Palaeolimnological evidence for an east-west climate see-saw in the Mediterranean since AD 900

During the period of instrumental records, the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) has strongly influenced inter-annual precipitation variations in the western Mediterranean, while some eastern parts of the basin have shown an anti-phase relationship in precipitation and atmospheric pressure. Here we explore how the NAO and other atmospheric circulation modes operated over the longer timescales of the Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA) and Little Ice Age (LIA). High-resolution palaeolimnological evidence from opposite ends of the Mediterranean basin, supplemented by other palaeoclimate data, is used to track shifts in regional hydro-climatic conditions. Multiple geochemical, sedimentological, isotopic and palaeoecological proxies from Estanya and Montcortés lakes in northeast Spain and Nar lake in central Turkey have been cross-correlated at decadal time intervals since AD 900. These dryland lakes capture sensitively changes in precipitation/evaporation (P/E) balance by adjustments in water level and salinity, and are especially valuable for reconstructing variability over decadal-centennial timescales. Iberian lakes show lower water levels and higher salinities during the 11th to 13th centuries synchronous with the MCA and generally more humid conditions during the 'LIA' (15th-19th centuries). This pattern is also clearly evident in tree-ring records from Morocco and from marine cores in the western Mediterranean Sea. In the eastern Mediterranean, palaeoclimatic records from Turkey, Greece and the Levant show generally drier hydro-climatic conditions during the LIA and a wetter phase during the MCA. This implies that a bipolar climate see-saw has operated in the Mediterranean for the last 1100. years. However, while western Mediterranean aridity appears consistent with persistent positive NAO state during the MCA, the pattern is less clear in the eastern Mediterranean. Here the strongest evidence for higher winter season precipitation during the MCA comes from central Turkey in the northeastern sector of the Mediterranean basin. This in turn implies that the LIA/MCA hydro-climatic pattern in the Mediterranean was determined by a combination of different climate modes along with major physical geographical controls, and not by NAO forcing alone, or that the character of the NAO and its teleconnections have been non-stationary. © 2011 Elsevier B.V

Morphometric, genetic and reproductive characteristics of mud crabs (genus Scylla de Haan, 1833) from Southeast Asia

The edible mud crab, genus Scylla, is important to fisheries and aquaculture throughout the Indo Pacific region, but its taxonomic status has been confused for decades and a new classification has only recently been proposed. This project was undertaken to investigate the species status of mud crabs in Southeast Asia, with a view to deciding whether two sympatric morphs of Scylla found in Ban Don Bay, Surat Thani Province, Thailand, are two separate species. A further aim was to elucidate any possible pre-zygotic reproductive isolating mechanisms (RIMs) and ecological features that maintain the apparent sympatry between these two morphs. Mud crabs were collected from a primary site (Surat Thani, Thailand) as well as from six other locations in Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and Bangladesh. Crab samples from the latter sites were used selectively to provide a comparison to the primary study site. Descriptive taxonomy, multivariate morphometrics and allozyme electrophoresis were used to a) determine the number of species present within the crab samples collected; b) to ascertain which species they represent; c) to discover any geographical variation between locations sampled; d) to produce a possible phylogeny that summaries the relationship between Scylla species; and e) to look for pre-zygotic RIMs to explain the sympatry of the two morphs in Surat Thani. Findings from the present study reinforce the recent revision of the taxonomy of the genus Scylla into four species, S. serrata, S. olivacea, S. tranquebarica and S. paramamosain and provides new information on two of the four species which are dominant within Southeast Asia, including Ban Don Bay, Surat Thani Province, S. paramamosain and S. olivacea. Population studies showed both genetic and morphological differentiation between conspecific populations of S. paramamosain and S. olivacea, indicating stock structure for each species, although there is some disparity between morphological and genetic distances for S. paramamosain. This is discussed in relation to the effects of larval dispersal mechanisms and the subsequent recruitment of juvenile crabs. Phylogenetic interpretation of both genetic and morphological characters revealed that both S. serrata and S. olivacea are the most diverged of the four Scylla species; however, the direction of evolution is open to interpretation and the evidence for either S. olivacea or S. serrata as the more primitive species are discussed. Reproductive studies on the two mud crab species found in Surat Thani revealed no physical barrier to hybridization. Both species have a protracted breeding season which continues throughout the year. However, the size at first sexual maturity was significantly smaller for S. olivacea when compared to S. paramamosain. This and other potential mechanisms that may maintain these two species sympatrically are discussed. The clarification of four Scylla species, and the establishment of diagnostic genetic and morphological characters that can be used to identify them, means that research can now focus on both the ecology and life history of these closely related species. Such information is needed urgently with respect to fisheries management as well as to understanding the environmental requirements of each species in order to develop their potential for aquaculture