Bryophytes of Uganda : 1., BBS Tropical Bryology Group expeditions, 1996-1998 ; introduction and collecting sites

The British Bryological Society Tropical Bryology Group (TBG) undertook three expeditions to Uganda, in Jan-Feb 1996, Jan-Feb 1997 and June-Jul 1998. Collections were made from 134 sites, mainly from national parks and forest reserves in western and southern Uganda

British Bryological Society expedition to Mulanje Mountain, Malawi : 13., new and other unpublished records

Further results are provided of the 1991 British Bryological Society Expedition to Mulanje Mt., Malawi including 168 taxa of bryophyte, comprising 72 taxa of liverwort (38 new to Malawi) and 96 taxa of mosses (45 new to Malawi)

An Exploratory Study into the Use of Psychology Participant Panels in Psychology Departments in the United Kingdom

Psychology Participant Pools (PPP) are known to be used within psychology departments in the United Kingdom as a way to promote understanding of psychological research and as a means to aid students and researchers to collect data. However, there is currently no information regarding the different practices undertaken in each department. This article represents a first exploration in this endeavour by asking representatives from these departments to complete a survey. General findings revealed that the number of studies conducted were either under 20 or over 40, Level 4 students had to obtain slightly more credits than Level 5 students, a range of activities were observed for those participants who did not obtain all their credits, and the PPP was more often than not tied to a research methods module. Despite receiving responses from around only a third of departments, the results revealed a wide range of behaviours across the departments. We feel that these are useful for departments who wish to establish, or update, their own PPP, but also recognise that a larger study is required to more accurately capture the use of PPPs in the United Kingdom

Bryophytes of Uganda : 2., new and interesting records

51 hepatics and 46 mosses are reported new to Uganda, including one moss new to Africa, one hepatic and two mosses new to mainland Africa, and 2 hepatics that are otherwise known only from their type collection

Bryophytes of Europe Traits (BET) dataset: a fundamental tool for ecological studies

Bryophytes are a diverse group of organisms with unique properties, yet they are severely underrepresented in plant trait databases. Building on the recently published European Red List of bryophytes and previous trait compilations, we present the Bryophytes of Europe Traits (BET) data set, including biological traits such as those related to life history, growth habit, sexual and vegetative reproduction; ecological traits such as indicator values, substrate and habitat; and bioclimatic variables based on the species' European range. The data set includes values for 65 traits and 25 bio-climatic variables, containing more than 135,000 trait values with a completeness of 82.7% on average. The data set will enable future studies in bryophyte biology, ecology and conservation, and may help to answer fundamental questions in bryology.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Magma plumbing systems: a geophysical perspective

Over the last few decades, significant advances in using geophysical techniques to image the structure of magma plumbing systems have enabled the identification of zones of melt accumulation, crystal mush development, and magma migration. Combining advanced geophysical observations with petrological and geochemical data has arguably revolutionised our understanding of, and afforded exciting new insights into, the development of entire magma plumbing systems. However, divisions between the scales and physical settings over which these geophysical, petrological, and geochemical methods are applied still remain. To characterise some of these differences and promote the benefits of further integration between these methodologies, we provide a review of geophysical techniques and discuss how they can be utilised to provide a structural context for and place physical limits on the chemical evolution of magma plumbing systems. For example, we examine how Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR), coupled with Global Positioning System (GPS) and Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) data, and seismicity may be used to track magma migration in near real-time. We also discuss how seismic imaging, gravimetry and electromagnetic data can identify contemporary melt zones, magma reservoirs and/or crystal mushes. These techniques complement seismic reflection data and rock magnetic analyses that delimit the structure and emplacement of ancient magma plumbing systems. For each of these techniques, with the addition of full-waveform inversion (FWI), the use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and the integration of geophysics with numerical modelling, we discuss potential future directions. We show that approaching problems concerning magma plumbing systems from an integrated petrological, geochemical, and geophysical perspective will undoubtedly yield important scientific advances, providing exciting future opportunities for the volcanological community

Bryophytes of Ghana

There is currently limited information on plant biodiversity from Ghana. Most of the information openly available has been published by the Ghana Herbarium at the Department of Plant and Environmental Biology, University of Ghana. The Ghana Herbarium has over 100,000 specimens from Ghana and other West African countries. Of these approximately 85% of the specimen labels have been digitized. The database contains information including species names, taxonomic family, barcode number, name of collector(s), locality data, date of collection, description of species and uses of the plants. Data were captured using Botanical Research and Herbarium Management Software (BRAHMS) software and is openly available on Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) (http://www.gbif.org/country/GH/publishing). Less than 1% of the herbarium collection contains bryophyte information of Ghana. Even though bryophytes are an often overlooked flora, Ghana has a high diversity of bryophytes. Indeed Ghana has an enormous biomass of bryophytes, particularly in the humid forest areas, that is bound to contribute significantly to the water-retentive capacity of the Ghanaian forest, absorbing water quickly and releasing it slowly. It is clear that the bryophytes are an important part of the ecosystem generally, helping to stabilize the hillsides and acting as a source of water. As very little is known about Ghana's bryophyte flora, a short expedition was undertaken in the Atewa Forest in 2014. A total of 164 species were added to the herbarium collection, including about 58 new to Ghana and at least one new species (Cololejeunea sp. yet to be described). The Ghana Herbarium recognises the growing need for digitization across its collections. Data from bryophytes specimens in the Ghana Herbarium and other Ghanaian herbaria as well as other data types on Ghanaian bryophytes will need to be captured using appropriate workflows, technologies and comply with Darwin Core standards. There is also paucity of observational and bryophyte abundance data. This presentation will review the current status of biodiversity information on bryophytes from Ghana and biodiversity informatics activities at Ghana Herbarium. It will also explore ways forward for digitization which incudes capturing the information on the already existing bryophyte specimens in the Ghana Herbarium and the newly added collections using BRAHMS software

Transformation and alignment in similarity

This paper contrasts two structural accounts of psychological similarity: structural alignment (SA) and Representational Distortion (RD). SA proposes that similarity is determined by how readily the structures of two objects can be brought into alignment; RD measures similarity by the complexity of the transformation that “distorts” one representation into the other. We assess RD by defining a simple coding scheme of psychological transformations for the experimental materials. In two experiments, this “concrete” version of RD provides compelling fits of the data and compares favourably with SA. Finally, stepping back from particular models, we argue that perceptual theory suggests that transformations and alignment processes should generally be viewed as complementary, in contrast to the current distinction in the literature