ALBERT

Description: Motivation: Phylogenetic estimates from published studies can be archived using general platforms like Dryad (Vision, 2010) or TreeBASE (Sanderson et al. , 1994). Such services fulfill a crucial role in ensuring transparency and reproducibility in phylogenetic research. However, digital tree data files often require some editing (e.g. rerooting) to improve the accuracy and reusability of the phylogenetic statements. Furthermore, establishing the mapping between tip labels used in a tree and taxa in a single common taxonomy dramatically improves the ability of other researchers to reuse phylogenetic estimates. As the process of curating a published phylogenetic estimate is not error-free, retaining a full record of the provenance of edits to a tree is crucial for openness, allowing editors to receive credit for their work and making errors introduced during curation easier to correct. Results : Here, we report the development of software infrastructure to support the open curation of phylogenetic data by the community of biologists. The backend of the system provides an interface for the standard database operations of creating, reading, updating and deleting records by making commits to a git repository. The record of the history of edits to a tree is preserved by git’s version control features. Hosting this data store on GitHub ( http://github.com/ ) provides open access to the data store using tools familiar to many developers. We have deployed a server running the ‘phylesystem-api’, which wraps the interactions with git and GitHub. The Open Tree of Life project has also developed and deployed a JavaScript application that uses the phylesystem-api and other web services to enable input and curation of published phylogenetic statements. Availability and implementation : Source code for the web service layer is available at https://github.com/OpenTreeOfLife/phylesystem-api . The data store can be cloned from: https://github.com/OpenTreeOfLife/phylesystem . A web application that uses the phylesystem web services is deployed at http://tree.opentreeoflife.org/curator . Code for that tool is available from https://github.com/OpenTreeOfLife/opentree . Contact : mtholder@gmail.com

Description: The structure and properties of the diffuse interstellar medium (ISM) on small scales, sub-au to 1 pc, are poorly understood. We compare interstellar absorption lines, observed towards a selection of O- and B-type stars at two or more epochs, to search for variations over time caused by the transverse motion of each star combined with changes in the structure in the foreground ISM. Two sets of data were used: 83 VLT/UVES spectra with approximately 6 yr between epochs and 21 McDonald observatory 2.7-m telescope echelle spectra with 6–20 yr between epochs, over a range of scales from ~0–360 au. The interstellar absorption lines observed at the two epochs were subtracted and searched for any residuals due to changes in the foreground ISM. Of the 104 sightlines investigated with typically five or more components in Na i D, possible temporal variation was identified in five UVES spectra (six components), in Ca ii , Ca i and/or Na i absorption lines. The variations detected range from 7 per cent to a factor of 3.6 in column density. No variation was found in any other interstellar species. Most sightlines show no variation, with 3 upper limits to changes of the order 0.1–0.3 dex in Ca ii and Na i . These variations observed imply that fine-scale structure is present in the ISM, but at the resolution available in this study, is not very common at visible wavelengths. A determination of the electron densities and lower limits to the total number density of a sample of the sightlines implies that there is no striking difference between these parameters in sightlines with, and sightlines without, varying components.

Description: We present deep spectroscopy of three Galactic planetary nebulae (PNe) with large abundance discrepancy factors: NGC 6153, M 1-42 and Hf 2-2. The spectra were obtained with Very Large Telescope/Ultraviolet and Visual Echelle Spectrograph and cover the whole optical range (3040–11 000 Å) with a spectral resolution of ~20 000. For all three PNe, several hundred emission lines were detected and identified, with more than 70 per cent of them as permitted lines. Most of these permitted lines are excited by recombination. Numerous weak optical recombination lines (ORLs) of O ii , C ii , N ii and Ne ii were detected in the spectra and accurate fluxes measured. Line flux tables were compiled and ready for use by the community of nebular astrophysics. These ORLs were critically analysed using the effective recombination coefficients recently calculated for the optical recombination spectrum of N ii and O ii under the physical conditions of photoionized gaseous nebulae. Plasma diagnostics based on the heavy element ORLs were carried out using the new atomic data. Elemental abundances derived from the ORLs were systematically higher than those derived from the collisionally excited lines (CELs) by a factor of ~11, 22 and 80 for NGC 6153, M 1-42 and Hf 2-2, respectively. The electron temperatures derived from the heavy element ORLs are systematically lower than those derived from the CELs. These ORL versus CEL abundance and temperature discrepancies, previously observed in the three PNe through deep spectroscopy with medium to low spectral resolution, are thus confirmed by our analysis of the deep echelle spectra using the new atomic data.

Description: We present evidence for a small glitch in the spin evolution of the millisecond pulsar J0613–0200, using the EPTA Data Release 1.0, combined with Jodrell Bank analogue filterbank times of arrival (TOAs) recorded with the Lovell telescope and Effelsberg Pulsar Observing System TOAs. A spin frequency step of 0.82(3) nHz and frequency derivative step of –1.6(39)  x  10 –19 Hz s –1 are measured at the epoch of MJD 50888(30). After PSR B1821–24A, this is only the second glitch ever observed in a millisecond pulsar, with a fractional size in frequency of / = 2.5(1)  x  10 –12 , which is several times smaller than the previous smallest glitch. PSR J0613–0200 is used in gravitational wave searches with pulsar timing arrays, and is to date only the second such pulsar to have experienced a glitch in a combined 886 pulsar-years of observations. We find that accurately modelling the glitch does not impact the timing precision for pulsar timing array applications. We estimate that for the current set of millisecond pulsars included in the International Pulsar Timing Array, there is a probability of ~50 per cent that another glitch will be observed in a timing array pulsar within 10 years.

Description: The stellar haloes of large galaxies represent a vital probe of the processes of galaxy evolution. They are the remnants of the initial bouts of star formation during the collapse of the protogalactic cloud, coupled with imprint of ancient and ongoing accretion events. Previously, we have reported the tentative detection of a possible, faint, extended stellar halo in the Local Group spiral, the Triangulum galaxy (M33). However, the presence of substructure surrounding M33 made interpretation of this feature difficult. Here, we employ the final data set from the Pan-Andromeda Archaeological Survey, combined with an improved calibration and a newly derived contamination model for the region to revisit this claim. With an array of new fitting algorithms, fully accounting for contamination and the substantial substructure beyond the prominent stellar disc in M33, we reanalyse the surrounds to separate the signal of the stellar halo and the outer halo substructure. Using more robust search algorithms, we do not detect a large-scale smooth stellar halo and place a limit on the maximum surface brightness of such a feature of μ V  = 35.5 mag arcsec –2 , or a total halo luminosity of L  〈 10 6 L .

Description: Geodetic, geologic and palaeomagnetic data reveal that Oregon (western USA) rotates clockwise at 0.3 to 1.0° Ma –1 (relative to North America) about an axis near the Idaho–Oregon–Washington border, while northeast Washington is relatively fixed. This rotation has been going on for at least 15 Ma. The Yakima fold and thrust belt (YFTB) forms the boundary between northern Oregon and central Washington where convergence of the clockwise-rotating Oregon block is apparently accommodated. North–south shortening across the YFTB has been thought to occur in a fan-like manner, increasing in rate to the west. We obtained high-accuracy, high-density geodetic GPS measurements in 2012–2014 that are used with earlier GPS measurements from the 1990s to characterize YFTB kinematics. The new results show that the deformation associated with the YFTB starts at the Blue Mountains Anticline in northern Oregon and extends north beyond the Frenchman Hills in Washington, past the epicentre of the 1872 M w 7.0 Entiat earthquake to 49°N. The north–south strain rate across the region is 2 to 3 x 10 –9 yr –1 between the volcanic arc and the eastern edge of the YFTB (241.0°E); east of there it drops to about 10 –9 yr –1 . At the eastern boundary of the YFTB, faults and earthquake activity are truncated by a north-trending, narrow zone of deformation that runs along the Pasco Basin and Moses Lake regions near 240.9°E. This zone, abutting the Department of Energy Hanford Nuclear Reservation, accommodates about 0.5 mm yr –1 of east to northeast shortening. A similar zone of N-trending transpression is seen along 239.9°E where there is a change in the strike of the Yakima folds. The modern deformation of the YFTB is about 600 km wide from south to north and internally may be controlled by pre-existing crustal structure.

Description: Richard McKim gives an overview of the rather different role of women in the early British Astronomical Association.

Description: The collapse of the Northwest Atlantic cod ( Gadus morhua ) stocks in the early 1990s led to widespread ecological changes offshore. Changes in coastal fish communities are less known, largely due to the lack of historical records and long-term, standardized research surveys in coastal ecosystems. We aimed to overcome this with a unique dataset known as the Fleming survey. From 1959 to 1964, a systematic beach-seine survey was conducted to examine juvenile cod abundance in 84 bays (42 of which were consistently sampled and therefore analysed) along the east coast of Newfoundland. In addition to cod, all other fish collected in the seines were recorded. These surveys were repeated from 1992 to 1996 after the cod collapse, and document a substantial reduction in a dominant inshore species—juvenile Atlantic cod. We show that total fish abundance declined significantly with the decrease of cod, whereas Shannon diversity and species evenness significantly increased. Species richness increased in some regions but decreased in others. We also found significant changes in the composition of the fish community likely due to a combination of release from predation from fewer large cod feeding in inshore areas as well as a release from competition from fewer juvenile cod occupying the coastal habitat. Region and the presence of vegetated habitats also significantly influenced the fish community. This study shows a strong reorganization of coastal fish communities after a large-scale fisheries collapse with implications for ecosystem-based and cross-ecosystem management.