First flea (Siphonaptera) records for Kanuti National Wildlife Refuge, Central Alaska

Kanuti National Wildlife Refuge (KNWR) was established in 1980 in Central Alaska. Collections of mammal fleas began in 1991. Six species resulted: Catallagia dacenkoi Ioff, Corrodopsylla curvata (Rothschild), Ctenophthalmus pseudagyrtes Baker, Megabothris calcarifer (Wagner), Amalaraeus dissimilis (Jordan) and Peromyscopsylla ostsibirica (Scalon). Ten species of fleas were previously recorded from the upper Koyukuk River watershed. One female specimen each of C. curvata and Ct. pseudagyrtes from the KNWR are the only new fleas added to the upper watershed list

First flea (Siphonaptera) records for Kanuti National Wildlife Refuge, Central Alaska

Kanuti National Wildlife Refuge (KNWR) was established in 1980 in Central Alaska. Collections of mammal fleas began in 1991. Six species resulted: Catallagia dacenkoi Ioff, Corrodopsylla curvata (Rothschild), Ctenophthalmus pseudagyrtes Baker, Megabothris calcarifer (Wagner), Amalaraeus dissimilis (Jordan) and Peromyscopsylla ostsibirica (Scalon). Ten species of fleas were previously recorded from the upper Koyukuk River watershed. One female specimen each of C. curvata and Ct. pseudagyrtes from the KNWR are the only new fleas added to the upper watershed list

Mammal Fleas (Siphonaptera: Ceratophyllidae) New for Alaska and the Southeastern Mainland Collected During Seven Years of a Field Survey of Small Mammals

Ten taxa of mammal fleas were among 124 collection records from 12 host species (one shrew, nine rodents and two carnivores), at 72 localities on the southeastern Alaska mainland in 1989 and during an extensive survey of mammals in 1992-1995 and 1997-1999. Megabothris asio megacolpus (Jordan) ex Microtus pennsylvanicus (Ord), Malaraeus telchinus (Rothschild) ex Peromyscus keeni (Rhoads) and Clethrionomys gapperi (Vigors) are new fleas for Alaska. Orchopeas caedens (Jordan) ex Tamiasciurus hudsonicus (Erxleben) is a new flea for southeastern Alaska. Synaptomys borealis (Richardson) is a new host record for Opisodasys k. keeni (Baker). The other six taxa of fleas collected were Hystrichopsylla dippiei spinata Holland, H. o. occidentalis Holland, Catallagia charlottensis (Baker), Ceratophyllus ciliatus protinus Jordan, Megabothris abantis (Rothschild) and Opisodasys vesperalis (Jordan). Of these, H. o. occidentalis, C. charlottensis and M. abantis have seven new host records for the southeastern Alaska mainland. Distribution patterns of the fleas and their host relationships in North America are discussed

Anger as “seeing red”: Evidence for a perceptual association

Metaphor representation theory contends that people conceptualise their non-perceptual states (e.g., emotion concepts) in perceptual terms. The present research extends this theory to colour manipulations and discrete emotional representations. Two experiments (N=265) examined whether a red font colour would facilitate anger conceptions, consistent with metaphors referring to anger to “seeing red”. Evidence for an implicit anger-red association was robust and emotionally discrete in nature. Further, Experiment 2 examined the directionality of such associations and found that they were asymmetrical: Anger categorisations were faster when a red font colour was involved, but redness categorisations were not faster when an anger-related word was involved. Implications for multiple literatures are discussed

Environmental Barcoding Reveals Massive Dinoflagellate Diversity in Marine Environments

Rowena F. Stern is with University of British Columbia, Ales Horak is with University of British Columbia, Rose L. Andrew is with University of British Columbia, Mary-Alice Coffroth is with State University of New York at Buffalo, Robert A. Andersen is with the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, Frithjof C. Küpper is with the Scottish Marine Institute, Ian Jameson is with CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research, Mona Hoppenrath is with the German Center for Marine Biodiversity Research, Benoît Véron is with University of Caen Lower Normandy and the National Institute for Environmental Studies, Fumai Kasai is with the National Institute for Environmental Studies, Jerry Brand is with UT Austin, Erick R. James is with University of British Columbia, Patrick J. Keeling is with University of British Columbia.Background -- Dinoflagellates are an ecologically important group of protists with important functions as primary producers, coral symbionts and in toxic red tides. Although widely studied, the natural diversity of dinoflagellates is not well known. DNA barcoding has been utilized successfully for many protist groups. We used this approach to systematically sample known “species”, as a reference to measure the natural diversity in three marine environments. Methodology/Principal Findings -- In this study, we assembled a large cytochrome c oxidase 1 (COI) barcode database from 8 public algal culture collections plus 3 private collections worldwide resulting in 336 individual barcodes linked to specific cultures. We demonstrate that COI can identify to the species level in 15 dinoflagellate genera, generally in agreement with existing species names. Exceptions were found in species belonging to genera that were generally already known to be taxonomically challenging, such as Alexandrium or Symbiodinium. Using this barcode database as a baseline for cultured dinoflagellate diversity, we investigated the natural diversity in three diverse marine environments (Northeast Pacific, Northwest Atlantic, and Caribbean), including an evaluation of single-cell barcoding to identify uncultivated groups. From all three environments, the great majority of barcodes were not represented by any known cultured dinoflagellate, and we also observed an explosion in the diversity of genera that previously contained a modest number of known species, belonging to Kareniaceae. In total, 91.5% of non-identical environmental barcodes represent distinct species, but only 51 out of 603 unique environmental barcodes could be linked to cultured species using a conservative cut-off based on distances between cultured species. Conclusions/Significance -- COI barcoding was successful in identifying species from 70% of cultured genera. When applied to environmental samples, it revealed a massive amount of natural diversity in dinoflagellates. This highlights the extent to which we underestimate microbial diversity in the environment.This project was funded by Genome Canada and the Canadian Barcode of Life Network. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.Biological Sciences, School o

Mitochondrial physiology

As the knowledge base and importance of mitochondrial physiology to evolution, health and disease expands, the necessity for harmonizing the terminology concerning mitochondrial respiratory states and rates has become increasingly apparent. The chemiosmotic theory establishes the mechanism of energy transformation and coupling in oxidative phosphorylation. The unifying concept of the protonmotive force provides the framework for developing a consistent theoretical foundation of mitochondrial physiology and bioenergetics. We follow the latest SI guidelines and those of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) on terminology in physical chemistry, extended by considerations of open systems and thermodynamics of irreversible processes. The concept-driven constructive terminology incorporates the meaning of each quantity and aligns concepts and symbols with the nomenclature of classical bioenergetics. We endeavour to provide a balanced view of mitochondrial respiratory control and a critical discussion on reporting data of mitochondrial respiration in terms of metabolic flows and fluxes. Uniform standards for evaluation of respiratory states and rates will ultimately contribute to reproducibility between laboratories and thus support the development of data repositories of mitochondrial respiratory function in species, tissues, and cells. Clarity of concept and consistency of nomenclature facilitate effective transdisciplinary communication, education, and ultimately further discovery