Tablet PCs in schools: Case study report: A report for Becta by the Open University

The publication provides an analysis of twelve case studies involving schools in England that were using Tablet PCs. The analysis is complemented by brief individual reports describing aspects of how each of these schools was using Tablet PCs

Effects of Variable Oceanographic Conditions on Forage Fish Lipid Content and Fatty Acid Composition in the Northern California Current

Lipids and fatty acids (FA) were investigated in 4 species of forage fish: northern anchovy Engraulis mordax, Pacific sardine Sardinops sagax, Pacific herring Clupea pallasi, and whitebait smelt Allosmerus elongatus, for their ability to serve as biological indicators of ocean conditions in the California Current large marine ecosystem (CCLME). Samples were collected during the oceanographically contrasting years of 2005 and 2006. Upwelling was severely curtailed in the spring and early summer of 2005, leading to delayed biological productivity, whereas upwelling was relatively normal in spring 2006. Principal components analysis described 78% of the variance within the lipid and FA dataset using the first 2 principal components. We found significant intra- and interspecific, interannual, and seasonal differences in lipid and FA profiles using univariate and permutation- based multivariate analysis of variance. Indicator species analysis showed distinct lipid and FA properties associated with each fish species. Using the ratio of docosahexaenoic acid (C22:6n-3) to eicosapentaeonic acid (C20:5n-3), we detected a transition from a diet composed primarily of dinoflagellate origin in early 2005 to a diet resulting from diatom-based productivity by late summer 2006. This shift was due to interannual differences in primary production, which was confirmed through phytoplankton sampling. Our study demonstrates that lipid and FA biomarkers in the forage fish community can provide information on ocean conditions and productivity that affect food web structure in the CCLME

Diffusive equilibrium in thin-films (DET) provides evidence of suppression of hyporheic exchange and large-scale nitrate transformation in a groundwater-fed river

The hyporheic zone of riverbed sediments has the potential to attenuate nitrate from upwelling, polluted groundwater. However, the coarse-scale (5 – 10 cm) measurement of nitrogen biogeochemistry in the hyporheic zone can often mask fine-scale (<1 cm) biogeochemical patterns, especially in near-surface sediments, leading to incomplete or inaccurate representation of the capacity of the hyporheic zone to transform upwelling NO3-. In this study, we utilised diffusive equilibrium in thin-films (DET) samplers to capture high resolution (cm-scale) vertical concentration profiles of NO3-, SO42-, Fe and Mn in the upper 15 cm of armoured and permeable riverbed sediments. The goal was to test whether nitrate attenuation was occurring in a sub-reach characterised by strong vertical (upwelling) water fluxes. The vertical concentration profiles obtained from DET samplers indicate considerable cm-scale variability in NO3- (4.4 ± 2.9 mg N/L), SO42- (9.9 ± 3.1 mg/L) and dissolved Fe (1.6 ± 2.1 mg/L) and Mn (0.2 ± 0.2 mg/L). However, the overall trend suggests the absence of substantial net chemical transformations and surface-subsurface water mixing in the shallow sediments of our sub-reach under baseflow conditions. The significance of this is that upwelling NO3--rich groundwater does not appear to be attenuated in the riverbed sediments at <15 cm depth as might occur where hyporheic exchange flows deliver organic matter to the sediments for metabolic processes. It would appear that the chemical patterns observed in the shallow sediments of our sub-reach are not controlled exclusively by redox processes and / or hyporheic exchange flows. Deeper-seated groundwater fluxes and hydro-stratigraphy may be additional important drivers of chemical patterns in the shallow sediments of our study sub-reach. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved

Elemental Markers in Elasmobranchs: Effects of Environmental History and Growth on Vertebral Chemistry

Differences in the chemical composition of calcified skeletal structures (e.g. shells, otoliths) have proven useful for reconstructing the environmental history of many marine species. However, the extent to which ambient environmental conditions can be inferred from the elemental signatures within the vertebrae of elasmobranchs (sharks, skates, rays) has not been evaluated. To assess the relationship between water and vertebral elemental composition, we conducted two laboratory studies using round stingrays, Urobatis halleri, as a model species. First, we examined the effects of temperature (16°, 18°, 24°C) on vertebral elemental incorporation (Li/Ca, Mg/Ca, Mn/Ca, Zn/Ca, Sr/Ca, Ba/Ca). Second, we tested the relationship between water and subsequent vertebral elemental composition by manipulating dissolved barium concentrations (1x, 3x, 6x). We also evaluated the influence of natural variation in growth rate on elemental incorporation for both experiments. Finally, we examined the accuracy of classifying individuals to known environmental histories (temperature and barium treatments) using vertebral elemental composition. Temperature had strong, negative effects on the uptake of magnesium (D[subscript Mg]) and barium (D[subscript Ba]) and positively influenced manganese (D[subscript Mn]) incorporation. Temperature-dependent responses were not observed for lithium and strontium. Vertebral Ba/Ca was positively correlated with ambient Ba/Ca. Partition coefficients (D[subscript Ba]) revealed increased discrimination of barium in response to increased dissolved barium concentrations. There were no significant relationships between elemental incorporation and somatic growth or vertebral precipitation rates for any elements except Zn. Relationships between somatic growth rate and D[subscript Zn] were, however, inconsistent and inconclusive. Variation in the vertebral elemental signatures of U. halleri reliably distinguished individual rays from each treatment based on temperature (85%) and Ba exposure (96%) history. These results support the assumption that vertebral elemental composition reflects the environmental conditions during deposition and validates the use of vertebral elemental signatures as natural markers in an elasmobranch. Vertebral elemental analysis is a promising tool for the study of elasmobranch population structure, movement, and habitat use

Quantification of Habitat and Community Relationships among Nearshore Temperate Fishes Through Analysis of Drop Camera Video

Temperate nearshore reefs along the Pacific coast of North America are highly valuable to commercial and recreational fisheries yet comprise a small fraction of the seabed. Monitoring fisheries resources in this region is difficult; high-relief structural complexity and adverse sea conditions have led to a paucity of information on temperate reef species assemblage patterns. Reliable, inexpensive tools and methods for monitoring are needed, as many traditional tools are both logistically complicated and expensive, limiting the frequency of their implementation over a large scale. Video drop cameras of varying designs have previously been employed to estimate fish abundance and distribution. We surveyed a nearshore rocky reef off the northern Oregon coast with a video lander (a video camera mounted on a landing platform so it can be dropped to the seafloor) over the spring and winter of 2011. We designed a 272-point systematic grid to document the species assemblage and the distribution and habitat associations of the reef species, including two overfished rockfishes: Canary Rockfish Sebastes pinniger and Yelloweye Rockfish Sebastes ruberrimus. Species assemblages differed significantly across the reef by depth and by season for the outer part of the reef. Well-defined habitat associations existed for many species; Canary Rockfish were associated with complex moderate-relief habitat types such as large boulders and small boulders, while Yelloweye Rockfish were associated with high-relief habitats like vertical walls. Species associations were evaluated pairwise to identify nearshore complexes. We compared our site with five exploratory reef sites off the central Oregon coast and found that nearshore reefs differed from our site, while offshore reefs were more similar. Video landers provide a solution to the need for increased sampling of temperate reef systems that are subject to difficult conditions and can contribute to habitat mapping, fish abundance indices, and fish assemblage information for monitoring and management of fisheries resources.This is the publisher’s final pdf. The published article is copyrighted by the author(s) and published by Taylor & Francis. The published article can be found at: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19425120.2015.100718

The relationship between maternal phenotype and offspring quality: Do older mothers really produce the best offspring?

Maternal effects are increasingly recognized as important drivers of population dynamics and determinants of evolutionary trajectories. Recently, there has been a proliferation of studies finding or citing a positive relationship between maternal size/age and offspring size or offspring quality. The relationship between maternal phenotype and offspring size is intriguing in that it is unclear why young mothers should produce offspring of inferior quality or fitness. Here we evaluate the underlying evolutionary pressures that may lead to a maternal size/age-offspring size correlation and consider the likelihood that such a correlation results in a positive relationship between the age or size of mothers and the fitness of their offspring. We find that, while there are a number of reasons why selection may favor the production of larger offspring by larger mothers, this change in size is more likely due to associated changes in the maternal phenotype that affect the offspring size-performance relationship. We did not find evidence that the offspring of older females should have intrinsically higher fitness. When we explored this issue theoretically, the only instance in which smaller mothers produce suboptimal offspring sizes is when a (largely unsupported) constraint on maximum offspring size is introduced into the model. It is clear that larger offspring fare better than smaller offspring when reared in the same environment, but this misses a critical point: different environments elicit selection for different optimal sizes of young. We suggest that caution should be exercised when interpreting the outcome of offspring-size experiments when offspring from different mothers are reared in a common environment, because this approach may remove the source of selection (e.g., reproducing in different context) that induced a shift in offspring size in the first place. It has been suggested that fish stocks should be managed to preserve these older age classes because larger mothers produce offspring with a greater chance of survival and subsequent recruitment. Overall, we suggest that, while there are clear and compelling reasons for preserving older females in exploited populations, there is little theoretical justification or evidence that older mothers produce offspring with higher per capita fitness than do younger mothers