Off-centring empire in the Anthropocene: towards multispecies intimacies and nonhuman agents of survival

This paper examines colonial legacies in human-nonhuman relations to off-centreempire in the Anthropocene. Imperial methods of collecting, preserving anddisplayingnatureprofoundly shaped species perception, which in turn affectedthe scientific attention and ecological relevance a species was granted. Inparticular, I reflect on the category ofinvasibilityto show how empire sanctionedthe mobility of specific population groups and animal species as border-crossing. This further shows how speciesist logics served to extend, maintainand legitimize imperial power. This analysis is relevant in the Anthropocenewhere invasibility is mobilised to police movement in the context of increasedhuman and nonhuman migration. Further, I discuss how invasibility isconsidered as one of main threats for biodiversity, which may misdirectconservation efforts. Overall, the article examines the potential in human-nonhuman encounters to challenge colonial legacies. Based on an ethnographicexample of multispecies homemaking with species considered invasive in(hetero)normative modes of intimacy and domesticity, I argue that coloniallegacies of racialized, gendered and speciesist hierarchies can be disturbed byhuman-nonhuman relations of companionship, care and interdependence.Finally, I scale-up the analysis to the landscape, by tracing the transformation ofa former imperial wasteland in Vienna’s peripheral South from being perceivedas economically and aesthetically worthless to a natural monument. Attendingto multispecies entanglements is key here to understand the transformativeprocess that led to the recovery of this wasteland. Here I off-centre empire bychallenging anthropocentric narrations of how landscape transforms in favour ofa narration that re-centres nonhuman agency. I argue that stories of wastelandrecovery guided by nonhuman animals are crucial due to the increase inindustrial wasteland and environmental degradation in the Anthropocene

Disrupting visual legacies of the ‘eternal enemy’

This essay interrogates the visual legacy of the Other as a constitutive figure of empire by contextualising how “metanarratives of exclusionism” continue to operate in the nation-state today. Tracing the persistence and nurturing of the enemy image of the “Turk” in reference to the Ottoman Siege of Vienna, the author explores how certain visual markers still easily trigger and mobilise support for contemporary xenophobic agendas in Austria today. However, the multiplicity of lived realities among Vienna's citizens increasingly disturbs and inverts such exclusive imaginaries of belonging. Critically revisiting Vienna's remembrance of the Siege is key to turn interventions for inclusive memory narratives sustainable

Anthoceros genomes illuminate the origin of land plants and the unique biology of hornworts

Hornworts comprise a bryophyte lineage that diverged from other extant land plants >400 million years ago and bears unique biological features, including a distinct sporophyte architecture, cyanobacterial symbiosis and a pyrenoid-based carbon-concentrating mechanism (CCM). Here, we provide three high-quality genomes of Anthoceros hornworts. Phylogenomic analyses place hornworts as a sister clade to liverworts plus mosses with high support. The Anthoceros genomes lack repeat-dense centromeres as well as whole-genome duplication, and contain a limited transcription factor repertoire. Several genes involved in angiosperm meristem and stomatal function are conserved in Anthoceros and upregulated during sporophyte development, suggesting possible homologies at the genetic level. We identified candidate genes involved in cyanobacterial symbiosis and found that LCIB, a Chlamydomonas CCM gene, is present in hornworts but absent in other plant lineages, implying a possible conserved role in CCM function. We anticipate that these hornwort genomes will serve as essential references for future hornwort research and comparative studies across land plants.</p

Anthoceros genomes illuminate the origin of land plants and the unique biology of hornworts.

Funder: National Institute for Basic Biology (NIBB) Collaborative Research Program (13-710)Funder: The Forschungskredit of the University of Zurich The University Research Priority Program “Evolution in Action” of the University of Zurich The Georges and Antoine Claraz Foundation (Switzerland)Funder: Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (BFU2016-80621-P)Funder: The Georges and Antoine Claraz Foundation (Switzerland) The Research Priority Program “Evolution in Action” of the University of ZurichFunder: Foundation of German Business (sdw), Georges and Antoine Claraz Foundation, URPP Evolution in Action of the University of ZurichFunder: Special Grant for Innovation in Research Program of the Technical University of Dresden (Germany).Hornworts comprise a bryophyte lineage that diverged from other extant land plants >400 million years ago and bears unique biological features, including a distinct sporophyte architecture, cyanobacterial symbiosis and a pyrenoid-based carbon-concentrating mechanism (CCM). Here, we provide three high-quality genomes of Anthoceros hornworts. Phylogenomic analyses place hornworts as a sister clade to liverworts plus mosses with high support. The Anthoceros genomes lack repeat-dense centromeres as well as whole-genome duplication, and contain a limited transcription factor repertoire. Several genes involved in angiosperm meristem and stomatal function are conserved in Anthoceros and upregulated during sporophyte development, suggesting possible homologies at the genetic level. We identified candidate genes involved in cyanobacterial symbiosis and found that LCIB, a Chlamydomonas CCM gene, is present in hornworts but absent in other plant lineages, implying a possible conserved role in CCM function. We anticipate that these hornwort genomes will serve as essential references for future hornwort research and comparative studies across land plants

Introduction: Of images and empires

This introduction sets the aims and goals of the edited book, it explains the choice of presenting a series of visual essays to discuss empire and imperial legacies, and it provides the conceptual coordinates to appreciate how each visual essay attempts to sharpen the haze of empire

Optimization of immunocytochemistry in cytology: comparison of two protocols for fixation and preservation on cytospin and smear preparations

Objective: A new protocol for fixation and slide preservation was evaluated in order to improve the quality of immunocytochemical reactions on cytology slides. Methods: The quality of immunoreactions was evaluated retrospectively on 186 cytology slides (130 direct smears, 56 cytospins) prepared from different cytology samples. Ninety-three of the slides were air dried, stored at -20 °C and fixed in acetone for 10 minutes (Protocol 1), whereas the other 93 were immediately fixed in methanol at -20 °C for at least 30 minutes, subsequently protected with polyethylene glycol (PEG) and stored at room temperature (Protocol 2). Immunocytochemical staining, with eight primary antibodies, was performed on a Ventana BenchMark Ultra instrument using an UltraView Universal DAB Detection Kit. The following parameters were evaluated for each immunoreaction: morphology preservation, intensity of specific staining, background and counterstain. The slides were blinded and independently scored by four observers with marks from 0 to 20. Results: The quality of immunoreactions was better on methanol-fixed slides protected with PEG than on air-dried slides stored in the freezer: X¯ = 14.44 ± 3.58 versus X¯ = 11.02 ± 3.86, respectively (P < 0.001). Conclusion: Immediate fixation of cytology slides in cold methanol with subsequent application of PEG is an easy and straightforward procedure that improves the quality of immunocytochemical reactions and allows the storage of the slides at room temperature

Anthoceros genomes illuminate the origin of land plants and the unique biology of hornworts

Hornworts comprise a bryophyte lineage that diverged from other extant land plants >400 million years ago and bears unique biological features, including a distinct sporophyte architecture, cyanobacterial symbiosis and a pyrenoid-based carbon-concentrating mechanism (CCM). Here, we provide three high-quality genomes of Anthoceros hornworts. Phylogenomic analyses place hornworts as a sister clade to liverworts plus mosses with high support. The Anthoceros genomes lack repeat-dense centromeres as well as whole-genome duplication, and contain a limited transcription factor repertoire. Several genes involved in angiosperm meristem and stomatal function are conserved in Anthoceros and upregulated during sporophyte development, suggesting possible homologies at the genetic level. We identified candidate genes involved in cyanobacterial symbiosis and found that LCIB, a Chlamydomonas CCM gene, is present in hornworts but absent in other plant lineages, implying a possible conserved role in CCM function. We anticipate that these hornwort genomes will serve as essential references for future hornwort research and comparative studies across land plants