Three twig-growing lichen species belonging to the family Teloschistaceae from southern Patagonia are described as new to science: Marchantiana pyramus sp. nov., with minute apothecia, orange due to dominant content of emodin, M. ramulicola sp. nov., with minute olive apothecia with dominant parietin and Austroplaca thisbe sp. nov., with clear yellow apothecia also with dominant parietin. Marchantiana subpyracea, M. epibrya and M. queenslandica are new combinations for species which, so far, are known only from New Zealand and Australia. Blastenia circumpolaris is shown to be very common in Patagonia and Marchantiana asserigena is documented for the first time from the Southern Hemisphere, viz. the Falkland Islands. The genus Marchantiana is analyzed here using three genes and is shown to be closely related to Yoshimuria; although appearing as paraphyletic, a monophyletic origin cannot be ruled out. Morphology, ecology and distribution support a monophyletic treatment and Marchantiana is therefore treated as such.

Normandina acroglypta, as recently circumbscribed, is shown to comprise two species: N. acroglypta s. str. with subsquamulose marginal areoles, two unidentified terpenoids by thin-layer chromatography, and growing over rock; and N. chlorococca, with convex marginal areoles, zeorin or no substances detected by thin-layer chromatography, and growing over bark. Normandina dictyospora is newly described from the Falkland Islands and is characterized by relatively large, submuriform ascospores, and no substances detected.

The identity of Lecanora ecorticata has been uncertain due to conflicting reports of the presence of zeorin and the loss of the holotype. Phylogenetic analysis suggests that the species probably belongs in Ramalinaceae, where it is the first leprose species reported. Zeorin was found to be absent in recently collected material of L. ecorticata, including specimens from the type locality, and the report of zeorin in the lost holotype is considered to be due to contamination. A new genus, Lithocalla, is erected to accommodate L. ecorticata and a second closely related species, that occurs in the Falkland Islands, is newly combined as Lithocalla malouina. A lectotype is selected for L. ecorticata. Lithocalla is characterized by a leprose thallus containing usnic acid with fatty acids and terpenoids, but no zeorin; ascomata and conidiomata are unknown.

The new species Xenolecia cataractarum Fryday is described from Campbell Island. It differs from X. spadicomma, the only other species of the genus, in having much smaller apothecia and ascospores, an olivaceously pigmented epihymenium (brown in X. spadicomma), and a thallus with a non-amyloid medulla and norstictic acid (amyloid medulla and confluentic acid in X. spadicomma). Xenolecia spadicomma is reported here from several localities on the Falkland Islands and three from the Región de Los Lagos, Chile, which are the first reports of this species since its description from Isla Wellington in the south-west of Patagonia in 1868. A full description of X. spadicomma is also provided.

Sponge samples were taken by scuba diving from six sites around Sea Lion Island (Sea Lion, Sea Lion Easterly and Brandy Islands), three sites south-east of East Falkland (Motley Island, Green Island and Triste Island) and six sites around Beauchêne Island. Nine new species are described: Iophon roseum sp. nov., Clathria (Microciona) tenebrosa sp. nov., Clathria (Microciona) cheeki sp. nov., Hymedesmia (Hymedesmia) laptikhovskyi sp. nov., Hymedesmia (Hymedesmia) croftsae sp. nov., Myxilla (Ectyomyxilla) beauchênensis sp. nov., Tedania (Tedania) livida sp. nov., Amphilectus fimbriatus sp. nov. and Isodictya cutisanserina sp nov. Additional information is provided on several species recently described from the Falkland Islands and Amphimedon marsei is newly reported. The biogeography of the sponge fauna of the southern Falkland Islands is discussed.

A spent Gonatus antarcticus female (mantle length 340 mm) was caught in Falkland Islands waters by a fishing vessel in November 2010. Squid genus Gonatus spawn at depths of >2000 m and findings of such females are rare all over the world. It is the third capture of a mature female of this species, and the shallowest capture for adult squids of the genus. Another G. antarcticus, an immature female, of the record size of 470 mm (mantle length) was caught in June 2011 in Falkland Islands waters, also by a pelagic fishing vessel.

Records of beaked whales stranded in the Falkland Islands and at South Georgia were collated for the period 1866 to 2008. Thirty-eight records, involving at least seven species in four genera, were documented. Strap-toothed whales (Mesoplodon layardii Gray, 1865) were the most common species with 11 records, including two neonates. Andrews' beaked whales (M. bowdoini Andrews, 1908), Arnoux's beaked whales (Berardius arnuxii Duvernoy, 1851), Cuvier's beaked whales (Ziphius cavirostris Gray, 1823), Gray's beaked whale (M. grayi van Haast, 1876), Hector's beaked whales (M. hectori Gray, 1871) and southern bottlenose whales (Hyperoodon planifrons Flower, 1882) were recorded on three to five occasions. In several cases, records suggested potential temporal changes in range. For example, Arnoux's beaked whale has not been recorded in the Falkland Islands since 1965, whilst Gray's beaked whale was not recorded prior to 1981, and Andrews' beaked whale was not recorded before 1987. Although the number of records for each species is low, this could reflect changes in water temperatures and/or prey availability. Overall, this study confirms that the Falkland Islands–Tierra del Fuego region is one of the world's key areas for beaked whales.

The new species Calvitimela austrochilenis Fryday and Tephromela superba Fryday are described: the former from several collections from southern Chile and one from Marion Island, and the latter from southern South America (including the Falkland Islands), Campbell Island, (New Zealand), and Antarctica. Four new combinations are also made in Tephromela: T. atrocaesia (Nyl. ex Cromb.) Fryday from Îles Kerguelen, Heard Island, South Georgia, and southern South America; T. atroviolacea (Flot.) Fryday from southern South America and Îles Kerguelen; T. lirellina (Darb.) Fryday from only southern South America; and T. skottsbergii (Darb.) Fryday, which is shown to be an earlier name for T. austrolitoralis (Zahlbr.) Kalb & Elix, from throughout the region. Lectotypes are selected for Lecanora atrocaesia and L. atroviolacea. The systematic placement of Tephromela eatonii (Cromb.) Hertel from Kerguelen, Marion Island and Bouvetøya is also discussed but the species is retained in Tephromela.

Sponge samples were taken by SCUBA diving from four sites around Stanley and nine sites at the Jason Islands in the Falkland Islands. Twelve new species are described: Iophon pictoni sp. nov., Lissodendoryx (Ectyodoryx) jasonensis sp. nov., Phorbas ferrugineus sp. nov., Phorbas shackletoni sp. nov., Myxilla (Styloptilon) acanthotornota sp. nov., Amphilectus fleecei sp. nov., Amphilectus dactylus sp. nov., Mycale (Aegogropila) nodulosa sp. nov., Scopalina erubescens sp. nov., Scopalina bunkeri sp. nov., Amphimedon calyx sp. nov. and Pachychalina erinacea sp. nov. Information is also provided on the distribution and external appearance of other sponge species: Iophon proximum Ridley, 1881, Clathria (Dendrocia) tuberculata Burton, 1934, Tedania (Tedania) mucosa Thiele, 1905, Tedania (Tedania) murdochi Topsent, 1915, Halichondria (Eumastia) attenuata Topsent, 1915, Siphonochalina fortis Ridley, 1881 and Haliclona (Soestella) chilensis Thiele, 1905. The biogeography of the Falklands' sponge fauna is discussed.

Distribution of fur seals Arctocephalus australis has been studied in October 2007 on the western, southern and eastern Falkland shelves during the survey of spawning grounds of the red cod, Salilota australis. Fur seals presence/absence, numbers and sex were recorded at every oceanographic station. Animals were found foraging on the shelf edge south-west of the islands, in a productive zone with quasi-stationary eddies at a periphery of upwelling. It was also the zone of maximum abundance of lobster-krill, Munida spp.—an important food source of fur seals and aggregations of both red cod and blue whiting, Micromesistius australis. No fur seals were found in waters of the relative cold and saline Falkland Current as well as in the relatively warm, fresh and oxygen-rich waters of Argentine Drift. It allows supposing that position and extension of the foraging grounds are caused by oceanographic features determining distribution of prey species.

Recent scientific and commercial deepwater trawls provide evidence that the loliginid squid, Loligo gahi occurs much deeper than previously believed. Three immature and maturing squids were caught in two hauls between 528 and 626 m depth, exceeding the previous maximum recorded depth of 400 m. An L. gahi egg mass was found on the bottom attached to polychaete tube sampled from depths of 68–71 m. It represents a new spawning habitat, because before the species was known to spawn only in inshore kelp forests, well off the bottom, at depths <20 m.

Nimisia deusta, based on Parmelia enteromorpha var. deusta, is shown to be the correct name for the species currently known as N. fuegiae. Original material collected by J. D. Hooker in 1842, and collections made by Henry Imshaug between 1968 and 1971, have shown that the species is more widely distributed than previously reported, being known throughout the southern tip of South America (Argentina: Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego, Isla de los Estados; Chile: Cape Horn Islands; Falkland Islands), that it has a uniform secondary metabolite chemistry of fumarprotocetraric acid in the upper medulla (not lacking lichen substances as previously reported), and that it is not uniformly black but has a partly pale brown upper cortex.

Recent studies of Falkland Islands seabird diets have found that Gonatus antarticus is a major prey item for a number of penguin species. Rockhopper (Eudyptes chrysocome), gentoo (Pygoscelis papua) and Magellanic (Spheniscus magellanicus) penguins breeding in the Falklands are estimated to consume several thousand million Gonatus per annum, with mean dorsal mantle lengths of 28–42 mm. Aspects of the distribution and growth of the G. antarcticus stock in the vicinity of the Falkland Islands are discussed.

Samples of Loligo gahi from the Falkland Islands Interim Conservation and Management Zone collected in March 1987 were analysed to determine the relationships between mass of reproductive and somatic organs during maturation. There was a progressive increase in mass of the reproductive organs with growth in males, while in females these organs did not show a conspicuous increase in mass until a body mass of c. 40 g was reached. No change was found in the mass of the digestive gland in relation to body mass or in the water content of male and female somatic tissues during maturation. Growth of reproductive organs in L. gahi seems to be supported by diet and not at the expense of somatic tissue.

Records (by a scientific observer on a longline fishing vessel around the Falkland Islands) of 86 different individually colour-banded wandering albatrosses from South Georgia, provide new insights into the use of the waters of the Patagonian shelf slope by birds from breeding grounds some 600 km to the south-east across the Antarctic Polar Front. Birds recorded were aged from 3–39 years, almost the full range (except 1 and 2 year olds) of South Georgia colour-banded birds, about 5% of whose colour-banded population was observed during the study. Immature birds (up to age 7 years) formed only 9% of the total; this may reflect relative absence from the area but might also relate to their subordinate status to adults at fishing vessels. Most birds seen were current breeders at South Georgia, including both sexes in the month prior to arrival on the breeding grounds (October), females during the pre-laying exodus (December) and both sexes during incubation (January) and throughout the main chick-rearing period (May, June, October). Only birds which had already failed were seen in the brooding period (March–April), when foraging trips are too short to reach the Falklands. Females outnumbered males in all these categories, supporting suggestions of different distributions of the sexes at sea during breeding. Birds of both sexes that had bred at South Georgia in the previous year were seen mainly between January and April. Birds that had not bred for at least three years were mainly males and mainly seen in January. These data indicate the importance of the waters near the Patagonian Shelf, especially around the Falklands, for wandering albatrosses from South Georgia, particularly breeding birds but also birds in their year(s) between breeding attempts. This is of particular relevance, given the globally threatened status of the species and the possibility of hydrocarbon exploitation in waters around the Falklands.

The Falkland Islands are situated in the South Atlantic and have a native flora of 171 vascular plant species. Although a relatively high proportion of the native flora is of conservation concern, this is poorly recognized, both nationally and internationally. Typically, threatened species occur as only a few small, isolated populations, and they are facing increasing pressure from land-use change, particularly agricultural intensification. This paper presents the first national Red Data List for the Falkland Islands, and provides an overview of the 23 threatened plants of the archipelago as well as covering another 16 species of relevance to the national conservation strategy. This Red List provides an important first step towards the recognition and conservation of the threatened native flora of the Falkland Islands at both the national and international level.

This study investigated the foraging behaviour, diving behaviour, movements and diet of lactating southern sea lions in the Falkland Islands. They appeared to be primarily nocturnal, benthic foragers hunting at depths ranging from the surf line down to 250 m, and from just off their breeding sites out to 45 km offshore. Occasional longer trips may extend foraging ranges to over 150 km from breeding sites. Attendance patterns suggest that Falklands' sea lions do not haulout simply to feed their pups. Other factors such as predation and thermoregulation may cause them to come ashore. When at sea they travelled at approximately 1 m s−1, slower than previous studies of otariids indicated. Absence from the breeding site did not imply continuous foraging; all study animals used remote haulout sites away from their pups. Repeated use of the same areas and the short duration of foraging trips suggest that they were able to catch enough food within a fairly small foraging range. Data on diet support the suggestion that lactating sea lions are mainly benthic foragers. They take a wide range of prey species. The most common cephalopods were Loligo gahi, similar in size to those taken by the fishery. There is therefore potential for competition between the sea lion population and the Loligo trawl fishery. There was considerable overlap between the diet of sea lions and those of Gentoo and Magellanic penguins, which suggests that sea lions may compete with both species.