Four of the witnesses selected for the Editio Critica Maior of Mark are witnesses to a unique combination of catena commentaries on the Gospels not found in any other manuscripts. An analysis of their text in the Gospel of Mark, using the tools of the Coherence-Based Genealogical Method, shows that they also feature an almost identical form of the biblical text that frequently diverges from both the Majority Text and all other Greek New Testament manuscripts. These four manuscripts, GA 238, GA 377, GA 807 and GA 1160, therefore, constitute a group within the textual tradition of the Gospels. This article provides the evidence that GA 377 is a direct copy of GA 807. No other instances of direct copying can be proven within the group, but their agreement raises the possibility that they are siblings. The format of the catenae may explain the high degree of homogeneity in this group of Gospels manuscripts.

Two Greek gospel manuscripts with an exegetical commentary in catena form present a text of Mark which ends in the middle of Mark 16.8. One is GA 304, a twelfth-century codex which is often adduced as a witness to the Short Ending. The other is the eleventh-century GA 239, which has not previously featured in discussions of the conclusion of Mark. In each case, it is shown that considerations of scribal practice, codicology and the broader traditions of text and catena mean that neither witness should be treated as evidence for the Short Ending as found in Codices Sinaiticus and Vaticanus.

Hebrews 1.5-14 has proved difficult to integrate within the author's larger literary project. More recent scholarship has emphasized rightly that the catena centers upon the Son of God's royal enthronement, but the question as to why the author should begin his argument this way has yet to be answered. In this essay I argue that the event which the catena describes, namely the Son's enthronement to the heavenly world, is critical for the entire logic of the author's argument regarding how humanity's salvation is accomplished. The likelihood of this conclusion is bolstered by the rarely recognized inclusio between 1.5-14 and 12.18-29. Finally, I briefly examine four texts which suggest that the author envisions the Son's narrative, particularly his entrance into God's heavenly realm as described in 1.5-14, as a soteriological necessity, and pattern, for humanity.

The spatial distribution of canopy gaps was analysed on three sites (total 71 ha) in the tropical moist forest of Tai National Park, Ivory Coast. Pattern analysis revealed a clustered distribution of gaps for two of the three sites. Catena dependent gap formation processes might explain local differences in the occurrence and distribution of gaps. Gap densities, sizes and percentage forest area in gap phase are higher on the upper and middle slope than on the crest or lower slope. As a consequence, regeneration of gap dependent tree species might be directed to the catena positions with the highest disturbance regime. The spatial distribution of gap dependent species can be clumped, not only due to the regeneration within gaps, but also due to the clustered nature of gap distribution on its own.

The pattern of coarse-root distribution was analysed in the woody plant community along a 200-m edaphic gradient on a Kalahari sand woodland catena in Zimbabwe. The root systems of 45 trees and shrubs were excavated, mapped, and digitized to analyse rooting depth and architecture. Patterns of change in the above-ground community were also identified along this transect. Rooting depth increased, and the centre of mass of the root profile shifted towards the maximum rooting depth as a function of distance up the catena. The data also suggest that interspecific variation in rooting depth may increase up the catena. The below-ground pattern was accompanied by above-ground changes: species richness and basal area also increased up the catena. It is hypothesized that increasing soil depth allows greater coexistence of alternative water-use strategies, resulting in the observed increase in species richness up the catena.