Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) Class II sequence polymorphism in long-finned pilot whale (Globicephala melas) from the North Atlantic

Funding Silvia S. Monteiro and Marisa Ferreira were supported by a Ph.D. grant from Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (ref SFRH/BD/38735/2007 and SFRH/BD/30240/2006, respectively). Alfredo López was supported by a postdoctoral grant from Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (ref SFRH/BPD/82407/2011). Catarina Eira is supported by CESAM (UID/AMB/50017), from FCT/MEC through national funds and FEDER (PT2020, Compete 2020). The work related with strandings and tissue collection in Portugal was partially supported by the SafeSea Project EEAGrants PT 0039 (supported by Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway through the EEA Financial Mechanism), by the Project MarPro–Life09 NAT/PT/000038 (funded by the European Union–Program Life+) and by the project CetSenti FCT RECI/AAG-GLO/0470/2012; FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-027472 (Funded by the Program COMPETE and Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia).

Effects of vessel traffic on relative abundance and behaviour of cetaceans : the case of the bottlenose dolphins in the Archipelago de La Maddalena, north-western Mediterranean sea

Acknowledgements This study was part of the Tursiops Project of the Dolphin Research Centre of Caprera, La Maddalena. Financial and logistical support was provided by the Centro Turistico Studentesco (CTS) and by the National Park of the Archipelago de La Maddalena. We thank the Natural Reserve of Bocche di Bonifacio for the support provided during data collection. The authors thank the numerous volunteers of the Caprera Dolphin Research Centre and especially Marco Ferraro, Mirko Ugo, Angela Pira and Maurizio Piras whose assistance during field observation and skills as a boat driver were invaluable.

Classification of Southern Ocean krill and icefish echoes using random forests

Acknowledgements The authors thank the crews, fishers, and scientists who conducted the various surveys from which data were obtained. This work was supported by the Government of South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands. Additional logistical support provided by The South Atlantic Environmental Research Institute, with thanks to Paul Brickle. PF receives funding from the MASTS pooling initiative (TheMarine Alliance for Science and Technology for Scotland), and their support is gratefully acknowledged. MASTS is funded by the Scottish Funding Council (grant reference HR09011) and contributing institutions. SF is funded by the Natural Environment Research Council, and data were provided from the British Antarctic Survey Ecosystems Long-term Monitoring and Surveys programme as part of the BAS Polar Science for Planet Earth Programme. The authors also thank the anonymous referees for their helpful suggestions on an earlier version of this manuscript.

Cyclical DNA methyltransferase 3a expression is a seasonal and oestrus timer in reproductive tissues

Acknowledgments This work was funded by the University of Aberdeen CLSM grant to TJS. EWJL was funded by a Society for Reproduction and Fertility undergraduate scholarship. TJS conceived the project, designed experiments, analyzed data and wrote the manuscript. EWJL conducted experiments and analyzed the data. CC conducted the immunocytochemistry. ML conducted HEK293 cell culture assays. EMC and ASB provided technical assistance. The authors thank Gerald Lincoln for critical feedback on a previous version of this manuscript.

Reference gene selection and RNA preservation protocol in the cat flea, Ctenocephalides felis, for gene expression studies

This work was supported by a Knowledge Transfer Network BBSRC Industrial Case (#414 BB/L502467/1) studentship in association Zoetis Inc.

Using individual tracking data to validate the predictions of species distribution models

The authors would like to thank the College of Life Sciences of Aberdeen University and Marine Scotland Science which funded CP's PhD project. Skate tagging experiments were undertaken as part of Scottish Government project SP004. We thank Ian Burrett for help in catching the fish and the other fishermen and anglers who returned tags. We thank José Manuel Gonzalez-Irusta for extracting and making available the environmental layers used as environmental covariates in the environmental suitability modelling procedure. We also thank Jason Matthiopoulos for insightful suggestions on habitat utilization metrics as well as Stephen C.F. Palmer, and three anonymous reviewers for useful suggestions to improve the clarity and quality of the manuscript.

The trophic structure of Spongosorites coralliophaga-coral rubble communities at two northeast Atlantic cold water coral reefs

Funding for the JC073 cruise was provided by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) UK Ocean Acidification (UKOA) research programme’s Benthic Consortium project (NE/H017305/1 to J Murray Roberts). Funding for analytical costs and field work was provided by the Marine Alliance for Science and Technology Scotland (MASTS) (Biodiversity Grant to Ursula FM Witte, 140 SF10003-10). Georgios Kazanidis was funded by a MASTS PhD scholarship.

To land or not to land : How do stakeholders perceive the zero discard policy in European small-scale fisheries?

The authors wish to acknowledge the valuable comments and suggestions made by members of the Committee of Fisheries of the European Parliament. The authors also thank the financial support of the European Parliament (IP/B/PECH/IC/2014–084) and the assistance of Ojama Priit and Marcus Brewer. SV acknowledges the financial support from the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) (Grant no 11-CAP2–1406) and the Galician Government (Consellería de Cultura, Educación e Ordenación Universitaria, Xunta de Galicia) (Grant no R2014/023). MC acknowledges the financial support from the European Commission through the Marie Curie Career Integration Grant Fellowships – PCIG10-GA-2011–303534 - to the BIOWEB project. CP and GP acknowledge the financial support of Caixa Geral de Depósitos (Portugal) and the University of Aveiro. CP would also like to acknowledge FCT/MEC national funds and FEDER co-funding, within the PT2020 partnership Agreement and Compete 2020, for the financial support to CESAM (Grant no UID/AMB/50017/2013). JMDR and JGC thanks the financial support from the European Commission (MINOW H2020-SFS-2014–2, No 634495) and Xunta de Galicia (GRC 2015/014 and ECOBAS). MA acknowledges financial aid of Xunta de Galicia through Project GPC 2013–045. URS and CP acknowledge the Too Big to Ignore Partnership supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC).

Additional evidence for fisheries acoustics : small cameras and angling gear provide tilt angle distributions and other relevant data for mackerel surveys

Acknowledgements This work received funding from the Marine Alliance for Science and Technology for Scotland (MASTS) pooling initiative and their support is gratefully acknowledged. MASTS is funded by the Scottish Funding Council (grant reference HR09011) and contributing institutions. We thank Joshua Lawrence and Niall Fallon for their assistance in collecting some of the video data.

Development of an Efficient Genome Editing Method by CRISPR/Cas9 in a Fish Cell Line

This project was carried out during CD’s BBSRC Eastbio PIPS placement at Marine Scotland. The authors are grateful to Dr Milena Monte (University of Aberdeen) for help with the FACS analysis. The authors wish to thank Dr Filippo Del Bene (Neuronal Circuit Development, Institut Curie) and Dr Wenbiao Chen (School of Medicine, Vanderbilt University) for the Addgene plasmids, #61051 and #47929, respectively, and Prof. Nancy C. Reich Marshall (Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, Stony Brooks University) for the plasmid pmEGFP-N1.

Individual monitoring of immune responses in rainbow trout after cohabitation and intraperitoneal injection challenge with Yersinia ruckeri

Acknowledgements This work was funded by the National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs, grant G1100675). The authors are grateful to the aquarium staff at the University of Aberdeen (Karen Massie) and Dr David Smail at Marine Scotland for valuable discussion during the establishment of the experimental design.

Phenological sensitivity to climate across taxa and trophic levels

Peer reviewed

Short-term impact of soybean management on ammonia oxidizers in a Brazilian savanna under restoration as revealed by coupling different techniques

Acknowledgments The authors are very grateful to Mr. Fabiano Bielefeld Nardotto, owner of the Tabapuã dos Pireneus farm, for allowing our free movement around the farm and collection of soil samples, as well as providing information about soybean cultivation. The authors also thank Dr. Plínio de Camargo, who performed the isotopic analysis in the CENA laboratory at the University of São Paulo (USP). This work was supported by grants from the National Council of Technological and Scientific Development (CNPq), Brazilian Federal Agency for Support and Evaluation of Graduate Education (CAPES), and Foundation for Research Support of Distrito Federal (FAP-DF).

State-space modelling of geolocation data reveals sex differences in the use of management areas by breeding northern fulmars

We thank Orkney Islands Council for access to Eynhallow and Talisman Energy (UK) Ltd and Marine Scotland for fieldwork and equipment support. Handling and tagging of fulmars was conducted under licences from the British Trust for Ornithology and the UK Home Office. EE was funded by a Marine Alliance for Science and Technology for Scotland/University of Aberdeen College of Life Sciences and Medicine studentship and LQ was supported by a NERC Studentship. Thanks also to the many colleagues who assisted with fieldwork during the project, and to Helen Bailey and Arliss Winship for advice on implementing the state-space model.

Fishers' perceptions about the EU discards policy and its economic impact on small-scale fisheries in Galicia (North West Spain)

The authors acknowledge the valuable comments and suggestions made by members of the Committee of Fisheries of the European Parliament. The authors would also like to thank the financial support of the European Parliament (Grant N° IP/B/PECH/IC/2014-084). SV and MA thank financial support from the Galician Government (Consellería de Cultura, Educación e Ordenación Universitaria, Xunta de Galicia) (Grant N° GPC 2013-045). RS acknowledges the support of the Too Big to Ignore Partnership sponsored by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. JMDR and JGC thank the financial support from the European Commission (Grant N° MINOW H2020-SFS-2014-2, N° 634495) and Xunta de Galicia (Grant N° GRC 2015/014 and ECOBAS). CP and GJP acknowledge the financial support of Caixa Geral de Depósitos (Portugal) and the University of Aveiro. CP would also like to acknowledge FCT/MEC national funds and FEDER co-funding, within the PT2020 partnership Agreement and Compete 2020, for the financial support to CESAM (Grant N° UID/AMB/50017/2013). Finally, the authors would like to acknowledge and thank the assistance of Ojama Priit and Marcus Brewer (European Parliament), and all small-scale fishers that took part in the survey.