Migration, breeding location, and seascape shape seabird assemblages in the northern Gulf of Mexico.

The Gulf of Mexico supports many seabird species, yet data gaps describing species composition and habitat use are prevalent. We used vessel-based observations from the Gulf of Mexico Marine Assessment Program for Protected Species to identify and characterize distinct seabird assemblages in the northern Gulf of Mexico (within the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone; nGoM). Using cluster analysis of 17 seabird species, we identified assemblages based on seabird relative density. Vessel-based surveys documented the location, species, and number of seabirds across the nGoM between 2017-2019. For each assemblage, we identified the (co-)dominant species, spatial distribution, and areas of greater relative density. We also assessed the relationship of the total relative density within each assemblage with environmental, spatial, and temporal covariates. Of the species assessed, 76% (n = 13) breed predominantly outside the nGoM basin. We identified four seabird assemblages. Two assemblages, one dominated by black tern and the other co-dominated by northern gannet/laughing gull, occurred on the continental shelf. An assemblage dominated by sooty tern occurred along the continental slope into pelagic waters. The fourth assemblage had no dominant species, was broadly distributed, and was composed of observations with low relative density ('singles' assemblage). Differentiation of assemblages was linked to migratory patterns, residency, and breeding location. The spatial distributions and relationships of the black tern and northern gannet/laughing gull assemblages with environmental covariates indicate associations with river outflows and ports. The sooty tern assemblage overlapped an area prone to mesoscale feature formation. The singles assemblage may reflect commuting and dispersive behaviors. These findings highlight the importance of seasonal migrations and dynamic features across the seascape, shaping seabird assemblages. Considering the potential far-ranging effects of interactions with seabirds in the nGoM, awareness of these unique patterns and potential links with other fauna could inform future monitoring, research, restoration, offshore energy, and aquaculture development in this highly industrialized sea.

Recording the many face of death at the Denbigh Asylum, 1848-1938.

The funeral was a symbolic event in Welsh society, and members of staff and relatives of patients at the Denbigh Asylum shared cultural assumptions about the importance of a final resting place for the body. Formal procedures following the death of a patient were governed by asylum rules and regulations. A Denbigh the asylum chaplain played an important role, both in terms of ministering to the dying and I performing the funeral ceremony. During the late nineteenth century the burial ground became a conteste space as nonconformists and Roman Catholics fought against the ascendancy of the Anglican Church in Wale and demanded that patients be buried according to their religious affiliation. The lunatic asylum became a sit for advancing the case for Welsh disestablishment. By the twentieth century, infectious diseases had become a serious concern, and the need to carry out screening and conduct post-mortem examinations resulted in the appointment of a pathologist, whose main role was to conduct biological and histological examinations to identify cases of tuberculosis, syphilis, dysentery, typhoid, influenza and other bodily diseases.

Service utilization in 1896 and 1996: morbidity and mortality data from North Wales.

The 1896 and 1996 populations of North-West Wales are similar in number, ethnic and social mix and rurality, enabling a study of the comparative prevalence of service utilization, as well as the morbidity and mortality associated with mental illness in 1894-96 and 1996. The 1996 data reveal a 15 times greater prevalence of admissions for all diagnoses, and three times greater prevalence of admissions by detention, compared with 1896. Patients now spend more time in a service bed than they did 100 years ago. Death as a direct consequence of mental illness is commoner now than 100 years ago. There is therefore a major disjunction between the rhetoric and the reality of mental health service utilization. General factors related to changing health care and expectations and specific factors linked to the mental health appear to have led to an increased rate of service utilization in the modern period.

Class, gender and insanity in nineteenth-century Wales.

This chapter shows how class and gender defined the experiences of patients admitted to the North Wales Lunatic Asylum during the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. Although not lending support to the notion that the asylum was predominantly an instrument of class and gender oppression, it does illustrate how threats of banishment to the asylum could be utilised to reinforce norms of social behaviour outside the institution in far-flung communities across north Wales. It suggests that lay rather than professional encounters were critical in the social construction of madness and the enforcement of social control.