Working-class royalty: bees beat the caste system

The struggle among social classes or castes is well known in humans. Here, we show that caste inequality similarly affects societies of ants, bees and wasps, where castes are morphologically distinct and workers have greatly reduced reproductive potential compared with queens. In social insects, an individual normally has no control over its own fate, whether queen or worker, as this is socially determined during rearing. Here, for the first time, we quantify a strategy for overcoming social control. In the stingless bee Schwarziana quadripunctata, some individuals reared in worker cells avoid a worker fate by developing into fully functional dwarf queens

ESSÊNCIAS BRASILEIRAS E SUA CONSERVAÇÃO GENÉTICA NO INSTITUTO FLORESTAL DE SÃO PAULO

exploração intensa e desordenada de espécies nativas do Brasil, para atender àdemandade madeirada população do país, particularmente do estado de São Paulo, vem ocasionando a extinção de espécies florestais não só de valor comercial, como social e científico. Em decorrência disto, as mesmas começam a apresentar um sério comprometimento de seu potencial genético. [...

The Integrated Assessment as the main goal for achieving an Ecosystem Approach to Management in the Western European Shelf Seas

Providing regional integrated ecosystem assessments (IEA) is a key challenge identified in the ICES Strategic Plan (2014-2018). IEAs are seen as a fundamental link between advice and ecosystem science inachieving Ecosystem Based Management (EBM).While EBM is not a new concept, difficulties in achieving such an ambitious goal have been highlighted by the extensive work conducted in this area. The implementation of new regulation policies, such as the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) and the reformed Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) in Europe,have challenged the scientific community to rapidly react despite these difficulties and provide scientific advice to support management decisions concerning these policies. RegionalICES groups have been tasked with developing methods and tools for IEA in their corresponding ecoregions; this is the case of the Working Group on Ecosystem Assessment of Western European Shelf Seas (WGEAWESS). The role of this group is to implement, and test tools and methods for the advisory process, focusing on the North Atlantic European continental shelf, including Celtic Seas, Bay of Biscay and Iberian Waters. In this presentation we show the progress made within this WG during its initial three years of activity, in relation to some of the terms of reference already addressed. An adaptation of the ODEMM framework has been selected as a tool for identifying a) links between components, processes, pressures and states, and b) gaps in data availability and indicator implementation. Some preliminary results of a first IEA exercise will also been shownwith emphasis onthe MSFD descriptors D1 (biological diversity) and D4 (food webs)

Wave function mapping conditions in Open Quantum Dots structures

We discuss the minimal conditions for wave function spectroscopy, in which resonant tunneling is the measurement tool. Two systems are addressed: resonant tunneling diodes, as a toy model, and open quantum dots. The toy model is used to analyze the crucial tunning between the necessary resolution in current-voltage characteristics and the breakdown of the wave functions probing potentials into a level splitting characteristic of double quantum wells. The present results establish a parameter region where the wavefunction spectroscopy by resonant tunneling could be achieved. In the case of open quantum dots, a breakdown of the mapping condition is related to a change into a double quantum dot structure induced by the local probing potential. The analogy between the toy model and open quantum dots show that a precise control over shape and extention of the potential probes is irrelevant for wave function mapping. Moreover, the present system is a realization of a tunable Fano system in the wave function mapping regime.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figure

An Overall Evaluation Of The Resistance (r) And Pathogenesis-related (pr) Super Families In Soybean, As Compared With Medicago And Arabidopsis

Plants have the ability to recognize and respond to a multitude of pathogens, resulting in a massive reprogramming of the plant to activate defense responses including Resistance (R) and Pathogenesis-Related (PR) genes. Abiotic stresses can also activate PR genes and enhance pathogen resistance, representing valuable genes for breeding purposes. The present work offers an overview of soybean Rand PR genes present in the GENOSOJA (Brazilian Soybean Genome Consortium) platform, regarding their structure, abundance, evolution and role in the plant-pathogen metabolic pathway, as compared with Medicago and Arabidopsis. Searches revealed 3,065 R candidates (756 in Soybean, 1,142 in Medicago and 1,167 in Arabidopsis), and PR candidates matching to 1,261 sequences (310, 585 and 366 for the three species, respectively). The identified transcripts were also evaluated regarding their expression pattern in 65 libraries, showing prevalence in seeds and developing tissues. 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