Oceanic Water Temperatures Less Than 20°C May Partly Account for Bias in American Eel Elver Otolith Age Estimates

AbstractOlder participants who are briefly presented with the ‘my wife/mother-in-law’ ambiguous figure estimate its age to be higher than young participants do. This finding is thought to be the result of a subconscious social group bias that influences participants’ perception of the figure. Because people are better able to recognize similarly aged individuals, young participants are expected to perceive the ambiguous figure as a young woman, while older participants are more likely to recognize an older lady. We replicate the difference in age estimates, but find no relationship between participants’ age and their perception of the ambiguous figure. This leads us to conclude that the positive relationship between participants’ age and their age estimates of the ambiguous ‘my wife/mother-in-law’ figure is better explained by the own-age anchor effect, which holds that people use their own age as a yard stick to judge the age of the figure, regardless of whether the young woman or the older lady is perceived. Our results disqualify the original finding as an example of cognitive penetrability: the participants’ age biases their judgment of the ambiguous figure, not its perception.

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Molecular clocks in ancient proteins: Do they reflect the age at death even after millennia?

International Journal of Legal Medicine ◽

10.1007/s00414-021-02522-1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Nina Sophia Mahlke ◽

Silvia Renhart ◽

Dorothea Talaa ◽

Alexandra Reckert ◽

Stefanie Ritz-Timme

Keyword(s):

Protein Degradation ◽

Forensic Medicine ◽

Molecular Clocks ◽

Post Mortem ◽

Age At Death ◽

Morphological Examination ◽

Dental Tissues ◽

Ancient Proteins ◽

Age Estimates ◽

Age At Death Estimation

AbstractAge at death estimation in cases of human skeletal finds is an important task in forensic medicine as well as in anthropology. In forensic medicine, methods based on “molecular clocks” in dental tissues and bone play an increasing role. The question, whether these methods are applicable also in cases with post-depositional intervals far beyond the forensically relevant period, was investigated for two “protein clocks”, the accumulation of D-aspartic acid (D-Asp) and the accumulation of pentosidine (Pen) in dentine. Eight teeth of skeletons from different burial sites in Austria and with post-depositional intervals between c. 1216 and c. 8775 years were analysed. The results of age at death estimation based on D-Asp and Pen in dentine were compared to that derived from a classical morphological examination. Age at death estimation based on D-Asp resulted consistently in false high values. This finding can be explained by a post-mortem accumulation of D-Asp that may be enhanced by protein degradation. In contrast, the Pen-based age estimates fitted well with the morphological age diagnoses. The described effect of post-mortem protein degradation is negligible in forensically relevant time horizons, but not for post-depositional intervals of thousands of years. That means that the “D-Asp clock” loses its functionality with increasing post-depositional intervals, whereas Pen seems to be very stable. The “Pen-clock” may have the potential to become an interesting supplement to the existing repertoire of methods even in cases with extremely long post-depositional intervals. Further investigations have to test this hypothesis.

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Estimating growth of tropical tunas in the Indian Ocean using tag-recapture data and otolith-based age estimates

Fisheries Research ◽

10.1016/j.fishres.2014.05.016 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 163 ◽

pp. 58-68 ◽

Cited By ~ 19

Author(s):

J. Paige Eveson ◽

Julien Million ◽

Fany Sardenne ◽

Gaël Le Croizier

Keyword(s):

Indian Ocean ◽

The Indian Ocean ◽

Age Estimates

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Oceanic Environmental Effects on American Eel Recruitment to the East River, Chester, Nova Scotia

Marine and Coastal Fisheries ◽

10.1002/mcf2.10121 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (4) ◽

pp. 222-237

Author(s):

Brian M. Jessop

Keyword(s):

Nova Scotia ◽

Environmental Effects ◽

American Eel ◽

East River

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Dating of Prehistoric Burial Mounds by 14C Analysis of Soil Organic Matter Fractions

Radiocarbon ◽

10.1017/s0033822200032434 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 45 (1) ◽

pp. 101-112 ◽

Cited By ~ 27

Author(s):

Søren M Kristiansen ◽

Kristian Dalsgaard ◽

Mads K Holst ◽

Bent Aaby ◽

Jan Heinemeier

Keyword(s):

Organic Matter ◽

Soil Organic Matter ◽

Soil Science ◽

Ams Dating ◽

Buried Soil ◽

Archaeological Artifacts ◽

Burial Mounds ◽

Organic Matter Fractions ◽

Age Estimates ◽

Organic Remains

Dating of prehistoric anthropogenic earthworks requires either excavation for archaeological artifacts or macroscopic organic matter suitable for 14C analysis. Yet, the former, in many cases, is undesirable and the latter is difficult to obtain. Here we present a soil science procedure, which has the potential to overcome these problems. It includes careful sampling of buried former soil surfaces, acid-alkali-acid fractionation of soil organic matter (SOM), and subsequent 14C AMS dating. To test the procedure, soil from one of the largest known burial mounds in Scandinavia, Hohøj, and 9 other Danish burial mounds were sampled. The 14C dates from extracted SOM fractions were compared to reference ages obtained by other methods. We show that humic acid fractions in 7 of the 10 mounds had the same age as the reference, or were, at maximum, 280 yr older than the reference ages. The best age estimates were derived from an organic-rich layer from the upper cm of buried soil or sod. Differences among SOM fraction ages probably indicate the reliability of the dating. Hohøj dated to approximately 1400 BC and, thus, was up to 500 yr older than other dated Scandinavian mounds of comparable size. The remaining investigated burial mounds were dated to between 1700 and 1250 BC. We conclude that combined sampling of buried soil surfaces, SOM fractionation, and 14C analysis allows for dating of archaeological earthworks when minimal disturbance is required, or if no macroscopic organic remains are found.

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Oceanographic parameters in continental margin of the State of Ceará (northeastern Brazil) deduced from C and O isotopes in foraminifers

Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciências ◽

10.1590/s0001-37652007000100015 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 79 (1) ◽

pp. 129-139 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Wanessa S. Marques ◽

Eldemar de A. Menor ◽

Alcides N. Sial ◽

Valdir A.V. Manso ◽

Satander S. Freire

Keyword(s):

Continental Margin ◽

Benthic Foraminifera ◽

Linear Equations ◽

The State ◽

Northeastern Brazil ◽

Oceanic Water ◽

Ocean Water ◽

Oxygen Utilization ◽

Carbon And Oxygen Isotopes ◽

Planktic Foraminifera

Specimens of Recent foraminifera of Amphistegina radiata, Peneroplis planatus and Globigerinoides ruber, from fifty samples of surface sediments of the continental margin of the State of Ceará, Brazil, have been analyzed for carbon and oxygen isotopes to investigate oceanographic parameters and determine the values of delta18O of the oceanic water. From a comparison between values of delta18O obtained for ocean water using the linear equations by (Craig and Gordon 1965) and the one by Wolff et al. (1998), it became evident that the former yielded a more reliable value (0.2‰ SMOW) than the latter. Lower values of delta18O for the ocean water in this continental margin resulted from continental water influence. Values of 18O (-0.3‰ to -1.5‰ PDB for benthic foraminifera and -0.6‰ to -2.4‰ PDB for planktic foraminifera), attest to a variation of temperatures of oceanic water masses, in average, between 20 to 22ºC in deep water and 24 to 27ºC, in surface water. Values of delta13C from +3.2‰ to -0.2‰ PDB (benthic foraminifera) reflect a variation in the apparent oxygen utilization (AOU) in the continental margin and indicate that the environments of bacteriological decomposition of organic matter are not continuous along the investigated area.

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