Since the first Global Energy and Water Exchanges cloud assessment a decade ago, existing cloud property retrievals have been revised and new retrievals have been developed. The new global long-term cloud datasets show, in general, similar results to those of the previous assessment. A notable exception is the reduced cloud amount provided by the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) Scien...

The first assessment of the baited remote underwater video system ( BRUV s) for monitoring rock lobster Jasus lalandii (Milne‐Edwards) in South Africa was compared to annual ring net and trap survey data. Count data from 58 BRUV s, 36 ring net and 95 trap samples were fitted with generalised additive models using depth, habitat, time and spatial gradient as independent variables. A power analysis was used to determine the numb...

Rheophilic cyprinids have been detrimentally affected by impoundments, which alter flow regimes, the physical environment and block migration routes. Initial evidence for a southern African cyprinid, smallmouth yellowfish Labeobarbus aeneus , suggested that dependence on riverine spawning areas limits their success within the turbid impoundments of the Orange River system. However, well‐established impoundment populations have...

The aim of this study was to use specimens of the largemouth yellowfish Labeobarbus kimberleyensis, southern Africa's largest cyprinid [IUCN red‐listed as Near Threatened (NT)], obtained from gillnet by‐catch to describe aspects of its biology in order to assist future conservation and management decisions. Ninety three L. kimberleyensis were collected between March 2007 and May 2008 from Lake Gariep, South Africa. Labeobarbus...

A total of 816 common carp Cyprinus carpio asteriscus otolith pairs were collected from Lake Gariep, South Africa. Otoliths were interpreted whole, submerged in methyl salicylate and viewed under transmitted light. The precision of growth zone counts of the primary reader was estimated at 5·54 and 7·03% using the average per cent error method and the coefficient of variation, respectively. Age‐bias plots indicated no systemati...

Angler counts, on‐lake interviews and a household survey were used to estimate angler effort and participation in Lake Gariep, South Africa’s largest inland water body. Annual fishing effort was estimated from instantaneous counts at 16392 angler day −1 yr −1 . Recreational and subsistence anglers contributed 41 and 59% to the total annual fishing effort, respectively. Household surveys in lakeshore settlements estimated that...

Theory predicts that parallel evolution should be common when the number of beneficial mutations is limited by selective constraints on protein structure. However, confirmation is scarce in natural populations. Here we studied the major haemoglobin genes of eight Andean duck lineages and compared them to 115 other waterfowl species, including the bar‐headed goose ( Anser indicus ) and Abyssinian blue‐winged goose ( Cyanochen c...

Aim The oriental magpie‐robin ( Copsychus saularis ) of South and Southeast Asia is a phenotypically variable species that appears to be closely related to two endemic species of the western Indian Ocean: the Madagascar magpie‐robin ( Copsychus albospecularis ) and the Seychelles magpie‐robin ( Copsychus sechellarum ). This unusual distribution led us to examine evolutionary relationships in magpie‐robins, and also the taxonom...