Diversity biases in terrestrial mammalian assemblages and quantifying the differences between museum collections and published accounts: A case study from the Miocene of Nevada

Understanding diversity through time in the fossil record has primarily relied on the raw count of species within a given time interval, or species richness. These estimates are often derived from published fossil data, and standardized for sample size or geographic area. However, most methods that standardize richness by sample size are sensitive to changes in evenness, which introduces a potential problem with relying on published records: published accounts could be more even than the museum collections from which they are drawn. We address this bias in the context of mammalian paleodiversity, comparing published and museum collections of the Hemphillian Thousand Creek fauna to those of the Barstovian Virgin Valley fauna. We rarified specimen data, both number of identified specimens (NISP) and minimum number of individuals (MNI), and presence/absence data to compare published and museum data within and between faunas. Within faunas, published numbers of specimens are more even than museum samples, but the difference for localities in Virgin Valley is not significant. Neither published nor museum numbers of specimens indicate a significant difference between faunas, but the diversity pattern is reversed between the two data sets. Presence/absence rarefactions show no differences between sources; here, published data adequately sample the underlying museum records. Specimen-based evenness is not accurate in the published sample, and therefore we suggest that future studies of diversity in terrestrial mammalian assemblages must assess unpublished collections. Additionally, NISP data for Thousand Creek are more even than MNI data, suggesting that relying solely on NISP for assessing species diversity can also be misleading. Because publication bias alters richness and evenness, diversity estimates using published data must be circumspect about data sources.     

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Notices of future meetings are published free. Copy for inclusion must, however, be with the Editors at least 8 weeks before the issue in which the notice is to appear is published.     

News pages

forthcoming meetings
Notices of future meetings are published free. Copy for inclusion must, however, be with the Editors at least 8 weeks before the issue in which the notice is to appear is published.     

News pages

forthcoming meetings
Notices of future meetings are published free. Copy for inclusion must, however, be with the Editors at least 8 weeks before the issue in which the notice is to appear is published.     

A formal classification of the extant cycads

My previously published provisional classification of the Cycadales is here formally published. This classification is based upon a cladistic analysis of characters ranging from gross morphology to phytochemistry. Encephalartos is lectotypified.     

Paléohistologie et paléobiochimie des vertébrés dans les Annales de Paléontologie

With the exception of one paper published in 1929, works in vertebrate paleohistology start to be published in the journal in 1968 and are published ever since. Similarly, the first paper in vertebrate paleobiochemistry is published in the journal in 1987 and the field is regularly covered ever since. The relatively late publication of paleohistological researches in the journal is all the more surprizing because there are evidences now that several laboratories at the Paris Museum heavily invested in paleohistology already in the 1870–1890th and gathered extensive collections of thin sections, but very few publications followed. The scientific and contextual causes of the late development of the paleohistological publications in the journal are briefly analyzed. It appears that its history is a fairly faithful reflection of several changing scientific and historical constraints which framed not only french paleontology (and notably the “Paris school”) but french biology as well during the XXth century.     

Revised genome sequence of Brucella suis 1330

Brucella suis is a causative agent of porcine brucellosis. We report the resequencing of the original sample upon which the published sequence of Brucella suis 1330 is based and describe the differences between the published assembly and our assembly at 12 loci.     

Fungal conservation in the United States: further notes

A recent commentary published in this journal outlines the state of fungal conservation in the US in a federal context. Here, an addendum is provided for that commentary, relating it to a proposed rulemaking published in the Federal Register in 2014.     

几种虫草属真菌的学名订正

本文合格发表虫草属两个变型的名称,即Cordyceps militaris f.albina(蛹虫草白化变型)和C.ophioglossoides f.alba(大团囊虫草白化变型),并提出新名称C.shimizui(清水虫草)以代替非法的晚出同名C.chichibuensis Kobayasi & Shimizu,同时也证实C.shanxiensis(山西虫草)的合格发表地位。Cordyceps purpureostramata f.recurvata是一个不合格名称,其模式标定可以从原白中提供的照片得到线索。虫草属下分类单元作者的准确引证和一些种或种下分类单元拉丁名加词的正确拼法也在此作了讨论。     

RECENT ORNITHOLOGICAL LITERATURE

Recent Ornithological Literature is a cooperative, volunteer project for the benefit of ornithologists the world over. The partnership began in 1983 ( Auk 100, Ibis 125) when the AOU and BOU combined their Recent Literature sections to publish a single supplement of or- mythological literature. The RAOU joined this partnership in 1987 ( Emu 87). The AOU covers journals published in the Americas and the Philippines. The BOU covers journals published in Europe, Africa, and mainland Asia. The RAOU covers journals published in Australasia and other island nations of the Pacific. More than 150 volunteers scan about 650 titles and contribute abstracts regularly. Authors' addresses are included, if the journal lists them, to facilitate communication between readers and authors.
Recent Ornithological Literature strives for comprehensive coverage of the world's periodical literature of interest to persons studying wild birds. Readers are encouraged to consult the "List of Journals Scanned published annually in the fourth supplement and to make recommendations for increasing journal coverage. Authors, editors, or publishers whose articles or journals are not covered by the ROL should send reprints, abstracts, or exchange issues to the editor responsible for covering the geographical area where the journal is published. Volunteer abstractors are welcomed.     

Photoacoustic and photothermal cytometry using photoswitchable proteins and nanoparticles with ultrasharp resonances

In the article by E. I. Galanzha et al. (doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jbio.201300140 ), published in J. Biophotonics 8, 81–93 (2015), the Conflict of Interest statement is missing. This erratum is published to correct this.     

Consensus finally achieved on resuscitative interventions.

A joint policy statement on the resuscitation of patients is published in this issue of CMAJ. Dr. John Williams, the CMA''s director of ethics and legal affairs, discusses how it differs from the joint statement published last year.     

RECENT ORNITHOLOGIAL LITERATURE

Recent Ornithological Literature is a cooperative, volunteer project for the benefit of ornithologists the world over. The partnership began in 1983 (Auk 100, Ibis 125) when the AOU and BOU combined their Recent Literature sections to publish a single supplement of ornithological literature. The RAOU joined this partnership in 1987 (Emu 87). The AOU covers journals published in the Americas and the Philippines. The BOU covers journals published in Europe, Africa, and mainland Asia. The RAOU covers journals published in Australasia and other island nations of the Pacific. More than 150 volunteers scan about 650 titles and contribute abstracts regularly. Authors' addresses are included, if the journal lists them, to facilitate communication between readers and authors.
Recent Ornithological Literature strives for comprehensive coverage of the world's periodical literature of interest to persons studying wild birds. Readers are encouraged to consult the "List of Journals Scanned" published annually in the fourth supplement and to make recommendations for increasing journal coverage. Authors, editors, or publishers whose articles or journals are not covered by the ROL should send reprints, abstracts, or exchange issues to the editor responsible for covering the geographical area where the journal is published. Volunteer abstractors are welcomed.     

RECENT ORNITHOLOGIAL LITERATURE

Recent Ornithological Literature is a cooperative, volunteer project for the benefit of ornithologists the world over. The partnership began in 1983 (Auk 100, Ibis 125) when the AOU and BOU combined their Recent Literature sections to publish a single supplement of ornithological literature. The RAOU joined this partnership in 1987 (Emu 87). The AOU covers journals published in the Americas and the Philippines. The BOU covers journals published in Europe, Africa, and mainland Asia. The RAOU covers journals published in Australasia and other island nations of the Pacific. More than 150 volunteers scan about 650 titles and contribute abstracts regularly. Authors' addresses are included, if the journal lists them, to facilitate communication between readers and authors. Recent Ornithological Literature strives for comprehensive coverage of the world's periodical literature of interest to persons studying wild birds. Readers are encouraged to consult the “List of Journals Scanned” published annually in the fourth supplement and to make recommendations for increasing journal coverage. Authors, editors, or publishers whose articles or journals are not covered by the ROL should send reprints, abstracts, or exchange issues to the editor responsible for covering the geographical area where the journal is published. Volunteer abstractors are welcomed.     

Light‐emitting diode therapy in exercise‐trained mice increases muscle performance,cytochrome c oxidase activity,ATP and cell proliferation [J. Biophotonics 8, No. 9, 740–754 (2015)]

In the article by C. Ferraresi et al. (DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jbio.201400087 ), published in J. Biophotonics 8 , 740–754 (2015), a statement regarding the approval of some data the authors used is incorrect. This erratum is published to rectify this.     

Myelin x-ray patterns reconciled.

Two different X-ray diffraction patterns have been published for frog sciatic myelin. Here the apparent discrepancy is attributed to different spacings between the myelin membranes in the two experiments. Assuming the single membrane has the same structure in the two cases, some restrictions on the phasing are indicated. Several possible profiles for the single membrane are then considered. A profile derived by assuming a lecithin cholesterol-like bilayer within the membrane accounts for all the published data. Three published profiles also are considered. These are not quite in as good agreement with observation, but they cannot be excluded at present.     

Reappraisal of the "Molecular phylogeny of Western Palaearctic Helicidae s.l. (Gastropoda: Stylommatophora)": when poor science meets GenBank

A paper on the 'Molecular phylogeny of Western Palaearctic Helicidae s.l.', published by Steinke et al. (2004) in this journal, is critically analysed. Several obvious errors are corrected and methodological weaknesses are revealed. BLAST searches on the sequences published in that paper and now in GenBank, showed high percentages of similarity of the alleged species with taxa that are considered only distantly related in the literature. Inspection of the so-called voucher specimens showed that some shells were misidentified, whereas others contained dirt or were bleached, indicating that these had been collected empty. Obviously the sequences published for those species could not have originated from those specimens, which cannot be considered vouchers therefore, even if they are from the same locality. In other instances, spurious sequences were published for correctly identified voucher specimens. For several species for which we collected specimens ourselves, the COI or the 16S sequence, or both, clearly differed from the results published by Steinke et al. The consequences of our results for the molecular data on helicid gastropods and their classification are listed.     

CHROMOSOME NUMBERS IN UMBELLIFERAE. III

Chromosome numbers are reported for 156 collections representing 100 taxa of Umbelliferae. Approximately two thirds of the collections are from Mexico, Central and South America and indicate a high percentage of polyploid species in certain genera found in this area. Chromosome numbers for plants belonging to 78 taxa are published here for the first time, previously published chromosome numbers are verified for 18 taxa and chromosome numbers differing from those previously published are reported in seven instances. No chromosome counts have been previously published for nine of the genera included here. Further aneuploidy and polyploidy were found in Eryngium, and Lomatium columbianum has been found to be a high polyploid with 2n = 14x. Every chromosome count is referable to a cited herbarium specimen.     

Successful theory development in biology: A consideration of the theories of oxidative phosphorylation proposed by Davies and Krebs,Williams and Mitchell

The chemiosmotic theory is normally attributed to Peter Mitchell's formulation published in Nature in 1961. However, the essential elements of the theory were published 9 years earlier by Davies and Krebs. Why, then, was this earlier formulation overlooked? The success of Mitchell's theory is examined in comparison with those of Davies and Krebs and of Williams.