Plant connectivity underlies plant-pollinator-exploiter distributions in Ficus petiolaris and associated pollinating and non-pollinating fig wasps

Peer reviewedPostprin

Do music and art influence one another? Measuring cross-modal similarities in music and art

The visual arts and music interact with one another on both an individual scale (e.g., music-inspired synesthetes and artist-musician duos) and on a grand scale (e.g., the art movement Baroque, wherein abstract qualities such as “ornamentation” permeate both media). We develop a means to measure one of the many cross-modal similarities between music and visual art to both reveal any direct influences between the media, and to apply them to determine whether these connections became stronger or weaker throughout time. We examined the cross-modally linked continuums of lightness of color and height of pitch within comparable paintings and music of a time-determined art movement. The model of comparison extracted, measured, and contrasted the attributes of lightness of color in art and height of pitch in music in works from Russia and France created between 1870 and 1920. Although Russian visual art was measurably darker in value than French visual art of the same time, no significant differences were found between Russian and French music. While our results do not suggest direct influences manifesting differently in each medium, they demonstrate the use of the lightness-pitch model, applicable to other eras to measure potential cross-modal convergence and divergence through time

When does female multiple mating evolve to adjust inbreeding? : Effects of inbreeding depression, direct costs, mating constraints, and polyandry as a threshold trait

Ackowledgements: This work was funded by a European Research Council Starting Grant to JMR. All simulations were performed using the Maxwell computing cluster at the University of AberdeenPeer reviewedPublisher PD

A letter on: The fork and the paperclip: a memetic perspective

First paragraph: Recently, there has been much debate on what should and what should not be considered part of the science of memetics. Aunger (2002) notes the familiar fault line between "those who advocate the contagion-like or viral metaphor and those who prefer the gene metaphor" with both groups appearing to claim that the other is retarding progress in memetics. Perhaps, however, it is not so much the metaphor that is retarding the progress in memetics, but the debate itself. If memetics were to focus on real-world examples of supposed memetic phenomena, then we might move beyond metaphor debates, and begin providing people with insight and understanding about the world around us

Component response rate variation underlies the stability of highly complex finite systems

The stability of a complex system generally decreases with increasing system size and interconnectivity, a counterintuitive result of widespread importance across the physical, life, and social sciences. Despite recent interest in the relationship between system properties and stability, the effect of variation in response rate across system components remains unconsidered. Here I vary the component response rates (γ) of randomly generated complex systems. I use numerical simulations to show that when component response rates vary, the potential for system stability increases. these results are robust to common network structures, including small-world and scale-free networks, and cascade food webs. Variation in γ is especially important for stability in highly complex systems, in which the probability of stability would otherwise be negligible. At such extremes of simulated system complexity, the largest stable complex systems would be unstable if not for variation in γ. My results therefore reveal a previously unconsidered aspect of system stability that is likely to be pervasive across all realistic complex systems

Evolution of precopulatory and post-copulatory strategies of inbreeding avoidance and associated polyandry

Acknowledgments This work was funded by a European Research Council Starting Grant to JMR. Computer simulations were performed using the Maxwell Computing Cluster at the University of Aberdeen. We thank Matthew E. Wolak and two anonymous reviewers for very helpful comments.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Power scaling, vascular branching patterns, and the golden ratio

The Golden Ratio (a ratio of ~1.618:1) appears repeatedly in nature including structural and functional traits of organisms (e.g. Fibonacci spirals of snail shells and certain seed heads), the spiraled shape of galaxies and hurricanes, and even in much cultural architecture and art. In the mid-19th century, branching structures in plant and animal vascular systems were found to follow the Golden Ratio; that is, successive branches in the vascular systems of plants and animals tend to follow a length ratio of about 1.618:1. Here we present a model that uses this empirical evidence as a branching ratio in theoretical vascular systems. We then use a defined mass of the model system as a predictor of log-log scaling of terminal units. In this model, log terminal units and log mass scale similarly with that of other models as well as empirical evidence, but with more parsimony and a perspective not yet offered among all available models of allometric scaling. This model invites novel and broad hypotheses on the influence of the Golden Ratio on power scaling in organisms

What happens after inbreeding avoidance? Inbreeding by rejected relatives and the inclusive fitness benefit of inbreeding avoidance

This work was funded by a European Research Council Grant (http://erc.europa.eu/erc-funded-projects) and a Royal Society University Research Fellowship (www.royalsociety.org) to Jane M. Reid. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Evolution of Inbreeding Avoidance and Inbreeding Preference through Mate Choice among Interacting Relatives

This work was funded by a European Research Council Consolidator Grant and a Royal Society University Research Fellowship to JMR. We thank Greta Bocedi, Hannah Kokko, Lukas Keller, Sylvain Losdat, and Matthew Wolak for their helpful comments. Computer simulations were performed using the Maxwell Computing Cluster at the University of Aberdeen.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

EFFECTS OF HIGH AND LOW MANAGEMENT INTENSITY ON PROFITABILITY FOR THREE WATERMELON GENOTYPES

A replicated, small plot study on watermelon [Citrullus lanatus (Thunberg) Matsumura and Nakai] in 1997, 1999, and 2000 revealed that production management intensity affected yields and profitability of watermelon, in Oklahoma. Management intensity was based on a combination of cultural practices and levels of use of production methods. Low intensity management (LM) consisted of use of soil fertilization and weed control. High intensity management (HM) included the same weed control and fertilization as LM but also included use of plastic mulch, drip irrigation, insect pest control, and plant disease control. Cost and return analyses were based on the range of actual prices during the cropping season and the range of yields during the three years. Yields from the seedless triploid genotype 'Gem Dandy' consistently resulted in greater positive net revenue under HM than the diploid open pollinated 'Allsweet' or the hybrid diploid 'Sangria'. Under LM, yields from the seedless triploid also resulted in greater net revenues when conditions were favorable or lost less money than the open pollinated 'Allsweet' or the hybrid diploid 'Sangria' when conditions were unfavorable.Crop Production/Industries,