Publications by authors named "N Banfield"
Macroalgae is an under-utilised tool as a bioindicator of anthropogenic nitrogen loading to the coastal environment in the UK. This study compared two island systems-Jersey (Channel Islands) and St Mary's (Isles of Scilly) to assess how differing sewerage infrastructure affects nitrogen loading. A total of 831 macroalgae samples of Fucus vesiculosus and Ulva sp.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe past four decades have brought significant and increasingly rapid changes to the world of instrument design, fabrication, and availability due to the emergence of 3D printing, open-source code and equipment, and low-cost electronics. These, along with other technological advances represent a nexus in time ripe for the wide-spread production and availability of low-cost sophisticated scientific equipment. To that end, the design of a 3D printable and open-source, modular spectrometer is described.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- Many species exhibit natal habitat preference induction (NHPI), where young adults choose habitats similar to where they were raised, but little is known about its development.
- In a study of juvenile common loons, it was found that they preferred foraging on lakes with similar pH to their natal lakes, regardless of other factors like size.
- Interestingly, unlike older individuals, juveniles did not prefer foraging in lakes similar in size but instead favored larger, more food-rich lakes, highlighting that NHPI can vary at different life stages.
The study of habitat selection has long been influenced by the ideal free model, which maintains that young adults settle in habitat according to its inherent quality and the density of conspecifics within it. The model has gained support in recent years from the finding that conspecifics produce cues inadvertently that help prebreeders locate good habitat. Yet abundant evidence shows that animals often fail to occupy habitats that ecologists have identified as those of highest quality, leading to the conclusion that young animals settle on breeding spaces by means not widely understood.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDentine hypersensitivity: development and evaluation ofamodel in situ to study tubulepatency.
J Clin Periodontol
May 2004
Background And Aims: Lesions of dentine hypersensitivity have numerous tubules open at the dentine surface as opposed to non-sensitive dentine where tubules are mostly covered by a smear layer. The present two studies were designed to model both states in situ and evaluate the effects of agents on the model.
Method: Etched (sensitive) and smeared (non-sensitive) dentine specimens prepared from human third molar teeth were retained in lower buccal acrylic appliances.