Postnatal nutrition influences male attractiveness and promotes plasticity in male mating preferences

The fossil record of Late Cretaceous–Paleogene modern birds in the Southern Hemisphere includes the Maastrichtian Neogaeornis wetzeli from Chile, Polarornis gregorii and Vegavis iaai from Antarctica, and Australornis lovei from the Paleogene of New Zealand. The recent finding of a new and nearly complete Vegavis skeleton constitutes the most informative source for anatomical comparisons among Australornis, Polarornis, and Vegavis. The present contribution includes, for the first time, Vegavis, Polarornis, and Australornis in a comprehensive phylogenetic analysis. This analysis resulted in the recognition of these taxa as a clade of basal Anseriformes that we call Vegaviidae. Vegaviids share a combination of characters related to diving adaptations, including compact and thickened cortex of hindlimb bones, femur with anteroposteriorly compressed and bowed shaft, deep and wide popliteal fossa delimited by a medial ridge, tibiotarsus showing notably proximally expanded cnemial crests, expanded fibular crest, anteroposterior compression of the tibial shaft, and a tarsometatarsus with a strong transverse compression of the shaft. Isolated bones coming from the Cretaceous and Paleogene of South America, Antarctica, and New Zealand are also referred to here to Vegaviidae and support the view that these basal anseriforms were abundant and diverse at high southern latitudes. Moreover, vegaviids represent the first avian lineage to have definitely crossed the K–Pg boundary, supporting the idea that some avian clades were not affected by the end Mesozoic mass extinction event, countering previous interpretations. Recognition of Vegaviidae indicates that modern birds were diversified in southern continents by the Cretaceous and reinforces the hypothesis indicating the important role of Gondwana for the evolutionary history of Anseriformes and Neornithes as a whole.

     

Measurements of groundwater velocity in discrete rock fractures

Estimating groundwater velocity in fracture networks using a Darcy or cubic law calculation is complicated by the wide distribution of fracture aperture often found in these systems and by the difficulty in measuring hydraulic head in discrete fracture features. Although difficult to conduct in a fractured rock setting, the point dilution method can be utilized to collect direct measurements of groundwater velocity in individual fractures. To compare measured against calculated velocities, more than 100 point dilution experiments were conducted within a 35 x 35 m area of a single fracture and in discrete fracture features within a fracture network at a larger scale. The dilution experiments were conducted by isolating a fracture feature in a borehole, measuring the hydraulic aperture, and measuring the decay of an injected tracer due to the advective groundwater flux across the fracture. Groundwater velocity was estimated using the hydraulic aperture and the rate of decay of the injected tracer. Estimates of the local hydraulic gradient were calculated via the cubic law using the velocity estimate and the hydraulic aperture. The results of the tests conducted in the single fracture show variable (1 to 33 m/day) but on average higher velocities in comparison to that measured during a natural gradient tracer experiment conducted previously (in which the effects of matrix diffusion were accounted for) and to that which would be calculated using the cubic law. Based on these results, it was determined that the best estimate of the average groundwater velocity, at the scale of the measurement area used for the cubic law calculations, could only be obtained using the largest apertures in the aperture distribution. Variability of the velocity measurements was also observed over time. Increases in velocity were attributed to the effect of rainfall although concurrent increases in hydraulic gradient were not detected (likely within the tolerance of the measuring devices). The groundwater velocities measured in the fracture network varied over a wider range than at the scale of the single fracture (from 2 to 388 m/day). No correlation, however, was observed between the size of the fracture aperture and measured velocity.     

A large Cretaceous theropod from Patagonia, Argentina, and the evolution of carcharodontosaurids

The Cretaceous Carcharodontosauridae is the latest clade of carnosaurs, including the largest predatory dinosaurs yet recorded. Albeit spectacular for their size, the skeletal anatomy of these theropods remains poorly-known, and their diversity was until recently restricted to two Cenomanian species: the highly derived Giganotosaurus carolinii, from southern South America, and the incompletely known Carcharodontosaurus saharicus, from northern Africa. Here we describe an older and basal member of the group, Tyrannotitan chubutensis gen. et sp. nov., from Aptian strata of Patagonia, Argentina. The new taxon gives new insights into the systematics and evolution of carcharodontosaurids and offers a better understanding of the evolution of Southern theropod faunas. We suggest that carcharodontosaurids radiated in Gondwana sharing with spinosaurids the role of top-predators until their extinction in Cenomanian–Turonian times. During this interval, the diplodocoid sauropods and giant titanosaurians went extinct (probably as part of a global-scale crisis), and the smaller abelisaurid theropods took dominance, reigning until the end of the Cretaceous. Electronic Supplementary Material is available.Electronic Supplementary Information  Supplementary material is available for this article at     

Human rights and proactive displacement: determining the appropriate balance between the duty to protect and the right to remain

The proactive displacement by public authorities of populations from areas perceived to be exposed to a high risk of disaster presents complex human rights challenges. Provided that no ulterior motive is at play, the use of compulsory evacuations and relocations as policy responses to such risk is mandated by the duty to protect the right to life. However, proactive displacement in the interest of saving lives can be problematic as such measures can lead to the limitation of other human rights, resulting in an intricate assessment of whether compulsory evacuation or permanent relocation is proportional in any given circumstance. Such an analysis demands critical attention by public authorities to the perception of the disaster risk in question and problematises claims to objectivity of official risk assessments. Furthermore, it poses the question as to whether measures designed to address the disaster risk in question that are less intrusive than relocation may be available to public authorities.     

Mobility and plant availability of risk elements in soil after long-term application of farmyard manure

Crop rotation long-term field experiments were established in 1955 and 1956 at three locations in the Czech Republic (?áslav, Ivanovice, and Lukavec) differing in their climatic and soil physicochemical properties. The effect of long-term application of farmyard manure and farmyard manure + NPK treatments on plant-available, easily mobilizable, potentially mobilizable, and pseudo-total contents of arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), copper (Cu), lead (Pb), and zinc (Zn) contents in soils (in 2013) as well as the uptake of these elements by winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) grain and straw were analyzed in the two following seasons: 2012 and 2013. The treatments resulted in increasing the soil pH level when compared to the control, but the cation exchange capacity remained unchanged. Although all fertilizers were applied for six decades, the pseudo-total concentration elements in both the soil and wheat plants stayed far below those of the Czech and European threshold limits for agricultural soils and cereals for human nutrition and feedstuff. Although the mobile pools of As, Cu, and Zn were slightly changed at the treated soils, these changes were not related to the element uptake by the wheat plants. Moreover, the effect of the location and growing season was more decisive for the differences in soil and plant element contents than for the individual treatments. Thus, the long-term application of farmyard manure did not result in any substantial change in risk element contents in both soils and winter wheat plants.     

Domestic sampling: exposure assessment to moth repellent products using ultrasonic extraction and capillary GC-MS

Moth repellent agents are considered major contributors to indoor air pollution. In this study, the chemical contamination of clothes due to their direct or indirect exposure to moth repellent agents such as p-dichlorobenzene, naphthalene and camphor were investigated. Cotton cloths were used as clothing simulant. They were analyzed using ultrasonic extraction followed by GC-MS analysis. Extrapolated results indicate that a regular cotton shirt indirectly exposed to these chemicals in a storage cabinet can contain up to 7, 3 and 7.5mg of p-dichlorobenzene, naphthalene and camphor, respectively, even after one-hour of airing. Passive sorptive sampling using polydimethylsiloxane-coated stir-bars and ultrasonic extraction followed by GC-MS analysis was used to monitor the concentration distribution in a wardrobe.     

Description and evaluation of a sampling system for monitoring hydrocarbons in sediments

A composite random sampling design was used to estimate the concentrations of hydrocarbons in sediments from two near-shore areas of Scotland (Firth of Clyde and Firth of Forth). The aim of this work was to estimate a mean value for each parameter in these areas, and to determine whether this can be done with more thorough coverage (better representation), better precision and less variance at lower analytical cost through a composite random sampling scheme rather than a simple random sampling scheme, and thereby contribute to the re-design of the UK National Marine Monitoring Programme (NMMP), re-named the UK Clean Seas Environmental Monitoring Programme (CSEMP) in 2006. Samples were collected using a simple random sampling design during 2005. All sediment samples were analysed for their particle size distribution and total organic carbon (TOC). All sediments were analysed for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and n-alkanes. The concentrations of PAHs and n-alkanes in the study areas are described, and sources of PAHs were investigated through the PAH distributions and n-alkane profiles. Individual sediment samples from each area were combined to give a series of composite sub-samples, each comprised of 5 individual sediment samples. These composite samples were re-analysed for the same parameters as the individual samples. Mean total PAH (2- to 6-ring parent and branched) concentrations, based on the individual original sediment samples collected through simple random sampling, were 1858 microg kg(-1) dry weight (SE = 196 microg kg(-1) dry weight, n = 25) and 532.4 microg kg(-1) dry weight (SE = 59 microg kg(-1) dry weight, n = 25) in the Clyde and Forth, respectively. Mean total PAH concentrations of the composite samples were 1745 microg kg(-1) dry weight (SE = 121.0 microg kg(-1) dry weight, n = 5) in the Clyde and 511.6 microg kg(-1) dry weight (SE = 37.4 microg kg(-1) dry weight, n = 5) in the Forth. No significant differences were found between the mean PAH concentrations from the two sampling designs. This study demonstrated that the composite random sampling design gave a mean value with less variance than the simple random sampling design, at significantly reduced analytical effort (and cost).