Analysis of satellite-telemetry data mostly occurs long after it has been collected, due to the time and effort needed to collate and interpret such material. Delayed reporting reduces the usefulness of such data for nature conservation where timely information about animal movements is required. To counter this problem, we present a novel approach which combines automated analysis of satellite...

Multi-coloured homologues of the green fluorescent protein generate some of the most striking visual phenomena in the ocean. Despite their natural prominence in reef-building corals and widespread use in biotechnology, their biological role remains obscure. Here, we experimented with larvae of Acropora millepora to determine what can be learned about a coral larva or recruit from its fluorescen...

Storage effect theory describes conditions under which recruitment fluctuation can promote the coexistence of multiple species competing for a single resource. In communities of benthic marine animals, larval settlement is often highly variable, and it has long been suspected that settlement variability promotes coexistence via the storage effect, but no empirical studies have provided quantita...

Larvae of the marine gastropod Crepidula fornicata must complete a transition from the plankton, where they are highly dispersed, to an aggregated group of benthic adults. Previous research has shown that selective settlement of larvae on conspecific adults is mediated by a water-borne chemical cue. However, variable experimental conditions have been used to study this cue, and standardization ...

A good estimate of the design effect is critical for calculating the most efficient sample size for cluster surveys. We reviewed the design effects for seven nutrition and health outcomes from nine population-based cluster surveys conducted in emergency settings. Most of the design effects for outcomes in children, and one-half of the design effects for crude mortality, were below two. A reasse...

Despite debuting to little fanfare under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), dispute settlement under the World Trade Organization (WTO) has been called the “backbone of the multilateral trading system.” Indeed, whereas GATT dispute settlement could scarcely have seemed more flawed, the WTO’s Dispute Settlement Understanding (DSU) is widely touted for boosting confidence in an in...

Spatially extensive analysis of satellite, climate, and census data reveals humanenvironment interactions of regional or continental concern i n the United States. A grid-based principal components analysis of Bureau of Census variables revealed two independent demographic phenomena, a-settlement reflecting traditional human settlement patterns and p-settlement describing relative population gr...

Due to the scarcity of useable land in Hong Kong, it is a common practice to reclaim land from the sea. The reclaimed land usually undergoes a long period of settlement that may affect building structures and underground facilities such as water supply and sewage systems built on the land. Measurements of land settlement can provide valuable data for assessing the impacts of land settlement and...

The landscapes of the Near East show both the first settlements and the longest trajectories of settlement systems. Mounding is a characteristic property of these settlement sites, resulting from millennia of continuing settlement activity at distinguished places. So far, however, this defining feature of ancient settlements has not received much attention, or even been the subject of systemati...