Antarctic Seabed Assemblages in an Ice-Shelf-Adjacent Polynya, Western Weddell Sea.

Ice shelves cover ~1.6 million km of the Antarctic continental shelf and are sensitive indicators of climate change. With ice-shelf retreat, aphotic marine environments transform into new open-water spaces of photo-induced primary production and associated organic matter export to the benthos.

An assessment of people living by coral reefs over space and time.

Human populations near ecosystems are used as both a proxy for dependency on ecosystems, and conversely to estimate threats. Consequently, the number of people living near coral reefs is often used in regional coral reef management, evaluation of risk at regional and global scales, and even considerations of funding needs. Human populations and their statistics, are ever-changing and data relating to coral reefs have not been updated regularly.

Coral reef carnivorous fish biomass relates to oceanographic features depending on habitat and prey preference.

Carnivorous fish are a key part of the Indonesian human population sustenance, and it is important to design marine protected areas that include environmental features that allow these species to thrive. Many studies report the role of coral cover and habitat complexity in determining fish distribution on coral reefs but broader environmental factors such as current velocity and productivity are less studied. Southern Indonesia is characterised by upwellings and strong currents, stemming from the tidal cycle and the Indonesian Throughflow.

Public views of coronavirus science and scientists: findings from a cross-sectional survey.

Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, references to scientific findings have permeated public-facing communications. Understanding how members of the public view science, scientists and scientific uncertainty should enhance approaches to communication and individuals' decisions to engage with public health measures, including restrictions and vaccination programmes. A survey was conducted on our behalf by YouGov in November 2020.

A modern scleractinian coral with a two-component calcite-aragonite skeleton.

One of the most conserved traits in the evolution of biomineralizing organisms is the taxon-specific selection of skeletal minerals. All modern scleractinian corals are thought to produce skeletons exclusively of the calcium-carbonate polymorph aragonite. Despite strong fluctuations in ocean chemistry (notably the Mg/Ca ratio), this feature is believed to be conserved throughout the coral fossil record, spanning more than 240 million years.

Author Correction: Species replacement dominates megabenthos beta diversity in a remote seamount setting.

A correction to this article has been published and is linked from the HTML and PDF versions of this paper. The error has been fixed in the paper.

An illustrated key to the species of the genus (Cnidaria, Octocorallia, Primnoidae).

A history of the description of the 50 valid species of is given, beginning with the first species described in 1860. To help differentiate the various species, a tabular and a polychotomous key are provided. The species in the keys are arranged using nine characters or character sets that are believed to be of value at the species level.

Exceptional biodiversity of the cryptofaunal decapods in the Chagos Archipelago, central Indian Ocean.

The Chagos Archipelago is geographically remote and isolated from most direct anthropogenic pressures. Here, we quantify the abundance and diversity of decapod crustaceans inhabiting dead coral colonies, representing a standardised microhabitat, across the Archipelago. Using morphological and molecular techniques we recorded 1868 decapods from 164 nominal species within 54 dead coral colonies, but total species estimates (Chao1 estimator) calculate at least 217 species.

Trait and phylogenetic diversity provide insights into community assembly of reef-associated shrimps (Palaemonidae) at different spatial scales across the Chagos Archipelago.

Coral reefs are the most biodiverse marine ecosystem and one of the most threatened by global climate change impacts. The vast majority of diversity on reefs is comprised of small invertebrates that live within the reef structure, termed the cryptofauna. This component of biodiversity is hugely understudied, and many species remain undescribed.

Species replacement dominates megabenthos beta diversity in a remote seamount setting.

Seamounts are proposed to be hotspots of deep-sea biodiversity, a pattern potentially arising from increased productivity in a heterogeneous landscape leading to either high species co-existence or species turnover (beta diversity). However, studies on individual seamounts remain rare, hindering our understanding of the underlying causes of local changes in beta diversity. Here, we investigated processes behind beta diversity using ROV video, coupled with oceanographic and quantitative terrain parameters, over a depth gradient in Annan Seamount, Equatorial Atlantic.

Temperature can shape a cline in polyandry, but only genetic variation can sustain it over time.

Multiple mating by females (polyandry) is a widespread behavior occurring in diverse taxa, species, and populations. Polyandry can also vary widely within species, and individual populations, so that both monandrous and polyandrous females occur together. Genetic differences can explain some of this intraspecific variation in polyandry, but environmental factors are also likely to play a role.

Opposite environmental and genetic influences on body size in North American Drosophila pseudoobscura.

Background: Populations of a species often differ in key traits. However, it is rarely known whether these differences are associated with genetic variation and evolved differences between populations, or are instead simply a plastic response to environmental differences experienced by the populations. Here we examine the interplay of plasticity and direct genetic control by investigating temperature-size relationships in populations of Drosophila pseudoobscura from North America.

Evolutionary dynamics of a common sub-Antarctic octocoral family.

Sequence data were obtained for five different loci, both mitochondrial (cox1, mtMutS, 16S) and nuclear (18S, 28S rDNA), from 64 species representing 25 genera of the common deep-sea octocoral family Primnoidae. We tested the hypothesis that Primnoidae have an Antarctic origin, as this is where they currently have high species richness, using Maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference methods of phylogenetic analysis. Using a time-calibrated molecular phylogeny we also investigated the time of species radiation in sub-Antarctic Primnoidae.

Can patterns of chromosome inversions in Drosophila pseudoobscura predict polyandry across a geographical cline?

Female multiple mating, known as polyandry, is ubiquitous and occurs in a wide variety of taxa. Polyandry varies greatly from species in which females mate with one or two males in their lifetime to species in which females may mate with several different males on the same day. As multiple mating by females is associated with costs, numerous hypotheses attempt to explain this phenomenon.

Polyandry in nature: a global analysis.

A popular notion in sexual selection is that females are polyandrous and their offspring are commonly sired by more than a single male. We now have large-scale evidence from natural populations to be able to verify this assumption. Although we concur that polyandry is a generally common and ubiquitous phenomenon, we emphasise that it remains variable.

Does polyandry control population sex ratio via regulation of a selfish gene?

The extent of female multiple mating (polyandry) can strongly impact on the intensity of sexual selection, sexual conflict, and the evolution of cooperation and sociality. More subtly, polyandry may protect populations against intragenomic conflicts that result from the invasion of deleterious selfish genetic elements (SGEs). SGEs commonly impair sperm production, and so are likely to be unsuccessful in sperm competition, potentially reducing their transmission in polyandrous populations.

No evidence for heritability of male mating latency or copulation duration across social environments in Drosophila melanogaster.

A key assumption underpinning major models of sexual selection is the expectation that male sexual attractiveness is heritable. Surprisingly, however, empirical tests of this assumption are relatively scarce. Here we use a paternal full-sib/half-sib breeding design to examine genetic and environmental variation in male mating latency (a proxy for sexual attractiveness) and copulation duration in a natural population of Drosophila melanogaster.

Graduate mental health worker case management of depression in UK primary care: a pilot study.

Background: Based on data from large multicentre US trials, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) is advocating a stepped-care model for the management of depression, with 'case management' or 'collaborative care' for selected patients in primary care.

Aim: To conduct a pilot study examining the use of graduate mental health workers case managing depressed primary care NHS patients.

Design Of Study: A randomised controlled trial comparing usual GP care with or without case management over 16 weeks of acute antidepressant drug treatment.