scholarly journals Combining taxonomic, phylogenetic and functional diversity reveals new global priority areas for tetrapod conservation

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Enrico Tordoni ◽  
Aurèle Toussaint ◽  
Meelis Pärtel ◽  
David Nogues-Bravo ◽  
Carlos Perez Carmona

We are in the midst of a sixth mass extinction but little is known about the global patterns of biodiversity when accounting for taxonomic, phylogenetic and functional information. Here, we present the first integrated analysis of global variation in taxonomic, functional diversity and phylogenetic diversity of more than 17,000 tetrapod species (terrestrial mammals, amphibians, reptiles and birds). We used a new metric (z-Diversity) able to synthetize taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic information across different sets of species to provide a comprehensive estimation of biodiversity. Our analyses reveal that hotspots of tetrapod diversity are clustered in specific regions of the world such as central Africa and the Indian peninsula, and that climate stability and energy availability have an overarching importance in explaining tetrapod spatial patterns. Future research might take advantage of these methods to perform an informed prioritization of protected areas.

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 104
Author(s):  
Wei-Hao Su ◽  
Kai-Ying Chen ◽  
Louis Y. Y. Lu ◽  
Ya-Chi Huang

This study collected literature on augmented reality (AR) from academic and patent databases to plot the historic development trajectory of AR and forecast its future research and development trends. A total of 3193 and 13,629 papers were collected from academic and patent databases, respectively. First, a network was established using references from the academic literature; main path analysis was conducted on this reference network to plot the overall development trajectory. Subsequent cluster and word cloud analyses revealed the following five major groups of AR research topics: AR surgical navigation applications, AR education applications, AR applications in manufacturing, AR applications in architecture, and AR applications in visual tracking. Subsequently, the relationships between the overall development trajectory and the five AR research topics were compared. Next, the title and abstract of AR-related academic and patent papers were subjected to text mining to identify keywords with a high frequency of occurrence. The results can provide a reference for industry, government, and academia when planning future development strategies for the AR field. This research adopted an integrated analysis procedure to plot the trajectory of AR technology development and applications successfully and effectively, predict future patent research and development directions and produce technological forecasts.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michal Motyka ◽  
Dominik Kusy ◽  
Michal Masek ◽  
Matej Bocek ◽  
Yun Li ◽  
...  

AbstractBiologists have reported on the chemical defences and the phenetic similarity of net-winged beetles (Coleoptera: Lycidae) and their co-mimics. Nevertheless, our knowledge has remained fragmental, and the evolution of mimetic patterns has not been studied in the phylogenetic context. We illustrate the general appearance of ~ 600 lycid species and ~ 200 co-mimics and their distribution. Further, we assemble the phylogeny using the transcriptomic backbone and ~ 570 species. Using phylogenetic information, we closely scrutinise the relationships among aposematically coloured species, the worldwide diversity, and the distribution of aposematic patterns. The emitted visual signals differ in conspicuousness. The uniform coloured dorsum is ancestral and was followed by the evolution of bicoloured forms. The mottled patterns, i.e. fasciate, striate, punctate, and reticulate, originated later in the course of evolution. The highest number of sympatrically occurring patterns was recovered in New Guinea and the Andean mountain ecosystems (the areas of the highest abundance), and in continental South East Asia (an area of moderate abundance but high in phylogenetic diversity). Consequently, a large number of co-existing aposematic patterns in a single region and/or locality is the rule, in contrast with the theoretical prediction, and predators do not face a simple model-like choice but cope with complex mimetic communities. Lycids display an ancestral aposematic signal even though they sympatrically occur with differently coloured unprofitable relatives. We show that the highly conspicuous patterns evolve within communities predominantly formed by less conspicuous Müllerian mimics and, and often only a single species displays a novel pattern. Our work is a forerunner to the detailed research into the aposematic signalling of net-winged beetles.


2022 ◽  
Vol 324 ◽  
pp. 107708
Author(s):  
Vicente García-Navas ◽  
Carlos Martínez-Núñez ◽  
Rubén Tarifa ◽  
Antonio J. Manzaneda ◽  
Francisco Valera ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Megan Lee Endres ◽  
Sanjib Chowdhury

The study investigated the effects of expected reciprocity on knowledge sharing, as moderated by team and individual variables. Data (n = 84) were collected in an experimental study from undergraduate business student participants. The effects of expected reciprocity on knowledge sharing depend on the levels of individual competence, positive team attitudes, functional diversity, and demographic diversity. Implications include that the effectiveness of reciprocity in knowledge sharing depends on several factors relating to the team and individual. Encouraging reciprocity may have positive effects, but these can be overridden by poor team attitudes, low ability perceptions, and team diversity. Future research suggestions are offered.


2020 ◽  
Vol 249 ◽  
pp. 108706 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erik Joaquín Torres-Romero ◽  
Anthony J. Giordano ◽  
Gerardo Ceballos ◽  
José Vicente López-Bao

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Velte ◽  
Jörn Obermann

Purpose This paper aims to analyse whether and how different types of institutional investors influence shareholder proposal initiations, say-on-pay (SOP) votes and management compensation from a sustainability perspective. Design/methodology/approach Based on the principal-agent theory, the authors conduct a structured literature review and evaluate 40 empirical-quantitative studies on that topic. Findings The traditional assumption of homogeneity within institutional investors, which is in line with the principal–agent theory, has to be questioned. Only special types of investors (e.g. with long-term and non-financial orientations and active institutions) run an intensive monitoring strategy, and thus initiate shareholder proposals, discipline managers by higher SOP dissents and prevent excessive management compensation. Research limitations/implications A detailed analysis of institutional investor types is needed in future empirical analyses. In view of the current debate on climate change policy, future research could analyse in more detail the impact of institutional investor types on proxy voting, SOP and (sustainable) management compensation. Practical implications With regard to the increased shareholder activism and regulations on SOP and management compensation since the 2007/2008 financial crisis, firms should be aware of the monitoring role of institutional investors and should analyse their specific ownership nature (time- and content-driven and as well as range of activity). Originality/value To the best of authors’ knowledge, this is the first literature review with a clear focus on institutional investor range and nature, shareholder proposal initiation, SOP and management compensation (reporting) from a sustainability viewpoint. The authors explain the main variables that have been included in research, stress the limitations of this work and offer useful recommendations for future research studies.


2017 ◽  
Vol 284 (1865) ◽  
pp. 20170627 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dan F. Rosauer ◽  
Laura J. Pollock ◽  
Simon Linke ◽  
Walter Jetz

In the face of the current extinction crisis and severely limited conservation resources, safeguarding the tree of life is increasingly recognized as a high priority. We conducted a first systematic global assessment of the conservation of phylogenetic diversity (PD) that uses realistic area targets and highlights the key areas for conservation of the mammalian tree of life. Our approach offers a substantially more effective conservation solution than one focused on species. In many locations, priorities for PD differ substantially from those of a species-based approach that ignores evolutionary relationships. This discrepancy increases rapidly as the amount of land available for conservation declines, as does the relative benefit for mammal conservation (for the same area protected). This benefit is equivalent to an additional 5900 Myr of distinct mammalian evolution captured simply through a better informed choice of priority areas. Our study uses area targets for PD to generate more realistic conservation scenarios, and tests the impact of phylogenetic uncertainty when selecting areas to represent diversity across a phylogeny. It demonstrates the opportunity of using rapidly growing phylogenetic information in conservation planning and the readiness for a new generation of conservation planning applications that explicitly consider the heritage of the tree of life's biodiversity.


2016 ◽  
Vol 39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael L. Anderson

AbstractIn this reply to reviewers, I argue that, although reforming the taxonomy of psychology will lead to great insights in the cognitive sciences, it will not result in 1:1 structure-function mappings in the brain; we should expect to see a great deal of irreducible functional diversity in the brain at multiple spatial scales. I further clarify both the promise and the limitations of the analytic techniques for capturing functional diversity and interrogating the taxonomy of psychology; describe the ways in which neural reuse can help us understand human development; further explore the ways in which my proposals for integrating psychology, neuroscience, and evolutionary biology differ from the approach exemplified by contemporary evolutionary psychology; and lay out some new and hopefully interesting avenues for future research.


2017 ◽  
Vol 111 (7) ◽  
pp. 1033-1045 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Bononi ◽  
Rodrigo Gouvêa Taketani ◽  
Danilo Tosta Souza ◽  
Marta Alves Moitinho ◽  
Vanessa Nessner Kavamura ◽  
...  

1969 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian M. Fagan

Three raw materials were essential to Iron Age peoples in South Central Africa: iron, copper and salt. This paper discusses some of the archaeological evidence for the development of regional and long-distance trade in these commodities during the earlier Iron Age. A distinction is drawn between regional trade in items for which there is local demand, and longer distance commerce in raw materials, which may have been conducted with the aid of some standardized units of monetary significance.The big question for future research is that of assessing the degree to which the more sophisticated centres of metallurgy and trade affected those societies, living outside the immediate area, whose technologies and economies were less highly developed.


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