scholarly journals The straight and narrow path: the evolution of straight-line dispersal at a cane toad invasion front

2014 ◽  
Vol 281 (1795) ◽  
pp. 20141385 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory P. Brown ◽  
Benjamin L. Phillips ◽  
Richard Shine

At the edge of a biological invasion, evolutionary processes (spatial sorting, natural selection) often drive increases in dispersal. Although numerous traits influence an individual's displacement (e.g. speed, stamina), one of the most important is path straightness. A straight (i.e. highly correlated) path strongly enhances overall dispersal rate relative to time and energetic cost. Thus, we predict that, if path straightness has a genetic basis, organisms in the invasion vanguard will exhibit straighter paths than those following behind. Our studies on invasive cane toads ( Rhinella marina ) in tropical Australia clearly support this prediction. Radio-tracking of field-collected toads at a single site showed that path straightness steadily decreased over the first 10 years post-invasion. Consistent with an evolved (genetic) basis to that behavioural shift, path straightness of toads reared under common garden conditions varied according to the location of their parents' origin. Offspring produced by toads from the invasion vanguard followed straighter paths than did those produced by parents from long-established populations. At the individual level, offspring exhibited similar path straightness to their parents. The dramatic acceleration of the cane toad invasion through tropical Australia has been driven, in part, by the evolution of a behavioural tendency towards dispersing in a straight line.

2018 ◽  
Vol 43 (10) ◽  
pp. 1027-1032
Author(s):  
Tiago V. Barreira ◽  
Jessica G. Redmond ◽  
Tom D. Brutsaert ◽  
John M. Schuna ◽  
Emily F. Mire ◽  
...  

The purpose of this study was to test whether estimates of bedtime, wake time, and sleep period time (SPT) were comparable between an automated algorithm (ALG) applied to waist-worn accelerometry data and a sleep log (LOG) in an adult sample. A total of 104 participants were asked to log evening bedtime and morning wake time and wear an ActiGraph wGT3X-BT accelerometer at their waist for 24 h/day for 7 consecutive days. Mean difference and mean absolute difference (MAD) were computed. Pearson correlations and dependent-sample t tests were used to compare LOG-based and ALG-based sleep variables. Effect sizes were calculated for variables with significant mean differences. A total of 84 participants provided 2+ days of valid accelerometer and LOG data for a total of 368 days. There was no mean difference (p = 0.47) between LOG 472 ± 59 min and ALG SPT 475 ± 66 min (MAD = 31 ± 23 min, r = 0.81). There was no significant mean difference between bedtime (2348 h and 2353 h for LOG and ALG, respectively; p = 0.14, MAD = 25 ± 21 min, r = 0.92). However, there was a significant mean difference between LOG (0741 h) and ALG (0749 h) wake times (p = 0.01, d = 0.11, MAD = 24 ± 21 min, r = 0.92). The LOG and ALG data were highly correlated and relatively small differences were present. The significant mean difference in wake time might not be practically meaningful (Cohen’s d = 0.11), making the ALG useful for sample estimates. MAD, which gives a better estimate of the expected differences at the individual level, also demonstrated good evidence supporting ALG individual estimates.


2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (17) ◽  
pp. 3140-3150 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valerie L Flax ◽  
Chrissie Thakwalakwa ◽  
Courtney H Schnefke ◽  
Heather Stobaugh ◽  
John C Phuka ◽  
...  

AbstractObjective:To validate digitally displayed photographic portion-size estimation aids (PSEA) against a weighed meal record and compare findings with an atlas of printed photographic PSEA and actual prepared-food PSEA in a low-income country.Design:Participants served themselves water and five prepared foods, which were weighed separately before the meal and again after the meal to measure any leftovers. Participants returned the following day and completed a meal recall. They estimated the quantities of foods consumed three times using the different PSEA in a randomized order.Setting:Two urban and two rural communities in southern Malawi.Participants:Women (n 300) aged 18–45 years, equally divided by urban/rural residence and years of education (≤4 years and ≥5 years).Results:Responses for digital and printed PSEA were highly correlated (>91 % agreement for all foods, Cohen’s κw = 0·78–0·93). Overall, at the individual level, digital and actual-food PSEA had a similar level of agreement with the weighed meal record. At the group level, the proportion of participants who estimated within 20 % of the weighed grams of food consumed ranged by type of food from 30 to 45 % for digital PSEA and 40–56 % for actual-food PSEA. Digital PSEA consistently underestimated grams and nutrients across foods, whereas actual-food PSEA provided a mix of under- and overestimates that balanced each other to produce accurate mean energy and nutrient intake estimates. Results did not differ by urban and rural location or participant education level.Conclusions:Digital PSEA require further testing in low-income settings to improve accuracy of estimations.


2013 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kyle E. Walker

Recent electoral research has claimed that individuals in the United States are self–segregating along political lines. In this paper, I use the Twin Cities, Minnesota, metropolitan area as a case study to test for the presence of political segregation through statistical and spatial analyses of electoral data from 1992 to 2012. I find that while segregation by partisan voting at the individual level is comparatively low, it has increased during the study period, and there exists substantial spatial clustering in voting patterns at aggregate levels. These distinct electoral divides between central city and exurb suggest spatial sorting of the electorate in the metropolitan area.


Circulation ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 133 (suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Eckstein ◽  
Laura Houghtaling ◽  
Mariah Quick

Traditionally, population behavioral characteristics are reported at the individual level. However, just like diseases, the combination of multiple adverse risk factors, even though they are often highly correlated, presents a different challenge and impact on community health than examining these same behaviors in isolation. We analyzed 5 risk factors in the 2014 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey; smoking (currently a smoker), inactivity (no physical activity outside of work), excessive alcohol consumption (for women, 4 or more drinks in one sitting or an average of greater than one drink per day; for men, 5 or more drinks in one sitting or an average of greater than two drinks per day), obesity (BMI >=30), and insufficient sleep (< 7 hours per night). These five measures were selected because of their strong association with heart and other disease. We studied the frequency of multiple factors by state, sex, race, urbanicity, educational attainment and income. The attached map illustrates the variation among states in the prevalence of 3 or more risk factors in the population. In Utah, Colorado, and California, less than 9% of the population has 3 or more; in Arkansas, Louisiana, Kentucky and Mississippi, 16% or more of the population has 3 or more of these risk factors. Among demographic subpopulations, differences also exist. For non-Hispanic Asian population 4.5% (CI:3.5%-5.4%) have 3 or more risk factors compared to 16% or more exhibiting 3 or more risk factors in the non-Hispanic black, non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaskan Native, and non-Hispanic multi-racial populations. The variation among these subpopulations within states was also explored. Understanding the distribution of multiple adverse risk factors within a state’s population can help guide the efforts of public health officials, policy makers, advocacy groups and others to focus on the most affected populations and develop interventions that address multiple related conditions.


2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (5) ◽  
pp. 230
Author(s):  
Orie E. Barron ◽  
Charles R. Enis ◽  
Hong Qu

In this study, we study information processing by financial professionals benchmarked with non-professionals and how correlation among individual forecasts explains the group level forecast performance. In an experiment in which participants make price forecasts based on common financial information, we find that individual professionals are no better than individual non-professionals in forecasting, but professionals’ mean forecasts are superior. Our analysis suggests that financial professionals’ individual errors are less correlated as they process information from more diverse perspectives. This leads to superior mean forecasts because the uncorrelated individual errors cancel each other out in the aggregate. In contrast, non-professionals are similar in using salient information such as earnings or cash flow. As a result, their individual errors are highly correlated. Instead of cancelling each other out, the individual errors are enlarged in the aggregated mean forecasts. We are the first to show the difference in the comparisons of professionals and non-professionals at the group level versus at the individual level. Our paper contributes to the literature by documenting the evidence of diversity in information processing by financial professionals.


Author(s):  
Sumin Lee ◽  
◽  
Wonho Jang ◽  

This research attempts to 1) explore trust from a theoretical angle using various perspectives in the social science research literature and 2) reveal the empirical relationship between trust and empathy at the individual level. Although trust and empathy share similar characteristics when considered in the realm of theory, they have typically been probed in distinct disciplines. Hence, there is a need for interdisciplinary perspective that addresses two concepts together. Using the Social Attitude Survey for Korean Society data collected in 2021, this study conducted a correlation and multivariate analysis that examined how much trust and empathy resemble. The results show that trust radius and interpersonal empathy are highly correlated. Also, trust and empathy levels differ from individual to individual in terms of one’s socioeconomic and demographic background. From this comparison, we emphasize the importance of the macro level effect of trust and empathy.


2019 ◽  
Vol 76 (11) ◽  
pp. 2080-2088 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suzanne J. Kelson ◽  
Michael R. Miller ◽  
Tasha Q. Thompson ◽  
Sean M. O’Rourke ◽  
Stephanie M. Carlson

Partial migration is a common phenomenon wherein populations include migratory and resident individuals. Whether an individual migrates or not has important ecological and management implications, particularly within protected populations. Within partially migratory populations of Oncorhynchus mykiss, migration is highly correlated with a specific genomic region, but it is unclear how well this region predicts migration at the individual level. Here, we relate sex and life history genotype, determined using >400 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) on the migratory-linked genomic region, to life history expression of marked juvenile O. mykiss from two tributaries to the South Fork Eel River, northern California. Most resident fish were resident genotypes (57% resident, 37% heterozygous, 6% migratory genotype) and male (78%). Most migratory fish were female (62%), but were a mixture of genotypes (30% resident, 45% heterozygous, 25% migratory genotype). Sex was more strongly correlated with life history expression than genotype, but the best-supported model included both. Resident genotypes regularly migrated, highlighting the importance of conserving the full suite of life history and genetic diversity in partially migratory populations.


2009 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Neil Gandal ◽  
Charles King ◽  
Marshall Van Alstyne

To understand the relationship between information flows and white-collar output, we collected unique data on email communications to study the network connecting individuals in a management recruiting firm. We also gathered data on revenues and contracts at the individual level. Our empirical results suggest that the size of an individual's internal email network is more highly correlated with output than with the number of email messages, the time spent communicating, the external network size, and with all other measures of communication. This result suggests that a more favorable position in the network structure is associated with higher individual output.


2020 ◽  
pp. 002383092094776
Author(s):  
Lacey Wade ◽  
Wei Lai ◽  
Meredith Tamminga

Recent work has shown that individuals vary in phonetic behaviors in ways that deviate from group norms and are not attributable to sociolinguistically relevant dimensions such as gender or social class. However, it is unknown whether these individual differences observed in the lab are stable characteristics of individuals or whether they simply reflect noise or sporadic fluctuations. This study investigates the individual-level stability in imitation of a model talker’s artificially-lengthened VOT. We use a test–retest design in which the same set of participants perform the same lexical shadowing task on two separate occasions and find that degree of convergence or divergence is highly correlated on an individual basis across visits. Further, we find a strong correlation between individual VOT shifts toward a male model talker and shifts toward a female model talker. Findings contribute to a growing body of literature suggesting that averaging over groups of participants masks the complexity of phonetic behaviors, such as imitation, and suggest that individual differences in phonetic behavior are an area of promising future study.


2020 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
pp. 183-198
Author(s):  
Wiktor Soral ◽  
Mirosław Kofta

Abstract. The importance of various trait dimensions explaining positive global self-esteem has been the subject of numerous studies. While some have provided support for the importance of agency, others have highlighted the importance of communion. This discrepancy can be explained, if one takes into account that people define and value their self both in individual and in collective terms. Two studies ( N = 367 and N = 263) examined the extent to which competence (an aspect of agency), morality, and sociability (the aspects of communion) promote high self-esteem at the individual and the collective level. In both studies, competence was the strongest predictor of self-esteem at the individual level, whereas morality was the strongest predictor of self-esteem at the collective level.


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