Patterns, causes, and consequences of marine larval dispersal

Quantifying the probability of larval exchange among marine populations is key to predicting local population dynamics and optimizing networks of marine protected areas. The pattern of connectivity among populations can be described by the measurement of a dispersal kernel. However, a statistically robust, empirical dispersal kernel has been lacking for any marine species. Here, we use genetic parentage analysis to quantify a dispersal kernel for the reef fish Elacatinus lori, demonstrating that dispersal declines exponentially with distance. The spatial scale of dispersal is an order of magnitude less than previous estimates—the median dispersal distance is just 1.7 km and no dispersal events exceed 16.4 km despite intensive sampling out to 30 km from source. Overlaid on this strong pattern is subtle spatial variation, but neither pelagic larval duration nor direction is associated with the probability of successful dispersal. Given the strong relationship between distance and dispersal, we show that distance-driven logistic models have strong power to predict dispersal probabilities. Moreover, connectivity matrices generated from these models are congruent with empirical estimates of spatial genetic structure, suggesting that the pattern of dispersal we uncovered reflects long-term patterns of gene flow. These results challenge assumptions regarding the spatial scale and presumed predictors of marine population connectivity. We conclude that if marine reserve networks aim to connect whole communities of fishes and conserve biodiversity broadly, then reserves that are close in space (<10 km) will accommodate those members of the community that are short-distance dispersers.We thank Diana Acosta, Alben David, Kevin David, Alissa Rickborn, and Derek Scolaro for assistance with field work; Eliana Bondra for assistance with molecular work; and Peter Carlson for assistance with otolith work. We are grateful to Noel Anderson, David Lindo, Claire Paris, Robert Warner, Colleen Webb, and two anonymous reviewers for comments on this manuscript. This work was supported by National Science Foundation (NSF) Grant OCE-1260424, and C.C.D. was supported by NSF Graduate Research Fellowship DGE-1247312. All work was approved by Belize Fisheries and Boston University Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee. (OCE-1260424 - National Science Foundation (NSF); DGE-1247312 - NSF Graduate Research Fellowship)Published versio

The evolution of marine larval dispersal kernels in spatially structured habitats: Analytical models, individual-based simulations, and comparisons with empirical estimates.

Author Posting. © University of Chicago Press, 2019. This article is posted here by permission of University of Chicago Press for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Shaw, A. K., D'Aloia, C. C., & Buston, P. M. The evolution of marine larval dispersal kernels in spatially structured habitats: Analytical models, individual-based simulations, and comparisons with empirical estimates. American Naturalist, 193(3), (2019):424-435, doi:10.1086/701667.Understanding the causes of larval dispersal is a major goal of marine ecology, yet most research focuses on proximate causes. Here we ask how ultimate, evolutionary causes affect dispersal. Building on Hamilton and May’s classic 1977 article “Dispersal in Stable Habitats,” we develop analytic and simulation models for the evolution of dispersal kernels in spatially structured habitats. First, we investigate dispersal in a world without edges and find that most offspring disperse as far as possible, opposite the pattern of empirical data. Adding edges to our model world leads to nearly all offspring dispersing short distances, again a mismatch with empirical data. Adding resource heterogeneity improves our results: most offspring disperse short distances with some dispersing longer distances. Finally, we simulate dispersal evolution in a real seascape in Belize and find that the simulated dispersal kernel and an empirical dispersal kernel from that seascape both have the same shape, with a high level of short-distance dispersal and a low level of long-distance dispersal. The novel contributions of this work are to provide a spatially explicit analytic extension of Hamilton and May’s 1977 work, to demonstrate that our spatially explicit simulations and analytic models provide equivalent results, and to use simulation approaches to investigate the evolution of dispersal kernel shape in spatially complex habitats. Our model could be modified in various ways to investigate dispersal evolution in other species and seascapes, providing new insights into patterns of marine larval dispersal.We thank S. Levin, M. Neubert, S. Proulx, L. Sullivan, R. Warner, and several anonymous reviewers for helpful comments. This work was carried out in part using computing resources at the University of Minnesota Supercomputing Institute. The project was supported by a start-up award from the University of Minnesota to A.K.S. and a National Science Foundation award (OCE-1260424) to P.M.B. and colleagues; C.C.D. was supported by the Weston Howland Junior Postdoctoral Scholarship from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.2020-01-1

Plant Polyphenols and Exendin-4 Prevent Hyperactivity and TNF-alpha Release in LPS-Treated In vitro Neuron/Astrocyte/Microglial Networks

Increasing evidence supports a decisive role for neuroinflammation in the neurodegenerative process of several central nervous system (CNS) disorders. Microglia are essential mediators of neuroinflammation and can regulate a broad spectrum of cellular responses by releasing reactive oxygen intermediates, nitric oxide, proteases, excitatory amino acids, and cytokines. We have recently shown that also in ex-vivo cortical networks of neurons, astrocytes and microglia, an increased level of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) was detected a few hours after exposure to the bacterial endotoxin lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Simultaneously, an atypical “seizure-like” neuronal network activity was recorded by multi-electrode array (MEA) electrophysiology. These effects were prevented by minocycline, an established anti-inflammatory antibiotic. We show here that the same inhibitory effect against LPS-induced neuroinflammation is exerted also by natural plant compounds, polyphenols, such as curcumin (CU, curcuma longa), crocin (CR, saffron), and resveratrol (RE, grape), as well as by the glucagon like peptide-1 receptor (GLP-1R) agonist exendin-4 (EX-4). The drugs tested also caused per-se early transient (variable) changes of network activity. Since it has been reported that LPS-induced neuroinflammation causes rearrangements of glutamate transporters in astrocytes and microglia, we suggest that neural activity could be putatively increased by an imbalance of glial glutamate transporter activity, leading to prolonged synaptic glutamatergic dysregulation

A decade of seascape genetics: contributions to basic and applied marine connectivity

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Coupled Networks of Permanent Protected Areas and Dynamic Conservation Areas for Biodiversity Conservation Under Climate Change

The complexity of climate change impacts on ecological processes necessitates flexible and adaptive conservation strategies that cross traditional disciplines. Current strategies involving protected areas are predominantly fixed in space, and may on their own be inadequate under climate change. Here, we propose a novel approach to climate adaptation that combines permanent protected areas with temporary conservation areas to create flexible networks. Previous work has tended to consider permanent and dynamic protection as separate actions, but their integration could draw on the strengths of both approaches to improve biodiversity conservation and help manage for ecological uncertainty in the coming decades. As there are often time lags in the establishment of new permanent protected areas, the inclusion of dynamic conservation areas within permanent networks could provide critical transient protection to mitigate land-use changes and biodiversity redistributions. This integrated approach may be particularly useful in highly human-modified and fragmented landscapes where areas of conservation value are limited and long-term place-based protection is unfeasible. To determine when such an approach may be feasible, we propose the use of a decision framework. Under certain scenarios, these coupled networks have the potential to increase spatio-temporal network connectivity and help maintain biodiversity and ecological processes under climate change. Implementing these networks would require multidisciplinary scientific evidence, new policies, creative funding solutions, and broader acceptance of a dynamic approach to biodiversity conservation

Tricuspid valve myxoma in a patient with congestive heart failure

Myxomas are the most frequent benign primary cardiac tumours (50% of benign heart tumours). This kind of tumour is most likely to be localized in the left atrium, followed by the right atrium, right ventricle and left ventricle. Quite exceptional is the presence of a myxoma originating from the tricuspid valve or from the Eustachian valve. We describe the case of a woman with moderate dyspnoea of unknown origin and the presence of tricuspid myxoma who underwent tricuspid valve curettage

The empath and the psychopath: ethics, imagination, and intercorporeality in Bryan Fuller’s Hannibal

The long-form television drama series Hannibal (Fuller 2013-2015) thematises the embodied imagination and the elicitation of empathy and ethical understanding at the level of narrative and characterisation as well as through character engagement and screen aesthetics. Using Hannibal as a case study, this research investigates how stylistic choices frame the experiences of screen characters and engender forms of intersubjectivity based on corporeal and cognitive routes to empathy; in particular, it examines the capacity for screen media to facilitate what neuroscientist Vittorio Gallese terms intercorporeality. As a constitutive aspect of intersubjectivity and social understanding that works through embodied simulation, intercorporeality invites a reconceptualisation of empathy and its association with ethical motivation and insight. Hannibal also introduces cannibalism as a dark metaphor for the incorporation of another into oneself, reflecting on empathy's ill-understood potential for negative affect and unethical consequences

Coupled networks of permanent protected areas and dynamic conservation areas for biodiversity conservation under climate change

The complexity of climate change impacts on ecological processes necessitates flexible and adaptive conservation strategies that cross traditional disciplines. Current strategies involving protected areas are predominantly fixed in space, and may on their own be inadequate under climate change. Here, we propose a novel approach to climate adaptation that combines permanent protected areas with temporary conservation areas to create flexible networks. Previous work has tended to consider permanent and dynamic protection as separate actions, but their integration could draw on the strengths of both approaches to improve biodiversity conservation and help manage for ecological uncertainty in the coming decades. As there are often time lags in the establishment of new permanent protected areas, the inclusion of dynamic conservation areas within permanent networks could provide critical transient protection to mitigate land-use changes and biodiversity redistributions. This integrated approach may be particularly useful in highly human-modified and fragmented landscapes where areas of conservation value are limited and long-term place-based protection is unfeasible. To determine when such an approach may be feasible, we propose the use of a decision framework. Under certain scenarios, these coupled networks have the potential to increase spatio-temporal network connectivity and help maintain biodiversity and ecological processes under climate change. Implementing these networks would require multidisciplinary scientific evidence, new policies, creative funding solutions, and broader acceptance of a dynamic approach to biodiversity conservation

HE-LHC: The High-Energy Large Hadron Collider: Future Circular Collider Conceptual Design Report Volume 4

In response to the 2013 Update of the European Strategy for Particle Physics (EPPSU), the Future Circular Collider (FCC) study was launched as a world-wide international collaboration hosted by CERN. The FCC study covered an energy-frontier hadron collider (FCC-hh), a highest-luminosity high-energy lepton collider (FCC-ee), the corresponding 100 km tunnel infrastructure, as well as the physics opportunities of these two colliders, and a high-energy LHC, based on FCC-hh technology. This document constitutes the third volume of the FCC Conceptual Design Report, devoted to the hadron collider FCC-hh. It summarizes the FCC-hh physics discovery opportunities, presents the FCC-hh accelerator design, performance reach, and staged operation plan, discusses the underlying technologies, the civil engineering and technical infrastructure, and also sketches a possible implementation. Combining ingredients from the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the high-luminosity LHC upgrade and adding novel technologies and approaches, the FCC-hh design aims at significantly extending the energy frontier to 100 TeV. Its unprecedented centre-of-mass collision energy will make the FCC-hh a unique instrument to explore physics beyond the Standard Model, offering great direct sensitivity to new physics and discoveries