Are there latitudinal gradients in species turnover?

Aim To examine the effect on the observed relationship betw een spatial turnover and latitude of both the measure of beta diversity used and the method of analysis.

Location The empirical analyses presented herein are for the New World.

Methods We take the spatial distributions of the owls of the New World as an exemplar data set to investigate the patterns of beta diversity across latitudes revealed by different analytical methods. To illustrate the strengths and weaknesses of alternative measures of beta diversity and different analytical approaches, we also use a simple random distribution model, focusing in particular on the influence of richness gradients and landmass geometry.

Results Our simple spatial model of turnover demonstrates that different combinations of analytical approach and measure of beta diversity can give rise to strikingly different relationships between turnover and latitude. The analyses of the bird data for the owls of the New World demonstrate that this observation extends to real data.

Conclusions For the particular assemblage considered, we present strong evidence that species richness declines at higher latitudes, and there is also some evidence that species turnover is greater nearer the equator, despite conceptual and practical difficulties involved in analysing spatial patterns of species turnover. We suggest some ways of overcoming these difficulties.

The geographical structure of British bird distributions:diversity, spatial turnover and scale

1. Using data on the spatial distribution of the British avifauna, we address three basic questions about the spatial structure of assemblages: (i) Is there a relationship between species richness (alpha diversity) and spatial turnover of species (beta diversity)? (ii) Do high richness locations have fewer species in common with neighbouring areas than low richness locations?, and (iii) Are any such relationships contingent on spatial scale (resolution or quadrat area), and do they reflect the operation of a particular kind of species-area relationship (SAR)?

2. For all measures of spatial turnover, we found a negative relationship with species richness. This held across all scales, with the exception of turnover measured as beta (sim).

3. Higher richness areas were found to have more species in common with neighbouring areas.

4. The logarithmic SAR fitted better than the power SAR overall, and fitted significantly better in areas with low richness and high turnover.

5. Spatial patterns of both turnover and richness vary with scale. The finest scale richness pattern (10 km) and the coarse scale richness pattern (90 km) are statistically unrelated. The same is true of the turnover patterns.

6. With coarsening scale, locations of the most species-rich quadrats move north. This observed sensitivity of richness 'hotspot' location to spatial scale has implications for conservation biology, e.g. the location of a reserve selected on the basis of maximum richness may change considerably with reserve size or scale of analysis.

7. Average turnover measured using indices declined with coarsening scale, but the average number of species gained or lost between neighbouring quadrats was essentially scale invariant at 10-13 species, despite mean richness rising from 80 to 146 species (across an 81-fold area increase). We show that this kind of scale invariance is consistent with the logarithmic SAR.

New perspectives on neoplasia and the RNA world

Key tenets of modern biology are the central place of protein in cell regulation and the flow of genetic information from DNA to RNA to protein. However, it is becoming increasingly apparent that genomes are much more complex than hitherto thought with remarkably complex regulatory systems. The notion that the fraction of the genome involved in coding protein is all that matters is increasingly being questioned as the roles of non-coding RNA (ncRNA) in cellular systems becomes recognised. The RNA world, including microRNA (miRNA), small inhibitory RNA (siRNA) and other RNA species, are now recognised as being crucial for the regulation of chromatin structure, gene expression, mRNA processing and splicing, mRNA stability and translational control. Furthermore such ncRNA systems may be perturbed in disease states and most notably in neoplasia, including in haematological malignancies. Here the burgeoning evidence for a role of miRNA in neoplasia is reviewed and the importance of understanding the RNA world emphasised. Copyright (c) 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Social Accounting Research as If The World Matters: An essay in postalgia and a new absurdism

This essay is intended as a self-reflective, auto-critique of the ‘social accounting community’. The essay is directed at the academic community of accountants concerned with social accounting. This `community' is predominantly concerned with English language accounting journals and is preoccupied with the social and environmental practices of the larger private sector organisations. The essay is motivated by a concern over our responsibilities as academics in a world in crisis and a concern that social accounting is losing its energy and revolutionary zeal. This community's social accounting endeavours have taken place in almost complete ignorance of the activities and developments in non accounting communities and, in particular, developments in the public and third sectors. The essay reaches out to the public and third sector work and literature as an illustration of one of the ways in which ‘our’ social accounting can try to prevent itself from becoming moribund.

Listening to the World Through New Ears:Reinvention of the soundtrack in the works of Lucrecia Martel and Sofia Coppola

This paper explores the production and post-production techniques and tensions in designing sound for film. Considering the films of Lucrecia Martel and Sofia Coppola, amongst others, Greene and Yang will discuss how the soundtrack takes on a primary role in these films and becomes a medium for symbolism, reflection, characterisation, as well as storytelling. There will be a close examination of the processes involved in creating character-orientated soundscapes. These processes are sensitive to the effects sound has on an audience. Exploring how these filmmakers (with their sound teams) utilise the listening experience, including attention to point of audition and sound perception, this paper will critically unpick how such creative decisions are arrived at during various stages of the production process. Outlining the use of diegetic and non-diegetic sound and the potential musicality of sound effect design, issues of reverberation, noise and intent are discussed to highlight the sonic framing of these creative teams. Greene will approach these soundtracks from a production/post-production perspective, while Yang will explore the composer’s/designer’s ear.