From chocolate mousse to acid drops: an introduction to FSG research

Research has always been one of the functions of the Field Studies Council. One facet of this is the great diversity of small projects which support educational courses at the Field Centres. There has also been the growth, from small beginnings in 1967, of the Oil Pollution Research Unit at Orielton. OPRU has operated internationally for many years and undertakes both basic research and contract work for industry and governments. A more recent development involving contract work is 'acid rain' monitoring. These industrial facets of FSC Research have useful educational spin-offs.     

The Field Studies Council: how it all began

The Field Studies Council (or the Council for the Promotion of Field Studies as it was originally called) had its beginnings in the need for residential training in field studies directed by a London County Council schools inspector, Francis Butler. It was founded at a meeting held in the British Museum (Natural History) on 10 September 1943; Sir Arthur Tansley was the first President and Sir Maurice Yonge the first Chairman. The first centres were managed on a do-your-best basis when food was rationed and building materials almost unobtainable by a remarkable generation of Wardens, chronically starved of funds. The excitement and vision of the early days kept the Council alive, but its survival was repeatedly in doubt for the first decade of its existence.     

Degrees of field experience

Field Studies Council centres have much to offer staff and students in higher education, particularly as bases for field courses but also for research facilities. The centres provide combinations of local experience, available habitats, published background material, laboratory and library facilities allowing pursuit of 'Field Studies' in the widest interpretation.     

The FSG's land: managing a fieldwork resource

The Field Studies Council occupies land for at least three purposes. At all ten Field Centres the immediate surroundings contribute significantly to the ambience in which the visitor/staff community lives and works. Secondly, it is a great advantage for a Centre to have working land free from the encumbrances of regular negotiations with its owner; land which can be managed to suit the requirements of the teaching programme. At six of the Field Centres, the 'estate' is large enough to contribute to this purpose.
The third reason for occupying land is, perhaps, the most important. We ought to want to demonstrate that we can apply our ecological knowledge for its own practical end. We should be able to show how to manipulate succession, how to crop the stand, how to maintain the view, and how to recycle the energy and the materials. I would like to think that the holding of land (and water) and the demonstration of its sound management was part of the working ethic of the Field Studies Council. We need to manage a range of habitats, stands and communities, to maintain their qualities and to demonstrate that we care about and can care for each of them. All this presupposes that we develop or invest in the skills and background necessary for the process.
The land we manage tells its own story. If we manage it well it will increase our corporate and individual satisfactions. It could mean that we have within our ranks the new yeomen; with them we could lead the original yeoman into a new attitude and enterprise which will maintain, and may even enhance, the face of Britain when the odds might otherwise be against it.     

Beyond the classroom

After school, college or university, adult education in Britain continues in many spheres. The Field Studies Council provides opportunities for a wide scope of amateur and professional naturalists to learn about various aspects of ecology through first hand experience in the field with like-minded people. The FSC is internationally recognized as the pioneer in environmental education and is still at the forefront of ecological thought. Courses are run at a variety of levels on a wide range of subjects. Within our full programme, there should be something for all at home or overseas.     

Education and taxonomy: the role of the Field Studies Council and AIDGAP

The taxonomic disciplines, classification and identification, are fundamental to most biological sciences. Yet, taxonomic teaching and research have declined to a level where adequate support for the other sciences can no longer be sustained. New teaching initiatives are needed, combined with the provision of suitable resource materials and identification guides. Bodies such as the Field Studies Council and the Linnean Society have a tradition of publishing identification keys, but the experience of the AIDGAP project, first started in 1976, shows that considerable thought must be given to content and presentation. Testing prior to publication is vital.     

Formative fieldwork: the age of the sixth form course

Two hundred and fifty-eight thousand A-level students have attended one-week field courses at Field Studies Council Residential Centres during the past 30 years. Biology courses have had a strongly ecological basis throughout, with an emphasis on the study of the whole environment. Only in recent years have financial constraints forced the organization to restructure academically-desirable programmes in favour of overtly syllabus-orientated curricula. There have, however, been but trivial changes in the pattern of work. The emphasis of the field course is based firmly on the students' own field and laboratory observations. Staff are facilitators not dictators.     

Fieldwork in UK secondary schools: influences and provision

The paper describes a national survey of biology teachers visiting Field Studies Council (FSC) centres in England and Wales. It provides data on levels of biology fieldwork at ages 11–16 (Years 7–11), and factors affecting A-level biology fieldwork provision at ages 16–19 (Years 12 and 13). The results are compared with similar data from geography teachers. Clear differences are demonstrated: in levels of ower-secondary provision; in teachers' perception of factors affecting fieldwork provision; and in the periodicity and timing of fieldwork. Recommendations are made towards improving the status and level of provision of A-level biology fieldwork.     

Environmental Understanding for All

Real education in environmental understanding is about inspiring and enlarging people's curiosity. It is about generating a breadth of interest and not just a depth of expertise. It should encourage appreciation of the environment, not just understanding, and it helps if it also leaves some room for wonder.
'Environmental Understanding for All' is the clear aim of the Field Studies Council. We have set ourselves to this difficult but exciting task. We have tried to develop some environmental understanding in all sorts of people; young and old, rural and urban, committed and indifferent, despoilers and conservationists, politicians and pressure groups, industry and commerce, academic and non-academic.
The main thrust of our attack is based at one Day Centre, one main Research Unit, six Residential Centres in England and three in Wales. These Centres are up mountains, by the coast, in forests, on the shores of lakes and tarns. Some of them are almost in fields! We have well over a hundred professional and dedicated staff helping us to look after many thousands of customers each year.
In the spectrum of scientific and conservation organizations concerned with the environment, we have an important and honoured place. We have, perhaps, stood too passively on the sidelines and we need a higher profile to get the resources and recognition to move forward–but we can be proud of the start we have made towards 'Environmental Understanding for All'.     

Scuola ed educazione naturalistica

Abstract

School and naturalistic education. In order that mankind may correctly fit in the balance of nature young people must be given the right scientific preparation during school years. This is why a better training of science teachers would be so important especially in Italy, where they come straight from University having followed various types of scientific degree courses, mainly theoretical, and with no special preparation for teaching.

The main basic requirement for a science teacher is that he has a solid preparation for laboratory but especially for field work. All other kinds of scientific and pedagogic knowledge is of course important but not as indispensable. It is therefore necessary to give science teachers the naturalistic training that University syllabuses do not provide for. At the same time work done inside the school should be supported from the outside by other organizations such as the Field Studies Council in England, or the « keeper-guides » of Israeli natural parks. In the present Italian school system one immediate step could be taken: teachers of « scientific observations » should not confine themselves to lecturing in classrooms but should spend most of their allotted time with their classes in the field or in the laboratory, in the same way as for instance teachers of « technical applications » do their teaching only in the workshop.     

Sex ratio and sexual dimorphism in mountain dioecious thuriferous juniper (Juniperus thurifera L., Cupressaceae)

Thuriferous juniper ( Juniperus thurifera L), a dioecious bush or tree is only found in isolated parts of the western Mediterranean: France, Spain, Algeria and Morocco. These mountain juniper stands are seriously endangered in Morocco as a result of intensive wood removal, and in Europe as a result of recolonization of stands by pines or oaks. Field studies were conducted to investigate sex ratio and sexual dimorphism, never previously examined, in eight different populations in the Atlas mountains and, for comparison, in one of two populations in the French Pyrenees. The sex ratio was female-biased for six of the eight Moroccan stands and especially for the oldest populations. The Pyrenean population showed a similar female-biased ratio. This particular sex ratio is possibly linked to cost of reproduction, paid by both males and females. Sex ratios can also be linked to population dynamics. Males begin to flower slightly younger than females, which explains their apparent dominance in young populations in Morocco or in a recolonization zone with young trees in the Pyrenees. Studies concerning sexual dimorphism in the western High Atlas sites showed no significant difference in phytomass between males and females. Females appear to be significantly taller but with a lower radial growth. © 2002 The Linnean Society of London, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society , 138 , 237–244.     

Indigenous Peoples and the State: Politics, Land and Ethnicity in the Malayan Peninsula and Borneo.

Indigenous Peoples and the State: Politics, Land and Ethnicity in the Malayan Peninsula and Borneo. Robert L. Winzeler. ed. New Haven, CT: Yale University Council on Southeast Asia Studies, 1997. 316 pp.     

The Regional Student Group Program of the ISCB Student Council: Stories from the Road

The International Society for Computational Biology (ISCB) Student Council was launched in 2004 to facilitate interaction between young scientists in the fields of bioinformatics and computational biology. Since then, the Student Council has successfully run events and programs to promote the development of the next generation of computational biologists. However, in its early years, the Student Council faced a major challenge, in that students from different geographical regions had different needs; no single activity or event could address the needs of all students. To overcome this challenge, the Student Council created the Regional Student Group (RSG) program. The program consists of locally organised and run student groups that address the specific needs of students in their region. These groups usually encompass a given country, and, via affiliation with the international Student Council, are provided with financial support, organisational support, and the ability to share information with other RSGs. In the last five years, RSGs have been created all over the world and organised activities that have helped develop dynamic bioinformatics student communities. In this article series, we present common themes emerging from RSG initiatives, explain their goals, and highlight the challenges and rewards through specific examples. This article, the first in the series, introduces the Student Council and provides a high-level overview of RSG activities. Our hope is that the article series will be a valuable source of information and inspiration for initiating similar activities in other regions and scientific communities.     

Ecology of the fruit spotting bug, Amblypelta lutescens lutescens Distant (Hemiptera: Coreidae) in cashew plantations, with particular reference to the potential for its biological control

Abstract  The fruit spotting bug, Amblypelta lutescens lutescens, is one of the principal insect pests of cashews in Australia. Its population dynamics were studied using field observations and long-term monitoring to find suitable management methods. Observations of bugs reared in netting bags showed a sequence of change in bug-damage symptoms after 12 h and up to 3 d. Field observations revealed that adults preferred to feed and rest on the shady side of the tree. The number of bugs observed accounted for only 17–35% of the total variability in the number of damaged shoots, suggesting that the number of flushing shoots (leaf, flower or young nuts) with fresh damage symptoms was a more reliable parameter for determining the presence and level of activity of bugs than was a direct estimate of the number of bugs. The green tree ant, Oecophylla smaragdina (F), was the most important factor regulating bug populations. When predation was excluded as a factor, the number of flushing shoots and maximum temperature accounted for 80% of the total variability in the bug damage. Green tree ants should be considered as an important biological control agent for fruit spotting bug, and monitoring should be commenced when cashew trees start to flush (using damaged shoots as indicator).     

Competing predators for a prey in a chemostat model with periodic nutrient input

A system of ordinary differential equations is used to model the interactions of n competing predators on a single prey population in a chemostat environment with a periodic nutrient input. In the case of one or no predators, criteria for the existence of periodic solutions are given. In the general case, conditions for all populations to persist are derived.Research is in part based on a Ph.D. thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of AlbertaResearch is partly supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, Grant No. NSERC A4823     

Follow-up Studies in Cerebral Palsy

Under the auspices of the Canadian Rehabilitation Council for the Disabled, a follow-up study on young adults with cerebral palsy between the ages of 17 and 25 years was carried out by means of a questionnaire. These young adults had attended treatment centres in various parts of Canada. One hundred and seventy-six completed questionnaires were used for analysis. The purpose of this study was to ascertain the present status of these individuals in terms of competitive employment, recreational pursuits and residence. At the time of the survey, 50 of these subjects were engaged in competitive employment or were considered to be potentially employable. The detailed findings of this study are compared with those of other surveys, and factors influencing the potential of disabled persons are reviewed.     

Renal effects of administered atrial natriuretic peptide in the conscious, aging rat

Studies were performed in conscious, chronically catheterized male Sprague-Dawley rats to investigate the effect of administered atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) on blood pressure, renal hemodynamics and urinary electrolyte excretion. Studies were performed on young adult (3-4 month old) rats and on aging rats (18-24 months of age). Low dose ANP (80 ng/kg/min for 60 min) had no effects on renal hemodynamics in either young or old rats and produced only a slight blood pressure reduction in young animals. No effect on urinary electrolyte excretion was evident in young rats whereas in the old animals, low dose ANP produced large rises in the rate of sodium excretion, fractional excretion of sodium and urine flow rate. A four fold higher dose of ANP evoked a moderate natriuretic and a marked antihypertensive response in young rats. Time control studies indicated that time alone had no influence on urinary sodium excretion rate, the fractional excretion of sodium or urine flow rate. These studies indicate a much enhanced sensitivity to the natriuretic effects of administered ANP by the kidneys of old rats.     

The European Research Council--a new opportunity for European science

The long-awaited European Research Council (ERC), which receives money from the research budget of the European Union and will finance fundamental science for Europe's scientists, has finally been established. With a focus on excellence, calls for both young and experienced scientists and an average budget of \[euro]1 billion per year, the ERC will have the opportunity to give basic research in Europe a significant boost.     

Atrial specific granules of the human auricle in embryogenesis,tissue culture,and hypertrophy

Summary The ultrastructure of atrial specific granules of the human auricle has been studied in myoblasts of 8–12 week embryos, in myoblasts cultured for 15 days, and in cells of the hypertrophied juvenile and adult atrium. The granules of young myoblasts and those of cultured cells are fairly evenly distributed throughout the sarcoplasm. Myocytes of the hypertrophied juvenile auricle show structural characteristics indicative of granule formation. Structural evidence of exocytosis has not been observed in either of the tissues studied. In the cultured and the hypertrophied tissue the granules are structurally well preserved even in areas with extensive intracellular lysis.This work was supported by grants from The Norwegian Council on Cardiovascular Disease and from The Norwegian Research Council for Science and the Humanities