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Medieval fish remains on the Newport ship identified by ZooMS collagen peptide mass fingerprinting
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Fish represent a key economic, social and ecological group of species that humans have exploited for tens of thousands of years. However, as many fish stocks are going into decline and with little known about the anthropogenic impacts on the health of the marine ecosystem pre-Industrial Revolution, understanding historical and archaeological exploitation of fish species is key to accurately modelling these changes. Here, we explore the potential of collagen peptide mass fingerprinting (also known as Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry, or ZooMS) for identifying fish remains from the Medieval (fifteenth century) Newport ship wreck (Wales, UK), and in doing so we establish a set of biomarkers we consider useful in discriminating between European fish taxa through the inclusion of over 50 reference taxa. The archaeological results identified nine distinct taxonomic groups, dominated by ling (> 40%), and a substantial amount of cod (> 20%) and hake (~ 20%). The vast majority of samples (> 70%) were identified to species level, and the inability to identify the remaining taxonomic groups with confidence using ZooMS was due to the fact that the reference collection, despite being relatively large in comparison to those presented in mammalian studies, reflects only a small proportion of fish biodiversity from this region. Although the results clearly demonstrate the potential for ZooMS as a means of fish bone identification, the sheer number of different fish species that potentially make up ichthyoarchaeological assemblages leads to obvious requirements for the analysis on much greater numbers of modern reference specimens, or the acquisition of collagen sequences.
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From spawning to first-year recruitment: the fate of juvenile sole growth and survival under future climate conditions in the North Sea
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This study shows the effect of climate change on the growth and survival of early life history stages of common sole (Solea solea) in different nursery areas of the North Sea, by combining a larval transport model with an individual-based growth model (Dynamic Energy Budget) to assess the fate from egg to young of the year at the end of the first growth season. Three scenarios of climate change, inspired by the 2040 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change projections, are tested and results are compared to a reference situation representative of current climate conditions. Under climate change scenarios where wind changes, water temperature increases and earlier spawning are considered, the early arrival of fish larvae in their nurseries results in larger young of the year at the end of summer. However, early arrival leads to higher mortality due to initially slow growth in spring. Future climate scenarios result in higher biomass and reduced first-year survival. How this result translates into changes at population level and stock management needs further investigation. Nonetheless, this study illustrates that processes linking life stages are paramount to understand and predict possible consequences of future climate conditions on population dynamics.
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Species distribution, hybridization and connectivity in the genus Chionodraco: Unveiling unknown icefish diversity in antarctica
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Aim: The species of the genus Chionodraco (Notothenioidei) are the most abundant icefish on the continental shelf of the Weddell Sea. While previous studies indicated that only Chionodraco hamatus and Chionodraco myersi inhabit the Weddell Sea, the third Chionodraco species, Chionodraco rastrospinosus, was recently sampled in the area. As C. rastrospinosus is supposed to be found only at the Antarctic Peninsula and Scotia Arc, this study aimed at confirming the species classification of C. rastrospinosus by molecular methods and identifying its putative source population. Given the documented evidence of introgression among the three species, we tested whether the newly found C. rastrospinosus shared any genetic variability with the other Chionodraco species. To explain the pattern of distribution of the Chionodraco species, we aimed at estimating the hydrodynamic connectivity between the Antarctic Peninsula and the Weddell Sea. Location: Antarctic Peninsula, southern Scotia Arc and the south-eastern Weddell Sea. Methods: We genotyped 19 microsatellites and sequenced the mitochondrial D-loop for 560 Chionodraco individuals. We simulated the dispersal of more than 3 million drifters (Lagrangian model). Results: The molecular analyses support the presence of C. rastrospinosus in the Weddell Sea and its homogeneity with C. rastrospinosus from the Antarctic Peninsula. Bayesian clustering identifies three putative hybrids among C. rastrospinosus and the other congenerics. Lagrangian simulations do not support connectivity driven by the oceanographic features of the Antarctic Peninsula and Weddell Sea via passive larval dispersal only. Main conclusions: This study documents, for the first time, the presence of C. rastrospinosus in the Weddell Sea unveiling more biodiversity than previously known in this region. The sympatry of the three Chionodraco species explains the occurrence of occasional, ongoing events of hybridization in the genus. Alternative possible
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Laohiracia acuta, a new genus and species of Parahiraciini planthopper with elongate cephalic process from Laos (Hemiptera: Fulgoromorpha: Issidae)
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First record, DNA identification and morphometric characterization of Pacific oyster, Crassostrea gigas (Thunberg, 1793) in the southern Black Sea
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Understanding the tangled taxonomy of the genus Pseudohercostomus Stackelberg, 1931 (Insecta: Diptera: Dolichopodidae) with description of new species from Singapore and DR Congo
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Mangroves are an overlooked hotspot of insect diversity despite low plant diversity
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Dizoniopsis coppolae (Aradas, 1870) (Gastropoda: Cerithiopsidae) in the Bay of Biscay
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The origins and spread of domestic horses from the Western Eurasian steppes
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Un crâne de crocodilien du Paléocène inférieur de Chine recule l'apparition des crocodyloïdes en Asie
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Les plus anciens crocodiliens (Crocodylia) d’Asie ne sont représentés jusqu’à présent que par des alligatoroïdes et des planocraniidés. Bien que les crocodyloïdes ne soient pas connus avec certitude avant l’Éocène supérieur, l’hypothèse a été émise que des crocodyloïdes basaux de type Asiatosuchus étaient originaires d’Asie avant la fin du Paléocène. Nous décrivons ici un nouveau crocodyloïde fossile provenant du Paléocène inférieur du Bassin de Qianshan, province d’Anhui, Chine. Le crâne et le fragment de mâchoire inférieure associé présentent plusieurs caractéristiques typiques de crocodiliens juvéniles. Ils présentent également une combinaison de caractères non observés dans aucun autre taxon, ce qui justifie l’érection d’une nouvelle espèce et d’un nouveau genre. Les affinités phylogénétiques sont testées dans des analyses basées sur deux matrices de caractères récentes d’Eusuchia. Pour évaluer l’effet des caractéristiques juvéniles sur le résultat des analyses phylogénétiques, des spécimens juvéniles des crocodiliens actuels Alligator mississippiensis et Crocodylus niloticus ont été analysés de la même manière, montrant que l’effet de leur stade ontogénétique sur leur position dans l’arbre est minime. Nos analyses indiquent que le nouveau taxon de Qianshan occupe une position basale au sein des Crocodyloidea. La présence de ces derniers en Asie est donc reculée au Paléocène inférieur, soit 15 à 20 millions d’années plus tôt que ce que l’on pensait auparavant. De plus, nos résultats corroborent les hypothèses précédentes d’une route de dispersion paléocène des crocodyloïdes de type Asiatosuchus de l’Asie vers l’Europe.
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