Session 4: Evolutionary Indeterminism

Proceedings of the Pittsburgh Workshop in History and Philosophy of Biology, Center for Philosophy of Science, University of Pittsburgh, March 23-24 2001 Session 4: Evolutionary Indeterminis

Turtle Community Structure In A Central Ohio Pond With Native And Nonnative Species

Freshwater turtles are key indicators of habitat health and play a critical role in the food chain and seed dispersal. Red-eared sliders (Trachemys scripta elegans) are native to southern Ohio but have since expanded to central Ohio due to the pet trade. Expanding to nonnative areas, red-eared sliders may compete with native turtles for space and food. This study aims to describe the turtle community in Otterbein Lake, Westerville, Ohio, USA to examine species richness, diversity, and evenness and to analyze their diet composition. I caught turtles (n=61) with baited hoop nets and basking traps from July – Oct 2023. I then collected fecal samples by holding turtles individually in tubs of water for 36 hours. Six species were observed including red-eared sliders, northern map turtles (Graptemys geographica), midland painted turtles (Chrysemys picta marginata), eastern spiny softshells (Apalone spinifera spinifera), eastern musk turtles (Sternotherus odoratus), and common snapping turtles (Chelydra serpentina). I estimated that 113 turtles live in Otterbein Lake with 72 red-eared sliders based on the Schnabel method and extracted DNA from the fecal samples (n=46) using Qiagen DNeasy Plant Pro Kits. I analyzed the turtle diet composition based on amplicon presence via polymerase chain reaction of extracted DNA using six primers of known specificity to plastid, mitochondrial, and nuclear loci of insects, amphibians, fish, and Viridiplantae clades including angiosperms, gymnosperms. There was a significant difference between species and their diets. Eastern spiny softshell, midland painted, northern map, and red-eared slider diets collectively included angiosperms species, insects, and amphibians. Eastern spiny softshell turtles were the only species to exhibit fish in their diets. I did not detect gymnosperms in any diets within this study, suggesting that our primers were specific to diet rather than environmental DNA

The Northwest Tropical Atlantic Station (NTAS) : NTAS-4 mooring turnaround cruise report

The Northwest Tropical Atlantic Station (NTAS) was established to address the need for accurate air-sea flux estimates and upper ocean measurements in a region with strong sea surface temperature anomalies and the likelihood of significant local air–sea interaction on interannual to decadal timescales. The approach is to maintain a surface mooring outfitted for meteorological and oceanographic measurements at a site near 15°N, 51°W by successive mooring turnarounds. These observations will be used to investigate air–sea interaction processes related to climate variability. Deployment of the first (NTAS-1), second (NTAS-2) and third (NTAS-3) moorings were documented in previous reports (Plueddemann et al., 2001; 2002; 2003). This report documents recovery of the NTAS-3 mooring and deployment of the NTAS-4 mooring at the same site. Both moorings used 3-meter discus buoys as the surface element. These buoys were outfitted with two Air–Sea Interaction Meteorology (ASIMET) systems. Each system measures, records, and transmits via Argos satellite the surface meteorological variables necessary to compute air–sea fluxes of heat, moisture and momentum. The upper 150 m of the mooring line were outfitted with oceanographic sensors for the measurement of temperature and velocity. The mooring turnaround was done on the NOAA ship Ronald H. Brown, Cruise RB-04-01, by the Upper Ocean Processes Group of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. The cruise took place between 12 and 25 February 2004. The NTAS-3 buoy was found adrift and recovered on 19 February at 14°53.7’N, 51°22.8’W. Deployment of the NTAS-4 mooring was on 21 February at approximately 14°44.4’N, 50°56.0’W in 5038 m of water. A 30-hour intercomparison period followed, after which dragging operations to recover the lower portion of the NTAS-3 mooring commenced. This report describes these operations, as well as other work done on the cruise and some of the pre-cruise buoy preparations.Funding was provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration under Grant No. NA17RJ1223 and the Cooperative Institute for Climate and Ocean Research (CICOR)

The Mbeya Antimicrobial Stewardship Team: Implementing Antimicrobial Stewardship at a Zonal-Level Hospital in Southern Tanzania

In 2017, Mbeya Zonal Referral Hospital (MZRH) and the University of South Carolina (UofSC) agreed to collaboratively strengthen antimicrobial prescribing in the southern highlands of Tanzania and train a new generation of clinicians in responsible antimicrobial use. Key stakeholders and participants were identified and the Mbeya Antimicrobial Stewardship Team (MAST) was created. The team identified assets brought by the collaborators, and four investigations of baseline needs were developed. These investigations included (a) a baseline clinician survey regarding antimicrobial resistance and stewardship, (b) a serial chart review of inpatient antimicrobial prescribing practices, (c) an investigation of antimicrobial resistance rates using existing isolates at the MZRH laboratory, and (d) a survey of antimicrobial availability at community pharmacies in the city. 91% of physicians believe antimicrobial resistance is problem in Tanzania, although only 29% of physicians were familiar with the term antimicrobial stewardship . isolates had resistance rates of over 60% to the commonly used agents ciprofloxacin, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, and ceftriaxone. Thirteen out of 14 community pharmacies offered over-the-counter antibiotics for upper respiratory symptoms. International antimicrobial stewardship collaborations can successfully identify opportunities and needs. Evaluating the team\u27s efforts to improve patient outcomes will be essential

A Baker\u27s Dozen of Top Antimicrobial Stewardship Intervention Publications in 2022.

Keeping abreast of the antimicrobial stewardship-related articles published each year is challenging. The Southeastern Research Group Endeavor identified antimicrobial stewardship-related, peer-reviewed literature that detailed an actionable intervention during 2022. The top 13 publications were selected using a modified Delphi technique. These manuscripts were reviewed to highlight actionable interventions used by antimicrobial stewardship programs to capture potentially effective strategies for local implementation

A Baker\u27s Dozen of Top Antimicrobial Stewardship Intervention Publications in 2020

The number of articles related to antimicrobial stewardship published each year has increased significantly over the last decade. Keeping up with the literature, particularly the most innovative, well-designed, or applicable to one\u27s own practice area, can be challenging. The Southeastern Research Group Endeavor (SERGE-45) network reviewed antimicrobial stewardship-related, peer-reviewed literature from 2020 that detailed actionable interventions. The top 13 publications were summarized following identification using a modified Delphi technique. This article highlights the selected interventions and may serve as a key resource for teaching and training, and to identify novel or optimized stewardship opportunities within one\u27s institution

Selection in a Complex World: Deriving Causality from Stable Equilibrium

It is an ongoing controversy whether natural selection is a cause of population change, or a mere statistical description of how individual births and deaths accumulate. In this paper I restate the problem in terms of the reference class problem, and propose how the structure of stable equilibrium can provide a solution in continuity with biological practice. Insofar natural selection can be understood as a tendency towards equilibrium, key statisticalist criticisms are avoided. Further, in a modification of the Newtonian-force analogy, it can be suggested that a better metaphor for natural selection is that of an emergent force, similar in nature to entropic forces: with magnitude and direction, but lacking a spatiotemporal origin or point of application.status: publishe

Honor Among Thieves: A Zooarchaeological Study of Neanderthal Ecology

No abstract.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/38561/1/19_ftp.pd

Fitness: Philosophical Problems

Fitness plays many roles throughout evolutionary theory, from a measure of populations in the wild to a central element in abstract theoretical presentations of natural selection. It has thus been the subject of an extensive philosophical literature, which has primarily centered on the way to understand the relationship between fitness values and reproductive outcomes. If fitness is a probabilistic or statistical quantity, how is it to be defined in general theoretical contexts? How can it be measured? Can a single conceptual model for fitness be offered that applies in all biological cases, or must fitness measures be case-specific? Philosophers have explored these questions over the last several decades, largely in the context of an influential definition of fitness proposed in the late 1970s: the propensity interpretation. This interpretation as first described undeniably suffers from significant difficulties, and debate regarding the tenability of amendments and alternatives to it remains unsettled