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North Wales (north + wale)
Selected AbstractsSelection for discontinuous life-history traits along a continuous thermal gradient in the butterfly Aricia agestisECOLOGICAL ENTOMOLOGY, Issue 6 2005Steve Burke Abstract., 1.,Voltinism may be conceptualised as the product of development rate and the timing of diapause , two components that together translate gradual environmental variation, through periods of growth and development, into ,generational units'. This may result in very different selection pressures on diapause induction and development time in populations with different numbers of generations per year. 2.,Developmental data from univoltine and bivoltine populations of the butterfly Aricia agestis (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) in North Wales were used to examine larval development time and the timing of diapause, and their contribution towards voltinism in populations that occur at the same latitude and in geographic proximity to one another along a thermal gradient. 3.,The critical photoperiod for diapause induction in univoltines and bivoltines from the same latitude differed by more than 1.5 h. 4.,Development time also differed significantly between these populations, in line with predictions that bivoltines would need to exhibit shorter development times in order to achieve two complete generations per year. Shorter development times for bivoltines result in lower pupal weights, suggesting a trade-off exists between generation number and body size that may dictate the position of the transition zone between the two life-history strategies. Analysis of development times in a third population, from southern England, with greater thermal availability than those from North Wales, further supports this hypothesised trade-off. 5.,To achieve the conversion of a continuous thermal gradient into the binary biological response from univoltism to bivoltism, bivoltines speed up development, reduce adult body size and shift their diapause induction response. [source] Paediatric dentistry in outreach settings: an essential part of undergraduate curricula?EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF DENTAL EDUCATION, Issue 4 2009M. L. Hunter Abstract Introduction:, Although placements in primary care settings remote from dental schools are becoming a common feature of undergraduate dental curricula, little evidence is available regarding the experience of paediatric dentistry gained in this way. Materials and methods:, Treatment logs relating to salaried primary care placements undertaken by the Class of 2007 at Cardiff University School of Dentistry were examined, particular attention being paid to paediatric-specific procedures. Results:, Forty-nine logs relating to placements undertaken in South East Wales and 51 relating to those in North Wales were retrieved. In South East Wales, 90% of students gained experience of primary tooth restoration, 61% carrying out primary endodontics. Sixty-three percent of students undertaking placements in South East Wales and 69% of those placed in North Wales gained experience of primary tooth extraction under local anaesthesia. All but three students gained experience of administering inhalation sedation. Discussion:, The findings of this study should go some way towards reassuring those who have expressed concern that recruitment difficulties within dental schools inevitably lead to increasing numbers of students qualifying without clinical experience of paediatric dental procedures considered to be within the remit of a newly qualified dental practitioner. However, there remains wide variation in the breadth and depth of experience of individual students and it is still possible for some students to graduate without what might be considered core experience in paediatric dentistry. Conclusion:, Salaried primary care settings are ideally placed to provide students with experience of paediatric-specific procedures. Clinical education in paediatric dentistry should, therefore, incorporate the strengths of dental school and placement education. [source] PCR profiling of ammonia-oxidizer communities in acidic soils subjected to nitrogen and sulphur depositionFEMS MICROBIOLOGY ECOLOGY, Issue 2 2007Christoph Stephan Schmidt Abstract Communities of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) were characterized in two acidic soil sites experimentally subjected to varying levels of nitrogen and sulphur deposition. The sites were an acidic spruce forest soil in Deepsyke, Southern Scotland, with low background deposition, and a nitrogen-saturated upland grass heath in Pwllpeiran, North Wales. Betaproteobacterial ammonia-oxidizer 16S rRNA and ammonia monooxygenase (amoA) genes were analysed by cloning, sequencing and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE). DGGE profiles of amoA and 16S rRNA gene fragments from Deepsyke soil in 2002 indicated no effect of nitrogen deposition on AOB communities, which contained both Nitrosomonas europaea and Nitrosospira. In 2003, only Nitrosospira could be detected, and no amoA sequences could be retrieved. These results indicate a decrease in the relative abundance of AOB from the year 2002 to 2003 in Deepsyke soil, which may be the result of the exceptionally low rainfall in spring 2003. Nitrosospira -related sequences from Deepsyke soil grouped in all clusters, including cluster 1, which typically contains only sequences from marine environments. In Pwllpeiran soil, 16S rRNA gene libraries were dominated by nonammonia oxidizers and no amoA sequences were detectable. This indicates that autotrophic AOB play only a minor role in these soils even at high nitrogen deposition. [source] Sequence stratigraphy of the upper Millstone Grit (Yeadonian, Namurian), North WalesGEOLOGICAL JOURNAL, Issue 5 2007Rhodri M. Jerrett Abstract The upper Millstone Grit strata (Yeadonian, Namurian) of North Wales have been studied using sedimentological facies analysis and sequence stratigraphy. These strata comprise two cyclothems, each containing prodelta shales (Holywell Shale) that pass gradationally upwards into delta-front and delta-plain deposits (Gwespyr Sandstone Formation). The deltas formed in shallow water (<100,m), were fluvial-dominated, had elongate and/or sheet geometries and are assigned to highstand systems tracts. Two delta complexes with distinctive sandstone petrographies are identified: (1) a southerly derived, quartzose delta complex sourced locally from the Wales-Brabant Massif, and (2) a feldspathic delta complex fed by a regional source(s) to the north and/or west. The feldspathic delta complex extended further south in the younger cyclothem. A multistorey braided-fluvial complex (Aqueduct Grit, c. 25,m thick) is assigned to a lowstand systems tract, and occupies an incised valley that was eroded into the highstand feldspathic delta complex in the younger cyclothem. A candidate incised valley cut into the highstand feldspathic delta complex in the older cyclothem is also tentatively identified. Transgressive systems tracts are thin (<5,m) and contain condensed fossiliferous shales (marine bands). The high-resolution sequence stratigraphic framework interpreted for North Wales can be readily traced northwards into the Central Province Basin (,Pennine Basin'), supporting the notion that high-frequency, high-magnitude sea-level changes were the dominant control on stratigraphic architecture. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] On the structural age of the Rhoscolyn antiform, Anglesey, North WalesGEOLOGICAL JOURNAL, Issue 2 2004Hossein Hassani Abstract In the Rhoscolyn area of Anglesey, the late Precambrian interbedded psammites and pelites of the Monian Supergroup are folded into a kilometre-scale antiform, plunging about 25°NE and with an axial surface dipping about 40°NW. Numerous folds of up to a few tens of metres in wavelength are present on both limbs of this antiform. These smaller-scale folds also plunge about 25°NE but clearly belong to two separate episodes of folding, and it has become a matter of longstanding controversy as to whether the larger antiform belongs to the first or second of these episodes. Close examination of the cleavage/bedding asymmetries from all the lithologies, however, shows that the large antiform is a second-generation structure, and that on the gently dipping northwest limb, the sense of cleavage/bedding asymmetry of the earlier cleavage in the psammitic units has been almost uniformly and homogeneously reversed (so that it appears to be axial planar to the antiform), while in the pelitic units the sense of cleavage/bedding asymmetry of the earlier cleavage has been preserved. Many of the small-scale complexities of the observed cleavage/bedding relationships may be explained by appealing to differences in the timing of the formation of buckling instabilities relative to this reorientation of the early cleavage in the psammites during the second deformation. A first-order analysis of the finite strains from around the large-scale antiform shows that the orientation of the first cleavage prior to the second deformation was steeply dipping to the southeast. The second deformation correlates with the southeast-verging Caledonian deformation affecting the Monian and Ordovician units elsewhere in northwest Anglesey, while the northwest-verging first deformation event, which is not present in the Ordovician rocks, must have occurred before they were deposited. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Community mental health nursing and early intervention in dementia: developing practice through a single case historyJOURNAL OF CLINICAL NURSING, Issue 2004John Keady PhD This paper reports on a single case history taken from the ,Dementia Action Research and Education' project, a 15-month primary care intervention study that was undertaken in North Wales in the early part of 2000. The study sought to address the meaning, context and diversity of early intervention in dementia care and employed a community mental health nurse and a psychiatric social worker to undertake early and psychosocial interventions with older people with dementia (aged 75 years and over) and their families. The workers tape-recorded, documented and analysed their interventions with 27 older people with dementia and their families over the 15-month duration of the study. Clinical supervision was also undertaken during the intervention phase. One case history is presented in this paper to illustrate the work of the community mental health nurse and to identify areas of practice development. Greater role transparency, collaborative working and improvement in educational preparation for practice are called for. [source] Strategy-switching in the gaffing batJOURNAL OF ZOOLOGY, Issue 1 2007V. L. G. Todd Abstract Foraging in Daubenton's bats Myotis daubentonii, at two altitudinal locations along a river gradient in North Wales was investigated in relation to aerial insect density and to the density of prey on the water surface. Prey capture in Daubenton's bats consisted of aerial hawking, where prey was taken in the air, and trawling, where bats gaffed invertebrates from the water surface. Aerial hawking accounted for 86% of all prey capture attempts, despite aerial insect availability falling close to zero for much of the night. Conversely, prey density on the water surface was an order of magnitude higher than aerial prey density and increased through the night due to aquatic invertebrate drift. At the higher altitude site, M. daubentonii switched prey capture strategy to gaffing, possibly to reflect this change in prey availability on the water's surface, but at the lower altitude site, they maintained aerial hawking as the preferred strategy. The switch to gaffing may be inhibited by the significant downstream accumulation of large numbers of inedible exuviae of caddis flies, Trichoptera, at the low-altitude site, which form both acoustic clutter and increase the probability of capturing inedible prey, making foraging less efficient. These small altitudinal differences in foraging strategy should be factored into the design of future altitudinal bat foraging studies and if found to be a widespread strategy, taken into consideration by conservation planners when reviewing the habitat requirements of Daubenton's bats in river valleys within the United Kingdom. [source] Effects of long-term grazing management on sand dune vegetation of high conservation interestAPPLIED VEGETATION SCIENCE, Issue 1 2010Katharina Plassmann Abstract Question: Can long-term grazing management maintain and restore species-rich sand dune plant communities within a sand dune site of high conservation interest? Location: Newborough Warren, North Wales, UK. Methods: Vegetation changes that occurred between 1987 and 2003, subsequent to grazing by domestic livestock being introduced to the site after decades with little or no stock grazing, were analysed using data collected from permanent monitoring quadrats over a 16-year period. Results: At the plant community level, grazing brought about a shift from a tall-grass dominated, species-poor community to a more species-rich community in the dry dunes, but did not change community type in dune slacks. However, at the species level, grazing enhanced the abundance of some desired perennial, annual and biennial species, graminoids and bryophytes in both habitat types. The increased frequency of positive indicator species for habitat condition suggests that grazing was beneficial for species of conservation interest. Ellenberg nitrogen (N) values decreased after grazing in dry habitats but showed no long-term change independent of grazing, suggesting no increase in site fertility over the study period. Surprisingly, light (L) values also decreased in the dry dunes after grazing. Conclusions: Long-term grazing management can play an important role for the conservation of dune communities and associated species. Because of its positive effects on species diversity, plant communities and habitat condition in sand dunes, livestock grazing is recommended for conservation management. [source] Planned telephone support for disadvantaged parents in North Wales: perceptions of service usersCHILD & FAMILY SOCIAL WORK, Issue 4 2007Iolo Madoc-Jones ABSTRACT This paper draws on the findings of a qualitative evaluation to examine user perceptions of a planned telephone support intervention based in a disadvantaged area in North Wales. Telephone support services are tailored differentially to offer information, advice and/or counselling on a crisis-led or planned-intervention basis. Research focusing on telephone support, for the most part (and particularly in the UK) has examined crisis-led as opposed to planned support services. The findings of our study resonate with earlier research findings about telephone support that suggest provision of non-visual support in social care can overcome some practical and financial difficulties for users with little discernible loss to their experience of satisfaction with the service. In addition, the paper suggests that planned support may provide a valuable service to users who are most disadvantaged and marginalized and who have found traditional forms of support unsatisfactory. For such users, planned telephone support can offer one-to-one communication tailored to specific client needs. Moreover, it can enable the development of user trust in the service which empowers users to operationalize strategies in the context of a reliable, sustained, unthreatening (and thus minimal risk) relationship. [source] Families on the brink: the effectiveness of family support servicesCHILD & FAMILY SOCIAL WORK, Issue 2 2004June Statham ABSTRACT This paper presents findings from a study of the costs and effectiveness of family support services offered to 40 families with a high level of need, in two neighbouring local authorities in North Wales. It describes the level and type of services offered by different agencies in each of the authorities, estimates the costs of these services, and assesses outcomes for the families receiving them after three months. Information is also provided about families' experience of the support they received, and the kind of help they would have liked. Parents' well-being and family functioning were found to improve over the intervention period in both authorities, although only to a limited extent. Improvements were greater among those who were living with partners, and less among families identified by social workers as having financial difficulties or problems with drug or alcohol abuse. Respondents who rated their problems as very severe showed less improvement. The pattern of service provision and the costs involved turned out to be similar in both authorities, so it was not possible to reach conclusions about the relationship between services and outcomes. However, a number of themes emerging from the data are discussed, including the role of day care services in supporting families with young children, the impact of poverty and deprivation on parents' ability to provide good care for their children, and the importance of an interagency response to children's and parents' needs. The article also includes a discussion of problems encountered in undertaking comparative outcomes-based research and cost-effectiveness analyses in the social welfare field. [source] Addressing the Population Burden of Child and Adolescent Mental Health Problems: A Primary Care ModelCHILD AND ADOLESCENT MENTAL HEALTH, Issue 1 2000Peter L. Appleton A model for primary care child and adolescent mental health (CAMH) services is presented, the overall goal of which is to reduce population burden of CAMH problems. The theoretical orientation of the model is based on ecological systems theories. Features of the model include: local population outcome measures; small area service focus; primary-care-based CAMH specialists; a locally comprehensive service framework based in primary care (schools and general practices); and an explicit process of community engagement. The model is illustrated by reference to a primary care CAMH service (currently the subject of a controlled trial) in Flintshire, North Wales. [source] Wader recruitment indices suggest nesting success is temperature-dependent in Dunlin Calidris alpinaIBIS, Issue 3 2006COLIN M. BEALE Measures of annual breeding success are an important component of species monitoring programmes. It has been suggested that effective monitoring of breeding productivity for arctic breeding waders may be achieved from an analysis of annual variation in the proportion of juveniles in winter flocks. Here, we attempt to generate a recruitment index for Dunlin Calidris alpina caught during the winter in north Wales. This index revealed significant annual variation and we show that this is strongly correlated with summer temperature (but not rainfall) on the breeding grounds. Years with high recruitment were also correlated with increases in the national winter population estimate. In years of intermediate summer temperature, the recruitment index was highest and we discuss the possible implications this has for Dunlin under scenarios of future climate change. We were unable to generate a significant index for Common Redshank Tringa totanus and discuss possible reasons for this. [source] Ecological dynamics of extinct species in empty habitat networks.OIKOS, Issue 3 2003This paper explores the relative effects of host plant dynamics and butterfly-related parameters on butterfly persistence. It considers an empty habitat network where a rare butterfly (Cupido minimus) became extinct in 1939 in part of its historical range in north Wales, UK. Surviving populations of the butterfly in southern Britain were visited to assess use of its host plant (Anthyllis vulneraria) in order to calibrate habitat suitability and carrying capacity in the empty network in north Wales. These data were used to deduce that only a portion (,19%) of the host plant network from north Wales was likely to be highly suitable for oviposition. Nonetheless, roughly 65,460 eggs (3273 adult equivalents) could be expected to be laid in north Wales, were the empty network to be populated at the same levels as observed on comparable plants in surviving populations elsewhere. Simulated metapopulations of C. minimus in the empty network revealed that time to extinction and patch occupancy were significantly influenced by carrying capacity, butterfly mean dispersal distance and environmental stochasticity, although for most reasonable parameter values, the model system persisted. Simulation outputs differed greatly when host plant dynamics was incorporated into the modelled butterfly dynamics. Cupido minimus usually went extinct when host plant were at low densities. In these simulations host plant dynamics appeared to be the most important determinant of the butterfly's regional extirpation. Modelling the outcome of a reintroduction programme to C. minimus variation at high quality locations, revealed that 65% of systems survived at least 100 years. Given the current amount of resources of the north Wales landscape, the persistence of C. minimus under a realistic reintroduction programme has a good chance of being successful, if carried out in conjunction with a host plant management programme. [source] | ||||||||||||||||