Emerging Opportunities for Landscape Ecological Modelling

Landscape ecological modelling provides a vital means for understanding the interactions between geographical, climatic, and socio-economic drivers of land-use and the dynamics of ecological systems. This growing field is playing an increasing role in informing landscape spatial planning and management. Here, we review the key modelling approaches that are used in landscape modelling and in ecological modelling. We identify an emerging theme of increasingly detailed representation of process in both landscape and ecological modelling, with complementary suites of modelling approaches ranging from correlative, through aggregated process based approaches to models with much greater structural realism that often represent behaviours at the level of agents or individuals. We provide examples of the considerable progress that has been made at the intersection of landscape modelling and ecological modelling, while also highlighting that the majority of this work has to date exploited a relatively small number of the possible combinations of model types from each discipline. We use this review to identify key gaps in existing landscape ecological modelling effort and highlight emerging opportunities, in particular for future work to progress in novel directions by combining classes of landscape models and ecological models that have rarely been used together

Use of sonic tomography to detect and quantify wood decay in living trees.

Premise of the studyField methodology and image analysis protocols using acoustic tomography were developed and evaluated as a tool to estimate the amount of internal decay and damage of living trees, with special attention to tropical rainforest trees with irregular trunk shapes.Methods and resultsLiving trunks of a diversity of tree species in tropical rainforests in the Republic of Panama were scanned using an Argus Electronic PiCUS 3 Sonic Tomograph and evaluated for the amount and patterns of internal decay. A protocol using ImageJ analysis software was used to quantify the proportions of intact and compromised wood. The protocols provide replicable estimates of internal decay and cavities for trees of varying shapes, wood density, and bark thickness.ConclusionsSonic tomography, coupled with image analysis, provides an efficient, noninvasive approach to evaluate decay patterns and structural integrity of even irregularly shaped living trees

Circulating vitamin D, vitamin D-related genetic variation, and risk of fatal prostate cancer in the National Cancer Institute Breast and Prostate Cancer Cohort Consortium

BACKGROUND: Evidence from experimental animal and cell line studies supports a beneficial role for vitamin D in prostate cancer (PCa). Although the results from human studies have been mainly null for overall PCa risk, there may be a benefit for survival. This study assessed the associations of circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) and common variations in key vitamin D-related genes with fatal PCa. METHODS: In a large cohort consortium, 518 fatal cases and 2986 controls with 25(OH)D data were identified. Genotyping information for 91 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 7 vitamin D-related genes (vitamin D receptor, group-specific component, cytochrome P450 27A1 [CYP27A1], CYP27B1, CYP24A1, CYP2R1, and retinoid X receptor α) was available for 496 fatal cases and 3577 controls. Unconditional logistic regression was used to calculate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the associations of 25(OH)D and SNPs with fatal PCa. The study also tested for 25(OH)D-SNP interactions among 264 fatal cases and 1169 controls. RESULTS: No statistically significant relationship was observed between 25(OH)D and fatal PCa (OR for extreme quartiles, 0.86; 95% CI, 0.65-1.14; P for trend = .22) or the main effects of the SNPs and fatal PCa. There was evidence suggesting that associations of several SNPs, including 5 related to circulating 25(OH)D, with fatal PCa were modified by 25(OH)D. Individually, these associations did not remain significant after multiple testing; however, the P value for the set-based test for CYP2R1 was .002. CONCLUSIONS: Statistically significant associations were not observed for either 25(OH)D or vitamin D-related SNPs with fatal PCa. The effect modification of 25(OH)D associations by biologically plausible genetic variation may deserve further exploration

Miscarriage and stillbirth following maternal Zika virus infection in nonhuman primates.

Zika virus (ZIKV) infection is associated with congenital defects and pregnancy loss. Here, we found that 26% of nonhuman primates infected with Asian/American ZIKV in early gestation experienced fetal demise later in pregnancy despite showing few clinical signs of infection. Pregnancy loss due to asymptomatic ZIKV infection may therefore be a common but under-recognized adverse outcome related to maternal ZIKV infection

“Corpses … coast to coast!” Trauma, gender, and race in 1950s horror comics

During the 1950s, a moral panic around youth culture and delinquency dominated the contemporary imagination. Rock n' roll and the new wave of youth-focused films seemed to critics to posit an alternative culture antagonistic to that of older generations. One cultural form sparked particular censorious intent: the horror comic book. Many critics of the 1940s and 1950s dwelt obsessively on the impact of horror comics on youthful readers. The culmination of this movement was the 1954 Senate Subcommittee Hearings on Juvenile Delinquency, which resulted in the implementation of a harsh new self-regulatory comics code and the end of the horror and crime genres. In this study, we argue that rather than (or perhaps as well as) promoting juvenile delinquency, horror comics served an important social function in that they presented a challenge to the dominant culture in cold war America. They corroborated the veteran experience; questioned faith in science and industry; recognised women as victims of war; and embodied, on occasion, many of the themes of the early Civil Rights movement. It was because of these countercultural impulses that the horror genre in comics was, ultimately, brought to an untimely end

Looking beyond the mountain: dispersal barriers in a changing world

0000-0001-7279-715X© The Ecological Society of America. The attached file is the published version of the article

Do Health and Forensic DNA Databases Increase Racial Disparities?

Peter Chow-White and Troy Duster examine the question of whether the "digital divide" in health and forensic DNA databases is contributing to racial disparities

Genetics of Dispersal

Dispersal is a process of central importance for the ecological and evolutionary dynamics of populations and communities, because of its diverse consequences for gene flow and demography. It is subject to evolutionary change, which begs the question, what is the genetic basis of this potentially complex trait? To address this question, we (i) review the empirical literature on the genetic basis of dispersal, (ii) explore how theoretical investigations of the evolution of dispersal have represented the genetics of dispersal, and (iii) discuss how the genetic basis of dispersal influences theoretical predictions of the evolution of dispersal and potential consequences. Dispersal has a detectable genetic basis in many organisms, from bacteria to plants and animals. Generally, there is evidence for significant genetic variation for dispersal or dispersal-related phenotypes or evidence for the micro-evolution of dispersal in natural populations. Dispersal is typically the outcome of several interacting traits, and this complexity is reflected in its genetic architecture: while some genes of moderate to large effect can influence certain aspects of dispersal, dispersal traits are typically polygenic. Correlations among dispersal traits as well as between dispersal traits and other traits under selection are common, and the genetic basis of dispersal can be highly environment-dependent. By contrast, models have historically considered a highly simplified genetic architecture of dispersal. It is only recently that models have started to consider multiple loci influencing dispersal, as well as non-additive effects such as dominance and epistasis, showing that the genetic basis of dispersal can influence evolutionary rates and outcomes, especially under non-equilibrium conditions. For example, the number of loci controlling dispersal can influence projected rates of dispersal evolution during range shifts and corresponding demographic impacts. Incorporating more realism in the genetic architecture of dispersal is thus necessary to enable models to move beyond the purely theoretical towards making more useful predictions of evolutionary and ecological dynamics under current and future environmental conditions. To inform these advances, empirical studies need to answer outstanding questions concerning whether specific genes underlie dispersal variation, the genetic architecture of context-dependent dispersal phenotypes and behaviours, and correlations among dispersal and other traits.Peer reviewe

Digitization workflows for flat sheets and packets of plants, algae, and fungi

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/141708/1/aps31500065.pd