Evolution of reproductive strategies in the species-rich land snail subfamily Phaedusinae (Stylommatophora: Clausiliidae)

Most of the present knowledge on animal reproductive mode evolution, and possible factors driving transitions between oviparity and viviparity is based on studies on vertebrates. The species rich door snail (Clausiliidae) subfamily Phaedusinae represents a suitable and unique model for further examining parity evolution, as three different strategies, oviparity, viviparity, and the intermediate mode of embryo-retention, occur in this group. The present study reconstructs the evolution of reproductive strategies in Phaedusinae based on time-calibrated molecular phylogenetics, reproductive mode examinations and ancestral state reconstruction. Our phylogenetic analysis employing multiple mitochondrial and nuclear markers identified a well-supported clade (including the tribes Phaedusini and Serrulinini) that contains species exhibiting various reproductive strategies. This clade evolved from an oviparous most recent common ancestor according to our reconstruction. All non-oviparous taxa are confined to a highly supported subclade, coinciding with the tribe Phaedusini. Both oviparity and viviparity occur frequently in different lineages of this subclade that are not closely related. During Phaedusini diversification, multiple transitions in reproductive strategy must have taken place, which could have been promoted by a high fitness of embryo-retaining species. The evolutionary success of this group might result from the maintenance of various strategies.© 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article published under a Creative Commons licence https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Range expansion in the land snail species Carinigera buresi (Clausiliidae): long-distance dispersal by ancient marble transport?

The clausiliid Carinigera buresi has a distribution that, considering its low vagility, is enigmatically disjunct. Carinigera buresi pharsalica occurs in Thessaly in central Greece, over 200 km outside the main range of C. buresi in NE Greece – SW Bulgaria. This range disjunction has led to the hypothesis that in antiquity the ancestors of C. buresi pharsalica were transported by the marble trade from NE Greece to Thessaly. To explore this hypothesis, we included samples from the NE Greek island of Thasos (the only area within the range of C. buresi from which marble was widely transported in antiquity) in a time-calibrated molecular phylogeny of C. buresi. Maximum likelihood (GARLI) and time-calibrated Bayesian (BEAST) analyses of mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) from samples collected throughout the range of C. buresi indicate that the ancestral C. buresi pharsalica COI lineage reached Thessaly not from Thasos, but from the NE Greek mainland. This happened between 1,740 and 83,000 yr BP according to the BEAST analyses. Although this time interval does not entirely pre-date the earliest phase of marble transport in the region, we consider this mode of dispersal unlikely for two reasons: (1) our data show that C. buresi pharsalica must be older than estimated on the basis of geological calibration points; (2) our findings indicate that the dispersal event that brought C. buresi pharsalica to Thessaly did not follow ancient marble transport routes. We suggest dispersal via floating objects or aerial dispersal by birds as alternative hypotheses to dispersal by the historic marble trade. Unexpectedly, our phylogenetic analyses also showed the COI haplotype of C. buresi from the city of Kavala to be nested among COI haplotypes from northern Thasos. This suggests possible human-aided dispersal of C. buresi from Thasos to Kavala

a-Crystallin Sequences Support a Galliform/Anseriform Clade

An unresolved issue in higher avian systematics is the position of the fowl-like and the duck-like birds, Galliformes and Anseriformes, respectively. Most studies place these orders at the base of the neognath radiation. While DNA hybridization data support a sister-group relationship of Galliformes and Anseriformes, macromolecular sequence analyses have not yet been able to provide a clear-cut answer. In this study, we present nucleotide sequences coding for the eye lens proteins aA-and aB-crystallin of a palaeognath, a galliform, an anseriform, and two other neognathous birds. Phylogenetic analyses of this data set clearly support a galliform/anseriform clade, to the exclusion of other neognaths. r 1997 Academic Pres

Bridging the Dynamics of Food Systems Change in Sub Saharan Africa to the Water-Energy-Food Nexus: Human Development Index

With increasing worldwide household incomes, a higher diversification in people’s diet is found. The high, urban, population growth, which is connected to an urban-rural population shift and lifting per capita incomes, is changing the dietary patterns in Sub Saharan Africa (SSA). For the past decades, global nutrition transition has been seen as an indicator describing the human development, in which people worldwide choose a more Western diet above their traditional diet. Easier accessibility has induced households to increase the intake of non-staple food (meat, fish, dairy products, edible oils, fruit and vegetables), with a decline of the share of staple food (cereals, pulses, including roots and tubers). A shift to a western diet, for SSA will have strong competitive effects on the SDGs, in temporal and spatial divergent patterns of urban and rural areas. To understand how these changes in these resource flows affect environmental pressure, we studied micro- and macrodata on nutrition and use of energy and water of 11 low and lower middle-income SSA countries, at regional and national scales. Patterns show large differences among and in countries; main variables seem to be the energy pathway (country policy), the degree of urbanisation (economic hotspot) and the shift in diet (urban/rural wealth). To bridge the temporal and spatial differences on these socio-ecological systems, we studied the use of the Human Development Index (HDI) to interconnect not only the ecological data but also the socio-economic data at national and subnational (urban – rural) scales. Assessing the Water-Energy-Food Nexus using HDI as an integrator of human well-being and economic growth (GDP/GNI) looks promising to understand the trends in resource flows on human development and its impact on the environment at divergent scales

Bridging the Dynamics of Food Systems Change in Sub Saharan Africa to the Water-Energy-Food Nexus:Human Development Index

With increasing worldwide household incomes, a higher diversification in people’s diet is found. The high, urban, population growth, which is connected to an urban-rural population shift and lifting per capita incomes, is changing the dietary patterns in Sub Saharan Africa (SSA). For the past decades, global nutrition transition has been seen as an indicator describing the human development, in which people worldwide choose a more Western diet above their traditional diet. Easier accessibility has induced households to increase the intake of non-staple food (meat, fish, dairy products, edible oils, fruit and vegetables), with a decline of the share of staple food (cereals, pulses, including roots and tubers). A shift to a western diet, for SSA will have strong competitive effects on the SDGs, in temporal and spatial divergent patterns of urban and rural areas. To understand how these changes in these resource flows affect environmental pressure, we studied micro- and macrodata on nutrition and use of energy and water of 11 low and lower middle-income SSA countries, at regional and national scales. Patterns show large differences among and in countries; main variables seem to be the energy pathway (country policy), the degree of urbanisation (economic hotspot) and the shift in diet (urban/rural wealth). To bridge the temporal and spatial differences on these socio-ecological systems, we studied the use of the Human Development Index (HDI) to interconnect not only the ecological data but also the socio-economic data at national and subnational (urban – rural) scales. Assessing the Water-Energy-Food Nexus using HDI as an integrator of human well-being and economic growth (GDP/GNI) looks promising to understand the trends in resource flows on human development and its impact on the environment at divergent scales

Phylogeny of the land snail family Clausiliidae (Gastropoda: Pulmonata)

Supplementary data for Uit de Weerd, D. R., & Gittenberger, E. (2013). Phylogeny of the land snail family Clausiliidae (Gastropoda: Pulmonata). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 67 (1): 201–216 [these data are inaccessible or missing from the 'supplementary data' accompanying the publication on the journal's website (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2013.01.011)