Pituophis ruthveni

Number of Pages: 16Geological SciencesIntegrative Biolog

Mediterranean House Geckos Exploit Novel Resources in a Recipient Lizard Assemblage

A species’ ecological niche represents the environmental conditions needed for an individual to replace itself and is comprised of multiple resource axes (Pianka 2000 Evol. Ecol.). One mechanism of establishment of non-native species is via exploitation of novel resources in recipient ecosystems through their unique functional traits (Schalk et al. 2018 Biol. Invas.). Mediterranean House Geckos (Hemidactylus turcicus) are an exotic species introduced in urban areas across Texas, yet little is known about their resource use relative to native lizards. We hypothesized that H. turcicus would exhibit low overlap in resource use in their habitat, dietary, and isotopic niches compared to native lizard species (Green Anole [Anolis carolinensis], Little Brown Skink [Scincella lateralis], Five-lined Skink [Plestiodon fasciatus])

Gender and sexual orientation differences in cognition across adulthood : age is kinder to women than to men regardless of sexual orientation

Despite some evidence of greater age-related deterioration of the brain in males than in females, gender differences in rates of cognitive aging have proved inconsistent. The present study employed web-based methodology to collect data from people aged 20-65 years (109,612 men; 88,509 women). As expected, men outperformed women on tests of mental rotation and line angle judgment, whereas women outperformed men on tests of category fluency and object location memory. Performance on all tests declined with age but significantly more so for men than for women. Heterosexuals of each gender generally outperformed bisexuals and homosexuals on tests where that gender was superior; however, there were no clear interactions between age and sexual orientation for either gender. At least for these particular tests from young adulthood to retirement, age is kinder to women than to men, but treats heterosexuals, bisexuals, and homosexuals just the same

Constraints on the χ_(c1) versus χ_(c2) polarizations in proton-proton collisions at √s = 8 TeV

The polarizations of promptly produced χ_(c1) and χ_(c2) mesons are studied using data collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC, in proton-proton collisions at √s=8  TeV. The χ_c states are reconstructed via their radiative decays χ_c → J/ψγ, with the photons being measured through conversions to e⁺e⁻, which allows the two states to be well resolved. The polarizations are measured in the helicity frame, through the analysis of the χ_(c2) to χ_(c1) yield ratio as a function of the polar or azimuthal angle of the positive muon emitted in the J/ψ → μ⁺μ⁻ decay, in three bins of J/ψ transverse momentum. While no differences are seen between the two states in terms of azimuthal decay angle distributions, they are observed to have significantly different polar anisotropies. The measurement favors a scenario where at least one of the two states is strongly polarized along the helicity quantization axis, in agreement with nonrelativistic quantum chromodynamics predictions. This is the first measurement of significantly polarized quarkonia produced at high transverse momentum