A bibliography of works for the identification of freshwater invertebrates in the British Isles

This bibliography covers the literature up to the end of 1978. The criteria used in the selection of references were that they should aid identification of invertebrates directly; thus, works solely concerned with the taxonomy of a particular group are in general omitted unless they contain a key. Some check-lists are however included where they give current nomenclature. The references are arranged alphabetically within each group and deal mainly with macro-invertebrates but include available keys to some microscopic invertebrates. Internal parasites and hymenopterous parasitoids are omitted. For insects the life stages to which the key applies are given where this is not clear in the reference. A number of keys to non-aquatic stages have been included in the hope that they may prove useful in certain circumstances. In addition, under a general head, latest check-lists are referred to together with bibliographies of algal keys and a guide for the identification of British water plants

The classification and prediction of macroinvertebrate communities in British rivers

This article describes the progress of the River Communities Project which commenced in 1977. This project aimed to develop a sensitive and practical system for river site classification using macroinvertebrates as an objective means of appraising the status of British rivers. The relationship between physical and chemical features of sites and their biological communities were examined. Sampling was undertaken on 41 British rivers. Ordination techniques were used to analyze data and the sites were classified into 16 groups using multiple discrimination analysis. The potential for using the environmental data to predict to which group a site belonged and the fauna likely to be present was investigated

Use of macroinvertebrate communities to detect environmental stress in running waters

This paper presents an account of some current uses of RIVPACS (River Invertebrate Prediction and Classification System), a software package developed by the Institute of Freshwater Ecology (UK). Background information is also given on the unique data-set on which the system is based. Before discussing RIVPACS, we consider the range of environmental stresses encountered in flowing-water systems and some of the ways in which stresses may affect macroinvertebrate communities. The wide application and relevance of the RIVPACS approach was recognised when it was chosen as the biological method for use throughout the UK in the 1990 River Quality Survey (RQS). In the concluding section we list some lessons learnt both from the 1990 survey and from our own testing exercise, and we outline current developments which will lead to a new version of RIVPACS for use in the 1995 RQS

Observations of the post shock break-out emission of SN 2011dh with XMM-Newton

After the occurrence of the type cIIb SN 2011dh in the nearby spiral galaxy M 51 numerous observations were performed with different telescopes in various bands ranging from radio to gamma-rays. We analysed the XMM-Newton and Swift observations taken 3 to 30 days after the SN explosion to study the X-ray spectrum of SN 2011dh. We extracted spectra from the XMM-Newton observations, which took place ~7 and 11 days after the SN. In addition, we created integrated Swift/XRT spectra of 3 to 10 days and 11 to 30 days. The spectra are well fitted with a power-law spectrum absorbed with Galactic foreground absorption. In addition, we find a harder spectral component in the first XMM-Newton spectrum taken at t ~ 7 d. This component is also detected in the first Swift spectrum of t = 3 - 10 d. While the persistent power-law component can be explained as inverse Compton emission from radio synchrotron emitting electrons, the harder component is most likely bremsstrahlung emission from the shocked stellar wind. Therefore, the harder X-ray emission that fades away after t ~ 10 d can be interpreted as emission from the shocked circumstellar wind of SN 2011dh.Comment: Accepted for publication as a Research Note in Astronomy and Astrophysic