White-clawed crayfish (Austropotamobius pallipes) is a keystone species found in western European... more White-clawed crayfish (Austropotamobius pallipes) is a keystone species found in western European freshwater bodies, where it has suffered drastic declines due to pathogens, competition with non-indigenous crayfish species (NICS) and habitat deterioration. In Ireland, populations of (naturalised) A. pallipes have been considered healthy and abundant mainly because no diseases or NICS have been reported in the past decades. The present study investigated a sudden mass mortality event that occurred in the Erne catchment in 2015. Molecular analysis confirmed that the cause of the event was infection by the oomycete Aphanomyces astaci (the causative agent of the crayfish plague). While in 2015 the spread of the pathogen appeared to remain confined to the outbreak’s epicentre and nearby upstream waters, follow up surveys using conventional methods and environmental DNA (eDNA) approaches indicated that by a year later (2016), the pathogen was still present and had spread downstream beyond...
Ireland’s landscape has experienced a very high rate of commercial afforestation in the last numb... more Ireland’s landscape has experienced a very high rate of commercial afforestation in the last number of decades, with plantation forests established during the last 60 years now accounting for approximately 10% of total land cover. Over 90% of total forest cover in Ireland is comprised of plantation forestry, more than in any EU member state except Malta (Forest Europe et al. 2011). Almost 75% of these plantations are composed of exotic conifers, the most commonly planted of which is Sitka Spruce Picea sitchensis (Forest Service 2007, O’Halloran et al. 2011). Canopy closure in Sitka Spruce plantations typically occurs 10-15 years after planting, resulting in reduced light penetration of the canopy and an associated reduction in the diversity of birds (Sweeney et al. 2010, Wilson et al. 2010) and other taxa (Gittings et al. 2006, Oxbrough et al. 2006). This is primarily due to the suppression of non-crop cover on which much of this biodiversity depends. Diversity of birds and other ta...
Studies of the impact of afforestation on biodiversity typically rely on surveys conducted at pla... more Studies of the impact of afforestation on biodiversity typically rely on surveys conducted at planted and unplanted sites at a single point in time. This paper reports on surveys of bird diversity in unplanted grassland sites and repeat surveys at the same sites seven years after afforestation and is the first longterm experiment of this type for Ireland. Birds were chosen for this study as they are easily surveyed indicators of biodiversity that respond well to environmental change. Overall, species richness was higher in the young forest plantations than in the pre-planting open grassland sites and this increase was a result in the increase in shrub cover following the cessation of grazing in these sites after afforestation. Some farmland bird species were absent following afforestation, but these were replaced by forest associated bird species. Wren (Troglodytes troglodytes) and warbler (Sylviidae family) species benefited the most from afforestation, though other research sugges...
JONATHAN GREY* , , CONOR T. GRAHAM , J . ROBERT BRITTON § AND CHRIS HARROD* *Department of Physio... more JONATHAN GREY* , , CONOR T. GRAHAM , J . ROBERT BRITTON § AND CHRIS HARROD* *Department of Physiological Ecology, Max Planck Institute for Limnology, Plön, Germany School of Biological & Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London, U.K. Department of Zoology, Ecology and Plant Science, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland National Fisheries Laboratory, Environment Agency, Cambridgeshire, U.K.
Climate change is considered to be one of the principal threats to biodiversity and to the struct... more Climate change is considered to be one of the principal threats to biodiversity and to the structure and functioning of ecosystems (McCarthy et al., 2001). Although the causes and likely effects are subject to debate (Sharp, 2003), the scientific consensus is that climate change is real (Houghton et al., 2001; Walther et al., 2005) and will affect the British Isles (Hulme et al., 2002; Sweeney et al., 2003). Average global temperatures have increased by c. 046 C over the past century (Houghton et al., 2001; Hulme et al., 2002). During this ...
Environmental and habitat change can have profound and complex impacts on fish. We examined an un... more Environmental and habitat change can have profound and complex impacts on fish. We examined an unexploited population of European eel (Anguilla anguilla) from a West of Ireland catchment. The population is long-lived and slow-growing compared to many other European eel populations. Von Bertalanffy growth curves showed decadal changes, with a trend towards larger K, and t0 values in both males and females and a smaller L∞ in females. A growth biochronology spanning seven decades (1950s–2010s) was constructed using otolith annual increment measurements. We found evidence of high variability in growth over the course of the time series. A decrease in growth occurred after the early 2000s, potentially driven by habitat and climatic changes. Growth was negatively correlated with early spring and winter temperatures, providing strong evidence that the length of the growing season impacts eel growth. Growth was also positively correlated with summer temperatures and the number of days that...
The extent to which commercially important Nephrops norvegicus lobsters feed on particulates in t... more The extent to which commercially important Nephrops norvegicus lobsters feed on particulates in the wild is unknown, even though this could be an important way for burrow-dwelling females to avoid starvation during the long breeding season. This was investigated using δ13C and δ15N isotopic signatures in tissues with long and short turnover rates to provide diet discrimination and compare this between males and females. Secondary objectives examined size-related differences and calculated the trophic position based on the new results. Almost half the diet (47%) was made up of suspended particulate organic matter (POMsusp) alone. Fish was another important item in the diet, with plankton and invertebrate sources coming much lower down in dietary importance. Significantly more suspension feeding was observed in small or medium sized individuals than large ones in both sexes. However, there were no sex-related patterns, despite females being restricted to burrows for part of the analys...
Proceedings of the 2007 conference on Designing for User eXperiences - DUX '07, 2007
This paper reports on research-driven design of social technologies. It describes an exploratory ... more This paper reports on research-driven design of social technologies. It describes an exploratory field study evaluating and re-conceiving blogging technologies - a mobile phone, a mobile blog, a Weblog and synchronization software - to support personal change, in this case quitting smoking. We briefly describe the design of the blogging technologies and summarise the outcomes of their extended use by
White-clawed crayfish (Austropotamobius pallipes) is a keystone species found in western European... more White-clawed crayfish (Austropotamobius pallipes) is a keystone species found in western European freshwater bodies, where it has suffered drastic declines due to pathogens, competition with non-indigenous crayfish species (NICS) and habitat deterioration. In Ireland, populations of (naturalised) A. pallipes have been considered healthy and abundant mainly because no diseases or NICS have been reported in the past decades. The present study investigated a sudden mass mortality event that occurred in the Erne catchment in 2015. Molecular analysis confirmed that the cause of the event was infection by the oomycete Aphanomyces astaci (the causative agent of the crayfish plague). While in 2015 the spread of the pathogen appeared to remain confined to the outbreak’s epicentre and nearby upstream waters, follow up surveys using conventional methods and environmental DNA (eDNA) approaches indicated that by a year later (2016), the pathogen was still present and had spread downstream beyond...
Ireland’s landscape has experienced a very high rate of commercial afforestation in the last numb... more Ireland’s landscape has experienced a very high rate of commercial afforestation in the last number of decades, with plantation forests established during the last 60 years now accounting for approximately 10% of total land cover. Over 90% of total forest cover in Ireland is comprised of plantation forestry, more than in any EU member state except Malta (Forest Europe et al. 2011). Almost 75% of these plantations are composed of exotic conifers, the most commonly planted of which is Sitka Spruce Picea sitchensis (Forest Service 2007, O’Halloran et al. 2011). Canopy closure in Sitka Spruce plantations typically occurs 10-15 years after planting, resulting in reduced light penetration of the canopy and an associated reduction in the diversity of birds (Sweeney et al. 2010, Wilson et al. 2010) and other taxa (Gittings et al. 2006, Oxbrough et al. 2006). This is primarily due to the suppression of non-crop cover on which much of this biodiversity depends. Diversity of birds and other ta...
Studies of the impact of afforestation on biodiversity typically rely on surveys conducted at pla... more Studies of the impact of afforestation on biodiversity typically rely on surveys conducted at planted and unplanted sites at a single point in time. This paper reports on surveys of bird diversity in unplanted grassland sites and repeat surveys at the same sites seven years after afforestation and is the first longterm experiment of this type for Ireland. Birds were chosen for this study as they are easily surveyed indicators of biodiversity that respond well to environmental change. Overall, species richness was higher in the young forest plantations than in the pre-planting open grassland sites and this increase was a result in the increase in shrub cover following the cessation of grazing in these sites after afforestation. Some farmland bird species were absent following afforestation, but these were replaced by forest associated bird species. Wren (Troglodytes troglodytes) and warbler (Sylviidae family) species benefited the most from afforestation, though other research sugges...
JONATHAN GREY* , , CONOR T. GRAHAM , J . ROBERT BRITTON § AND CHRIS HARROD* *Department of Physio... more JONATHAN GREY* , , CONOR T. GRAHAM , J . ROBERT BRITTON § AND CHRIS HARROD* *Department of Physiological Ecology, Max Planck Institute for Limnology, Plön, Germany School of Biological & Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London, U.K. Department of Zoology, Ecology and Plant Science, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland National Fisheries Laboratory, Environment Agency, Cambridgeshire, U.K.
Climate change is considered to be one of the principal threats to biodiversity and to the struct... more Climate change is considered to be one of the principal threats to biodiversity and to the structure and functioning of ecosystems (McCarthy et al., 2001). Although the causes and likely effects are subject to debate (Sharp, 2003), the scientific consensus is that climate change is real (Houghton et al., 2001; Walther et al., 2005) and will affect the British Isles (Hulme et al., 2002; Sweeney et al., 2003). Average global temperatures have increased by c. 046 C over the past century (Houghton et al., 2001; Hulme et al., 2002). During this ...
Environmental and habitat change can have profound and complex impacts on fish. We examined an un... more Environmental and habitat change can have profound and complex impacts on fish. We examined an unexploited population of European eel (Anguilla anguilla) from a West of Ireland catchment. The population is long-lived and slow-growing compared to many other European eel populations. Von Bertalanffy growth curves showed decadal changes, with a trend towards larger K, and t0 values in both males and females and a smaller L∞ in females. A growth biochronology spanning seven decades (1950s–2010s) was constructed using otolith annual increment measurements. We found evidence of high variability in growth over the course of the time series. A decrease in growth occurred after the early 2000s, potentially driven by habitat and climatic changes. Growth was negatively correlated with early spring and winter temperatures, providing strong evidence that the length of the growing season impacts eel growth. Growth was also positively correlated with summer temperatures and the number of days that...
The extent to which commercially important Nephrops norvegicus lobsters feed on particulates in t... more The extent to which commercially important Nephrops norvegicus lobsters feed on particulates in the wild is unknown, even though this could be an important way for burrow-dwelling females to avoid starvation during the long breeding season. This was investigated using δ13C and δ15N isotopic signatures in tissues with long and short turnover rates to provide diet discrimination and compare this between males and females. Secondary objectives examined size-related differences and calculated the trophic position based on the new results. Almost half the diet (47%) was made up of suspended particulate organic matter (POMsusp) alone. Fish was another important item in the diet, with plankton and invertebrate sources coming much lower down in dietary importance. Significantly more suspension feeding was observed in small or medium sized individuals than large ones in both sexes. However, there were no sex-related patterns, despite females being restricted to burrows for part of the analys...
Proceedings of the 2007 conference on Designing for User eXperiences - DUX '07, 2007
This paper reports on research-driven design of social technologies. It describes an exploratory ... more This paper reports on research-driven design of social technologies. It describes an exploratory field study evaluating and re-conceiving blogging technologies - a mobile phone, a mobile blog, a Weblog and synchronization software - to support personal change, in this case quitting smoking. We briefly describe the design of the blogging technologies and summarise the outcomes of their extended use by
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