Sampling, taxonomic description, and our evolving knowledge of morphological diversity

Paleobiology ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 181-206 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mike Foote
Keyword(s):  
Morphological Analysis ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Marine Invertebrates ◽  
Morphological Diversity ◽  
Taxonomic Diversity ◽  
Past Century ◽  
General Tendency ◽  
The Past ◽  
Taxonomic Description ◽  
History Of

Morphological analysis of four higher taxa of fossil marine invertebrates shows that, over the history of paleontology, there is no general tendency for morphologically extreme or modal species and genera to be described preferentially early or late. Reconstructing the expected evolutionary sequences of morphological disparity that would have been estimated at various times during the past century and a half reveals features that are sensitive to sampling (for example, peak trilobite disparity in the Ordovician, peak of post-Paleozoic crinoid disparity in the Triassic, and peak blastoid disparity in the Permian), as well as more robust features (for example, increase in trilobite disparity from the Cambrian to the Ordovician, continued increase in trilobite disparity despite a drop in taxonomic diversity after the Early Ordovician, decrease in blastoid disparity from the Devonian to the Carboniferous, and increase in crinoid disparity from the Jurassic to the Cretaceous followed by decline during the Cretaceous). Although we still have much to learn about the evolution of form, in many respects our view of the history of biological diversity is mature.

scholarly journals Welcome to a new, international open-access research journal with a particular focus on the development of theoretical and experimental techniques and methodology

2011 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. e1
Author(s):  
Fulvio Melia
Keyword(s):  
Open Access ◽  
Open Access Journal ◽  
Original Research ◽  
Past Century ◽  
The Past ◽  
Research Journal ◽  
History Of ◽  
Mathematical Techniques ◽  
Instrumental Development ◽  
Astronomy And Astrophysics

I have recently had the privilege of being appointed Editor-in-Chief of this very exciting and innovative Open Access Journal, and hereby extend a warm welcome to everyone as we launch Astronomy Studies Development, which will seek to publish high quality, peer-reviewed, original manuscripts in all fields of astronomy and astrophysics, though with a particular focus on mathematical techniques and methodology and innovative ideas for instrumental development and modeling in astronomy and astrophysics. The journal will also seek to publish simulations in all areas, including cosmology, particle astrophysics, accretion, and diffuse media. Our journal will include both full length research articles and letter articles, and its coverage extends over solar, stellar, galactic and extragalactic astronomy and astrophysics, and will report original research in all wavelength bands. Astronomy and Astrophysics are rather mature disciplines, with a history of quality journals over the past century or more. So one may reasonably ask why a new journal such as this is needed. Obviously, I myself have answered this question in the affirmative. After a long career in research and publishing, I have the perspective to provide several good reasons for helping to promote the evolution of publishing in Astronomy and Astrophysics to a place more in line with present technology..........

scholarly journals Social tourism in Greece: a brief history of development from the interwar years to the COVID-19 era.

2021 ◽  
pp. 5-17
Author(s):  
Konstantinos I. Kakoudakis ◽  
Katerina Papadoulaki
Keyword(s):  
Developmental Process ◽  
Tourism Development ◽  
Past Century ◽  
Refugee Crisis ◽  
Modern Greek ◽  
The Past ◽  
History Of Development ◽  
Time Period ◽  
Key Players ◽  
History Of

Abstract This chapter illustrates the process of social tourism development in Greece, from the interwar years until the present day. The chapter first sets the discussion within the context of the country's turbulent political, social and economic background, throughout most of the past century, which has exercised significant influence on the development of Greek tourism in general, and social tourism specifically. It then identifies and presents two main phases of social tourism development, highlighting important initiatives and key players that contributed to the incremental evolution of social tourism programmes in Greece, and also events that impeded their implementation and smooth running. Specific emphasis is given to the past four decades, since this time period has largely shaped the contemporary form of Greek social tourism programmes. Therefore, the chapter explicates the close linkages between the establishment of the modern Greek welfare state in the early 1980s, and the development of social tourism as we know it today. The chapter concludes with a brief discussion on the developmental process of contemporary Greek social tourism over time, and the important socioeconomic implications of its current practice in the aftermath of the Greek financial crisis, and in the midst of the refugee crisis in Europe, and the Covid-19 pandemic.

Idealists and Realists: British Views of Germany,1864–1939

1975 ◽  
Vol 25 ◽  
pp. 137-156 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. M. Kennedy
Keyword(s):  
Narrative Form ◽  
Past Century ◽  
General Survey ◽  
Small Segment ◽  
The Past ◽  
British Policy ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Number Of Publications ◽  
Sheer Number

Yet another survey of the much-traversed field of Anglo-German relations will seem to many historians of modern Europe to border on the realm of superfluity; probably no two countries have had their relationship to each other so frequently examined in the past century as Britain and Germany. Moreover, even if one restricted such a study to the British side alone, the sheer number of publications upon this topic, or upon only a section of it like the age of ‘appeasement’, is simply too great to allow a compression of existing knowledge into a narrative form that would be anything other than crude and sketchy. The following contribution therefore seeks neither to provide such a general survey, nor, by use of new and detailed archival materials, to concentrate upon a small segment of the history of British policy towards Germany in the period 1864–1939; but instead to consider throughout all these years a particular aspect, namely, the respective arguments of Germanophiles and Germanophobes in Britain and the connection between this dialogue and the more general ideological standpoints of both sides. In so doing, the author has produced a survey which remains embarrassingly summary in detail but does at least attempt to offer a fresh approach to the subject.

The Southern Levant and the Ancient Near Eastern Canon

2020 ◽  
pp. 45-65
Author(s):  
Rachel Hallote
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Past Century ◽  
Southern Levant ◽  
Near Eastern ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Biblical Narratives ◽  
History Of ◽  
Late Nineteenth

When the artistic canon of the Southern Levant coalesced in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, scholars thought of the region, then Ottoman Palestine, as the locus of the Bible. The small-scale nature of the archaeological finds as well as their relative dearth reinforced a reliance on biblical narratives as a framework for understanding the culture of the region. Moreover, early scholarship did not recognize the complex regionalism of the Southern Levant or the diversity of its populations. Consequently, the artistic canon that developed did not represent the historical and archaeological realities of the region. This chapter examines the history of how the artistic canon of the Southern Levant formed over the past century of scholarship, why various scholars of the early and middle twentieth century included particular items in the canon, and why these now entrenched representations may or may not be helpful to the discipline’s future.

Biodiversity Along Core–Periphery Clines

2005 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sergei Volis ◽  
Salit Kark
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Diversity ◽  
Species Diversity ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Morphological Diversity ◽  
Spatial Location ◽  
Convention On Biological Diversity ◽  
Conservation Priorities ◽  
Past Century ◽  
Geographical Patterns ◽  
Local Populations

The study of biodiversity has received wide attention in recent decades. Biodiversity has been defined in various ways (Gaston and Spicer, 1998, Purvis and Hector 2000, and chapters in this volume). Discussion regarding its definitions is dynamic, with shifts between the more traditional emphasis on community structure to emphasis on the higher ecosystem level or the lower population levels (e.g., chapters in this volume, Poiani et al. 2000). One of the definitions, proposed in the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity held in Rio de Janeiro (1992) is “the diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems.” The within-species component of diversity is further defined as “the frequency and diversity of different genes and/or genomes . . .” (IUCN 1993) as estimated by the genetic and morphological diversity within species. While research and conservation efforts in the past century have focused mainly on the community level, they have recently been extended to include the within-species (Hanski 1989) and the ecosystem levels. The component comprising within-species genetic and morphological diversity is increasingly emphasized as an important element of biodiversity (UN Convention 1992). Recent studies suggest that patterns of genetic diversity significantly influence the viability and persistence of local populations (Frankham 1996, Lacy 1997, Riddle 1996, Vrijenhoek et al. 1985). Revealing geographical patterns of genetic diversity is highly relevant to conservation biology and especially to explicit decision-making procedures allowing systematic rather than opportunistic selection of populations and areas for in situ protection (Pressey et al. 1993). Therefore, studying spatial patterns in within-species diversity may be vital in defining and prioritizing conservation efforts (Brooks et al. 1992). Local populations of a species often differ in the ecological conditions experienced by their members (Brown 1984, Gaston 1990, Lawton et al. 1994). These factors potentially affect population characteristics, structure, and within-population genetic and morphological diversity (Brussard 1984, Lawton 1995, Parsons 1991). The spatial location of a population within a species range may be related to its patterns of diversity (Lesica and Allendorf 1995). Thus, detecting within-species diversity patterns across distributional ranges is important for our understanding of ecological and evolutionary (e.g., speciation) processes (Smith et al. 1997), and for the determination of conservation priorities (Kark 1999).

Understanding Empathy

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Changming Duan ◽  
Kristen Sager
Keyword(s):  
Biological Sciences ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Positive Psychology ◽  
Past Century ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
Societal Health

Empathy, one of the most studied and most multidisciplinary theoretical constructs, has garnered the attention of scholars from psychology as well as the social and biological sciences. The scholarship of empathy has developed significantly in the past century, with the most notable knowledge emerging in the areas of the neuroscience of empathy and the interplay between race/culture and empathy in recent decades. The positive psychology of empathy also continues to occupy researchers, as the links between empathy and individual and societal health abound. Future empathy research by socially and scholastically responsible scientists must overcome a long history of Euro-ethnocentric biases and integrate social justice into the understanding of this important construct. The scholarship and application of empathy will continue to be an important source of positivity for humans and for society as a whole.

scholarly journals The moral arc of the library: what are our duties and limitations after 45?

2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 219-225
Author(s):  
Kelsey Cheshire ◽  
Jennifer Stout
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
White Privilege ◽  
White Supremacy ◽  
Code Of Ethics ◽  
Past Century ◽  
Political Climate ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Critical Thought ◽  
The Past ◽  
History Of

Purpose This study aims to explore the question of whether or not librarians can ethically remain politically neutral in the wake of the 45th administration. The authors take a critical look at the American Library Association’s Code of Ethics, as well as the concept of vocational awe, and recommend challenging the “sacredness” of neutrality as a core tenet of the profession. Additionally, the authors describe the history of white privilege within libraries and argue that it is time to actively fight white supremacy and disavow the profession’s history of replicating racist social structures. Design/methodology/approach This study is a researched think piece designed to encourage critical thought about long-held idealistic beliefs in the profession. Findings This study suggests that despite the profession’s history of outwardly valuing “neutrality,” libraries are not and have never been neutral. Libraries have chosen, time and again, to value white privilege and a white frame of reference to the detriment of librarians and patrons of color. Because many librarians also see the profession as upholding “sacred” ideals like neutrality, we fall into the trap of being unable to criticize our own profession and practices and, therefore, are unable to make much needed changes. Research limitations/implications This study is based on the opinions of the authors and on the opinions of authors they have cited. It contains no original quantitative or qualitative research. Originality/value This study challenges the long-held assumptions that the profession has taken for granted over the past century. The authors argue that it is good and necessary to question the Code of Ethics, vocational awe and neutrality with the goal of improving the profession in light of the current cultural and political climate.

scholarly journals Covert medication – ever ethically justifiable?

2002 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 123-126 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Welsh ◽  
Martin Deahl
Keyword(s):  
Public Attitudes ◽  
Past Century ◽  
Philosophy Of Psychiatry ◽  
The Past ◽  
Medical Museum ◽  
History Of ◽  
Medical Specialities

‘The practice of psychiatry is more vulnerable to criticism than any other area of medicine’ (Mason & McCall Smith, 1999). The interventionist philosophy of psychiatry and the legacy of the psychiatric practices of the past century have left an imprint on society's mind of coercive treatments against a background of unscientific evidence of benefit. Other medical specialities conversely are forgiven their history of barbarism (has anyone been to a medical museum lately?) on the grounds that they were using the only tools available to them at the time. Public attitudes, including stigma and suspicion, make it more difficult for us to claim a similar defence, and modern day psychiatrists appear to bear the indelible scars of our predecessors' actions.

Passing on the fire - To further inspire people to contribute to the management of animal genetic resources

2007 ◽  
Vol 41 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
B. Kubbinga ◽  
I. Hoffmann ◽  
B. Scherf
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Genetic Resources ◽  
Financial Support ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Technical Conference ◽  
Civil Society Organizations ◽  
Convention On Biological Diversity ◽  
The Past ◽  
Animal Genetic Resources ◽  
History Of

SummaryIn light of the upcoming first International Technical Conference on Animal Genetic Resources (September 2007), experts have been interviewed to tell about their experiences in the management of animal genetic resources over the past fifty years. They identified three milestones in the history of Animal Genetic Resources (AnGR) management: the foundation of the Rare Breeds Survival Trust (1973), the FAO/UNEP 1980 Technical Consultation on AnGR, and the signing of the Convention on Biological Diversity (1992). Conservation of AnGR started at grassroot level and eventually led to policies at governmental level. The passion of civil society organizations remains vital to conserve local livestock breeds. Technical and financial support will be crucial for the future of AnGR conservation. The next milestone will be a Global Plan of Action that is expected as one outcome of the International Technical Conference.

scholarly journals Productivity Growth and Machinery Investment: A Long-Run Look, 1870–1980

1992 ◽  
Vol 52 (2) ◽  
pp. 307-324 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Bradford De Long
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Productivity Growth ◽  
Rapid Growth ◽  
History Of Technology ◽  
High Rate ◽  
Past Century ◽  
The Past ◽  
Long Run ◽  
History Of ◽  
Good Proxy

Over the past century in six major economies, economic growth has been strongly associated with machinery investment, as is the case for a larger group of nations since 1950. Both macroeconomic patterns and narratives of the history of technology suggest that this association is causal—that a high rate of machinery investment appears to be a necessary prerequisite for rapid long-run growth—and points away from possibilities that rapid growth is the cause of high machinery investment or that a high rate of machinery investment is a good proxy for other factors that are important causes of growth.

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