, measured indirectly using 8 week lamb weight, and ewe weight loss during lactation). Simulations predict that the reduced FECs of resistant ewes would result in a comparable reduction in infection pressure (arising from eggs shed by ewes) for their lambs. Furthermore, although the reduced FECs observed were modest, simulations predicted that selecting for nematode resistance in ewes could largely offset predicted future climate-driven increases in pasture infectivity arising from eggs contributed by these ewes. Selective breeding of the maternal line for nematode resistance therefore has potential epidemiological benefits by reducing pasture infectivity early in the grazing season and alleviating the need for anthelmintic treatment of ewes during the peri-parturient period, thus reducing selection pressure for anthelmintic resistance. These benefits are magnified under predicted future climate change. The maternal line warrants more attention in selective breeding programmes for nematode resistance.