Hierarchical genetic structure shaped by topography in a narrow-endemic montane grasshopper

[Background]: Understanding the underlying processes shaping spatial patterns of genetic structure in free-ranging organisms is a central topic in evolutionary biology. Here, we aim to disentangle the relative importance of neutral (i.e. genetic drift) and local adaptation (i.e. ecological divergence) processes in the evolution of spatial genetic structure of the Morales grasshopper (Chorthippus saulcyi moralesi), a narrow-endemic taxon restricted to the Central Pyrenees. More specifically, we analysed range-wide patterns of genetic structure and tested whether they were shaped by geography (isolation-by-distance, IBD), topographic complexity and present and past habitat suitability models (isolation-byresistance, IBR), and environmental dissimilarity (isolation-by-environment, IBE).[Results]: Different clustering analyses revealed a deep genetic structure that was best explained by IBR based on topographic complexity. Our analyses did not reveal a significant role of IBE, a fact that may be due to low environmental variation among populations and/or consequence of other ecological factors not considered in this study are involved in local adaptation processes. IBR scenarios informed by current and past climate distribution models did not show either a significant impact on genetic differentiation after controlling for the effects of topographic complexity, which may indicate that they are not capturing well microhabitat structure in the present or the genetic signal left by dispersal routes defined by habitat corridors in the past.[Conclusions]: Overall, these results indicate that spatial patterns of genetic variation in our study system are primarily explained by neutral divergence and migration-drift equilibrium due to limited dispersal across abrupt reliefs, whereas environmental variation or spatial heterogeneity in habitat suitability associated with the complex topography of the region had no significant effect on genetic discontinuities after controlling for geography. Our study highlights the importance of considering a comprehensive suite of potential isolating mechanisms and analytical approaches in order to get robust inferences on the processes promoting genetic divergence of natural populations.VN was supported by a FPI pre-doctoral scholarship (BES-2012-053741) from Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad. JO was supported by Severo Ochoa (SEV-2012-0262) and Ramón y Cajal (RYC-2013-12501) research fellowships. This work received financial support from research grants CGL2011-25053 (Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación and European Social Fund), POII10-0197-0167, PEII-2014-023-P (Junta de Comunidades de Castilla-La Mancha and European Social Fund) and UNCM08-1E-018 (European Regional Development Fund).We acknowledge support of the publication fee by the CSIC Open Access Publication Support Initiative through its Unit of Information Resources for Research (URICI).Peer reviewe

Discordant patterns of genetic and phenotypic differentiation in five grasshopper species codistributed across a microreserve network

Conservation plans can be greatly improved when information on the evolutionary and demographic consequences of habitat fragmentation is available for several codistributed species. Here, we study spatial patterns of phenotypic and genetic variation among five grasshopper species that are codistributed across a network of microreserves but show remarkable differences in dispersal-related morphology (body size and wing length), degree of habitat specialization and extent of fragmentation of their respective habitats in the study region. In particular, we tested the hypothesis that species with preferences for highly fragmented microhabitats show stronger genetic and phenotypic structure than codistributed generalist taxa inhabiting a continuous matrix of suitable habitat. We also hypothesized a higher resemblance of spatial patterns of genetic and phenotypic variability among species that have experienced a higher degree of habitat fragmentation due to their more similar responses to the parallel large-scale destruction of their natural habitats. In partial agreement with our first hypothesis, we found that genetic structure, but not phenotypic differentiation, was higher in species linked to highly fragmented habitats. We did not find support for congruent patterns of phenotypic and genetic variability among any studied species, indicating that they show idiosyncratic evolutionary trajectories and distinctive demographic responses to habitat fragmentation across a common landscape. This suggests that conservation practices in networks of protected areas require detailed ecological and evolutionary information on target species to focus management efforts on those taxa that are more sensitive to the effects of habitat fragmentation.JO was supported by a Ramón y Cajal Fellowship (RYC-2013-12501) and a research contract funded by Severo Ochoa Program (SEV-2012-0262). VGN is supported by a Forschungskredit of the University of Zurich (FK-14-103). VN is supported by a FPI predoctoral fellowship from Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad. This work received financial support from grants CGL2011-25053 (Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad), PCI08-0130-3954 and POII10-0197-0167 (Junta de Comunidades de Castilla-La Mancha and European Social Fund) and UNCM08-1E-018 (European Regional Development Fund).Peer reviewe

Anchor model fusion for emotion recognition in speech

Proceedings of Joint COST 2101 and 2102 International Conference, BioID_MultiComm 2009, Madrid (Spain)The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-04391-8_7In this work, a novel method for system fusion in emotion recognition for speech is presented. The proposed approach, namely Anchor Model Fusion (AMF), exploits the characteristic behaviour of the scores of a speech utterance among different emotion models, by a mapping to a back-end anchor-model feature space followed by a SVM classifier. Experiments are presented in three different databases: Ahumada III, with speech obtained from real forensic cases; and SUSAS Actual and SUSAS Simulated. Results comparing AMF with a simple sum-fusion scheme after normalization show a significant performance improvement of the proposed technique for two of the three experimental set-ups, without degrading performance in the third one.This work has been financed under project TEC2006-13170-C02-01

Tests of species‐specific models reveal the importance of drought in postglacial range shifts of a Mediterranean‐climate tree: insights from integrative distributional, demographic and coalescent modelling and ABC model selection

Past climate change has caused shifts in species distributions and undoubtedly impacted patterns of genetic variation, but the biological processes mediating responses to climate change, and their genetic signatures, are often poorly understood. We test six species‐specific biologically informed hypotheses about such processes in canyon live oak (Quercus chrysolepis) from the California Floristic Province. These hypotheses encompass the potential roles of climatic niche, niche multidimensionality, physiological trade‐offs in functional traits, and local‐scale factors (microsites and local adaptation within ecoregions) in structuring genetic variation. Specifically, we use ecological niche models (ENMs) to construct temporally dynamic landscapes where the processes invoked by each hypothesis are reflected by differences in local habitat suitabilities. These landscapes are used to simulate expected patterns of genetic variation under each model and evaluate the fit of empirical data from 13 microsatellite loci genotyped in 226 individuals from across the species range. Using approximate Bayesian computation (ABC), we obtain very strong support for two statistically indistinguishable models: a trade‐off model in which growth rate and drought tolerance drive habitat suitability and genetic structure, and a model based on the climatic niche estimated from a generic ENM, in which the variables found to make the most important contribution to the ENM have strong conceptual links to drought stress. The two most probable models for explaining the patterns of genetic variation thus share a common component, highlighting the potential importance of seasonal drought in driving historical range shifts in a temperate tree from a Mediterranean climate where summer drought is common.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/134178/1/mec13804-sup-0001-Supinfo.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/134178/2/mec13804.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/134178/3/mec13804_am.pd

Diversity in insect seed parasite guilds at large geographical scale: the roles of host specificity and spatial distance

[Aim]: Host specificity within plant-feeding insects constitutes a fascinating example of natural selection that promotes inter-specific niche segregation. If specificity is strong, composition of local plant parasitic insect guilds is largely dependent on the presence and prevalence of the preferred hosts. Alternatively, if it is weak or absent, historic and stochastic demographic processes may drive the structuring of insect communities. We assessed whether the species composition of acorn feeding insects (Curculio spp. guilds) and their genetic variation change geographically according to the local host community. [Location]: An 800 km transect across California, USA. [Methods]: We used DNA taxonomy to detect potential Curculio cryptic speciation and assessed intra-specific genetic structure among sampling sites. We monitored larval performance on different hosts, by measuring the weight of each larva upon emerging from the acorn. Our phylogenetic and spatial analyses disentangled host specificity and geographical effects on Curculio community composition and genetic structure. [Results]: DNA taxonomy revealed no specialized cryptic species. Californian Curculio spp. were sister taxa that did not segregate among Quercus species or, at a deeper taxonomic level, between red and white oaks. Curculio species turnover and intra-specific genetic differentiation increased with geographical distance among localities irrespective of local oak species composition. Moreover, larval performance did not differ among oak species or acorn sizes when controlling for the effect of the locality. [Main conclusions]: Historical processes have contributed to the structuring of acorn weevil communities across California. Trophic niche overlapped among species, indicating that ecologically similar species can co-exist. Acorn crop inter-annual variability and unpredictability in mixed oak forests may have selected against narrow specialization, and facilitated co-existence by means of an inter-specific time partitioning of the resources. Wide-scale geographical records of parasitic insects and their host plants are necessary to understand the processes underlying species diversity.This work was financed by the projects: CONSOLIDER-MONTES CSD2008-00040 MICINN, PII1C09-0256-9052JCCM and ESF, AGL2014-54739-R (MINECO), PPII-2014-01-PJCCM ESF and CGL2008-00095 ⁄ BOS (MICINN). A.M.was funded by a Juan de la Cierva contract and R.B. by acontract of the Atracción de Talento Investigador Programme (Gobierno de Extremadura TA13032). J.O. wasfunded by Severo Ochoa (SEV-2012-0262) and Ramón y Cajal (RYC-2013-12501) research fellowships.Peer reviewe

Percepción del alumnado de la adquisición de competencias

Con el nuevo diseño de una asignatura práctica de laboratorio, se pretende fomentar la adquisición de competencias transversales por parte del alumnado que serán muy importantes en el ejercicio de la profesión. En la Guía de la asignatura se incluye un conjunto de objetivos aportados por el profesorado, a la asignatura Experimentación en Química Inorgánica, relacionados con la adquisición de competencias muy importantes en la actualidad para los profesionales de la química. El alumnado trabaja en grupos para realizar los pasos necesarios para redactar el guion de una práctica de laboratorio; se entrena en la realización de búsquedas de información en fuentes fiables, analiza la aplicabilidad de la información encontrada a la elaboración del guion propuesto, realiza la experiencia de laboratorio seleccionada en función de los parámetros de la química verde y usando los medios de seguridad en el laboratorio que se requieren y, finalmente, redacta el guion con los contenidos necesarios para que se pueda utilizar en la asignatura de Experimentación en Química Inorgánica. Adicionalmente, cada grupo expone al resto del alumnado los pasos realizados para elaborar el documento escrito entregado, utilizando material gráfico de apoyo a su exposición. Se investiga, mediante encuestas, la percepción del alumnado del nivel adquirido en estas competencias

GEQI (Green Experimentación en Química Inorgánica)

Se rediseñó una asignatura práctica del Grado en Química para fomentar la adquisición de competencias transferibles, demandadas por las empresas en el s. XXI para la profesión química. Se seleccionaron actividades que trabajan estas competencias, adicionalmente a las cognitivas y procedimentales. La Red GEQI elaboró la Guía de la asignatura, incluyendo objetivos aportados por el profesorado, relacionados con dichas competencias. Las actividades propuestas se realizan todas en grupo, utilizando procedimientos de gestión de calidad y buenas prácticas de laboratorio. Entre ellas están la elaboración de una práctica adaptada a la Química Verde, exposición oral del desarrollo del trabajo realizado, problemas encontrados y soluciones aportadas, utilizando material gráfico de apoyo a la exposición. Los instrumentos de evaluación de las competencias se calificaron utilizando matrices de evaluación que se suministraron al alumnado previamente a la realización de los mismos, con un doble fin: que el alumnado conociera la puntuación de cada parte del contenido evaluado, para que centraran su esfuerzo en conseguir las puntuaciones más altas, y que las calificaciones fueran homogéneas independientemente del profesorado que evaluara a cada grupo. Se investiga, mediante encuestas, la percepción del alumnado del nivel adquirido en estas competencias y se compara con las calificaciones obtenidas

Inorganic chemistry teaching materials for mobile learning and/or “bring your own device” strategy

The study habits of millennial students are quite different from the students of past times. The new university student generations will need new teaching approaches adapted to their technological skills, with lap tops, tablets, smartphones, and so on, as tools for learning as its own pace, everywhere. In this communication, the adaptation of a collection of study materials, used in an Inorganic Chemistry Foundations topic, for their use in mobile learning and/or BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) strategy is presented. The materials are suited for the understanding of inorganic crystalline solids which, having crystalline structures (long range order), seem so difficult to visualize with 2D figures, as to understand their structural characteristics. The format of these materials was initially in PDF documents with 2D figures used for constructing models with little balls, following the steps in the text, on-site class in the laboratory. Later, the use of web pages with Java applets, running with JMol, introduced the students in a 3D visualization of the structure; clicking the different applet buttons student discovers the inner structure of the crystalline inorganic solids step by step. Both types of materials have been now brought up to date so that students would use them not only on-site classroom but also in every other time and place. Because JMol with Java doesn’t run in mobile devices, it has been necessary to use JSMol and also re-write the HTML5 (HyperText Markup Language) code and CSS (Cascading Style Sheet) following the RWD (Responsive Web Design) approach. Programming the website to automatically respond to the user’s preferences, it can be switching continuously image size and scripting abilities to accommodate for resolution, depending on the device used

Two functional variants of IRF5 influence the development of macular edema in patients with non-anterior uveitis.

Objective Interferon (IFN) signaling plays a crucial role in autoimmunity. Genetic variation in interferon regulatory factor 5 (IRF5), a major regulator of the type I interferon induction, has been associated with risk of developing several autoimmune diseases. In the current study we aimed to evaluate whether three sets of correlated IRF5 genetic variants, independently associated with SLE and with different functional roles, are involved in uveitis susceptibility and its clinical subphenotypes. Methods Three IRF5 polymorphisms, rs2004640, rs2070197 and rs10954213, representative of each group, were genotyped using TaqMan® allelic discrimination assays in a total of 263 non-anterior uveitis patients and 724 healthy controls of Spanish origin. Results A clear association between two of the three analyzed genetic variants, rs2004640 and rs10954213, and the absence of macular edema was observed in the case/control analysis (PFDR=5.07E-03, OR=1.48, CI 95%=1.14-1.92 and PFDR=3.37E-03, OR=1.54, CI 95%=1.19-2.01, respectively). Consistently, the subphenotype analysis accordingly with the presence/absence of this clinical condition also reached statistical significance (rs2004640: P=0.037, OR=0.69, CI 95%=0.48-0.98; rs10954213: P=0.030, OR=0.67, CI 95%=0.47-0.96), thus suggesting that both IRF5 genetic variants are specifically associated with the lack of macular edema in uveitis patients. Conclusion Our results clearly showed for the first time that two functional genetic variants of IRF5 may play a role in the development of macular edema in non-anterior uveitis patients. Identifying genetic markers for macular edema could lead to the possibility of developing novel treatments or preventive therapies