It is a grim spell here on Anglesey. An ancient wood near Bangor is ear-marked for a holiday village. A marshy field at Star is going to be a travellers’ camp. A favourite pond by the Strait is being infilled by the farmer. The route of the third bridge has been announced, through an SSSI and a National Trust wood. Now this.
Hot off the Press!
Interesting reading for anyone with an interest in biological recording. The National Diversity Network has published its Review of Biological Recording Infrastructure in Scotland.
I’m surprised to find the number of new described vascular plant species as low as 128.
Checking out Malvaceae at IPNI, new species are
Acropogon horarius (new discovery) Andeimalva peruviana (new discovery) Cola dorrii (segregate of Cola greenwayi) Cola mamboana (new discovery) Cola zemagoana (new discovery) Eriolaena rulkensii (new discovery) Hibiscus contortus (new discovery) Quararibea nigrescens (new discovery) Quararibea reflexipetala (new discovery) Seringia botak (new discovery)
And looking in Google Scholar for species that haven’t yet made their way to IPNI adds
Malvaceae represents about 1% of flowering plant diversity, so by extrapolation one would expect well over a thousand species. One of the papers sayings that the number of plant species described annually as new to science regularly exceeds 2,000.
I was researching the 18thC Biologist Emanuel Mendes da Costa (1717-1791) http://blogs.royalsociety.org/history-of-science/2018/10/16/face-from-archives/
Gould’s work is spread thickly though the web as Weblinks. One can copy and paste those anywhere, as they do not infringe general Copyright ‘laws’.
I think that if you print the document and circulate it for anything other that personal use, you may be in breach.
The link to the document is in that Royal Soc PUBLIC BLOG as a Hotlink “…Costa, delightfully titled… ‘The clam stripped bare by her naturalists, even….”
More of Gauld’s Essays are here http://systematicbiology.co.nf/ (Norfolk Island Data Services)
Both working now. Oh, I love computers - to think I once spent a year learning to link lab equipment to IT systems - but that was rather a long time ago.
1 Daisies belong to one of the largest families of plants in the world
Daisies belong the family of ‘vascular plants’ - those which circulate nutrients and water throughout the plant. They make up almost 10% of all flowering plants on Earth.
6 A daisy is actually two flowers in one
The (usually) white petals count as one flower and the cluster of (usually) tiny yellow disc petals that form the ‘eye’ is technically another.
Rather disappointing. Continues the trend of the last couple of decades, that the developments most needed are easier ways for naturalists to distribute their records to LRCs, statutory agencies, etc. No one is producing a good database for naturalists to have on their own computer and use for their own purposes.
People seem to think that everything is in the cloud now and everyone uses smartphones and desktops have vanished. On the other hand now that everyone has a decent smartphone, Apple’s shares are falling through the floor, then there may be some other item that the marketers can push, perhaps having a decent larger screen and easy to use keyboard and mouse to connect to the smartphone and perhaps call it a desktop!
Flamingos and water shortage in SA. Includes reference to whether consevationists should interfere ( i.e rescue the chicks). Well, I couldn’t have stood by and done nothing.
