Development of techniques for the restoration of temperate biogenic reefs

Biogenic reefs are of ecological importance due to the high levels of biodiversity they support and the valuable ecosystem services they provide. These reefs have limited distributions, are vulnerable to anthropogenic damage and their natural recovery has been estimated to be very slow. This project therefore aimed to develop restoration techniques that accelerate the natural recovery of biogenic reefs created by Serpula vermicularis (L.) (Polychaeta: Serpulidae), Limaria hians (G.) (Mollusca: Limacea) and Modiolus modiolus (L.) (Mollusca: Bivalvia) all three of which are of conservation importance in the North-East Atlantic. This aim was achieved through trials of novel restoration techniques to assess their potential for future larger scale restoration attempts. The addition of hard substrate proved a reliable restoration technique for all three of the study species. In particular, substrates providing structural complexity supported the highest abundance of recruits. Other restoration techniques, including stock enhancement and substrate stabilisation were found to be less effective. The timing for the deployment for these substrates was also shown to effect the abundance of S. vermicularis recruits, with materials deployed in July having 61 % more colonists than materials deployed in November. The location of deployed substrates within the Loch Creran, Scotland were also shown to create differences in S. vermicularis recruitment, with sites away from existing reefs having 72 % more recruits than sites within existing reef areas. Differences in the effectiveness of restoration treatments between sites was also observed for M. modiolus, with Loch Creran and Scapa Flow sites having on average 1.15 and 1.03 juveniles per restoration unit respectively, compared to 70 juveniles per unit at the site north of Lleyn Peninsula, Wales. The project also highlights taxonomic problems with the identification of juvenile M. modiolus, before providing a robust method validated using DNA barcoding techniques to differentiation M. modiolus from other juvenile bivalves. Whilst the project suggests that the successful restoration of these three biogenic reef-forming species is achievable, it also highlights that the first step in any restoration project must be the removal of pressures on that habitat. The substantial decline in the L. hians reef off Port Appin, Scotland from 40.5 hectares in 2006 to just 2.73 hectares in 2015 shows that without this first step any attempted restoration project would not succeed

Geology of the Newtonmore-Ben Macdui district : Bedrock and superficial geology of the Newtonmore-Ben Macdui district : description for sheet 64 (Scotland)

This report provides an account of the geology of the Newtonmore-Ben Macdui district in the Grampian Highlands of Scotland, which extends from the Cairngorm massif in the north-east, west across to the Upper Spey valley and south into the upper parts of Glen Tilt and Glen Fearnach. The district is nearly all remote countryside with steep-sided glens between upland plateaus with relatively few distinct mountain peaks. The entire area lies within the Cairngorm National Park and much of the land is covered by large estates run for game conservation and recreational sports. The bulk of the rocks are metasedimentary and most of these are assigned to the Neoproterozoic Dalradian Supergroup (Figure 1). In the north-west near Newtonmore, a ridge or ‘palaeohigh’ of older metasedimentary rocks, the Glen Banchor Subgroup, is considered to lie below the Dalradian. The Dalradian Supergroup forms a thick succession of originally clastic, carbonate and pelitic rocks. Much of the latter is graphitic and pelagic in origin. The metasedimentary rocks were intruded by relatively minor basic igneous and granitic bodies as the Rodinian palaeocontinent broke up. At about 470 Ma the Laurentian continental margin collided with an island arc causing the Grampian Event of the Caledonian Orogeny. The orogeny is mainly manifest in four deformation phases which included early large nappe-like folds, ductile shear-zones and prograde Barrovian regional metamorphism. Most of the rocks in this district lie within the kyanite zone but, because most of the rocks are siliceous, this index mineral is scarce. Semipelitic rocks are locally migmatitic. The earlier Precambrian metamorphism in the Glen Banchor Subgroup is overprinted by the Grampian metamorphism

Workshop on Database Programming Languages

These are the revised proceedings of the Workshop on Database Programming Languages held at Roscoff, Finistère, France in September of 1987. The last few years have seen an enormous activity in the development of new programming languages and new programming environments for databases. The purpose of the workshop was to bring together researchers from both databases and programming languages to discuss recent developments in the two areas in the hope of overcoming some of the obstacles that appear to prevent the construction of a uniform database programming environment. The workshop, which follows a previous workshop held in Appin, Scotland in 1985, was extremely successful. The organizers were delighted with both the quality and volume of the submissions for this meeting, and it was regrettable that more papers could not be accepted. Both the stimulating discussions and the excellent food and scenery of the Brittany coast made the meeting thoroughly enjoyable. There were three main foci for this workshop: the type systems suitable for databases (especially object-oriented and complex-object databases,) the representation and manipulation of persistent structures, and extensions to deductive databases that allow for more general and flexible programming. Many of the papers describe recent results, or work in progress, and are indicative of the latest research trends in database programming languages. The organizers are extremely grateful for the financial support given by CRAI (Italy), Altaïr (France) and AT&T (USA). We would also like to acknowledge the organizational help provided by Florence Deshors, Hélène Gans and Pauline Turcaud of Altaïr, and by Karen Carter of the University of Pennsylvania

An historical account of the social and ecological causes of Capercaillie Tetrao urogallus extinction and reintroduction in Scotland

The capercaillie is the largest member of the grouse family extant in Scotland. This species is reported to have become extinct during the 1700s. It is also reported to have been reintroduced to Scotland from Sweden during the 1800s. There have been many assertions made about the underlying causes of the decline of the species; however the specific causal factors remain unknown. The reintroduction of the capercaillie to Scotland in the 1800s is the only successful reintroduction of a grouse species ever to have occurred in the world. The specific factors behind the success of the reintroduction also remain unknown. This thesis examines the extent to which a selection of historical documentary evidence can help to establish both the causes of the 18th century decline of the capercaillie in Scotland and the successes of the 19th century reintroduction. The methodology of this thesis incorporates facets from the fields of both environmental science and history. The methodology includes three steps. The first step involves the selection of a series of potential critical factors that may have been responsible for the decline of the species in the 1700s; these critical factors were selected from the present day understanding of the ecology and the behaviour of the capercaillie. The second step of the methodology includes the surveying of a series of historical documentary sources. From these surveys historical observations of the species were gathered. The historical documentary sources selected for examination in this thesis include what are referred to here as ‘primary historical source material’ and ‘secondary historical source material’. The majority of the primary historical source material was gathered from the hand written manuscripts of the Breadalbane estate, held at the National Archives of Scotland (NAS) and the Atholl estate held at the Blair Castle Charter Room in Blair Atholl. Other select primary historical source material consulted to a lesser extent, due to time constraints, includes the Forfeited Estates (1745) Inventory and the Baron Court Records for Strathspey and Urquhart (1617–1683) from the Grant estate muniments; both held at the NAS. The secondary historical source material was gathered from published and edited literary collections that include historical accounts of the species. The third and final step of the methodology involves the synthesis of both the historical and environmental information in order to establish to what extent the causes of both the decline of the species in the 1700s and success of its reintroduction in the 1800s can be realised. The findings from this thesis assert that the capercaillie was resident in Scotland from, at least, the end of the Medieval. Moving forward from the Middle Ages this thesis presents observations of the capercaillie throughout the historical period. These observations of the capercaillie appear in many different historical accounts. In some instances these observations are fleeting and do not form the main subject of the particular document in question. In other instances accounts of the species are much more detailed and include references to the ecology and behaviour of the bird. The level of detail included in an observation aside, the frequency with which the species is referred to in the sample of historical documents suggests that sections of the Scottish human population were familiar with the species, in various locations and at various times throughout history. By the 17th century the capercaillie is reported as beginning to become rare in some locations while still remaining comparatively abundant in others. The number of instances where the species is referred to as becoming rare in the historical documents increases between the 17th and the 19th centuries. Despite the reported scarceness of the species in Scotland from around the 17th century onwards, the capercaillie is recorded as persisting in Scotland until around the end of the 1700s. By the early 1800s the number of observations of the species in the secondary historical source material increases. All of the observations in the secondary sources from the early 1800s record the absence of the species from localities and regions of Scotland. No new evidence was found in either the primary or secondary historical source material to challenge the supposition that the capercaillie did become extinct in Scotland after 1785. No detailed quantitative data was available for analysis of the decline of the species. Thus, to investigate the extent to which the historical accounts can help explain the specific causal factors of the reported decline, a synthesis of the environmental and historical data was necessary. The findings of this synthesis suggest that the naturally occurring Scottish population of capercaillie probably persisted in the form of a metapopulation. The two hundred years between the 17th and 19th century most likely saw the extinction of capercaillie sub-populations, before the loss of the overall population of capercaillie around 1785. The sample historical documentary evidence alludes to this pattern of local and/or regional extinction of sub-populations. The cause or causes of the extinction of these sub-populations has focussed on five limiting or critical factors known to affect the species today. These five factors are climate change, particularly weather effects associated with the Little Ice Age, habitat loss and deterioration, disturbance, human hunting and predation by species other than humans also contributed to the species’ extinction. The extent to which these critical factors affected each sub-population would have varied between regions of Scotland occupied by the capercaillie in history. This thesis proposes that there was no single or combination of specific critical factors that were ultimately responsible for the decline of the capercaillie in Scotland during the 1700s. In some areas the capercaillie sub-populations would have most likely died out as a result of habitat loss and deterioration and climate change. Whereas in others predation and inbreeding may have been the critical factors responsible for the species’ demise. More detailed information referring to the capercaillie was found in the historical documentary source material for the period post-extinction (i.e. 1800 onwards). Contrary to popular understanding numerous attempts to reintroduce the capercaillie to Scotland were carried out before the Marquis of Breadalbane’s successful programme in 1837. The historical documentary evidence reports early attempts to reintroduce the species to locations such as the Isle of Arran in 1807, on the Duke of Atholl’s estate in 1822 and on the Earl of Mar’s estate in 1824. None of these reintroduction programmes are reported to have been successful in establishing a ‘wild’ population. However, in some instances the captive rearing programmes initiated did bear some fruit and captive reared birds were sent from Dunkeld by the Duke of Atholl to Kenmore and were used in Breadalbane’s successful reintroduction in 1837. The historical documents report two causes for the failure of these early reintroduction attempts. The first is the sudden death of captive birds, most likely as a result of choking due to stress as observed in recent rearing programmes (i.e. Moss 1986). The reintroduced Arran population is reported to have become extinct in this fashion. The second reported cause of failure is predation by species other than man. For example the entire population of birds brought to Scotland by the Earl of Mar were predated when released on his estate. This thesis offers two critical factors as explanations for the remarkable success of the capercaillie’s reintroduction to Scotland in the 19th century. The first is the method by which the reintroduction was carried out; specifically, the re-establishment of a series of capercaillie sub-populations in different regions of Scotland. It is proposed here that the second critical factor that made the reintroduction a success was the reduction of capercaillie mortality throughout their life-cycle to a very low level; brought about by the human control of predators

Appeasing the saint in the loch and the physician in the asylum: The historical geography of insanity in the Scottish Highlands and Islands, from the early modern to Victorian eras

This thesis examines the historical geography of lunacy in the Scottish Highlands and Islands. Using a wide variety of sources, the objective is to construct an expansive picture of the manner in which those labelled as “mad” were treated and managed in this peripheral region of mainland Britain, from the Medieval Period to the late-Victorian period. The scope includes Medieval Celtic manuscripts, nineteenth-century folklore collections, Lunacy Commissioners’ reports, Sheriff Court records, asylum case notes and various other documents besides. These sources open windows on a variety of vocabularies, writings, stories and proclamations through which madness was socially constructed, and then substantively treated, in this remotest of regions. In effect, the thesis sets regional folklore, as a way of accessing the “traditional” worlds of Highland madness from the “bottom-up”, in counterpoint to the likes of Lunacy Commissioners reports, as an instance of the “modernising” of these worlds through medical-institutional means from the “top-down”. The interlocking binaries here are to an extent then scrambled by exploring different dimensions of this interaction between “bottom-up” and “top-down”, charting continuities as well as breaks in attitudes and practices, and thereby constructing a tangled picture of how the Highlands have come to tackle this most challenging of human conditions. The account that follows is thoroughly informed by the historical, social and spatial context of the Highlands, always recognising that madness and its responses must be seen as indelibly placed, contextually shaped and ‘read’ through the region. While the historiography of madness and psychiatry has already considered the Scottish Lowlands experience from various angles, the Highlands have remained all but untouched and their archives unopened. This thesis begins the task of addressing this serious lacuna

Sedition at the supper table: the material culture of the Jacobite wars, 1688-1760

The Jacobite era (1688-1760) was a time of political, social, and economic change, when political culture and social practices combined with new technologies to produce material means of expression that are recognisably modern. By examining the material culture of the Jacobite wars, this thesis explores the ways in which artefacts reflect and inform the socio-political milieu. Specifically, it looks at how domestic objects became an extension of conflict in the period of study, acting as agents of political expression as well as aesthetic taste as warfare moved from the battlefield into the home. This research documents the ways in which individuals in the late-17th and 18th centuries used material culture to further political agendas by examining artefacts held in collections throughout Scotland. This politicised material culture struggled to negotiate the realities of war within an increasingly polite, Enlightenment society. The messy, divisive political factionalism that characterised the period hid behind a veneer of artistic craft. Political causes were planned and furthered alongside convivial habits like drinking, smoking, and snuff-taking, each of which required specialised material culture. Artefacts such as snuff boxes, wineglasses, and punch ladles were emblazoned with propagandistic sentiments, blending sociability and political expression. Jacobite, Williamite, and Hanoverian rulers materially represented power and authority through objects like medals and portrait ceramics, as well as the official material culture of state. In return, their subjects expressed loyalty and resistance through a variety of material goods, like household textiles and furnishings, or personal dress. Artefacts also commemorated and memorialised events and individuals, with specific types of objects blurring the ambiguous distinction between artefact and relic. These artefacts have maintained a prominent place in popular imagination over time and still have a resonance today. They have been sought out by private and corporate collectors, as well as public institutions, and there is a robust market for this material culture at auction. This study provides an examination of the collection and display of Jacobite-era artefacts from the end of the 18th century to the present, specifically highlighting the collections of individuals like Sir Walter Scott, Alexander Carmichael, and Frederick Duleep Singh, as well as institutional collections such as the National Museum of Scotland (formerly the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland), as recorded by the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, and the corporate Drambuie Collection. Further data was gleaned from Jacobite-era artefacts at auction (2000 - 2012) at Christie's, Sotheby's, Bonham's, and Lyon & Turnbull. Finally, this thesis looks at the ways in which the material culture of the Jacobite wars has been exhibited from the 19th century onwards, and how specific types of artefacts have come to materially represent an accepted narrative of the Jacobite wars. Key exhibitions examined in detail include the 1903 Highland and Jacobite Exhibition in Inverness, the 1911 Scottish Exhibition of National History, Art, & Industry in Glasgow, the 1938 Empire Exhibition in Glasgow, the 1996 The Swords and the Sorrows exhibit in Edinburgh, the 2010 Rebels with a Cause: that Jacobites and the Global Imagination exhibit at Holyrood, and the 2011 Imagining Power: the Visual Culture of the Jacobite Cause at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery. This thesis assesses collections of artefacts from the Jacobite era, bringing research on this material up to date, while offering fresh interpretations and thoughtful analysis of the cultural importance of these objects in their contemporary period as well as their modern significance. It interrogates this subset of artefacts and expands available resources for future study

The Geometric Division of Space. Frameworks for Design Analysts

This research aims to explore the persistence of geometric constructions and focuses on related issues such as proportions in the visual arts, design and architecture in both historical and modern contexts. Based on literature review, a comprehensive understanding on how geometric constructions function as (hidden) guidelines in design practice is developed. This research adopts a qualitative research approach underpinned by the analysis of case study material. Five case study groups are selected and studied. They are: terracotta warriors, Xi'an (China); cathedral floor plans; Scottish clan tartans; posters; web-pages. Novel analytical methods are developed based on certain geometric structures and related proportions and their use in the areas of human body proportion, architecture, textiles, graphic design and interface design. From the research, it is found that certain space division methods and proportions are found to be used frequently in more than one design discipline. There is an indication that certain proportions are more preferred by human eyes than others. After analysis and summaries of the space division methods associated with each case study group, a range of frameworks of value to design analysts is proposed. Each case study can be considered to yield a unique framework of value to analysts considering similar case study material. Thus the contributions of this study include: an explanation of why geometry structures are powerful compositional aids; a contribution to the scholarly debate; further knowledge which may be of value to analysts across the full spectrum of visual art and design

Ministers of ‘the Black Art’: the engagement of British clergy with photography, 1839-1914

This thesis examines the work of ordained clergymen, of all denominations, who were active photographers between 1839 and the beginning of World War One: its primary aim is to investigate the extent to which a relationship existed between the religious culture of the individual clergyman and the nature of his photographic activities. Ministers of ‘the Black Art’ makes a significant intervention in the study of the history of photography by addressing a major weakness in existing work. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, the research draws on a wide range of primary and secondary sources such as printed books, sermons, religious pamphlets, parish and missionary newsletters, manuscript diaries, correspondence, notebooks, biographies and works of church history, as well as visual materials including original glass plate negatives, paper prints and lantern slides held in archival collections, postcards, camera catalogues, photographic ephemera and photographically-illustrated books. Through close readings of both textual and visual sources, my thesis argues that factors such as religious denomination, theological opinion and cultural identity helped to influence not only the photographs taken by these clergymen, but also the way in which these photographs were created and used. Conversely, patterns also emerge that provide insights into how different clergymen integrated their photographic activities within their wider religious life and pastoral duties. The relationship between religious culture and photographic aesthetics explored in my thesis contributes to a number of key questions in Victorian Studies, including the tension between clergy and professional scientists as they struggled over claims to authority, participation in debates about rural traditions and church restoration, questions about moral truth and objectivity, as well as the distinctive experience and approaches of Roman Catholic clergy. The research thus demonstrates the range of applications of clerical photography and the extent to which religious factors were significant. Almost 200 clergymen-photographers have been identified during this research, and biographical data is provided in an appendix. Ministers of the Black Art aims at filling a gap in scholarship caused by the absence of any substantial interdisciplinary research connecting the fields of photohistory and religious studies. While a few individual clergymen-photographers have been the subject of academic research – perhaps excessively in the case of Charles Dodgson – no attempt has been made to analyse their activities comprehensively. This thesis is therefore unique in both its far-ranging scope and the fact that the researcher has a background rooted in both theological studies and the history of photography. Ecclesiastical historians are generally as unfamiliar with the technical and aesthetic aspects of photography as photohistorians are with theological nuances and the complex variations of Victorian religious beliefs and practices. This thesis attempts to bridge this gulf, making novel connections between hitherto disparate fields of study. By bringing these religious factors to the foreground, a more nuanced understanding of Victorian visual culture emerges; by taking an independent line away from both the canonical historiography of photography and more recent approaches that depict photography as a means of social control and surveillance, this research will stimulate further discussion about how photography operates on the boundaries between private and public, amateur and professional, material and spiritual