Temporal and spatial variation in otter Lutra lutra diet in Northern Ireland

The European otter (Lutra lutra L.) has a highly specialised diet that is composed predominantly of fish. The current study investigates the percentage composition of food items in otter spraints collected in six river catchments in Northern Ireland in 1980 and again from the same locations in 2003. Spraints contained significantly more salmonids than any other prey item. The composition of spraints differed among catchments. More salmonids and three-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus L.) were found in spraints from the Glens of Antrim, while spraints from the Lagan catchment had significantly more eel (Anguilla anguilla L.). There were significantly more spraints containing non-fish food items in 2003 compared with 1980. These non-fish items were insects, amphipods, birds, rats (Rattus norvegicus Berkenhout) and lagomorphs. Increased consumption of non-fish items was apparent in all but one of the river catchments. The mean diversity of spraint composition was significantly greater in 2003 than in 1980. Therefore, our findings indicate that otters have diversified their diet since 1980 and now eat more non-fish prey.

Language and Power: A Resource Book for Students

Language and Power offers a comprehensive survey of the ways in which language intersects and connects with the social, cultural and political aspects of power; provides a comprehensive introduction to the history of the field, and covers all the major approaches, theoretical concepts and methods of analysis in this important and developing area of academic study; covers all the 'traditional' topics, such as race, gender and institutional power, but also incorporates newer material from forensic discourse analysis, the discourse of new capitalism and the study of humour as power; includes readings from works by seminal figures in the field, such as Roger Fowler, Deborah Cameron and Teun van Dijk; uses real texts and examples throughout, including advertisements from cosmetics companies; newspaper articles and headlines; websites and internet media; and spoken dialogues such as a transcription from the Obama and McCain presidential debate; and is accompanied by a supporting website that aims to challenge students at a more advanced level and features a complete four-unit chapter which includes activities, a reading and suggestions for further work.