Biogeography of cephalopods in the Southern Ocean using habitat suitability prediction models

Our understanding of how environmental change in the Southern Ocean will affect marine diversity, habitats and distribution remain limited. The habitats and distributions of Southern Ocean cephalopods are generally poorly understood, and yet such knowledge is necessary for research and conservation management purposes, as well as for assessing the potential impacts of environmental change. We used net-catch data to develop habitat suitability models for 15 of the most common cephalopods in the Southern Ocean. Using modeled habitat suitability, we assessed favorable areas for each species and examined the relationships between species distribution and environmental parameters. The results compared favorably with the known ecology of these species and with spatial patterns from diet studies of squid predators. The individual habitat suitability models were overlaid to generate a “hotspot” index of species richness, which showed higher numbers of squid species associated with various fronts of the Antarctic circumpolar current. Finally, we reviewed the overall distribution of these species and their importance in the diet of Southern Ocean predators. There is a need for further studies to explore the potential impacts of future climate change on Southern Ocean squid

Dwarf males of giant warty squid Kondakovia longimana and a description of their spermatophores

Antarctic squids are widely known to play an important role in the diet of various Antarctic predators, although the biology of those squids and how that relates to their availability to their predators is poorly known. We assessed the reproductive system of the deep-sea giant warty Antarctic squid Kondakovia longimana under a predator–prey context. The spermatophores of male K. longimana are described, based on two specimens foraged by albatrosses at Bird Island, South Georgia (54°S, 38°W). Spermatophore length (SL) was 42–90 mm, head occupied mean = 1.8–2.4% SL, ejaculatory tube = 17–22% SL, cement body = 19–22% SL, seminal reservoir = 56–59% SL and rear empty part = 0.4–0.8% SL. All spermatophores of K. longimana in our study were normal and functional, and very dissimilar to those of other spent squid, in which the spermatophores have short, semi-transparent seminal reservoirs and a large empty rear part. Senescent male K. longimana could become available to predation by albatrosses (presumably being surfaced) with spermatophoric sacs (Needham’s sacs) containing at least a hundred of normal spermatophores having no evidence of reproductive system degeneration. From known relation between beak and body size all known adult males in K. longimana were dwarfs in respect to females. Our data also show that they have extended spermatophore production as in other squids

Feeding ecology, isotopic niche, and ingestion of fishery-related items of the wandering albatross Diomedea exulans at Kerguelen and Crozet Islands

Feeding ecology and isotopic niche of the wandering albatross Diomedea exulans were investigated in the poorly studied population on the Kerguelen Islands and compared to that on the Crozet Islands. Fish (48% by mass) and cephalopods (46%) were similarly important in chick food at Kerguelen, while cephalopods (87%) dominated the diet at Crozet. Fish prey included mainly deep-sea species, with the Patagonian toothfish Dissostichus eleginoides being the main item. Cephalopod beaks were identified, most of which were from adult oceanic squids. Albatrosses preyed upon the same taxa at both localities, but in different proportions. Histioteuthis atlantica (30% by number), Galiteuthis glacialis (13%), and Kondakovia longimana (10%) were the main squid prey at Kerguelen, while K. longimana (35%) and H. eltaninae (23%) dominated at Crozet. Chick feather δ15N values were higher in wandering albatrosses than in other oceanic seabirds of the 2 communities, indicating that the wandering albatross is an apex consumer together with the sperm whale and sleeper shark that have similar δ15N values. Satellite-tracked wandering albatrosses foraged in local subantarctic waters and farther north, with some Crozet birds overlapping with those from the Kerguelen population in western Kerguelen waters. Anthropogenic items (e.g. plastic fragments, hooks) were found in half the food samples. All fishery-related items were from the local toothfish fishery. The high number of hooks from Crozet indicated the presence of a fairly large number of illegal longliners in the area during the Austral winter 1998. A review of the feeding habits of Diomedea spp. highlights the need for more dietary investigations to achieve effective conservation and management of this endangered group of charismatic seabirds

Resistance Curves in the Tensile and Compressive Longitudinal Failure of Composites

This paper presents a new methodology to measure the crack resistance curves associated with fiber-dominated failure modes in polymer-matrix composites. These crack resistance curves not only characterize the fracture toughness of the material, but are also the basis for the identification of the parameters of the softening laws used in the analytical and numerical simulation of fracture in composite materials. The method proposed is based on the identification of the crack tip location by the use of Digital Image Correlation and the calculation of the J-integral directly from the test data using a simple expression derived for cross-ply composite laminates. It is shown that the results obtained using the proposed methodology yield crack resistance curves similar to those obtained using FEM-based methods in compact tension carbon-epoxy specimens. However, it is also shown that the Digital Image Correlation based technique can be used to extract crack resistance curves in compact compression tests for which FEM-based techniques are inadequate

The rise of Portuguese Antarctic research: implications for Portugal's status under the Antarctic Treaty

Portugal has developed an active Antarctic programme over the past decade. Here, we examine Portuguese Antarctic activity using a variety of bibliometric measures, showing that Portuguese scientific output has grown substantially faster than the field as a whole, with quality remaining broadly constant. Antarctic science made up a growing percentage of overall Portuguese research, up to 0.14% of all papers in 2016—a level comparable to many other nations with well-established research programmes. Alongside this, Portugal has increasingly engaged in policy discussions and produced policy papers for Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meetings, some of which were based on Portuguese environmental science. The Antarctic Treaty reserves decision-making powers to ‘Consultative Parties’—those who have been recognised as demonstrating substantial research activity in the continent. Our data indicates that Portugal is currently the fourth most productive non-Consultative Party, and has similar or greater output than several Parties who have already attained consultative status—its publication record is similar to that of the Czech Republic, which became a Consultative Party in 2014. The rapid growth of Portugal's Antarctic research may make it well placed to consider attaining consultative status to the Antarctic Treaty in the near future

Using seabirds to map the distribution of elusive pelagic cephalopod species

The distribution of oceanic cephalopod species is not fully understood but seabirds, which feed on cephalopods and cover vast oceanic areas, might work as samplers and mappers of the occurrence of this elusive group. We tracked 17 wandering albatrosses Diomedea exulans at Bird Island, South Georgia (54° S, 38° W) over the austral winter (breeding period) with GPS-loggers, activity recorders and stomach temperature probes. At logger retrieval, diet composition was accessed via stomach flushings of the tagged individuals. Wandering albatrosses captured circumpolar and rarer oceanic squid in all water masses of the Southern Ocean (i.e. Antarctic, sub-Antarctic and subtropical waters), complementing much of the knowledge about the cephalopod distribution in the Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean. Some cephalopod species showed a distribution range wider than expected, with oceanic fronts not functioning as ecological barriers as previously thought. This suggests they might be capable of overcoming these frontal regimes and even take advantage of their dynamics as migration pathway

Days out of role due to common physical and mental conditions in Portugal: results from the WHO World Mental Health Survey

Funding: The Portuguese Mental Health Study was carried out by the Department of Mental Health, NOVA Medical School, NOVA University of Lisbon, with collaboration of the CESOP – Portuguese Catholic University and was funded by the Champalimaud Foundation, the Gulbenkian Foundation, the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) and the Ministry of Health. The Portuguese Mental Health Study was carried out in conjunction with the World Health Organization WMH Survey Initiative which is supported by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH; R01 MH070884), the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Pfizer Foundation, the U.S. Public Health Service (R13-MH066849, R01-MH069864 and R01 DA016558), the Fogarty International Center (FIRCA R03-TW006481), the Pan American Health Organization, Eli Lilly and Company, OrthoMcNeil Pharmaceutical, GlaxoSmithKline and Bristol-Myers Squibb.publishersversionpublishe