scholarly journals How the past impacts the future: modelling the performance of evolutionarily distinct mammals through time

2019 ◽  
Vol 374 (1788) ◽  
pp. 20190210 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. J. Bennett ◽  
M. D. Sutton ◽  
S. T. Turvey
Keyword(s):  
Fossil Record ◽  
Distinct Species ◽  
Performance Impact ◽  
Deep Time ◽  
The Past ◽  
Living Fossils ◽  
Measuring Change ◽  
Molecular Phylogenetic ◽  
Time Changes ◽  
The One

How does past evolutionary performance impact future evolutionary performance? This is an important question not just for macroevolutionary biologists who wish to chart the phenomena that describe deep-time changes in biodiversity but also for conservation biologists, as evolutionarily distinct species—which may be deemed ‘low-performing’ in our current era—are increasingly the focus of conservation efforts. Contrasting hypotheses exist to account for the history and future of evolutionarily distinct species: on the one hand, they may be relicts of large radiations, potentially ‘doomed’ to extinction; or they may be slow-evolving, ‘living fossils’, likely neither to speciate nor go extinct; or they may be seeds of future radiations. Here, we attempt to test these hypotheses in Mammalia by combining a molecular phylogenetic supertree with fossil record occurrences and measuring change in evolutionary distinctness (ED) at different time slices. With these time slices, we modelled future ED as a function of past ED. We find that past evolutionary performance does indeed have an impact on future evolutionary performance: the most evolutionarily isolated clades tend to become more evolutionarily distinct with time, indicating that low-performing clades tend to remain low-performing throughout their evolutionary history. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue ‘The past is a foreign country: how much can the fossil record actually inform conservation?’

scholarly journals Temps et récit : un défi pour l'écriture de l'histoire. À propos d'une lecture ricœurienne de Landscape and Memory de Simon Schama

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 54-66
Author(s):  
Josef Řídký
Keyword(s):  
Paul Ricoeur ◽  
Historical Consciousness ◽  
The Other ◽  
Work Time ◽  
Deep Time ◽  
Historical Discourse ◽  
The Past ◽  
Paul Ricœur ◽  
The One

During the past fifty years, a dispute over the nature of historical discourse has taken place with the narrativist approach, arguing for the dominance of narration in history, on the one hand, and professional historians defending historiography's will to tell the truth, on the other. Paul Ricoeur entered the discussion with his work Time and Narrative where he offered an inventive response. According to him, both narration and scientific explication are essential to historical discourse. To support his statement, he introduces terms such as ‘a third time,‘ ‘a quasi-narration’ or ‘a historical consciousness.’ Thus, he shifts attention from narration to time. These terms can prove their usefulness when interpreting historical works. In the rest of the article, we aim to carry out such an interpretation on the example of Landscape and Memory by Simon Schama. In a Ricœurian perspective, Schama's book reveals its deep time significance.

Early divergence of an Azorean endemic species in the moss genus Rhynchostegiella (Brachytheciaceae)

Phytotaxa ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 210 (1) ◽  
pp. 60 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alain Vanderpoorten ◽  
Jairo PatiÑo ◽  
Gerard Dirkse ◽  
TOM BLOCKEEL ◽  
Lars Hedenäs
Keyword(s):  
Endemic Species ◽  
Taxonomic Revision ◽  
Distinct Species ◽  
Recent Common Ancestor ◽  
Width Ratio ◽  
Most Recent Common Ancestor ◽  
Molecular Phylogenetic ◽  
Variable Species ◽  
The One ◽  
A New Species

Using the moss genus Rhynchostegiella (Brachytheciaceae) as a model, we address the question of whether taxonomic shortcomings account for the extremely low rates of endemism reported in the Azorean bryophyte flora. Eight accessions initially assigned to three of the four previously reported species in the Azores were identified as a distinct species using the Generalized Mixed Yule Coalescent method in the context of a molecular phylogenetic analysis of the genus. Rhynchostegiella azorica sp. nov. is therefore described as a new species that is endemic to the Azores. Its morphological features intergrade with those observed in other species, with a seta that ranges from almost smooth to rough; a length to width ratio of the laminal cells that matches the one of the R. curviseta group; but a leaf apex that is typical of the R. tenella group. This suggests that previous reports of four Rhynchostegiella species from Azores are erroneous and that a single, morphologically variable species, R. azorica, occurs in the archipelago. Rhynchostegiella azorica is sister to the remainder of the species of the genus, whose most recent common ancestor was dated at 4–20 Ma. This points to a more ancient origin in comparison with other Macaronesian endemic species of the genus. The unexpected discovery of an Azorean endemic species in Rhynchostegiella suggests that patterns of endemicity in the Azorean bryophyte flora are not well estimated from traditional taxonomic knowledge and point to the necessity of an extensive integrative taxonomic revision.

The early Mesozoic radiation of dinoflagellates

Paleobiology ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 329-338 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. A. Fensome ◽  
R. A. MacRae ◽  
J. M. Moldowan ◽  
F. J. R. Taylor ◽  
G. L. Williams
Keyword(s):  
Detailed Analysis ◽  
Fossil Record ◽  
The Past ◽  
Early Mesozoic ◽  
Fossil Evidence ◽  
Evolutionary Radiation ◽  
Molecular Phylogenetic ◽  
Sudden Appearance ◽  
New Evidence

Dinoflagellates are a major component of the marine microplankton and, from fossil evidence, appear to have been so for the past 200 million years. In contrast, the pre-Triassic record contains only equivocal occurrences of dinoflagellates, despite the fact that comparative ultrastructural and molecular phylogenetic evidence indicates a Precambrian origin for the lineage. Thus, it has often been assumed that the dearth of Paleozoic fossil dinoflagellates was due to a lack of preservation or recognition and that the relatively sudden appearance of dinoflagellates in the Mesozoic is an artifact of the record. However, new evidence from a detailed analysis of the fossil record and from the biogeochemical record indicates that dinoflagellates did indeed undergo a major evolutionary radiation in the early Mesozoic.

scholarly journals Modelling the past: new generation approaches to understanding biological patterns in the fossil record

2011 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 112-114 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew B. Smith ◽  
Paul M. Barrett
Keyword(s):  
Fossil Record ◽  
Wide Spectrum ◽  
Deep Time ◽  
Geological Record ◽  
The Past ◽  
Partial Data ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
Biological Patterns ◽  
New Generation

The history of life on this planet is gleaned from analysing how fossils are distributed through time and space. While these patterns are now rather securely known, at least for well-studied parts of the world, their interpretation remains far from simple. Fossils preserve only partial data from which to reconstruct their biology and the geological record is incomplete and biased, so that taxonomic ranges and palaeocommunity structure are imperfectly known. To better understand the often highly complex deep-time processes that gave rise to the empirical fossil record, palaeontologists have turned to modelling the past. Here, we summarize a series of 11 papers that showcase where modelling the past is being applied to advance our understanding across a wide spectrum of current palaeontological endeavours.

A Borophagine canid (Carnivora: Canidae: Borophaginae) from the middle Miocene Chesapeake Group of eastern North America

2015 ◽  
Vol 89 (6) ◽  
pp. 1082-1088
Author(s):  
Steven E. Jasinski ◽  
Steven C. Wallace
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Fossil Record ◽  
Middle Miocene ◽  
Type Specimen ◽  
Distinct Species ◽  
Eastern North America ◽  
Northeastern North America ◽  
Second Molar ◽  
New Material ◽  
The One

AbstractA tooth recovered from the middle Miocene Choptank Formation (Chesapeake Group) of Maryland is identified as a new cynarctin borophagine (Canidae: Borophaginae: Cynarctina), here called Cynarctus wangi n. sp. The tooth, identified as a right upper second molar, represents the first carnivoran material reported from the Choptank Formation and part of a limited record of borophagine canids from eastern North America. As ?Cynarctus marylandica (Berry, 1938), another cynarctin borophagine from the older Calvert Formation, is known only from lower dentition, its generic affinities are uncertain. However, features of this new material are compared to features of ?C. marylandica through occlusal relationships, allowing for referral to a distinct species. Even so, the Choptank Formation material still offers two possible scenarios regarding its identification. In one, its geographic and stratigraphic provenance could imply that it belongs to ?C. marylandica. If this were correct, then the generic placement of ?C. marylandica would be correct and the taxon would be more derived than some other Cynarctus species in regard to hypocarnivory, and less derived than others. The second possibility, and the one believed to be most probable, is that a distinct cynarctin borophagine is present in the Chesapeake Group in strata younger than the type specimen of ?C. marylandica. This new borophagine canid expands the sparse fossil record of this group in northeastern North America and furthers our knowledge of the fossil record of terrestrial taxa in this region.

Al-Rasm al-ʿUthmānī: Towards Correct Pronunciation and the Preclusion of Ambiguity

2011 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 201-171
Author(s):  
Nāṣir Al-Dīn Abū Khaḍīr
Keyword(s):  
Specific Pattern ◽  
Writing Style ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Past ◽  
Different Ages ◽  
Correct Pronunciation ◽  
The One ◽  
The Mind

The ʿUthmānic way of writing (al-rasm al-ʿUthmānī) is a science that specialises in the writing of Qur'anic words in accordance with a specific ‘pattern’. It follows the writing style of the Companions at the time of the third caliph, ʿUthmān b. ʿAffān, and was attributed to ʿUthmān on the basis that he was the one who ordered the collection and copying of the Qur'an into the actual muṣḥaf. This article aims to expound on the two fundamental functions of al-rasm al-ʿUthmānī: that of paying regard to the ‘correct’ pronunciation of the words in the muṣḥaf, and the pursuit of the preclusion of ambiguity which may arise in the mind of the reader and his auditor. There is a further practical aim for this study: to show the connection between modern orthography and the ʿUthmānic rasm in order that we, nowadays, are thereby able to overcome the problems faced by calligraphers and writers of the past in their different ages and cultures.

The wellness habits of men and women in the Northern Great Plain Region

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 123-130
Author(s):  
Péter HIDVÉGI ◽  
◽  
Andrea Puskás LENTÉNÉ ◽  
József Márton PUCSOK ◽  
Melinda BÍRÓ ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Great Plain ◽  
Social Changes ◽  
Northern Great Plain ◽  
Health Tourism ◽  
The Past ◽  
Self Confidence ◽  
Plain Region ◽  
Body And Soul ◽  
Different Dimensions ◽  
Time Changes

In the past decades, the harmony of body and soul was getting more and more important,the balance, the self-confidence, and the positive-being, which is supported mostly by health tourism,so this section is improving with huge steps to serve the increasing needs fluently. For the effect of the consecutive social changes, the rules of genders have also changed. At the same time changes could be realized in the consumption habits of different genders. The resource took place from September to December 2018. It happened with a questionnaire survey; we asked the customers of hotels in the Northern Great Plain Region, and the answering was optional – they do it on their own choice. We investigated the participants' data through different dimensions and look for the answer to the question along these dimensions that which specifies had the service customers.

TARP DVIEJŲ KOLONŲ: XVIII A. PABAIGOS – XIX A. PRADŽIOS VILNIAUS MASONŲ KASDIENYBĖ SIMBOLIKOJE

2018 ◽  
pp. 144-163
Author(s):  
Daiva Milinkevičiūtė
Keyword(s):  
Daily Life ◽  
The Other ◽  
Daily Routine ◽  
The Past ◽  
Secular World ◽  
National Characteristics ◽  
Conservative Christian ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The One ◽  
Craft Guilds

The Age of Enlightenment is defined as the period when the universal ideas of progress, deism, humanism, naturalism and others were materialized and became a golden age for freemasons. It is wrong to assume that old and conservative Christian ideas were rejected. Conversely, freemasons put them into new general shapes and expressed them with the help of symbols in their daily routine. Symbols of freemasons had close ties with the past and gave them, on the one hand, a visible instrument, such as rituals and ideas to sense the transcendental, and on the other, intense gnostic aspirations. Freemasons put in a great amount of effort to improve themselves and to create their identity with the help of myths and symbols. It traces its origins to the biblical builders of King Solomon’s Temple, the posterity of the Templar Knights, and associations of the medieval craft guilds, which were also symbolical and became their link not only to each other but also to the secular world. In this work we analysed codified masonic symbols used in their rituals. The subject of our research is the universal Masonic idea and its aspects through the symbols in the daily life of the freemasons in Vilnius. Thanks to freemasons’ signets, we could find continuity, reception, and transformation of universal masonic ideas in the Lithuanian freemasonry and national characteristics of lodges. Taking everything into account, our article shows how the universal idea of freemasonry spread among Lithuanian freemasonry, and which forms and meanings it incorporated in its symbols. The objective of this research is to find a universal Masonic idea throughout their visual and oral symbols and see its impact on the daily life of the masons in Vilnius. Keywords: Freemasonry, Bible, lodge, symbols, rituals, freemasons’ signets.

The Invention of Papal History

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Bauer
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Reformation ◽  
History Writing ◽  
Historical Texts ◽  
The Past ◽  
History Of ◽  
Cultural Standards ◽  
Commissioned Works ◽  
The One ◽  
Late Renaissance ◽  
The Church

How was the history of post-classical Rome and of the Church written in the Catholic Reformation? Historical texts composed in Rome at this time have been considered secondary to the city’s significance for the history of art. The Invention of Papal History corrects this distorting emphasis and shows how history-writing became part of a comprehensive formation of the image and self-perception of the papacy. By presenting and fully contextualizing the path-breaking works of the Augustinian historian Onofrio Panvinio (1530–68), this book shows what type of historical research was possible in the late Renaissance and the Catholic Reformation. Historiography in this period by no means consisted entirely of commissioned works written for patrons; rather, a creative interplay existed between, on the one hand, the endeavours of authors to explore the past and, on the other hand, the constraints of patronage and ideology placed on them. This book sheds new light on the changing priorities, mentalities, and cultural standards that flourished in the transition from the Renaissance to the Catholic Reformation.

“Ambiguist” Statesmanship

Worldview ◽  
1960 ◽  
Vol 3 (9) ◽  
pp. 7-8
Author(s):  
Will Herberg
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Fixed Points ◽  
Natural Law ◽  
The Other ◽  
Moral Decision ◽  
Actual Situation ◽  
The Past ◽  
Mixed Feelings ◽  
Rational Mind ◽  
The One

John Courtney Murray's writing cannot fail to be profound and instructive, and I have profited greatly from it in the course of the past decade. But I must confess that his article, "Morality and Foreign Policy" (Worldview, May), leaves me in a strange confusion of mixed feelings. On the one hand, I can sympathize with what I might call the historical intention of the natural law philosophy he espouses, which I take to be the effort to establish enduring structures of meaning and value to serve as fixed points of moral decision in the complexities of the actual situation. On the other hand, I am rather put off by the calm assurance he exhibits when he deals with these matters, as though everything were at bottom unequivocally rational and unequivocally accessible to the rational mind. And I am really distressed at what seems to 3ie to be his woefully inadequate appreciation of the position of the "ambiguists," among whom I cannot deny I count myself.

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