SHAPE DIFFERENCES AMONG BOREHOLES DRILLED BY THREE SPECIES OF NATICID GASTROPODS

Naticid gastropods leave a record of predation in the form ofcharacteristic countersunk circular boreholes. We fed bivalveprey to naticids to test whether the ratio between the innerand outer borehole diameter differed among three Recent naticidspecies: Euspira heros, E. lewisii and Neverita duplicata. Fossilshells from a Miocene-aged assemblage, containing naticids previouslyidentified as E. heros and N. duplicata, were also includedin our analyses. Ratios of the inner to outer diameters of naticidboreholes in bivalve shells showed that there were significantdifferences in borehole shape between E. heros and the two otherRecent species. We found no significant differences betweenthe ratios of E. lewisii and N. duplicata; however, a principalcomponent analysis showed that boreholes distinctly clusteraccording to species. The Miocene boreholes were also distinctfrom the Recent, indicating that the Miocene naticids may bea separate species from E. heros and N. duplicata. We have shownthat there is a species-specific component to borehole geometry.This may have important implications for palaeobiological studies,because the index of borehole functionality, previously describedas an inner to outer borehole ratio of 0.5 for all naticids,may differ between species. (Received 23 March 2004; accepted 10 January 2005)     

Risk Perception Mapping: Using Ethnography to Define the Locally Affected Population for a Low-Level Radioactive Waste Storage Facility in Michigan

The concept of a "risk perception shadow" (RPS) has been suggested to describe the geocultural area in which a locally affected population perceives itself to be at risk from a proposed project. Generally such projects involve potentially dangerous substances or activities. The initial conceptualization of an RPS was developed during the social assessment of a proposed Superconducting Super Collider (SSC) in Michigan. This article describes an effort at mapping and analyzing an RPS produced by a proposal to site a low-level radioactive waste (LLRW) storage facility in Michigan. A unique sampling technique was used to define the boundary of the generally concentric RPS. Risk perception mapping (RPM) is suggested as a rapid and efficient method for defining locally affected populations for social impact studies.     

CULTURAL CIRCUMCISION IN EU PUBLIC HOSPITALS – AN ETHICAL DISCUSSION

The paper explores the ethical aspects of introducing cultural circumcision of children into the EU public health system.
We reject commonplace arguments against circumcision: considerations of good medical practice, justice, bodily integrity, autonomy and the analogy from female genital mutilation.
From the unique structure of patient-medicine interaction, we argue that the incorporation of cultural circumcision into EU public health services is a kind of medicalization, which does not fit the ethos of universal healthcare. However, we support a utilitarian argument that finds hospital-based circumcision safer than non-medicalized alternatives.
The argument concerning medicalization and the utilitarian argument both rely on preliminary empirical data, which depend on future validation.     

Genetic differentiation amongst fragrant orchids (Gymnadenia conopsea s.l.) in the British Isles

Genetic variation was examined in five microsatellite loci to seek evidence of genetic differentiation and restricted gene flow that would support the taxonomic division of Gymnadenia into three species ( G. borealis , G. conopsea , and G. densiflora ). A total of 107 alleles was detected in 17 populations from England, Scotland, and Ireland. The mean expected heterozygosities ranged from 0.48 to 0.81. The differentiation in allele frequencies amongst populations that had been assigned to each taxon on the basis of morphology was sufficiently large to support the taxa as distinct species. Phylogenetic trees based on microsatellite allele frequencies, as well as assignment tests, supported the existence of three distinct groups with at least partial restriction of gene flow between them. There was substantial homozygote excess, leading to high F _IS estimates, for most loci in most populations. This is unlikely to have been a result of widespread null alleles, and more probably reflects a high level of inbreeding in G. conopsea . This inference requires further investigation. The implications of the results of this and other taxonomic studies for the conservation of Gymnadenia in Britain are discussed.  © 2007 The Linnean Society of London, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society , 2007, 155 , 349–360.     

Morphology and somatometric growth of long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis fascicularis) in Singapore

Crab-eating, or long-tailed, macaques [ Macaca fascicularis (Raffles, 1821)] have been studied extensively throughout their distribution in South and South-east Asia. Despite this extensive body of research, the island population of long-tailed macaques from Singapore remains virtually undescribed. In the present study, we compare the morphometric variability and patterns of growth observed in a population sample from Singapore with a composite sample from Thailand, north of the Isthmus of Kra. The results of our analyses indicate that there are statistically significant differences between the two populations in adult size and shape. For both males and females, the Singapore population is smaller than the Thai population. Relative to body length, the Singapore macaques exhibit significantly longer tails, and, relative to cranial length, they exhibit significantly more narrow faces than the Thai macaques. Although levels of sexual dimorphism for most morphometric traits are very similar, indicating similar levels of male–male competition for females, the Singapore males exhibit a significantly larger testicular volume relative to body weight, suggestive of an alternative male reproductive strategy. In addition to adult somatometric size and shape, comparisons of growth patterns relative to age and body size reveal significant differences between the two population samples. Combined, these results suggest either that statistically significant differences in adult morphology and patterns of growth can occur in presumably reproductively cohesive subspecies, or the Singapore macaques may be taxonomically distinct.  © 2007 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society , 2007, 92 , 675–694.     

HOW DID LIFE BECOME SO DIVERSE? THE DYNAMICS OF DIVERSIFICATION ACCORDING TO THE FOSSIL RECORD AND MOLECULAR PHYLOGENETICS

Abstract: The long‐term diversification of life probably cannot be modelled as a simple equilibrial process: the time scales are too long, the potential for exploring new ecospace is too large and it is unlikely that ecological controls can act at global scales. The sum of many clade expansions and reductions, each of which happens according to its own dynamic, probably approximates more a damped exponential curve when translated into a global‐scale species diversification curve. Unfortunately, it is not possible to plot such a meaningful global‐scale species diversification curve through time, but curves at higher taxonomic levels have been produced. These curves are subject to the vagaries of the fossil record, but it is unlikely that the sources of error entirely overwhelm the biological signal. Clades radiate when the external and internal conditions are right: a new territory or ecospace becomes available, and the lineage has acquired a number of characters that open up a new diet or mode of life. Modern high levels of diversity in certain speciose clades may depend on such ancient opportunities taken. Dramatic climatic changes through the Quaternary must have driven extinctions and originations, but many species responded simply by moving to more favourable locations. Ecological communities appear to be no more than merely chance associations of species, but there may be real interactions among species. Ironically, high species diversity may lead to more speciation, not, as had been assumed, less: more species create more opportunities and selective pressures for other species to respond to, rather than capping diversity at a fixed equilibrium level. Studies from the scale of modern ecosystems to global long‐term patterns in the fossil record support a model for the exponential diversification of life, and one explanation for a pattern of exponential diversification is that as diversity increases, new forms become ever more refinements of existing forms. In a sense the world becomes increasingly divided into finer niche space. Organisms have a propensity to speciate freely, species richness within ecosystems appears to generate opportunities for more speciation, clades show all kinds of patterns from sluggish speciation rates and constant diversity through time to apparently explosive speciation, and there is no evidence that rapidly speciating clades have reached a limit, nor that they are driving other clades to extinction. A corollary of this view is that current biodiversity must be higher than it has ever been. Limits to infinite growth are clearly local, regional, and global turnover and extinction events, when climate change and physical catastrophes knock out species and whole clades, and push the rising exponential curve down a notch or two.     

A NEW SPECIES OF THE WOMBAT WARENDJA FROM LATE MIOCENE DEPOSITS AT RIVERSLEIGH, NORTH-WEST QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA

Abstract:  A new species of the plesiomorphic wombat Warendja is described. Warendja encorensis sp. nov., the second species to be attributed to this genus, is known from a single fossil locality (Encore Site) at Riversleigh, north-west Queensland. Specimens of W. encorensis are limited to isolated teeth, two mandibular fragments and a maxillary fragment. Two molars preserve the unworn crown morphology. Encore Site has been estimated to be late Miocene in age, making these the only known specimens of Warendja to be clearly older than Pleistocene. Warendja encorensis is also the first described species of wombat from Miocene deposits to which hypselodont teeth have been attributed. It differs from W. wakefieldi in its larger size, distribution of enamel, and in details of the incisor and premolar morphology.     

Energetic Carrying Capacity of Actively and Passively Managed Wetlands for Migrating Ducks in Ohio

ABSTRACT Habitat conservation strategies of the North American Waterfowl Management Plan (NAWMP) are guided by current understanding of factors that limit growth of waterfowl populations. The 1998 implementation plan of the Upper Mississippi River and Great Lakes Region Joint Venture (UMR and GLRJV) assumed that availability of foraging resources during autumn in wetlands actively managed for waterfowl was the primary limiting factor for duck populations during the nonbreeding season. We used multistage sampling during autumn and spring 2001–2004 to estimate energetic carrying capacity (ECC) of actively and passively managed wetlands in Ohio, USA, and examine this assumption. Energetic carrying capacity during autumn was similar between actively and passively managed wetlands each year. Averaged across years, energetic carrying capacity was 3,446 and 2,047 duck energy-days (DED)/ha for actively and passively managed wetlands, respectively. These estimates exceeded the UMR and GLRJV assumption that 1,236 DED/ha were provided by managed wetland habitats. Energetic carrying capacity declined each year by >80% between autumn and spring migration. Consequently, ECC of actively and passively managed wetlands was low during spring ( = 66–242 DED/ha). These results suggested that duck foraging resources in actively and passively managed wetland habitats are abundant during autumn, but overwinter declines may create food-limiting environments during spring.