The significance of historical factors for the cholology of Collembola diversity

Author(s):  
Kaprus I.

It is established that historical factors are important in the formation of modern areas of Collembola. However, the role of ecological and historical factors in the chorology of separate groups of Collembola is different in connection with the evolutionary history of the taxa and their adaptive potential. The significance of regional faunogenetic processes in the formation of the modern areas of the Collembola of Eurasia is increasing in the north-south direction. The main centers of endemism of Collembola of the temperate zone are concentrated in mountainous regions, as well as in the hills adjoining them, which could serve as the main collembolan refugia during the last glaciation. The faunae of plains are mainly of migratory origin. The hypothesis on the predominance of autochthonous processes in the formation of regional collembolan faunae on the territory of Ukraine and their multiregional postglacial colonization is formulated.

2018 ◽  
Vol 41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin Arceneaux

AbstractIntuitions guide decision-making, and looking to the evolutionary history of humans illuminates why some behavioral responses are more intuitive than others. Yet a place remains for cognitive processes to second-guess intuitive responses – that is, to be reflective – and individual differences abound in automatic, intuitive processing as well.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christophe Duplais ◽  
Vincent Sarou-Kanian ◽  
Dominique Massiot ◽  
Alia Hassan ◽  
Barbara Perrone ◽  
...  

AbstractAcross the evolutionary history of insects, the shift from nitrogen-rich carnivore/omnivore diets to nitrogen-poor herbivorous diets was made possible through symbiosis with microbes. The herbivorous turtle ants Cephalotes possess a conserved gut microbiome which enriches the nutrient composition by recycling nitrogen-rich metabolic waste to increase the production of amino acids. This enrichment is assumed to benefit the host, but we do not know to what extent. To gain insights into nitrogen assimilation in the ant cuticle we use gut bacterial manipulation, 15N isotopic enrichment, isotope-ratio mass spectrometry, and 15N nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy to demonstrate that gut bacteria contribute to the formation of proteins, catecholamine cross-linkers, and chitin in the cuticle. This study identifies the cuticular components which are nitrogen-enriched by gut bacteria, highlighting the role of symbionts in insect evolution, and provides a framework for understanding the nitrogen flow from nutrients through bacteria into the insect cuticle.


Science ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 373 (6551) ◽  
pp. 226-231 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yasuka Toda ◽  
Meng-Ching Ko ◽  
Qiaoyi Liang ◽  
Eliot T. Miller ◽  
Alejandro Rico-Guevara ◽  
...  

Early events in the evolutionary history of a clade can shape the sensory systems of descendant lineages. Although the avian ancestor may not have had a sweet receptor, the widespread incidence of nectar-feeding birds suggests multiple acquisitions of sugar detection. In this study, we identify a single early sensory shift of the umami receptor (the T1R1-T1R3 heterodimer) that conferred sweet-sensing abilities in songbirds, a large evolutionary radiation containing nearly half of all living birds. We demonstrate sugar responses across species with diverse diets, uncover critical sites underlying carbohydrate detection, and identify the molecular basis of sensory convergence between songbirds and nectar-specialist hummingbirds. This early shift shaped the sensory biology of an entire radiation, emphasizing the role of contingency and providing an example of the genetic basis of convergence in avian evolution.


2020 ◽  
pp. 7-32
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Kulczyńska ◽  
Natalia Borowicz ◽  
Karolina Piwnicka-Wdowikowska

Morasko University Campus in Poznań – origin, spatial and functional structure, transport solutions The purpose of the paper is to characterize the most recently created part of the Adam Mickiewicz University – the Morasko Campus. The paper consists of three parts. The first concerns the origins and development of the campus. The second part presents its spatial and functional structure on the basis of a field inventory, while the third one – campus transport solutions based on a survey conducted among students. The history of the campus located in the northern, peripheral part of the city began with laying the foundation act and the cornerstone in 1977. The agricultural role of this area, dominant until the 1980s, has been replaced with new functions, mainly academic and scientific ones. The first university buildings were commissioned in the 1990s, and the construction boom began after 2000. A total of nine faculties (out of 21 existing) are housed in eight buildings in the campus, including exact and natural sciences, as well as a part of social sciences and humanities. To this day, neither student dormitories nor accommodation for PhD students have been constructed (although they are likely to be built), which would emphasize the academic function of the campus. The campus also comprises areas with recreational, sports, residential and other service functions (e.g. catering, beauty, hairdressing, and commercial services), which are complemented by areas that serve transport functions. Location in the northern periphery of the city, and above all the railway line for freight (the northern bypass of Poznań) separating the city from the campus, makes transport to this part of the city limited. The results of the survey revealed a lack of a safe bicycle path between the western and eastern part of the campus, insufficient number of parking places for motorists, a lack of paved roads from the north and west, only three narrow access roads for car commuters, and difficult access by public transport to the eastern and north-eastern parts. In the latter case, the planned extension of the tram line towards Umultowo after the year 2022 is expected to solve the problem. Zarys treści: Celem opracowania jest charakterystyka najmłodszej przestrzeni Uniwersytetu im. Adama Mickiewicza – Kampusu Morasko. Opracowanie składa się z trzech zasadniczych części. Pierwsza część artykułu dotyczy genezy powstania i rozbudowy miasteczka uniwersyteckiego. W drugiej części przedstawiono strukturę przestrzenno-funkcjonalną kampusu w oparciu o inwentaryzację terenową, w trzeciej zaś obsługę transportową na podstawie badań ankietowych przeprowadzonych wśród studentów. Historia położonego w północnej, peryferyjnej części miasta kampusu rozpoczęła się od wmurowania aktu erekcyjnego i kamienia węgielnego w 1977 r. Dominująca do lat 80. XX w. funkcja rolnicza tego obszaru została zastąpiona przez nowe funkcje, głównie akademickie i naukowe. Pierwsze budynki dydaktyczne oddano do użytku dopiero w latach 90. ubiegłego wieku, a boom budowlany rozpoczął się po roku 2000. Swoją siedzibę znalazły tutaj nauki ścisłe i przyrodnicze, a także część nauk społecznych i humanistycznych, w sumie dziewięć wydziałów (na 21 istniejących) w ośmiu budynkach. Do dzisiaj nie wybudowano akademików czy domu doktoranta (choć istnieją realne szanse na ich powstanie), co podkreśliłoby funkcję akademicką kampusu. W strukturze kampusu wyróżnia się ponadto obszary o funkcjach rekreacyjnych, rekreacyjno-sportowych, mieszkaniowych i innych o charakterze usługowym (np. usługi gastronomiczne, kosmetyczne, fryzjerskie, handel), których uzupełnieniem są obszary o funkcjach komunikacyjnych. Położenie na północnych peryferiach miasta, a przede wszystkim linia kolejowa dla przewozów towarowych (północna obwodnica Poznania) oddzielająca miasto od kampusu sprawiają, że obsługa transportowa tej części miasta jest ograniczona. Wyniki badań ankietowych wskazują na brak bezpiecznej drogi rowerowej między zachodnią i północno-wschodnią częścią kampusu, niewystarczającą liczbę miejsc parkingowych dla zmotoryzowanych, brak utwardzonych dróg od strony północnej i zachodniej, zaledwie trzy wąskie wjazdy na kampus dla dojeżdżających samochodem czy utrudniony dojazd komunikacją publiczną do części wschodniej i północno-wschodniej. W tym ostatnim przypadku rozwiązaniem ma być planowana po 2022 r. rozbudowa linii tramwajowej w kierunku Umultowa.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keerthic Aswin ◽  
Srinivasan Ramachandran ◽  
Vivek T Natarajan

AbstractEvolutionary history of coronaviruses holds the key to understand mutational behavior and prepare for possible future outbreaks. By performing comparative genome analysis of nidovirales that contain the family of coronaviruses, we traced the origin of proofreading, surprisingly to the eukaryotic antiviral component ZNFX1. This common recent ancestor contributes two zinc finger (ZnF) motifs that are unique to viral exonuclease, segregating them from DNA proof-readers. Phylogenetic analyses indicate that following acquisition, genomes of coronaviruses retained and further fine-tuned proofreading exonuclease, whereas related families harbor substitution of key residues in ZnF1 motif concomitant to a reduction in their genome sizes. Structural modelling followed by simulation suggests the role of ZnF in RNA binding. Key ZnF residues strongly coevolve with replicase, and the helicase involved in duplex RNA unwinding. Hence, fidelity of replication in coronaviruses is a result of convergent evolution, that enables maintenance of genome stability akin to cellular proofreading systems.


Author(s):  
Karen Radner ◽  
Nadine Moeller ◽  
D. T. Potts

With the emphasis of the Oxford History of the Ancient Near East firmly placed on the political, social, and cultural histories of the states and communities shaping Egypt and Western Asia (including the Levant, Anatolia, Mesopotamia, and Iran), this introduction to the five-volume series seeks to place the region in its environmental context. It discusses the lay of the land between the North African coast and the Hindu Kush, including the role of tectonics and geomorphology. It also considers some key issues regarding climatic conditions, focusing in particular on the significance of the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone and the potential impact of megadroughts and pandemics.


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jouko Rikkinen ◽  
David A. Grimaldi ◽  
Alexander R. Schmidt

AbstractMyxomycetes constitute a group within the Amoebozoa well known for their motile plasmodia and morphologically complex fruiting bodies. One obstacle hindering studies of myxomycete evolution is that their fossils are exceedingly rare, so evolutionary analyses of this supposedly ancient lineage of amoebozoans are restricted to extant taxa. Molecular data have significantly advanced myxomycete systematics, but the evolutionary history of individual lineages and their ecological adaptations remain unknown. Here, we report exquisitely preserved myxomycete sporocarps in amber from Myanmar, ca. 100 million years old, one of the few fossil myxomycetes, and the only definitive Mesozoic one. Six densely-arranged stalked sporocarps were engulfed in tree resin while young, with almost the entire spore mass still inside the sporotheca. All morphological features are indistinguishable from those of the modern, cosmopolitan genus Stemonitis, demonstrating that sporocarp morphology has been static since at least the mid-Cretaceous. The ability of myxomycetes to develop into dormant stages, which can last years, may account for the phenotypic stasis between living Stemonitis species and this fossil one, similar to the situation found in other organisms that have cryptobiosis. We also interpret Stemonitis morphological stasis as evidence of strong environmental selection favouring the maintenance of adaptations that promote wind dispersal.


2020 ◽  
Vol 287 (1938) ◽  
pp. 20202318
Author(s):  
James P. Rule ◽  
Justin W. Adams ◽  
Felix G. Marx ◽  
Alistair R. Evans ◽  
Alan J. D. Tennyson ◽  
...  

Living true seals (phocids) are the most widely dispersed semi-aquatic marine mammals, and comprise geographically separate northern (phocine) and southern (monachine) groups. Both are thought to have evolved in the North Atlantic, with only two monachine lineages—elephant seals and lobodontins—subsequently crossing the equator. The third and most basal monachine tribe, the monk seals, have hitherto been interpreted as exclusively northern and (sub)tropical throughout their entire history. Here, we describe a new species of extinct monk seal from the Pliocene of New Zealand, the first of its kind from the Southern Hemisphere, based on one of the best-preserved and richest samples of seal fossils worldwide. This unanticipated discovery reveals that all three monachine tribes once coexisted south of the equator, and forces a profound revision of their evolutionary history: rather than primarily diversifying in the North Atlantic, monachines largely evolved in the Southern Hemisphere, and from this southern cradle later reinvaded the north. Our results suggest that true seals crossed the equator over eight times in their history. Overall, they more than double the age of the north–south dichotomy characterizing living true seals and confirms a surprisingly recent major change in southern phocid diversity.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandre Freitas da Silva ◽  
Laís Ceschini Machado ◽  
Marcia Bicudo de Paula ◽  
Carla Júlia da Silva Pessoa Vieira ◽  
Roberta Vieira de Morais Bronzoni ◽  
...  

Abstract Mosquitoes are insects of medical importance due their role as vectors of different pathogens to humans. There is a lack of information about the evolutionary history and phylogenetic positioning of the majority of mosquito species. Here we characterized the mitogenomes of mosquito species through low-coverage whole genome sequencing and data mining. A total of 37 draft mitogenomes of different species were assembled from which 16 are newly-sequenced species. We datamined additional 49 mosquito mitogenomes, and together with our 37 mitogenomes, we reconstructed the evolutionary history of 86 species including representatives from 15 genera and 7 tribes. Our results showed that most of the species clustered in clades with other members of their own genus with exception of Aedes genus which was paraphyletic. We confirmed the monophyletic status of the Mansoniini tribe including both Coquillettidia and Mansonia genus. The Aedeomyiini and Uranotaeniini were consistently recovered as basal to other tribes in the subfamily Culicinae, although the exact relationships among these tribes differed between analyses. These results demonstrate that low-coverage sequencing is effective to recover mitogenomes, establish phylogenetic knowledge and hence generate basic fundamental information that will help in the understanding of the role of these species as pathogen vectors.


Pneuma ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 417-425
Author(s):  
Steven M. Studebaker

Abstract Winds from the North showcases the role of early Canadian Pentecostals in the development of the global movement. It adds to the recent polygenetic thesis that challenges the popular notion that Pentecostalism originated largely in American revival centers, principally Azusa Street, and makes the case for diverse global points of origin. Canadian Pentecostalism exhibits unique characteristics, and its leaders made seminal and independent contributions to worldwide Pentecostalism. In addition to presenting a case for the independent origins and unique features, it highlights the role of women leaders in the early phases and spotlights the history of the Oneness and the Latter Rain movements of Canadian Pentecostalism. Though a vital addition to the field of Pentecostal research, the plausibility and necessity of independent origins and autonomous characteristics of the Canadian contribution to global Pentecostalism needs examination.


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