New records, nomenclatural changes, and taxonomic notes for select North American leaf beetles (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae)

New records, nomenclatural changes and taxonomic notes are presented for select North American leaf beetles (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae). The following genera are newly recorded from the United States: Nesaecrepida Blake, 1964; Acallepitrix Bechyne, 1959; Margaridisa Bechyne, 1958; Parchicola Bechyne and Springlova de Bechyne, 1975; (all Galerucinae: Alticini); and Demotina Baly, 1874 (Eumolpinae). The following species are newly recorded from the United States: Neolema dorsalis (Olivier, 1791) (Criocerinae); Charidotella bifossulata Boheman, 1855 (Hispinae: Cassidini); Syphrea flauicollis (Jacoby, 1884) (Galerucinae: Alticini); and Promecosoma inflatum Lefevre, 1877, and Demotina modesta Baly, 1874 (Eumolpinae). The following new synonymies are proposed: Deloyala clauata, var. diuersicollis Schaeffer, 1925, transferred from synonymy with Plagiometriona clauata (Fabricius, 1798) to synonymy withP. clauata testudinaria (Boheman, 1855); Chrysomela hybrida Say, 1824, downgraded from subspecies of Calligrapha lunata (Fabricius, 1787) to full synonym of CaZZigrapha lunata (Fabricius); Chrysomela casta Rogers, 1856, downgraded from subspecies of Zygogramma suturalis (Fabricius, 1775) to full synonym of Zygogrammasuturalis (Fabricius); Trirhabdagurneyi Blake, 1951, downgraded to synonym of Trirhabda caduca Horn, 1893; Scelida mimula Wilcox, 1965, downgraded to synonym of Scelida nigricornis (Jacoby, 1888); Exoracalifornica Wilcox, 1953, downgraded to synonym of Pte leon breuicornis (Jacoby, 1887); alaeothonaarizonensis Blake, 1950, downgraded to synonym ofLupraea discrepans (Schaeffer, 1932); Haltica nigritula Linell, 1898, downgraded to synonym of Nesaecrepida asphalt ina (Suffrian, 1868); Cryptocephalus reinhardi Sundman, 1965, downgraded to synonym of Cryptocephalus nwtabilis Melsheimer, 1847. The tribes Chalepini Wiese, 1910, and Uroplatini Weise, 1910 (Hispinae), are synonymized, and both of these family-group names are recognized as nomina protecta. The family-group name Octotomites Chapuis, 1875, is recognized as a nomen oblitum. Coptocycla testudinaria Boheman, 1855, is downgraded from specific status to a subspecies of Plagiometriona clauata (Fabricius, 1798); Cassida bicolor (Fabricius, 1798) is recognized as a valid subspecies of Charidotellasexpunctata (Fabricius). The genus Hemiphrynus Horn, 1889, is removed from synonymy with Phrynocepha and reinstated as a valid genus; Rhabdopterus weisei (Schaeffer, 1920) is removed from synonymy with Rhabdopterus praetextus (Say) and reinstated as a valid species. The following new combinations are proposed: Synetocephalus wallacei (Wilcox, 1965), transferred from Pseudoluperus; Nesaecrepida infuscata (Schaeffer, 1906), transferred from Monomacra; Acallepitrix nitens (Horn, 1889), transferred from Epitrix; Margaridisa atriuentris (Melsheimer, 1847), transferred from Hornaltica; Parchicola iris (Olivier, 1808) and P. tibialis (Olivier, 1808), transferred from Monomacra; and Coleothorpa panochensis (Gilbert, 1981), transferred from Coscinoptera; Promecosoma arizonae (Crotch, 1873), transferred from Metaxyonycha; Tymnes chrysis (Olivier, 1808), T. oregonensis (Crotch, 1873), and T. thaleia (Blake, 1977), transferred from Colaspis. The following new replacement name is proposed: Triarius nigroflaulls, for Luperodes flauoniger Blake, 1942 (not Laboissiere, 1925). The identities of Griburius equestris (Olivier, 1808) and G. laruatlls (Newman, 1840) are discussed

Driver Knowledge, Beliefs, and Attitudes About Deer–Vehicle Collisions in Southern Michigan

Deer–vehicle collisions (DVCs) are one of the most frequent and costly human– wildlife conflict throughout the range of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus). We conducted a self-administered, mail-back survey of Michigan drivers to determine: (1) driver attitudes and knowledge about DVCs; (2) reporting rates of DVCs; and (3) effects of being in a DVC on attitudes toward desired deer population levels. From a sample of 3,600 randomly selected licensed drivers \u3e18 years of age in southeast Michigan, we obtained 1,653 completed questionnaires (48% response rate). Although 18% of respondents reported experiencing \u3e1 DVC within 5 years of the survey and 81% of them perceived DVCs to be a serious problem, drivers stated a willingness to make only modest changes in their driving behavior to minimize risk of a DVC. Most respondents (79%) believed DVCs were unavoidable. Only 46% of drivers involved in \u3e1 DVCs indicated that they reported it to police, and 52% reported the DVC to their insurance company. Drivers involved in DVCs were more likely than other drivers to be male, drive more, be more knowledgeable about DVCs, and be more likely to desire a decrease in the deer population. If reporting rates revealed in this study are an indication of rates elsewhere, DVCs are a much greater hazard than previously estimated

Incorporating Genetics into Your Studies: A Guide for Social Scientists

There has been a surge of interest in recent years in incorporating genetic components into on-going longitudinal, developmental studies and related psychological studies. While this represents an exciting new direction in developmental science, much of the research on genetic topics in developmental science does not reflect the most current practice in genetics. This is likely due, in part, to the rapidly changing landscape of the field of genetics, and the difficulty this presents for developmental scientists who are trying to learn this new area. In this review, we present an overview of the paradigm shifts that have occurred in genetics and we introduce the reader to basic genetic methodologies. We present our view of the current stage of research ongoing at the intersection of genetics and social science, and we provide recommendations for how we could do better. We also address a number of issues that social scientists face as they integrate genetics into their projects, including choice of a study design (candidate gene versus genome-wide association versus sequencing), different methods of DNA collection, and special considerations involved in the analysis of genotypic data. Through this review, we hope to equip social scientists with a deeper understanding of the many considerations that go into genetics research, in an effort to foster more meaningful cross-disciplinary initiatives

Can Genetics Predict Response to Complex Behavioral Interventions? Evidence from a Genetic Analysis of the Fast Track Randomized Control Trial

Early interventions are a preferred method for addressing behavioral problems in high-risk children, but often have only modest effects. Identifying sources of variation in intervention effects can suggest means to improve efficiency. One potential source of such variation is the genome. We conducted a genetic analysis of the Fast Track randomized control trial, a 10-year-long intervention to prevent high-risk kindergarteners from developing adult externalizing problems including substance abuse and antisocial behavior. We tested whether variants of the glucocorticoid receptor gene NR3C1 were associated with differences in response to the Fast Track intervention. We found that in European-American children, a variant of NR3C1 identified by the single-nucleotide polymorphism rs10482672 was associated with increased risk for externalizing psychopathology in control group children and decreased risk for externalizing psychopathology in intervention group children. Variation in NR3C1 measured in this study was not associated with differential intervention response in African-American children. We discuss implications for efforts to prevent externalizing problems in high-risk children and for public policy in the genomic era

Hydraulic architecture explains species moisture dependency but not mortality rates across a tropical rainfall gradient

Intensified droughts are affecting tropical forests across the globe. However, the underlying mechanisms of tree drought response and mortality are poorly understood. Hydraulic traits and especially hydraulic safety margins (HSMs), that is, the extent to which plants buffer themselves from thresholds of water stress, provide insights into species-specific drought vulnerability. We investigated hydraulic traits during an intense drought triggered by the 2015–2016 El Niño on 27 canopy tree species across three tropical forest sites with differing precipitation. We capitalized on the drought event as a time when plant water status might approach or exceed thresholds of water stress. We investigated the degree to which these traits varied across the rainfall gradient, as well as relationships among hydraulic traits and species-specific optimal moisture and mortality rates. There were no differences among sites for any measured trait. There was strong coordination among traits, with a network analysis revealing two major groups of coordinated traits. In one group, there were water potentials, turgor loss point, sapwood capacitance and density, HSMs, and mortality rate. In the second group, there was leaf mass per area, leaf dry matter content, hydraulic architecture (leaf area to sapwood area ratio), and species-specific optimal moisture. These results demonstrated that while species with greater safety from turgor loss had lower mortality rates, hydraulic architecture was the only trait that explained species’ moisture dependency. Species with a greater leaf area to sapwood area ratio were associated with drier sites and reduced their transpirational demand during the dry season via deciduousness

Toward Human-Carnivore Coexistence: Understanding Tolerance for Tigers in Bangladesh

Fostering local community tolerance for endangered carnivores, such as tigers (Panthera tigris), is a core component of many conservation strategies. Identification of antecedents of tolerance will facilitate the development of effective tolerance-building conservation action and secure local community support for, and involvement in, conservation initiatives. We use a stated preference approach for measuring tolerance, based on the ‘Wildlife Stakeholder Acceptance Capacity’ concept, to explore villagers’ tolerance levels for tigers in the Bangladesh Sundarbans, an area where, at the time of the research, human-tiger conflict was severe. We apply structural equation modeling to test an a priori defined theoretical model of tolerance and identify the experiential and psychological basis of tolerance in this community. Our results indicate that beliefs about tigers and about the perceived current tiger population trend are predictors of tolerance for tigers. Positive beliefs about tigers and a belief that the tiger population is not currently increasing are both associated with greater stated tolerance for the species. Contrary to commonly-held notions, negative experiences with tigers do not directly affect tolerance levels; instead, their effect is mediated by villagers’ beliefs about tigers and risk perceptions concerning human-tiger conflict incidents. These findings highlight a need to explore and understand the socio-psychological factors that encourage tolerance towards endangered species. Our research also demonstrates the applicability of this approach to tolerance research to a wide range of socio-economic and cultural contexts and reveals its capacity to enhance carnivore conservation efforts worldwide

Planetary Candidates Observed by Kepler VI: Planet Sample from Q1-Q16 (47 Months)

\We present the sixth catalog of Kepler candidate planets based on nearly 4 years of high precision photometry. This catalog builds on the legacy of previous catalogs released by the Kepler project and includes 1493 new Kepler Objects of Interest (KOIs) of which 554 are planet candidates, and 131 of these candidates have best fit radii <1.5 R_earth. This brings the total number of KOIs and planet candidates to 7305 and 4173 respectively. We suspect that many of these new candidates at the low signal-to-noise limit may be false alarms created by instrumental noise, and discuss our efforts to identify such objects. We re-evaluate all previously published KOIs with orbital periods of >50 days to provide a consistently vetted sample that can be used to improve planet occurrence rate calculations. We discuss the performance of our planet detection algorithms, and the consistency of our vetting products. The full catalog is publicly available at the NASA Exoplanet Archive.Comment: 18 pages, to be published in the Astrophysical Journal Supplement Serie

2016 International Land Model Benchmarking (ILAMB) Workshop Report

As earth system models (ESMs) become increasingly complex, there is a growing need for comprehensive and multi-faceted evaluation of model projections. To advance understanding of terrestrial biogeochemical processes and their interactions with hydrology and climate under conditions of increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide, new analysis methods are required that use observations to constrain model predictions, inform model development, and identify needed measurements and field experiments. Better representations of biogeochemistryclimate feedbacks and ecosystem processes in these models are essential for reducing the acknowledged substantial uncertainties in 21st century climate change projections

Burkholderia Type VI Secretion Systems Have Distinct Roles in Eukaryotic and Bacterial Cell Interactions

Bacteria that live in the environment have evolved pathways specialized to defend against eukaryotic organisms or other bacteria. In this manuscript, we systematically examined the role of the five type VI secretion systems (T6SSs) of Burkholderia thailandensis (B. thai) in eukaryotic and bacterial cell interactions. Consistent with phylogenetic analyses comparing the distribution of the B. thai T6SSs with well-characterized bacterial and eukaryotic cell-targeting T6SSs, we found that T6SS-5 plays a critical role in the virulence of the organism in a murine melioidosis model, while a strain lacking the other four T6SSs remained as virulent as the wild-type. The function of T6SS-5 appeared to be specialized to the host and not related to an in vivo growth defect, as ΔT6SS-5 was fully virulent in mice lacking MyD88. Next we probed the role of the five systems in interbacterial interactions. From a group of 31 diverse bacteria, we identified several organisms that competed less effectively against wild-type B. thai than a strain lacking T6SS-1 function. Inactivation of T6SS-1 renders B. thai greatly more susceptible to cell contact-induced stasis by Pseudomonas putida, Pseudomonas fluorescens and Serratia proteamaculans—leaving it 100- to 1000-fold less fit than the wild-type in competition experiments with these organisms. Flow cell biofilm assays showed that T6S-dependent interbacterial interactions are likely relevant in the environment. B. thai cells lacking T6SS-1 were rapidly displaced in mixed biofilms with P. putida, whereas wild-type cells persisted and overran the competitor. Our data show that T6SSs within a single organism can have distinct functions in eukaryotic versus bacterial cell interactions. These systems are likely to be a decisive factor in the survival of bacterial cells of one species in intimate association with those of another, such as in polymicrobial communities present both in the environment and in many infections

Dissecting the Shared Genetic Architecture of Suicide Attempt, Psychiatric Disorders, and Known Risk Factors

Background Suicide is a leading cause of death worldwide, and nonfatal suicide attempts, which occur far more frequently, are a major source of disability and social and economic burden. Both have substantial genetic etiology, which is partially shared and partially distinct from that of related psychiatric disorders. Methods We conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of 29,782 suicide attempt (SA) cases and 519,961 controls in the International Suicide Genetics Consortium (ISGC). The GWAS of SA was conditioned on psychiatric disorders using GWAS summary statistics via multitrait-based conditional and joint analysis, to remove genetic effects on SA mediated by psychiatric disorders. We investigated the shared and divergent genetic architectures of SA, psychiatric disorders, and other known risk factors. Results Two loci reached genome-wide significance for SA: the major histocompatibility complex and an intergenic locus on chromosome 7, the latter of which remained associated with SA after conditioning on psychiatric disorders and replicated in an independent cohort from the Million Veteran Program. This locus has been implicated in risk-taking behavior, smoking, and insomnia. SA showed strong genetic correlation with psychiatric disorders, particularly major depression, and also with smoking, pain, risk-taking behavior, sleep disturbances, lower educational attainment, reproductive traits, lower socioeconomic status, and poorer general health. After conditioning on psychiatric disorders, the genetic correlations between SA and psychiatric disorders decreased, whereas those with nonpsychiatric traits remained largely unchanged. Conclusions Our results identify a risk locus that contributes more strongly to SA than other phenotypes and suggest a shared underlying biology between SA and known risk factors that is not mediated by psychiatric disorders.Peer reviewe