Elm bark beetle in Holocene peat deposits and the northwest European elm decline

The elm decline of 5000 ¹⁴C yr ago has been the most widely discussed phenomenon in post‐glacial vegetation history. This pan‐European reduction of elm populations, echoed in the decimation of elmwoods in Europe during the twentieth century, has attracted a series of interrelated hypotheses involving climate change, human activity, disease and soil deterioration. The elm bark beetle (Scolytus scolytus L.) is an essential component of disease explanations. We present evidence for the presence of the beetle over a prolonged period (ca. 7950–4910 yr BP [8800–5660 cal. yr BP]) from a lowland raised mire deposit in northeast Scotland, with its final appearance at this site, and the first and only appearance in another mire of a single scolytid find, around the time of the elm decline. The subfossil S. scolytus finds are not only the first from Scotland, but they also represent the most comprehensive sequence of finds anywhere. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Seasonal variations in prey selection by estuarine black-headed gulls (Larus ridibundus)

The number of black-headed gulls (Larus ridibundus) in the Clyde Estuary is large. In summer the average density has reached 1350 gulls km^?2 and in winter 180 gulls km^?2. This paper compares prey selection and feeding efficiency in gulls during summer and winter on tidal flats, and considers how seasonal differences may be adaptations to cope with seasonal changes in prey availability.Gross and net rates of energy intake were highest in summer because gulls captured more of the polychaete N. diversicolor than the amphipod C. volutator. In winter, gulls selected for C. volutator and therefore an energetically less profitable diet. Throughout the year gulls selected more C. volutator relative to N. diversicolor than expected on energetic grounds and so apparently did not maximize potential net rate of energy intake.Gulls used three techniques to capture prey and made most intensive use of the ‘crouch’ technique. Crouching gulls attained a much higher net rate of energy intake than ‘upright’ or ‘paddling’ gulls.A log-linear model showed that (a) season, water depth and gull density determined feeding technique and (b) feeding technique and season independently determined foraging success and prey selection. Thus gull density and water depth acted on prey selection through imposed variations in feeding technique.Reasons for gulls selecting energetically unprofitable C. volutator and for the use of several distinct feeding techniques are discussed.     

Water transport from the North-east Irish Sea to western Scottish coastal waters: Further observations from time-trend matching of Sellafield radiocaesium

Radiocaesium isotopes, discharged into the North-east Irish Sea from the Sellafield (formerly Windscale) nuclear fuel reprocessing plant in Cumbria, have been employed as flow monitors to update and extend the record of coastal water movement from the Irish Sea to the Clyde Sea area and, further north, to Loch Etive. The temporal trends in radiocaesium levels have been used to determine the extent of water mixing en route and to define mean advection rates. Flow conditions from the Irish Sea have changed considerably since the mid-1970s, the residence time of northern Irish Sea waters being ～12 months during 1978–1980 inclusive. Average transport times of four and six months are estimated for the Sellafield to Clyde and Sellafield to Etive transects respectively. Sellafield ¹³⁷Cs levels in seawater were diluted by factors of 27 and 50 respectively during current movement to the Clyde and Etive areas. The decrease in salinity-corrected ¹³⁷Cs concentrations between the Clyde and Etive suggests that dilution by Atlantic water occurs, the latter mainly entering the Firth of Lorne from the west. The majority (～94%) of the radiocaesium supply to Loch Etive enters the Firth of Lorne via the portion of the coastal current circulating west of Islay, only ～6% arriving via the Sound of Jura.     

Recruitment patterns of Serpula vermicularis L. (Polychaeta, Serpulidae) in Loch Creran, Scotland

This study aimed to contribute to conservation management of reefs of Serpula vermicularis by increasing understanding of the factors influencing larval settlement. The study was carried out in Loch Creran, which supports the most extensive known development of S. vermicularis reefs in the world. Settlement plates were deployed to examine the influence of season, depth, reef density, substrate type and orientation. Monthly deployment of plates revealed settlement of S. vermicularis to occur predominantly from mid-June to mid-October, peaking in late August to early September. Settlement of Pomatoceros spp. peaked much earlier, in late May to early June. Deployment of plates at different depths revealed a marked reduction in S. vermicularis settlement intensity between 6 and 12 m. As this corresponds with the deeper limit of the peripheral fringe of serpulid reefs in the loch, it is suggested that this limit is imposed by a depth-correlated settlement response, rather than reduction in available substrata. Comparisons of various substrata showed a preference by S. vermicularis larvae for a slate over a scallop substrate and no evidence of enhanced recruitment to occupied or unoccupied tubes of S. vermicularis, suggesting that gregarious attraction is unlikely to be a factor causing reef formation. Settlement onto the upper side of a horizontal scallop substrate was found to be insignificant in comparison with the underside or a vertically orientated scallop. Evidence for the role of light in controlling the depth and substrate-orientation preferences of S. vermicularis larvae is discussed. Based on the results of this study, recommendations are made regarding remediation of areas suffering reef damage.     

Geochemistry of mafic and ultramafic xenoliths from Fidra (Southern Uplands, Scotland): implications for lithospheric processes in Permo-Carboniferous times

Several types of xenoliths occur in a Permian basanite sill in Fidra, eastern central Scotland. One group consists of spinel lherzolites, which have geochemical and isotopic characteristics similar to those of lithospheric upper mantle from elsewhere in western Europe, with both LREE-depleted and LREE-enriched compositions. A separate group comprises pyroxenites and wehrlites, some of which contain plagioclase; these have compositions and textures that indicate that they are cumulates from mafic magmas. In terms of Sr and Nd isotope compositions, the pyroxenites closely resemble the host basanite and most likely formed by high-pressure fractionation of Permo-Carboniferous alkaline magmas at lower crustal depths. They also have mantle-like δ¹⁸O values. A third group is composed of granulite xenoliths that vary between plagioclase-rich and clinopyroxene-rich compositions, some of which probably form a continuum with the pyroxenites and wehrlites. They are all LREE-enriched and most have positive Eu anomalies; thus, they are also mostly cumulates from mafic magmas. Many of the granulites also have Sr and Nd radiogenic isotope ratios similar to those of the host basanite, indicating that they have formed from a similar magma. However, several of the granulites show more enriched isotopic compositions, including higher δ¹⁸O values, trending towards an older crustal component. Thus, the pyroxenites and granulites are largely cogenetic and are mainly the product of a mafic underplating event that occurred during the widespread magmatism in central Scotland during Permo-Carboniferous times.     

Knickpoint recession rate and catchment area: the case of uplifted rivers in Eastern Scotland

Knickpoint behaviour is a key to understanding both the landscape responses to a base‐level fall and the corresponding sediment fluxes from rejuvenated catchments, and must be accommodated in numerical models of large‐scale landscape evolution. Knickpoint recession in streams draining to glacio‐isostatically uplifted shorelines in eastern Scotland is used to assess whether knickpoint recession is a function of discharge (here represented by its surrogate, catchment area). Knickpoints are identified using DS plots (log slope versus log downstream distance). A statistically significant power relationship is found between distance of headward recession and catchment area. Such knickpoint recession data may be used to determine the values of m and n in the stream power law, E = KA^mSⁿ. The data have too many uncertainties, however, to judge definitively whether they are consistent with m = n = 1 (bedrock erosion is proportional to stream power and KPs should be maintained and propagate headwards) or m = 0·3, n = 0·7 (bedrock incision is proportional to shear stress and KPs do not propagate but degrade in place by rotation or replacement). Nonetheless, the E Scotland m and n values point to the dominance of catchment area (discharge) in determining knickpoint retreat rates and are therefore more consistent with the stream power law formulation in which bedrock erosion is proportional to stream power. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A new look at an old unconformity: field and geochemical data from James Hutton's original unconformity on the Isle of Arran, Scotland

In the year 1787, while visiting the Isle of Arran in southwestern Scotland, James Hutton made the initial discovery of what is now called an angular unconformity. In his example, Dalradian (Neoproterozoic - Cambrian) metasedimentary rocks are overlain by Early Carboniferous (Dinantian) sedimentary rocks of fluvial origin. The exact position of the plane of unconformity has been uncertain because of the presence of a resistant carbonate-rich zone (cornstone) on the Dalradian paleosurface. Whereas the unconformity was previously placed in an erosional re-entrant beneath the prominent carbonate-rich layer, it should be located at the contact between the Dalradian metasedimentary rocks, including those affected by cornstone formation, and overlying Dinantian pebbly sandstones. A prominent set of joints in the Dalradian rocks is sub-parallel to bedding in the overlying Carboniferous rocks and has contributed to ambiguity concerning placement of the plane of unconformity. A second exposure of Hutton's unconformity, at the SW end of the same small Carboniferous outlier on the Arran coast, displays the contact relationships unambiguously. Geochemical investigation of samples from the new locality shows that the cornstones are enriched in CaO, volatiles (LOI), MgO, and MnO. Formation of the cornstone involved replacement of siliciclastic Dalradian metasediments by dolomite. Relative to the fresh Dalradian rocks, the cornstones are depleted in most trace elements, but display enrichment in Sr, Y, Cu, and REE. The cornstone is enriched in REE in a systematic fashion, with a particularly strong concentration of MREE. A mirror-image pattern in the associated Dalradian rocks suggests that the REE enrichment observed in the cornstone is a result of leaching from the country rocks by groundwater, followed by evaporative concentration.     

The boyndie syncline,a D1 structure in the Dalradian of Scotland

The structure of the Dalradian rocks of the Banffshire coast has been re-examined. It is shown that D₁ structures face upwards along the entire section and the major Boyndie Syncline (Sutton and Watson 1956) must also be of D₁, age and not D₃ as proposed by Johnson (1962). D₂ structures are developed in the west, most strongly in the Portsoy Group and Cowhythe Gneiss where they may be related to the Portsoy Thrust (Elles 1931). East of the Cowhythe Gneiss D₂ structures are not developed but D₃ structures are of local importance. Porphyroblast growth is considered to be post-D₁, pre-D₃ related to the ‘active’ D₂ deformation in the west (Barrovian) and to the ‘static’ D₂ interval in the east (Buchan). The wider implications of these conclusions for Dalradian structure are briefly considered.