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Highlights of progress made by individual UK project members follow:
P. Ahlberg, in addition to organizing a highly significant meeting in April, continued to produce important research publications on sarcopterygian fishes and primitive tetrapods, in collaboration with researchers from UK, Australia, Latvia, USA, Russia, and Estonia. His studies emphasize the importance of global comparisons and the interaction among geological, palaeontological, and biological data and hypotheses.
K. Dennis-Bryan is working on a revision of the brachydeirids with Marcus Otto for completion next year. J. Clack and S. Neininger of have been studying fossil remains of ichthyostegids and fishes collected from the Famennian of Central East Greenland in summer 1998. They madepresentations about these vertebrates, the sedimentology, and palaeo-environments at several meetings, including the Jurmala meeting of IGCP 406. A paper on sedimentological distribution of vertebrates within the Celsius Bjerg Group of East Greenland is in press. R. Davidson and N. Trewin continue a long-term project, a comparative review of the Middle Old Red Standstone nodule beds of Scotland, with plans for further field work. They are preparing a paper on soft tissue preservation indicating the sites of internal organs in Scottish MORS nodule bed acanthodians. The two also led the SVPCA Conference Excursion to Tillywhandland Quarry in early September (over 30 delegates). A paper on lake levels, sedimentation, and faunas at the MORS Tynet Burn locality was published during 1999, and a presentation made at SVPCA in Edinburgh.
C. Duffin also continues to work with Palaeozoic sharks, their morphology, biogeography, biostratigraphy and palaeoenvironment. A manuscript is currently submitted on the genus Lissodus, covering all published records from Famennian to the Cenomanian; a second manuscript nears completion on the validity of the genus Cladodus. J. Marshall and T. Astin have had a major involvement in the Devonian chapter for the Millennium Atlas of the North Sea. They reviewed the stratigraphy of all the Devonian wells and made significant stratigraphic revisions, yielding a significant advance in our knowledge and understanding of the Orcadian Basin/marine Devonian interface. Marshall carried out field work during summer 1999 in Scotland concerning further studies of marine incursions. Marshall and Astin have also continued working on the Devonian of East Greenland, with results newly published. As well, E. Mark-Kurik of Estonia visited Southampton University for useful discussions with Marshall on the correlation of the Baltic, Scottish and East Greenland Devonian successions.
G. Miller has been working on a joint project with H. Blom (Sweden) and T. Märss (Estonia) on Silurian and lowermost Devonian anaspid scales. Miller is describing British material from Scotland and the Welsh Borderland but the project as a whole also deals with material from the Canadian Arctic which will be described by Blom and Märss. They are studying scale sculptures from articulated anaspid specimens and comparing discrete scale taxa from other samples. Although this is mainly a taxonomic study it should also include some important biostratigraphic data with relevance to the Canadian Arctic. Miller visited Tallinn to collaborate with Märss and to collect anaspids and conodonts on the island of Saaremaa. Results of earlier studies are published in Palaeontologyand in Ichthyolith Issues Special Publication 5.
S. Young (UK correspondent for IGCP 406) contributed to revision of the Fishessection of Fossils, part of Phillips Guide to Minerals, Rocks & Fossils, and has completed the placoderms section of the Special Reporton Palaeozoic Vertebrate microremains of UK, including descriptions of micro-ornament of bone, etc. and stratigraphic and geographic information of UK placoderms. She participated in the Old Red Standstone, the Geological Society/Palaeontological Association, the London symposium, and the Jurmala meetings during 1999. Other publications include co-authorship of an Early Devonian ORSC paper in Courier Forschungsinstitut Senckenbergand two Ichthyolith Issuesnews articles.
USA:
R. Carr continues collaborations with E. Kurik (Estonia) on placoderm taxonomy and distribution. D. Elliott is currently Editor (Lower Vertebrates) for the important, international Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. Elliott is collaborating with R. Thorsteinsson (Canada) on completion of a long-awaited monograph on Canadian Arctic heterostracans, making several visits to Calgary, Canada, to work with Thorsteinsson on preparation of the manuscript, and is the host of the upcoming 9th meeting on Early Vertebrates/Lower Vertebrates to be held in Flagstaff in May 2000.

Societal benefits
Benefits include greater international cooperation, and greater focus on common problems of correlation and taxonomy. There was especially good interaction this year among researchers from diverse nations at the joint IGCP 406 mmeting and Baltic Stratigraphical Conference in Jurmala. In addition, IGCP 406 participants made