Comparisons of Deng Entropy-Based Taxonomic Diversity Measures with the Other Diversity Measures and Introduction to the New Proposed (Reinforced) Estimators

Abstract The aim of the study is to describe the testate amoebae fauna in seven reservoirs in the Northeastern Bulgaria and to investigate the relationship of taxonomic diversity and abundance of these organisms to the some characteristics of the reservoirs. A total of 52 species, varieties and forms belonging to 15 genera were identified in the benthal of the coastal zone. There are significant differences in species richness and abundance between the testacea of different reservoirs. Number of taxa was significantly higher in the Beli Lom (29 species and 12 genera) and Loznitsa (22 species and 13 genera). Most of the reservoirs - Kara Michal, Bogdantsi, Isperih, Lipnik and Brestovene have extremely poor fauna compared to other similar reservoirs. This is confirmed by the low values of the Shannon-Weaver diversity index, which varied between 1.04 and 2.396, as well as by the other indices used to assess the environmental conditions in the reservoirs. The data of the regression analysis showed that a relation between age, surface area and water volume of the reservoirs and the species richness and abundance of testacea is not established.

Download Full-text

First complete pterosaur from the Afro-Arabian continent: insight into pterodactyloid diversity

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-019-54042-z ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 9 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Alexander W. A. Kellner ◽

Michael W. Caldwell ◽

Borja Holgado ◽

Fabio M. Dalla Vecchia ◽

Roy Nohra ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Middle Ages ◽

Early Cretaceous ◽

Late Cretaceous ◽

Taxonomic Diversity ◽

First Record ◽

The Other ◽

Geological Record ◽

Insight Into ◽

The Middle Ages

AbstractDespite being known from every continent, the geological record of pterosaurs, the first group of vertebrates to develop powered flight, is very uneven, with only a few deposits accounting for the vast majority of specimens and almost half of the taxonomic diversity. Among the regions that stand out for the greatest gaps of knowledge regarding these flying reptiles, is the Afro-Arabian continent, which has yielded only a small number of very fragmentary and incomplete materials. Here we fill part of that gap and report on the most complete pterosaur recovered from this continent, more specifically from the Late Cretaceous (~95 mya) Hjoûla Lagerstätte of Lebanon. This deposit is known since the Middle Ages for the exquisitely preserved fishes and invertebrates, but not for tetrapods, which are exceedingly rare. Mimodactylus libanensis gen. et sp. nov. differs from the other Afro-Arabian pterosaur species named to date and is closely related to the Chinese species Haopterus gracilis, forming a new clade of derived toothed pterosaurs. Mimodactylidae clade nov. groups species that are related to Istiodactylidae, jointly designated as Istiodactyliformes (clade nov.). Istiodactyliforms were previously documented only in Early Cretaceous sites from Europe and Asia, with Mimodactylus libanensis the first record in Gondwana.

Download Full-text

Space oddity: estimating Earth biodiversity from a satellite

10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-4185 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Duccio Rocchini

Keyword(s):

Remote Sensing ◽

Functional Diversity ◽

Repeated Measures ◽

Satellite Remote Sensing ◽

Sampling Design ◽

Cost Effective ◽

Taxonomic Diversity ◽

Practical Reasons ◽

Diversity Measures ◽

Short Period

<p><span>Assessing biodiversity from field-based data is difficult for a number of practical reasons: (i) establishing the total number of sampling units to be investigated and the sampling design (e.g. systematic, random, stratified) can be difficult; (ii) the choice of the sampling design can affect the results; and (iii) defining the focal population of interest can be challenging. Satellite remote sensing is one of the most cost-effective and comprehensive approaches to identify biodiversity hotspots and predict changes in species composition. This is because, in contrast to field-based methods, it allows for complete spatial coverages of the Earth's surface under study over a short period of time. Furthermore, satellite remote sensing provides repeated measures, thus making it possible to study temporal changes in biodiversity. While taxonomic diversity measures have long been established, problems arising from abundance related measures have not been yet disentangled. Moreover, little has been done to account for functional diversity besides taxonomic diversity measures. The aim of this talk is to propose robust measures of remotely sensed heterogeneity to perform exploratory analysis for the detection of hotspots of taxonomic and functional diversity of plant species.</span></p>

Download Full-text

Acidogenic microbial species diversity in anaerobic digesters treating different substrates

Water Science & Technology ◽

10.2166/wst.1994.0581 ◽

1994 ◽

Vol 30 (12) ◽

pp. 55-61 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

T. J. Britz ◽

G. Spangenberg ◽

C. A. Venter

Keyword(s):

Species Diversity ◽

Landfill Leachate ◽

Environmental Variables ◽

Fixed Bed ◽

Taxonomic Diversity ◽

The Other ◽

Process Efficiency ◽

Anaerobic Digesters ◽

Microbial Species ◽

Taxonomic Methods

Microbial species diversity was determined for the acidogenic populations of four different digesters treating landfill leachate, a petrochemical effluent and sewage. The digesters were a downflow fixed-bed, conventional, cold conventional and an upflow hybrid design. The 288 strains isolated from the digesters were characterized using API test systems and identifications confirmed using current taxonomic methods. The taxonomic diversity was determined using the Shannon (H′) and equitability (J′) indices. The species from the four digesters were very similar with the exception of those from the digester treating the landfill leachate. The higher diversity in the latter was probably due to the diverse composition of the leachate, suggesting that members of this population were more generalists, as opposed to the more narrowly constrained members in the other three digesters. The data indicated that in a digester environment dominated by a more specific carbon containing effluent, like a petrochemical effluent, the population becomes stenotolerant and is characterized by a lower species diversity. Such a population would not be able to cope as well with environmental fluctuations. With a more diverse substrate like the landfill leachate, generalists, having a wider range for environmental variables, would dominate. This is important in terms of anaerobic digester process efficiency and stability.

Download Full-text

Taxonomic Diversity Not Associated with Gross Karyotype Differentiation: The Case of Bighead Carps, Genus Hypophthalmichthys (Teleostei, Cypriniformes, Xenocyprididae)

Genes ◽

10.3390/genes11050479 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 11 (5) ◽

pp. 479 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Alexandr Sember ◽

Šárka Pelikánová ◽

Marcelo de Bello Cioffi ◽

Vendula Šlechtová ◽

Terumi Hatanaka ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Constitutive Heterochromatin ◽

Taxonomic Diversity ◽

The Other ◽

Chromosomal Mapping ◽

Single Pair ◽

Pure Species ◽

Other Hand ◽

Rdna Sites ◽

Karyotype Structure ◽

Karyotype Differentiation

The bighead carps of the genus Hypophthalmichthys (H. molitrix and H. nobilis) are important aquaculture species. They were subjected to extensive multidisciplinary research, but with cytogenetics confined to conventional protocols only. Here, we employed Giemsa-/C-/CMA3- stainings and chromosomal mapping of multigene families and telomeric repeats. Both species shared (i) a diploid chromosome number 2n = 48 and the karyotype structure, (ii) low amount of constitutive heterochromatin, (iii) the absence of interstitial telomeric sites (ITSs), (iv) a single pair of 5S rDNA loci adjacent to one major rDNA cluster, and (v) a single pair of co-localized U1/U2 snDNA tandem repeats. Both species, on the other hand, differed in (i) the presence/absence of remarkable interstitial block of constitutive heterochromatin on the largest acrocentric pair 11 and (ii) the number of major (CMA3-positive) rDNA sites. Additionally, we applied here, for the first time, the conventional cytogenetics in H. harmandi, a species considered extinct in the wild and/or extensively cross-hybridized with H. molitrix. Its 2n and karyotype description match those found in the previous two species, while silver staining showed differences in distribution of major rDNA. The bighead carps thus represent another case of taxonomic diversity not associated with gross karyotype differentiation, where 2n and karyotype structure cannot help in distinguishing between genomes of closely related species. On the other hand, we demonstrated that two cytogenetic characters (distribution of constitutive heterochromatin and major rDNA) may be useful for diagnosis of pure species. The universality of these markers must be further verified by analyzing other pure populations of bighead carps.

Download Full-text

On Mammalian Taphonomy, Taxonomic Diversity, and Measuring Subsistence Data in Zooarchaeology

American Antiquity ◽

10.2307/282262 ◽

1995 ◽

Vol 60 (3) ◽

pp. 496-514 ◽

Cited By ~ 26

Author(s):

Dave N. Schmitt ◽

Karen D. Lupo

Keyword(s):

Taxonomic Diversity ◽

Diet Breadth ◽

Subsistence Strategy ◽

Qualitative And Quantitative ◽

Faunal Assemblages ◽

Diversity Measures ◽

Animal Bones ◽

Prehistoric Diet ◽

Human Subsistence

This paper examines the application of mammalian taxonomic diversity measures in the analysis of human subsistence. Employing qualitative and quantitative taphonomic analyses on archaeofaunas recovered from a sheltered Fremont site in Utah, numerous small- and medium-sized animal bones (especially Leporidae) are identified as nonhuman accumulations. Measures of taxonomic diversity for the shelter’s entire assemblage suggest that the inhabitants practiced a generalized, broad-spectrum subsistence strategy. Omitting the nonhuman accumulations and calculating similar measures on bones interpreted as human refuse produce a different portrait of subsistence practices. Using this investigation as a case study, mammalian faunal assemblages from six additional Fremont assemblages are examined to further demonstrate that subsistence inferences based on diversity measures should be approached with caution. We demonstrate that measures of taxonomic diversity are valuable tools but should be used in concert with analyses of taphonomic agents. Furthermore, rather than employing only those bones identified to species, we emphasize that specimens identified to taxonomic genera may offer adequate resolution in examining prehistoric diet breadth.

Download Full-text

Stromatoporoids from the Famennian (Devonian) Wabamun Formation, Normandville oilfield, north–central Alberta, Canada

Journal of Paleontology ◽

10.1017/s0022336000018321 ◽

1988 ◽

Vol 62 (03) ◽

pp. 411-419 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Colin W. Stearn

Keyword(s):

Patch Reef ◽

Abundant Species ◽

The Other ◽

North Central ◽

Biotic Crisis

Stromatoporoids are the principal framebuilding organisms in the patch reef that is part of the reservoir of the Normandville field. The reef is 10 m thick and 1.5 km2in area and demonstrates that stromatoporoids retained their ability to build reefal edifices into Famennian time despite the biotic crisis at the close of Frasnian time. The fauna is dominated by labechiids but includes three non-labechiid species. The most abundant species isStylostroma sinense(Dong) butLabechia palliseriStearn is also common. Both these species are highly variable and are described in terms of multiple phases that occur in a single skeleton. The other species described areClathrostromacf.C. jukkenseYavorsky,Gerronostromasp. (a columnar species), andStromatoporasp. The fauna belongs in Famennian/Strunian assemblage 2 as defined by Stearn et al. (1988).

Download Full-text

D. The Line Spectrum of Pulsating Variable Stars

Symposium - International Astronomical Union ◽

10.1017/s0074180900019021 ◽

1967 ◽

Vol 28 ◽

pp. 207-244

Author(s):

R. P. Kraft

Keyword(s):

Variable Stars ◽

The Other ◽

Line Spectrum ◽

Afternoon Session ◽

Empirical Information ◽

Pulsating Variable Stars ◽

Almost Continuous ◽

Informal Approach

(Ed. note:Encouraged by the success of the more informal approach in Christy's presentation, we tried an even more extreme experiment in this session, I-D. In essence, Kraft held the floor continuously all morning, and for the hour and a half afternoon session, serving as a combined Summary-Introductory speaker and a marathon-moderator of a running discussion on the line spectrum of cepheids. There was almost continuous interruption of his presentation; and most points raised from the floor were followed through in detail, no matter how digressive to the main presentation. This approach turned out to be much too extreme. It is wearing on the speaker, and the other members of the symposium feel more like an audience and less like participants in a dissective discussion. Because Kraft presented a compendious collection of empirical information, and, based on it, an exceedingly novel series of suggestions on the cepheid problem, these defects were probably aggravated by the first and alleviated by the second. I am much indebted to Kraft for working with me on a preliminary editing, to try to delete the side-excursions and to retain coherence about the main points. As usual, however, all responsibility for defects in final editing is wholly my own.)

Download Full-text

C. The Continuous Spectrum of Pulsating Variable Stars

Symposium - International Astronomical Union ◽

10.1017/s007418090001901x ◽

1967 ◽

Vol 28 ◽

pp. 177-206

Author(s):

J. B. Oke ◽

C. A. Whitney

Keyword(s):

Continuous Spectrum ◽

Variable Stars ◽

Velocity Fields ◽

The Other ◽

Line Spectrum ◽

Direct Information ◽

Thermodynamic Structure ◽

Diagnostic Interpretation ◽

Pulsating Variable Stars ◽

The Continuum

Pecker:The topic to be considered today is the continuous spectrum of certain stars, whose variability we attribute to a pulsation of some part of their structure. Obviously, this continuous spectrum provides a test of the pulsation theory to the extent that the continuum is completely and accurately observed and that we can analyse it to infer the structure of the star producing it. The continuum is one of the two possible spectral observations; the other is the line spectrum. It is obvious that from studies of the continuum alone, we obtain no direct information on the velocity fields in the star. We obtain information only on the thermodynamic structure of the photospheric layers of these stars–the photospheric layers being defined as those from which the observed continuum directly arises. So the problems arising in a study of the continuum are of two general kinds: completeness of observation, and adequacy of diagnostic interpretation. I will make a few comments on these, then turn the meeting over to Oke and Whitney.

Download Full-text

Observing programme for the 24-inch/36-inch Schmidt telescope

Symposium - International Astronomical Union ◽

10.1017/s007418090005364x ◽

1966 ◽

Vol 24 ◽

pp. 337

Author(s):

W. Iwanowska

Keyword(s):

The Other ◽

Schmidt Telescope ◽

Flint Glass

A new 24-inch/36-inch//3 Schmidt telescope, made by C. Zeiss, Jena, has been installed since 30 August 1962, at the N. Copernicus University Observatory in Toruń. It is equipped with two objective prisms, used separately, one of crown the other of flint glass, each of 5° refracting angle, giving dispersions of 560Å/mm and 250Å/ mm respectively.

Download Full-text