From a faunistic survey in Scottish waters, concentrated mainly in the sea lochs of the north-west coast and in the deep water in the North Sea off the east coast, thirty-two species of polychætes are listed which have not previously been recorded from these areas. Seven of the species are new records for British coastal waters or for the North Sea.

The estuary and Firth of Forth support an outstanding number and variety of wildfowl and waders at migration seasons and in midwinter. Although populations of wildfowl and waders fell from 25–35,000 and 50–65,000 respectively in the 1970s, to 10–15,000 and 30–40,000 by the mid-1980s, the Forth remains one of few British estuaries to support more than fifteen waterfowl species of national importance for conservation. The ecology and decline of diving ducks off Edinburgh and population studies of shelduck have been given particular attention by researchers. Among waders, distributions, movements and feeding have been studied in detail. The causes of the recent declines amongst waders, notably for knot (Calidris canutus) and dunlin (Calidris alpina) on the estuarine Forth, remain uncertain, but are likely to include natural factors as well as those linked to man's activities.

It is an impossible task to identify a precise point in time which marks the start of an important departure in scientific thought. Every such development has its antecedents in earlier observations, ideas and interpretations. This applies as much to ecology as to any other branch of knowledge, if not more so since ecology at least in part is a synthetic discipline, depending for its progress on advances in other relevant aspects of biological and environmental science. Ecology is, perhaps, more an approach to biological enquiry than a ‘subject’ with clearly circumscribed information content and terms of reference. It is, however, a distinctive approach in that it concerns the interactions between organisms and the environments within which they habitually dwell, and their interactions among themselves in populations and communities.

The methods of nature conservation applied within the Inner Hebrides are those which are now standard throughout Britain and are governed by legislation. The procedures for habitat or site protection and species protection are illustrated in the descriptions of the reserves, the Sites of Special Scientific Interest and the protected species within the archipelago. The reserves and sites cover interests in the geology, geomorphology, zoology, botany and ecology of the islands and the surrounding seabed. National Scenic Areas are also mentioned. Relationships between nature conservation and the uses of land and sea are discussed. With the exceptions of the commercial exploitation of the island pastures in sheep husbandry, with much uncontrolled burning, and the exploitation of fin fish and shell fish and consequent widespread depletion of stocks, the Inner Hebrides are comparatively undisturbed by modern industrial development.

Organisms and sea floor sediments respond to a number of physical and physico-chemical factors, the understanding of which permits identification of areas with typical and potentially aberrant habitats and deposits. After a resumé of the bathymetry of Scottish water tides, tidal current and residual currents stemming from the circulation in the North Atlantic are examined. The salinity and temperature interrelationships in many areas are summarised in open shelf waters, sea lochs and estuaries. Sea floor sediments commonly reflect reworking of glacial deposits coupled with varying indigenous populations of organisms which contribute skeletal debris to the particulate assemblages characterising the bed.

The agarics fruiting in natural and anthropogenic disturbed habitats are considered. The early colonists of such environments are species either able to utilise ephemeral resources or able to move nutrients quickly from one source to another. A suite of micro-characters uniting the species concerned is given. Attention is drawn to those agarics recorded from burns in various parts of the world, and from arctic-alpine areas. The concept of a geomorphological escalator is explored.

A lack of modern river-borne sediment and a steady supply of marine materials have led to the hypothesis that the upper Tay estuary is undergoing an erosive phase counterbalanced by a headward moving sheet of largely marine-derived sand presently occupying the upper-middle estuary. This primal division (based on sediment budget criteria) is also reflected in the bathymetry, distribution of sediment types, and sedimentary structures. The situation of two contrasting ‘phase zones’ juxtaposed within a relatively small area is ideal for an empirical and indirect analysis of the response of a wide variety of sediment types to the gross physical processes acting on them. The analysis takes the form of standard grain-size characterisations using conventional sedimentary statistics, supplemented by adaptations of C-M and QDa-Md diagrams transformed for display on distribution maps.

The Moray Firth forms part of the north British coastal area of the North Sea and is distinguished by its depth, hydrography and plankton from the offshore northern North Sea. The 35·0 or 35·1 × 103 isohaline can be taken as the boundary between the two areas.

Geographical and seasonal variations in temperature and salinity are described in terms of a belt of low salinity coastal water in the inner firth and along its southern shore and of “mixed” water to the north and east. During the winter the “mixed” water is warmer than the coastal water, during the summer it is colder. Tidal streams are dominantly semi-diurnal, relatively weak in the inner firth and relatively strong in the outer firth. Residual currents are largely wind driven, and some are caused by tidal effects.

Geographical variation in the seasonal changes in the phytoplankton standing stock is related to water column stratification. The early spring standing stocks are highest in the inner firth and off the southern shore. During the summer and early autumn, phytoplankton is most abundant below the pycnocline. Average zooplankton standing stocks increase from 0·2–0·6 g dry weight (100m3) 1 in winter to 1.0 g (100m3) 1 exceptionally 4·5 g (100m3) 1. in summer. Standing stocks in November–December range from 0·3 to 1·8 g (100m3) 1.

The degree of active interest shown by Governments in new sciences or research disciplines is very often related to the extent that these are reckoned to be of economic significance to society or the State. In Norway, nature research obtained ofiicial support, inter alia, on account of the fisheries and the problems with which the fishing industry was faced. Interest in the natural history of deep-sea animals and the development of marine biology as a research discipline goes back not least to these sources. The fluctuations in the major coastal fisheries have played an important part in directing attention to the actual natural resources and to research into the natural factors conditioning development of fishing as a means of livelihood. The fact that it was based for so long and to such a large extent on coastal fishing made this livelihood particularly susceptible to changes in the natural resources. Norwegian fishermen based their activities on the spawning and feeding migrations of the fish to the coastal waters and the fiords.Because of this they lacked the necessary stimulus to develop offshore oceanic fishing in the way some of the other fishing nations did. Coastal fishing demanded relatively modest investment in boats and equipment. The numbers taking part were so great and the individual yield at the same time so small that there was little opportunity to accumulate the sizable surplus which might have promoted development in a capitalist manner based on large, ocean-going vessels. For example, as long as the summer herring or fat herring could be caught in the fiords it was not necessary to go out to sea to meet the herring shoals. The fishermen had neither the capital nor the experience to adapt their operations to oceanic fishing if the herring failed to appear. The fisheries were based to such an excessive degree on the great influxes to the coast of cod and herring thatwhen these failed to materialise, as happened from time to time, the effects were correspondingly serious. It was therefore not surprising that interest in the natural resources appeared early in Norway and that the country in many respects came to be a pioneer in marine biological research.

The major rock types which comprise the Outer Hebrides are described and the geological history of the region is discussed. The control exercised by the variations in structure and lithology on the topography is illustrated and an assessment made of the economic potential of the various rock units.

Pre-messenger RNA (pre-mRNA) splicing or the removal of introns from pre-mRNA transcripts is a key process in the maturation of mRNA. This process requires the assembly of a large complex of RNA and protein molecules, called the splicosome, on the pre-mRNA transcripts. Molecular and biochemical analyses of plant intron sequence and structure and of the components of the plant spliceosome are providing information on the mechanism of intron recognition and splice site selection in both monocoty-ledonous and dicotyledonous plants. This knowledge will help in gaining an understanding of phenomena such as the difference in splicing between monocotyledonous and dictoyledonous plants, the enhancement of gene expression brought about by the presence of some introns and alternative splicing. The importance of introns and pre-mRNA splicing to accurate and regulated gene expression, therefore, is of direct relevance to transgene expression and genetic manipulation.

Two features of the effects of salinity on the bacterial flora of the Tay estuary are considered. First the effect of salinity on the size and species composition of the resident microfiora at various sites within the estuary. The second part is concerned with data obtained from laboratory experiments designed to study the effects of subjecting marine and freshwater bacteria, isolated from the Tay, to salt stress.

The world's oceans continue to play a vital part in man's history on this planet. There is no doubt that in the long process of evolution man's early ancestors left the sea for the land. There is evidence too that some of these having progressed to the mammal stage returned to the sea to produce the dolphins, whales and seals. Some biologists believe that man's predecessors did likewise. Being driven by a shortage of food, they ventured into the shallow coastal waters to collect shell fish and other accessible sea food. During this period they lost much of their fur and learnt to swim. Unlike the aquatic mammals, they remained land animals. It must also be assumed that primitive man developed a great fear of the sea which remained with him even after he had developed the use of boats. Its storms, its vastness, its tides and its currents must have filled him with awe. Even in modern times seafaring occupations are considered hazardous pursuits and drowning as a cause of death is greatly dreaded. In the simple man's mind the dark ocean depths with unpredictable moods of violence create a sense of fear subconsciously supported by the fact that the newly born human being emerges from the dark and watery confines of the womb wherein it has, in its development, recapitulated the pattern of man's evolution. To return to explore the sea would be to retreat into the timeless past. It is not surprising, therefore, that extensive exploration of the sea and sea bed has lagged behind the extension of man's activity over the great land masses, the conquest of the highest mountains, the development of flight and in later years the conquest of space.

During periods of sustained moderate river discharge and quiescent marine conditions little external suspended sediment enters the estuarine circulation of the Tay. That material which is in suspension is largely derived from the estuary margins where tidal currents superimposed by wind-induced waves are competent to resuspend fine material from the surface of the ‘mud’ flats and erode bedded silts from the incised banks of minor channels and runnels draining them. The quantities of this sediment entering the system are largely determined by tidal state and amplitude, as well as wind velocity.

On spring tides the flats are entirely covered at high water, and dry out completely at low water. The volume of water and its areal coverage at high tide ensures that, during the ebb, water charged with high concentrations of suspended sediment is directed from the fiats into the surface and middepth waters of the main channel. This process acting along the 20 km length of the channel flanking the ‘mud’ flats, combined with the low tide ‘ponding effect’ caused by the tide flooding from the sea while the upper estuarine water is still ebbing, results in the cumulative formation of a zone of high suspended sediment concentrations (turbidity maximum). As the flood tide becomes fully established the zone is diluted and dispersed. During neap tides the same processes operate, but because a smaller area of the flats is covered at high water and uncovered at low water, and because neap tidal current speeds are lower than those for spring tides, two proportionally weaker zones are recognised.

Following periods of sustained moderate river discharge, quiet sea conditions and calm weather, suspended sediment concentrations in the Tay are negligible irrespective of tidal state or amplitude.

Fishing with both a shore seine net and a small otter trawl in the summer of 1943 and the spring of 1944 showed that the native fish population was very sparse. No estimate of the size of fish population was attempted in 1944. Estimates undertaken in 1945 and 1946 will be discussed later (p. 120). Fishing in the period June to September 1945 produced small numbers of fish tabulated on p. 110, and some plaice and flounders which will be dealt with separately.

In addition there were fairly large numbers of gobies, sticklebacks, pipe fish and sand eels which, however, were not usually recorded in our catches. Shoals of young herring appeared only in the summer and autumn of 1945.

An account is given of the benthic harpacticoid copepods of a medium grade subtidal sand at a depth of 8–5 m (below chart datum) off the Ayrshire coast at Hunterston. It is the first account of seasonal changes in subtidal harpacticoids in the Firth of Clyde.

Most of the population is restricted to the top 1 cm layer of sand and this is considered to be related to food availability. There were considerable variations in total densities with largest numbers occurring in late June, as seawater temperatures increased rapidly towards the summer maxima.

Two species examined in detail, Asellopsis hispida and Harpacticus flexus each had one distinct period of reproduction during the year. Gravid females appeared first during the coldest months (January and February) followed by large numbers of copepodites from late April to June, culminating in large numbers of adults in June. Adult males clasped female stages only in May and June, after the main period of egg production. It is thought that viable sperm is carried by the adult females for about six to seven months, supposedly until the next period of egg production the following year. Adults of Harpacticus flexus are thought to be an important source of food for juvenile and small fish, particularly during July.