Daily weather reconstructions (called "reanalyses") can help improve our understanding of meteorology and long-term climate changes. Adding undigitized historical weather observations to the datasets that underpin reanalyses is desirable; however, time requirements to capture those data from a range of archives is usually limited. Southern Weather Discovery is a citizen science data rescue project that recovered tabulated handwritten meteorological observations from ship log books and land-based stations spanning New Zealand, the Southern Ocean, and Antarctica.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDiatrizoic acid (DTA), a clinically used X-ray contrast agent, crystallises in two hydrated, three anhydrous and nine solvated solid forms, all of which have been characterised by X-ray crystallography. Single-crystal neutron structures of DTA dihydrate and monosodium DTA tetrahydrate have been determined. All of the solid-state structures have been analysed using partial atomic charges and hardness algorithm (PACHA) calculations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThere are few long-term datasets available to make reliable statements about trends in cover and structure in many coral reefs around the world. We present 27year old summary data of the cover of corals and other biota on Caribbean and Western Atlantic coral reefs in 7 countries collected in late 1985 and early 1986. These data were collected to support research on sponge populations and show relatively low coral cover on many of these reefs with particularly low cover of Acropora spp.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe keynote paper by Garrett Hardin 44 years ago introduced the term 'tragedy of the commons' into our language (Hardin, 1968); this term is now used widely, but it is neither universally accepted nor fully understood. Irrespective, the 'tragedy of the commons' is an increasing reality for more than 500 million people that rely on the biodiversity resources and services of tropical coral reefs, mangrove forests, seagrass beds and associated fisheries. These natural resources continue to decline despite major advances in our scientific understanding of how ecosystems and human populations interact, and the application of considerable conservation and management efforts at scales from local user communities to oceans.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFour isomorphous complexes of formula [M(L)(4)(H(2)O)(2)]SO(4).2H(2)O (M = Co, 1a; Ni, 1b; Cu, 1c; Zn, 1d) have been isolated and characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction and neutron diffraction using the quasi-Laue diffractometer VIVALDI at the Institut Laue-Langevin as well as by thermogravimetric analysis. The structures contain a discrete, strongly hydrogen-bonded water tetramer which causes a significant distortion of the metal coordination sphere in each case.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe Sulu-Sulawesi Sea, with neighboring Indonesian Seas and South China Sea, lies at the center of the world's tropical marine biodiversity. Encircled by 3 populous, developing nations, the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia, the Sea and its adjacent coastal and terrestrial ecosystems, supports ca. 33 million people, most with subsistence livelihoods heavily reliant on its renewable natural resources.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe marine sponge Neofibularia irata contains four different categories of siliceous spicules. These spicules are evident in the tissues as distinct bundles that act to increase the structural rigidity of the sponge. All spicules have a normal structural morphology with silica deposition around a hexagonal axial canal containing a crystalline axial filament.
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