Geodynamic setting and origin of the Oman/UAE ophiolite

The ~500km-long mid-Cretaceous Semail nappe of the Sultanate of Oman and UAE (henceforth referred to as the Oman ophiolite) is the largest and best-preserved ophiolite complex known. It is of particular importance because it is generally believed to have an internal structure and composition closely comparable to that of crust formed at the present-day East Pacific Rise (EPR), making it our only known on-land analogue for ocean lithosphere formed at a fast spreading rate. On the basis of this assumption Oman has long played a pivotal role in guiding our conceptual understanding of fast-spreading ridge processes, as modern fast-spread ocean crust is largely inaccessible

Investigation of a new bis(carboxylate)triazole-based anchoring ligand for dye-sensitised solar cell chromophore complexes

A novel anchoring ligand for dye-sensitised solar cell chromophoric complexes, 1-(2,2’-bipyrid-4-yl)-1,2,3-triazole-4,5-dicarboxylic acid (dctzbpy), is described. The new dye complexes [Ru(bpy)2(dctzbpy)][PF6]2 (AS16), [Ir(ppy)2(dctzbpy)][PF6] (AS17) and [Re(dctzbpy)(CO)3Cl] (AS18) were prepared in a two stage procedure with intermediate isolation of their diester analogues, AS16-Et2, AS17-Et2 and AS18-Et2 respectively. Electrochemical analysis of AS16-Et2, AS17-Et2 and AS18-Et2 reveal reduction potentials in the range -1.50 to -1.59 V (vs Fc+/Fc) which is cathodically shifted with respect to that of the model complex [Ru(bpy)2(dcbH2)]2+ (1) (Ered = -1.34 V, dcbH2 = 2,2’-bipyridyl-4,4’dicarboxylic acid). This therefore demonstrates that the LUMO of the complex is correctly positioned for favourable electron transfer into the TiO2 conduction band upon photoexcitation. The higher energy LUMOs for AS16 to AS18 and a larger HOMO-LUMO gap result in blue-shifted absorption spectra and hence reduced light harvesting efficiency relative to their dcbH2 analogues. Preliminary tests on TiO2 n-type and NiO p-type DSSCs have been carried out. In the cases of the Ir(III) and Re(I) based dyes AS17 and AS18 these show inferior performance to their dcbH2 analogues. However, the Ru(II) dye AS16 (η = 0.61 %) exhibits significantly greater efficiency than 1 (η = 0.1 %). In a p-type cell AS16 shows the highest photovoltaic efficiency (η = 0.028 %), almost three times that of cells incorporating the benchmark dye coumarin C343

Qualitative impact assessment of land management interventions on Ecosystem Services (“QEIA”). Report 3.7: Cultural Services

The focus of this project was to provide a rapid qualitative assessment of land management interventions on Ecosystem Services (ES) proposed for inclusion in Environmental Land Management (ELM) schemes. This involved a review of the current evidence base by ten expert teams drawn from the independent research community in a consistent series of ten Evidence Reviews. These reviews were undertaken rapidly at Defra’s request and together captured more than 2000 individual sources of evidence. These reviews were then used to inform an Integrated Assessment (IA) to provide a more accessible summary of these evidence reviews with a focus on capturing the actions with the greatest potential magnitude of change for the intended ES and their potential co-benefits and trade-offs across the Ecosystem Services and Ecosystem Services Indicators. The final IA table captured scores for 741 actions across 8 Themes, 33 ES and 53 ES-indicators. This produced a total possible matrix of 39,273 scores. It should be noted that this piece of work is just one element of the wider underpinning work Defra has commissioned to support the development of the ELM schemes. The project was carried out in two phases with the environmental and provisioning services commissioned in Phase 1 and cultural and regulatory services in a follow-on Phase 2. Due to the urgency of the need for these evidence reviews, there was insufficient time for systematic reviews and therefore the reviews relied on the knowledge of the team of the peer reviewed and grey literature with some rapid additional checking of recent reports and papers. This limitation of the review process was clearly explained and understood by Defra. The review presented here is one of the ten evidence reviews which informed the IA

Adaptive responses of animals to climate change are most likely insufficient

Biological responses to climate change have been widely documented across taxa and regions, but it remains unclear whether species are maintaining a good match between phenotype and environment, i.e. whether observed trait changes are adaptive. Here we reviewed 10,090 abstracts and extracted data from 71 studies reported in 58 relevant publications, to assess quantitatively whether phenotypic trait changes associated with climate change are adaptive in animals. A meta-analysis focussing on birds, the taxon best represented in our dataset, suggests that global warming has not systematically affected morphological traits, but has advanced phenological traits. We demonstrate that these advances are adaptive for some species, but imperfect as evidenced by the observed consistent selection for earlier timing. Application of a theoretical model indicates that the evolutionary load imposed by incomplete adaptive responses to ongoing climate change may already be threatening the persistence of species. © 2019, The Author(s)

Qualitative Impact Assessment of Land Management Interventions on Ecosystem Services (“QEIA”). Report-1: Executive Summary: QEIA Evidence Review & Integrated Assessment

The focus of this project was to provide an expert-led, rapid qualitative assessment of land management interventions on Ecosystem Services (ES) proposed for inclusion in Environmental Land Management (ELM) schemes. This involved a review of the current evidence base for 741 land management actions on 33 Ecosystem Services and 53 Ecosystem Service indicators by ten teams involving 45 experts drawn from the independent research community in a consistent series of Evidence Reviews covering the broad topics of: • Air quality • Greenhouse gas emissions • Soils • Water management • Biodiversity: croplands • Biodiversity: improved grassland • Biodiversity: semi-natural habitats • Biodiversity: integrated systems-based actions • Carbon sequestration • Cultural services (including recreation, geodiversity and regulatory services). It should be noted that this piece of work is just one element of the wider underpinning work Defra has commissioned to support the development of the ELM schemes

Qualitative impact assessment of land management interventions on Ecosystem Services (‘QEIA’). Report-2: Integrated Assessment

The focus of this project was to provide an expert-led, rapid qualitative assessment of land management interventions on Ecosystem Services (ES) proposed for inclusion in Environmental Land Management (ELM) schemes. This involved a review of the current evidence base for 741 land management actions on 33 Ecosystem Services and 53 Ecosystem Service indicators by ten expert teams drawn from the independent research community in a consistent series of ten Evidence Reviews covering the broad topics of; • Air quality • Greenhouse gas emissions • Soils • Water management • Biodiversity: croplands • Biodiversity: improved grassland • Biodiversity: semi-natural habitats • Biodiversity: integrated systems-based actions • Carbon sequestration • Cultural services (including recreation, geodiversity and regulatory services) These reviews were undertaken rapidly at Defra’s request by ten teams involving 45 experts who together captured more than 2,400 individual sources of evidence. This was followed by the Integrated Assessment (IA) reported here to provide a more accessible summary of these evidence reviews with a focus on capturing the actions with the greatest potential magnitude of change for the intended ES, and their potential co-benefits and trade-offs for the other ES

Qualitative impact assessment of land management interventions on ecosystem services (‘QEIA’). Report-2: integrated assessment

This project assessed the impacts of 741 potential land management actions, suitable for agricultural land in England, on the Farming & Countryside Programme’s Environmental Objectives (and therefore Environment Act targets and climate commitments) through 53 relevant environmental and cultural service indicators. The project used a combination of expert opinion and rapid evidence reviews, which included 1000+ pages of evidence in 10 separate reports with reference to over 2400 published studies, and an Integrated Assessment comprising expert-derived qualitative impact scores. The project has ensured that ELM schemes are evidence-based, offer good value for money, and contribute to SoS priorities for farming

Adaptive responses of animals to climate change are most likely insufficient

Biological responses to climate change have been widely documented across taxa and regions, but it remains unclear whether species are maintaining a good match between phenotype and environment, i.e. whether observed trait changes are adaptive. Here we reviewed 10,090 abstracts and extracted data from 71 studies reported in 58 relevant publications, to assess quantitatively whether phenotypic trait changes associated with climate change are adaptive in animals. A meta-analysis focussing on birds, the taxon best represented in our dataset, suggests that global warming has not systematically affected morphological traits, but has advanced phenological traits. We demonstrate that these advances are adaptive for some species, but imperfect as evidenced by the observed consistent selection for earlier timing. Application of a theoretical model indicates that the evolutionary load imposed by incomplete adaptive responses to ongoing climate change may already be threatening the persistence of species.Peer reviewe