Sex-specific Habitat Use and Responses to Fragmentation in an Endemic Chameleon Fauna

Chameleons are an understudied taxon facing many threats, including collection for the international pet trade and habitat loss and fragmentation. A recent field study reports a highly female-biased sex ratio in the Eastern Arc Endemic Usambara three horned chameleon, Trioceros deremensis, a large, sexually dimorphic species. This species is collected for the pet trade, and local collectors report males bring a higher price because only this sex has horns. Thus, sex ratios may vary due to differential rates of survival or harvesting. Alternatively, they may simply appear to be skewed if differences in habitat use biases detection of the sexes. Another threat facing chameleons is that of habitat loss and fragmentation. Despite enormous amounts of research, the factors of fragmentation that different species respond to is still under debate. Understanding these responses is important for current mitigation efforts as well as predicting how species will respond to future habitat alteration and climate change. My study suggests that differences in survival and detection may explain much of the observed seasonal sex skew in adult T. deremensis. Within fragmented habitat chameleons consistently responded more to edge effects and vegetative characteristics associated with fragmentation than to area or isolation effects. This may bode poorly for chameleon populations in the coming decades as climate change further alters vegetative communities and exacerbates edge effects

Habitat Use and Population Densities of Rain Forest Chameleons in the East Usambara Mountains of Tanzania [poster]

Conclusions: Chamaeleo dilepis and Ri. brevicaudatus are absent from forest at this elevation (852-1103m), while K. matschiei, K. vosseleri, K. tenuis, and R. spinosus are relatively scarce in the forest. Trioceros deremensis and R. temporalis are common, but density varies greatly. The endemic and scarce K. matschiei and K. vosseleri may be of concern given their scarcity in forest habitat. Density estimates in other habitat types are needed to determine status. For accurate density estimates, it is important to consider seasonal variation in density and animals too high to be observed in surveys

Ipl1/aurora kinase suppresses S-CDK-driven spindle formation during prophase I to ensure chromosome integrity during meiosis

Cells coordinate spindle formation with DNA repair and morphological modifications to chromosomes prior to their segregation to prevent cell division with damaged chromosomes. Here we uncover a novel and unexpected role for Aurora kinase in preventing the formation of spindles by Clb5-CDK (S-CDK) during meiotic prophase I and when the DDR is active in budding yeast. This is critical since S-CDK is essential for replication during premeiotic S-phase as well as double-strand break induction that facilitates meiotic recombination and, ultimately, chromosome segregation. Furthermore, we find that depletion of Cdc5 polo kinase activity delays spindle formation in DDR-arrested cells and that ectopic expression of Cdc5 in prophase I enhances spindle formation, when Ipl1 is depleted. Our findings establish a new paradigm for Aurora kinase function in both negative and positive regulation of spindle dynamics

Managing digital contention in China

This paper explores new developments in cyber content management strategies in China by highlighting the rise of participatory, peer-to-peer censoring practices, and examining how the People's Daily have responded to the contentious events in the top 20 public opinion incidents of 2016, to illustrate how official media uses different types of management strategies to mediate and demobilise contention, on top of information containment strategies such as censorship. I also discuss briefly the creation of a Digital United Front which seeks to incorporate social influencers and cyber elites into mainstream political institutions such as the CPPCC. Not only do these strategies further undermine the formation of a political locus opposite the state, they continue to subsume previously oppositional narratives into grander narratives of stability and national progress. Online political participation in Chinese cyberspace must seek further paternalistic protection from Party authorities in order to legitimise their contention. Although this strengthens the Party-state's claim to legitimacy, ultimately this weakens the emergence of civil society in China as the only form of contention that can survive is those that are legitimised by the Party-state, and the political space oppositional to the state remain closed off

Associations for Citizen Science: Regional Knowledge, Global Collaboration

Since 2012, three organizations advancing the work of citizen science practitioners have arisen in different regions: The primarily US-based but globally open Citizen Science Association (CSA), the European Citizen Science Association (ECSA), and the Australian Citizen Science Association (ACSA). These associations are moving rapidly to establish themselves and to develop inter-association collaborations. We consider the factors driving this emergence and the significance of this trend for citizen science as a field of practice, as an area of scholarship, and for the culture of scientific research itself

Globally Threatened Biodiversity of the Eastern Arc Mountains and Coastal Forests of Kenya and Tanzania

We present an account of the 909 globally threatened taxa (793 species, 74 subspecies, 42 varieties) of animals and plants in the Eastern Arc Mountains and Coastal Forests of Kenya and Tanzania and the sites in which they occur based upon a review of the 2015 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Results for animals are summarised by Class (Amphibia, Aves, Gastropoda, Insecta, Malacostraca, Mammalia, Reptilia) and presented for plants as a whole (Classes Bryopsida, Cycadopsida, Jungermanniopsida, Liliopsida, Lycopodiopsida, Magnoliopsida, Pinopsida, Polypodiopsida). We analyse the status of previously known and newly identified sites in which globally threatened biodiversity occurs and summarise the current state of research on the globally threatened and ecologically critical biodiversity of the EACF. We then provide recommendations for future research, environmental regulations, and management regimes based upon comprehensive and reliable data to ensure the continued survival of the EACF’s biodiversity within the context of sustainable resource utilisation.Keywords: biodiversity, conservation, endemism, hotspot, IUCN Red Lis