Debris entrainment and landform genesis during tidewater glacier surges

Funded by: NERC. Grant Number: NE/I528050/1 GAINS (Glacial Activity in Neoproterozoic Svalbard). Grant Number: NE/H004963/1Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Motivated learning with digital learning tasks: what about autonomy and structure?

Article about Motivated learning with digital learning tasks: what about autonomy and structure

Unravelling the complexity of domestication:A case study using morphometrics and ancient DNA analyses of archaeological pigs from Romania

Funding statement. This work was supported by the Natural Environment Research Council (NE/F003382/1) and the Leverhulme Trust (F/00 128/AX) Acknowledgements. Archaeozoological analyses conducted by A. Ba˘la˘s¸escu were supported by three grants from the Romanian National Authority for Scientific Research, CNCS UEFISCDI (PN-II-RU-TE-20113-0146, PN-II-ID-PCE-2011-3-0982 and PN-IIID-PCE-2011-3-1015). We thank the archeologists Ca˘ta˘lin Bem, Alexandru Dragoman, Valentin Dumitras¸cu, Laura Dietrich, Raluca Koga˘lniceanu, Cristian Micu, Sta˘nica Pandrea, Valentin Parnic, George Trohani, Valentina Voinea for the material they generously provided. We thank the many institutions and individuals that provided sample material and access to collections, especially the curators of the Museum fu¨r Naturkunde, Berlin; Muse´um National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris; Muse´um d’Histoire Naturelle, Gene`ve; Museum fu¨r Haustierkunde, Halle; National Museum of Natural History, Washington; The Field Museum, Chicago and The American Museum of Natural History, New York; The Naturhistorisches Museum, BernPeer reviewedPublisher PD

Ancient pigs reveal a near-complete genomic turnover following their introduction to Europe

Archaeological evidence indicates that pig domestication had begun by ~10,500 y before the present (BP) in the Near East, and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) suggests that pigs arrived in Europe alongside farmers ~8,500 y BP. A few thousand years after the introduction of Near Eastern pigs into Europe, however, their characteristic mtDNA signature disappeared and was replaced by haplotypes associated with European wild boars. This turnover could be accounted for by substantial gene flow from local Euro-pean wild boars, although it is also possible that European wild boars were domesticated independently without any genetic con-tribution from the Near East. To test these hypotheses, we obtained mtDNA sequences from 2,099 modern and ancient pig samples and 63 nuclear ancient genomes from Near Eastern and European pigs. Our analyses revealed that European domestic pigs dating from 7,100 to 6,000 y BP possessed both Near Eastern and European nuclear ancestry, while later pigs possessed no more than 4% Near Eastern ancestry, indicating that gene flow from European wild boars resulted in a near-complete disappearance of Near East ancestry. In addition, we demonstrate that a variant at a locus encoding black coat color likely originated in the Near East and persisted in European pigs. Altogether, our results indicate that while pigs were not independently domesticated in Europe, the vast majority of human-mediated selection over the past 5,000 y focused on the genomic fraction derived from the European wild boars, and not on the fraction that was selected by early Neolithic farmers over the first 2,500 y of the domestication process

Past ice flow in Wahlenbergfjorden and its implications for late Quaternary ice sheet dynamics in northeastern Svalbard

Wahlenbergfjorden is a fjord situated in the western part of Nordaustlandet in northern Svalbard. It leads into the 400 m deep Hinlopen Strait located between Nordaustlandet and Spitsbergen. High-resolution multibeam bathymetric and sub-bottom data, as well as sediment cores are used to study the past extent and dynamics of glaciers in Wahlenbergfjorden and western Nordaustlandet. The submarine landform assemblage in Wahlenbergfjorden consists of landforms characteristic of subglacial, ice marginal and proglacial conditions. Glacial lineations indicate that Wahlenbergfjorden was occupied by streaming ice during the LGM and most likely acted as an ice stream onset zone. Westward ice flow in the fjord merged with the ice stream in Hinlopen Strait. Absence of ice recessional landforms in outer Wahlenbergfjorden suggests relatively fast deglaciation, possibly by flotation of the glacier front in the deeper parts of the fjord. The inner part of Wahlenbergfjorden and Palanderbukta are characterized by De Geer moraines, indicating episodic retreat of a grounded glacier front. In Palanderbukta, longer still stands of the glacier terminus resulted in the formation of larger terminal moraine ridges. The inner part of Wahlenbergfjorden was deglaciated prior to 11.3 ± 55 Cal. ka BP. The submarine landform assemblages in front of Bodleybreen, Etonbreen, Idunbreen, Frazerbreen and Aldousbreen confirm that these glaciers have surged at least once during the Holocene

Evolutionary ecomorphology for the twenty-first century: examples from mammalian carnivores

Carnivores (cats, dogs and kin) are a diverse group of mammals that inhabit a remarkable range of ecological niches. While the relationship between ecology and morphology has long been of interest in carnivorans, the application of quantitative techniques has resulted in a recent explosion of work in the field. Therefore, they provide a case study of how quantitative techniques, such as geometric morphometrics (GMM), have impacted our ability to tease apart complex ecological signals from skeletal anatomy, and the implications for our understanding of the relationships between form, function and ecological specialization. This review provides a synthesis of current research on carnivoran ecomorphology, with the goal of illustrating the complex interaction between ecology and morphology in the skeleton. We explore the ecomorphological diversity across major carnivoran lineages and anatomical systems. We examine cranial elements (skull, sensory systems) and postcranial elements (limbs, vertebral column) to reveal mosaic patterns of adaptation related to feeding and hunting strategies, locomotion and habitat preference. We highlight the crucial role that new approaches have played in advancing our understanding of carnivoran ecomorphology, while addressing challenges that remain in the field, such as ecological classifications, form–function relationships and multi-element analysis, offering new avenues for future research.This work was supported by the Royal Society (RF\ERE\210253to K.E.J.), which funded J.A.S.</p

Erratum: Ancient pigs reveal a near-complete genomic turnover following their introduction to Europe

The authors note that the affiliation for Alexandros Triantafyllidis and Panoraia Alexandri should be listed as Department of Genetics, Development and Molecular Biology, School of Biology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece; and that the affiliation for Rose-Marie Arbogast should be listed as CNRS UMR 7044, Maison interuniversitaire des sciences de l'Homme, F-67083 Strasbourg Cedex, France. The corrected author and affiliation lines appear below. The online version has been corrected.</p

"Ancient pigs reveal a near-complete genomic turnover following their introduction to Europe (vol 116, pg17231, 2019)

The authors note that the affiliation for Alexandros Triantafyllidis and Panoraia Alexandri should be listed as Department of Genetics, Development and Molecular Biology, School of Biology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece; and that the affiliation for Rose-Marie Arbogast should be listed as CNRS UMR 7044, Maison interuniversitaire des sciences de l'Homme, F-67083 Strasbourg Cedex, France. The corrected author and affiliation lines appear below. The online version has been corrected