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"Biocomplexity."
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Modular evolution : how natural selection produces biological complexity
\"Natural selection is more than the survival of the fittest: it is a force engendering higher biological complexity. Presenting a new explanation for the tendency of life to become more complex through evolution, this book offers an introduction to the key debates in evolutionary theory, including the role of genes and sex in evolution, the adaptive reasons for senescence and death and the origin of neural information. The author argues that biological complexity increased through the process of 'modularity transfer': modular phenotypes (proteins, somatic cells, learned behaviours) evolved into new modular information carriers (regulatory proteins, neural cells, words), giving rise to new information systems and higher levels of biological organisation. Modular Evolution makes sense of the unique place of humans in evolution, both as the pinnacle of biological complexity and inventors of non-biological evolution\"-- Provided by publisher.
Book
Diversity of the Pacific Ocean coral reef microbiome
Coral reefs are among the most diverse ecosystems on Earth. They support high biodiversity of multicellular organisms that strongly rely on associated microorganisms for health and nutrition. However, the extent of the coral reef microbiome diversity and its distribution at the oceanic basin-scale remains to be explored. Here, we systematically sampled 3 coral morphotypes, 2 fish species, and planktonic communities in 99 reefs from 32 islands across the Pacific Ocean, to assess reef microbiome composition and biogeography. We show a very large richness of reef microorganisms compared to other environments, which extrapolated to all fishes and corals of the Pacific, approximates the current estimated total prokaryotic diversity for the entire Earth. Microbial communities vary among and within the 3 animal biomes (coral, fish, plankton), and geographically. For corals, the cross-ocean patterns of diversity are different from those known for other multicellular organisms. Within each coral morphotype, community composition is always determined by geographic distance first, both at the island and across ocean scale, and then by environment. Our unprecedented sampling effort of coral reef microbiomes, as part of the
Tara
Pacific expedition, provides new insight into the global microbial diversity, the factors driving their distribution, and the biocomplexity of reef ecosystems.
Using data from the Tara Pacific expedition, this study reports the biogeography and the diversity of microbiomes collected from corals, fish and plankton in 99 reefs across the Pacific Ocean. The large richness of Pacific Ocean reef microorganisms, when extrapolated to all fish and corals of the Pacific, represents the current estimated total prokaryotic diversity for the entire Earth.
Journal Article
Constellating cultivation: texturing agroecological legacies with a mixed-methods approach in Hawaiʻi
Indigenous agroecological practices have been identified as sustainable place-based practices supporting community resilience and revitalizing biocultural landscapes in Hawaiʻi. In areas where traditional knowledge and practice have been fractured because of colonial practices, new tools, such as spatial modeling, can aid in understanding the distribution of pre-colonial land use. Currently, spatial models of traditional agriculture do not capture the type of systems that supported populations in the Hilo and Puna districts on Hawai‘i Island before European arrival in 1778. We utilized a mixed methods approach to address these limitations by considering Kalapana in the Puna District on Hawaiʻi Island as a case study. First, various forms of agriculture within Kalapana were identified and characterized based on written documentation in both English and ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi. We then reconstructed spatial patterns of the distinct forms of cultivation by incorporating historic maps, archaeological reports, and botanical data from contemporary ground and remote survey data. Finally, we approximated environmental thresholds for agroecological adaptations in the under-studied Kalapana geography. Our findings suggest that the role of cultivated lava and forest systems would have provided substantial contributions necessary for supporting the populations that resided within the Puna district, spanning a time period of pre-European contact onward well into the 20th century. This study highlights the resilience and ingenuity of rural Hawaiian communities that supported themselves within sustainable, place-based practices and actively stewarded their biocultural landscape over time.
Journal Article
Tracking Patterns in Systems
An interview with Simon A. Levin, the James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Director of the Center for BioComplexity at Princeton University, is presented. Among other things, he discusses how he started out in mathematics and ended up in ecology, the works he did on modeling epidemics as larger systems and if there are unified methods of modeling systems across many disciplines.
Journal Article
Why every fly counts : a documentation about the value and endangerment of insects
\"This book discusses the beneficial and harmful effects of insects and explains their development and significance for biodiversity. Threatening pests or threatened beneficials? Biting midges are wonderful insects. The animals are so tiny and uniquely shaped that they are particularly good at pollinating the small and tight flowers of the cocoa tree. Without them, there would be much less chocolate. We associate other insects more with the damage that they cause. Mosquitoes and wasps bite us. Moth larvae damage textiles and contaminate foods. Ants undermine our paths and flies are just a pain. But what exactly is our relationship with insects? Are they more beneficial or harmful? What role do they play in the world? What are the effects of climate change: Will the number of insects continue to increase?\"--Publisher's description.
Book
Spatial heterogeneity contributes more to portfolio effects than species variability in bottom-associated marine fishes
Variance of community abundance will be reduced relative to its theoretical maximum whenever population densities fluctuate asynchronously. Fishing communities and mobile predators can switch among fish species and/or fishing locations with asynchronous dynamics, thereby buffering against variable resource densities (termed ‘portfolio effects’, PEs). However, whether variation among species or locations represent the dominant contributor to PE remains relatively unexplored. Here, we apply a spatio-temporal model to multidecadal time series (1982–2015) for 20 bottom-associated fishes in seven marine ecosystems. For each ecosystem, we compute the reduction in variance over time in total biomass relative to its theoretical maximum if species and locations were perfectly correlated (total PE). We also compute the reduction in variance due to asynchrony among species at each location (species PE) or the reduction due to asynchrony among locations for each species (spatial PE). We specifically compute total, species and spatial PE in 10-year moving windows to detect changes over time. Our analyses revealed that spatial PE are stronger than species PE in six of seven ecosystems, and that ecosystems where species PE is constant over time can exhibit shifts in locations that strongly contribute to PE. We therefore recommend that spatial and total PE be monitored as ecosystem indicators representing risk exposure for human and natural consumers.
Journal Article
Destination Anthropocene : science and tourism in The Bahamas
\"Destination Anthropocene documents the emergence of new travel imaginaries forged at the intersection of the natural sciences and the tourism industry in a Caribbean archipelago. Known to travelers as a paradise of sun, sand, and sea, The Bahamas is rebranding itself in response to the rising threat of global environmental change, including climate change. In her imaginative new book, Amelia Moore explores an experimental form of tourism developed in the name of sustainability, one that is slowly changing the way both tourists and Bahamians come to know themselves and relate to island worlds\"-- Provided by publisher.
Book
Authentication of Herbal Supplements Using Next-Generation Sequencing
DNA-based testing has been gaining acceptance as a tool for authentication of a wide range of food products; however, its applicability for testing of herbal supplements remains contentious.
We utilized Sanger and Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) for taxonomic authentication of fifteen herbal supplements representing three different producers from five medicinal plants: Echinacea purpurea, Valeriana officinalis, Ginkgo biloba, Hypericum perforatum and Trigonella foenum-graecum. Experimental design included three modifications of DNA extraction, two lysate dilutions, Internal Amplification Control, and multiple negative controls to exclude background contamination. Ginkgo supplements were also analyzed using HPLC-MS for the presence of active medicinal components.
All supplements yielded DNA from multiple species, rendering Sanger sequencing results for rbcL and ITS2 regions either uninterpretable or non-reproducible between the experimental replicates. Overall, DNA from the manufacturer-listed medicinal plants was successfully detected in seven out of eight dry herb form supplements; however, low or poor DNA recovery due to degradation was observed in most plant extracts (none detected by Sanger; three out of seven-by NGS). NGS also revealed a diverse community of fungi, known to be associated with live plant material and/or the fermentation process used in the production of plant extracts. HPLC-MS testing demonstrated that Ginkgo supplements with degraded DNA contained ten key medicinal components.
Quality control of herbal supplements should utilize a synergetic approach targeting both DNA and bioactive components, especially for standardized extracts with degraded DNA. The NGS workflow developed in this study enables reliable detection of plant and fungal DNA and can be utilized by manufacturers for quality assurance of raw plant materials, contamination control during the production process, and the final product. Interpretation of results should involve an interdisciplinary approach taking into account the processes involved in production of herbal supplements, as well as biocomplexity of plant-plant and plant-fungal biological interactions.
Journal Article