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> program 'R'. This produced --Apple-Mail-44-452693388 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed; delsp=yes Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi folks, On 23-Apr-12, at 8:43 PM, Christopher Majka wrote: > On 23-Apr-12, at 7:33 PM, Stephen R. Shaw wrote: > >> Hi Chris, Dave: [buyer beware -- this contains some numbers but no >> locations] >> Putting off marking some student reports .... Chris' comments seem >> reasonable, but I share some of Dave's general misgivings in his >> earlier post about the quality of the some parts of the swift guano >> article. >> >> Where does the '2.2 cm per year' guano accumulation that they >> estimate, come from? <snip> I sent a quick email to Joe Nocera (the lead author of the paper) that I think clarifies the above point and other questions that have been raised. Joe writes: "We started at approximately 1944, because the bottom layers (almost 90 cm) were substantially contaminated with soot and debris from a fire in 1933. We analyzed a little over a meter of material so 107 cm / 48 years = ~ 2.2 cm/year." He adds that "the pile was not exactly 2 m tall as it had an uneven surface. Two m is an estimated average." N.B. There is even more interesting information that the authors may be able to coax from these samples. In the published study they weren't able to say a lot about the taxonomic composition of the insect remains found in the deposits since they were so fragmented (by passing the digestive tract of a swift) that it was hard to identify most of them below the level of family. They have subsequently been working on DNA barcoding with these samples that they hope may be able to provide much more exact information on the taxonomy of the species involved. Cheers! Chris Christopher Majka <c.majka@ns.sympatico.ca> | Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada * Research Associate: Nova Scotia Museum | http://museum.gov.ns.ca/mnh/research-asfr.htm * Review Editor: The Coleopterists Bulletin | http://www.coleopsoc.org/ * Subject Editor: ZooKeys | http://pensoftonline.net/zookeys/index.php/journal/index * Review Editor: Zootaxa | http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/taxa/Coleoptera.html * Associate Editor: Journal of the Acadian Entomological Society | http://www.acadianes.org/journal.html * Editor: Atlantic Canada Coleoptera | http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/Environment/NHR/PDF/index.html * Editor: Bugguide, Coleoptera http://bugguide.net Whenever I hear of the capture of rare beetles, I feel like an old war- horse at the sound of a trumpet. - Charles Darwin --Apple-Mail-44-452693388 Content-Type: text/html; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable <html><body style=3D"word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; = -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">Hi folks,<div><br><div><div>On = 23-Apr-12, at 8:43 PM, Christopher Majka wrote:</div><br = class=3D"Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type=3D"cite"><div = style=3D"word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; = -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><div><div>On 23-Apr-12, at = 7:33 PM, Stephen R. Shaw wrote:</div><br = class=3D"Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type=3D"cite"><div>Hi = Chris, Dave: [buyer beware -- this contains some numbers but no = locations]<br>Putting off marking some student reports .... Chris' = comments seem reasonable, but I share some of Dave's general misgivings = in his earlier post about the quality of the some parts of the swift = guano article.<br><br>Where does the '2.2 cm per year' guano = accumulation that they estimate, come = from? </div></blockquote></div></div></div></blockquote><br></div></d= iv><div><snip></div><div><br></div><div>I sent a quick email to = Joe Nocera (the lead author of the paper) that I think clarifies the = above point and other questions that have been raised. Joe writes: "We = started at approximately 1944, because the bottom layers = (almost 90 cm) were substantially contaminated with soot and debris from = a fire in 1933. We analyzed a little over a meter of material so 107 cm = / 48 years =3D ~ 2.2 cm/year."</div><div><br></div><div>He adds that = "the pile was not exactly 2 m tall as it had an uneven surface. Two = m is an estimated average."</div><div><br></div><div>N.B. There is even = more interesting information that the authors may be able to coax from = these samples. In the published study they weren't able to say a lot = about the taxonomic composition of the insect remains found in the = deposits since they were so fragmented (by passing the digestive tract = of a swift) that it was hard to identify most of them below the level of = family. They have subsequently been working on DNA barcoding with these = samples that they hope may be able to provide much more exact = information on the taxonomy of the species = involved.</div><div><br></div><div>Cheers!</div><div><br></div><div>Chris<= /div><div><br></div><div><br></div><br><div apple-content-edited=3D"true">= <span class=3D"Apple-style-span" style=3D"border-collapse: separate; = color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal; = font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; = line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: auto; text-indent: 0px; = text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; = -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: = 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: = auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; "><div = style=3D"word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; = -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class=3D"Apple-style-span" = style=3D"border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: = 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal; font-