Using lunar apatite to assess the volatile inventory of the Moon

Lunar petrology, most notably the absense of hydrous minerals (such as micas and amphiboles) and the lack of Fe2O3, imply a low oxygen activity for the Moon. The anhydrous nature of the Moon is consistent with observed depletions in volatile elements compared to the Earth. Recent analytical developments have led to the re-investigation of lunar samples. In volcanic products, heterogeneous water contents in volcanic glass beads olivine-hosted melt inclusions and in the accessory phase apatite indicate a wetter lunar interior than previously thought. Analysis of lunar apatite has produced OH contents as high as ~12000 ppm and volatile contents of olivine-hosted melt inclusions appear to be similar to terrestrial mid-ocean ridge basalts values. However, analysis of Cl isotope compositions from a range of lunar rocks (basalts, glasses, apatite grains) identified a Cl fractionation 25 times larger than on Earth. This has been interpreted as reflecting a relatively dry lunar interior. The coupled nature of Cl and H, together with this high fractionation of Cl has been used to suggest the Moon’s mantle has H values as low as 10 ppb. To calculate the volatile contents of lunar melts, the partitioning behaviour of volatiles into apatite must be considered. Very little work has been done on the partition of volatiles under lunar conditions, however to fully constrain the H content of the magmatic source regions based on apatite grain measurements, determination of accurate partition coefficients is required. Experimental work using a piston-cylinder assembly at VU, University Amsterdam, is being carried out to derive these partition coefficients for volatiles (F, OH, Cl) between apatite and melts. Measurements of the volatile contents in experimental synthesised apatites are being carried out using a Cameca NanoSIMS 50L ion probe at the Open University. Primary experiments have looked at the temperature effect of F partitioning into apatite. This experimental work will be combined with measurements of Cl, F, and OH concentrations as well as Cl and H isotope compositions in mare basalts. This will provide better constraints on the volatile budget of the lunar magmatic source regions

Understanding step selection analysis through numerical integration

1. Step selection functions (SSFs) are flexible statistical models used to jointly describe animals' movement and habitat preferences. The popularity of SSFs has grown rapidly, and various extensions have been developed to increase their utility, including the ability to use multiple statistical distributions to describe movement constraints, interactions to allow movements to depend on local environmental features, and random effects and latent states to account for within- and among-individual variability. Although the SSF is a relatively simple statistical model, its presentation has not been consistent in the literature, leading to confusion about model flexibility and interpretation. 2. We believe that part of the confusion has arisen from the conflation of the SSF model with the methods used for statistical inference, and in particular, parameter estimation. Notably, conditional logistic regression (CLR) can be used to fit SSFs in exponential form, and this model fitting approach is often presented interchangeably with the actual model (the SSF itself). However, reliance on CLR reduces model flexibility, and suggests a misleading interpretation of step selection analysis as being equivalent to a case–control study. 3. In this review, we explicitly distinguish between model formulation and inference technique, presenting a coherent framework to fit SSFs based on numerical integration and maximum likelihood estimation. We provide an overview of common numerical integration techniques (including Monte Carlo integration, importance sampling and quadrature), and explain how they relate to popular methods used in step selection analyses. 4. This general framework unifies different model fitting techniques for SSFs, and opens the way for improved inferential methods. In this approach, it is straightforward to model movement with distributions outside the exponential family, and to apply different SSF model formulations to the same data set and compare them with AIC. By separating the model formulation from the inference technique, we hope to clarify many important concepts in step selection analysis

Bacterially mediated removal of phosphorus and cycling of nitrate and sulfate in the waste stream of a "zero-discharge" recirculating mariculture system

Simultaneous removal of nitrogen and phosphorus by microbial biofilters has been used in a variety of water treatment systems including treatment systems in aquaculture. In this study, phosphorus, nitrate and sulfate cycling in the anaerobic loop of a zero-discharge, recirculating mariculture system was investigated using detailed geochemical measurements in the sludge layer of the digestion basin. High concentrations of nitrate and sulfate, circulating in the overlying water (~15 mM), were removed by microbial respiration in the sludge resulting in a sulfide accumulation of up to 3 mM. Modelling of the observed S and O isotopic ratios in the surface sludge suggested that, with time, major respiration processes shifted from heterotrophic nitrate and sulfate reduction to autotrophic nitrate reduction. The much higher inorganic P content of the sludge relative to the fish feces is attributed to conversion of organic P to authigenic apatite. This conclusion is supported by: (a) X-ray diffraction analyses, which pointed to an accumulation of a calcium phosphate mineral phase that was different from P phases found in the feces, (b) the calculation that the pore waters of the sludge were highly oversaturated with respect to hydroxyapatite (saturation index = 4.87) and (c) there was a decrease in phosphate (and in the Ca/Na molar ratio) in the pore waters simultaneous with an increase in ammonia showing there had to be an additional P removal process at the same time as the heterotrophic breakdown of organic matter

Using ecological and field survey data to establish a national list of the wild bee pollinators of crops

The importance of wild bees for crop pollination is well established, but less is known about which species contribute to service delivery to inform agricultural management, monitoring and conservation. Using sites in Great Britain as a case study, we use a novel qualitative approach combining ecological information and field survey data to establish a national list of crop pollinating bees for four economically important crops (apple, field bean, oilseed rape and strawberry). A traits data base was used to establish potential pollinators, and combined with field data to identify both dominant crop flower visiting bee species and other species that could be important crop pollinators, but which are not presently sampled in large numbers on crops flowers. Whilst we found evidence that a small number of common, generalist species make a disproportionate contribution to flower visits, many more species were identified as potential pollinators, including rare and specialist species. Furthermore, we found evidence of substantial variation in the bee communities of different crops. Establishing a national list of crop pollinators is important for practitioners and policy makers, allowing targeted management approaches for improved ecosystem services, conservation and species monitoring. Data can be used to make recommendations about how pollinator diversity could be promoted in agricultural landscapes. Our results suggest agri-environment schemes need to support a higher diversity of species than at present, notably of solitary bees. Management would also benefit from targeting specific species to enhance crop pollination services to particular crops. Whilst our study is focused upon Great Britain, our methodology can easily be applied to other countries, crops and groups of pollinating insects.LH was funded by NERC QMEE CDT. EJB was funded by a BBSRC Ph.D. studentship under grant BB/F016581/1. LB was was supported by the Scholarship Program of the German Federal Environmental Foundation (Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt, DBU, AZ 20014/302). AJC was funded by the BBSRC and Syngenta UK as part of a case award Ph.D. (grant no. 1518739). AE was funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (grant number 405940-115642). DG and A-MK were funded by grant PCIN2014-145-C02-02 (MinECo; EcoFruit project BiodivERsA-FACCE2014-74). MG was supported by Establishing a UK Pollinator Monitoring and Research Partnership (PMRP) a collaborative project funded by Defra, the Welsh and Scottish Governments, JNCC and project partners’. GAdG was funded via research projects BO-11-011.01-051 and BO-43-011.06-007, commissioned by the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality. DK was funded by the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs (BO-11-011.01-011). AK-H was funded by the NKFIH project (FK123813), the Bolyai János Fellowship of the MTA, the ÚNKP-19-4-SZIE-3 New National Excellence Program of the Ministry for Innovation and Technology, and together with RF by the Hungarian Scientific Research Fund OTKA 101940. MM was funded by Waitrose & Partners, Fruition PO, and the University of Worcester. MM was funded by grant INIA-RTA2013-00139-C03-01 (MinECo and FEDER). BBP and RFS were funded by the UK Natural Environment Research Council as part of Wessex BESS (ref. NE/J014680/1). NJV was funded by the Walloon Region (Belgium) Direction générale opérationnelle de l’Agriculture, des Ressources naturelles et de l’Environnement (DGO3) for the "Modèle permaculturel" project on biodiversity in micro-farms, FNRS/FWO joint programme EOS — Excellence Of Science CliPS: Climate change and its impact on Pollination Services (project 30947854)". CW was funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) (Project number 405945293). BW was funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) under research programme NE/N018125/1 ASSIST – Achieving Sustainable Agricultural Systems www.assist.ceh.ac.uk. TB and TO are supported by BBSRC, NERC, ESRC and the Scottish Government under the Global Food Security Programme (Grant BB/R00580X/1)

Altered TMPRSS2 usage by SARS-CoV-2 Omicron impacts infectivity and fusogenicity

The SARS-CoV-2 Omicron BA.1 variant emerged in 20211 and has multiple mutations in its spike protein2. Here we show that the spike protein of Omicron has a higher affinity for ACE2 compared with Delta, and a marked change in its antigenicity increases Omicron’s evasion of therapeutic monoclonal and vaccine-elicited polyclonal neutralizing antibodies after two doses. mRNA vaccination as a third vaccine dose rescues and broadens neutralization. Importantly, the antiviral drugs remdesivir and molnupiravir retain efficacy against Omicron BA.1. Replication was similar for Omicron and Delta virus isolates in human nasal epithelial cultures. However, in lung cells and gut cells, Omicron demonstrated lower replication. Omicron spike protein was less efficiently cleaved compared with Delta. The differences in replication were mapped to the entry efficiency of the virus on the basis of spike-pseudotyped virus assays. The defect in entry of Omicron pseudotyped virus to specific cell types effectively correlated with higher cellular RNA expression of TMPRSS2, and deletion of TMPRSS2 affected Delta entry to a greater extent than Omicron. Furthermore, drug inhibitors targeting specific entry pathways3 demonstrated that the Omicron spike inefficiently uses the cellular protease TMPRSS2, which promotes cell entry through plasma membrane fusion, with greater dependency on cell entry through the endocytic pathway. Consistent with suboptimal S1/S2 cleavage and inability to use TMPRSS2, syncytium formation by the Omicron spike was substantially impaired compared with the Delta spike. The less efficient spike cleavage of Omicron at S1/S2 is associated with a shift in cellular tropism away from TMPRSS2-expressing cells, with implications for altered pathogenesis

Post-acute COVID-19 neuropsychiatric symptoms are not associated with ongoing nervous system injury

A proportion of patients infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 experience a range of neuropsychiatric symptoms months after infection, including cognitive deficits, depression and anxiety. The mechanisms underpinning such symptoms remain elusive. Recent research has demonstrated that nervous system injury can occur during COVID-19. Whether ongoing neural injury in the months after COVID-19 accounts for the ongoing or emergent neuropsychiatric symptoms is unclear. Within a large prospective cohort study of adult survivors who were hospitalized for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection, we analysed plasma markers of nervous system injury and astrocytic activation, measured 6 months post-infection: neurofilament light, glial fibrillary acidic protein and total tau protein. We assessed whether these markers were associated with the severity of the acute COVID-19 illness and with post-acute neuropsychiatric symptoms (as measured by the Patient Health Questionnaire for depression, the General Anxiety Disorder assessment for anxiety, the Montreal Cognitive Assessment for objective cognitive deficit and the cognitive items of the Patient Symptom Questionnaire for subjective cognitive deficit) at 6 months and 1 year post-hospital discharge from COVID-19. No robust associations were found between markers of nervous system injury and severity of acute COVID-19 (except for an association of small effect size between duration of admission and neurofilament light) nor with post-acute neuropsychiatric symptoms. These results suggest that ongoing neuropsychiatric symptoms are not due to ongoing neural injury

Phylogeny of the Sepia officinalis species complex in the eastern Atlantic extends the known distribution of Sepia vermiculata across the Benguela upwelling region

Accurate species identification and biogeographic characterisation are fundamental for appropriate management of expanding cephalopod fisheries. This study  addresses this topic within the common cuttlefish Sepia officinalis species complex (S. officinalis, S. hierredda and S. vermiculata), with an emphasis on occurrence in African waters. Tissue samples from the currently presumed distributions of S. vermiculata and S. hierredda (from South Africa and Ghana/Angola, respectively) were sequenced for the cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) and the cytochrome b (cytb) genes of the mitochondrial genome and then compared to existing S.  officinalis sequences. Three highly divergent and reciprocally monophyletic clades, corresponding to S. officinalis, S. hierredda and S. vermiculata, were resolved,  representing the first molecular confirmation of the distinct species status of S. hierredda and S. vermiculata. The sequences also revealed that, contrary to  expectations based on presently published information, all samples from southern Angola were S. vermiculata. These results indicate that the range of S. vermiculata extends beyond the currently described northern limit and that S. hierredda and S. vermiculata may be indiscriminately harvested in Angolan waters. Finer-scale patterns within S. vermiculata phylogeography also indicate that the Benguela Current System and/or other environmental factors serve to isolate northern andsouthern stocks.Keywords: biogeography, cephalopods, cuttlefish, dispersal, ecosystem-compatible exploitation, fisheries management, indiscriminate harvesting, mtDNA sequencing, phylogenetic

Robotic traverse and sample return strategies for a lunar farside mission to the Schrodinger basin

Most of the highest priority objectives for lunar science and exploration (e.g., NRC, 2007) require sample return. Studies of the best places to conduct that work have identified Schrödinger basin as a geologically rich area, able to address a significant number of these scientific concepts. In this study traverses were designed for a robotic mission within previously identified crewed landing sites in Schrödinger basin. Traverse routes and sampling locations were identified using LROC imagery and LOLA topography data, combined with a theoretical rover travel and operations model. The findings of this investigation highlight the need to consider increased rover capabilities. A significant number of samples that can address many of the NRC (2007) scientific goals can be returned in a robotic mission during one period of lunar illumination (~14 Earth days) using specifications from previous lunar rovers