A Cretaceous origin for fire adaptations in the Cape flora

Fire has had a profound effect on the evolution of worldwide biotas. The Cape Floristic Region is one of the world’s most species-rich regions, yet it is highly prone to recurrent fires and fire-adapted species contribute strongly to the overall flora. It is hypothesized that the current fire regimes in the Cape could be as old as 6–8 million years (My), while indirect evidence indicates that the onset of fire could have reached 18 million years ago (Ma). Here, we trace the origin of fire-dependent traits in two monocot families that are significant elements in the fire-prone Cape flora. Our analysis shows that fire-stimulated flowering originated in the Cape Haemodoraceae 81 Ma, while fire-stimulated germination arose in the African Restionaceae at least 70 Ma, implying that wildfires have been a significant force in the evolution of the Cape flora at least 60 My earlier than previous estimates. Our results provide strong evidence for the presence of fire adaptations in the Cape from the Cretaceous, leading to the extraordinary persistence of a fire-adapted flora in this biodiversity hotspot, and giving support to the hypothesis that Cretaceous fire was a global phenomenon that shaped the evolution of terrestrial floras

evoText: A new tool for analyzing the biological sciences

We introduce here evoText, a new tool for automated analysis of the literature in the biological sciences. evoText contains a database of hundreds of thousands of journal articles and an array of analysis tools for generating quantitative data on the nature and history of life science, especially ecology and evolutionary biology. This article describes the features of evoText, presents a variety of examples of the kinds of analyses that evoText can run, and offers a brief tutorial describing how to use it

Low Digit Ratio Predicts Early Age at Menarche in Colombian Schoolgirls

Background:  The ratio between the lengths of the second and fourth fingers (digit ratio: 2D : 4D), a purported negative correlate of prenatal androgen exposure, has been inversely related to age at menarche. However, a recent study found high digit ratios in carriers of a single variant in the LIN28B gene, which has been linked to delayed menarche. Methods:  We investigated the association of digit ratio and age at menarche in 299 pre‐menarcheal girls aged 5–12 years who participated in a longitudinal cohort study in Bogotá, Colombia. Finger lengths were measured at baseline and the occurrence of menarche was periodically ascertained over a median 32 months of follow‐up. We used time‐to‐event analysis to estimate median ages at menarche as well as hazard ratios for menarche according to tertiles of the digit ratio for each hand. Results:  Estimated median age at menarche was lower for girls in the lowest digit ratio tertile of the right hand compared with those in the highest (12.0 vs. 12.3 years; P ‐value = 0.04). After adjustment for baseline age, height‐ and body mass index‐for‐age z ‐scores, the hazard of menarche was 86% higher in girls of the lowest digit ratio tertile (hazard ratio 1.9 [95% confidence interval 1.2, 2.9]) compared with those in the highest digit ratio tertile of the right hand. No significant associations were found with the left hand. Conclusions:  Digit ratio was positively associated with age at menarche in this longitudinal investigation, consistent with results from a recent gene‐linkage study.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/93549/1/j.1365-3016.2012.01310.x.pd

A variant in LIN28B is associated with 2D:4D finger-length ratio, a putative retrospective biomarker of prenatal testosterone exposure

The ratio of the lengths of an individual's second to fourth digit (2D:4D) is commonly used as a noninvasive retrospective biomarker for prenatal androgen exposure. In order to identify the genetic determinants of 2D:4D, we applied a genome-wide association approach to 1507 11-year-old children from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) in whom 2D:4D ratio had been measured, as well as a sample of 1382 12- to 16-year-olds from the Brisbane Adolescent Twin Study. A meta-analysis of the two scans identified a single variant in the LIN28B gene that was strongly associated with 2D:4D (rs314277: p = 4.1 108) and was subsequently independently replicated in an additional 3659 children from the ALSPAC cohort (p = 1.53 106). The minor allele of the rs314277 variant has previously been linked to increased height and delayed age at menarche, but in our study it was associated with increased 2D:4D in the direction opposite to that of previous reports on the correlation between 2D:4D and age at menarche. Our findings call into question the validity of 2D:4D as a simplistic retrospective biomarker for prenatal testosterone exposure

Reconstructing Tonian seawater ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr using calcite microspar

The Tonian Period followed a long interval of relative stasis and led into the climatic extremes and biological radiations of multicellular life during the Cryogenian and Ediacaran Periods, respectively. However, despite its pivotal situation, it remains relatively understudied, in large part due to the lack of robust age constraints. A combination of fossil evidence, radiometric ages, and isotopic constraints reveal that carbonate strata on the North China craton were deposited between ca. 980 and ca. 920 Ma, thereby filling a gap in marine archives. Here we present 87Sr/86Sr data from selected calcite microspar cements, which filled early diagenetic “molar tooth” cracks, along with data from demonstrably well-preserved bulk carbonate samples. These new data show that seawater 87Sr/87Sr rose in stages from ~0.7052 at ca. 980 Ma to ~0.7063 by ca. 920 Ma, after which a return to low values coincided with the eruption of the Dashigou large igneous province across the North China craton. We also present a new Neoproterozoic seawater 87Sr/86Sr curve, which reveals that the general trend toward higher 87Sr/87Sr during the Tonian Period was checked repeatedly by the input of less-radiogenic strontium from a series of eruptive events, both coincident with and prior to the main breakup of Rodinia. The weathering of Tonian volcanic provinces has been linked to higher carbon burial, glaciation, and oxygenation due to the high phosphorus content of flood basalts. Here we show that the weathering of major volcanic provinces affected material fluxes and ocean chemistry much earlier than previously envisaged

Blog feed search with a post index

User generated content forms an important domain for mining knowledge. In this paper, we address the task of blog feed search: to find blogs that are principally devoted to a given topic, as opposed to blogs that merely happen to mention the topic in passing. The large number of blogs makes the blogosphere a challenging domain, both in terms of effectiveness and of storage and retrieval efficiency. We examine the effectiveness of an approach to blog feed search that is based on individual posts as indexing units (instead of full blogs). Working in the setting of a probabilistic language modeling approach to information retrieval, we model the blog feed search task by aggregating over a blogger’s posts to collect evidence of relevance to the topic and persistence of interest in the topic. This approach achieves state-of-the-art performance in terms of effectiveness. We then introduce a two-stage model where a pre-selection of candidate blogs is followed by a ranking step. The model integrates aggressive pruning techniques as well as very lean representations of the contents of blog posts, resulting in substantial gains in efficiency while maintaining effectiveness at a very competitive level

Flocculation in Estuaries: Modeling, Laboratory and In-situ Studies

Modelling the flocculation of particles in a natural environment like an estuary is a challenging task owing to the complex particle-particle and particle-hydrodynamic interactions involved. In this chapter a summary is given of recent laboratory and in-situ studies regarding flocculation. A flocculation model is presented and the way to implement it in an existing sediment transport model is discussed. The model ought to be parametrized, which can be done by performing laboratory experiments which are reviewed. It is found, both from laboratory and in-situ studies, that flocculation between mineral sediment and organic matter is the dominant form of flocculation in estuarine systems. Mineral sediment in the water column is 200 μm. The origin of these two types is discussed. The two types of flocs are found at different positions in the water column and both have settling velocities in the range [0.5–10] mm/s

Suppression of the 2010 Alexandrium fundyense bloom by changes in physical, biological, and chemical properties of the Gulf of Maine

Author Posting. © American Society of Limnology and Oceanography, 2011. This article is posted here by permission of American Society of Limnology and Oceanography for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Limnology and Oceanography 56 (2011): 2411-2426, doi:10.4319/lo.2011.56.6.2411.For the period 2005–2009, the abundance of resting cysts in bottom sediments from the preceding autumn was a first-order predictor of the overall severity of spring–summer blooms of Alexandrium fundyense in the western Gulf of Maine and southern New England. Cyst abundance off mid-coast Maine was significantly higher in autumn 2009 than it was preceding a major regional bloom in 2005. A seasonal ensemble forecast was computed using a range of forcing conditions for the period 2004–2009, suggesting that a large bloom was likely in the western Gulf of Maine in 2010. This did not materialize, perhaps because environmental conditions in spring–summer 2010 were not favorable for growth of A. fundyense. Water mass anomalies indicate a regional-scale change in circulation with direct influence on A. fundyense's niche. Specifically, near-surface waters were warmer, fresher, more stratified, and had lower nutrients than during the period of observations used to construct the ensemble forecast. Moreover, a weaker-than-normal coastal current lessened A. fundyense transport into the western Gulf of Maine and Massachusetts Bay. Satellite ocean color observations indicate the 2010 spring phytoplankton bloom was more intense than usual. Early season nutrient depletion may have caused a temporal mismatch with A. fundyense's endogenous clock that regulates the timing of cyst germination. These findings highlight the difficulties of ecological forecasting in a changing oceanographic environment, and underscore the need for a sustained observational network to drive such forecasts.We gratefully acknowledge support of the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (grant NA06NOS4780245 for the Gulf of Maine Toxicity (GOMTOX) program) and the Woods Hole Center for Oceans and Human Health through National Science Foundation grants OCE-0430724 and OCE-0911031 and National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences grant 1P50- ES01274201

Model simulations of the Bay of Fundy Gyre : 2. Hindcasts for 2005–2007 reveal interannual variability in retentiveness

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2009. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research 114 (2009): C09005, doi:10.1029/2008JC004948.A persistent gyre at the mouth of the Bay of Fundy results from a combination of tidal rectification and buoyancy forcing. Here we assess recent interannual variability in the strength of the gyre using data assimilative model simulations. Realistic hindcast representations of the gyre are considered during cruises in 2005, 2006, and 2007. Assimilation of shipboard and moored acoustic Doppler current profiler velocities is used to improve the skill of the simulations, as quantified by comparison with nonassimilated drifter trajectories. Our hindcasts suggest a weakening of the gyre system during May 2005. Retention of simulated passive particles in the gyre during that period was highly reduced. A recovery of the dense water pool in the deep part of the basin by June 2006 resulted in a return to particle retention characteristics similar to climatology. Retention estimates reached a maximum during May 2007 (subsurface) and June–July 2007 (near surface). Interannual variability in the strength of the gyre was primarily modulated by the stratification of the dense water pool inside the Grand Manan Basin. These changes in stratification were associated with mixing conditions the preceding fall–winter and/or advectively driven modification of water mass properties.The preparation of this paper was supported by NSF grant OCE-0430724, NIEHS grant 1P50-ES01274201 (Woods Hole Center for Oceans and Human Health), andNOAAgrant NA06NOS4780245 (GOMTOX). Additional support was provided by NSF grant DMS-0417769