How old are you? Genet age estimates in a clonal animal

Foundation species such as redwoods, seagrasses and corals are often long‐lived and clonal. Genets may consist of hundreds of members (ramets) and originated hundreds to thousands of years ago. As climate change and other stressors exert selection pressure on species, the demography of populations changes. Yet, because size does not indicate age in clonal organisms, demographic models are missing data necessary to predict the resilience of many foundation species. Here, we correlate somatic mutations with genet age of corals and provide the first, preliminary estimates of genet age in a colonial animal. We observed somatic mutations at five microsatellite loci in rangewide samples of the endangered coral, Acropora palmata (n = 3352). Colonies harboured 342 unique mutations in 147 genets. Genet age ranged from 30 to 838 years assuming a mutation rate of 1.195^?04 per locus per year based on colony growth rates and 236 to 6500 years assuming a mutation rate of 1.542^?05 per locus per year based on sea level changes to habitat availability. Long‐lived A. palmata genets imply a large capacity to tolerate past environmental change, and yet recent mass mortality events in A. palmata suggest that capacity is now being frequently exceeded.     

Size and asymmetry: are there costs to winning the royalty race?

Body size and morphology are key fitness-determining traits that can vary genotypically. They are likely to be important in social insect queens, which mate in swarms and found colonies independently, but genetic influences on queen morphology have been little investigated. Here, we show that the body size and morphology of queens are influenced by their genotype in the leaf-cutting ant Acromyrmex echinatior, a species in which certain lineages (patrilines) bias their development towards reproductive queens rather than sterile workers. We found no relationship between the queen-worker skew of patrilines and the size or morphology of queens, but there was a significant relationship with fluctuating asymmetry, which was greater in more queen-biased patrilines. Our results suggest that queen-biased patrilines do not incur a fitness cost in terms of body size, but may face more subtle costs in developmental stability. Such costs may constrain the evolution of royal cheating in social insects.     

Discrimination of the elderly: how guilty are you?

In the Netherlands a recent discussion on ‘the right to die’ and premature ending of life for people over the age of 70 has only highlighted one side of the story. The tale of a situation of bad health, depression and physical ailments, which progresses to, worst of all, a painful and loveless ending of life, has often been told and scares us literally to death. It may distract us from a far bigger and more complex problem.     

Subarachnoid haemorrhage above the age of 59: are intracranial investigations justified?

Out of 186 patients aged over 59 referred to a neurosurgical department after spontaneous subarachnoid haemorrhage, 143 underwent cerebral angiography; only 28 (15%) of the patients had surgery, of whom 16 were independent one year later. The doubtful benefit of surgery and the small proportion of patients who underwent surgery have economic and ethical implications; in particular, neurosurgical beds and neuroradiological facilities should not be occupied by such patients if this delays the admission of younger patients and those requiring investigation of intracranial space-occupying and spinal lesions.     

Peptides in the Hydrozoa: are they transmitters?

A family of peptides with the carboxy-terminus Arg-Phe-amide has been localized to specific subpopulations of neurons in every cnidarian species examined. These neurons are typically sensory in character or are associated with smooth muscle. Although a transmitter role for these peptides has been suggested for anthozoans at neuromuscular synapses, no such evidence is available for hydrozoans. Instead there is evidence that RF-amides can be modulators of neuronal activity which takes the form of a biphasic (inhibitory then excitatory) response in vivo, while in vitro only the inhibitory response is seen. Voltage clamp studies of identified motor neurons showed large, transitory outward currents when Pol-RF-amide peptide was applied.     

What are you worth?

Knowing the language of compensation is essential to negotiating the fair market value of your worth.     

'Who the hell do you think you are?' Promoting religious identity among young Hindus in Britain

This article explores how Hindu activism in Britain challenges our understanding of the relationship between ethnicity and religion. It argues against the prevalent model in which Hindu identity is understood as a natural ‘product’ of ethnic identity development. Instead, this article calls for thinking about current religious activism as a response to multicultural politics, national belonging and the experience of being an ethnic minority. Based on anthropological fieldwork, the article examines the development of an organization that has successfully established Hindu societies across the UK, one that changed from initially being pro-Hindu to one that espouses Hindutva. The analysis of the rhetoric of a pro-Hindu speech reveals the aims of this group to distinguish themselves from other Asians, particularly the Muslim minority. Such examples of religious activism among “diaspora” youth require us to rethink our understandings of the connections between religion and ethnicity.     

Structure from motion photogrammetry in ecology: Does the choice of software matter?

Image‐based modeling, and more precisely, Structure from Motion (SfM) and Multi‐View Stereo (MVS), is emerging as a flexible, self‐service, remote sensing tool for generating fine‐grained digital surface models (DSMs) in the Earth sciences and ecology. However, drone‐based SfM + MVS applications have developed at a rapid pace over the past decade and there are now many software options available for data processing. Consequently, understanding of reproducibility issues caused by variations in software choice and their influence on data quality is relatively poorly understood. This understanding is crucial for the development of SfM + MVS if it is to fulfill a role as a new quantitative remote sensing tool to inform management frameworks and species conservation schemes. To address this knowledge gap, a lightweight multirotor drone carrying a Ricoh GR II consumer‐grade camera was used to capture replicate, centimeter‐resolution image datasets of a temperate, intensively managed grassland ecosystem. These data allowed the exploration of method reproducibility and the impact of SfM + MVS software choice on derived vegetation canopy height measurement accuracy. The quality of DSM height measurements derived from four different, yet widely used SfM‐MVS software—Photoscan, Pix4D, 3DFlow Zephyr, and MICMAC, was compared with in situ data captured on the same day as image capture. We used both traditional agronomic techniques for measuring sward height, and a high accuracy and precision differential GPS survey to generate independent measurements of the underlying ground surface elevation. Using the same replicate image dataset (n = 3) as input, we demonstrate that there are 1.7, 2.0, and 2.5 cm differences in RMSE (excluding one outlier) between the outputs from different SfM + MVS software using High, Medium, and Low quality settings, respectively. Furthermore, we show that there can be a significant difference, although of small overall magnitude between replicate image datasets (n = 3) processed using the same SfM + MVS software, following the same workflow, with a variance in RMSE of up to 1.3, 1.5, and 2.7 cm (excluding one outlier) for “High,” “Medium,” and “Low” quality settings, respectively. We conclude that SfM + MVS software choice does matter, although the differences between products processed using “High” and “Medium” quality settings are of small overall magnitude.     

Chrysanthemum Biotechnology: Quo vadis?

Chrysanthemum is globally the second most important ornamental in terms of socioeconomic importance. Even though the vast range of flower colors, shapes and forms were initially created using conventional and mutation breeding, transgenic strategies are now more frequently used with Agrobacterium-mediated transformation being the most popular form of introducing foreign genes into chrysanthemums. Even so, transformation efficiency remains dependent on cultivar and regeneration procedure. Transgenic molecular breeding has seen the introduction of important traits such as novel flower color and form and plant architecture, prolonged cut-flower vase-life, resistance to biotic stresses such as viruses/viroids, pathogens and insects. However, chimerism and transgene silencing continue to be limiting factors. Transgenic strategies, despite opening up new avenues for creating new cultivars with improved agronomic and horticultural traits, may be limited due to the risk of transgenic pollen escaping into the wild.