scholarly journals Mind the Outgroup and Bare Branches in Total-Evidence Dating: a Case Study of Pimpliform Darwin Wasps (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tamara Spasojevic ◽  
Gavin R Broad ◽  
Ilari E Sääksjärvi ◽  
Martin Schwarz ◽  
Masato Ito ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary Rate ◽  
Total Evidence ◽  
Morphological Data ◽  
Phylogenetic Study ◽  
Phylogenetic Distance ◽  
Rate Heterogeneity ◽  
The Family ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Age Estimates

Abstract Taxon sampling is a central aspect of phylogenetic study design, but it has received limited attention in the context of total-evidence dating, a widely used dating approach that directly integrates molecular and morphological information from extant and fossil taxa. We here assess the impact of commonly employed outgroup sampling schemes and missing morphological data in extant taxa on age estimates in a total-evidence dating analysis under the uniform tree prior. Our study group is Pimpliformes, a highly diverse, rapidly radiating group of parasitoid wasps of the family Ichneumonidae. We analyze a data set comprising 201 extant and 79 fossil taxa, including the oldest fossils of the family from the Early Cretaceous and the first unequivocal representatives of extant subfamilies from the mid Paleogene. Based on newly compiled molecular data from ten nuclear genes and a morphological matrix that includes 222 characters, we show that age estimates become both older and less precise with the inclusion of more distant and more poorly sampled outgroups. These outgroups not only lack morphological and temporal information, but also sit on long terminal branches and considerably increase the evolutionary rate heterogeneity. In addition, we discover an artefact that might be detrimental for total-evidence dating: “bare-branch attraction”, namely high attachment probabilities of certain fossils to terminal branches for which morphological data are missing. Using computer simulations, we confirm the generality of this phenomenon and show that a large phylogenetic distance to any of the extant taxa, rather than just older age, increases the risk of a fossil being misplaced due to bare-branch attraction. After restricting outgroup sampling and adding morphological data for the previously attracting, bare branches, we recover a Jurassic origin for Pimpliformes and Ichneumonidae. This first age estimate for the group not only suggests an older origin than previously thought, but also that diversification of the crown group happened well before the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary. Our case study demonstrates that in order to obtain robust age estimates, total-evidence dating studies need to be based on a thorough and balanced sampling of both extant and fossil taxa, with the aim of minimizing evolutionary rate heterogeneity and missing morphological information.

scholarly journals Mind the Outgroup: Influence of Taxon Sampling on Total-Evidence Dating of Pimpliform Parasitoid Wasps (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae)

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tamara Spasojevic ◽  
Gavin R. Broad ◽  
Ilari E. Sääksjärvi ◽  
Martin Schwarz ◽  
Masato Ito ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Molecular Dating ◽  
Total Evidence ◽  
Morphological Data ◽  
Phylogenetic Study ◽  
Taxon Sampling ◽  
Parasitoid Wasps ◽  
Crown Group ◽  
The Family ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Age Estimates

ABSTRACTTaxon sampling is a central aspect of phylogenetic study design, but it has received limited attention in the context of molecular dating and especially in the framework of total-evidence dating, a widely used dating approach that directly integrates molecular and morphological information from extant and fossil taxa. We here assess the impact of different outgroup sampling schemes on age estimates in a total-evidence dating analysis under the uniform tree prior. Our study group are Pimpliformes, a highly diverse, rapidly radiating group of parasitoid wasps of the family Ichneumonidae. We cover 201 extant and 79 fossil taxa, including the oldest fossils of the family from the Early Cretaceous and the first unequivocal representatives of extant subfamilies from the mid Paleogene. Based on newly compiled molecular data from ten nuclear genes and a morphological matrix that includes 222 characters, we show that age estimates become both older and less precise with the inclusion of more distant and more poorly sampled outgroups. In addition, we discover an artefact that might be detrimental for total-evidence dating: “bare-branch attraction”, namely high attachment probabilities of, especially, older fossils to terminal branches for which morphological data are missing. After restricting outgroup sampling and adding morphological data for the previously attracting, bare branches, we recover a Middle and Early Jurassic origin for Pimpliformes and Ichneumonidae, respectively. This first age estimate for the group not only suggests an older origin than previously thought, but also that diversification of the crown group happened before the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary. Our case study demonstrates that in order to obtain robust age estimates, total-evidence dating studies need to be based on a thorough and balanced sampling of both extant and fossil taxa, with the aim of minimizing evolutionary rate heterogeneity and missing morphological information.

Economic Security and Empowerment of Rural Women

2020 ◽  
pp. 171-186
Author(s):  
Suganda Ramamoorthi
Keyword(s):  
Rural Women ◽  
Tamil Nadu ◽  
Economic Security ◽  
Economic Resources ◽  
Patriarchal Family ◽  
The Family ◽  
Private And Public ◽  
Gender Asymmetry ◽  
The Impact

Economic security is a fundamental cord that would enhance the empowerment levels of women. In the patriarchal family structure, women have little or no access to economic resources, making them vulnerable. Social sanction for femicide, social and cultural discriminatory practices, and violence against women have curtailed women's choices and freedom. The impact of the elimination of girl children and strong son preference has deprived women of their economic entitlements. The case study is of particular interest as it is undertaken in Usilampatti taluk in Tamil Nadu, India, which is notorious for the practice of female foeticide and infanticide leading to low sex ratio. This chapter is an attempt to identify how rural women who have escaped femicide negotiate with gender asymmetry, reorganize the power relations within the family and market structure, manage economic resources, and emerge as independent leaders both in the private and public domains.

A molecular phylogeny of Callianassidae and related families (Crustacea : Decapoda : Axiidea) with morphological support

2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 113 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rafael Robles ◽  
Peter C. Dworschak ◽  
Darryl L. Felder ◽  
Gary C. B. Poore ◽  
Fernando L. Mantelatto
Keyword(s):  
Bayesian Analysis ◽  
Molecular Analysis ◽  
Single Species ◽  
Molecular Data ◽  
Total Evidence ◽  
Morphological Data ◽  
12S Rrna ◽  
New Genera ◽  
Key Species ◽  
The Family

The axiidean families Callianassidae and Ctenochelidae, sometimes treated together as Callianassoidea, are shown to represent a monophyletic taxon. It comprises 265 accepted species in 74 genera, twice this number of species if fossil taxa are included. The higher taxonomy of the group has proved difficult and fluid. In a molecular phylogenetic approach, we inferred evolutionary relationships from a maximum-likelihood (ML) and Bayesian analysis of four genes, mitochondrial 16S rRNA and 12S rRNA along with nuclear histone H3 and 18S rRNA. Our sample consisted of 298 specimens representing 123 species plus two species each of Axiidae and Callianideidae serving as outgroups. This number represented about half of all known species, but included 26 species undescribed or not confidently identified, 9% of all known. In a parallel morphological approach, the published descriptions of all species were examined and detailed observations made on about two-thirds of the known fauna in museum collections. A DELTA (Description Language for Taxonomy), database of 135 characters was made for 195 putative species, 18 of which were undescribed. A PAUP analysis found small clades coincident with the terminal clades found in the molecular treatment. Bayesian analysis of a total-evidence dataset combined elements of both molecular and morphological analyses. Clades were interpreted as seven families and 53 genera. Seventeen new genera are required to reflect the molecular and morphological phylograms. Relationships between the families and genera inferred from the two analyses differed between the two strategies in spite of retrospective searches for morphological features supporting intermediate clades. The family Ctenochelidae was recovered in both analyses but the monophyly of Paragourretia was not supported by molecular data. The hitherto well recognised family Eucalliacidae was found to be polyphyletic in the molecular analysis, but the family and its genera were well defined by morphological synapomorphies. The phylogram for Callianassidae suggested the isolation of several species from the genera to which they had traditionally been assigned and necessitated 12 new generic names. The same was true for Callichiridae, with stronger ML than Bayesian support, and five new genera are proposed. Morphological data did not reliably reflect generic relationships inferred from the molecular analysis though they did diagnose terminal taxa treated as genera. We conclude that discrepancies between molecular and morphological analyses are due at least in part to missing sequences for key species, but no less to our inability to recognise unambiguously informative morphological synapomorphies. The ML analysis revealed the presence of at least 10 complexes wherein 2–4 cryptic species masquerade under single species names.

The Impact of Disability: A Family Crisis

1982 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 25-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Reagles
Keyword(s):  
Social Adjustment ◽  
Typical Pattern ◽  
Family Crisis ◽  
The Family ◽  
Individual Family ◽  
Adjustment To Disability ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Adjustment Issues ◽  
The Impact

A disability experienced by one family member impacts on all individuals in the family unit and influences their typical pattern of interaction. The process of individual and family adjustment to disability, a family crisis, is seen in a case study of Sam and his diagnosis of multiple sclerosis. The individual, family and social adjustment issues, including redefinition of family, social, sexual and work roles, are examined in a real live context. Tentative recommendations for professionals working with families in which an individual becomes disabled are developed from personal interviews with Sam and his family.

Partnership working between young carers project and social services

2013 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 50-64
Author(s):  
Anna Heyman
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Services ◽  
Family Relationships ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Young Carers ◽  
Social Work Theory ◽  
The Family ◽  
The Impact

This article draws on in-depth qualitative interviews with ten practitioners who specialise in working with young carers, to examine how members of the emerging profession of ‘young carers’ worker’ view their partnerships with social services. It focuses particularly on one case study area (Town Z), where partnerships between social services and the voluntary sector around young carers were relatively highly developed. It explores the practitioners’ comments about the impact of their organisations’ partnerships with social services on their work. This is done in the context of their conceptualisations of care and family relationships. In particular, the themes of identifying young carers and working with the family as a whole are discussed, and young carers’ workers views are compared to the conceptualisations that come across in literature from both disability studies and social work perspectives. It is concluded that young carers’ workers conceptualisations of care and disability do differ markedly from the perspectives that appear to dominate both social work theory and practice, and that this impacting on how the former view their partnerships with the latter.

scholarly journals Assessment of available anatomical characters for linking living mammals to fossil taxa in phylogenetic analyses

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 20151003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Guillerme ◽  
Natalie Cooper
Keyword(s):  
Data Collection ◽  
Phylogenetic Analyses ◽  
Molecular Data ◽  
Total Evidence ◽  
Morphological Data ◽  
Living Species ◽  
Anatomical Characters ◽  
The Impact

Analyses of living and fossil taxa are crucial for understanding biodiversity through time. The total evidence method allows living and fossil taxa to be combined in phylogenies, using molecular data for living taxa and morphological data for living and fossil taxa. With this method, substantial overlap of coded anatomical characters among living and fossil taxa is vital for accurately inferring topology. However, although molecular data for living species are widely available, scientists generating morphological data mainly focus on fossils. Therefore, there are fewer coded anatomical characters in living taxa, even in well-studied groups such as mammals. We investigated the number of coded anatomical characters available in phylogenetic matrices for living mammals and how these were phylogenetically distributed across orders. Eleven of 28 mammalian orders have less than 25% species with available characters; this has implications for the accurate placement of fossils, although the issue is less pronounced at higher taxonomic levels. In most orders, species with available characters are randomly distributed across the phylogeny, which may reduce the impact of the problem. We suggest that increased morphological data collection efforts for living taxa are needed to produce accurate total evidence phylogenies.

scholarly journals Functioning of a family with a child suffering from cystic fibrosis and short bowel syndrome - case study

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 100-111
Author(s):  
Justyna Świerczyńska ◽  
Agnieszka Mazur ◽  
Izabela Chojnowska-Ćwiąkała ◽  
Agnieszka Podosek
Keyword(s):  
Cystic Fibrosis ◽  
Mental Disorders ◽  
Short Bowel Syndrome ◽  
Family System ◽  
Short Bowel ◽  
The Family ◽  
Child Patient ◽  
The Impact

Abstract This article presents the problem of the functioning of a family with a child suffering from two painful, chronic and incurable diseases - cystic fibrosis and short bowel syndrome. Its aim is to learn about the impact of these diseases on the occurrence and course of mental disorders in a child and on the functioning of the whole family in which such a child is brought up. Like any long-term illness of a child, it has influenced changes in the functioning of the family system. The parents’ functioning and the flexibility of the family system conditioned the acceptance of the diagnosis and determined further participation of the family in the treatment process. This article also discusses the risk of unfavorable attitudes of parents towards the child’s illnesses, which may contribute to the development of mental disorders in the child patient, as well as in his/her parents or siblings. In the process of treatment and rehabilitation, the necessity for cooperation of medical staff, the patient and his/her parents has been emphasised.

scholarly journals Family Business and Financial Performance: What are the Effects of Tax Cut Policy on Them in Uzbekistan?

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 27-45
Author(s):  
Yusupov Jasurbek ◽  
Sakata Kei
Keyword(s):  
Financial Performance ◽  
Family Business ◽  
Family Firms ◽  
The Family ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Unbalanced Panel Data ◽  
Business Study

This study is the first comprehensive empirical study to examine the relationship between the family business and the firm’s performance in Uzbekistan. In this research, we investigate the relationship between family firms and financial performance using enough extensive unbalanced panel data from 2012 through 2015 on 3148 non-banking/non-government firms. Moreover, we analyze the impact of tax cut policy on SMEs, including family firms from a case study of Uzbekistan by using the difference-in-difference estimator. These two will be a major contribution to the family business study field in Uzbekistan.

scholarly journals An integrated phylogenetic analysis of turtles

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anieli Pereira ◽  
Carlos Schrago
Keyword(s):  
Divergence Time ◽  
Nuclear Data ◽  
Phylogenetic Inference ◽  
Sister Group ◽  
Total Evidence ◽  
Morphological Data ◽  
Nonparametric Bootstrap ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Divergence Time Estimates ◽  
The Family

Background. Testudines is a reptilian order with unique morphological features among vertebrates. This order is currently divided into two suborders: Pleurodira and Cryptodira; which comprises approimately 14 extant families with 95 genera, about 320 species. Phylogenetic affinities below the family level remain largely unresolved. The main discrepancies among previous studies concern the position of the superfamily Trionychoidea and the families Chelydridae and Platystenidae. The recent improvement in combined phylogenetic inference and divergence time estimates, as well as the increased taxon sampling available in databases, prompted us to investigate their evolutionary relationships. Methods. In order to clarify the phylogenetic relatioships of Testudines, we inferred phylogenies from two datasets: (1) molecular dataset based on 12 genes, including 294 species; and (2) total evidence based on 12 genes plus 235 morphologic caracteres from the matrix of Sterli et al. (2013), including 28 extant and 69 extinct taxa. Maximum likelihood phylogenetic inference was performed with the data set partitioned into: (1) molecular nuclear data under GTR model of substitution, and (2) morphological data under Mk model. Statistical support for clades was assessed with 2000 nonparametric bootstrap replicates (BT). Results. Our results supported a split between Pleurodira and Cryptodira (BT > 97). In Cryptodira, we inferred an early split between Trionychoidea and all other Cryptodira, known as Durocryptodira (BT = 100). The monophyly of all families and superfamilies were recovered with high support (BT=100), except for the family Podocnemididae (BT=59). In both analyses, Chelydridae was recovered as sister-group to the superfamily Kinosternoidae (BT=99). With regard to Platysternidae, this monotypic asian family would split from Emydidae in the molecular phylogeny (BT = 81), whereas in the total analysis this split was between Emydidae and all remaining Testudinoidea: Emydidae + Geomydidae + Testudinidae. Discussion. All 14 families were represented in both analyses, although the molecular analysis contains 294 species-level taxa and total-evidence one has only 29 genus-level taxa. Pleurodira and Cryptodira were recovered as monophyletic as in most previous works. Trionychoidea was recovered as a clade within Cryptodira, in contrast to previous hypotheses, which placed this superfamily either as sister to Pleurodira or Cryptodira, or as sister group of all Testudines altogether. Chelydridae was recovered as sister-group of Kinosternoidae, whereas Platysternidae, a monotypic Asian family, was recovered as a member of Testudinoidae; although his position within the group was conflicting. This position of Platysternidae was the only conflict between crown groups found between our datasets.

scholarly journals The resilience of Rubiaceae to anthropogenic factors: a case study from the Himalayan range of Western Bhutan

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tobgay ◽  
Tenzin Jamtsho ◽  
Kitichate Sridith
Keyword(s):  
Forest Type ◽  
Anthropogenic Disturbances ◽  
Anthropogenic Factors ◽  
Anova Analysis ◽  
The Family ◽  
Disturbed Forest ◽  
Study Sites ◽  
The Impact ◽  
One Way Anova

Abstract The study about the resilience of Rubiaceae to the influence of anthropogenic factors was conducted along the altitudinal gradient of 300–3900 m asl. in Western Bhutan. The survey covered three types of forest, categorized based on the prevalence of anthropogenic disturbances and assessed the diversity of Rubiaceae species in each forest type. The study recorded a total of 54 Rubiaceae species belonging to 41 genera from the study sites. The high diversity of Rubiaceae in the intermediately disturbed forest as revealed by Simpson and Shannon-Wiener diversity analysis and further strengthened by a between-group one-way ANOVA analysis contradicts the presumed description of Rubiaceae as ecologically sensitive. The wider adaptability range exhibited by Ceriscoides (Hook.f.) Tirvendadum, Himalrandia Yamazaki, Uncaria Schreber, and Leptodermis Wall. showing presence in all the forest categories indicates a higher survival rate of these genera. On the contrary, the species showing a higher rate of confinement to a specific habitat bears higher risk of extinction due to ever-rising anthropogenic disturbances. As such, an exhaustive research assessing the impact of different categories of anthropogenic factors on different species of Rubiaceae is required to understand the overall resilience of the family to the anthropogenic disturbances.

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