Cookson, L.J., 1991. Australasian species of Limnoriidae (Crustacea: Isopoda). Memoirs of the Museum of Victoria 52: 137-262. Some members of the Limnoriidae are important marine wood-borers. The taxonomy of the family was studied with emphasis on species from the Australasian region. The Limnoriidae are reduced to two genera: Limnoria Leach and Paralimnoria Menzies. The genus Phycolimnoria is synonymised with Limnoria.

Service life planning with timber requires reliable models for quantifying the effects of exposure-related parameters and the material-inherent resistance of wood against biotic agents. The Meyer-Veltrup model was the first attempt to account for inherent protective properties and the wetting ability of wood to quantify resistance of wood in a quantitative manner. Based on test data on brown, white, and soft rot as well as moisture dynamics, the decay rates of different untreated wood species were predicted relative to the reference species of Norway spruce (Picea abies). The present study aimed to validate and optimize the resistance model for a wider range of wood species including very durable species, thermally and chemically modified wood, and preservative treated wood. The general model structure was shown to also be suitable for highly durable materials, but previously defined maximum thresholds had to be adjusted (i.e., maximum values of factors accounting for wetting ability and inherent protective properties) to 18 instead of 5 compared to Norway spruce. As expected, both the enlarged span in durability and the use of numerous and partly very divergent data sources (i.e., test methods, test locations, and types of data presentation) led to a decrease in the predictive power of the model compared to the original. In addition to the need to enlarge the database quantity and improve its quality, in particular for treated wood, it might be advantageous to use separate models for untreated and treated wood as long as the effect of additional impact variables (e.g., treatment quality) can be accounted for. Nevertheless, the adapted Meyer-Veltrup model will serve as an instrument to quantify material resistance for a wide range of wood-based materials as an input for comprehensive service life prediction software.

This article describes the links between the production of silk by spiders and their behaviour. Silk allows the spider to change its physical environment, which in turn leads to behavioural changes and impacts in the new environment. The feedback between silk and the animal producer can explain the architecture of spider webs and their adaptation to the environment, by referring only to stereotypic stimulus-response reactions without necessarily resorting to a “representation” by the animal of the structure it builds. Silk can act as a means of protection against environmental stress, a snare for prey, a means of locomotion, and also as support for chemical signals or to act as a vector of vibratory signals. These last two functions have undoubtedly played a key role in spider socialization and explains the phenomena of group cohesion, collective decision making, and the coordination of activities, without resorting to mental “representations” for the overall situation. The bulk of this review describes silk as the chief agent directing the construction of traps, communication, social cohesion, and cooperation amongst its producers.

This article considers definitions of wildness as a system that produces wilderness and wild things. Wildness is defined as a quality of interactive processing between an organism and its surroundings in which the realities of base natures are met, allowing the construction of durable systems. Wildness is a process that has become an otherness to humans but nevertheless remains a source of insight and inspiration. In seeking to define wildness, a distinction is made between wildness and naturalness so that, while everything is natural, the quality of wildness can vary or become dysfunctional. In relation to wildness, an organism's internal quality is improved through the parsimonious arrangement and coordination of one's adaptations and internal drivers, while its external quality is achieved through attunement with one's surroundings. With wildness, an organism gains internal clarity, thereby presenting a consistent face or purpose to which other organisms can adapt. In comparison, the rejection of wildness and the use of artificial systems produce a confused and unstable basis for internal and external interaction, resulting in rapid change. The inability of humans to be wild in our social system is due to confusion about the drivers in our biological core that foils attempts at attunement.

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