RRS James Cook Expedition JC237, 6 AUGUST – 4 SEPTEMBER 2022. CLASS – Climate-linked Atlantic Sector Science Whittard Canyon and Porcupine Abyssal Plain Fixed Point Observatories

JC237 was one of the main expeditions of the CLASS National Capability programme funded by NERC (UK). Delayed by two years as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the expedition combined two important pieces of observational work for the CLASS programme. The main aim of the cruise was to revisit key sites, last surveyed on JC125 in 2015, in the Whittard Canyon system on the Celtic Margin. This submarine canyon, and its protected area (The Canyons Marine Conservation Zone in English waters) is one of the long-term benthic time-series locations of the CLASS programme. The goal of the survey was to increase our understanding of benthic ecosystem change and recovery in the deep sea, under either natural (e.g. sediment flows, flank collapses) or anthropogenic (e.g. bottom trawling) environmental disturbance. Furthermore, the new datasets expand the general knowledge on the geological framework, sediment dynamics, current regimes and habitat distributions in land-detached submarine canyons – important connecting pathways between shelf and deep sea. The second CLASS-related aim was to carry out photographic surveys at the Porcupine Abyssal Plain Sustained Observatory (PAP-SO) – the longest-running deep-water observatory worldwide. Annual observations at this location create an invaluable record. The availability of an ROV (first time for the PAP-SO site) and a deep-water AUV (only second visit) during JC237 opened new opportunities for detailed sampling and extensive imaging of the benthic community. In addition, JC237 also had a technical demonstrator/development component: it was the first science expedition for the brand-new Autosub5 deep-water AUV and for the DeepGlider from MARS (the Marine Autonomous and Robotics Systems division at NOC). Furthermore, the Autosub5 was equipped with the new RoCSI eDNA sampler, enabling in-situ sampling and preservation of eDNA at depths up to 4500m. This demonstrator was part of the iAtlantic project. Overall, the expedition was a great success, with an extensive amount of data and samples collected (15 AUV missions with >250,000 photographs, 700k sidescan & multibeam, 60 RoCSI samples; 17 ROV dives, 45 days of DeepGlider observations, 21 CTD casts, 5 megacores, 12 gravity cores, 4 CPR transects and 10s of km2 of shipboard multibeam data collected). First interpretations have already illustrated coral expansion in some locations in the canyon, while geomorphological change seems limited

The Early Neolithic of the Eastern Fertile Crescent

The Eastern Fertile Crescent region of western Iran and eastern Iraq hosted major developments in the transition from hunter-forager to farmer-herder lifestyles through the Early Neolithic period, 10,000-7000 BC. Within the scope of the Central Zagros Archaeological Project, excavations have been conducted since 2012 at two Early Neolithic sites in the Kurdistan region of Iraq: Bestansur and Shimshara. Bestansur represents an early stage in the transition to sedentary, farming life, where the inhabitants pursued a mixed strategy of hunting, foraging, herding and cultivating, maximizing the new opportunities afforded by the warmer, wetter climate of the Early Holocene. They also constructed substantial buildings of mudbrick, including a major building with a minimum of 65 human individuals, mainly infants, buried under its floor in association with hundreds of beads. These human remains provide new insights into mortuary practices, demography, diet and disease

Whole-Body Regeneration

This Open Access volume provides a comprehensive overview of the latest tools available to scientists to study the many facets of whole-body regeneration (WBR). The chapters in this book are organized into six parts. Part One provides a historical overview on the study of the WBR phenomena focusing on the primary challenges of this research. Parts Two and Three explore a series of non-vertebrate zoological contexts that provide experimental models for WBR, showing how they can be approached with cellular tools. Parts Four, Five, and Six discuss the future advancements of WBR, reporting about the cutting-edge techniques in genetics and omics used to dissect the underlying mechanisms of WBR, and systems biology approaches to reach a synthetic view of WBR. Written in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series format, chapters include introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible laboratory protocols, and tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Authoritative and thorough, Whole-Body Regeneration: Methods and Protocols is a valuable resource for scientists and researchers who want to learn more about this important and developing field

Whole-Body Regeneration

This Open Access volume provides a comprehensive overview of the latest tools available to scientists to study the many facets of whole-body regeneration (WBR). The chapters in this book are organized into six parts. Part One provides a historical overview on the study of the WBR phenomena focusing on the primary challenges of this research. Parts Two and Three explore a series of non-vertebrate zoological contexts that provide experimental models for WBR, showing how they can be approached with cellular tools. Parts Four, Five, and Six discuss the future advancements of WBR, reporting about the cutting-edge techniques in genetics and omics used to dissect the underlying mechanisms of WBR, and systems biology approaches to reach a synthetic view of WBR. Written in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series format, chapters include introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible laboratory protocols, and tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Authoritative and thorough, Whole-Body Regeneration: Methods and Protocols is a valuable resource for scientists and researchers who want to learn more about this important and developing field

Geology and palaeontology of the Telychian (Silurian), reservoir formation of the North Esk inlier, near Edinburgh, Scotland

The North Esk inlier is one of several outcrops of Silurian sediments in the Midland Valley of Scotland. The lowermost sediments exposed are the Reservoir Formation, and these have been studied in detail. These sediments are interbedded shales and siltstones, deposited as the deepest part of a regressive sequence. The sediments are suggested to have been deposited predominantly by storm processes in an outer shelf or marginal basin environment, and not by turbidity currents into a deep ocean basin as previously suggested. Decreasing water depths can be traced by changes in sedimentary structures and in the animals and their bioturbation traces fossilised therein. A correspondence between the graptolites preserved in the North Esk group and models for distribution of graptolites in depth related zones is observed and is compared with other taxa thought to be indicative of water depth. Cycles of sedimentation are identified and also record fluctuations in the water depth.The NEI sediments were deposited in the remnant lapetus ocean basin at the time of a three plate collision. The sediments are currently sub-vertically oriented. Emplacement at this attitude was probably associated with thrusting at depth, in turn related to strike-slip movement o f separate terranes along the southern margin of Laurentia. Minor small scale bedding-parallel thrusts are evidence of this at the surface. The North Esk inlier sediments were probably part of a tcrranc now of unknown extent. Minor folding, local thrusting and faulting, indicating one major phase of tectonic deformation are described. Compressional kink folding took place, with pressure applied obliquely to foliation (bedding). Areas of chevron folding and kink bands correspond to deformation along Caledonian trends. The northern boundary of the NEI, previously thought to be fault controlled, is reinterpreted as the regional unconformity at the base of the Upper Old Red Sandstone. Metabentonite horizons are identified. The volcanic source of these ash falls is suggested to have been of calc-alkaline character, and an increase in alkalinity of the volcanic source in Scotland during the Telychian is suggested.A study of the fossils preserved has led to a review of late Llandovery graptolite biostratigraphy. A biozonal scheme based on that currently in use in other parts of the world, particularly in Bohemia, is introduced. Three Llandovery graptolite biozoncs arc recognised between the crenulata biozone and the base of the Wenlock. The Reservoir Formation sediments are correlated with the middle of the O. spiralis graptolite biozone, upper Telychian. Comparisons are made with the biozonal schemes for other fossil groups, and the P. celloni. to P. amorphognathoides conodont biozonc boundary is accurately identified within the Gutterford Burn sediments, facilitating accurate correlation between graptolite and conodont biozonal schemes.Revised taxonomic descriptions and notes on a number of species of graptoloid and dendroid are presented. Further work on the dendroid Dictyonema pentlandica has identified normal and abnormal dendroid growth patterns. The response of dendroids to trauma, and disease are described and possible uses of dendroids as palaeoenvironment and palaeocurrent-direction indicators are discussed. A model for the secretion of dendroid holdfasts by mobile zooids distributed across the sediment surface is suggested, and possible dendroid reproductive processes are outlined.A new technique of producing graptolite “Profile Plots” is introduced. These plots are used to identify, characterise and compare different graptoloid species, where a number of species with similar thecal structure are known. The rate of expansion of the stipe at different levels within the colony and the thecal size can be compared, and characteristic profiles plotted for each species. This technique has possible future uses in the computerised identification of graptolites