Evaluating The Effects Of Different Vegetation Types On Necrophagous Fly Communities (diptera: Calliphoridae; Sarcophagidae): Implications For Conservation

The present study was conducted in five different phytogeographic zones of the Brazilian state of Maranhão, three of which (the Amazon Forest, Cerrado, and Palm Groves) are more heterogeneous, whereas the other two (Marshlands and Mangroves) are more homogeneous. In each zone, nine sites were visited for the collection of necrophagous flies using bait traps in 2010, 2011, and 2012. The calliphorid and sarcophagid communities observed at each site were compared in terms of species richness, composition, and abundance. The more heterogeneous zones had higher species richness, except in the case of the sarcophagids in the forest habitats. The calliphorids Chloroprocta idioidea (Robineau-Desvoidy, 1830), Mesembrinella bicolor (Fabricius, 1805), Hemilucilia semi-diaphana (Rondani, 1850) and Lucilia eximia (Wiedemann, 1819) were more closely associated with the Cerrado, Palm Grove and Amazon Forest zones, and Chrysomya megacephala (Fabricius, 194) with the Mangrove. In the sarcophagids, Peckia (Euboettcheria) subducta (Lopes, 1935) and P. (Pattonella) palidipilosa (Curran & Walley, 1934) were associated with the Amazon Forest, and P. (Sarcodexia) lambens (Wiede-mann, 1830) and Tricharaea (Sarcophagula) occidua (Fabricius, 1794) with the Palm Grove and Cerrado zones. In the calliphorids, the greatest dissimilarity was recorded between the Amazon Forest and the Mangrove and Lowland grassland zones. In the sar-cophagids, by contrast, the greatest dissimilarities were recorded between the Amazon Forest and all the other four zones. In general, then, the phytogeographic zones with the highest environmental heterogeneity were characterized by the greatest species richness and abundance of necrophagous flies. © 2016 Pereira de Sousa et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.111

Excited States of Nucleic Acids Probed by Proton Relaxation Dispersion NMR Spectroscopy

In this work an improved stable isotope labeling protocol for nucleic acids is introduced. The novel building blocks eliminate/minimize homonuclear 13C and 1H scalar couplings thus allowing proton relaxation dispersion (RD) experiments to report accurately on the chemical exchange of nucleic acids. Using site-specific 2H and 13C labeling, spin topologies are introduced into DNA and RNA that make 1H relaxation dispersion experiments applicable in a straightforward manner. The novel RNA/DNA building blocks were successfully incorporated into two nucleic acids. The A-site RNA was previously shown to undergo a two site exchange process in the micro- to millisecond time regime. Using proton relaxation dispersion experiments the exchange parameters determined earlier could be recapitulated, thus validating the proposed approach. We further investigated the dynamics of the cTAR DNA, a DNA transcript that is involved in the viral replication cycle of HIV-1. Again, an exchange process could be characterized and quantified. This shows the general applicablility of the novel labeling scheme for 1H RD experiments of nucleic acids

The International Mountain Conference, Innsbruck, Austria, September 2019 (IMC2019): A Synthesis with Recommendations for Research

This paper presents a synthesis of the outcomes of sessions and recommendations for future research in mountain areas from the International Mountain Conference (IMC), held in Innsbruck, Austria, in September 2019. The thematic sections of the paper consider: first, the paleosciences, particularly archaeology; second, (bio)physical systems—the climate system, the cryo- and hydrosphere, and the biosphere—and their relationships with human systems; third, natural hazards and risks; and fourth, demographic and sociocultural trends, globalization (energy and transport networks, tourism, food supplies), policymaking, development, and research. Each section includes key literature relating to its theme, together with recommendations from the respective sessions. The paper concludes with a discussion and conclusions on the process of producing the synthesis, and its value for preparation and synthesis strategies for future conferences

The effects of multiple features of alternatively spliced exons on the K(A)/K(S )ratio test

BACKGROUND: The evolution of alternatively spliced exons (ASEs) is of primary interest because these exons are suggested to be a major source of functional diversity of proteins. Many exon features have been suggested to affect the evolution of ASEs. However, previous studies have relied on the K(A)/K(S )ratio test without taking into consideration information sufficiency (i.e., exon length > 75 bp, cross-species divergence > 5%) of the studied exons, leading to potentially biased interpretations. Furthermore, which exon feature dominates the results of the K(A)/K(S )ratio test and whether multiple exon features have additive effects have remained unexplored. RESULTS: In this study, we collect two different datasets for analysis – the ASE dataset (which includes lineage-specific ASEs and conserved ASEs) and the ACE dataset (which includes only conserved ASEs). We first show that information sufficiency can significantly affect the interpretation of relationship between exons features and the K(A)/K(S )ratio test results. After discarding exons with insufficient information, we use a Boolean method to analyze the relationship between test results and four exon features (namely length, protein domain overlapping, inclusion level, and exonic splicing enhancer (ESE) frequency) for the ASE dataset. We demonstrate that length and protein domain overlapping are dominant factors, and they have similar impacts on test results of ASEs. In addition, despite the weak impacts of inclusion level and ESE motif frequency when considered individually, combination of these two factors still have minor additive effects on test results. However, the ACE dataset shows a slightly different result in that inclusion level has a marginally significant effect on test results. Lineage-specific ASEs may have contributed to the difference. Overall, in both ASEs and ACEs, protein domain overlapping is the most dominant exon feature while ESE frequency is the weakest one in affecting test results. CONCLUSION: The proposed method can easily find additive effects of individual or multiple factors on the K(A)/K(S )ratio test results of exons. Therefore, the system can analyze complex conditions in evolution where multiple features are involved. More factors can also be added into the system to extend the scope of evolutionary analysis of exons. In addition, our method may be useful when orthologous exons can not be found for the K(A)/K(S )ratio test

Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time and attempts to address it require a clear understanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space. While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes, vast areas of the tropics remain understudied. In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world's most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity, but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepresented in biodiversity databases. To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications may eliminate pieces of the Amazon's biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological communities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge, it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple organism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region's vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most neglected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lost

DNA-Based Diet Analysis for Any Predator

Background: Prey DNA from diet samples can be used as a dietary marker; yet current methods for prey detection require a priori diet knowledge and/or are designed ad hoc, limiting their scope. I present a general approach to detect diverse prey in the feces or gut contents of predators. Methodology/Principal Findings: In the example outlined, I take advantage of the restriction site for the endonuclease Pac I which is present in 16S mtDNA of most Odontoceti mammals, but absent from most other relevant non-mammalian chordates and invertebrates. Thus in DNA extracted from feces of these mammalian predators Pac I will cleave and exclude predator DNA from a small region targeted by novel universal primers, while most prey DNA remain intact allowing prey selective PCR. The method was optimized using scat samples from captive bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) fed a diet of 6–10 prey species from three phlya. Up to five prey from two phyla were detected in a single scat and all but one minor prey item (2% of the overall diet) were detected across all samples. The same method was applied to scat samples from free-ranging bottlenose dolphins; up to seven prey taxa were detected in a single scat and 13 prey taxa from eight teleost families were identified in total. Conclusions/Significance: Data and further examples are provided to facilitate rapid transfer of this approach to any predator. This methodology should prove useful to zoologists using DNA-based diet techniques in a wide variety of study systems

A social and ecological assessment of tropical land uses at multiple scales: the Sustainable amazon network

Science has a critical role to play in guiding more sustainable development trajectories. Here, we present the Sustainable Amazon Network (Rede Amazônia Sustentável, RAS): a multidisciplinary research initiative involving more than 30 partner organizations working to assess both social and ecological dimensions of land-use sustainability in eastern Brazilian Amazonia. The research approach adopted by RAS offers three advantages for addressing land-use sustainability problems: (i) the collection of synchronized and co-located ecological and socioeconomic data across broad gradients of past and present human use; (ii) a nested sampling design to aid comparison of ecological and socioeconomic conditions associated with different land uses across local, landscape and regional scales; and (iii) a strong engagement with a wide variety of actors and non-research institutions. Here, we elaborate on these key features, and identify the ways in which RAS can help in highlighting those problems in most urgent need of attention, and in guiding improvements in land-use sustainability in Amazonia and elsewhere in the tropics. We also discuss some of the practical lessons, limitations and realities faced during the development of the RAS initiative so far

Rapid Plant Identification Using Species- and Group-Specific Primers Targeting Chloroplast DNA

Plant identification is challenging when no morphologically assignable parts are available. There is a lack of broadly applicable methods for identifying plants in this situation, for example when roots grow in mixture and for decayed or semi-digested plant material. These difficulties have also impeded the progress made in ecological disciplines such as soil- and trophic ecology. Here, a PCR-based approach is presented which allows identifying a variety of plant taxa commonly occurring in Central European agricultural land. Based on the trnT-F cpDNA region, PCR assays were developed to identify two plant families (Poaceae and Apiaceae), the genera Trifolium and Plantago, and nine plant species: Achillea millefolium, Fagopyrum esculentum, Lolium perenne, Lupinus angustifolius, Phaseolus coccineus, Sinapis alba, Taraxacum officinale, Triticum aestivum, and Zea mays. These assays allowed identification of plants based on size-specific amplicons ranging from 116 bp to 381 bp. Their specificity and sensitivity was consistently high, enabling the detection of small amounts of plant DNA, for example, in decaying plant material and in the intestine or faeces of herbivores. To increase the efficacy of identifying plant species from large number of samples, specific primers were combined in multiplex PCRs, allowing screening for multiple species within a single reaction. The molecular assays outlined here will be applicable manifold, such as for root- and leaf litter identification, botanical trace evidence, and the analysis of herbivory

The specificity and the development of social-emotional competence in a multi-ethnic-classroom

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Ethnic diversity in schools increases due to globalization. Thus, the children's social-emotional competence development must be considered in the context of a multi-ethnic classroom.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In this study, the social-emotional competence of 65 Asian-American and Latin-American children was observed at the beginning and the end of their kindergarten year.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Initially, significant differences existed among these ethnic groups in respect to moral reasoning. Furthermore, the male children showed more dysregulated aggression but the female children implemented more moral reasoning than their male counterparts. These ethnic specificities did not disappear over the course of the year. In addition, a significant change in avoidance strategies as well as expressed emotions in the narrative took place over the course of one year.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Ethnic specificity in social-emotional competence does exist independent of gender at the beginning as well as at the end of the kindergarten year in a multi-ethnic kindergarten classroom.</p