Sphagnum restoration on degraded blanket and raised bogs in the UK using micropropagated source material: a review of progress

There is a growing demand for a supply of Sphagnum to re-introduce to degraded peatlands. However, available supplies of Sphagnum of the desired species are often limited. We describe the propagation of Sphagnum from vegetative material in sterile tissue culture and the introduction of juvenile mosses into the field. Sphagnum produced in the laboratory in three different forms (beads, gel and plugs) was introduced to different peatland surfaces on upland degraded blanket bog and lowland cut-over peatland in northern England. On degraded blanket bog, the establishment of mixed-species Sphagnum plugs was typically 99 % while the survival of beads was much lower, ranging from little above zero on bare eroding peat to a maximum of 12 % on stabilised peat surfaces. On lowland cut-over peatland, all trials took place on peat with an expanding cover of Eriophorum angustifolium and tested Sphagnum gel as well as beads and plugs. This work showed that survival and establishment of plugs was high (99 %) and greater than for beads. Sphagnum gel reached a cover of 95 % in two years. The vegetative micropropagation of Sphagnum offers an effective source of Sphagnum for re-introduction to degraded peatlands

Review Section : Nature/Nurture Revisited I

Biologically oriented approaches to the study of human conflict have thus far been limited largely to the study of aggression. A sample of the literature on this topic is reviewed, drawing upon four major approaches: comparative psychology, ethology (including some popularized accounts), evolutionary-based theories, and several areas of human physiology. More sophisticated relationships between so-called "innate" and "acquired" determinants of behavior are discussed, along with the proper relevance of animal behavior studies for human behavior. Unless contained in a comprehensive theory which includes social and psychological variables, biolog ically oriented theories (although often valid within their domain) offer at best severely limited and at worst highly misleading explanations of complex social conflicts. The review concludes with a list of several positive contributions of these biological approaches and suggests that social scientists must become more knowledgeable about them.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/68270/2/10.1177_002200277401800206.pd

Coloration and morphology of the orchid mantis Hymenopus coronatus (Mantodea: Hymenopodidae)

10.1665/034.022.0106Journal of Orthoptera Research22135-4

Social signal processing: the research agenda

The exploration of how we react to the world and interact with it and each other remains one of the greatest scientific challenges. Latest research trends in cognitive sciences argue that our common view of intelligence is too narrow, ignoring a crucial range of abilities that matter immensely for how people do in life. This range of abilities is called social intelligence and includes the ability to express and recognise social signals produced during social interactions like agreement, politeness, empathy, friendliness, conflict, etc., coupled with the ability to manage them in order to get along well with others while winning their cooperation. Social Signal Processing (SSP) is the new research domain that aims at understanding and modelling social interactions (human-science goals), and at providing computers with similar abilities in human–computer interaction scenarios (technological goals). SSP is in its infancy, and the journey towards artificial social intelligence and socially aware computing is still long. This research agenda is twofold, a discussion about how the field is understood by people who are currently active in it and a discussion about issues that the researchers in this formative field face