Diversity dynamics in Nymphalidae butterflies: Effect of phylogenetic uncertainty on diversification rate shift estimates

The family Nymphalidae is the largest family within the true butterflies and has been used to develop hypotheses explaining evolutionary interactions between plants and insects. Theories of insect and hostplant dynamics predict accelerated diversification in some scenarios. We investigated whether phylogenetic uncertainty affects a commonly used method (MEDUSA, modelling evolutionary diversity using stepwise AIC) for estimating shifts in diversification rates in lineages of the family Nymphalidae, by extending the method to run across a random sample of phylogenetic trees from the posterior distribution of a Bayesian run. We found that phylogenetic uncertainty greatly affects diversification rate estimates. Different trees from the posterior distribution can give diversification rates ranging from high values to almost zero for the same clade, and for some clades both significant rate increase and decrease were estimated. Only three out of 13 significant shifts found on the maximum credibility tree were consistent across more than 95% of the trees from the posterior: (i) accelerated diversification for Solanaceae feeders in the tribe Ithomiini; (ii) accelerated diversification in the genus Charaxes, and (iii) deceleration in the Danaina. By using the binary speciation and extinction model (BISSE), we found that a hostplant shift to Solanaceae or a codistributed character is responsible for the increase in diversification rate in Ithomiini, and the result is congruent with the diffuse cospeciation hypothesis. A shift to Apocynaceae is not responsible for the slowdown of diversification in Danaina. Our results show that taking phylogenetic uncertainty into account when estimating diversification rate shifts is of great importance, and relying on the maximum credibility tree alone potentially can give erroneous results.Comment: 23 pages, 7 figures, 2 tables and 12 supplementary material files. Both authors contributed equally to this wor

Oral ballads as national literature: the reconstruction of two norwegian ballads

No passado muitos folcloristas estavam, igualmente interessados em política cultural. A recolha, a publicação e a pesquisa em cultura popular estavam claramente direccionadas para a construção e suporte duma identidade nacional. Foi assim que a Idade Média se tornou instrumental para a política cultural contemporânea mais do que como objecto de pesquisa histórica. Moltke Moe, o primeiro professor de folclorística e da linguagem das cantigas populares na Noruega, é considerado o pai da investigação folclorística neste país. Devotou muito do seu tempo à reconstrução das baladas populares norueguesas. São analisadas neste artigo duas das suas reconstruções (A visão do sonho de Olav Àsteson e a Batalha de Roncesvales). Ambas as reconstruções tornaram-se parte do nosso património cultural. Embora as suas reconstruções tenham o selo da autoridade profissional, ele acaba por ser muito mais um poeta de que um cientista. Rearranjou a história, criou novas palavras e até construiu do nada estrofes inteiras. O seu objectivo era que estas baladas estabelecessem uma ligação entre a Idade Média e o seu tempo, para que os noruegueses se orgulhassem do seu património

Pleistocene climate change promoted rapid diversification of aquatic invertebrates in Southeast Australia

Background: The Pleistocene Ice Ages were the most recent geohistorical event of major global impact, but their consequences for most parts of the Southern hemisphere remain poorly known. We investigate a radiation of ten species of Sternopriscus, the most species-rich genus of epigean Australian diving beetles. These species are distinct based on genital morphology but cannot be distinguished readily by mtDNA and nDNA because of genotype sharing caused by incomplete lineage sorting. Their genetic similarity suggests a Pleistocene origin. Results: We use a dataset of 3858 bp of mitochondrial and nuclear DNA to reconstruct a phylogeny of Sternopriscus using gene and species trees. Diversification analyses support the finding of a recent rapid speciation event with estimated speciation rates of up to 2.40 species per MY, which is considerably higher than the proposed average rate of 0.16 species per MY for insects. Additionally, we use ecological niche modeling and analyze data on habitat preferences to test for niche divergence between species of the recent Sternopriscus radiation. These analyses show that the species can be characterized by a set of ecological variables referring to habitat, climate and altitude. Conclusions: Our results suggest that the repeated isolation of populations in glacial refugia might have led to divergent ecological adaptations and the fixation of morphological traits supporting reproductive isolation and therefore may have promoted speciation. The recent Sternopriscus radiation fulfills many characteristics of a species flock and would be the first described example of an aquatic insect species flock. We argue that the species of this group may represent a stage in speciation past the species flock condition because of their mostly broad and often non-overlapping ranges and preferences for different habitat types.Organismic and Evolutionary Biolog

The Hyperlinked Scandinavian News Ecology. The unequal terms forged by the structural properties of digitalisation

The article presents a network analysis of 22,861,013 geocoded external hyperlinks, collected from 230 Danish, 220 Norwegian and 208 Swedish news websites in 2016. The analysis asks what the structural properties of the Scandinavian media systems—including its geography and ownership structures—mean for news outlets’ centrality within the hyperlinked news ecology. The analysis finds that whereas incumbent legacy media occupy central positions, about one third of the network is absent from the hyperlinked interaction, primarily local, independently owned newspapers. A multiple linear regression analysis shows that national distribution and corporate ownership correlates to network centrality more than other predictors. As brokers in the network consist of the large, legacy, capital-based news organisations, hyperlink connectivity is primarily characterised by proximity to the centres of power, corporate ownership, agenda setting incumbency and national distribution. </p

Lobster and cod benefit from small-scale northern marine protected areas: inference from an empirical before - after control-impact study

Marine protected areas (MPAs) are increasingly implemented as tools to conserve and manage fisheries and target species. Because there are opportunity costs to conservation, there is a need for science-based assessment of MPAs. Here, we present one of the northernmost documentations of MPA effects to date, demonstrated by a replicated before-after control-impact (BACI) approach. In 2006, MPAs were implemented along the Norwegian Skagerrak coast offering complete protection to shellfish and partial protection to fish. By 2010, European lobster (Homarus gammarus) catch-per-unit-effort (CPUE) had increased by 245 per cent in MPAs, whereas CPUE in control areas had increased by 87 per cent. Mean size of lobsters increased by 13 per cent in MPAs, whereas increase in control areas was negligible. Furthermore, MPA-responses and population development in control areas varied significantly among regions. This illustrates the importance of a replicated BACI design for reaching robust conclusions and management decisions. Partial protection of Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) was followed by an increase in population density and body size compared with control areas. By 2010, MPA cod were on average 5 cm longer than in any of the control areas. MPAs can be useful management tools in rebuilding and conserving portions of depleted lobster populations in northern temperate waters, and even for a mobile temperate fish species such as the Atlantic cod

Integrative taxonomy of New Caledonian beetles: species delimitation and definition of the [i]Uloma isoceroides[/i] species group (Coleoptera, Tenebrionidae, Ulomini), with the description of four new species

New Caledonia is an important biodiversity hotspot with much undocumented biodiversity, especially in many insect groups. Here we used an integrative approach to explore species diversity in the tenebrionid genus Uloma (Coleoptera, Tenebrionidae, Ulomini), which encompasses about 150 species, of which 22 are known from New Caledonia. To do so, we focused on a morphologically homogeneous group by comparing museum specimens with material collected during several recent field trips. We also conducted molecular phylogenetic analyses based on a concatenated matrix of four mitochondrial and three nuclear genes for 46 specimens. The morphological study allowed us to discover and describe four new species that belong to the group of interest, the Uloma isoceroides group. Molecular analyses confirmed the species boundaries of several of the previously described species and established the validity of the four new species. The phylogenetic analyses also provided additional information on the evolutionary history of the group, highlighting that a species that was thought to be unrelated to the group was in fact a member of the same evolutionary lineage. Molecular species delimitation confirmed the status of the sampled species of the group and also suggested some hidden (cryptic) biodiversity for at least two species of the group. Altogether this integrative taxonomic approach has allowed us to better define the boundaries of the Uloma isoceroides species group, which comprises at least 10 species: Uloma isoceroides (Fauvel, 1904), Uloma opacipennis (Fauvel, 1904), Uloma caledonica Kaszab, 1982, Uloma paniei Kaszab, 1982, Uloma monteithi Kaszab, 1986, Uloma robusta Kaszab, 1986, Uloma clamensae sp. n., Uloma condaminei sp. n., Uloma jourdani sp. n., and Uloma kergoati sp. n. We advocate more studies on other New Caledonian groups, as we expect that much undocumented biodiversity can be unveiled through the use of similar approache

Gold Nanostructures on Graphite

Gold nanoparticles supported on a graphite substrate are prepared by thermal evaporation, and subsequently studied by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), temperature programmed desorption (TPD) of carbon monoxide and scanning electron microscopy (SEM).Increasing the amount of gold deposited leads to a shift of the desorption peak to higher temperatures, and the gold particles become larger.Depositing approximately the same amount of gold at different evaporation ratios does not seem to affect the desorption.Triangularly shaped gold particles appeared at higher evaporation rates.This is thought to be caused by diffusion effects dominating the formation of the particles

Navigation using Bluetooth Low Energy Beacons

The wireless techonology Bluetooth has over the years become more commonly supported by personal electronic devices, especially in smart-devices such as smartphones, tablets and smart-watches. Earlier, Bluetooth was mostly used as wireless communication between personal devices, and not between personal and public Bluetooth peripherals. When Bluetooth version 4.0, also called Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) was introduced in 2010, the development of light-weight, easy-deployable Bluetooth Beacons emerged. This development opened up for using public Bluetooth peripherals to interact with personal devices, broadcasting information to compatible units within close proximity. This report is a result of researching the functionality found within the Bluetooth Low Energy protocol, and by using available frameworks, design and implement a navigation system into an Android mobile application that uses interaction with Bluetooth Beacons for determining its position. Integrating Android, BLE Beacon libraries, Cloud Services and relevant positioning prin- cipals, a navigation system is developed and implemented in the Android application, ePark, as a part of a parking service, providing navigation inside a parking garage. Us- ing the Eddystone UID framework developed by Google, a smartdevice running ePark continously interacts with nearby BLE Beacons. The calculated Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI) of each beacon are passed into a position algorithm along with the known coordinates of each beacon, having the algorithm calculate the smartdevice s current position. Positioning principals like Cell Identification and Trilateration are implemented into the position algorithm to evaluate the performance of a bluetooth navigation system which is based on RSSI-measurements. Imprecision in RSSI measurements are seen to directly affect the positioning algorithm, and the achieved accuracy is approximately 5 meters when using trilateration

The PhD ‘Dragon’: Can it Be Tamed and Trained through Dynamic Educational Design?

In this article&nbsp;I reflect on the meaning, role and significance of educational designs in PhD studies, with the aim of raising some about ‘taming’ the dragon, as well as inviting readers to reflect on their own experiences of such studies as students and/or supervisors