scholarly journals Assessing African Vultures as Biomonitors and Umbrella Species

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lindy J. Thompson ◽  
Sonja C. Krüger ◽  
Brent M. Coverdale ◽  
L. Jen Shaffer ◽  
Mary Ann Ottinger ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
A Priori ◽  
Large Population ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Large Body ◽  
Ecological Traits ◽  
Umbrella Species ◽  
Body Sizes ◽  
Population Sizes ◽  
Large Home Range ◽  
Best Fit

African vulture populations are rapidly declining, yet funding and other resources available for their conservation are limited. Improving our understanding of which African vulture species could best serve as an umbrella species for the entire suite of African vultures could help conservationists save time, money, and resources by focusing their efforts on a single vulture species. Furthermore, improving our understanding of the suitability of African vultures as biomonitors for detecting environmental toxins could help conservation authorities to detect changes in ecosystem health. We used a systematic approach based on criteria selected a priori to objectively evaluate the potential of each of the 10 resident African vulture species as (i) an umbrella species for all of the African vulture species, and (ii) an avian biomonitor. For each criterion, we scored the respective African vulture species and summed the scores to determine which species was best suited as an umbrella species and as an avian biomonitor. Our results showed that, overall, certain aspects of vulture ecology (large population sizes, large body sizes, long lifespans, and their ability to be monitored over numerous seasons) support their suitability as biomonitors, while other ecological traits, including their diets and the public's perceptions of vultures, could diminish their suitability. The White-backed Vulture (Gyps africanus) was the best fit of the 10 vulture species in our assessment as both an avian biomonitor and an umbrella species for all African vulture species. Meanwhile, significant knowledge gaps for other species inhibit their utility as biomonitors. Due to their large home-range sizes, African vultures may only be useful as biomonitors at a regional scale. However, there could be value in using the White-backed Vulture as an umbrella species, as an aid to conserve the entire suite of African vulture species.

scholarly journals Determining asymptotically large population sizes in insect swarms

2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (99) ◽  
pp. 20140710 ◽  
Author(s):  
James G. Puckett ◽  
Nicholas T. Ouellette
Keyword(s):  
Group Dynamics ◽  
Large Population ◽  
Environmental Cues ◽  
Multi Agent Systems ◽  
Strong Constraint ◽  
Agent Systems ◽  
Self Organized ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
Population Sizes ◽  
Multi Agent

Social animals commonly form aggregates that exhibit emergent collective behaviour, with group dynamics that are distinct from the behaviour of individuals. Simple models can qualitatively reproduce such behaviour, but only with large numbers of individuals. But how rapidly do the collective properties of animal aggregations in nature emerge with group size? Here, we study swarms of Chironomus riparius midges and measure how their statistical properties change as a function of the number of participating individuals. Once the swarms contain order 10 individuals, we find that all statistics saturate and the swarms enter an asymptotic regime. The influence of environmental cues on the swarm morphology decays on a similar scale. Our results provide a strong constraint on how rapidly swarm models must produce collective states. But our findings support the feasibility of using swarms as a design template for multi-agent systems, because self-organized states are possible even with few agents.

Assembly method in GIS INTEGRO and its usage for solving of gravitational inverse problem

2021 ◽  
pp. 36-47
Author(s):  
Sergey Mitsyn ◽  
Egor Bolshakov
Keyword(s):  
Inverse Problem ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Original Formulation ◽  
Model Evolution ◽  
Assembly Method ◽  
Practice Methods

Various methods based on growing bodies are lately gaining attention in a context of inverse gravity problem that we call a family of “assembly methods”. A variant of method was adopted for GIS INTEGRO in original formulation that is fit for the problem of multiple bodies incorporated in an environment of varying density, in absolute densities (not density contrasts) that are however have to be a priori specified. Such formulation allowed the implementation of the method that is suitable for territory modeling in the regional scale. To workaround method’s instability a number of changes are proposed that consist of introduction of priority on atomic modifications, modification queue and assessment of model evolution instead of just the final result. The developed software allows processing of large grids (tens of millions of tiling elements) even on 5–8 year old desktops. Based on method approbation experience some insights and practice methods are presented. An application example is presented as part of work on modeling of Enisei-Khatanga regional depression territory.

scholarly journals The impact of large terrestrial carnivores on Pleistocene ecosystems

2015 ◽  
Vol 113 (4) ◽  
pp. 862-867 ◽  
Author(s):  
Blaire Van Valkenburgh ◽  
Matthew W. Hayward ◽  
William J. Ripple ◽  
Carlo Meloro ◽  
V. Louise Roth
Keyword(s):  
Prey Size ◽  
Habitat Degradation ◽  
Terrestrial Ecosystems ◽  
Growth Data ◽  
Predator Prey ◽  
Body Sizes ◽  
Population Sizes ◽  
Potential Impact ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Ground Sloths

Large mammalian terrestrial herbivores, such as elephants, have dramatic effects on the ecosystems they inhabit and at high population densities their environmental impacts can be devastating. Pleistocene terrestrial ecosystems included a much greater diversity of megaherbivores (e.g., mammoths, mastodons, giant ground sloths) and thus a greater potential for widespread habitat degradation if population sizes were not limited. Nevertheless, based on modern observations, it is generally believed that populations of megaherbivores (>800 kg) are largely immune to the effects of predation and this perception has been extended into the Pleistocene. However, as shown here, the species richness of big carnivores was greater in the Pleistocene and many of them were significantly larger than their modern counterparts. Fossil evidence suggests that interspecific competition among carnivores was relatively intense and reveals that some individuals specialized in consuming megaherbivores. To estimate the potential impact of Pleistocene large carnivores, we use both historic and modern data on predator–prey body mass relationships to predict size ranges of their typical and maximum prey when hunting as individuals and in groups. These prey size ranges are then compared with estimates of juvenile and subadult proboscidean body sizes derived from extant elephant growth data. Young proboscideans at their most vulnerable age fall within the predicted prey size ranges of many of the Pleistocene carnivores. Predation on juveniles can have a greater impact on megaherbivores because of their long interbirth intervals, and consequently, we argue that Pleistocene carnivores had the capacity to, and likely did, limit megaherbivore population sizes.

scholarly journals 2000 Fleming Lecture. The origin and evolution of hepatitis viruses in humans

2001 ◽  
Vol 82 (4) ◽  
pp. 693-712 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Simmonds
Keyword(s):  
Large Population ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Hepatitis Viruses ◽  
Hepatitis G Virus ◽  
Origin And Evolution ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Population Sizes ◽  
History Of ◽  
Virus C ◽  
Time Of Divergence

The spread and origins of hepatitis C virus (HCV) in human populations have been the subject of extensive investigations, not least because of the importance this information would provide in predicting clinical outcomes and controlling spread of HCV in the future. However, in the absence of historical and archaeological records of infection, the evolution of HCV and other human hepatitis viruses can only be inferred indirectly from their epidemiology and by genetic analysis of contemporary virus populations. Some information on the history of the latter may be obtained by dating the time of divergence of various genotypes of HCV, hepatitis B virus (HBV) and the non-pathogenic hepatitis G virus (HGV)/GB virus-C (GBV-C). However, the relatively recent times predicted for the origin of these viruses fit poorly with their epidemiological distributions and the recent evidence for species-associated variants of HBV and HGV/GBV-C in a wide range of non-human primates. The apparent conservatism of viruses over long periods implied by these latter observations may be the result of constraints on sequence change peculiar to viruses with single-stranded genomes, or with overlapping reading frames. Large population sizes and intense selection pressures that optimize fitness may be the factors that set virus evolution apart from that of their hosts.

scholarly journals Pairwise genetic interactions modulate lipid plasma levels and cellular uptake

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Magdalena Zimon ◽  
Yunfeng Huang ◽  
Anthi Trasta ◽  
Jimmy Z. Liu ◽  
Chia-Yen Chen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Complex Traits ◽  
Drug Target ◽  
Human Genetics ◽  
Large Population ◽  
Genetic Interactions ◽  
Model Systems ◽  
Lipid Lowering ◽  
Gene Pairs ◽  
Population Sizes ◽  
The Uk

SUMMARYGenetic interactions (GIs), the joint impact of different genes or variants on a phenotype, are foundational to the genetic architecture of complex traits. However, identifying GIs through human genetics is challenging since it necessitates very large population sizes, while findings from model systems not always translate to humans. Here, we combined exome-sequencing and genotyping in the UK Biobank with combinatorial RNA-interference (coRNAi) screening to systematically test for pairwise GIs between 30 lipid GWAS genes. Gene-based protein-truncating variant (PTV) burden analyses from 240,970 exomes revealed additive GIs for APOB with PCSK9 and LPL, respectively. Both, genetics and coRNAi identified additive GIs for 12 additional gene pairs. Overlapping non-additive GIs were detected only for TOMM40 at the APOE locus with SORT1 and NCAN. Our study identifies distinct gene pairs that modulate both, plasma and cellular lipid levels via additive and non-additive effects and nominates drug target pairs for improved lipid-lowering combination therapies.

scholarly journals SCIAMACHY tropospheric NO<sub>2</sub> over Switzerland: estimates of NO<sub>x</sub> lifetimes and impact of the complex Alpine topography on the retrieval

2007 ◽  
Vol 7 (23) ◽  
pp. 5971-5987 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Schaub ◽  
D. Brunner ◽  
K. F. Boersma ◽  
J. Keller ◽  
D. Folini ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
A Priori ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Close Correlation ◽  
Sensitivity Study ◽  
Visible Spectral Range ◽  
Alpine Region ◽  
Emission Rates ◽  
General Ability ◽  
Swiss Plateau ◽  
Scanning Imaging

Abstract. This study evaluates NO2 vertical tropospheric column densities (VTCs) retrieved from measurements of the Scanning Imaging Absorption Spectrometer for Atmospheric Chartography (SCIAMACHY) above Switzerland and the Alpine region. The close correlation between pixel averaged NOx emission rates from a spatially and temporally highly resolved inventory and the NO2 VTCs under anticyclonic meteorological conditions demonstrates the general ability of SCIAMACHY to detect sources of NOx pollution in Switzerland. This correlation is further used to infer seasonal mean NOx lifetimes carefully taking into account the influence of the strong diurnal cycle in NOx emissions on these estimates. Lifetimes are estimated to 3.6 (±0.8) hours in summer and 13.1 (±3.8) hours in winter, the winter value being somewhat lower than previous estimates. A comparison between the 2003-2005 mean NO2 VTC distribution over Switzerland and the corresponding 1996–2003 mean from the Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment (GOME) illustrates the much better capability of SCIAMACHY to resolve regional scale pollution features. However, the comparison of seasonal averages over the Swiss Plateau with GOME and ground based in situ observations indicates that SCIAMACHY exhibits a too weak seasonal cycle with comparatively high values in summer and low values in winter. A problem likely contributing to the reduced values in winter (not reported in earlier literature) is the use of inaccurate satellite pixel surface pressures derived from a coarse resolution global model in the retrieval. The marked topography in the Alpine region can lead to deviations of several hundred meters between the model assumed and the real pixel-averaged surface height. A sensitivity study based on selected clear sky SCIAMACHY NO2 VTCs over the Swiss Plateau and two fixed a priori NO2 profile shapes indicates that inaccurate pixel surface pressures affect retrieved NO2 columns over complex terrain by up to 40%. For retrievals in the UV-visible spectral range with a decreasing sensitivity towards the earth's surface, this effect is of major importance when the NO2 resides close to the ground, a situation most frequently observed during winter.

Looking forwards and backwards in a bisexual moran model

1989 ◽  
Vol 26 (04) ◽  
pp. 880-885 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Kämmerle
Keyword(s):  
Diffusion Approximation ◽  
Large Population ◽  
Extinction Probability ◽  
Single Pair ◽  
Approximation Methods ◽  
Moran Model ◽  
Population Sizes ◽  
Limit Result

In this paper a bisexual Moran model is introduced. The population consists of N pairs of individuals. At times t = 1, 2, ·· ·two individuals are born, who ‘choose their parents randomly' and independently of each other. Then one of the pairs is removed and replaced by the two individuals born at that instant. The extinction probability of the descendants of a single pair and the number of ancestors of a whole generation are studied. A limit result for large population sizes has been derived by diffusion approximation methods.

scholarly journals Genetic diversity, demographic history and neo-sex chromosomes in the Critically Endangered Raso lark

2020 ◽  
Vol 287 (1922) ◽  
pp. 20192613 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisa G. Dierickx ◽  
Simon Yung Wa Sin ◽  
H. Pieter J. van Veelen ◽  
M. de L. Brooke ◽  
Yang Liu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Diversity ◽  
Population Size ◽  
Sex Chromosomes ◽  
Demographic History ◽  
Large Population ◽  
Effective Population ◽  
Island Species ◽  
Population Sizes ◽  
Approaches To Study ◽  
Genetic Signatures

Small effective population sizes could expose island species to inbreeding and loss of genetic variation. Here, we investigate factors shaping genetic diversity in the Raso lark, which has been restricted to a single islet for approximately 500 years, with a population size of a few hundred. We assembled a reference genome for the related Eurasian skylark and then assessed diversity and demographic history using RAD-seq data (75 samples from Raso larks and two related mainland species). We first identify broad tracts of suppressed recombination in females, indicating enlarged neo-sex chromosomes. We then show that genetic diversity across autosomes in the Raso lark is lower than in its mainland relatives, but inconsistent with long-term persistence at its current population size. Finally, we find that genetic signatures of the recent population contraction are overshadowed by an ancient expansion and persistence of a very large population until the human settlement of Cape Verde. Our findings show how genome-wide approaches to study endangered species can help avoid confounding effects of genome architecture on diversity estimates, and how present-day diversity can be shaped by ancient demographic events.

scholarly journals Cross-Disciplinary Genomics Approaches to Studying Emerging Fungal Infections

Life ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 315
Author(s):  
Pria N. Ghosh ◽  
Lola M. Brookes ◽  
Hannah M. Edwards ◽  
Matthew C. Fisher ◽  
Phillip Jervis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fungal Pathogens ◽  
Fungal Infections ◽  
Large Population ◽  
Wildlife Health ◽  
Viral Pathogens ◽  
Population Sizes ◽  
Emerging Fungal Infections ◽  
Near Future ◽  
Supply Systems ◽  
Made In

Emerging fungal pathogens pose a serious, global and growing threat to food supply systems, wild ecosystems, and human health. However, historic chronic underinvestment in their research has resulted in a limited understanding of their epidemiology relative to bacterial and viral pathogens. Therefore, the untargeted nature of genomics and, more widely, -omics approaches is particularly attractive in addressing the threats posed by and illuminating the biology of these pathogens. Typically, research into plant, human and wildlife mycoses have been largely separated, with limited dialogue between disciplines. However, many serious mycoses facing the world today have common traits irrespective of host species, such as plastic genomes; wide host ranges; large population sizes and an ability to persist outside the host. These commonalities mean that -omics approaches that have been productively applied in one sphere and may also provide important insights in others, where these approaches may have historically been underutilised. In this review, we consider the advances made with genomics approaches in the fields of plant pathology, human medicine and wildlife health and the progress made in linking genomes to other -omics datatypes and sets; we identify the current barriers to linking -omics approaches and how these are being underutilised in each field; and we consider how and which -omics methodologies it is most crucial to build capacity for in the near future.

scholarly journals Diagonal Acceleration for Covariance Matrix Adaptation Evolution Strategies

2020 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 405-435 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Akimoto ◽  
N. Hansen
Keyword(s):  
Covariance Matrix ◽  
Large Population ◽  
Positive Definiteness ◽  
Diagonal Matrix ◽  
Evolution Strategies ◽  
Covariance Matrix Adaptation ◽  
Population Sizes ◽  
Matrix Formula ◽  
Adaptation Evolution ◽  
Landscape Feature

We introduce an acceleration for covariance matrix adaptation evolution strategies (CMA-ES) by means of adaptive diagonal decoding (dd-CMA). This diagonal acceleration endows the default CMA-ES with the advantages of separable CMA-ES without inheriting its drawbacks. Technically, we introduce a diagonal matrix [Formula: see text] that expresses coordinate-wise variances of the sampling distribution in DCD form. The diagonal matrix can learn a rescaling of the problem in the coordinates within a linear number of function evaluations. Diagonal decoding can also exploit separability of the problem, but, crucially, does not compromise the performance on nonseparable problems. The latter is accomplished by modulating the learning rate for the diagonal matrix based on the condition number of the underlying correlation matrix. dd-CMA-ES not only combines the advantages of default and separable CMA-ES, but may achieve overadditive speedup: it improves the performance, and even the scaling, of the better of default and separable CMA-ES on classes of nonseparable test functions that reflect, arguably, a landscape feature commonly observed in practice. The article makes two further secondary contributions: we introduce two different approaches to guarantee positive definiteness of the covariance matrix with active CMA, which is valuable in particular with large population size; we revise the default parameter setting in CMA-ES, proposing accelerated settings in particular for large dimension. All our contributions can be viewed as independent improvements of CMA-ES, yet they are also complementary and can be seamlessly combined. In numerical experiments with dd-CMA-ES up to dimension 5120, we observe remarkable improvements over the original covariance matrix adaptation on functions with coordinate-wise ill-conditioning. The improvement is observed also for large population sizes up to about dimension squared.

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