scholarly journals Tribalism Is Human Nature

2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (6) ◽  
pp. 587-592 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cory J. Clark ◽  
Brittany S. Liu ◽  
Bo M. Winegard ◽  
Peter H. Ditto
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Cognitive Biases ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Partisan Bias ◽  
Selective Pressures ◽  
Group Loyalty ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Common ◽  
Political Spectrum

Humans evolved in the context of intense intergroup competition, and groups comprised of loyal members more often succeeded than groups comprised of nonloyal members. Therefore, selective pressures have sculpted human minds to be tribal, and group loyalty and concomitant cognitive biases likely exist in all groups. Modern politics is one of the most salient forms of modern coalitional conflict and elicits substantial cognitive biases. The common evolutionary history of liberals and conservatives gives little reason to expect protribe biases to be higher on one side of the political spectrum than the other. This evolutionarily plausible null hypothesis has been supported by recent research. In a recent meta-analysis, liberals and conservatives showed similar levels of partisan bias, and several protribe cognitive tendencies often ascribed to conservatives (e.g., intolerance toward dissimilar other people) were found in similar degrees in liberals. We conclude that tribal bias is a natural and nearly ineradicable feature of human cognition and that no group—not even one’s own—is immune.

First North African record of a melanistic common genet (Genetta genetta Linnaeus, 1758)

Mammalia ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mourad Ahmim ◽  
Hafid Aroudj ◽  
Farouk Aroudj ◽  
Saaid Saidi ◽  
Samir Aroudj
Keyword(s):  
North Africa ◽  
Evolutionary History ◽  
North African ◽  
Mammal Species ◽  
Genetta Genetta ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Common ◽  
True Occurrence

Abstract The common genet (Genetta genetta Linnaeus, 1758) is a rare and protected mammal species in Algeria. We report the first melanistic individual of this species ever recorded in North Africa. Such animals have only been recorded in Spain and Portugal so far. It is unclear why melanistic common genets seem to be so rare in its African range. More research is needed to determine the true occurrence of melanistic individuals, and what the evolutionary history of melanism is in common genets.

scholarly journals The evolutionary history of the two karyotypic groups of the common shrew, Sorex araneus, in Poland

Heredity ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 88 (4) ◽  
pp. 235-242 ◽  
Author(s):  
M Ratkiewicz ◽  
S Fedyk ◽  
A Banaszek ◽  
L Gielly ◽  
W Chȩtnicki ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Common Shrew ◽  
Sorex Araneus ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Common ◽  
Common Shrew Sorex Araneus

scholarly journals Belowground Carbohydrate Reserves of Mature Southern Pines Reflect Seedling Strategy to Evolutionary History of Disturbance

Forests ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (10) ◽  
pp. 653 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua Mims ◽  
Joseph O’Brien ◽  
Doug Aubrey
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Temporal Dynamics ◽  
Pinus Palustris ◽  
Life History Stage ◽  
Southern Pine ◽  
Mature Trees ◽  
Carbohydrate Reserves ◽  
Selective Pressures ◽  
Southern Pines ◽  
History Of

Carbohydrate reserves provide advantages for mature trees experiencing frequent disturbances; however, it is unclear if selective pressures operate on this characteristic at the seedling or mature life history stage. We hypothesized that natural selection has favored carbohydrate reserves in species that have an evolutionary history of frequent disturbance and tested this using three southern pine species that have evolved across a continuum of fire frequencies. Longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) roots exhibited higher maximum starch concentrations than slash (P. elliottii) and loblolly (P. taeda), which were similar. Longleaf also relied on starch reserves in roots more than slash or loblolly, depleting 64, 41, and 23 mg g−1 of starch, respectively, between seasonal maximum and minimum, which represented 52%, 45%, and 26% of reserves, respectively. Starch reserves in stems did not differ among species or exhibit temporal dynamics. Our results suggest that an evolutionary history of disturbance partly explains patterns of carbohydrate reserves observed in southern pines. However, similarities between slash and loblolly indicate that carbohydrate reserves do not strictly follow the continuum of disturbance frequencies among southern pine, but rather reflect the different seedling strategies exhibited by longleaf compared to those shared by slash and loblolly. We propose that the increased carbohydrate reserves in mature longleaf may simply be a relic of selective pressures imposed at the juvenile stage that are maintained through development, thus allowing mature trees to be more resilient and to recover from chronic disturbances such as frequent fire.

scholarly journals The evolutionary history of haptophytes and cryptophytes: phylogenomic evidence for separate origins

2012 ◽  
Vol 279 (1736) ◽  
pp. 2246-2254 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabien Burki ◽  
Noriko Okamoto ◽  
Jean-François Pombert ◽  
Patrick J. Keeling
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Expressed Sequence Tag ◽  
Level Data ◽  
Guillardia Theta ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Common ◽  
Genome Level ◽  
Phylogenomic Analyses ◽  
New Hypothesis ◽  
Expressed Sequence

An important missing piece in the puzzle of how plastids spread across the eukaryotic tree of life is a robust evolutionary framework for the host lineages. Four assemblages are known to harbour plastids derived from red algae and, according to the controversial chromalveolate hypothesis, these all share a common ancestry. Phylogenomic analyses have consistently shown that stramenopiles and alveolates are closely related, but haptophytes and cryptophytes remain contentious; they have been proposed to branch together with several heterotrophic groups in the newly erected Hacrobia. Here, we tested this question by producing a large expressed sequence tag dataset for the katablepharid Roombia truncata , one of the last hacrobian lineages for which genome-level data are unavailable, and combined this dataset with the recently completed genome of the cryptophyte Guillardia theta to build an alignment composed of 258 genes. Our analyses strongly support haptophytes as sister to the SAR group, possibly together with telonemids and centrohelids. We also confirmed the common origin of katablepharids and cryptophytes, but these lineages were not related to other hacrobians; instead, they branch with plants. Our study resolves the evolutionary position of haptophytes, an ecologically critical component of the oceans, and proposes a new hypothesis for the origin of cryptophytes.

scholarly journals New thinking: the evolution of human cognition

2012 ◽  
Vol 367 (1599) ◽  
pp. 2091-2096 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cecilia Heyes
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Primate Species ◽  
New Thinking ◽  
History Of ◽  
New Research ◽  
Political Economic ◽  
Vast Range

Humans are animals that specialize in thinking and knowing, and our extraordinary cognitive abilities have transformed every aspect of our lives. In contrast to our chimpanzee cousins and Stone Age ancestors, we are complex political, economic, scientific and artistic creatures, living in a vast range of habitats, many of which are our own creation. Research on the evolution of human cognition asks what types of thinking make us such peculiar animals, and how they have been generated by evolutionary processes. New research in this field looks deeper into the evolutionary history of human cognition, and adopts a more multi-disciplinary approach than earlier ‘Evolutionary Psychology’. It is informed by comparisons between humans and a range of primate and non-primate species, and integrates findings from anthropology, archaeology, economics, evolutionary biology, neuroscience, philosophy and psychology. Using these methods, recent research reveals profound commonalities, as well striking differences, between human and non-human minds, and suggests that the evolution of human cognition has been much more gradual and incremental than previously assumed. It accords crucial roles to cultural evolution, techno-social co-evolution and gene–culture co-evolution. These have produced domain-general developmental processes with extraordinary power—power that makes human cognition, and human lives, unique.

The Evolution of an Idea

2020 ◽  
pp. 29-47
Author(s):  
Dominic D. P. Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Cognitive Biases ◽  
Evolutionary Approach ◽  
Psychological Phenomena ◽  
Selective Pressures ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Brain

This chapter considers how and why international relations might benefit from an evolutionary approach. It explains the evolutionary biology's long history of misunderstanding and resistance in the social sciences since the “sociobiology” debate of the 1970s. It also reviews how the natural and social sciences have both moved on since the 1970s, including the promise for a future of mutual collaboration on strategic instincts. The chapter focuses on evolutionary biology to understand the origins and functions of cognitive biases and comprehend the selective pressures that shaped the brain in the first place. It addresses the question of whether psychological phenomena originate from nature or nurture.

β-Defensin evolution: selection complexity and clues for residues of functional importance

2006 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 257-262 ◽  
Author(s):  
C.A.M. Semple ◽  
K. Taylor ◽  
H. Eastwood ◽  
P.E. Barran ◽  
J.R. Dorin
Keyword(s):  
Positive Selection ◽  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Mammalian Genome ◽  
Functional Importance ◽  
Selective Pressures ◽  
History Of ◽  
Orthologous Loci ◽  
Window Approach ◽  
First Time ◽  
Evolutionary Lineages

We have examined the evolution of the genes at the major human β-defensin locus and the orthologous loci in a range of other primates and mammals. For the first time, these data allow us to examine selective episodes in the more recent evolutionary history of this locus as well as in the ancient past. We have used a combination of maximum-likelihood-based tests and a maximum-parsimony-based sliding window approach to give a detailed view of the varying modes of selection operating at this locus. We provide evidence for strong positive selection soon after the duplication of these genes within an ancestral mammalian genome. During the divergence of primates, however, variable selective pressures have acted on β-defensin genes in different evolutionary lineages, with episodes of both negative and, more rarely, positive selection. Positive selection appears to have been more common in the rodent lineage, accompanying the birth of novel rodent-specific β-defensin gene clades. Sites in the second exon have been subject to positive selection and, by implication, are important in functional diversity. A small number of sites in the mature human peptides were found to have undergone repeated episodes of selection in different primate lineages. Particular sites were consistently implicated by multiple methods at positions throughout the mature peptides. These sites are clustered at positions that are predicted to be important for the function of β-defensins.

Bridging Darwin's Origin of Species & Wegener's Origin of Continents and Oceans:

2016 ◽  
Vol 78 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristina Sousa
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Charles Darwin ◽  
Common Ancestor ◽  
Teaching Strategy ◽  
Origin Of Species ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Common ◽  
Research And Education ◽  
Evolution By Natural Selection ◽  
Biology Research

The common ancestor and evolution by natural selection, concepts introduced by Charles Darwin, constitute the central core of biology research and education. However, students generally struggle to understand these concepts and commonly form misconceptions about them. To help teachers select the most revelant portions of Darwin's work, I suggest some sentences from On the Origin of Species and briefly discuss their implications. I also suggest a teaching strategy that uses history of science and curriculum crosscutting concepts (cause and effect) that constitute the framework to explain the evolutionary history of ratites (flightless birds) as described by Darwin, starting in the Jurassic, with the breakup of Gondwanaland, as first described by Alfred Wegener in The Origin of Continents and Oceans.

Phlogopitization of pyroxenite; its bearing on the composition of carbonatite magmas

1975 ◽  
Vol 112 (5) ◽  
pp. 503-507 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Gittins ◽  
C. R. Allen ◽  
A. F. Cooper
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Ultramafic Rock ◽  
Aqueous Fluid ◽  
Typical Development ◽  
Experimental Phase ◽  
Carbonatite Complex ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Common ◽  
Alumina Activity ◽  
Carbonatite Magma

SummaryPhlogopitization of pyroxenite is common in contact zones between clinopyroxenites and carbonatite dikes of the Cargill ultramafic rock—carbonatite complex near Kapuskasing, Ontario. The most typical development is a mica zone 1–10 cm wide but phlogopite is also developed in a more pervasive manner throughout the groundmass of several types of ultramafic rock. Fenitization is most commonly thought of as a process whereby aegirine and riebeckitic amphiboles are formed in the host rock while feldspar is recrystallized and silica progressively removed. Phlogopitization of pyroxenite can properly be referred to, however, as a type of fenitization. It is clearly related to the intrusion of carbonatite into pyroxenite and is further testimony to the fact that many carbonatite magmas are initially alkalic but lose alkalies to the surrounding rocks and crystallize as calcitic and dolomitic carbonatite with alkali contents restricted to the amounts that could be fixed as micas, pyroxenes or amphiboles. This in turn is controlled by the silica and alumina activity of the carbonatite magma. Abundant evidence for considerable amounts of fluorine in carbonatite magmas suggests that alkalies may be transported into the country rocks as fluorides. It is further suggested that late-stage feldspathization in carbonatite complexes is explained by the abstraction of potassic halide solutions from the crystallizing carbonatite magma. The conclusion seems inescapable that alkali carbonatite magmas, far from being the curiosity thought by many petrologists, are in fact very common during the evolutionary history of carbonatites. The common calcitic and dolomitic carbonatites have not generally crystallized from a magma of the same composition but are the residue remaining after the abstraction of an alkali-rich aqueous fluid. Consequently, there is a need to redesign the experimental phase equilibrium approach to problems of carbonatite genesis in order to take account of the presence of alkalies in most carbonatite magmas.

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