Legacy Pollutants are Declining in Great Skuas (Stercorarius skua) but Remain Higher in Faroe Islands than in Scotland.

To monitor environmental pollutants in Faroese biota, samples from a top predator were analysed and put into a spatial and temporal context. Analysis of 20 Great Skua eggs sampled in 2012 from the Faroe Islands showed >70 % lower concentrations of legacy persistent organic pollutants (POPs) than in samples analysed in 1977. The 2012 Faroese eggs showed higher concentrations than for eggs in Shetland from about the same period (2008).

Re-constructing nutritional history of Serengeti wildebeest from stable isotopes in tail hair: seasonal starvation patterns in an obligate grazer.

Rationale: Nutritional bottlenecks often limit the abundance of animal populations and alter individual behaviours; however, establishing animal condition over extended periods of time using non-invasive techniques has been a major limitation in population ecology. We test if the sequential measurement of δ(15) N values in a continually growing tissue, such as hair, can be used as a natural bio-logger akin to tree rings or ice cores to provide insights into nutritional stress.

Methods: Nitrogen stable isotope ratios were measured by continuous-flow isotope-ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS) from 20 sequential segments along the tail hairs of 15 migratory wildebeest.

Evaluating remediation of radionuclide contaminated forest near Iwaki, Japan, using radiometric methods.

Radiometric surveys have been conducted in support of a project investigating the potential of biofuel power generation coupled with remediation of forests contaminated with radionuclides following the Fukushima Daiichi accident. Surveys conducted in 2013 and 2014 were used to determine the distribution and time dependence of radionuclides in a cedar plantation and adjacent deciduous forestry subject to downslope radionuclide migration, and a test area where litter removal was conducted. The radiocaesium results confirmed enhanced deposition levels in the evergreen areas compared with adjacent areas of deciduous forestry, implying significant differences in depositional processes during the initial interception period in 2011.

Increased colonic propionate reduces anticipatory reward responses in the human striatum to high-energy foods.

Background: Short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), metabolites produced through the microbial fermentation of nondigestible dietary components, have key roles in energy homeostasis. Animal research suggests that colon-derived SCFAs modulate feeding behavior via central mechanisms. In humans, increased colonic production of the SCFA propionate acutely reduces energy intake.

Mobility during the neolithic and bronze age in northern ireland explored using strontium isotope analysis of cremated human bone.

Objectives: As many individuals were cremated in Neolithic and Bronze Age Ireland, they have not featured in investigations of individual mobility using strontium isotope analysis. Here, we build on recent experiments demonstrating excellent preservation of biogenic (87) Sr/(86) Sr in calcined bone to explore mobility in prehistoric Northern Ireland.

Materials And Methods: A novel method of strontium isotope analysis is applied to calcined bone alongside measurements on tooth enamel to human remains from five Neolithic and Bronze Age sites in Northern Ireland.

Formation of short chain fatty acids by the gut microbiota and their impact on human metabolism.

The formation of SCFA is the result of a complex interplay between diet and the gut microbiota within the gut lumen environment. The discovery of receptors, across a range of cell and tissue types for which short chain fatty acids SCFA appear to be the natural ligands, has led to increased interest in SCFA as signaling molecules between the gut microbiota and the host. SCFA represent the major carbon flux from the diet through the gut microbiota to the host and evidence is emerging for a regulatory role of SCFA in local, intermediary and peripheral metabolism.

Trophic assimilation efficiency markedly increases at higher trophic levels in four-level host-parasitoid food chain.

Trophic assimilation efficiency (conversion of resource biomass into consumer biomass) is thought to be a limiting factor for food chain length in natural communities. In host-parasitoid systems, which account for the majority of terrestrial consumer interactions, a high trophic assimilation efficiency may be expected at higher trophic levels because of the close match of resource composition of host tissue and the consumer's resource requirements, which would allow for longer food chains. We measured efficiency of biomass transfer along an aphid-primary-secondary-tertiary parasitoid food chain and used stable isotope analysis to confirm trophic levels.

Evidence for the stability of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet divide for 1.4 million years.

Past fluctuations of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) are of fundamental interest because of the possibility of WAIS collapse in the future and a consequent rise in global sea level. However, the configuration and stability of the ice sheet during past interglacial periods remains uncertain. Here we present geomorphological evidence and multiple cosmogenic nuclide data from the southern Ellsworth Mountains to suggest that the divide of the WAIS has fluctuated only modestly in location and thickness for at least the last 1.

Deciphering diet and monitoring movement: Multiple stable isotope analysis of the viking age settlement at Hofstaðir, Lake Mývatn, Iceland.

Objectives: A previous multi-isotope study of archaeological faunal samples from Skútustaðir, an early Viking age settlement on the southern shores of Lake Mývatn in north-east Iceland, demonstrated that there are clear differences in δ(34)S stable isotope values between animals deriving their dietary protein from terrestrial, freshwater, and marine reservoirs. The aim of this study was to use this information to more accurately determine the diet of humans excavated from a nearby late Viking age churchyard.

Materials And Methods: δ(13)C, δ(15)N, and δ(34)S analyses were undertaken on terrestrial animal (n = 39) and human (n = 46) bone collagen from Hofstaðir, a high-status Viking-period farmstead ∼10 km north-west of Skútustaðir.

The Origin of The Acheulean: The 1.7 Million-Year-Old Site of FLK West, Olduvai Gorge (Tanzania).

The appearance of the Acheulean is one of the hallmarks of human evolution. It represents the emergence of a complex behavior, expressed in the recurrent manufacture of large-sized tools, with standardized forms, implying more advance forethought and planning by hominins than those required by the precedent Oldowan technology. The earliest known evidence of this technology dates back to c.

Accumulation of Sellafield-derived radiocarbon ((14)C) in Irish Sea and West of Scotland intertidal shells and sediments.

The nuclear energy industry produces radioactive waste at various stages of the fuel cycle. In the United Kingdom, spent fuel is reprocessed at the Sellafield facility in Cumbria on the North West coast of England. Waste generated at the site comprises a wide range of radionuclides including radiocarbon ((14)C) which is disposed of in various forms including highly soluble inorganic carbon within the low level liquid radioactive effluent, via pipelines into the Irish Sea.

A pilot study to determine whether using a lightweight, wearable micro-camera improves dietary assessment accuracy and offers information on macronutrients and eating rate.

A major limitation in nutritional science is the lack of understanding of the nutritional intake of free-living people. There is an inverse relationship between accuracy of reporting of energy intake by all current nutritional methodologies and body weight. In this pilot study we aim to explore whether using a novel lightweight, wearable micro-camera improves the accuracy of dietary intake assessment.

Assessing the structure and temporal dynamics of seabird communities: the challenge of capturing marine ecosystem complexity.

Understanding interspecific interactions, and the influences of anthropogenic disturbance and environmental change on communities, are key challenges in ecology. Despite the pressing need to understand these fundamental drivers of community structure and dynamics, only 17% of ecological studies conducted over the past three decades have been at the community level. Here, we assess the trophic structure of the procellariiform community breeding at South Georgia, to identify the factors that determine foraging niches and possible temporal changes.

Effects of oral meal feeding on whole body protein breakdown and protein synthesis in cachectic pancreatic cancer patients.

Background: Pancreatic cancer is often accompanied by cachexia, a syndrome of severe weight loss and muscle wasting. A suboptimal response to nutritional support may further aggravate cachexia, yet the influence of nutrition on protein kinetics in cachectic patients is poorly understood.

Methods: Eight cachectic pancreatic cancer patients and seven control patients received a primed continuous intravenous infusion of l-[ring-(2)H5]phenylalanine and l-[3,3-(2)H2]tyrosine for 8 h and ingested sips of water with l-[1-(13)C]phenylalanine every 30 min.

Optimising gut colonisation resistance against Clostridium difficile infection.

Clostridium difficile is the dominant cause of pseudomembranous colitis in nosocomial environments. C. difficile infection (CDI) generally affects elderly (≥65 years of age) hospital inpatients who have received broad-spectrum antimicrobial treatment.

Not all jellyfish are equal: isotopic evidence for inter- and intraspecific variation in jellyfish trophic ecology.

Jellyfish are highly topical within studies of pelagic food-webs and there is a growing realisation that their role is more complex than once thought. Efforts being made to include jellyfish within fisheries and ecosystem models are an important step forward, but our present understanding of their underlying trophic ecology can lead to their oversimplification in these models. Gelatinous zooplankton represent a polyphyletic assemblage spanning >2,000 species that inhabit coastal seas to the deep-ocean and employ a wide variety of foraging strategies.

Variability of higher trophic level stable isotope data in space and time--a case study in a marine ecosystem.

Rationale: 1In shelf and coastal ecosystems, planktonic and benthic trophic pathways differ in their carbon stable isotope ratios (δ(13)C values) and nitrogen stable isotope ratios (δ(15)N values) and they increase predictably with trophic level. Stable isotope data are therefore used as a tool to study food webs in shelf and coastal ecosystems, and to assess the diets and foraging behaviour of predators. However, spatial differences and temporal changes in prevailing environmental conditions and prey abundance may lead to considerable heterogeneity in stable isotope values measured in focal animal species.

Double-blind, placebo-controlled pilot trial of L-Leucine-enriched amino-acid mixtures on body composition and physical performance in men and women aged 65-75 years.

Background/objectives: Adequate protein intake is essential to retaining muscle and maintaining physical function, especially in the elderly, and L-Leucine has received attention as an essential amino acid (EAA) that enhances protein retention. The study's aim was to compare the efficacy of EAA mixtures on lean tissue mass (LTM) and functional performance (FP) in a healthy elderly population.

Subjects/methods: Thirty-six subjects (65-75 years) volunteered to receive capsules with EAAs (Groups A and B containing 20% and 40% L-Leucine, respectively) or placebo (lactose containing 0% L-Leucine, Group C) for 12 weeks.

Evidence for methane in Martian meteorites.

The putative occurrence of methane in the Martian atmosphere has had a major influence on the exploration of Mars, especially by the implication of active biology. The occurrence has not been borne out by measurements of atmosphere by the MSL rover Curiosity but, as on Earth, methane on Mars is most likely in the subsurface of the crust. Serpentinization of olivine-bearing rocks, to yield hydrogen that may further react with carbon-bearing species, has been widely invoked as a source of methane on Mars, but this possibility has not hitherto been tested.

Half a world apart? Overlap in nonbreeding distributions of Atlantic and Indian Ocean thin-billed prions.

Distant populations of animals may share their non-breeding grounds or migrate to distinct areas, and this may have important consequences for population differentiation and dynamics. Small burrow-nesting seabirds provide a suitable case study, as they are often restricted to safe breeding sites on islands, resulting in a patchy breeding distribution. For example, Thin-billed prions Pachyptila belcheri have two major breeding colonies more than 8,000 km apart, on the Falkland Islands in the south-western Atlantic and in the Kerguelen Archipelago in the Indian Ocean.

Mobility of antimony, arsenic and lead at a former antimony mine, Glendinning, Scotland.

Unlabelled: Elevated concentrations of antimony (Sb), arsenic (As) and lead (Pb) in upland organic-rich soils have resulted from past Sb mining activities at Glendinning, southern Scotland. Transfer of these elements into soil porewaters was linked to the production and leaching of dissolved organic matter and to leaching of spoil material. Sb was predominantly present in truly dissolved (<3 kDa) forms whilst As and Pb were more commonly associated with large Fe-rich/organic colloids.

The role of short chain fatty acids in appetite regulation and energy homeostasis.

Over the last 20 years there has been an increasing interest in the influence of the gastrointestinal tract on appetite regulation. Much of the focus has been on the neuronal and hormonal relationship between the gastrointestinal tract and the brain. There is now mounting evidence that the colonic microbiota and their metabolic activity have a significant role in energy homeostasis.

Isotopic analysis of island House Martins indicates marine provenance of nutrients.

The presence of one of the largest colonies of House Martins in Europe on the small island of Stora Karlsö, Sweden, led us to investigate the source of their food by analysis of stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen. Carbon isotopic values of House Martin nestlings were the same as those of Common Guillemot nestlings fed on marine fish, but differed from local Collared Flycatcher nestlings fed on woodland insects. We infer that these House Martins fed their chicks almost exclusively on insects that had used nutrients derived from seabirds, indicating a dependence on the presence of a large seabird colony.

Rapid Removal of Atmospheric CO2 by Urban Soils.

The measured calcium carbonate content of soils to a depth of 100 mm at a large urban development site has increased over 18 months at a rate that corresponds to the sequestration of 85 t of CO2/ha (8.5 kg of CO2 m(-2)) annually. This is a consequence of rapid weathering of calcium silicate and hydroxide minerals derived from the demolition of concrete structures, which releases Ca that combines with CO2 ultimately derived from the atmosphere, precipitating as calcite.

Quantifying variation in C and N isotopes within and between feathers and individuals: Is one sample enough?

Studies of avian migration increasingly use stable isotope analysis to provide vital trophic and spatial markers. However, when interpreting differences in stable isotope values of feathers, many studies are forced to make assumptions about the timing of moult. A fundamental question remains about the consistency of these values within and between feathers from the same individual.