Seagrass spatial data synthesis from north-east Australia, Torres Strait and Gulf of Carpentaria, 1983 to 2022

The Gulf of Carpentaria and Torres Strait in north-eastern Australia support globally significant seagrass ecosystems that underpin fishing and cultural heritage of the region. Reliable data on seagrass distribution are critical to understanding how these ecosystems are changing, while managing for resilience. Spatial data on seagrass have been collected since the early 1980s, but the early data were poorly curated. Some was not publicly available, and some already lost. We validated and synthesized historical seagrass spatial data to create a publicly available database. We include a site layer of 48,612 geolocated data points including information on seagrass presence/absence, sediment, collection date, and data custodian. We include a polygon layer with 641 individual seagrass meadows. Thirteen seagrass species are identified in depths ranging from intertidal to 38 m below mean sea level. Our synthesis includes scientific survey data from 1983 to 2022 and provides an important evidence base for marine resource management

Detection of Mycolactone A/B in Mycobacterium ulcerans–Infected Human Tissue

Skin infection with bacteria called Mycobacterium ulcerans causes Buruli ulcer, a disease common in West Africa and mainly affecting children. M. ulcerans is the only mycobacterium to cause disease by production of a toxin. This lipid molecule called mycolactone diffuses from the site of infection, killing surrounding cells and, at low concentration, suppressing the immune response. The aim of this study was to show that mycolactone can be detected among lipids extracted from human M. ulcerans lesions in order to study its role in the pathogenesis of M. ulcerans disease. Lipids were extracted from skin biopsies and tested for the presence of mycolactone using thin layer chromatography and mass spectrometry. The extracts were shown to kill cultured cells in a cytotoxicity assay. Mycolactone was detected in both pre-ulcerative and ulcerative forms of the disease and also in lesions during antibiotic treatment but with reduced bioactivity, suggesting a lower concentration compared to untreated lesions. These findings indicate that there is mycolactone in affected skin at all stages of M. ulcerans disease and it could be used as a biomarker for monitoring the clinical response to antibiotic treatment

Using ants to monitor changes within and surrounding the endangered Monsoon Vine Thickets of the tropical Dampier Peninsula, north Western Australia

The 79 naturally fragmented and localised Monsoon Vine Thicket (MVT) patches on the coast of the Dampier Peninsula, Kimberley region, Western Australia, are listed as: a culturally significant ‘Threatened Ecological Community’ (TEC), ‘Endangered’ under the Commonwealth (EPBC Act, 1999) and ‘Vulnerable’ under Western Australian legislation. Fire and introduced species are significant disturbance factors affecting the MVT patches. Focussing on five patches, this study aimed to: assess ant diversity and composition; determine relationships between environmental variables, fire history and invasive ants; determine the value of ants as bioindicators of environmental change; and involve indigenous communities in planning and data collection. Three habitats, inside (I) and edge (E) of five MVT patches (11 ha–56 ha) and immediately outside (O) in the surrounding Pindan woodland (PW), were sampled over two seasons; 7,342 ants from 7 subfamilies and 81 species were collected by pitfall trapping and hand collecting. A gradation of species richness from I (37 spp.), to E (48 spp.), to O (62 spp.) occurred, reflecting trends in environmental variables of decreasing litter volume, litter depth and canopy cover, and increasing fire frequency across habitat types. NMDS ordination identified a separation of ant composition between I, E and O, while CCA revealed a clear separation between I, E and O driven by litter volume and depth, canopy cover and fire history.Distinctly different ant assemblages were found within the MVT, with species inside being those that prefer cool relatively dense vegetation and those at the edges preferring more open habitat. The degree of openness of the edge of the MVT edges is related to fire frequency, while species within the PW were typically arid-adapted species that prefer a more open habitat. Two invasive ant species, namely Paratrechina longicornis and Monomorium destructor, were found to be present in the patches and, in common with many invasive ant species, P. longicornis was characterised by high numbers, comprising 43% of total individuals across the study. As little data previously existed on the ant communities of the dry MVT patches of the Dampier Peninsula, the results add significant new information on the ant fauna of the MVT patches and illustrate how using ants as bioindicators can assist interpreting the impact of fire, invasive organisms and management on the conservation status of MVT patches. This study also serves as a model for collaborating with indigenous people to undertake data gathering, interpretation and management of such areas

The Place of the First World War in Contemporary Irish Republicanism in Northern Ireland

The role of remembrance of the First World War in contemporary Irish republicanism in Northern Ireland, both Official and Provisional, is examined in this article, which places such remembrance in a wider nationalist context. After considering the nature of nationalist engagement in the British army in 1914–1918, and all-Ireland issues around remembrance, the article focuses on Sinn Féin’s involvement in Somme commemoration in 2002 and 2008. It then examines republicans’ ‘discovery’ of ancestors with a past in the British military, focusing on the Official Republican ex-prisoners group, An Eochair. The article concludes with an examination of how far theories of memory can shed light on republican remembrance, and the extent to which changes in attitudes to remembrance are part of republicanism’s ‘historic compromise’ with unionism. It argues that despite a significant shift, republicans have engaged with remembrance on their own terms, and that the gap between them and unionists remains large, with the possibility of genuinely shared remembrance remote