A record of the aurochs, Bos primigenius, from Morayshire

2012·1.5 MB·English

by  Andrew C Kitchener

the species now maintains a spawning population Heritage Commissioned Report No. 292 (ROAME
within the Endrick Water, there is an implication that No. R07AC606).
the consei-vation strategy for this river should be Watt, J., Bull, C., Ravenscroft, N.O.M. & Seed, M.
modified to include sea lamprey as a qualifying feature (201 1). Lamprey survey ofthe Endrick Water
ofthe SAC. SSSI/SAC 2008. ScottishNaturalHeritage
CommissionedReportNo. 320.
REFERENCES
APEM. (2004). Distribution of sea, brook and river
lampreys on the River Tay. Scottish Natural
Heritage Commissioned Report No 032 (ROAME
A
No. F01AC610). record ofthe aurochs, Bos
Bird, D.J., Potter, I.C., Hardisty, M.W. & Baker, B.I. primigenius, from Morayshire
(1994). Morphology, body size and behaviour of
recently-metamorphosed sea lampreys, Petromyzon Andrew C. Kitchener' & John Doune^
marimis, from the lower River Severn, and their
relevance to the onset ofparasitic feeding. Journal 'Department of Natural Sciences, National Museums
ofFish Biology’44, 61-1A. Scotland, Chambers Street, Edinburgh EHl IJF
Bond, L. (2003). The Endrick Water cSAC ^Damaway Castle, Forres, Morayshire IV36 2ST
conservation strategy. Conserving Natura 2000
Rivers. English Nature, Peterborough.
E-mail: [email protected]
Ecological Research Associates (ERA). (2005). A
national lamprey survey of Scotland. Report for
ScottishNationalHeritage, Clydebank.
In May 2004 two horn cores attached to the frontal
Forth Fisheries Foundation (2004). River and brook
lamprey monitoring of the Endrick Water bone of a skull (Fig. 1) were discovered at the
bottom of the main drainage ditch in the northeast
cSAC/SSSl. Scottish Natural Heritage
Commissioned Report No 057. (ROAME No. comer ofArdgye Fann, three miles west ofElgin in
Morayshire (Grid Reference NJl55638). These horn
F03AC607).
& cores were recovered by Martin Bridges, the Moray
Gardiner, R., Taylor, R. Araistrong, J. (1995).
Estates fann manager, and were sent to the National
Habitat assessment of survey of lamprey
Museums Scotland for identification and
populations occuiTing in areas of conservation
conservation. Comparison with specimens in the
iFnitsehreersit.es RReespeoarrtchtSoervSiccoetst,isRhepoNrattuNroal4/9H5e.ritage. NMS collection confinned that the horn cores were
Gardiner, R. & Stewart, D. (1997). Spawning habitat from an aurochs. Bos primigenius. From their size
and shape the hom cores were probably from a male.
assessment and survey of lamprey populations The left hom core measures 700 mm on the outside
occurring in areas of conseiwation interest.
ofthe curve and 550 cm on the inside ofthe curve,
GardFiinsehre,riRe.s&SerSvtiecweasrtR,epDo.r(t19to99S)N.HS.urvey ofthe Blane whereas the right hom mcomre measures 670 mm on the
outside curve and 570 on the inside curve. The
HardWdiaestvteeyr,l.opFMmi.esWnhet.riien(s1t9Rh6ee9s)ea.amrmAcohcoSceeontm’epiascreiossfRoetnhpeoorlftantgodolSnoNacHdka.eld b(raisgahlt)cairncdu3m4fe0rmenmces(leoftf).thAe bhoonme scaormepslearweas35s0enmtmto
and anadromous forms of the sea lamprey, SUERC, East Kilbride, where it yielded a
radiocarbon date of 9690 ± 35 BP and a calibrated
P1e5t3-r1o6m6y.zon marinus L. Journal ofFish Biology 2, date of1 1,120-1 1,260 BP (SUERC-20754).
Calendar dates are increasingly underestimated by
Hume, J.B. (2011). Adult lamprey survey of the
Endrick Water SSSI and SAC 2009-2010. Scottish increasingly earlier radiocarbon dates (Lowe and
NaturalHeritage CommissionedReportNo. 480. Walker, 1997). This is because the amount of
Hunter, W.R., Slack, H.D. & Hunter, M.R. (1959). The radiocarbon in the atmosphere has not been constant
over time. Uncalibrated dates can be corrected using a
lower vertebrates ofthe Loch Lomond District. The
calibration curve that is derived from samples that have
GlasgowNaturalist 18: 84-90.
been dated independently with other methods such as
Maitland, P.S. (1966). Thefauna ofthe River Endrick.
uranium time series, dendrochronology, varves and
Glasgow, Blackie.
Maitland, P.S., Morris, K.H. & East, K. (1994). The deep ocean sediment cores.
ecology oflampreys (Petromyzontidae) in the Loch The aurochs is widely recorded in Scotland and the rest
of Britain. Yalden (1999) records 30 Scottish sites
Lomond area. Hydrohiologia 290: 105-120.
Renaud, C.B. (2011). Lampreys of the world. An ranging from Orkney to Berwick in the south east and
New Galloway in the south west. However, most
annotated and illustrated catalogue of lamprey
species known to date. FAO Species Cataloguefor Trheecroerfdosraer,etfhresoemhthoemBocrordeesrsrewpirtehseantfeowneinofPetrhtheshmiorset.
FisheryPurposes. No. 5. Rome, FAO, 109pp.
Watt, J., Ravenscroft, N.O.M. & Seed, M. (2008). Site northerly records in Scotland.
condition monitoring of lamprey in the River Tay
There are few radiocarbon dates for aurochs in
Special Area of Conservation. Scottish Natural &
Scotland. Kitchener Bonsall (1999) give five dates,
138
ranging from 9170 ± 70 BP (10,350-9,980 Cal BP age Lowe, J.J. and Walker, M.J.C. (1997). Reconstructing
- AA18516) for a skull from Newburgh, Fife to 3315 Quaternajyenvironments. 2nd editionPrentice Hall,
± 55 bp (3690-3390 cal BP-AA-18517) forskull from Harlow.
Galloway. The latter is one ofthe most recent dates for Yalden, D. (1999). The histojy ofthe British mammals.
Britain, suggesting that it survived until at least the Poyser, London.
early Bronze Age in Scotland (Yalden & Kitchener, Yalden, D.W. & Kitchener, A.C. (2008). History ofthe
2008). A similar date was recorded for a skeleton from fauna. Pp. 17-31. In: Harris, S. and Yalden, D.W.
Charterhouse Warren Farm, Somerset (Burleigh & (editors). Mammals oftheBritish Isles: Handbook,
Clutton-Brock, 1977). However, the Ardgye Fann 4''' edition. The Mammal Society, Southampton.
specimen is the oldest recorded post-glacial date for an
aurochs in Scotland, and demonstrates that this species
was an earlypost-glacial coloniser.
The rare green alga Pediastrum
privum (Chlorophyta^
Sphaeropleales) in a Scottish kettle
loch: new to British freshwaters
&
'Pauline Lang, Jan Krokowski, Nicole Ross
Ross Doughty
Scottish Environment Protection Agency, 5 Redwood
Crescent, Peel Park, East Kilbride, G74 5PP, Scotland,
UK
'E-mail: pauline.lang(^sepa.org.uk
Pediastrum is a widely-distributed genus ofgreen alga
characteristically consisting ofdisc-shaped colonies or
‘coenobia’, assembled from at least four inter-
connecting cells (Komarek & Jankovska, 2001).
Many species belonging to the genus are common
constituents of lake phytoplankton communities,
though Pediastrum privum (Printz) Hegewald
[=Stauridium privum (Printz) Hegewald in Buchheim
et al., 2005] is notably rare (Komarek & Jankovska,
&
2001; Tsarenko John, 201 1). There appear to be no
published records from Britain. Sporadic lake
phytoplankton and sub-fossil sediment finds from
Europe, reflect a sparse scattering of Pediastrum
b.
privum, confined mostly to temperate and sub-arctic
Fig. 1. Dorsal (a.) and ventral (b.) views ofthe horn latitudes of the northern hemisphere (Hegewald &
cores of an aurochs, Bos primigenius, from Ardgye Schnepf, 1979; Komarek & Jankovska, 2001; Geris,
Farm, Morayshire (Neil McLean, National Museums 2004; Kowalska & Wolowksi, 2010). By comparison,
Scotland). the close phylogenetic relative Pediastrum tetras
(Ehrenberg) Ralfs [=Stauridium tetras (Ehrenberg)
The horn cores are available for viewing by Hegewald in Buchheim et al., 2005] displays a
appointment at Moray Estates (013096 72213 or cosmopolitan distribution (Komarek & Jankovska,
admin(^medco.co.uk). 2001).
REFERENCES Freshwater phytoplankton communities are important
Burleigh, R. & Clutton-Brock, J. (1977). A indicators ofthe biointegrity ofstanding waters and are
radiocarbon date for Bos primigenius from therefore used by the Scottish Environment Protection
Charterhouse Warren Farm, Mendip. Proceedings Agency (SEPA) to assess the ecological status of
of the University’ ofBristol Speleological Society’ around 80 freshwater lochs in Scotland. Phytoplankton
14(3), 225-257. samples are collected at varying frequencies, but at a
Kitchener, A.C. & Bonsall, C. (1999). Further AMS minimum are taken three times a yearbetween July and
radiocarbon dates forextinct Scottish mammals. September. Sub-samples ofphytoplankton (preserved
QuaternaryNewsletterNo. 88, 1-10. in Lugol’s iodine) are examined using an inverted
microscope and analysed according to standard
139