Changes in abundance and distribution of marine top predators can indicate environmental change or anthropogenic pressure requiring management response. Here, we used an extensive dataset (21 years) to conduct a spatial and temporal analysis of grey seal strandings in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, close to the southern edge of the breeding range of the species. A total of 2007 strandings were reported from 2000 to 2020, increasing by 474% from 35 to 201 individuals per year during this period. The continued rise in strandings was consistent across all life stages and timeframes (5, 10 and 20 years), underpinning the suggestion of increasing abundance in the region. The observed seasonality differed by life stage, coinciding with the increased presence of animals near the coast for key life phases such as breeding, moulting and pupping. Strandings are widely distributed across the coast of Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly; however, most strandings were recorded on the north coast of Cornwall (70%) where major pupping and haul out sites are found. Despite hosting several pupping and haul out sites, a small proportion was recorded on the Isles of Scilly (5%) where it is thought that strandings are particularly underreported. Describing baselines in magnitude of strandings and life-stage compositions across space and time allows future deviations in frequency, demographic composition or spatial distribution to be detected and investigated. We demonstrate the utility of long-term citizen science data to provide valuable and cost-effective information on the distribution and abundance of a highly mobile marine mammal.

Communicating evidence that a policy is effective can increase public support although the effects are small. In the context of policies to increase healthier eating in out-of-home restaurants, we investigate two ways of presenting evidence for a policy's effectiveness: (i) visualising and (ii) re-expressing evidence into a more interpretable form. We conducted an online experiment in which participants were randomly allocated to one of five groups. We used a 2 (text only vs visualisation) × 2 (no re-expression vs re-expression) design with one control group. Participants (n = 4500) representative of the English population were recruited. The primary outcome was perceived effectiveness and the secondary outcome was public support. Evidence of effectiveness increased perceptions of effectiveness (d = 0.14, p < 0.001). There was no evidence that visualising, or re-expressing, changed perceptions of effectiveness (respectively, d = 0.02, p = 0.605; d = −0.02, p = 0.507). Policy support increased with evidence but this was not statistically significant after Bonferroni adjustment (d = 0.08, p = 0.034, α = 0.006). In conclusion, communicating evidence of policy effectiveness increased perceptions that the policy was effective. Neither visualising nor re-expressing evidence increased perceived effectiveness of policies more than merely stating in text that the policy was effective.

Extreme silver enrichment at the surface of the complex sulphide, tennantite (ideal formula: Cu12As4S13), occurs following exposure to alkaline solutions, and involves the development of an Ag-rich sulphide surface species. The tennantite has a low bulk Ag content of 0.3 at.%, and a percentage surface enrichment of Ag is thirty-six times that of the bulk. The techniques of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and reflection extended X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy show the new phase to be a Ag sulphide species compositionally similar to cupriferous proustite ((Cu,Ag)3AsS3). Solution experiments and XPS depth profiling show that the surface is most depleted in Cu and Zn, and enriched in Ag compared to the bulk tennantite. Selective dissolution and reprecipitation at the tennantite surface cannot explain the enrichment of Ag relative to the bulk. Migration must have occurred and could have been driven by the leaching out of Cu which produces a metal-depleted surface, coupled to the relative incompatibility of Ag in the tennantite lattice. To account for the extreme enrichment at the surface, Ag must have diffused from depths of up to 9 nm, probably via structural weaknesses and vacancies in the tennantite lattice.

Building Management Systems and Home Automation are, at present, active areas of research and development. One of the unsolved problems within this field is that of Occupant Location within a premises. Computer vision systems are, as yet, too expensive and still not entirely adequate to monitor occupation from every room in a building. The use of existing movement sensors is a cost effective solution but has the disadvantages of not detecting people who are stationary for some time, or giving any indication of how many people are in a room.

This paper addresses the problem of using the collaborative sum of these simple movement sensors in a temporal reasoning scheme to deduce room occupation.

Understanding the dietary needs of syntopic species is essential for examining species coexistence and resource partitioning. We analysed stable isotopes of carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) to estimate the diet of two putative nectarivorous bats on Puerto Rico, the brown flower bat (Erophylla bombifrons) and the Greater Antillean long-tongued bat (Monophyllus redmani). Isotopic ratios of δ13C and δ15N were obtained from whole blood of both species of bat and tissues of available plant foods and insect prey over 15 wk at the same locality. We used a concentration-dependent Bayesian mixing model to determine probability distributions of feasible dietary contributions for major potential foods used by each species of bat. Additionally, separate dietary estimates were conducted for males and non-reproductive, pregnant and lactating females to determine differences due to reproductive condition. Insects were an important source of protein for M. redmani, whereas E. bombifrons obtained most of its protein from plants. In both species of bat, lactating females had lower assimilated nitrogen than males, suggesting more reliance on plants for protein. We observed no intraspecific differences in assimilated carbon among reproductive conditions. Flight and lactation are energetically expensive and may explain the increased consumption of high-energy foods, such as fruit or nectar, in lactating female bats. Comparison of isotopes between E. bombifrons and M. redmani illustrate the differential use of food resources by these insular syntopic species of bat.