A Comprehensive DNA Barcode Library for the Looper Moths (Lepidoptera: Geometridae) of British Columbia, Canada

The construction of comprehensive reference libraries is essential to foster the development of DNA barcoding as a tool for monitoring biodiversity and detecting invasive species. The looper moths of British Columbia (BC), Canada present a challenging case for species discrimination via DNA barcoding due to their considerable diversity and limited taxonomic maturity.By analyzing specimens held in national and regional natural history collections, we assemble barcode records from representatives of 400 species from BC and surrounding provinces, territories and states. Sequence variation in the barcode region unambiguously discriminates over 93% of these 400 geometrid species. However, a final estimate of resolution success awaits detailed taxonomic analysis of 48 species where patterns of barcode variation suggest cases of cryptic species, unrecognized synonymy as well as young species.A catalog of these taxa meriting further taxonomic investigation is presented as well as the supplemental information needed to facilitate these investigations

Review: The increasing importance of carbon nanotubes and nanostructured conducting polymers in biosensors

The growing need for analytical devices requiring smaller sample volumes, decreased power consumption and improved performance have been driving forces behind the rapid growth in nanomaterials research. Due to their dimensions, nanostructured materials display unique properties not traditionally observed in bulk materials. Characteristics such as increased surface area along with enhanced electrical/optical properties make them suitable for numerous applications such as nanoelectronics, photovoltaics and chemical/biological sensing. In this review we examine the potential that exists to use nanostructured materials for biosensor devices. By incorporating nanomaterials, it is possible to achieve enhanced sensitivity, improved response time and smaller size. Here we report some of the success that has been achieved in this area. Many nanoparticle and nanofibre geometries are particularly relevant, but in this paper we specifically focus on organic nanostructures, reviewing conducting polymer nanostructures and carbon nanotubes

Balancing Risk and Reward: A Rat Model of Risky Decision Making

We developed a behavioral task in rats to assess the influence of risk of punishment on decision-making. Male Long-Evans rats were given choices between pressing a lever to obtain a small, “safe ” food reward and a large food reward associated with risk of punishment (footshock). Each test session consisted of 5 blocks of 10 choice trials, with punishment risk increasing with each consecutive block (0, 25, 50, 75, 100%). Preference for the large, “risky ” reward declined with both increased probability and increased magnitude of punishment, and reward choice was not affected by the level of satiation or the order of risk presentation. Performance in this risky decision-making task was correlated with the degree to which the rats discounted the value of probabilistic rewards, but not delayed rewards. Finally, the acute effects of different doses of amphetamine and cocaine on risky decision-making were assessed. Systemic amphetamine administration caused a dose-dependent decrease in choice of the large risky reward (i.e. – it made rats more risk-averse). Cocaine did not cause a shift in reward choice, but instead impaired rats’ sensitivity to changes in punishment risk. These results should prove useful for investigating neuropsychiatric disorders in which risk taking is a prominent feature, such as attention deficit

Disturbance and the role of refuges in mediterranean climate streams

Refuges protect plant and animal populations from disturbance. Knowledge of refuges from disturbance in mediterranean climate rivers (med-rivers) has increased the last decade. We review disturbance processes and their relationship to refuges in streams in mediterranean climate regions (med-regions). Med-river fauna show high endemicity and their populations are often exposed to disturbance; hence the critical importance of refuges during (both seasonal and supraseasonal) disturbances. Disturbance pressures are increasing in med-regions, in particular from climatic change, salinisation, sedimentation, water extraction, hydropower generation, supraseasonal drought, and wildfire. Med-rivers show annual cycles of constrained precipitation and predictable seasonal drying, causing the biota to depend on seasonal refuges, in particular, those that are spatially predictable. This creates a spatial and temporal mosaic of inundation that determines habitat extent and refuge function. Refuges of sufficient size and duration to maintain populations, such as perennially flowing reaches, sustain biodiversity and may harbour relict populations, particularly during increasing aridification, where little other suitable habitat remains in landscapes. Therefore, disturbances that threaten perennial flows potentially cascade disproportionately to reduce regional scale biodiversity in med-regions. Conservation approaches for med-river systems need to conserve both refuges and refuge connectivity, reduce the impact of anthropogenic disturbances and sustain predictable, seasonal flow patterns

A Fuzzy-Trace Theory of Risk and Time Preferences in Decision Making: Integrating Cognition and Motivation

We provide an overview of fuzzy-trace theory (FTT) and its implications for risk and time preferences, drawing on evidence from behavioral economics, psychology, and neuroscience. FTT’s central construct is mental representation, specifically verbatim (literal surface form) and gist (bottom-line meaning) representations. The differences between these types of representation determine risk and time preferences, in combination with social values as well as developmental and individual differences. In particular, sensitivity to rewards and inhibitory control vary across the life span and across people, but impulsivity and risk taking can be modified by applying principles of FTT. We discuss the origins of FTT in prospect theory and distinguish risk preference, impulsivity versus intuition, temporal discounting (i.e., delay discounting), and delay of gratification, as well as FTT’s approach compared to standard dual-process models of judgment and decision making. As we discuss, there are parallels in FTT’s explanations of people’s willingness to tolerate risk as well as their willingness to wait for future rewards. FTT predicts theoretically crucial effects, such as increasing cognitive biases from childhood to adulthood, greater “rational” analysis among adolescents compared to adults, elimination of gain–loss biases through truncation of zero parts of gambles in risky choice framing, and hidden-zero effects in temporal discounting. We conclude that FTT yields qualitatively different interpretations of risk preference and time preference compared to other theories and that it offers new approaches to understanding and improving problem behaviors.https://digitalcommons.law.uw.edu/faculty-chapters/1053/thumbnail.jp