The 'PUCE CAFE' Project: the First 15K Coffee Microarray, a New Tool for Discovering Candidate Genes correlated to Agronomic and Quality Traits

Background: Understanding the genetic elements that contribute to key aspects of coffee biology will have an impact on future agronomical improvements for this economically important tree. During the past years, EST collections were generated in Coffee, opening the possibility to create new tools for functional genomics. Results: The "PUCE CAFE" Project, organized by the scientific consortium NESTLE/IRD/CIRAD, has developed an oligo-based microarray using 15,721 unigenes derived from published coffee EST sequences mostly obtained from different stages of fruit development and leaves in Coffea Canephora (Robusta). Hybridizations for two independent experiments served to compare global gene expression profiles in three types of tissue matter (mature beans, leaves and flowers) in C. canephora as well as in the leaves of three different coffee species (C. canephora, C. eugenoides and C. arabica). Microarray construction, statistical analyses and validation by Q-PCR analysis are presented in this study. Conclusion: We have generated the first 15 K coffee array during this PUCE CAFE project, granted by Genoplante (the French consortium for plant genomics). This new tool will help study functional genomics in a wide range of experiments on various plant tissues, such as analyzing bean maturation or resistance to pathogens or drought. Furthermore, the use of this array has proven to be valid in different coffee species (diploid or tetraploid), drastically enlarging its impact for high-throughput gene expression in the community of coffee research

A global experiment on motivating social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic

Finding communication strategies that effectively motivate social distancing continues to be a global public health priority during the COVID-19 pandemic. This cross-country, preregistered experiment (n = 25,718 from 89 countries) tested hypotheses concerning generalizable positive and negative outcomes of social distancing messages that promoted personal agency and reflective choices (i.e., an autonomy-supportive message) or were restrictive and shaming (i.e., a controlling message) compared with no message at all. Results partially supported experimental hypotheses in that the controlling message increased controlled motivation (a poorly internalized form of motivation relying on shame, guilt, and fear of social consequences) relative to no message. On the other hand, the autonomy-supportive message lowered feelings of defiance compared with the controlling message, but the controlling message did not differ from receiving no message at all. Unexpectedly, messages did not influence autonomous motivation (a highly internalized form of motivation relying on one’s core values) or behavioral intentions. Results supported hypothesized associations between people’s existing autonomous and controlled motivations and self-reported behavioral intentions to engage in social distancing. Controlled motivation was associated with more defiance and less long-term behavioral intention to engage in social distancing, whereas autonomous motivation was associated with less defiance and more short- and long-term intentions to social distance. Overall, this work highlights the potential harm of using shaming and pressuring language in public health communication, with implications for the current and future global health challenges

The Psychological Science Accelerator’s COVID-19 rapid-response dataset

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Psychological Science Accelerator coordinated three large-scale psychological studies to examine the effects of loss-gain framing, cognitive reappraisals, and autonomy framing manipulations on behavioral intentions and affective measures. The data collected (April to October 2020) included specific measures for each experimental study, a general questionnaire examining health prevention behaviors and COVID-19 experience, geographical and cultural context characterization, and demographic information for each participant. Each participant started the study with the same general questions and then was randomized to complete either one longer experiment or two shorter experiments. Data were provided by 73,223 participants with varying completion rates. Participants completed the survey from 111 geopolitical regions in 44 unique languages/dialects. The anonymized dataset described here is provided in both raw and processed formats to facilitate re-use and further analyses. The dataset offers secondary analytic opportunities to explore coping, framing, and self-determination across a diverse, global sample obtained at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, which can be merged with other time-sampled or geographic data

Estimating the parking lot footprint across the Great Lakes region

In this study we determine the areal footprint of parking lots in the Great Lakes Basinand outline policies to provide smart growth of parking lots. Our poster addresses the question: “what is the areal footprint and the ensuing economic and ecological consequences of parking lots?”. Our research addresses whether land use in the in the Great Lakes is efficient and sustainable. To that end, we use high resolution aerial photography and GIS to estimate the areal footprint of parking lots in relationship to: (1) the total urban area; (2) the number of parking spaces versus the population of the county; and (3) the distribution of parking spaces by land use category for a high density urban cover portion of the study area. Finally, we develop a set of metrics useful to relate our findings to urban planners and county regulators and 4) we outline the necessary steps to extrapolate our findings to the United States scale and from that draw conclusions as to a possible sustainable path to controlled growth

Evaluating Attitudes towards Large Carnivores within the Great Bear Rainforest

Cohabitation between humans and carnivores is vital to the continued existence and integrity of ecosystems, often playing a large role in the success of large carnivore conservation. We focus on interactions between humans and carnivores in the world’s largest, relatively intact temperate rainforest—The Great Bear Rainforest (GBR), British Columbia, Canada. Specifically, we focus on residents of Prince Rupert, a city within the GBR, and examine its residents’ ecological and relational attitudes towards the surrounding area of protected rainforest and the large carnivores present in the area. We aim to determine the strength of public attitudes and values of the environment and carnivores in the GBR, and to examine whether they differ between First Nations and non-First Nations residents of Prince Rupert, British Columbia. We conducted 28 semi-structured interviews of Prince Rupert residents. At the start of the interview, respondents self-administered a survey consisting of statements from the Social Ecological Relational Value and the New Ecological Paradigm scales. We find no significant difference between First Nations and non-First Nations respondent attitudes. This is possibly due to three factors: (1) cultural influence from the local First Nations, (2) the fact that these carnivores are important for the local economy through tourism, and (3) a strong sense of place associated with the area and the carnivores that inhabit it regardless of positive or negative encounters with these animals. While we find positive attitudes towards carnivores and little evidence of human–wildlife conflict, feelings towards carnivores encountered in town or while hiking tend to be negative, especially when they involve wolves. In order to mitigate these effects in a way that protects these valuable creatures, respondents overwhelmingly clamored for a conservation officer to be assigned to Prince Rupert. We conclude that policy and management might alleviate human–carnivore conflicts in the area should our results be corroborated by studies with larger sample sizes

Evaluating Attitudes towards Large Carnivores within the Great Bear Rainforest

Cohabitation between humans and carnivores is vital to the continued existence and integrity of ecosystems, often playing a large role in the success of large carnivore conservation. We focus on interactions between humans and carnivores in the world’s largest, relatively intact temperate rainforest—The Great Bear Rainforest (GBR), British Columbia, Canada. Specifically, we focus on residents of Prince Rupert, a city within the GBR, and examine its residents’ ecological and relational attitudes towards the surrounding area of protected rainforest and the large carnivores present in the area. We aim to determine the strength of public attitudes and values of the environment and carnivores in the GBR, and to examine whether they differ between First Nations and non-First Nations residents of Prince Rupert, British Columbia. We conducted 28 semi-structured interviews of Prince Rupert residents. At the start of the interview, respondents self-administered a survey consisting of statements from the Social Ecological Relational Value and the New Ecological Paradigm scales. We find no significant difference between First Nations and non-First Nations respondent attitudes. This is possibly due to three factors: (1) cultural influence from the local First Nations, (2) the fact that these carnivores are important for the local economy through tourism, and (3) a strong sense of place associated with the area and the carnivores that inhabit it regardless of positive or negative encounters with these animals. While we find positive attitudes towards carnivores and little evidence of human–wildlife conflict, feelings towards carnivores encountered in town or while hiking tend to be negative, especially when they involve wolves. In order to mitigate these effects in a way that protects these valuable creatures, respondents overwhelmingly clamored for a conservation officer to be assigned to Prince Rupert. We conclude that policy and management might alleviate human–carnivore conflicts in the area should our results be corroborated by studies with larger sample sizes

The Feasibility of Installing and Monitoring an Extensive Green Roof at Purdue University

The Boiler Green Initiative (BGI) is a student-run organization working to improve environmental sustainability at the Purdue University West Lafayette campus. A main goal of BGI\u27s is to install a green roof on an existing building on campus that is being replaced. We discuss the benefits of green roofs, the feasibility of having one installed on the Armory\u27s roof and the various monitoring options we have researched. Flat roofs are especially amenable to the green roof system, so a building with a flat roof or section of flat roof that is scheduled for repair is the ideal choice. The Armory will be having a 7392 sq. ft. area of the roof repaired in summer 2008. Our goal is to install a green roof system over the entire area. BGI, working with the physical facilities department, will monitor temperature on and just below the roof and water quality and flow to determine the green roof\u27s performance. Due to the inaccessibility of the roof, data from monitoring equipment must be obtained remotely and will be posted and stored on the club\u27s website (www.boilergreen.com)

Enhancing pollination supply in an urban ecosystem through landscape modifications

Although urban agriculture is growing in popularity, little is known about the distribution of insect pollinators across urbanized landscapes. We used the pollination module of InVEST (a suite of software models used to map and value ecosystem services), along with fine-scale land cover data and empirical data on bee distributions, to assess different scenarios of urban pollinator management in Chicago, Illinois (USA). Specifically, we simulated the partial conversion of lawn/turf-grass to floral resources in city parks only, in gardens managed by individual households only, and in any available turf grass within buffer distances of 250–1000 m of urban farms, community gardens, and home gardens across Chicago. We found that the output of InVEST\u27s pollination model was significantly related to empirical measures of bee richness (explaining 46% of the variation) but not bee abundance in Chicago. To increase pollination supply at urban farms and community gardens, our results indicate that, out of the scenarios presented here, the best strategy for the City of Chicago would be to concentrate floral resources nearby (within a 250 m buffer rather than within a 1 km buffer). In contrast, for home gardens, the model indicates that it may be better to increase floral resources throughout the city. This discrepancy may be due to the smaller size of home gardens and their more dispersed spatial arrangement throughout the city. Generally, our results indicate that converting turf grass to a more florally-rich land cover would support increased supply of pollinators and urban agriculture