CityScapeLab Berlin: A Research Platform for Untangling Urbanization Effects on Biodiversity

Urban biodiversity conservation requires an understanding of how urbanization modulates biodiversity patterns and the associated ecosystem services. While important advances have been made in the conceptual development of urban biodiversity research over the last decades, challenges remain in understanding the interactions between different groups of taxa and the spatiotemporal complexity of urbanization processes. The CityScapeLab Berlin is a novel experimental research platform that allows the testing of theories on how urbanization affects biodiversity patterns and biotic interactions in general and the responses of species of conservation interest in particular. We chose dry grassland patches as the backbone of the research platform because dry grasslands are common in many urban regions, extend over a wide urbanization gradient, and usually harbor diverse and self-assembled communities. Focusing on a standardized type of model ecosystem allowed the urbanization effects on biodiversity to be unraveled from effects that would otherwise be masked by habitat- and land-use effects. The CityScapeLab combines different types of spatiotemporal data on (i) various groups of taxa from different trophic levels, (ii) environmental parameters on different spatial scales, and (iii) on land-use history. This allows for the unraveling of the effects of current and historical urban conditions on urban biodiversity patterns and the related ecological functions.BMBF, 01LC1501, BIBS-Verbund: Bridging in Biodiversity Science (BIBS

Anatomical Network Comparison of Human Upper and Lower, Newborn and Adult, and Normal and Abnormal Limbs, with Notes on Development, Pathology and Limb Serial Homology vs. Homoplasy

How do the various anatomical parts (modules) of the animal body evolve into very different integrated forms (integration) yet still function properly without decreasing the individual's survival? This long-standing question remains unanswered for multiple reasons, including lack of consensus about conceptual definitions and approaches, as well as a reasonable bias toward the study of hard tissues over soft tissues. A major difficulty concerns the non-trivial technical hurdles of addressing this problem, specifically the lack of quantitative tools to quantify and compare variation across multiple disparate anatomical parts and tissue types. In this paper we apply for the first time a powerful new quantitative tool, Anatomical Network Analysis (AnNA), to examine and compare in detail the musculoskeletal modularity and integration of normal and abnormal human upper and lower limbs. In contrast to other morphological methods, the strength of AnNA is that it allows efficient and direct empirical comparisons among body parts with even vastly different architectures (e.g. upper and lower limbs) and diverse or complex tissue composition (e.g. bones, cartilages and muscles), by quantifying the spatial organization of these parts-their topological patterns relative to each other-using tools borrowed from network theory. Our results reveal similarities between the skeletal networks of the normal newborn/adult upper limb vs. lower limb, with exception to the shoulder vs. pelvis. However, when muscles are included, the overall musculoskeletal network organization of the upper limb is strikingly different from that of the lower limb, particularly that of the more proximal structures of each limb. Importantly, the obtained data provide further evidence to be added to the vast amount of paleontological, gross anatomical, developmental, molecular and embryological data recently obtained that contradicts the long-standing dogma that the upper and lower limbs are serial homologues. In addition, the AnNA of the limbs of a trisomy 18 human fetus strongly supports Pere Alberch's ill-named "logic of monsters" hypothesis, and contradicts the commonly accepted idea that birth defects often lead to lower integration (i.e. more parcellation) of anatomical structures

Plantae novae

Peer reviewe

Esperanto, graphic archetypes, biophilia. Esperanto, archetipi grafici, biofilia

Oggi è diffusa l’idea che il linguaggio iconico sia quello dell’era informatica, basato su un simbolo dal significato decifrabile con immediatezza a livello globale, tassello di un mondo virtuale che ha definitivamente traghettato l’umanità sulle rive di quel tanto atteso Esperanto voluto da Ludwik Lejzer Zamenhof, dagli effetti altamente benefici ma che nei giovani anche di medesimo idioma rende la parola parlata ormai quasi obsoleta, effetto collaterale questo ovviamente indesiderato. Tali tasselli iconico/informatici presenti nei nostri computer, tablet, cellulari ecc. vengono oggi percepiti in modo del tutto diverso da come lo erano i simboli fino agli anni ’70 e oltre. Sono degli enzimi o amminoacidi, degli agenti che svolgono svariate funzioni per noi. Ognuno di essi è un piccolo robot, un buon amico che ci tiene compagnia e che, all’occorrenza, ci viene in aiuto per trovare un’informazione, un’automobile in affitto, per effettuare una prenotazione, un piccolo divertimento, ecc. Ciò che qui interessa di questi potenti tasselli pro–attivi è, da un lato, il loro rapporto storico/ evolutivo significante–significato, cosa per la quale è necessario chiamare in campo l’Esperanto e gli archetipi grafici; dall’altro, capire se e come la città reale nel suo insieme possa trovarne giovamento, oltre quindi alla dimensione miope dei monitor small, large e x–large. In tal senso è utile operare un salto ontologico in direzione dell’ipotesi biofilica di Stephen Kellert, che possa aprire a possibili scenari di interazione tra simboli pro–attivi e territori non solo urbano/ambientali tout court, ma anche psicologico–comportamentali–percettivi, che stimolino a un uso fluido–dinamico della città e dei suoi spazi. Analizzare gli archetipi grafici − secondo una visione XYZ − ed usarne alcuni in tale chiave all’interno della biofilia, può rivelarsi utile a umanizzare la città trasformandola psicologicamente, con l’aiuto del verde, dell’arte e dell’architettura, in un organismo amico, nei cui tessuti resi vivi e non irritanti il fluido umano si senta protetto, avvolto e partecipe.Today we have the idea that the iconic language is that of the computer age, based on a symbol of decipherable meaning with a global immediacy, part of a virtual world that has definitively ferried humanity on the banks of that long–awaited Esperanto wanted by Ludwik Lejzer Zamenhof, with very beneficial effects, but that in young people even of the same language makes the spoken word almost obsolete, being this a collateral unwanted effect. These iconic/informatic dowels in our computers, tablets, mobile phones, etc. are perceived today in a completely different way from the symbols used until the 70s and beyond. They are enzymes or amino–acids, agents that perform various functions for us. Each of them is a small robot, a good friend who keeps us company and that, when necessary, helps us to find information, a rented car, to make a reservation, a little fun, etc. What is interesting here on these powerful proactive dowels is on the one hand their historical/evolutionary connection symbol–meaning, which is why it is necessary to call Esperanto and the graphic archetypes in the field, on the other to understand if and how the real city as a whole can find an advantage from them, out from the short–sighted dimension of small–large–xlarge monitors. In this sense it is useful to make an ontological leap towards the biophilic hypothesis of Stephen Kellert, that could open possible scenarios of interaction between proactive symbols and territories not only urban/environmental tout court, but also psychological–behavioral–perceptive, which stimulate a fluid–dynamic use of the city and its spaces. Analyzing graphic archetypes − according to an XYZ vision − and using some of them under this key within biophilia, can be useful to humanize the city, transforming it psychologically, with the help of green, art and architecture, into a friendly organism, in whose tissues rendered alive and not irritating, the human fluid feels protected, wrapped and participant

The Birth-Death-Mutation process: a new paradigm for fat tailed distributions

Fat tailed statistics and power-laws are ubiquitous in many complex systems. Usually the appearance of of a few anomalously successful individuals (bio-species, investors, websites) is interpreted as reflecting some inherent "quality" (fitness, talent, giftedness) as in Darwin's theory of natural selection. Here we adopt the opposite, "neutral", outlook, suggesting that the main factor explaining success is merely luck. The statistics emerging from the neutral birth-death-mutation (BDM) process is shown to fit marvelously many empirical distributions. While previous neutral theories have focused on the power-law tail, our theory economically and accurately explains the entire distribution. We thus suggest the BDM distribution as a standard neutral model: effects of fitness and selection are to be identified by substantial deviations from it

Plant capitalism and company science: the Indian career of Nathaniel Wallich

The career of the Danish-born botanist Nathaniel Wallich, superintendent of the Calcutta Botanic Garden from 1815 to 1846, illustrates the complex nature of botanical science under the East India Company and shows how the plant life of South Asia was used as a capital resource both in the service of the Company's economic interests and for Wallich's own professional advancement and international reputation. Rather than seeing him as a pioneer of modern forest conservation or an innovative botanist, Wallich's attachment to the ideology of ‘improvement’ and the Company's material needs better explain his longevity as superintendent of the Calcutta garden. Although aspects of Wallich's career and botanical works show the importance of circulation between Europe and India, more significant was the hierarchy of knowledge in which indigenous plant lore and illustrative skill were subordinated to Western science and in which colonial science frequently lagged behind that of the metropolis

Wrightia.

v.3 (1961-1966