Scotland’s beginnings: Scotland through time.

Did you know that Scotland began under an iceberg-laden sea near the South Pole hundreds of millions of years ago? The journey north of the land we now call Scotland is an astounding tale of great mountains, subtropical rainforests, coral reefs, howling deserts, ammonite-inhabited seas, high lava plateaus and scouring ice caps. The evidence for this journey is recorded in rocks, peat-bogs and lake muds. When the glaciers withdrew the new land was colonised by animals and plants but when hunters and farmers moved in mass extinction began. This beautifully illustrated guide, full of drawings, paintings and photographs, is an excellent introduction to Scotland’s earliest history

Missing mammals from the Mesolithic middens: a comparison of the fossil and archaeological records from Scotland

Wild mammmals were an essential source of food and materials for Mesolithic people in Scotland. However, most Mesolithic sites in Scotland contain scant evidence of the mammals that were exploited locally. In contrast, the fossil and contemporary records indicate that there was a very high and changing diversity of mammal species available to Mesolithic hunter-gatherers as the climate warmed at the end of the last Ice Age: up to 23 species of terrestrial and freshwater mammals from the fossil record compared to a maximum of 16 species from Mesolithic sites, but only four of these were found at more than two sites. The reasons for this disparity between the fossil and the archaeological records are discussed. In Scotland most Mesolithic sites with faunal remains are coastal shell middens, which may not be sites where mammals were routinely hunted and their carcasses processed. The shell midden sites are also of Later Mesolithic date and hence cannot reflect the Early Holocene fauna, which included cold climate species that had survived from the Lateglacial. Many areas have acid soils in which bones are only rarely preserved, and this may explain the absence of faunal materials from the majority of coastal and inland sites. The fact that larger mammals may have been processed at the kill sites, and that some mammals were exploited for their skins, futher reduces the chances of their survival in the archaeological record. Finally, optimal foraging for prey in relation to prey density may have meant that some large mammal species (e.g. moose) were not worth hunting except opportunistically. It is likely that all of these factors have contributed to the impoverished mammal fauna of the Scottish Mesolithic

A comparison of HPV DNA testing and liquid based cytology over three rounds of primary cervical screening: extended follow up in the ARTISTIC trial.

BACKGROUND: The additional sensitivity of HPV testing compared with cytology could permit extended cervical screening intervals. We wished to determine, through a further (third) round of screening in the ARTISTIC trial, the protection provided by a negative baseline HPV screen compared with that of cytology over a 6 year period. METHODS: Cumulative rates of CIN2 or worse (CIN2+) and CIN3 or worse (CIN3+) were correlated with baseline HPV status and cytology. HPV was detected using the Hybrid Capture 2 (Qiagen) assay for high risk types and genotyped using the Linear Array (Roche) and Papillocheck (Greiner) assays. LBC was performed using ThinPrep (Hologic). FINDINGS: Round 3 included 8,873 women of whom 6,337 had been screened in both rounds 1 and 2 and 2,536 had not been screened since round 1. The median duration of follow-up was 72.7 months. The cumulative rate of CIN2+ over three rounds was 3.88% (95%CI 3.59%, 4.17%) overall; 2.39% in round 1, 0.78% in round 2 and 0.74% in round 3. Cumulative rates by baseline status were 20.53% (95%CI 19.04%, 22.08%) for abnormal cytology, 20.12% (95%CI 18.68%, 21.61%) for HPV detection, 1.41% (95%CI 1.19%, 1.65%) for negative cytology and 0.87% (95%CI 0.70%, 1.06%) for a negative HPV test. In HPV negative women aged over 50 the cumulative rate was 0.16% (95%CI 0.07%, 0.34%). Women who were HPV positive/cytology negative at entry had a cumulative CIN2+ rate of 7.73% (95%CI 6.29%, 9.36%) over 6 years, twice the overall rate. INTERPRETATION: A negative HPV test was significantly more protective than normal cytology over three rounds. The findings of this extension of ARTISTIC suggest that the screening interval could be extended to 6 years if HPV testing replaced cytology as the primary screening test

Morphological and functional variation between isolated populations of British red squirrels (Sciurus vulgaris)

Isolation due to habitat fragmentation can lead to morphological and functional variation between populations, with the effect being well documented in rodents. Here, we investigated whether such morphological variation could be identified between British populations of the Eurasian red squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris). This species was once widespread across Great Britain, but suffered a severe population decline across the 20th century, leaving a highly fragmented distribution. The aim was to test for morphological and biomechanical variation of the mandible between the remaining British red squirrel populations, and between British and continental European red squirrels. Linear and geometric morphometric methods were used to analyse shape in a sample of over 250 red squirrel hemi-mandibles from across Britain plus a sample from Germany representing the central European subspecies. Procrustes ANOVA identified significant shape variation between populations, with particularly distinct differences being noted between red squirrels from Germany and several British red squirrel populations, which may reflect their evolutionary history. Linear biomechanical measurements showed that the red squirrels from Formby and Jersey had a significantly lower mechanical advantage of the temporalis muscle than other British populations, suggesting they were less efficient at gnawing. This functional difference may be related to many factors, such as founder effect, potential inbreeding and/or past supplemental feeding with less mechanically resistant food items

A kingdom in decline. Holocene range contraction of the lion (Panthera leo) modelled with Global Environmental Stratification

Aim We use ecological niche models and environmental stratification of palaeoclimate to reconstruct the changing range of the lion (Panthera leo) during the late Pleistocene and Holocene. Location The modern (early 21st century) range of the lion extends from southern Africa to the western Indian Subcontinent, yet through the 20th century this range has been drastically reduced in extent and become increasingly fragmented as a result of human impacts. Methods We use Global Environmental Stratification with MaxEnt ecological niche models to map environmental suitability of the lion under current and palaeoclimatic scenarios. By examining modelled lion range in terms of categorical environmental strata, we characterise suitable bioclimatic conditions for the lion in a descriptive manner. Results We find that lion habitat suitability has reduced throughout the Holocene, controlled by pluvial/interpluvial cycles. The aridification of the Sahara 6ka dramatically reduced lion range throughout North Africa. The association of Saharan aridification with the development of pastoralism and the growth of sedentary communities, who practised animal husbandry, would have placed additional and lasting anthropogenic pressures on the lion. Main Conclusions This research highlights the need to integrate the full effects of the fluctuating vegetation and desiccation of the Sahara into palaeoclimatic models, and provides a starting point for further continental-scale analyses of shifting faunal ranges through North Africa and the Near East during the Holocene. This scale of ecological niche modelling does not explain the current pattern of genetic variation in the lion, and we conclude that narrow but substantial physical barriers, such as rivers, have likely played a major role in population vicariance throughout the Late Pleistocene

Reconstructing Mammalian Phylogenies: A Detailed Comparison of the Cytochrome b and Cytochrome Oxidase Subunit I Mitochondrial Genes

The phylogeny and taxonomy of mammalian species were originally based upon shared or derived morphological characteristics. However, genetic analyses have more recently played an increasingly important role in confirming existing or establishing often radically different mammalian groupings and phylogenies. The two most commonly used genetic loci in species identification are the cytochrome oxidase I gene (COI) and the cytochrome b gene (cyt b). For the first time this study provides a detailed comparison of the effectiveness of these two loci in reconstructing the phylogeny of mammals at different levels of the taxonomic hierarchy in order to provide a basis for standardizing methodologies in the future. Interspecific and intraspecific variation is assessed and for the first time, to our knowledge, statistical confidence is applied to sequence comparisons. Comparison of the DNA sequences of 217 mammalian species reveals that cyt b more accurately reconstructs their phylogeny and known relationships between species based on other molecular and morphological analyses at Super Order, Order, Family and generic levels. Cyt b correctly assigned 95.85% of mammal species to Super Order, 94.31% to Order and 98.16% to Family compared to 78.34%, 93.36% and 96.93% respectively for COI. Cyt b also gives better resolution when separating species based on sequence data. Using a Kimura 2-parameter p-distance (x100) threshold of 1.5–2.5, cyt b gives a better resolution for separating species with a lower false positive rate and higher positive predictive value than those of COI

The Taming of the Cat

This article discusses research into the evolution of domesticated cats, which is complicated by the fact that they do not appear to serve humans. Although several species are morphologically similar, genetic research focusing on mitochondrial DNA and genetic microsatellites found that domesticated cats descended from F. sylvestris lybica. Archaeological research indicating cats came to live with humans as the prevalence of house mice in agricultural settlements increased is noted. Insets: The House Cat\u27s Ancestor; Early Domestication; From Wild to Mild; The Truth about Cats and Dog

Getting to the Meat of It: The Effects of a Captive Diet upon the Skull Morphology of the Lion and Tiger

Zoo animals are crucial for conserving and potentially re-introducing species to the wild, yet it is known that the morphology of captive animals differs from that of wild animals. It is important to know how and why zoo and wild animal morphology differs to better care for captive animals and enhance their survival in reintroductions, and to understand how plasticity may influence morphology, which is supposedly indicative of evolutionary relationships. Using museum collections, we took 56 morphological measurements of skulls and mandibles from 617 captive and wild lions and tigers, reflecting each species’ recent historical range. Linear morphometrics were used to identify differences in size and shape. Skull size does not differ between captive and wild lions and tigers, but skull and mandible shape does. Differences occur in regions associated with biting, indicating that diet has influenced forces acting upon the skull and mandible. The diets of captive big cats used in this study predominantly consisted of whole or partial carcasses, which closely resemble the mechanical properties of wild diets. Thus, we speculate that the additional impacts of killing, manipulating and consuming large prey in the wild have driven differentiation between captive and wild big cats