New science on the Open Science Grid

The Open Science Grid (OSG) includes work to enable new science, new scientists, and new modalities in support of computationally based research. There are frequently significant sociological and organizational changes required in transformation from the existing to the new. OSG leverages its deliverables to the large-scale physics experiment member communities to benefit new communities at all scales through activities in education, engagement, and the distributed facility. This paper gives both a brief general description and specific examples of new science enabled on the OSG. More information is available at the OSG web site: www.opensciencegrid.org

Predicting population responses to environmental change from individual-level mechanisms: towards a standardized mechanistic approach

Animal populations will mediate the response of global biodiversity to environmental changes. Population models are thus important tools for both understanding and predicting animal responses to uncertain future conditions. Most approaches, however, are correlative and ignore the individual-level mechanisms that give rise to population dynamics. Here, we assess several existing population modelling approaches, and find limitations to both ‘correlative’ and ‘mechanistic’ models. We advocate the need for a standardised mechanistic approach for linking individual mechanisms (physiology, behaviour and evolution) to population dynamics in spatially explicit landscapes. Such an approach is potentially more flexible and informative than current population models. Key to realising this goal, however, is overcoming current data limitations, the development and testing of eco-evolutionary theory to represent interactions between individual mechanisms, and standardised multidimensional environmental change scenarios which incorporate multiple stressors. Such progress is essential in supporting environmental decisions in uncertain future conditions

Realigning a Graduate Program

https://fuse.franklin.edu/ss2016/1064/thumbnail.jp

Bunker callers to the port of Durban : a research into how to gain back this lost business.

Thesis (MBA)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2006.The dissertation sets out to identify the reasoning behind why there has been a decline in bunker callers to the port of Durban at a time when there has been an increase in shipping activity and other ports around the world have experienced rapid growth in their bunker markets. It was first necessary to establish that there has been a fall off, what the economic impact of the fall off was and then to analyse the current operational procedure and the strengths and weaknesses of the port. The ports of Singapore and Gibraltar are looked at as they are two ports where bunkering has grown over the period Durban has seen a decline. The SWOT analysis of Durban takes into account the survey that was conducted by IBIA to ascertain what were perceived to be the main factors behind South African ports losing bunker business The type of ship that calls at Durban for bunkering and what is the most common voyage route are identified. It was found to be a handy size ship with the last port of call being a South American port. The cost for the voyage and the port call at Durban are calculated to work out the maximum time the ship should be at Durban from arriving outside to once again sailing. It is found to be twelve hours. The relationships of the parties to the bunker operation are analysed to see where it would be possible to introduce efficiencies to the supply chain and how to reduce the overall port stay to under twelve hours. Over an above this the port costs are reviewed as there are areas where discounting could be introduced to once more encourage owners to call A major stumbling block to the whole process is the unreliability of supply with the port being unable to provide bunkers 11% of the time. The need to address the stock management problems experienced by the majors is vital to the success of promoting Durban as a bunker port and ways of achieving this are proposed

Conservation Hedges:

In May 2014, the first planting of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) conservation hedge took place, when the Reverend Anne Brennan planted a tree which had originated as a cutting from the ancient and historic European yew, Taxus baccata, in the churchyard of her church at Fortingall, Perthshire. This is one of almost 2,000 plants that will eventually form a conservation hedge of significant scientific and conservation value. The International Conifer Conservation Programme (ICCP), based at RBGE, has actively sought other opportunities to establish conservation hedges via its network of ‘safe sites’, using a range of different conifer species. This initiative is being driven by the potential for relatively large numbers of genotypes from a single threatened species to be stored in a linear space. It is well established that seed banks have a great capacity to store large amounts of genetic diversity, so we should simply consider conservation hedges in a similar manner. These super-hedges cram relatively large amounts of genetic material into a small space, capturing a great range of wild traits and potentially contributing to the restoration of wild populations. To date, conservation hedges have been planted at five separate locations at RBGE’s Edinburgh Garden as well as at four ICCP external ‘safe sites’. Although this article focuses on the establishment of conservation hedges using conifers, we have also highlighted some conservation hedges that comprise non-coniferous species

A Report of the Beach Stakeholder's Group to the Joint Standing Committee on Natural Resources 122nd Maine Legislature, 2nd Regular Session

U.S. Department of Commerce Office of Ocean & Coastal Resource Managemen

Climate warming, marine protected areas and the ocean-scale integrity of coral reef ecosystems

Coral reefs have emerged as one of the ecosystems most vulnerable to climate variation and change. While the contribution of a warming climate to the loss of live coral cover has been well documented across large spatial and temporal scales, the associated effects on fish have not. Here, we respond to recent and repeated calls to assess the importance of local management in conserving coral reefs in the context of global climate change. Such information is important, as coral reef fish assemblages are the most species dense vertebrate communities on earth, contributing critical ecosystem functions and providing crucial ecosystem services to human societies in tropical countries. Our assessment of the impacts of the 1998 mass bleaching event on coral cover, reef structural complexity, and reef associated fishes spans 7 countries, 66 sites and 26 degrees of latitude in the Indian Ocean. Using Bayesian meta-analysis we show that changes in the size structure, diversity and trophic composition of the reef fish community have followed coral declines. Although the ocean scale integrity of these coral reef ecosystems has been lost, it is positive to see the effects are spatially variable at multiple scales, with impacts and vulnerability affected by geography but not management regime. Existing no-take marine protected areas still support high biomass of fish, however they had no positive affect on the ecosystem response to large-scale disturbance. This suggests a need for future conservation and management efforts to identify and protect regional refugia, which should be integrated into existing management frameworks and combined with policies to improve system-wide resilience to climate variation and change

Middle Palaeolithic occupation of the southern North Sea Basin: evidence from the Sandscaping sediments emplaced on the beach between Bacton and Walcott, Norfolk, UK

During the summer of 2019, the Bacton to Walcott Coastal Management Scheme involved the emplacement on to the foreshore of 1.8 million cubic metres of sand and gravel dredged from the submerged sediments of the Palaeo-Yare in the southern North Sea 11 km off Great Yarmouth. During the following 2-year period, an active group of collectors identified Palaeolithic artefacts eroding from these sediments, including Levallois cores and flakes, and cordiform handaxes. In this paper, we present an analysis of the lithic artefacts, and consider the relationships between the different elements of the assemblage. We discuss its significance in the context of the Middle Palaeolithic record of northwest Europe and the light it shines on the human occupation of the submerged landscape of the southern North Sea during the later Middle Pleistocene. Interrogation of beach survey data shows the reworking of these sediments to the southeast towards Happisburgh where archaeologically significant exposures of the Cromer Forest-bed Formation are located. The implications of the introduction of a Middle Palaeolithic assemblage to this stretch of the North Norfolk Coast are considered, highlighting the importance of continuing dialogue between researchers, local authorities and local communities for capturing information and monitoring this critical Palaeolithic resource