Gender equity at scientific events

International audienceAlthough the proportion of women in science, and in evolutionary biology in particular, has substantially increased over the last century, women remain underrepresented in academia, especially at senior levels. In addition, their scientific achievements do not always receive the same level of recognition as do men’s, which can be reflected in a lower relative representation of women among invited speakers at conferences or specialized courses. Using announcements sent to the EvolDir mailing list between April 2016 and September 2017, and the symposium programs of three large evolutionary biology congresses held in summer 2017, we quantified the representation of women announced as invited speakers in conferences, congress symposia, and specialized courses. We compared the proportion of invited women to a baseline estimated using membership data of the associated scientific societies, and surveyed organizers to investigate their influence and that of potential gender-ratio guidelines on the proportion of invited women. We find that the average proportion of invited women is comparable (conferences), significantly lower (specialized courses), or significantly higher (congress symposia) than the current baseline (32% women). It is positively correlated to the proportion of women among the organizers, and it is on average higher for events whose organizers considered gender when choosing speakers than for those whose organizers did not. To investigate the impact of Equal Opportunity guidelines, we then collected longitudinal data on the proportion of invited women at two series of congresses, covering the 2001–2017 period. The proportion of invited women is higher when Equal Opportunity guidelines are announced. Encouraging women to sit on organizing committees of scientific events, and the establishment of visible Equal Opportunity guidelines, thus could be ways to ensure higher number of invited female speakers in the future. Our results suggest that change, if desired, requires deliberate actions

Asymmetric Reproductive Isolation between Two Sympatric Annual Killifish with Extremely Short Lifespans

BACKGROUND: Interspecific reproductive isolation is typically achieved by a combination of intrinsic and extrinsic barriers. Behavioural isolating barriers between sympatric, closely related species are often of primary importance and frequently aided by extrinsic factors causing spatial and temporal interspecific separation. Study systems with a severely limited role of extrinsic factors on reproductive isolation may provide valuable insights into how reproductive isolation between sympatric species is maintained. We used no-choice experimental set-up to study reproductive barriers between two closely related sympatric African killifish species, Nothobranchius furzeri and Nothobranchius orthonotus. These fish live in small temporary savannah pools and have complete spatial and temporal overlap in reproductive activities and share a similar ecology. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We found that the two species display largely incomplete and asymmetric reproductive isolation. Mating between N. furzeri males and N. orthonotus females was absent under standard experimental conditions and eggs were not viable when fish were forced to mate in a modified experimental setup. In contrast, male N. orthonotus indiscriminately mated with N. furzeri females, the eggs were viable, and offspring successfully hatched. Most spawnings, however, were achieved by male coercion and egg production and embryo survival were low. Behavioural asymmetry was likely facilitated by mating coercion from larger males of N. orthonotus and at relatively low cost to females. Interestingly, the direction of asymmetry was positively associated with asymmetry in post-mating reproductive barriers. SIGNIFICANCE: We showed that, in fish species with a promiscuous mating system and multiple matings each day, selection for strong mate preferences was relaxed. This effect was likely due to the small proportion of resources allocated to each single mating and the high potential cost to females from mating refusal. We highlight and discuss the fact that males of rarer species may often coercively mate with females of a related, more abundant species

Don't Fall Off the Adaptation Cliff: When Asymmetrical Fitness Selects for Suboptimal Traits

The cliff-edge hypothesis introduces the counterintuitive idea that the trait value associated with the maximum of an asymmetrical fitness function is not necessarily the value that is selected for if the trait shows variability in its phenotypic expression. We develop a model of population dynamics to show that, in such a system, the evolutionary stable strategy depends on both the shape of the fitness function around its maximum and the amount of phenotypic variance. The model provides quantitative predictions of the expected trait value distribution and provides an alternative quantity that should be maximized (“genotype fitness”) instead of the classical fitness function (“phenotype fitness”). We test the model's predictions on three examples: (1) litter size in guinea pigs, (2) sexual selection in damselflies, and (3) the geometry of the human lung. In all three cases, the model's predictions give a closer match to empirical data than traditional optimization theory models. Our model can be extended to most ecological situations, and the evolutionary conditions for its application are expected to be common in nature

Clines on the seashore: The genomic architecture underlying rapid divergence in the face of gene flow

Adaptive divergence and speciation may happen despite opposition by gene flow. Identifying the genomic basis underlying divergence with gene flow is a major task in evolutionary genomics. Most approaches (e.g., outlier scans) focus on genomic regions of high differentiation. However, not all genomic architectures potentially underlying divergence are expected to show extreme differentiation. Here, we develop an approach that combines hybrid zone analysis (i.e., focuses on spatial patterns of allele frequency change) with system-specific simulations to identify loci inconsistent with neutral evolution. We apply this to a genome-wide SNP set from an ideally suited study organism, the intertidal snail Littorina saxatilis, which shows primary divergence between ecotypes associated with different shore habitats. We detect many SNPs with clinal patterns, most of which are consistent with neutrality. Among non-neutral SNPs, most are located within three large putative inversions differentiating ecotypes. Many non-neutral SNPs show relatively low levels of differentiation. We discuss potential reasons for this pattern, including loose linkage to selected variants, polygenic adaptation and a component of balancing selection within populations (which may be expected for inversions). Our work is in line with theory predicting a role for inversions in divergence, and emphasizes that genomic regions contributing to divergence may not always be accessible with methods purely based on allele frequency differences. These conclusions call for approaches that take spatial patterns of allele frequency change into account in other systems

Willkommen, Mr. Chance. Methodologische Betrachtungen zur Güte empirischer Forschung in der Pädagogik diskutiert vor allem an der neueren Untersuchung über Gewalt von Heitmeyer u.a. (1995)

Der Nutzen strenger quantitativer Forschung wird - vor allem wegen der unzureichenden Professionalisierung der Methodenausbildung - in der Pädagogik immer noch in Zweifel gezogen. Entsprechend weisen empirisch-pädagogische Forschungen häufig erhebliche Mängel auf. Dies soll im folgenden exemplarisch an der Untersuchung von Heitmeyer u.a. (1995) zum Thema Gewalt gezeigt werden. Kritik wird geübt an (1) der theoretischen Güte, (2) der versuchsplanerischen Güte, (3) der Güte der Operationalisierungen und Messungen sowie (4) an der Güte der statistischen Auswertung. Eine empirische Untersuchung ist nur dann wirklich „gut", wenn jeder dieser Aspekte hinreichend gut ist. Die Darstellung und Diskussion beschränkt sich auf die Methodologie der Hypothesenprüfung unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Probleme der Feldforschung. (DIPF/Orig.

Education Decisions of High School Graduates

Concepts of occupation, extent to which informed about education opportunities and education decisions of high school graduates in Lower Saxony. Topics: Relationship with teachers; preferred educational goals of the school; preferred school subjects; reasons for personally attending high school; influence of parents on school attendance of child; interest of parents in school matters and contacts with the teachers; judgement on advice about college and occupation; occupation plans and expectations of the future occupation; decisions already made about occupation and college training; extent to which informed about future training; desired city of study and degree; attitude to college; preferred housing; assessment of the extent to which parents are informed about study conditions and occupational chances; judgement on the upbringing style of parents; relationship with parents; assessment of work satisfaction of parents; reference group of parents and personal reference person; personal leisure activity and leisure behavior of parents; political interest and party sympathy of parents; attitudes of parents to demonstrations; attitude to society, the economic system and the government; assessment of equal opportunities in the occupation. Demography: age; sex; family composition; age and number of siblings; social origins; city size. Interviewer rating: length of interview; interest of respondent in survey topic; difficulties during interview and general impression of respondent. Also encoded was: identification of interviewer and identification of encoder.Berufsvorstellungen, Informiertheit über Ausbildungsmöglichkeiten und Ausbildungsentscheidungen von Abiturienten in Niedersachsen. Themen: Verhältnis zu den Lehrern; präferierte Erziehungsziele der Schule; präferierte Schulfächer; Gründe für den eigenen Gymnasiumsbesuch; Einfluß der Eltern auf den Schulbesuch des Kindes; Interesse der Eltern an schulischen Angelegenheiten und Kontakte mit den Lehrern; Beurteilung der Studien- und Berufsberatung; Berufspläne und Erwartungen an die zukünftige Berufstätigkeit; bereits getroffene Entscheidungen über Berufs- und Studienausbildung; Informiertheit über künftige Ausbildung; gewünschter Studienort und Studienabschluß; Einstellung zum Studium; präferierte Unterbringung; Einschätzung der Informiertheit der Eltern über Studienbedingungen und Berufschancen; Beurteilung des Erziehungsstils der Eltern; Verhältnis zu den Eltern; Einschätzung der Arbeitszufriedenheit der Eltern; Bezugsgruppe der Eltern und eigene Bezugsperson; eigene Freizeitbeschäftigung und Freizeitverhalten der Eltern; politisches Interesse und Parteisympathie der Eltern; Einstellungen der Eltern zu Demonstrationen; Einstellung zur Gesellschaft, zum Wirtschaftssystem und zum Staat; Einschätzung der Chancengleichheit im Beruf. Demographie: Alter; Geschlecht; Familienzusammensetzung; Alter und Anzahl der Geschwister; soziale Herkunft; Ortsgröße. Interviewerrating: Interviewdauer; Interesse des Befragten am Befragungsthema; Schwierigkeiten während des Interviews und Gesamteindruck vom Befragten. Zusätzlich verkodet wurde: Intervieweridentifikation und Verkoderidentifikation

Erziehen - Klassen leiten

Arnz S, Becker G, Christiani R, Wellenreuther M, Wischer B, eds. Erziehen - Klassen leiten. Friedrich Jahresheft. Vol 27. Seelze: Friedrich; 2009

Was wissen wir über die erzieherischen Wirkungen der Schule? Eine zusammenfassende Darstellung des Forschungsstandes

Wischer B. Was wissen wir über die erzieherischen Wirkungen der Schule? Eine zusammenfassende Darstellung des Forschungsstandes. In: Arnz S, Becker G, Christiani R, Wellenreuther M, Wischer B, eds. Erziehen - Klassen leiten. Friedrich-Jahresheft. Vol 27. Seelze: Friedrich-Verlag; 2009: 19-22