Morphological and molecular variation in tiger beetles of the Cicindela hybrida complex: is an ‘integrative taxonomy’ possible?

Current taxon assignments at the species level are frequently discordant with DNA-based analyses. Recent studies on tiger beetles in the Cicindela hybrida complex identified discordance between mtDNA patterns and the entities currently defined by the taxonomic literature. To test the accuracy of morphologically delimited groups, five named taxa (species) from 24 representative sampling sites across Europe were scored for 41 external morphological characters. Three of the named taxa were 'diagnosable', that is, defined by between one and three characters unique to each group. Newly sequenced ITS1 and existing mitochondrial cox1 markers established 20 and 22 different haplotypes, respectively, but only cox1 produced (four) diagnosable units. Phylogenetic analysis and statistical parsimony networks showed poor congruence of character variation with the taxonomic entities (and each other). Variation in morphological characters was therefore tested directly for association with DNA-based nesting groups at various hierarchical levels using permutational contingency analysis. Significant statistical associations of 11 (of 13 variable) morphological characters were observed with nesting groups from ITS1 and mitochondrial DNA markers, predominantly at the 4-step level. The analysis demonstrates the need for formal tests of congruence with morphological variation at the level of individual characters, a step that is omitted from recent studies of 'integrative taxonomy'. In addition, statistical correlation of particular morphological characters with DNA-based nesting groups can identify the lowest hierarchical level at which various character sets show congruence, as a means to define evolutionarily separated entities supported by diverse data sources.     

Putting biogeography’s cart back behind taxonomy’s horse: a response to Triantis et al.

In a recent paper, two of us discussed diversity patterns and diversification processes in the Azores flora. Triantis et al. (2012, Journal of Biogeography, 39, 1179–1184) challenged our hypothesis that palaeoclimatic differences had an effect on diversification rates and suggested that area, island age and isolation explain diversity patterns. They did not, however, fully address the results from our subsequent paper, in which we showed that diversity patterns evident from phylogeographic studies differ markedly from those suggested by checklists. Checklists are working hypotheses and we suggest that the discrepancies evident between molecular data and checklists may be indicative of deficiencies in our taxonomic understanding of the Azores flora. Patterns of molecular and morphological diversity need to be better understood, and the discrepancies between checklists and molecular data accounted for, before we can establish the relative importance of factors such as palaeoclimate, area, island age or isolation in generating endemic diversity patterns in the Azores flora.     

The SER Standards,cultural ecosystems,and the nature‐culture nexus—a reply to Evans and Davis

Evans and Davis claim the SER Standards use a “pure naturalness” model for restoration baselines and exclude most cultural ecosystems from the ecological restoration paradigm. The SER Standards do neither. The SER Standards consider both “natural” ecosystems (that are unequivocally not cultural) and “similar” cultural ecosystems as suitable reference models. Furthermore, Evans and Davis propose assessing whether a cultural ecosystem exhibits “good, bad, or neutral impacts from humans on ecosystems” as the basis for reference models. We argue that such an approach would overlook the indispensability of native ecosystem benchmarks to measure human impacts and provide a springboard for social‐ecological restoration.     

Neandertal Archaeology—Implications for Our Origins

This article identifies key aspects of the metaphysical paradigms under which European Paleolithic archaeological research is conducted and contrasts the anthropological approaches typical of anglophone New World workers with those of the "his- tory-like" natural science-based traditions of Latin Europe. Because the Middle–Upper Paleolithic transition in Europe is thought by many to correspond to the biological replacement of Neandertals by modern humans over the ten millennia bracketing 40 kyr B.P., generalizations about the archaeological transition invoked in support of biological replacement are examined and are found to lack empirical support. Patterns in lithic technology, typology, raw material variability, reduction strategies, blank frequencies, bone and antler technologies, Paleolithic art, subsistence strategies, and settlement patterns all indicate a temporal-spatial mosaic of changing monitors of human adaptation over the transition interval that cannot be reconciled with any construal of a relatively abrupt and complete biological replacement. [Key words: conceptual frameworks, research traditions, archaeological systematic, Middle–Upper Paleolithic transition, Neandertals, adaptation]     

The SER Standards: a globally relevant and inclusive tool for improving restoration practice—a reply to Higgs et al.

In response to a critique by Higgs et al., this article clarifies the content and intent of the Society for Ecological Restoration's (SER) International Standards for the Practice of Ecological Restoration. Higgs et al. expressed concern that the SER Standards are not sufficiently underpinned by principles and risk disenfranchising some practitioners by narrowing what qualifies as ecological restoration. To demonstrate that these concerns are unfounded, we discuss the policy context and principles on which the Standards are based, its organizational structure, the innovative and inclusive approach used for development, and highlight significant errata by Higgs et al.     

Ecogeographic variation in Neandertal dietary habits: evidence from occlusal molar microwear texture analysis

In the late Middle and early Late Pleistocene, Neandertals inhabited a wide variety of ecological zones across western Eurasia during both glacial and interglacial times. To elucidate the still poorly understood effects of climatic change on Neandertal subsistence patterns, this study employs dental microwear texture analysis to reconstruct the diets of Neandertal individuals from various sites across their wide temporal and geographic ranges. The results of this study reveal environmentally-driven differences in the diets of Neandertal groups. Significant differences in microwear signatures, correlated with paleoecological conditions, were found among Neandertal groups that lived in open, mixed, and wooded environments. In comparison to recent hunter-gatherer populations with known, yet diverse diets, the occlusal molar microwear signatures of all the Neandertal groups indicate that their diet consisted predominantly of meat. However, the results of this study suggest that plant foods did form an important part of the diet of at least some Neandertal groups (i.e., those that lived in mixed and wooded habitats). Overall, the proportion of plant foods in the Neandertal diet appears to have increased with the increase in tree cover.