Detection experiments with humans implicate visual predation as a driver of colour polymorphism dynamics in pygmy grasshoppers

Background: Animal colour patterns offer good model systems for studies of biodiversity and evolution of local adaptations. An increasingly popular approach to study the role of selection for camouflage for evolutionary trajectories of animal colour patterns is to present images of prey on paper or computer screens to human 'predators'. Yet, few attempts have been made to confirm that rates of detection by humans can predict patterns of selection and evolutionary modifications of prey colour patterns in nature. In this study, we first analyzed encounters between human 'predators' and images of natural black, grey and striped colour morphs of the polymorphic Tetrix subulata pygmy grasshoppers presented on background images of unburnt, intermediate or completely burnt natural habitats. Next, we compared detection rates with estimates of capture probabilities and survival of free-ranging grasshoppers, and with estimates of relative morph frequencies in natural populations.Results: The proportion of grasshoppers that were detected and time to detection depended on both the colour pattern of the prey and on the type of visual background. Grasshoppers were detected more often and faster on unburnt backgrounds than on 50% and 100% burnt backgrounds. Striped prey were detected less often than grey or black prey on unburnt backgrounds; grey prey were detected more often than black or striped prey on 50% burnt backgrounds; and black prey were detected less often than grey prey on 100% burnt backgrounds. Rates of detection mirrored previously reported rates of capture by humans of free-ranging grasshoppers, as well as morph specific survival in the wild. Rates of detection were also correlated with frequencies of striped, black and grey morphs in samples of T. subulata from natural populations that occupied the three habitat types used for the detection experiment.Conclusions: Our findings demonstrate that crypsis is background-dependent, and implicate visual predation as an important driver of evolutionary modifications of colour polymorphism in pygmy grasshoppers. Our study provides the clearest evidence to date that using humans as 'predators' in detection experiments may provide reliable information on the protective values of prey colour patterns and of natural selection and microevolution of camouflage in the wild

Rare coral under the genomic microscope: timing and relationships among Hawaiian Montipora

Background Evolutionary patterns of scleractinian (stony) corals are difficult to infer given the existence of few diagnostic characters and pervasive phenotypic plasticity. A previous study of Hawaiian Montipora (Scleractinia: Acroporidae) based on five partial mitochondrial and two nuclear genes revealed the existence of a species complex, grouping one of the rarest known species (M. dilatata, which is listed as Endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature - IUCN) with widespread corals of very different colony growth forms (M. flabellata and M. cf. turgescens). These previous results could result from a lack of resolution due to a limited number of markers, compositional heterogeneity or reflect biological processes such as incomplete lineage sorting (ILS) or introgression. Results All 13 mitochondrial protein-coding genes from 55 scleractinians (14 lineages from this study) were used to evaluate if a recent origin of the M. dilatata species complex or rate heterogeneity could be compromising phylogenetic inference. Rate heterogeneity detected in the mitochondrial data set seems to have no significant impacts on the phylogenies but clearly affects age estimates. Dating analyses show different estimations for the speciation of M. dilatata species complex depending on whether taking compositional heterogeneity into account (0.8 [0.05–2.6] Myr) or assuming rate homogeneity (0.4 [0.14–0.75] Myr). Genomic data also provided evidence of introgression among all analysed samples of the complex. RADseq data indicated that M. capitata colour morphs may have a genetic basis. Conclusions Despite the volume of data (over 60,000 SNPs), phylogenetic relationships within the M. dilatata species complex remain unresolved most likely due to a recent origin and ongoing introgression. Species delimitation with genomic data is not concordant with the current taxonomy, which does not reflect the true diversity of this group. Nominal species within the complex are either undergoing a speciation process or represent ecomorphs exhibiting phenotypic polymorphisms.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Lahjakkaiden oppilaiden opettaminen ja heidän huomioimisensa kolmiportaisen tuen piirissä

Tiivistelmä. Suomen perustuslaki määrittelee, että jokaiselle oppilaalle kuuluu yhtäläinen mahdollisuus saada kykyjensä ja erityisten tarpeidensa mukaista opetusta (PL 731/1999 16§). Tutkielmamme päätarkoituksena on selvittää se, miten lahjakkaita oppilaita huomioidaan suomalaisessa peruskoulujärjestelmässä ja kolmiportaisen tuen piirissä. Tutkielmassa perehdytään ensin lahjakkuuteen, lahjakkaisiin oppilaisiin ja heidän opettamiseensa. Sen jälkeen määrittelemme kolmiportaisen tuen järjestelmän yleisesti ja lisäksi lahjakkaiden oppilaiden näkökulmasta. Määrittelemme lahjakkuutta älykkyyden ja luovuuden kautta ja lisäksi käytämme apuna kolmea tunnettua lahjakkuusteoriaa. Erittelemme lahjakkaille oppilaille tyypillisiä ominaisuuksia ja sitä, kuinka heitä voidaan tunnistaa ja luokitella koululuokassa. Lahjakkaiden oppilaiden opetukseen on syytä kiinnittää huomioita, ja sen takia tuommekin esille vaihtoehtoisia tapoja heidän opetuksensa toteutukselle. Erilaiset opetuksen eriyttämisen ja rikastuttamisen keinot ovat hyviä tapoja toteuttaa lahjakkaiden oppilaiden opetusta. Myös opettajan rooli on tärkeässä asemassa suunniteltaessa ja toteuttaessa lahjakkaiden oppilaiden opetusta, sillä he ovat niitä, jotka tunnistavat luokastaan lahjakkaita oppilaita ja vastaavat heidän tarpeisiinsa. Kolmiportainen tukimalli koostuu kolmesta eri tuen tasosta, joita ovat yleinen, tehostettu ja erityinen tuki. Tutkielmassamme kerromme yleisesti miten kolmiportainen tukimalli toimii ja mitä eri tuen muodot pitävät sisällään. Tämän tarkoituksena on avartaa käsitystä siitä, mitä asioita ja tehtäviä tukimalliin liittyy ja miten se toimii käytännössä. Kolmiportaisen tuen järjestelmän määrittelyn jälkeen pohdimme sitä, huomioidaanko lahjakkaita oppilaita kolmiportaisen tuen järjestelmässä riittävästi. Pohdimme lisäksi sitä, mitkä tekijät vaikuttavat lahjakkaiden oppilaiden huomioimisessa niin opettajan, koulun kuin koko yhteiskunnan näkökulmasta

Lahjakkaiden oppilaiden tukeminen eriyttämisen keinoin kolmiportaisen tukimallin yleisellä tasolla

Tiivistelmä. Pro gradu -tutkielmamme aiheena oli selvittää, sitä millainen asema lahjakkailla oppilailla on suomalaisessa peruskoulussa tällä hetkellä ja millaisia opetuksellisia ratkaisuja luokanopettajat toteuttavat heidän opetuksessaan. Tutkimuksemme päätavoite olikin selvittää, miten luokanopettajat tukevat lahjakkaita oppilaita kolmiportaisen tukimallin ensimmäisellä tasolla eli yleisessä tuessa. Lahjakkuuden ja lahjakkaan oppilaan määrittely, tunnistaminen ja ominaisuuksien tiedostaminen on tärkeää, kun mietitään heille suunnattuja tukitoimia kolmiportaisen tuen piirissä. Tämän takia halusimme hiukan selvittää myös sitä, miten luokanopettajat määrittelevät lahjakkuutta ja lahjakasta oppilasta. Tutkimus toteutettiin kvalitatiivisena tutkimuksena, jossa käytimme fenomenografista lähestymistapaa ilmiön tutkimisessa. Fenomenografinen tutkimustapa oli lähestymistavoista luontevin, koska keskiössämme oli ihmisten kokemukset tutkittavasta ilmiöstä, joka tässä tutkimuksessa oli lahjakkuus ja lahjakas oppilas. Aineiston analyysi toteutettiin neljässä eri vaiheessa. Ensimmäisen ja toisen vaiheen aikana luimme aineistoamme läpi, josta etsimme tutkimuskysymystemme kannalta keskeisiä ilmauksia. Tämän jälkeen kolmannessa ja neljännessä vaiheessa toteutimme klusteroinnin eli ryhmittelyn ja abstrahoinnin eli ylemmän tason kategoriajoukot. Keräsimme tutkimuksemme aineiston puolistrukturoidulla kyselylomakkeella, jonka lähetimme Facebookissa Alakoulun Aarreaitta -sivustolle toukokuussa 2018.Tutkimukseen osallistui 19 luokanopettajaa ympäri Suomea. Heidän työkokemuksensa vaihteli vastavalmistuneesta yli 30 vuoden työkokemukseen. Tutkimuksemme ensimmäinen tutkimuskysymyksemme pureutui siihen, millaisena ilmiönä luokanopettajat näkevät lahjakkuuden ja lahjakkaan oppilaan. Luokanopettajat kokivat lahjakkuuden ja lahjakkaan oppilaan hyvin monimuotoisena ilmiönä, johon he liittivät konkreettisia ominaisuuksia. Lahjakkuuteen sekä lahjakkaaseen oppilaaseen liitettiin 8 eri ominaisuutta, jotka olivat osittain samoja. Motivaatio, erityinen osaaminen ja kyky oppia nousivat keskeisimmäksi tutkimustulokseksi määriteltäessä lahjakkuutta ja lahjakasta oppilasta. Nämä edellä mainitut määritelmät voidaan kaikki liittää osaksi Renzullin kolmen ympyrän lahjakkuusmallia, joka on tunnetuin lahjakkuusmalli juuri länsimaissa. Tutkimus osoitti, että luokanopettajat kokevat lahjakkuuden ja lahjakkaan oppilaan hyvin samankaltaisena ilmiönä. Toinen tutkimuskysymyksemme tutki millaisia tukikeinoja luokanopettajat toteuttavat omassa työssään lahjakkaiden oppilaiden opetuksessa yleisellä tuella. Tutkimuksessamme vastauksista nousi esille seitsemän eri tukikeinon muotoa, jotka jollain tavalla liittyivät opetuksen eriyttämiseen. Teorian pohjalta eriyttäminen voidaan jakaa kolmeen eri sisältöalueeseen, joita ovat prosessi, sisältö ja tuotos. Meidän tutkimuksemme tukikeinot liittyivät lähes kaikki eriyttämisen sisältöön. Keskeisimpiä eriyttämiseen liittyviä tukikeinoja olivat lahjakkaan oppilaan oppimateriaalin muokkaaminen, vapauden ja vastuun antaminen omien mielenkiinnon kohteiden mukaan sekä haastaminen.Abstract. The main purpose of our master thesis is to investigate what kind of positions gifted students has in Finnish school system and how Finnish elementary school class teachers support and do different pedagogical conclusions to gifted students. In particular we wanted to research how elementary class teachers support gifted students in the first level of three-tiered support. Three-tiered support includes three different levels which are general, intensified and special support. It is very important that class teachers recognize and determine giftedness and gifted students because then they can arrange right measure of supports. This is why, we wanted to investigate how class teachers determine giftedness and gifted students. In our master thesis we have used phenomenography analysis which is a qualitative research methodology. Phenomenographical analysis is a brilliant, because it investigates class teachers experiences of our phenom which is in this case giftedness and gifted students. We implement this analysis in four parts. In the first and second parts we read results of thesis and underlined definitions. Third and fourth parts includes categorized definitions to the hyponyms and the abstraction part. We sent half-structured questionnaire on Facebook page called Alakoulun aarreaitta on May 2018. We had 19 answers from class teachers and they had work experience 0 over 30 years. Our master thesis first research question investigated how Finnish elementary school class teachers experience gifted students in general support on education. Class teachers experienced giftedness and gifted students very polymorphous phenom which they linked concrete properties. There were 8 common properties within giftedness and gifted students. The main results in those contexts were motivation, special skill and ability to learn. All 8 properties would be able to link easily into the Renzulli’s three-ring model conception of giftedness what is the most known model in western countries. Our thesis pointed that class teachers see giftedness very similar phenom. The second research question investigated how class teachers support concrete and do different pedagogical conclusions to gifted students in general support on education. All our results indicated seven different support measures including differentiation. Theory divides differentiation to three contents which are process, content and product. Almost all results linked to content of differentiation. Main results on these support measures of differentiation where gifted students elaboration of learning materials, challenging and giving the freedom and responsibility with their own interests

Diversity and Relatedness Enhance Survival in Colour Polymorphic Grasshoppers

Evolutionary theory predicts that different resource utilization and behaviour by alternative phenotypes may reduce competition and enhance productivity and individual performance in polymorphic, as compared with monomorphic, groups of individuals. However, firm evidence that members of more heterogeneous groups benefit from enhanced survival has been scarce or lacking. Furthermore, benefits associated with phenotypic diversity may be counterbalanced by costs mediated by reduced relatedness, since closely related individuals typically are more similar. Pygmy grasshoppers (Tetrix subulata) are characterized by extensive polymorphism in colour pattern, morphology, behaviour and physiology. We studied experimental groups founded by different numbers of mothers and found that survival was higher in low than in high density, that survival peaked at intermediate colour morph diversity in high density, and that survival was independent of diversity in low density where competition was less intense. We further demonstrate that survival was enhanced by relatedness, as expected if antagonistic and competitive interactions are discriminately directed towards non-siblings. We therefore also performed behavioural observations and staged encounters which confirmed that individuals recognized and responded differently to siblings than to non-siblings. We conclude that negative effects associated with competition are less manifest in diverse groups, that there is conflicting selection for and against genetic diversity occurring simultaneously, and that diversity and relatedness may facilitate the productivity and ecological success of groups of interacting individuals

Classical Density Functional Study on Interfacial Structure and Differential Capacitance of Ionic Liquids near Charged Surfaces

We have implemented a generic coarse-grained model for the aromatic ionic liquid [CnMIM+][Tf2N-]. Various lengths for the alkyl chain on the cation define a homologous series, whose electric properties are expected to vary in a systematic way. Within the framework of a classical density functional theory, the interfacial structures of members of this series are compared over a range of surface charge densities, alkyl chain lengths, and surface geometries. The differential capacitance of the electric double layer, formed by ionic liquids against a charged electrode, is calculated as a function of the surface electric potential. A comparison of planar, cylindrical, and spherical surfaces confirms that the differential capacitance increases and varies less with surface potential as the surface curvature increases. Our results are in qualitative agreement with recent atomistic simulations

Camouflage Effects of Various Colour-Marking Morphs against Different Microhabitat Backgrounds in a Polymorphic Pygmy Grasshopper Tetrix japonica

Colour-marking polymorphism is widely distributed among cryptic species. To account for the adaptive significance of such polymorphisms, several hypotheses have been proposed to date. Although these hypotheses argue over the degree of camouflage effects of marking morphs (and the interactions between morphs and their microhabitat backgrounds), as far as we know, most empirical evidence has been provided under unnatural conditions (i.e., using artificial prey).Tetrix japonica, a pygmy grasshopper, is highly polymorphic in colour-markings and occurs in both sand and grass microhabitats. Even within a microhabitat, T. japonica is highly polymorphic. Using humans as dummy predators and printed photographs in which various morphs of grasshoppers were placed against different backgrounds, we addressed three questions to test the neutral, background heterogeneity, and differential crypsis hypotheses in four marking-type morphs: 1) do the morphs differ in the degree of crypsis in each microhabitat, 2) are different morphs most cryptic in specific backgrounds of the microhabitats, and 3) does the morph frequency reflect the degree of crypsis?The degree of camouflage differed among the four morphs; therefore, the neutral hypothesis was rejected. Furthermore, the order of camouflage advantage among morphs differed depending on the two types of backgrounds (sand and grass), although the grass background consistently provided greater camouflage effects. Thus, based on our results, we could not reject the background heterogeneity hypothesis. Under field conditions, the more cryptic morphs comprised a minority of the population. Overall, our results demonstrate that the different morphs were not equivalent in the degree of crypsis, but the degree of camouflage of the morphs was not consistent with the morph frequency. These findings suggest that trade-offs exist between the camouflage benefit of body colouration and other fitness components, providing a better understanding of the adaptive significance of colour-markings and presumably supporting the differential crypsis hypothesis

Conformational Mechanics of Polymer Adsorption Transitions at Attractive Substrates

Conformational phases of a semiflexible off-lattice homopolymer model near an attractive substrate are investigated by means of multicanonical computer simulations. In our polymer-substrate model, nonbonded pairs of monomers as well as monomers and the substrate interact via attractive van der Waals forces. To characterize conformational phases of this hybrid system, we analyze thermal fluctuations of energetic and structural quantities, as well as adequate docking parameters. Introducing a solvent parameter related to the strength of the surface attraction, we construct and discuss the solubility-temperature phase diagram. Apart from the main phases of adsorbed and desorbed conformations, we identify several other phase transitions such as the freezing transition between energy-dominated crystalline low-temperature structures and globular entropy-dominated conformations.Comment: 13 pages, 15 figure

Genetics of callous-unemotional behavior in children

Callous-unemotional behavior (CU) is currently under consideration as a subtyping index for conduct disorder diagnosis. Twin studies routinely estimate the heritability of CU as greater than 50%. It is now possible to estimate genetic influence using DNA alone from samples of unrelated individuals, not relying on the assumptions of the twin method. Here we use this new DNA method (implemented in a software package called Genome-wide Complex Trait Analysis, GCTA) for the first time to estimate genetic influence on CU. We also report the first genome-wide association (GWA) study of CU as a quantitative trait. We compare these DNA results to those from twin analyses using the same measure and the same community sample of 2,930 children rated by their teachers at ages 7, 9 and 12. GCTA estimates of heritability were near zero, even though twin analysis of CU in this sample confirmed the high heritability of CU reported in the literature, and even though GCTA estimates of heritability were substantial for cognitive and anthropological traits in this sample. No significant associations were found in GWA analysis, which, like GCTA, only detects additive effects of common DNA variants. The phrase ‘missing heritability’ was coined to refer to the gap between variance associated with DNA variants identified in GWA studies versus twin study heritability. However, GCTA heritability, not twin study heritability, is the ceiling for GWA studies because both GCTA and GWA are limited to the overall additive effects of common DNA variants, whereas twin studies are not. This GCTA ceiling is very low for CU in our study, despite its high twin study heritability estimate. The gap between GCTA and twin study heritabilities will make it challenging to identify genes responsible for the heritability of CU