Systematic list of the Frederick E. Edwards collection of British oligocene and eocene Mollusca in the British Museum (Natural History), with references to the type-specimens from similar horizons contained in other collections belonging to the Geological department of the Museum.

Bibliography: p. 299-325.

Memoirs of John Kitto ... compiled chiefly from his letters and journals.

Mode of access: Internet.

Frederick the Great, the memoirs of his reader, Henri de Catt (1758-1760)

Translation of: Unterhaltungen mit Friedrich dem Grossen.

Ultrastructure of the spermatozoon of Apus apus (Linnaeus 1758), the common swift (Aves; Apodiformes; Apodidae), with phylogenetic implications

The spermatozoon of Apus apus is typical of non-passerines in many respects. Features shared with palaeognaths and the Galloanserae are the conical acrosome, shorter than the nucleus; the presence of a proximal as well as distal centriole; the elongate midpiece with mitochondria grouped around an elongate distal centriole; and the presence of a fibrous or amorphous sheath around the principal piece of the axoneme. The perforatorium and endonuclear canal are lost in A. apus as in some other non-passerines. All non-passerines differ from palaeognaths in that the latter have a transversely ribbed fibrous sheath whereas in non-passerines it is amorphous, as in Apus, or absent. The absence of an annulus is an apomorphic but homoplastic feature of swift, psittaciform, gruiform and passerine spermatozoa. The long distal centriole, penetrating the entire midpiece, is a remarkably plesiomorphic feature of the swift spermatozoa, known elsewhere only in palaeognaths. The long centriole of Apus, if not a reversal, would be inconsistent with the former placement of the Apodiformes above the Psittaciformes from DNA-DNA hybridization. In contrast to passerines, in A. apus the microtubules in the spermatid are restricted to a transient single row encircling the cell. The form of the spermatozoon fully justifies the exclusion of swifts from the passerine family Hirundinidae.

Ultrastructure of the spermatid of Caprimuigus europaeus Linnaeus 1758, the European Nightjar (Aves; Caprimulgidae), with phylogenetic implications

The sperm of Caprimulgus europaeus is typical of other nonpasserines in many respects. Features shared with Paleognathae and Galloanserae are the conical acrosome, shorter than the nucleus; the presence of a perforatorium and endonuclear canal; the presence of a proximal as well as distal centriole; the elongate midpiece with mitochondria grouped around a central axis (here maximally six mitochondria in similar to 10 tiers); and the presence of a fibrous or amorphous sheath around the principal piece of the axoneme. A major (apomorphic) difference from paleognaths and galloanserans is the short distal centriole, the midpiece being penetrated for most of its length by the axoneme and for only a very short proximal portion by the centriole. Nonpasserines differ from paleognaths in that the latter have a transversely ribbed fibrous sheath, whereas in nonpasserines it is amorphous, as in Caprimulgus, or absent. The absence of an annulus is an apomorphic feature of Caprimulgus, apodiform, psittaciform, gruiform, and passerine sperm, homoplastic in at least some of these. In contrast to passerines, in Caprimulgus the cytoplasmic microtubules in the spermatid are restricted to a transient longitudinal manchette. The structure of the spermatid and spermatozoon is consistent with placement of the Caprimulgidae near the Psittacidae, but is less supportive of close proximity to the Apodidae, from DNA-DNA hybridization and some other analyses.

How effective is low vision service provision? A systematic review

Visual impairment is a large and growing socioeconomic problem. Good evidence on rehabilitation outcomes is required to guide service development and improve the lives of people with sight loss. Of the 478 potentially relevant articles identified, only 58 studies met our liberal inclusion criteria, and of these only 7 were randomized controlled trials. Although the literature is sufficient to confirm that rehabilitation services result in improved clinical and functional ability outcomes, the effects on mood, vision-related quality of life (QoL) and health-related QoL are less clear. There are some good data on the performance of particular types of intervention, but almost no useful data about outcomes in children, those of working age, and other groups. There were no reports on cost effectiveness. Overall, the number of well-designed and adequately reported studies is pitifully small; visual rehabilitation research needs higher quality research. We highlight study design and reporting considerations and suggest a future research agenda.

Jonathan Gibson

Professor Jonathan Gibson MB BS MD FRCSEd, FRCOphth (1966-1971) is a Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeon for the Heart of England NHS Trust, Birmingham and a Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of Aston. He looks back at his time at Merchant Taylors’ and his career.

Global compilation of benthic data sets I

Approaches to quantify the organic carbon accumulation on a global scale generally do not consider the small-scale variability of sedimentary and oceanographic boundary conditions along continental margins. In this study, we present a new approach to regionalize the total organic carbon (TOC) content in surface sediments (<5 cm sediment depth). It is based on a compilation of more than 5500 single measurements from various sources. Global TOC distribution was determined by the application of a combined qualitative and quantitative-geostatistical method. Overall, 33 benthic TOC-based provinces were defined and used to process the global distribution pattern of the TOC content in surface sediments in a 1°x1° grid resolution. Regional dependencies of data points within each single province are expressed by modeled semi-variograms. Measured and estimated TOC values show good correlation, emphasizing the reasonable applicability of the method. The accumulation of organic carbon in marine surface sediments is a key parameter in the control of mineralization processes and the material exchange between the sediment and the ocean water. Our approach will help to improve global budgets of nutrient and carbon cycles.

Database of the GLAMAP project

A uniform chronology for foraminifera-based sea surface temperature records has been established in more than 120 sediment cores obtained from the equatorial and eastern Atlantic up to the Arctic Ocean. The chronostratigraphy of the last 30,000 years is mainly based on published d18O records and 14C ages from accelerator mass spectrometry, converted into calendar-year ages. The high-precision age control provides the database necessary for the uniform reconstruction of the climate interval of the Last Glacial Maximum within the GLAMAP-2000 project.

Data compilation on the biological response to ocean acidification: environmental and experimental context of data sets and related literature

The exponential growth of studies on the biological response to ocean acidification over the last few decades has generated a large amount of data. To facilitate data comparison, a data compilation hosted at the data publisher PANGAEA was initiated in 2008 and is updated on a regular basis (doi:10.1594/PANGAEA.149999). By January 2015, a total of 581 data sets (over 4 000 000 data points) from 539 papers had been archived. Here we present the developments of this data compilation five years since its first description by Nisumaa et al. (2010). Most of study sites from which data archived are still in the Northern Hemisphere and the number of archived data from studies from the Southern Hemisphere and polar oceans are still relatively low. Data from 60 studies that investigated the response of a mix of organisms or natural communities were all added after 2010, indicating a welcomed shift from the study of individual organisms to communities and ecosystems. The initial imbalance of considerably more data archived on calcification and primary production than on other processes has improved. There is also a clear tendency towards more data archived from multifactorial studies after 2010. For easier and more effective access to ocean acidification data, the ocean acidification community is strongly encouraged to contribute to the data archiving effort, and help develop standard vocabularies describing the variables and define best practices for archiving ocean acidification data.

Global distributions of diazotrophs Gamma-A nifH genes abundance - Depth integrated values computed from a collection of source datasets - Contribution to the MAREDAT World Ocean Atlas of Plankton Functional Types

The MAREDAT atlas covers 11 types of plankton, ranging in size from bacteria to jellyfish. Together, these plankton groups determine the health and productivity of the global ocean and play a vital role in the global carbon cycle. Working within a uniform and consistent spatial and depth grid (map) of the global ocean, the researchers compiled thousands and tens of thousands of data points to identify regions of plankton abundance and scarcity as well as areas of data abundance and scarcity. At many of the grid points, the MAREDAT team accomplished the difficult conversion from abundance (numbers of organisms) to biomass (carbon mass of organisms). The MAREDAT atlas provides an unprecedented global data set for ecological and biochemical analysis and modeling as well as a clear mandate for compiling additional existing data and for focusing future data gathering efforts on key groups in key areas of the ocean. The present data set presents depth integrated values of diazotrophs Gamma-A nifH genes abundance, computed from a collection of source data sets.

Global distributions of diazotrophs nitrogen fixation rates - Depth integrated values computed from a collection of source datasets - Contribution to the MAREDAT World Ocean Atlas of Plankton Functional Types

The MAREDAT atlas covers 11 types of plankton, ranging in size from bacteria to jellyfish. Together, these plankton groups determine the health and productivity of the global ocean and play a vital role in the global carbon cycle. Working within a uniform and consistent spatial and depth grid (map) of the global ocean, the researchers compiled thousands and tens of thousands of data points to identify regions of plankton abundance and scarcity as well as areas of data abundance and scarcity. At many of the grid points, the MAREDAT team accomplished the difficult conversion from abundance (numbers of organisms) to biomass (carbon mass of organisms). The MAREDAT atlas provides an unprecedented global data set for ecological and biochemical analysis and modeling as well as a clear mandate for compiling additional existing data and for focusing future data gathering efforts on key groups in key areas of the ocean. The present data set presents depth integrated values of diazotrophs nitrogen fixation rates, computed from a collection of source data sets.