bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Tokelauan institutions and assimilation in the migrant communities
Authors: Wessen Albert F , Hooper Antony , Huntsman Judith , Prior Ian A M , Salmond Clare E
Published: November 2023

One of the advantages of studying a small isolated island society is precisely that this smallness and isolation facilitate keeping track of the changing character of the population. But when such a population disperses through the comparative geographic vastness (268 676 sq km) of a structurally complex society such as New Zealand, difficulties are bound to increase. Tokelauans, like migrants to any foreign country, moved from place to place and from job to job as they sought to find their niche in an alien society. The logistics of tracking them as they scattered became increasingly difficult over the study period, and repeatedly taxed the ingenuity and endurance of the investigators.
Role of acetylcholine in use-dependent plasticity of the visual cortex
Authors: Singer W
Published: November 2023

It is well established that cholinergic mechanisms participate in the regulation of functional states of the neocortex. The amount of ACh released from cortical structures changes in a state-dependent way and increases with arousal and EEG desynchronization (Mitchell 1963). Correspondingly, electrical activation of central core structures which mediate desynchronization of the cortical EEG and behavioural arousal also enhances the release of ACh from cortex (Szerb 1967). These observations suggested the possibility that cholinergic mechanisms are involved in the control of arousal and wakefulness. The evidence that blockade of muscarinic transmission prevents EEG desynchronization (Rinaldi and Himwich 1955) and that iontophoretic application of muscarinic agonists facilitates responses in a substantial fraction of cortical neurones are considered as supportive evidence (Krnjevic and Phillis 1963; Krnjevic et al. 1971; McCormick and Prince 1986; Sillito and Kemp 1983; Sato et al. 1987). In the visual cortex an additional function has been postulated for the cholinergic projection in relation to corollary signals generated in conjunction with rapid eye movements. The latter are associated with large-field potentials in visual structures which have been termed PGO waves because of their topological distribution (Bizzi and Brooks 1963; Mouret et al. 1963). These field potentials result from phasic increases in neuronal activity and it has been proposed that these effects are due to cholinergic projections ascending from the reticular formation (Singer and Bedworth 1974; Francesconi et al. 1988).
Reference frames for the perception and control of movement
Authors: Berthoz A
Published: November 2023

In order to build a coherent representation of the movement of limbs or the body in space, the brain must assemble the various messages from its sensors so as to select them according to the environment and to the task in which the subject is engaged, and must compare them with the expected values generated internally. An essential property of the processes underlying the construction of a coherent representation of movement is that it implies multimodal extraction of the important components of the movement (direction, position, velocity, acceleration, etc.). The discovery by Griisser and his colleagues (Akbarian et al. 1988) of an area in the parieto-insular cortex in which head motion in space is reconstructed from visual, vestibular, and somatosensory information is a nice example of this fact.
Spatial firing correlates of neurons in the hippocampal formation of freely moving rats
Authors: Muller R U , Kubie J L , Bostock E M , Taube J S , Quirk G J
Published: November 2023

A large fraction of the behaviour of rats consists of translocational movements that solve the problem of getting to a goal from a starting point. In solving this sort of spatial problem, the rat must follow a specific path that is somehow selected from the set of possible paths. For convenience, we will say that the task of path selection is accomplished by a neural ‘navigational system’. Our research is aimed at understanding the organization and operation of this system.
The hippocampus, exploratory activity, and spatial memory
Authors: Thinus-Blanc C , Save E , Buhot M-C , Poucet B
Published: November 2023

There is now an impressive set of data which supports the prominent role of the hippocampus in spatial memory. But the hippocampal formation is also involved in exploratory activity, although this function is supported by a much smaller body of studies. Recent psychological studies have now provided direct evidence that exploration and spatial knowledge are closely related to each other by functional, reciprocal links. Hence, it is somewhat surprising that these three poles of interest, the hippocampus, exploration, and spatial knowledge, have not been integrated into a unified, conceptual framework since O’Keefe and Nadel’s classic book was published in 1978. It is true that this task is far from easy. In the case of the functional relationship between the hippocampus and spatial cognition, awkward problems may be raised, such as those related to the processing and transformation of information acquired during exploratory activity into spatial knowledge.
A model for the co-operation between cerebral cortex and cerebellar cortex in movement learning
Authors: Burnod Y , DufossÉ M
Published: November 2023

According to modern control theory, learning requires not only an adaptable system but also the possibility of changing the information-processing rules. Nervous systems seem to learn by modifying the flows of signals transmitted between internal structures. In general, c learning occurs in successive steps. Each step has .a given role and a time-constant that depends upon the learning properties of the nervous structures involved. A scheme of interactions between the main nervous structures has been proposed by Ito (1984). This hypothetical scheme for motor learning models the cortico-spinal and the cortico-rubral systems and takes the adaptive properties of the cerebellum into account.
Single-gene disorders
Authors: Nicholas F W
Published: November 2023

If a polypeptide acts as an enzyme or is part of an enzyme, a mutation in its gene sometimes results in a deficiency of that enzyme, with a consequent blockage in the biochemical pathway where that enzyme is required. Diseases that result from such blockages are called inborn errors of metabolism. A good example of such a disease in animals is citrullinaemia, which occurs in Holstein-Friesian cattle.
Coexistence in a patchy environment
Authors: Shorrocks B
Published: November 2023

Many animals, particularly arthropods, exploit resources which are patchy, consisting of small, separate units and which are ephemeral in the sense that they persist for only one or two generations. Such sites, or ‘centres of action’ (Elton 1949) include dung, carrion, fruit, fungi, sap-flows, decaying leaves, flowers, seeds, dead wood, and small bodies of water held in parts of terrestrial plants (phytotelmata).
Fractals
Authors: Hastings Harold M
Published: November 2023

A unique explanation of how to use fractal geometry in ecology and biology. Beginning with the foundations of measurement in Euclidian geometry, this book progresses from analogues in the geometry of random fractals to illustrative applications spanning the natural sciences. Designed to enable students and researchers to master the methods of this hot current topic, it: Includes a toolbox of user-ready computer programs Provides a blend of motivation, geometry and detailed applications Presents detailed case studies in ecosystem patterns and fluctuations of small populations It is the only guide to using fractals in these areas and will prove an essential source for all natural scientists interested in working with fractals.
Introduction
Authors: Anderson Roy M , May Robert M
Published: November 2023

The historical and epidemiological literature abound with accounts of infectious diseases invading human communities and of the concomitant effects on population abundance, social organization, and the unfolding patterns of historical events. A catalogue of the number of deaths induced by the major epidemics of historical times is staggering, and dwarfs the total deaths on all past battlefields.
The basic model: dynamics
Authors: Anderson Roy M , May Robert M
Published: November 2023

At the beginning of Chapter 3, we wrote down a set of partial differential equations describing the way in which the numbers of susceptibles, infectives, and immunes change with time, t, and age, a, under specified circumstances. The subsequent Chapters 4 and 5 have focused on the equilibrium or static properties of these equations and various elaborations on them.
Age-related transmission rates
Authors: Anderson Roy M , May Robert M
Published: November 2023

In this chapter, we generalize the basic model of Chapters 3-7, to include the effects of age-dependent variation in the force of infection (which ultimately derives from age dependence in the underlying transmission coefficients). We are particularly interested in how these realistic refinements, with parameter values based on the data surveyed in the preceding chapter, affect quantitative predictions about immunization programmes.
The dynamics and genetics of host-parasite associations
Authors: May Robert M
Published: November 2023

This chapter offers an analytical framework for discussing dynamic and genetic aspects of the interactions between host and parasite populations. The term ‘parasite’ is construed in a broad way, to include interactions between hosts and viral, bacterial, or fungal pathogens, and occasionally between hosts and insect parasitoids, along with the more conventionallydefined protozoan and helminth parasites.
Encapsulation and host-parasitoid population biology
Authors: Godfray H C J , Hassell M P
Published: November 2023

Parasitoids are insects whose larvae develop by feeding on the bodies of other insects. Typically, the parasitoid larva requires only a single host insect to complete its development, and this host is invariably killed. The parasitoid life history thus has elements in common with both predation and true parasitism. The majority of parasitoids are either wasps in the order Hymenoptera or flies in the order Diptera. Parasitoids are important components of almost all terrestrial communities; approximately 100 000 species of parasitoids have been described, while many more species await description (Toft, Chapter 16, this volume).
Invertebrate host immune mechanisms and parasite escapes
Authors: Bayne Christopher J
Published: November 2023

Although immunology centres on the study of vertebrates, invertebrate animals (and indeed plants) require and possess molecules, cells, and mechanisms that protect them from potential parasites and pathogens with which they coexist (Ratcliffe 1985). Such defensive systems, though they are different from those of the vertebrates, embody a great variety of recognition and effector mechanisms. These are by no means simple: membrane-bound and soluble non-self-recognition molecules, enzyme cascades, and a variety of leukocyte types with diverse aggressive potentials effect integrated responses to a variety of insults, thereby enhancing individual fitness.
An ecological perspective: the population and community consequences of parasitism
Authors: Toft Catherine A
Published: November 2023

Ecologists have rather belatedly become interested in parasitism. In the first part of this century, ecologists began work that endures today on predator-prey interactions, on competition among free-living organisms, and on mutualistic interactions (Lotka 1925; Volterra 1926; Gause 1934; Kostitzin 1934). Even earlier, parasitologists and epidemiologists began study of parasites and diseases, with the aim of controlling these afflictions in humans and domesticated species (e.g. Farr 1840; Brownlee 1906; Ross 1916; Frost 1937; see Bailey 1975 and Anderson 1982 for reviews; see also Chapter 2 by Cheng, this volume). After the work of Kostitzin (1934) and Lotka (1923) (both were ecologists who modelled parasite-host interactions),
Calcium conductance of the neuronal membrane
Authors: Kostyuk Platon G
Published: November 2023

All living cells maintain, as well as sodium and potassium ion gradients, a steep concentration gradient of calcium ions between the extracellular fluid and the cytoplasm. This gradient is much steeper than those for the two other ions, despite the low concentration of extracellular calcium; this phenomenon is due to the ability of living cells to immobilize calcium ions inside or to expel them, and thus to keep their intracellular activity at an extremely low level (see Chapter 8). For this reason, calcium ions should enter the cell very effectively along this gradient as soon as the cellular membrane becomes permeable to them. However, in the resting state calcium ions obviously do not penetrate through the membrane, and the main pathway for their permeation is formed by specialized macromolecular structures, ion channels, which can be opened for diffusional movement of ions.
Brain glucose metabolism in subcortical dementias
Authors: Metter E Jeffrey
Published: November 2023

The concept of subcortical dementia has become popular in the past ten years. Albert et al. (1974) originally noted this behavioural pattern in patients with progressive supranuclear palsy. More recently Cummings and Benson have discussed and promoted the concept in a number of reports (Benson 1983; Cummings and Benson 1983, 1984). Their major point is that demented patients who have disease processes with a primary subcortical origin have clinical features that are distinctly different from dementias with primary cortical origins. Table 11.1 summarizes the differences between cortical and subcortical dementias. The subcortical dementias include multiinfarct dementia (MID), Huntington’s disease (HD), Wilson’s disease and the dementias associated with progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), and Parkinson’s disease (PD). The cortical dementias include Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Pick’s disease.
Is the striatum involved in language?
Authors: Crosson Bruce
Published: November 2023

Participation of the dominant striatum in language functions has been a controversial topic. At one extreme, M. P. Alexander et al. (1987) have claimed that the caudate nucleus and the putamen are not involved in language. These investigators account for language dysfunction after striatal lesions by the fact that vascular lesions of these structures almost always involve surrounding white matter pathways. They assert that the interruption of these pathways is the factor actually causing language dysfunction. At the other extreme, Crosson (1985) and Wallesch and Papagno (1988) have suggested specific functions for the dominant caudate head and dominant putamen in language. For Crosson (1985), these hypothesized functions included the regulation of flow of information from one stage of language formulation to the next.
Relationship between lesions in deep, subcortical white matter areas on chronic CT scans and recovery of speech and comprehension in chronic aphasia
Authors: Naeser Margaret A
Published: November 2023

The effect of lesions in subcortical structures (including the internal capsule and basal ganglia) on language behaviour has been studied since the time of Marie (Marie 1926). More recently, CT scans have permitted better visualization of lesions in these subcortical areas, and have thus allowed further observation into the relationship between subcortical lesion sites (especially white matter and the basal ganglia) and language behaviour (Mazzocchi and Vignola 1979; Alexander and LoVerme 1980; Naeser et al. 1982, 1989; Damasio etal. 1982; Brunner etal. 1982; Cappa etal. 1983; Puel etal. 1984; Alexander et al. 1987; Kennedy and Murdoch 1989; Yang et al. 1989).
Subcortical agraphia
Authors: Kertesz Andrew
Published: November 2023

Even before the new imaging modalities, autopsy correlation and stereotaxic surgery provided evidence that the basal ganglia play a role in language and memory (Bell 1968; Penfield and Roberts 1959; Selby 1967). The participation of subcortical structures in language processing is not fully understood, although it appears that motor impairments dominate the deficit even in the area of language and cognition. This ranges from dysarthria which has been known to occur commonly after thalamotomies (Bell 1968) to severe global aphasia (Naeser et al. 1982). Anomic aphasia is frequently observed, presenting as a disturbance of rather hesitant speech. Repetition is often preserved which is also called a ‘transcorticalfeature’ (Selby 1967; Cappa and Vignola 1979). Bell (1968) considered the deficit to be similar to the aphasias of the frontal regions. Lesions in the putamen and the anterior internal capsule produce slow dysarthric speech and with posterior extension comprehension is also impaired, with paraphasic speech and jargon appearing (Naeser et al. 1982). Damasio et al. (1982) reported atypical aphasic syndromes with decreased verbal agility as the major feature.
Subcortical neglect: is cortical diaschisis relevant?
Authors: Ferro José , Cantinho Guilhermina , Levy A , Godinho F
Published: November 2023

It is well known that damage to subcortical structures can cause neglect, although it is not clear why some patients develop neglect after subcortical lesions while others do not. Furthermore no specific subcortical location appears to be more relevant than any other for the presence or absence of neglect (Ferro et al. 1987). Functional neuroanatomical studies using positron emission tomography (PET) (Baron et al. 1986), regional cerebral blood flow measurements (Perani et al. 1987), and autoradiography (Deuel and Collins 1984) have raised the question of whether neglect is related to the subcortical lesion per se or is due to cortical hypometabolism. One possibility for explaining negative cases (i.e. subcortical lesions without neglect) would be the absence of cortical ‘diaschisis’ in these cases. We report two observations that give rise to alternative explanations.
Morphogenetic cascades, generic forms, and taxonomy
Authors: Goodwin Brian
Published: November 2023

The process of morphogenesis is characterized by symmetry-breaking cascades that generate forms of hierarchically-nested equivalence classes. A morphogenetic definition of homology can thus be based solely on generative criteria, independent of evolutionary history. Morphogenesis in unicellular algae, leaf patterns of higher plants, and the generative principles of tetrapod limbs are used as examples of hierarchical sequences of symmetry-breaking events.
Ontogeny, rooting, and polarity
Authors: De Pinna Mario C C
Published: November 2023

Methods for establishing character polarities on the basis of ontogenetic information have usually approached the problem from the standpoint of individual character states. According to that view, generality criteria ‘identify’ the plesiomorphic and apomorphic states prior to parsimony analysis. The issue is here seen from a different perspective. Because the length of a tree is independent of the placement of the root, there is no practical or theoretical reason to establish direction of character transformations prior to parsimony analysis. The problem of incorporating ontogenetic information into cladogram construction is therefore a question of rooting, that is where to insert the root onto an undirected network. Most modern applications of ontogenetic criteria have failed to incorporate ontogenetic information per se, because they rely solely on principles of generality of character states, ignoring the direction of transformations. A new approach to ontogenetic rooting corrects these shortcomings, and permits incorporating global information on ontogenetic character transformations in cladograms. Contrary to common belief, the outgroup method for polarity determination does not constitute a true polarity - or rooting - determination procedure, but instead a way to parsimoniously extend a previously-established directionality onto a newly attached network. Ontogenetic sequences provide the only biologically-meaningful basis to actually root a tree (and consequently establish character-state polarities).
DNA characters and cladistics: the optimization of functional history
Authors: Albert* Victor A , Backlund† Anders , Bremer† Kare
Published: November 2023

Cladistic analysis of DNA characters must cope with the issue of functional constraints. We discuss functional considerations in systematically useful DNA data, exemplified by repetitive DNA sequences, ribosomal RNAs, and transcription factors. DNA data may be utilized as characters at several levels, such as (i) nucleotides, (ii) codons and amino acids, and (iii) strings of nucleotides. We consider a cladistic analysis of the rbcL gene in a sample of 40 land plants. Examination of codon usage in the rbcL gene reveals assymetries in codon frequencies suggesting that codon usage is influenced by the relative usage of codon neighbours in the genetic code. This pattern is presumably due to functional conservation of the rbcL gene. Furthermore, we show that branch support in cladograms based on analysis of nucleotides is almost entirely (97.5 per cent) based on silent substitutions or functionally labile amino acid replacements, suggesting considerable functional constraints on the rbcL gene. Hence, the cladograms are to a large extent constrained by functional history, which may or may not be entirely congruent with phylogeny. Branch support on cladograms based on string data is to a lesser extent (70 per cent) based on silent or functionally labile amino acid changes, suggesting that string data, on average, may be less influenced by whole-gene functional constraints. However, the correspondingly greater proportion of presumably functional changes in underlying nucleotides (28 per cent versus 2.5 per cent) indicates a greater likelihood that functional associations among particular nucleotides may bias tree construction.
Constancy and change of life in the sea
Authors: Jackson J B C
Published: November 2023

Uniformatarianism is the null hypothesis of geology and gradual speciation by natural selection the null hypothesis of evolution. Ecology is the link between the two. The expectation is that gradual changes in earth processes drive gradual shifts in species and communities. Many ecological and evolutionary trends are in agreement with this scenario (Overpeck et al. 1992), but much new evidence suggests that changes in climate may be abrupt and unstable, with lasting effects on the subsequent climate and biota (Crowley and North 1988; Kennett and Stott 1991). Sudden environmental change may underlie the nearly universal occurrence of discontinuities in morphology and community composition which mark the age, stage, and epoch boundaries of the geologic timescale which traditionally have been attributed to the imperfections of the fossil record (Darwin 1859; Levinton 1988). Here I review evidence that communities of molluscs, reef corals, and planktonic Foraminifera have changed very little since the end of the Pliocene approximately 2 million years ago (mya). After at least 8 million years (my) of relative faunal stability, turnover of Late Pliocene faunas required only a few hundred thousand years (ky).
Rates and patterns of extinction among British invertebrates
Authors: Thomas J A , Morris M G
Published: November 2023

With about 22 000 species of insect and several thousand other invertebrates, Britain has a comparatively small invertebrate fauna and few endemics to compensate for the paucity (Kerrich et al. 1978). However, Britain is better known than any other comparable area in the world (Bratton 1991; Collins and Thomas , and is probably the only country for which the rates and causes of species loss over the past 100-300 years can be reviewed. Our conclusions, although tentative, apply to much of Europe (Heath 1981; Erhardt and Thomas 1991; Speight 1989; Thomas 1991; Beek et al. 1992) and perhaps elsewhere. For whereas European biotopes were once considered atypical because of management and alteration by man (Duffey and Watt 1971; Rackham 1986; Spellerberg et al. 1991; Warren and Key 1991; Thomas 1993), evidence is accumulating that many biotopes in other continents have been similarly shaped by man during recent millennia (e.g., Hammond and McCorkle 1984; Pimm, Moulton, and Justice, Chapter 5). In studying how the invertebrates of low-input low-output agricultural and forestry systems have reacted to the agrichemical and silvicultural revolutions of the 20th century, we may illuminate processes to be repeated over much of the world as human populations grow and societies ‘develop’.
Population, health, and environmental crises in the former Soviet Union1
Authors: Feshbach Murray
Published: November 2023

Professor Murray Feshbach is the world’s leading expert on the demography, health, and ecology of the former Soviet Union. After graduating in history at Syracuse University, he took his Master’s degree at Columbia University, New York and his Ph.D., in economics, at The American University. He worked for 25 years in the US Department of Commerce, eventually becoming Chief, USSR Population, Employment, and Research and Development Branch in the US Bureau of the Census. In 1986 Professor Feshbach, a fluent Russian speaker, became the first Sovietologist-inresidence in the Office of the Secretary-General of NATO, Lord Carrington. He is currently Research Professor of Demography at Georgetown University, Washington DC.
Reservoir geology
Authors: Stoneley Robert
Published: November 2023

What happens after a discovery has been made and evaluated is, strictly speaking, beyond the title of this book. However, the geologist and geophysicist will continue to be very much involved during the appraisal, development, and production of a field, and it may be of interest to include a brief chapter. How this work is organized, and indeed what it is called, vary from company to company. One may encounter the terms ‘development geology’ or ‘production geology’ but, since what is involved is essentially a detailed study of the reservoir, ‘reservoir geology’ may be more all-embracing and less emotive. Much of the work is now in the field of petroleum or reservoir engineering, but the geology still forms the basis of it. Geologists and engineers will therefore be working together throughout as members of a team, and they need to be able to understand and communicate with each other.
Monogamy in the Sparrowhawk
Authors: Newton Wyllie I
Published: November 2023

The Sparrowhawk Accipiter nisus (see drawing above) is a small raptor which breeds in forest and woodland throughout the Palaearctic region, and preys upon small birds. The sexes look much the same, except that females are bigger than males (at twice the weight). Both sexes are shortlived, with an annual mortality of around 33%, an age of first breeding of 1-3 years, and a maximum life span of around 9 years (Newton 1986). Pairs raise no more than one brood per year, containing up to six young. They space themselves through suitable habitat, and tend to nest in the same restricted localities year after year, giving a fairly uniform and stable distribution (Newton 1986). Over a period of years, the same territories may be held by a succession of different individuals, each present for one to several breeding seasons. Individual birds defend the same territory in successive years or they may change territories between one breeding season and the next. Similarly, some individuals retain the same mate in successive years, while others change their mates between breeding seasons, even though the original partner may still be alive. In this chapter, we examine the circumstances underlying mate fidelity and mate change in the Sparrowhawk, and assess the consequences for breeding performance. We also draw comparisons with some other raptors, concluding that local food supply has a major influence on site fidelity and mate fidelity.
Management of International Water Resources: Some Recent Developments
Authors: Biswas Asit K
Published: November 2023

Ever since the time of Aristotle, concern has continued to be expressed on whether enough natural resources would be available for human consumption for future generations. With a steadily increasing global population, and mankind’s eternal quest for a higher standard of living for all the world’s citizens, there is no doubt that demands on natural resources will continue to increase as well. Even if it was possible by some miracle to stabilize world population at the present level, resource requirements would still continue to increase for a considerable period of time as more and more people achieve a better quality of life. Water is a good example of a resource for which demand is increasing continuously.
Catalog Of Mutant Genes And Polymorphic Loci
Authors: Doolitile Donald p. , Davisson Muriel t. , Guidi john N , Green Margaret c.
Published: November 2023

More than 8500 genetic loci have been described in the mouse. Many of them have been recognized by the occurrence of mutations causing visible effects such as changed color, morphology, behavior, etc., or by discovery of differences between strains in protein structure, enzyme activity, antigenic determinants, immune responses, DNA sequences, etc. A growing number of loci for which no variants are known in the mouse are being identified by cloning or molecular characterization. This catalog is an attempt to list and describe all of these loci of the mouse. It does not include loci identified only as proteins or DNA sequences for which there is no genetic evidence. A large number of loci are recognized only by variation in arbitrary DNA sequences or microsatellite repeats.
Health Outcomes
Authors: Macbeth Helen M
Published: November 2023

The costs of health care are much debated, but any study of these costs require measurement of what has been achieved by the health care. The results of health care have come to be known as 'health outcomes' and this book discusses the multiple angles involved in defining and measuring these outcomes. This book is deliberately cross-disciplinary, and looks at the topic thoroughly from the perspectives of different academic and practical angles.
Introduction
Authors: Cotton Richard G H
Published: November 2023

Mutations must have been first detected phenotypically in plants and animals as spontaneously arising variants–much use of which occurred in breeding. With the study of proteins becoming widespread, in 1949 Pauling showed, by using electrophoresis, that there was a subtle difference between the haemoglobin of normals and people with sickle cell disease. Ingram showed that the two proteins differed by substitution of a glutamic acid residue by valine. This really marked the start of molecular medicine and the period around and before this is well covered in a recent book (Cooper and Krawcezak 1993).

The study of DNA in relation to human disease could only start once the structure of DNA was defined by Watson and Crick in 1953. In 1978 the first changes were defined in the haemoglobin gene (see Table l.1).
The role of parasites in bird conservation
Authors: Dobson Andrew P , McCallum Hamish
Published: November 2023

Attempts to breed endangered species in captivity are frequently confounded by disease outbreaks; translocation of individuals to bolster declining populations carries with it the risk of disease introductions; in Hawaii and other island populations the introduction of avian malaria and other pathogens has led to the decline of native birds. Plainly, parasites and diseases are emerging as important natural enemies which have to be considered in the management of endangered bird species. This review considers a number of examples of the role that parasites and pathogens play in conservation. Rather than attempting to be exhaustive and provide a comprehensive list of examples where pathogens have been important in conservation, we have instead chosen to concentrate on describing four general areas where quantitive and qualitative insights have been gained in ecological studies of interactions between parasites and their hosts. In each area, we use a number of empirical examples to illustrate the role that parasites have played in the decline or recovery of an endangered bird species.
Protection from wind
Authors: Savill Peter , Evans Julian , Auclair Daniel , Falck Jan
Published: November 2023

Wind damage to forests is a recurrent hazard in many parts of the world. High winds can uproot trees, break stems, cause malformations, and retard growth. They can also disrupt planned management, causing economic losses from higher logging costs, damage during storage, unharvested wood, lowered increment in residual stands, and shortened rotations, besides reducing landscape quality and habitats for wildlife. Forests in temperate maritime regions suffer most seriously from wind damage, but those in continental mountainous regions can be badly affected too. In some places wind may be the ecological factor most responsible for the species composition of natural forests through destruction by storms. This leads to successions which favour colonizing, rather than climax, species. Storm damage is a constant risk, rather than an unforeseeable event, in many places where it occurs. It is the most important influence affecting the viability of commercial forestry in the British uplands.
Plantations for special purposes
Authors: Savill Peter , Evans Julian , Auclair Daniel , Falck Jan
Published: November 2023

Most plantations are established for the production of wood that can be used for a variety of industrial purposes, though some are grown for a particular specialized use, such as Populus spp. for the match-making and vegetable crate industries, or for energy. These are discussed in Chapter 15. But, as pointed out in Chapter 1, trees are also planted for many other purposes. The economic values of produce other than wood and the environmental benefits of trees and forests can sometimes be more important than timber. Examples of non-wood produce, conventionally called minor forest products, are seed crops from sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa), walnut (Juglans regia), and stone pine (Pinus pinea), or exudates such as resins and maple syrup, the bark of Quercus suber for cork, and that of other species for tannins, and a variety of medicinal and industrial compounds. Products of animals which feed on certain trees may have a considerable econ omic value including silk, lac, and honey.
Mechanisms for alleviating chromatin-mediated repression of transcription
Authors: Quinn Janet , Peterson Craig L
Published: November 2023

There is now a wealth of data derived from both biochemical and genetic studies that confirm the importance of chromatin in regulating gene expression (for recent reviews see Felsenfeld 1992; Grunstein 1992; Lewin 1994; Paranjape et al. 1994; Peterson 1994). In all eukaryotes the basic building block of chromatin is the nucleosome, which is comprised of approximately 145 base pairs (bp) of DNA wrapped about twice around an octamer of histone proteins. The histone octamer is organized as a central tetramer of histones H3 and H4 flanked by two heterodimers of histones H2A and H2B. In higher eukaryotes a single molecule of histone HI binds to both the outer surface of DNA that circles the octamer and to the DNA that links neighbouring nucleosomes.
The chicken lysozyme chromatin domain
Authors: Bonifer Constanze , Faust Nicole , Huber Matthias C , Saueressig, Harald , Sippel Albrecht E
Published: November 2023

The investigation of the molecular mechanisms of differential gene expression will ultimately lead to a detailed understanding of the basis of differentiation decisions within a developing organism. For many years research focused on identifying and characterizing individual cis-regulatory elements responsible for tissue-specific gene expression. This approach led to the discovery and characterization of the molecular anatomy of enhancers, silencers, and promoters. The minimal requirements for tissue--specific gene expression were determined, mostly by transient transfcction assays, and in many cases were assigned to the immediate promoter region of a gene. However, with increasing stringency of assay systems and the need to obtain reproducibly high and stable gene expression (for instance in gene therapy approaches), it became clear that many gene constructs shown to work well in a transient transfection assay do not show any activity when assayed stably integrated in a chromosomal environment (Wilson et al. 1990). Moreover, differences were observed when the same constructs were analysed stably transfected into cultured cells and transgenic organisms (Zimmerman et al. 1990). It was therefore feasible to assume that dynamic changes in chromatin structure of a gene locus play an essential role in the regulation of its transcriptional activation in development. For these reasons we set out to answer the following general questions.
Drosophila heterochromatin: retreats for repeats
Authors: Csink Amy K , Sass, Georgette L , Henikoff Steven
Published: November 2023

The ultimate goal of the Human Genome Project is to obtain the entire sequences of human and several model genomes, which will greatly facilitate numerous lines of genetic research. The gene-rich regions are most amenable to analysis, however a very large fraction of higher eukaryotic genomes consists of enormous blocks of repeats, often simple oligomers reiterated hundreds of thousands of times. Such a level of repetitiveness must be dismaying to even the most enthusiastic participants in the Project: highly repetitive DNA is difficult to clone and sequence, and non-informational sequence is of questionable relevance to mainstream genetic research. Nevertheless, the finding that many human diseases are associated with simple sequence repeat expansions (Bates and Lehrach 1994) has excited renewed interest in repetitive sequence blocks, which have long been known to lie in heterochromatin.
Polistes in perspective: comparative social biology and evolution in Belonogaster and Stenogastrinae
Authors: Turillazzi Stefano
Published: November 2023

The previous chapters have considered and analyzed the decisive factors in the success of Polistes as a model organism for the study of social behaviour. But the biology of a group and its scientific importance can be understood completely only if it is studied in an evolutive context and its characteristics are analyzed through homologies and analogies with other groups. Independent-founding polistine species living in the tropical Old World, recently included by Carpenter (1993) in the tribe Ropalidiini (Belonogaster, independent-founding Ropalidia, Parapolybia), have-like Polistes-colonies of small size and nests without envelopes (Gadagkar 1991c). In the neotropics the genus Mischocyttarus is quite similar to Polistes, with which it competes in abundance and number of species (Gadagkar 1991c; Wenzel 1991). These wasps, however, together with species of tropical Polistes, are not 'sympatric' with most of the scientists interested in this kind of research. Until some decades ago this fact greatly limited studies on their biology and social behaviour. At present, only a few species of independent founding Ropalidia (see Gadagkar 1991c, this volume) are actively studied at the level at which Polistes are studied, whereas some species of Mischocyttarus have been the objects of thorough studies by North and South American researchers since the publication of Jeanne's monograph on the social biology of M. drewseni from Brazil (Jeanne 1972; Gadagkar 1991c).
Harriers of the World
Authors: Simmons Robert E
Published: November 2023

Harriers are a charismatic group of birds of prey with a worldwide distribution that have long fascinated bird watchers and scientists. Here for the first time the biology of the world's harriers is treated within one cover, in readily accessible language. There are detailed comparisons of northern and southern species, descriptions of mating systems and population dynamics life histories, and insights into the selection pressures shaping the birds' life histories. The author addresses such questions as how females choose partners against their apparent self- interest, how they adjust to prevailing circumstances to produce the optimal clutch size, and what underlies variations in size dimorphism and copulation patterns. New information resulting from a DNA examination of the group reveals three new harrier species and allows construction of a new phylogeny of the harriers. The book is brought to life by fine original line drawings of these impressive birds by the author's twin brother. It will be a treat for all raptor biologists, amateur raptophiles, and behavioural ecologists interested in temperate-tropical comparisons.
Parallelism in the origin of the g-type clausilial apparatus (gastropoda, pulmonata, clausiliidae)
Authors: Gittenberger Edmund , Schilthuizen Menno
Published: November 2023

There is an unusually broad consensus with regard to the monophyletic origin of the speciose pulmonate snail family Clausiliidae. This collective opinion goes back far into the history of molluscan systematics, with the generic name Clausilia introduced already by Drapamaud (1805). Clausiliid snails have slender, usually sinistral, more-or-less fusiform shells, with a clausilium in the last whorl of adult individuals.
The evolutionary history of the bivalvia
Authors: morton Brian
Published: November 2023

The earliest classifications of the Bivalvia, following that of Linnaeus (1758), were produced by conchologists, e.g., Cuvier (1800) and Lamarck (1801) and depended upon shell characters. Cox (1960) has reviewed the history of bivalve taxonomy. In the early part of the 20th century, Paul Pelseneer who had worked up the material for the Siboga and Challenger expeditions began a series of studies on the Bivalvia which resulted in the production of a system of classification based on internal anatomy, notably the ctenidia (Pelseneer, 1906). C.M. Yonge was to use the Pelseneerian system with great effect to provide a firm understanding of bivalve anatomy, typically at the superfamily level, that would illustrate their diversity. In this understanding, Yonge was influenced by the meticulous researches of W.G. Ridewood (1903) and D. Atkins (1936-1938) on gill structure and J.L. Kellogg (1915), also on the mechanisms of bivalve feeding. Yonge’s teaching produced a generation of mala- cologists, some of whom, e.g., E.R. Trueman and G. Owen, were, through early work on ligament structure (Owen et al., 1953) and, in the latter case, also on ctenidium structure, to influence his perception of the adaptive radiations of the constituent orders of the class.
The principles of genetics
Authors: Majerus Michael E N
Published: November 2023

Some species of organism have melanic forms, while other morphologically similar and closely related species lack them. Furthermore, within a species, some populations contain no melanics, others are all melanic, and some have a mix of both melanics and non-melanics. If we are to understand the reasons for the pres

ence or absence of melanic forms within a species, or why the frequencies of melanic forms vary in populations in either time or space, we must understand how melanic forms arise, how they increase or decrease temporally or spatially, and why in some species the increase of a melanic form stops before it completely replaces non-melanic forms. This is a long-winded way of saying that we have to understand the evolution of melanism, and to do that we need a knowledge of inheritance. How are traits passed from one generation to the next? Why do progeny have the characteristics of one or other of their parents in some features, appear to be a mix of their parents in other features, and are unlike either of their parents in still others? The study of these questions of inheritance is the field of genetics.
The peppered moth story dissected
Authors: Majerus Michael E N
Published: November 2023

The importance of industrial melanism in the peppered moth as one of the first, and still most cited examples of evolution in action, places emphasis on the need to be sure that the story is right. In the 40 years since Kettlewell’s pioneering work, many evolutionary biologists, particularly in Britain, but also in other parts of Europe, the United States, and Japan, have studied melanism in this species. The findings of these scientists show that the precised description of the basic peppered moth story is wrong, inaccurate, or incomplete, with respect to most of the story’s component parts.
Cross-species transmission and recombination of ‘AIDS’ viruses
Authors: Sharp Paul M , Robertson David L , Hahn Beatrice H
Published: November 2023

Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) is caused by two different human immunodeficiency viruses, HIV-1 and HIV-2, which are members of the lentivirus family of retroviruses. Related viruses are found in many species of non-human primates; these have been termed simian immunodeficiency viruses (SIV), with a subscript to denote their species of origin. (Here we use the term444 AIDS” viruses’ to mean the entire group of primate lentiviruses; however, many of the SIVs are not known to cause immunodeficiency in what appear to be their natural hosts.) Lentiviruses have also been isolated from artiodactyls, perissodactyls, and carnivores. All retroviruses contain two copies of an RNA genome, approximately 10 kb in length, at each end of which lie long terminal repeats (LTR) encoding regulatory functions. Much of the sequence in between is taken up by the three major structural genes: gag,pol, and env. However, HIVs and SIVs also encode a number (five or six) of shorter accessory genes (see Hahn 1994).
Uses of molecular phylogenies for conservation
Authors: Moritz Craig
Published: November 2023

Phylogenies of species are producing important insights into taxonomy, the evolution of characters, and the long-term patterns and dynamics of adaptation and divergence (Brooks and McLellan 1991; Harvey and Pagel 1991). Molecular characters provide a rich source of information for analysis of species phylogeny and, within limits, can indicate the approximate timing as well as the sequence of events (Hillis and Moritz 1990). Molecular systematics can also reveal the phylogeny of alleles within species, revealing previously inaccessible details of historical biogeography and population processes (Avise 1989, 1994; Hudson 1990). Whether these new tools and concepts will prove of practical and general use in conservation remains to be demonstrated. In this chapter I consider the use of molecular phylogenies in two areas relevant to wildlife conservation; describing biodiversity and inferring population processes.
Comparative evolution of larval and adult life-history stages and small subunit ribosomal RNA amongst post-Palaeozoic echinoids
Authors: Smith A B , Littlewood D T J , Wray G A
Published: November 2023

With the construction of robust phylogenies based on multiple corroborative datasets, comes the opportunity to compare the phylogenetic histories of different subsets of characters. Until recently workers have focused largely on comparing the performance of morphological and molecular data in tree construction, with the aim of showing that one or other is superior. However, where two or more independent datasets give broadly comparable topologies, a comparative approach to evolutionary patterns can be adopted. Subsets of characters that can be considered as independent of one another can be optimized onto the preferred phylogeny and compared to investigate how different aspects of a clade’s biology have evolved over time. This approach is not confined simply to the morphology versus molecular dichotomy, but can be expanded to include comparisons of different kinds of molecular data (for example coding versus non-coding regions; ribosomal loop versus stem regions, etc.) or different stages in the life history of an organism (for example larval versus adult evolution). Although there has been substantial work done on the comparison of different kinds of molecular data, no one has previously attempted to compare the evolution of different life-history stages within a clade.