Nancyrossite, ideally FeGeO6H5, is a new hydroxyperovskite from Tsumeb. It probably formed by the oxidation and partial dehydrogenation of stottite, FeGe(OH)6, with which it is associated intimately. The structure of nancyrossite has been determined in tetragonal space group P42/n: a = 7.37382(12) Å, c = 7.29704(19) Å, V = 396.764(16) Å3, Z = 4, R1(all) = 0.034, wR2(all) = 0.051 and GoF = 1.057. Empirical formulae of two crystals have almost end-member compositions, Fe3+1.01Zn0.03Ge0.98O6H5 and Fe3+1.01Zn0.04Ge0.98O6H5. Structure determination indicates that 88% of the Fe is ferric. The chemical formula proposed here for nancyrossite recognises that although H atoms form OH groups, writing the formula as FeGeO(OH)5 implies that one of the six oxygen atoms is very underbonded, with a bond-valence sum of only ∼1.2 valence units. As such, H in nancyrossite may have novel crystal chemistry. For example, the five H atoms may be distributed dynamically over the six O atoms, a phenomenon that would be averaged by X-ray diffraction, and so go undetected. Nancyrossite is the Ge-analogue of jeanbandyite. By analogy with nancyrossite, we propose revision of the ideal formula of jeanbandyite from FeSnO(OH)5 (Welch and Kampf, 2017) to FeSnO6H5.

Shifting to cycling in urban areas reduces greenhouse gas emissions and improves public health. Access to street-level data on bicycle traffic would assist cities in planning targeted infrastructure improvements to encourage cycling and provide civil society with evidence to advocate for cyclists’ needs. Yet, the data currently available to cities and citizens often only comes from sparsely located counting stations. This paper extrapolates bicycle volume beyond these few locations to estimate street-level bicycle counts for the entire city of Berlin. We predict daily and average annual daily street-level bicycle volumes using machine-learning techniques and various data sources. These include app-based crowdsourced data, infrastructure, bike-sharing, motorized traffic, socioeconomic indicators, weather, holiday data, and centrality measures. Our analysis reveals that crowdsourced cycling flow data from Strava in the area around the point of interest are most important for the prediction. To provide guidance for future data collection, we analyze how including short-term counts at predicted locations enhances model performance. By incorporating just 10 days of sample counts for each predicted location, we are able to almost halve the error and greatly reduce the variability in performance among predicted locations.

‘Print stone’ is an iron-banded siltstone from the Pilbara Province of Western Australia that bears partial resemblance to iconic East Kimberley ‘zebra rock’ in both pattern morphology and mineralogical composition. Using a combination of mineralogy and elemental geochemistry, this investigation examines the mechanisms underlying the formation of periodic iron-oxide banding in print stone. We demonstrate that print stone patterns probably arose from the periodic deposition of hydrothermal pyrite during the early Palaeoproterozoic, as evidenced by the distinctive cuboid morphology of the hematite pigment, the deposition of iron oxides along fluid-transport pathways, the presence of extensive hydrothermal pyrite elsewhere in the formation, and the presence of a positive europium anomaly. Through spatial analysis of the iron-oxide banding, we further show that print stone adheres to the Liesegang spacing law with a spacing coefficient of 0.018. This suggests that the periodic deposition of pyrite in print stone arose due to the Liesegang phenomenon, which was probably triggered by the infiltration of near-neutral, sulfidic hydrothermal fluids into a ferruginous, feldspathic shale. Altogether, the present findings demonstrate the opportunity for iron-oxide Liesegang bands to develop in hydrothermal systems, providing additional insight into the mechanisms underlying the formation of the East Kimberley zebra rock and other banded geological material.

This paper reports one mytiloid species, Amygdalum anoxicolum P. G. Oliver, 2001 from the summit of a seamount located in the eastern Arabian Sea. This species was encountered from the core of the Arabian Sea oxygen minimum zone at a depth of 340 m and possessed several adaptations to low-oxygen concentration. This paper presents the first-ever DNA barcodes for this species.

The magnificent shrimp, Ancylomenes magnificus (Bruce, 1979), is a sea anemone associated marine ornamental organism exploited from Indo-Pacific waters, for the marine aquarium trade, as it has attractive coloration. However, there are no reports available yet on its population and reproductive characteristics (population structure, length–weight relationship, fecundity, sexual dimorphism, sex ratio and maturity stages). The present investigation provides information for the first time on the population and reproductive parameters of A. magnificus. In this study, a total of 158 individuals were collected from the intertidal regions of the Gulf of Mannar, Tamil Nadu, India from August 2021 to April 2022, out of which 61.4% (97 individuals) were females and 38.6% (61 individuals) were males. The estimated mean size (CL ± SD) of females was 4.93 ± 0.78 mm, while that of males was 3.22 ± 0.56 mm. The estimated mean body weight was 0.091 and 0.219 g in males and females, respectively. The study indicated strong sexual dimorphism in this species and considerable variation appeared in the carpus and chela of the second major pereopod, carapace and total length. The carapace length and weight showed a negative allometric relationship with a significant coefficient. Fecundity was relatively lower and embryo volume increased with size groups. Interestingly, the study revealed year-round breeding activity with a peak in the post-monsoon (January to March) and monsoonal period (October to December) for this species. The present investigation provides the first baseline information on the population and reproductive parameters of A. magnificus.

At a time of increasing environmental changes and geopolitical tensions, the need for collaboration in the Arctic is greater than ever. Top-down initiatives such as the Arctic Council have contributed to important increased collaboration and science diplomacy. Similarly, bottom-up initiatives have also played a major role in establishing diplomacy among researchers with spin-offs at government levels. We track the rise of science diplomacy achieved by INTERACT. In 2021, this was a network of 90 research stations in 18 countries (including all Arctic nations). It aims to improve the wellness of Indigenous Peoples, other Arctic residents and the global community by facilitating environmental monitoring and research. It supports scientists from around the world and facilitates environmental monitoring for more than 150 international/global networks. INTERACT contributed to science diplomacy until spring 2022 when the invasion of Ukraine by Russia completely changed its pan-Arctic networking over a couple of months. This decrease in INTERACT science diplomacy was due entirely to external constraints related to the current geopolitical circumstances and poses a new reality for INTERACT and its important contributions to environmental monitoring and research in a region where changes have global implications.

In the present study we update the distributional, bathymetric ranges and taxonomic characters of the carnivorous sponge Asbestopluma (Asbestopluma) magnifica Lopez, Bravo & Hajdu, 2011 providing new records for Argentinian jurisdictional waters in the SW Atlantic Ocean, including the Marine Protected Area Namuncurá/Burdwood Bank. The shallowest bathymetric range is now changed to the upper bathyal (289 m depth). We also amend the original description after re-examination of type materials, when markedly different micrometric values were observed for their subtylostyles and acanthotylostrongyles. We noticed a remarkable similarity between Asbestopluma (Asbestopluma) sarsensis Goodwin, Berman, Downey & Hendry, 2017 and A. (A.) magnifica and we suspect they may be synonymous, but we refrain from taking a formal decision pending revision of all materials reported for the younger taxon or a genetic analysis.

Over the last decade, several studies have shown the importance of trait diversity in natural populations. Theoretical ecological studies are beginning to incorporate trait variations in models but they continue to be largely ignored in the context of ecosystems that exhibit alternative stable states. Here, we begin with a mean-field model of bistable savanna-woodland system and then introduce trait variation in functional and demographic traits of savanna trees and saplings in the model. Our study reveals that higher trait variation reduces the extent of bistability in the system, such that the woodland state is favoured; that is, woodland occurs over a wider range of driver values compared to the grassland state. We find that the shift from one state to another can become less or more drastic, depending on the trait which exhibits variation. Interestingly, we find that even if the overall tree and grass cover remain insensitive to different initial conditions, the steady-state population trait distribution exhibits sensitivity to initial conditions. Our model findings suggest that in dryland ecosystems, and potentially in a broader class of bistable ecosystems, historical contingency has a stronger impact at the population level rather than at the ecosystem level when trait diversity is considered.