Ponderosa pine ecosystems restoration and conservation: Steps toward stewardship

This volume is divided into three sections: (1) Ecological, Biological, and Physical Science; (2) Social and Cultural; and (3) Economics and Utilization. Effective ecological restoration requires a combination of science and management. The authors of the first section exemplified this integration in the course of addressing a broad range of topics, from detailed microsite and small-scale changes in fungal, plant, and animal communities, up through landscape, regional, and subcontinental scales. Although the themes were diverse, papers were linked by underscoring the relationship between restorative management actions and ecological effects. Social sciences play a key role in ecosystem restoration because collaboration, development of common goals, and political and economic feasibility are essential for success. The authors of the second section focused on public attitudes, partnerships, and the relationship between social and ecological factors. In the third section, the economics and utilization of products from forest restoration were compared in several Western locations. Both the markets for these products and the range of utilization opportunitiesfrom small-diameter logs to energy creationwill surely evolve rapidly as society moves to address the fire hazards and other problems caused by stressed and weakened ecosystems. The turn of the century is an appropriate point to capture dramatic changes in perspective: consider how attitudes toward Western forests have evolved between 1900 and 2000. The papers in this volume chronicle adaptive research that continues to deepen our understanding of restoration in ecosystems and social systems

Communication and mutual resource exchange in north Florida hermit crabs

The patterns of shell exchange in three species of hermit crabs which overlap in distribution and shell use were observed in the laboratory. Crabs showed no tendency to initiate more exchanges with conspecifics as compared with nonconspecific individuals and there were no specific size dominance effects. Lack of common communicatory patterns between Clibararius vittatus and Pagurus pollicaris was correlated with minimal actual exchange, while Pagurus impressus exchanged with both species and executed patterns in common with both. The pattern of shell exchanges and preferences indicated that, in some cases, both individuals may gain in interspecific exchanges.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/46904/1/265_2004_Article_BF00569198.pd

Systems genetics identifies a role for Cacna2d1 regulation in elevated intraocular pressure and glaucoma susceptibility

Glaucoma is a multi-factorial blinding disease in which genetic factors play an important role. Elevated intraocular pressure is a highly heritable risk factor for primary open angle glaucoma and currently the only target for glaucoma therapy. Our study helps to better understand underlying genetic and molecular mechanisms that regulate intraocular pressure, and identifies a new candidate gene, Cacna2d1, that modulates intraocular pressure and a promising therapeutic, pregabalin, which binds to CACNA2D1 protein and lowers intraocular pressure significantly. Because our study utilizes a genetically diverse population of mice with kno

Cross-ancestry genome-wide association analysis of corneal thickness strengthens link between complex and Mendelian eye diseases

Central corneal thickness (CCT) is a highly heritable trait associated with complex eye diseases such as keratoconus and glaucoma. We perform a genome-wide association meta-analysis of CCT and identify 19 novel regions. In addition to adding support for known connective tissue-related pathways, pathway analyses uncover previously unreported gene sets. Remarkably, >20% of the CCT-loci are near or within Mendelian disorder genes. These included FBN1, ADAMTS2 and TGFB2 which associate with connective tissue disorders (Marfan, Ehlers-Danlos and Loeys-Dietz syndromes), and the LUM-DCN-KERA gene complex involved in myopia, corneal dystrophies and cornea plana. Using index CCT-increasing variants, we find a significant inverse correlation in effect sizes between CCT and keratoconus (r =-0.62, P = 5.30 × 10-5) but not between CCT and primary open-angle glaucoma (r =-0.17, P = 0.2). Our findings provide evidence for shared genetic influences between CCT and keratoconus, and implicate candidate genes acting in collagen and extracellular matrix regulation

Genetic Studies of Autistic Disorder and Chromosome 7

Genome-wide scans have suggested that a locus on 7q is involved in the etiology of autistic disorder (AD). We have identified an AD family in which three sibs inherited from their mother a paracentric inversion in the chromosome 7 candidate region (inv(7)(q22–q31.2)). Clinically, the two male sibs have AD, while the female sib has expressive language disorder. The mother carries the inversion, but does not express AD. Haplotype data on the family suggest that the chromosomal origin of the inversion was from the children's maternal grandfather. Based on these data, we have genotyped 76 multiplex (≥2 AD affecteds/family) families for markers in this region of 7q. Two-point linkage analysis yielded a maximum heterogeneity lod score of 1.47 and maximum lod score (MLS) of 1.03 at D7S495. Multipoint MLS and NPL analyses resulted in peak scores of 1.77 at D7S2527 and 2.01 at D7S640. Examination of affected sibpairs revealed significant paternal (P = 0.007), but not maternal (P = 0.75), identity-by-descent sharing at D7S640. Significant linkage disequilibrium was detected with paternal (P = 0.02), but not maternal (P = 0.15), transmissions at D7S1824 in multiplex and singleton families. There was also evidence for an increase in recombination in the region (D7S1817 to D7S1824) in the AD families versus non-AD families (P = 0.03, sex-averaged; and P = 0.01, sex-specific). These results provide further evidence for the presence of an AD locus on chromosome 7q, as well as provide evidence suggesting that this locus may be paternally expressed