Scaling of basal metabolic rate with body mass and temperature in mammals.

1. We present a statistical analysis of the scaling of resting (basal) metabolic rate, BMR, with body mass, B(m) and body temperature, T(b), in mammals. 2.

Object carrying as socio-sexual display in an aquatic mammal.

Amazon river dolphins or botos (Inia geoffrensis Blainville) were observed carrying objects in 221 social groups over a 3-year study period. Sticks, branches and clumps of grass were taken from the water surface and often repeatedly thrashed or thrown. Lumps of hard clay were collected from the river bed and held in the mouth while the carrier rose slowly above the surface and submerged again.

Geographical and pedological drivers of distribution and risks to soil fauna of seven metals (Cd, Cu, Cr, Ni, Pb, V and Zn) in British soils.

Concentrations of seven metals were measured in over 1000 samples as part of an integrated survey. Sixteen metal pairs were significantly positively correlated. Cluster analysis identified two clusters.

Climatically driven fluctuations in Southern Ocean ecosystems.

Determining how climate fluctuations affect ocean ecosystems requires an understanding of how biological and physical processes interact across a wide range of scales. Here we examine the role of physical and biological processes in generating fluctuations in the ecosystem around South Georgia in the South Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean. Anomalies in sea surface temperature (SST) in the South Pacific sector of the Southern Ocean have previously been shown to be generated through atmospheric teleconnections with El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO)-related processes.

Landscape context not patch size determines bumble-bee density on flower mixtures sown for agri-environment schemes.

Bumble-bee declines across Europe have been linked to loss of habitat and forage availability due to agricultural intensification. These declines may have severe ecological and commercial consequences since bumble-bees pollinate a range of wildflowers and crops. In England, attempts are being made to reintroduce forage resources through agri-environment schemes, yet there are few data on how the area of forage, or the landscape context in which it is provided, affects their success.