A synthesis of the echinoderm fauna of the Maltese Islands

A review of existing literature records of echinoderms from Malta and a study of a large collection of specimens was carried out between 2000 and 2004 so as to update and produce a validated checklist of echinoderms occurring in Maltese waters. Seventy different species of echinoderms are recorded, including a number of species for which only single records exist for the Maltese islands and five species that were not found in the present study. The Maltese echinoderm fauna includes 45% of the 153 recorded Mediterranean echinoderm species, and apart from two aliens, is typical of the central Mediterranean region.peer-reviewe

Een kwalitatieve en kwantitatieve bemonstering van de Zeeuwse Banken in 2009 op de macrofauna gemeenschappen

Het gebied van de Zeeuwse Banken is, vergeleken met overige Nederlandse waterlichamen weinig onderzocht op bodemfauna en staat daarnaast al geruime tijd onder exploitatie door visserij en bodemsediment extractie. Gezien de bijzondere geologische structuren en locatie van deze zandbanken werd een buitengewone fauna verwacht aanwezig te zijn. Voor de zandwinning op zee wordt een vergunning afgegeven op basis van een Milieu Effect Rapportage. Deze MER is gekoppeld aan een Evaluatieprogramma waarin op biologische aspect aandacht gevraagd wordt voor verschillende aspecten van rekolonisatie van het gebied na extractie, de benthosgemeenschappen en de aanwezigheid en ontwikkeling van schelpdierbanken. Het is in dit kader dat er in 2009 een verkenning in het gebied naar de aanwezige bodemdieren heeft plaats gevonden. Deze rapportage doet verslag van die bevindingen

MEMO: Gemeenschapsanalyse bodemschaafgegevens 2009-2012 en boxcorermonsters 2009–2011 in de Zeeuwse banken

Occupational Therapists (OTs) who recommend housing adaptations for people with disabilities, funded through public finance, must satisfy professional codes of practice and the employing local authority requirement to allocate finite resources effectively and fairly. At the same time they must also meet service user expectations. Ethical reasoning will be required to balance these demands whilst practising to a personally acceptable professional standard. This study investigates how OTs understand themselves to develop a sense of fairness and how they use their community of practice in developing professional ethical practice. This was a 2 part methodology. Firstly, OTs from 2 community services were invited to participate in small discussion groups. 3 group sessions, of different sizes ranging from 2-6 participants and duration of 2-3 hours, were recorded in which OTs discussed cases which posed ethical challenges with respect to fairness. All participants were female. Secondly, 4 individual interviews with volunteers from the groups were recorded to collect OT narratives of personal ethical development. Transcripts were analysed using a literary-critical approach focussing for transcripts of group sessions on dialogue in community of practice and ethical approaches used; focussing for interview transcripts on the process of ethical development. OTs were shown developing professional practice dialogically within their own community of practice groups. This finding confirms the importance for professional development of encouraging opportunities for dialogical interaction between OTs. Practical reasoning about justice as theorised by Sen (2009) better characterised OT ethical reasoning practices than biomedical-ethical approach applying universal, abstract ethical principles. OT narratives of ethical development fitted the Aristotelian model of growth in virtue as a whole, across both professional and personal aspects of life. Empathy was tentatively categorised as a virtue rather than a technical skill in this context. Empathy contributed to OT clinical reasoning processes as well as ethical reasoning.<br/

Bemonstering van de macrofauna op de Zeeuwse Banken in 2010

Op de Zeeuwse Banken worden schelpdieren, gastropoden en bivalven, in lage dichtheden aangetroffen in de diepere dalen tussen de banken en zijn daarmee op de grens van of buiten bereik van schelpdier etende zeevogels, in het bijzonder zee-eenden. Op de toppen van de banken zijn de dichtheden van schelpdieren zeer laag waarmee het gebied als foerageergebied niet van betekenis is. Gezien de bestaande natuurlijke dynamiek van de Zeeuwse Banken is de verwachting dat het gebied ook niet van belang is voor schelpdierbanken. De grote overeenkomst in resultaten tussen 2009 en 2010 bevestigen de conclusies in de rapportage van 2009

Recovery of substrates and macro-benthos after fishing trials with a new Portuguese clam dredge

The effect of dredging on bottom structure was assessed, to estimate the damage inflicted on the benthic macrofauna left on the dredge path and to evaluate aggregations of scavengers within the track. Sediment suspended during dredging rapidly resettled both on sand and sandy-mud bottoms. Dredge tracks were deeper on sandy-mud sediments and persisted longer than in sandy sediments. The disappearance of tracks in both sediment types depended both on current strength and wave action. Damage and mortality induced by dredging on the macrobenthic animals left on the dredge path was relatively low. Post-fishing diver observations showed that damaged animals left on the dredge path rapidly attracted scavengers, mainly Ophiura albida. Immediately after the tow ophiuras reached densities 8 times greater in the track region than in the background. However, they dispersed again rapidly because only few damaged fauna were available on the dredge tracks. Undamaged or slightly damaged shellfish started to rebury immediately after escaping from the dredge

Macrofauna assemblages in a XVIIth century shipwreck: comparison with those on natural reefs and sandy bottoms

The macrofauna assemblages of a XVIIth century shipwreck off southern Portugal were studied and compared with those of nearby natural reefs and sandy bottoms, by underwater visual census. A total of 11 173 specimens of 224 different fauna taxa and 12 phyla were recorded. Natural reefs had the highest density of specimens (35 122 / 1000 m2) followed by the shipwreck (21 392 / 1000 m2) and the sandy bottoms (3771 / 1000 m2). Three biodiversity indices were estimated (Margalef, Shannon- Wiener and Pielou), with the natural reefs showing the highest values. However, the shipwreck presented values relatively similar to those of the natural reefs for the Shannon-Wiener and Pielou indices. The three habitats were clearly distinguishable by multivariate statistical analysis, with the average dissimilarity between sand and shipwreck, and between sand and natural reefs being much higher than that between the shipwreck and the natural reefs. The shipwreck had higher abundances of some commercially important species, such as the pouting Trisopterus luscus, European conger Conger conger, and common spider crab Maja squinado, as well as some vulnerable and threatened species such as the pink seafan Eunicella verrucosa. The results presented emphasize the importance of this habitat on the southern Portuguese coast.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio