title: Comparative phylogeography in the genomic age: Opportunities and challenges

authors: McGaughran, Angela

subjects: community genomics

abstract: Aim: We consider the opportunities and challenges comparative phylogeography (CP) faces in the genomic age to determine: (1) how we can maximise the potential of big CP analyses to advance biogeographic and macroevolutionary theory; and (2) what we can, and will struggle, to achieve using CP approaches in this era of genomics. 
Location: World-wide. 
Taxon: All. 
Methods: We review the literature to discuss the future of CP - particularly examining CP insights enabled by genomics that may not be possible for single species and/or few molecular markers. We focus on how geography and species' natural histories interact to yield congruent and incongruent patterns of neutral and adaptive processes in the context of both historical and recent rapid evolution. We also consider how CP genomic data are being stored, accessed, and shared. 
Results: With the widespread availability of genomic data, the shift from a single- to a multi-locus perspective is resulting in detailed historical inferences and an improved statistical rigour in phylogeography. However, the time and effort required for collecting co-distributed species and accruing species-specific ecological knowledge continue to be limiting factors. Bioinformatic skills and user-friendly analytical tools, alongside the computational infrastructure required for big data, can also be limiting. 
Main conclusions: Over the last ~35 years, there has been much progress in understanding how intraspecific genetic variation is geographically distributed. The next major steps in CP will be to incorporate evolutionary processes and community perspectives to account for patterns and responses among co-distributed species and across temporal scales, including those related to anthropogenic change. However, the full potential of CP will only be realised if we employ robust study designs within a sound comparative framework. We advocate that phylogeographers adopt such consistent approaches to enhance future comparisons to present-day findings.

text: Comparative phylogeography in the genomic age: Opportunities and challenges Aim: We consider the opportunities and challenges comparative phylogeography (CP) faces in the genomic age to determine: (1) how we can maximise the potential of big CP analyses to advance biogeographic and macroevolutionary theory; and (2) what we can, and will struggle, to achieve using CP approaches in this era of genomics. 
Location: World-wide. 
Taxon: All. 
Methods: We review the literature to discuss the future of CP - particularly examining CP insights enabled by genomics that may not be possible for single species and/or few molecular markers. We focus on how geography and species' natural histories interact to yield congruent and incongruent patterns of neutral and adaptive processes in the context of both historical and recent rapid evolution. We also consider how CP genomic data are being stored, accessed, and shared. 
Results: With the widespread availability of genomic data, the shift from a single- to a multi-locus perspective is resulting in detailed historical inferences and an improved statistical rigour in phylogeography. However, the time and effort required for collecting co-distributed species and accruing species-specific ecological knowledge continue to be limiting factors. Bioinformatic skills and user-friendly analytical tools, alongside the computational infrastructure required for big data, can also be limiting. 
Main conclusions: Over the last ~35 years, there has been much progress in understanding how intraspecific genetic variation is geographically distributed. The next major steps in CP will be to incorporate evolutionary processes and community perspectives to account for patterns and responses among co-distributed species and across temporal scales, including those related to anthropogenic change. However, the full potential of CP will only be realised if we employ robust study designs within a sound comparative framework. We advocate that phylogeographers adopt such consistent approaches to enhance future comparisons to present-day findings.

year: 2022

title: Commentary on “An alternative to working on machine consciousness”, by Aaron Sloman

authors: Legg, Catherine

subjects: consciousness

abstract: A commentary on a current paper by Aaron Sloman where he argues that in order to make progress in AI, consciousness (and other such unclear concepts of common-sense regarding the mind), "should be replaced by more precise and varied architecture-based concepts better suited to specify what needs to be explained by scientific theories". This original vision of philosophical inquiry as the mapping out of 'design-spaces' for a contested concept seeks to achieve a holistic, synthetic understanding of what possibilities such spaces embody and how different parameters might structure them in nomic and highly inter-connected ways. It therefore does not reduce to either "relations of ideas" or "matters of fact" in Hume's famous dichotomy. It is also shown to be in interesting ways the exact opposite of the current vogue for 'experimental philosophy'.

text: Commentary on “An alternative to working on machine consciousness”, by Aaron Sloman A commentary on a current paper by Aaron Sloman where he argues that in order to make progress in AI, consciousness (and other such unclear concepts of common-sense regarding the mind), "should be replaced by more precise and varied architecture-based concepts better suited to specify what needs to be explained by scientific theories". This original vision of philosophical inquiry as the mapping out of 'design-spaces' for a contested concept seeks to achieve a holistic, synthetic understanding of what possibilities such spaces embody and how different parameters might structure them in nomic and highly inter-connected ways. It therefore does not reduce to either "relations of ideas" or "matters of fact" in Hume's famous dichotomy. It is also shown to be in interesting ways the exact opposite of the current vogue for 'experimental philosophy'.

year: 2009

title: The source, composition and typology of ‘Limestone’ Adzes from Eastern North Island, New Zealand

authors: Nelson, Campbell S.

subjects: adzes

abstract: Collections of stone adzes (toki) from the eastern North Island of New Zealand include a number of typologically early (Archaic) forms made from what has been previously described as ‘siliceous or silicified limestone’. Seventy five finished adzes and preforms of this material were recorded in the present study. Their geographic distribution is primarily restricted to southern Hawkes Bay – Wairarapa, and they apparently originated from a single manufacturing centre at Owahanga, on the northern Wairarapa coast. Chemical and mineralogical analyses (by X-ray fluorescence, portable XRF, vacuum gasometry and X-ray diffraction) of two artefacts from Owahanga show they contain about 20–30 per cent CaCO3 (as calcite), while samples of the presumed local source rock have a slightly higher carbonate content but comparable silica (quartz) and Rb concentrations. The rock type used in the manufacture of adzes was therefore not a true limestone but calcareous mudstone, compositionally distinct from siliceous limestones in southern Wairarapa and probably derived from the Whangai Formation. Possible reasons for the use of this stone material are discussed.

text: The source, composition and typology of ‘Limestone’ Adzes from Eastern North Island, New Zealand Collections of stone adzes (toki) from the eastern North Island of New Zealand include a number of typologically early (Archaic) forms made from what has been previously described as ‘siliceous or silicified limestone’. Seventy five finished adzes and preforms of this material were recorded in the present study. Their geographic distribution is primarily restricted to southern Hawkes Bay – Wairarapa, and they apparently originated from a single manufacturing centre at Owahanga, on the northern Wairarapa coast. Chemical and mineralogical analyses (by X-ray fluorescence, portable XRF, vacuum gasometry and X-ray diffraction) of two artefacts from Owahanga show they contain about 20–30 per cent CaCO3 (as calcite), while samples of the presumed local source rock have a slightly higher carbonate content but comparable silica (quartz) and Rb concentrations. The rock type used in the manufacture of adzes was therefore not a true limestone but calcareous mudstone, compositionally distinct from siliceous limestones in southern Wairarapa and probably derived from the Whangai Formation. Possible reasons for the use of this stone material are discussed.

year: 2016