scholarly journals Panchromatic SED fitting codes and modelling techniques

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (S341) ◽  
pp. 26-34
Author(s):  
Maarten Baes

AbstractModelling and interpreting the SEDs of galaxies has become one of the key tools at the disposal of extragalactic astronomers. Ideally, we could hope that, through a detailed study of its SED, we can infer the correct physical properties and the evolutionary history of a galaxy. In the past decade, panchromatic SED fitting, i.e. modelling the SED over the entire UV–submm wavelength regime, has seen an enormous advance. Several advanced new codes have been developed, nearly all based on Bayesian inference modelling. In this review, we briefly touch upon the different ingredients necessary for panchromatic SED modelling, and discuss the methodology and some important aspects of Bayesian SED modelling. The current uncertainties and limitations of panchromatic SED modelling are discussed, and we explore some avenues how the models and techniques can potentially be improved in the near future.

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Weizhao Yang ◽  
Nathalie Feiner ◽  
Catarina Pinho ◽  
Geoffrey M. While ◽  
Antigoni Kaliontzopoulou ◽  
...  

AbstractThe Mediterranean basin is a hotspot of biodiversity, fuelled by climatic oscillation and geological change over the past 20 million years. Wall lizards of the genus Podarcis are among the most abundant, diverse, and conspicuous Mediterranean fauna. Here, we unravel the remarkably entangled evolutionary history of wall lizards by sequencing genomes of 34 major lineages covering 26 species. We demonstrate an early (>11 MYA) separation into two clades centred on the Iberian and Balkan Peninsulas, and two clades of Mediterranean island endemics. Diversification within these clades was pronounced between 6.5–4.0 MYA, a period spanning the Messinian Salinity Crisis, during which the Mediterranean Sea nearly dried up before rapidly refilling. However, genetic exchange between lineages has been a pervasive feature throughout the entire history of wall lizards. This has resulted in a highly reticulated pattern of evolution across the group, characterised by mosaic genomes with major contributions from two or more parental taxa. These hybrid lineages gave rise to several of the extant species that are endemic to Mediterranean islands. The mosaic genomes of island endemics may have promoted their extraordinary adaptability and striking diversity in body size, shape and colouration, which have puzzled biologists for centuries.


2009 ◽  
Vol 5 (H15) ◽  
pp. 816-816
Author(s):  
T. Prusti

AbstractGaia is a space astrometry mission, a broad survey project following the measurement and operational principles of Hipparcos. It will help solving one of the most difficult yet deeply fundamental challenges in modern astronomy: to create an extraordinarily precise three-dimensional map of about one billion stars throughout our Galaxy and beyond. In the process, it will map their three-dimensional motions, which encode the origin and subsequent evolution of the Galaxy. Through comprehensive photometric and spectroscopic classification, it will provide the detailed physical properties of each star observed: characterising their luminosity, temperature, gravity, and elemental composition. This massive stellar census will provide the basic observational data to tackle an enormous range of important problems related to the origin, structure, and evolutionary history of our Galaxy.


During the past decade, there has been a rapid growth in studies of the physical properties of the asteroids. In consequence, there now exists a much better basis than there was hitherto for comparing the properties of meteorites, determined in the laboratory, with those of asteroids. The way in which recent measurements of asteroids and meteorites can be interrelated to determine the nature and history of a meteorite parent body is illustrated via a case study of the asteroid Vesta and the Ca-rich achondrite Kapoeta.


2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (7) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicolas Arning ◽  
Daniel J. Wilson

Groundbreaking studies conducted in the mid-1980s demonstrated the possibility of sequencing ancient DNA (aDNA), which has allowed us to answer fundamental questions about the human past. Microbiologists were thus given a powerful tool to glimpse directly into inscrutable bacterial history, hitherto inaccessible due to a poor fossil record. Initially plagued by concerns regarding contamination, the field has grown alongside technical progress, with the advent of high-throughput sequencing being a breakthrough in sequence output and authentication. Albeit burdened with challenges unique to the analysis of bacteria, a growing number of viable sources for aDNA has opened multiple avenues of microbial research. Ancient pathogens have been extracted from bones, dental pulp, mummies and historical medical specimens and have answered focal historical questions such as identifying the aetiological agent of the black death as Yersinia pestis . Furthermore, ancient human microbiomes from fossilized faeces, mummies and dental plaque have shown shifts in human commensals through the Neolithic demographic transition and industrial revolution, whereas environmental isolates stemming from permafrost samples have revealed signs of ancient antimicrobial resistance. Culminating in an ever-growing repertoire of ancient genomes, the quickly expanding body of bacterial aDNA studies has also enabled comparisons of ancient genomes to their extant counterparts, illuminating the evolutionary history of bacteria. In this review we summarize the present avenues of research and contextualize them in the past of the field whilst also pointing towards questions still to be answered.


BMC Biology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuji Matsuo ◽  
Akinao Nose ◽  
Hiroshi Kohsaka

Abstract Background Speed and trajectory of locomotion are the characteristic traits of individual species. Locomotion kinematics may have been shaped during evolution towards increased survival in the habitats of each species. Although kinematics of locomotion is thought to be influenced by habitats, the quantitative relation between the kinematics and environmental factors has not been fully revealed. Here, we performed comparative analyses of larval locomotion in 11 Drosophila species. Results We found that larval locomotion kinematics are divergent among the species. The diversity is not correlated to the body length but is correlated instead to the habitat temperature of the species. Phylogenetic analyses using Bayesian inference suggest that the evolutionary rate of the kinematics is diverse among phylogenetic tree branches. Conclusions The results of this study imply that the kinematics of larval locomotion has diverged in the evolutionary history of the genus Drosophila and evolved under the effects of the ambient temperature of habitats.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuji Matsuo ◽  
Akinao Nose ◽  
Hiroshi Kohsaka

AbstractSpeed and trajectory of locomotion are characteristic traits of individual species. During evolution, locomotion kinematics is likely to have been tuned for survival in the habitats of each species. Although kinematics of locomotion is thought to be influenced by habitats, the quantitative relation between the kinematics and environmental factors has not been fully revealed. Here, we performed comparative analyses of larval locomotion in 11 Drosophila species. We found that larval locomotion kinematics are divergent among the species. The diversity is not correlated to the body length but is correlated instead to the minimum habitat temperature of the species. Phylogenetic analyses using Bayesian inference suggest that the evolutionary rate of the kinematics is diverse among phylogenetic trees. The results of this study imply that the kinematics of larval locomotion has diverged in the evolutionary history of the genus Drosophila and evolved under the effects of the minimum ambient temperature of habitats.


Author(s):  
Robert Conger ◽  
Amanda Blum ◽  
Paul A. Erickson

Over the past decade there has been a distinct trend toward implementing computer technology in education. The advent of affordable, student accessible computing power has allowed engineering curricula to follow the trends of computer technology in the engineering workplace. The developments in hardware and software, combined with the explosive entrance of the Internet, have allowed design projects to evolve into elaborate and imaginative endeavors. The enhanced speed at which projects can now be completed allows students the opportunity to undertake tasks of greater magnitude, while the advanced tools now available permit students to solve more sophisticated and lifelike problems. The examination of a senior-level design course, in which students must design and build a maze-solving robot, serves to highlight the educational benefits that stand to be gained through the judicious application of technology. The evolutionary history of this design course demonstrates the remarkable progress that computer technology has allowed in educational settings.


Paleobiology ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 517-530 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geerat J. Vermeij

AbstractHistorians have debated whether pathways and events from the past to the present are influenced largely by contingency, the dependence of outcomes on particular prior conditions, or whether there is long-term emergent directional change. Previous arguments for predictability in evolutionary history relied on the high frequency of convergence, but the repeated evolution of widely favored adaptations need not imply long-term directionality. Using evidence from the fossil record and arguments concerning the metabolic evolution of organisms, I show here that power (total energy taken up and expended per unit time) has increased stepwise over time at ecosystem-level and global scales thanks to the ratchet-like, cumulative effects of competition and cooperation and to the disproportionate influence of powerful top competitors and opportunistic species on emergent ecosystem properties and processes. The history of life therefore exhibits emergent directionality at large ecosystem-wide scales toward greater power.


2020 ◽  
Vol 111 (3) ◽  
pp. 249-262 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bridgett M vonHoldt ◽  
Matthew L Aardema

Abstract This bibliography provides a collection of references that documents the evolution of studies evidencing interbreeding among Canis species in North America. Over the past several decades, advances in biology and genomic technology greatly improved our ability to detect and characterize species interbreeding, which has significance for understanding species in a changing landscape as well as for endangered species management. This bibliography includes a discussion within each category of interbreeding, the timeline of developing evidence, and includes a review of past research conducted on experimental crosses. Research conducted in the early 20th century is rich with detailed records and photographs of hybrid offspring development and behavior. With the progression of molecular methods, studies can estimate historical demographic parameters and detect chromosomal patterns of ancestry. As these methods continue to increase in accessibility, the field will gain a deeper and richer understanding of the evolutionary history of North American Canis.


Author(s):  
Elodie Portanier ◽  
Pascale Chevret ◽  
Pauline Gélin ◽  
Pierre Benedetti ◽  
Frédéric Sanchis ◽  
...  

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