Understanding the retinal basis of vision across species

The vertebrate retina first evolved some 500 million years ago in ancestral marine chordates. Since then, the eyes of different species have been tuned to best support their unique visuoecological lifestyles. Visual specializations in eye designs, large-scale inhomogeneities across the retinal surface and local circuit motifs mean that all species' retinas are unique. Computational theories, such as the efficient coding hypothesis, have come a long way towards an explanation of the basic features of retinal organization and function; however, they cannot explain the full extent of retinal diversity within and across species. To build a truly general understanding of vertebrate vision and the retina's computational purpose, it is therefore important to more quantitatively relate different species' retinal functions to their specific natural environments and behavioural requirements. Ultimately, the goal of such efforts should be to build up to a more general theory of vision

An approach for the identification of exemplar sites for scaling up targeted field observations of benthic biogeochemistry in heterogeneous environments

Continental shelf sediments are globally important for biogeochemical activity. Quantification of shelf-scale stocks and fluxes of carbon and nutrients requires the extrapolation of observations made at limited points in space and time. The procedure for selecting exemplar sites to form the basis of this up-scaling is discussed in relation to a UK-funded research programme investigating biogeochemistry in shelf seas. A three-step selection process is proposed in which (1) a target area representative of UK shelf sediment heterogeneity is selected, (2) the target area is assessed for spatial heterogeneity in sediment and habitat type, bed and water column structure and hydrodynamic forcing, and (3) study sites are selected within this target area encompassing the range of spatial heterogeneity required to address key scientific questions regarding shelf scale biogeochemistry, and minimise confounding variables. This led to the selection of four sites within the Celtic Sea that are significantly different in terms of their sediment, bed structure, and macrofaunal, meiofaunal and microbial community structures and diversity, but have minimal variations in water depth, tidal and wave magnitudes and directions, temperature and salinity. They form the basis of a research cruise programme of observation, sampling and experimentation encompassing the spring bloom cycle. Typical variation in key biogeochemical, sediment, biological and hydrodynamic parameters over a pre to post bloom period are presented, with a discussion of anthropogenic influences in the region. This methodology ensures the best likelihood of site-specific work being useful for up-scaling activities, increasing our understanding of benthic biogeochemistry at the UK-shelf scale

Seasonal benthic nitrogen cycling in a temperate shelf sea: the Celtic Sea

We undertook a seasonal study of benthic N-cycling on the Celtic Sea continental shelf in 2015, augmented by an earlier cruise in 2014. Two cruises in 2015 were centred before and after the Spring phytoplankton bloom and a further cruise was carried out in late summer. Five sites covering the mud to sand continuum were visited on all cruises, where we determined ammonium-oxidation, anammox and denitrification rates, expression of anammox and denitrification genes, N-nutrient fluxes and sediment porewater profiles of N-nutrients. Highest process rates were found during the post-bloom and late summer periods. The Celtic Sea was overwhelmingly a source of inorganic-N to the overlying water column. The efflux of nitrate was controlled by the magnitude of ammonium-oxidation. The latter accounted for 10–16% of total Oxygen consumption in cohesive sediments and 35–56% in sandy sediments. Ammonium oxidation rates in the range of 0.001–2.288 mmol m−2 days−1 were inversely correlated with sediment porosity and positively correlated with organic matter content (OM) which together explained 66% of the variance in rates. N-removal was dominated by anammox (0.003–0.636 mmol m−2 days−1), rather than denitrification (0.000–0.034 mmol m−2 days−1). This finding was supported by the corresponding gene expression data. The expression of hydrazine oxidoreductase (anammox) was significantly correlated with anammox and total N-removal rates. Anammox was positively correlated with porosity and OM, whilst denitrification was correlated with OM. The N-requirement of these processes was largely met through nitrification (ammonium-oxidation) rather than influx from the overlying water column. We estimated that N-removal via denitrification and anammox removed 6–9% of the organic-N deposited at the sea-floor from the overlying water column. The Celtic Sea system was thereby losing N which must be replenished on an annual basis in order to sustain productivity

Spatial and temporal variability in nutrient concentrations in Liverpool Bay, a temperate latitude region of freshwater influence

This paper presents data for the temporal and spatial distribution of nutrients in Liverpool Bay between 2003 and 2009 and an analysis of inputs of nutrients from the major rivers. The spatial distribution of winter nutrient concentrations are controlled by the region of freshwater influence (ROFI) in Liverpool Bay through the mixing of riverine freshwater and Irish Sea water, with strong linear relationships between nutrient concentration and salinity between December and February. The location of highest spring and summer phytoplankton biomass reflects the nutrient distributions as controlled by the ROFI. Analysis of 7 years of data showed that the seasonal cycle of winter maximum nutrient concentrations in February and drawdown in April/May is a recurrent feature of this location, with the timing of the drawdown varying by several weeks between years. A comparison of observed nutrient concentrations in Liverpool Bay with those predicted from inputs from rivers has been presented. Nutrient concentrations in the rivers flowing into Liverpool Bay were highly variable and there was reasonable agreement between predicted freshwater nutrient concentrations using data from this study and riverine nutrient concentrations weighted on the basis of river flow, although the exact nature of mixing between the rivers could not be determined. Predicted Irish Sea nutrient concentrations in the winter were lower than those reported for the input waters of the North Atlantic, supporting findings from previous work that nitrogen is lost through denitrification in the Irish Sea