British butterfly distributions and the 2010 target

Butterfly Conservation, in partnership with the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology and Dublin Naturalists’ Field Club, has been coordinating the collation of detailed geographical records of butterfly sightings across Britain and Ireland, mainly made by volunteers, for a continuous period of 15 years since 1995. This has generated a dataset of over 7.5 million records, supplemented by collated historical records. Results at the end of the first five-year period (1995–9) and at the end of the second five-year period (2000–4) indicated significant range declines in many species over a 30-year period (since baseline distributions recorded in the 1970s); for other species, there has been a significant extension of range, principally towards more northerly latitudes. This paper shows the results of a preliminary analysis for the end of the third five-year period (2005–9), to assess progress towards the EU target of halting biodiversity loss by 2010. The findings indicate that populations are continuing to be lost at a similar rate to previous periods, contrary to the 2010 target. In contrast, major northward extensions of range are reported for some mobile generalist species. Conservation successes are also reported for a few species whose declines have been halted and in some cases, reversed. Changes in range and species diversity remain consistent with the primary hypotheses for the causes of change: decreases caused by destruction, deterioration and fragmentation of biotopes and range increases in response to climate warming.     

Convergence vs. Specialization in the ear region of moles (mammalia)

We investigated if and how the inner ear region undergoes similar adaptations in small, fossorial, insectivoran‐grade mammals, and found a variety of inner ear phenotypes. In our sample, afrotherian moles (Chrysochloridae) and the marsupial Notoryctes differ from most other burrowing mammals in their relatively short radii of semicircular canal curvature; chrysochlorids and fossorial talpids share a relatively long interampullar width. Chrysochlorids are unique in showing a highly coiled cochlea with nearly four turns. Extensive cochlear coiling may reflect their greater ecological dependence on low frequency auditory cues compared to talpids, tenrecids, and the marsupial Notoryctes. Correspondingly, the lack of such extensive coiling in the inner ear of other fossorial species may indicate a greater reliance on other senses to enable their fossorial lifestyle, such as tactile sensation from vibrissae and Eimer's organs. The reliance of chrysochlorids on sound is evident in the high degree of coiling and in the diversity of its mallear types, and may help explain the lack of any semiaquatic members of that group. The simplest mallear types among chrysochlorids are not present in the basal‐most members of that clade, but all extant chrysochlorids investigated to date exhibit extensive cochlear coiling. The chrysochlorid ear region thus exhibits mosaic evolution; our data suggest that extensive coiling evolved in chrysochlorids prior to and independently of diversification in middle ear ossicle size and shape. J. Morphol. 276:900–914, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Oestrous cycle and breeding season of farmed fallow deer, Dama dama

Oestrus was detected on 177 occasions in 34 fallow does for the duration of the breeding season. A total of 142 cycles had a mean length of 22.4 (+/- 1.3, s.d.) days. Cycle length increased and became more variable as the season proceeded but was not affected by doe age or liveweight. First oestrus occurred within a 12-day period, but the length of the breeding season, and therefore the number of oestrous cycles, was related to doe age. Serum progesterone profiles suggest that silent ovulations, associated with short-lived corpora lutea, occurred before the first behavioural oestrus. Ovulations without oestrus may have also occurred at the end of the breeding season.     

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