Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time, and attempts to address it require a clear understanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space. While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes, vast areas of the tropics remain understudied. In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world's most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity, but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepresented in biodiversity databases. To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications may eliminate pieces of the Amazon's biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological communities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge, it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple organism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region's vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most neglected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lost

Interactive effects of citalopram and serotonin transporter genotype on neural correlates of response inhibition and attentional orienting

Item does not contain fulltextThe brain's serotonergic (5-HT) system has been implicated in controlling impulsive behavior and attentional orienting and linked to impulse control and anxiety related disorders. However, interactions between genotypical variation and responses to serotonergic drugs impede both treatment efficacy and neuroscientific research. We examine behavioral and electrophysiological responses to acute intravenous administration of a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) while controlling for major genetic differences regarding 5-HT transporter (5-HTT) genotypes. Out of a genotyped sample of healthy Caucasian subjects (n = 878) two extreme-groups regarding 5-HTT genotypes were selected (n = 32). A homozygous high-expressing group based on tri-allelic 5-HTTLPR and rs25532 (LAC/LAC = LL) was compared to homozygous S allele carriers (SS). Both groups were administered a low dose of citalopram (10 mg) intravenously in a double blind crossover fashion and performed a novelty NoGo paradigm while high density EEG was recorded. Interactions between drug and genotype were seen on both behavioral and neurophysiological levels. Reaction slowing following inhibitory events was decreased by the administration of citalopram in the LL but not SS group. This was accompanied by decreases in the amplitude of the inhibitory N2 EEG component and the P3b in the LL group, which was not seen in the SS group. SS subjects showed an increase in P3a amplitudes following SSRI administration to any type of deviant stimulus possibly reflecting increased attentional capture. The acute SSRI response on inhibitory processes and attentional orienting interacts with genotypes regulating 5-HTT gene expression. SS subjects may show increased attentional side effects reflected in increases in P3a amplitudes which could contribute to treatment discontinuation. Inhibitory processes and their neural correlates are affected only in LL subjects. These findings may indicate an underlying mechanism that could relate genotypical differences to altered side effect profiles and drug responses and are compatible with a non-monotonic relationship between 5-HT levels and optimal functioning.9 p

Observation of events with a large rapidity gap in deep inelastic scattering at HERA

In deep inelastic, neutral current scattering of electrons and protons at √ s = 296 GeV, we observe in the ZEUS detector events with a large rapidity gap in the hadronic final state. They occur in the region of small Bjorken x and are observed up to Q<sup>2</sup> of 100 GeV<sup>2</sup>. They account for about 5% of the events with Q<sup>2</sup> ≥ 10 GeV<sup>2</sup>. Their general properties are inconsistent with the dominant mechanism of deep inelastic scattering, where color is transferred between the scattered quark and the proton remnant, and suggest that the underlying production mechanism is the diffractive dissociation of the virtual photon