The vascular flora of Fall Creek Falls State Park, Van Buren and Bledsoe counties, Tennessee

A vascular plant inventory of Fall Creek Falls State Park (FCFSP), Van Buren and Bledsoe Counties, Tennessee was conducted during the growing seasons of2001 and 2002. The park encompasses ca. 8,900 ha on the western escarpment of the Cumberland Plateau. A total of 881 taxa from 131 families were documented during this survey. Of these taxa, 301 were determined to be county records for either Van Buren or Bledsoe County, Tennessee. Non-native species are represented by 110 taxa, which is 12% of the total flora. Seventeen Federal or State listed taxa were documented, including Nestronia umbellula, which represents a physiographic record for the Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee. Voucher specimens were deposited in the herbarium of the University of Tennessee (TENN). A total of 17 plant communities and eight microhabitats were delineated and described during this study. An analysis of distribution trends was conducted to assess geographic affinities of the flora. The majority of the taxa (80%) lie within their distribution ranges with the rest either being extraneous (4%), endemic (3%), or non-native (12%). A floristic comparison was conducted to compare the species richness of FCFSP to other previously surveyed areas on the Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee. This comparison demonstrated that this park has the second highest richness value of those sites

Not all jellyfish are equal: isotopic evidence for inter- and intraspecific variation in jellyfish trophic ecology

Jellyfish are highly topical within studies of pelagic food-webs and there is a growing realisation that their role is more complex than once thought. Efforts being made to include jellyfish within fisheries and ecosystem models are an important step forward, but our present understanding of their underlying trophic ecology can lead to their oversimplification in these models. Gelatinous zooplankton represent a polyphyletic assemblage spanning >2,000 species that inhabit coastal seas to the deep-ocean and employ a wide variety of foraging strategies. Despite this diversity, many contemporary modelling approaches include jellyfish as a single functional group feeding at one or two trophic levels at most. Recent reviews have drawn attention to this issue and highlighted the need for improved communication between biologists and theoreticians if this problem is to be overcome. We used stable isotopes to investigate the trophic ecology of three co-occurring scyphozoan jellyfish species (Aurelia aurita, Cyanea lamarckii and C. capillata) within a temperate, coastal food-web in the NE Atlantic. Using information on individual size, time of year and δ 13 C and δ 15 N stable isotope values, we examined: (1) whether all jellyfish could be considered as a single functional group, or showed distinct inter-specific differences in trophic ecology; (2) Were size-based shifts in trophic position, found previously in A. aurita, a common trait across species?; (3) When considered collectively, did the trophic position of three sympatric species remain constant over time? Differences in δ 15 N (trophic position) were evident between all three species, with size-based and temporal shifts in δ 15 N apparent in A. aurita and C. capillata. The isotopic niche width for all species combined increased throughout the season, reflecting temporal shifts in trophic position and seasonal succession in these gelatinous species. Taken together, these findings support previous assertions that jellyfish require more robust inclusion in marine fisheries or ecosystem models

Symmetrical Modernities?

A review of Jane Bennett's The Enchantment of Modern Life: Attachments, Crossings and Ethics (Princeton University Press, Princeton, 2001)

Mimesis and Violence - An Introduction to the Thought of René Girard

This essay provides an overview of the thought of the French literary and cultural theorist René Girard and attempts to contextualise his work in relation to other cultural thinkers such as Emile Durkheim and Friedrich Nietzsche. The essay begins with his theorisation of 'mimetic desire,' the explanatory schema Girard utilises to theorise interpersonal relations, which involves a construal of desire as preeminently imitative; this model suggests that human beings learn what to desire from observing and copying others. From there, the essay moves on to discuss the 'scapegoat' or 'victimage' mechanism, Girard's hypothesis for how cultural and religious formation takes place through the banishment or lynching of an emissary victim in order to initiate and sustain cultural stability. Finally, the essay examines the relationship between the Judea-Christian scriptures and the scapegoat mechanism, looking at Girard's depiction of the Bible as representing a trenchant critique of violence, especially those forms of violence unconsciously used in the service of social unification

Experimental evaluation of spatial capture–recapture study design

This research was funded by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, accession 1009581. This is a contribution of the Salamander Population and Adaptation Network (SPARCnet) and contribution #767 of the U.S. Geological Survey’s Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative (ARMI).A principal challenge impeding strong inference in analyses of wild populations is the lack of robust and long-term data sets. Recent advancements in analytical tools used in wildlife science may increase our ability to integrate smaller data sets and enhance the statistical power of population estimates. One such advancement, the development of spatial capture-recapture (SCR) methods, explicitly accounts for differences in spatial study designs, making it possible to equate multiple study designs in one analysis. SCR has been shown to be robust to variation in design as long as minimal sampling guidance is adhered to. However, these expectations are based on simulation and have yet to be evaluated in wild populations. Here we conduct a rigorously designed field experiment by manipulating the arrangement of artificial cover objects (ACOs) used to collect data on red-backed salamanders (Plethodon cinereus) to empirically evaluate the effects of design configuration on inference made using SCR. Our results suggest that, using SCR, estimates of space use and detectability are sensitive to study design configuration, namely the spacing and extent of the array, and that caution is warranted when assigning biological interpretation to these parameters. However, estimates of population density remain robust to design except when the configuration of detectors grossly violates existing recommendations.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Knowing Ourselves Together: The Cultural Origins of Metacognition

Metacognition – the ability to represent, monitor and control ongoing cognitive processes – helps us perform many tasks, both when acting alone and when working with others. While metacognition is adaptive, and found in other animals, we should not assume that all human forms of metacognition are gene-based adaptations. Instead, some forms may have a social origin, including the discrimination, interpretation, and broadcasting of metacognitive representations. There is evidence that each of these abilities depends on cultural learning and therefore that cultural selection might shape human metacognition. The cultural origins hypothesis is a plausible and testable alternative that directs us towards a substantial new programme of research

An exploration of the pedagogies employed to integrate knowledge in work-integrated learning

This article describes a three‐sector, national research project that investigated the integration aspect of work‐integrated learning (WIL). The context for this study is three sectors of New Zealand higher education: business and management, sport, and science and engineering, and a cohort of higher educational institutions that offer WIL/cooperative education in variety of ways. The aims of this study were to investigate the pedagogical approaches in WIL programs that are currently used by WIL practitioners in terms of learning, and the integration of academic‐workplace learning. The research constituted a series of collective case studies, and there were two main data sources — interviews with three stakeholder groups (namely employers, students, and co‐op practitioners), and analyses of relevant documentation (e.g., course/paper outlines, assignments on reflective practice, portfolio of learning, etc.). The research findings suggest that there is no consistent mechanism by which placement coordinators, off‐campus supervisors, or mentors seek to employ or develop pedagogies to foster learning and the integration of knowledge. Learning, it seems, occurs by means of legitimate peripheral participation with off‐campus learning occurring as a result of students working alongside professionals in their area via an apprenticeship model of learning. There is no evidence of explicit attempts to integrate on‐ and off‐campus learning, although all parties felt this would and should occur. However, integration is implicitly or indirectly fostered by a variety of means such as the use of reflective journals