The Plains Agon - A Gross Typology

Abstract

In the prevailing view of Plains experts the classic post-horse, post-gun agon (the total physical and psychological military complex) consisted of either two or three different types of military event, generally divided into “scalp raids” and “horse raids.” The literature on Plains agonistics indicates, however, that the Equestrian pattern of intergroup hostilities consisted of at least seven disti net types of military operations.     

The Rise of Man's Best Friend: The Popularity of Dogs as Companion Animals in Late Eighteenth-Century London as Reflected by the Dog Tax of 1796

ABSTRACT

The history of the relationship between humans and their companion animals is long and more than a little complex. This is in large part due to the special status of these animals. Over the years these animals have evolved socially from that of an impersonal “object” to a “subject,” i.e. a sentient being with a recognized mental and emotional life. Histories of this change in relationship are rare. This is due mainly to a lack of source material; little is available and what there is is rarely reflective of a general population. Recently, records of a 1796 English dog tax have become available and they provide a fairly complete overview of the status of the dog as a companion animal in late eighteenth-century London.

The evidence indicates the dog was very popular as a companion animal in late eighteenth-century English urban society. While some of these creatures were former working-class canines others were what might be described as “professional companion animals” i.e. creatures who had no previous work history. The tax records further indicate that concern as to specific breed was still in the future. Dogs often received a generic title such as “yard dog” or “lapdog” or “housedog.” What is particularly interesting from these records is the number of mixed breed creatures—animals with the title of either “mongrel” or “curr.” (At least three Londoners kept foxes as pets.) There is also an almost total absence of kennels of hunting dogs in eighteenth-century London. Other historical records suggest this to be a recent phenomenon. Lastly, this outline appears to correlate strongly with the literary remarks, material accoutrements, and even religious practices of the late eighteenth-century urban dog population of England.     

Southern Idaho Plain:

Abstract

It is proposed that a new pottery type referred to as “Southern Idaho Plain” be recognized to distinguish a more finely made pottery than the classic thick walled, flat-bottomed vessels characteristically referred to as “Shoshoni” ware. Strong similarities of this pottery with Great Salt Lake Gray variants, suggests the extension of a Fremont or Sevier pottery tradition into southern Idaho.     

The Rio Grande Complex and the Northern Plains

Abstract

The earliest component at the La Bolsa site in the Galisteo Basin of north-central New Mexico is an early manifestation of what is defined in this paper as the Quemado Phase of the proposed Rio Grande Complex. Relatively dated to about 7000 to 6000 years ago, this Proto-Archaic Phase is postulated to be ultimately rooted in the Agate Basin Complex of the northern Plains.     

Phylogenetic and phenotypic relationships among Triatoma carcavalloi (Hemiptera: Reduviidae: Triatominae) and related species collected in domiciles in Rio Grande do Sul State,Brazil

Triatoma carcavalloi is considered a rare Chagas disease vector often collected inside domiciles in Rio Grande do Sul State. In this Brazilian state, T. carcavalloi has been collected in the same ecotope (rock piles) with two other species (T. rubrovaria and T. circummaculata), with which it also shares morphological characteristics. Previous morphological studies placed T. carcavalloi in the same species complex (“infestans complex”) and subcomplex (“rubrovaria subcomplex”) as T. rubrovaria, whereas T. circummaculata was placed in the “circummaculata complex.” The phylogeny of a group composed of 16 species of triatomines was revaluated with the inclusion of T. carcavalloi by Bayesian analysis using mtDNA sequences of subunits 12S and 16S of the ribosomal RNA, and the cytochrome oxidase I (COI) genes. The phenotypic relationship among T. carcavalloi and related triatomines was also inferred from morphometrics. Phylogenetic results indicate that T. carcavalloi is a sister species of T. rubrovaria, and both were recovered as closely related to T. circummaculata. Morphometric studies confirmed the closeness among T. carcavalloi, T. rubrovaria, and T. circummaculata, prompting the placement of the latter species in the “infestans complex” and “rubrovaria subcomplex.”     

Population differences in vision acuity: A review,with speculative notes on selection relaxation

Abstract

The contrast between the lower frequencies of vision defects reported among several different samples of hunting populations and the higher frequencies found repeatedly among populations with relatively long histories of agriculture and settled habitations points strongly to the relaxation of natural selection. Two rough estimates of the heritability of that conglomeration of genetic entities comprising “vision defects” are found in studies of MZ versus DZ twins and in studies of offspring of consanguineous parents versus those of unrelated parents. The hypothesis of relaxation of natural selection is plausible as man developed culture habitats more tolerant of persons with slight refractive aberrations. One can reasonably imagine that hereditary deficiencies accumulated sufficiently under such conditions to make possible quantitative estimates of differential population frequencies.     

Brasiliens Wildkartoffeln

Als Resultat wiederholter Sammelreisen in den Südstaaten Brasiliens wird eine Revision der Sektion Tuberarium im Genus Solanum vorgenommen. Von den sechs aus Brasilien beschriebenen Taxa werden nur die folgenden Arten anerkannt: Solanum chacoense Bitter, S. commersonii Dunal und S. malmeanum Bitter. Die erstgenannte Spezies hat eine außerordentlich weite Verbreitung in fünf Bundesstaaten und erstreckt sich von der paraguayischen Grenze im Westen bis in das atlantische Küstengebirge im Osten. Ein triploider Klon dieser Art (früher als “calvescens” bezeichnet) reicht bis zum 21. Breitengrad im Staate Minas Gerais. Eine schmalfiedrige Variante, die vor 50 Jahren als “S. muelleri” beschrieben wurde, wächst im östlichen Areal, in den Staaten Parana und Santa Catarina. S. commersonii kommt nur im östlichen Teil von Rio Grande do Sul vor und erreicht in der Bucht von Tuberao am atlantischen Ozean (Santa Catarina, 28. Breitengrad) mit einer früher als “acroleucum” bezeichneten Lokalform seine nördlichste Verbreitungsgrenze. Der Originalfundort von S. malmeanum liegt am Rio Ijuhy im Staate Rio Grande do Sul, doch erstreckt sich das Areal dieser nur im “Winter” blühenden, frostresistenten Wildkartoffel in die Nachbarprovinzen von Argentinien, Uruguay und Paraguay. In zytotaxonomischer Hinsicht ist bemerkenswert, daß von den drei in Brasilien existierenden tuberaren Solanum-Spezies außer den normalen diploiden auch triploide Klone vorkommen, die sich nur vegetativ vermehren können.     

Optimisation of regeneration parameters improves transformation efficiency of recalcitrant tomato

Genetic transformation of tomato was first accomplished around 30 years ago. However, variability in transformation efficiency of distinct cultivars exists and to some extent remains a bottleneck for transgenic research. This study reports strategies to improve transformation efficiency in tomato and investigates regeneration capacity of transgenic plants under different selection regimes and hormonal applications. Tomato cv. Rio Grande was used as plant material and hygromycin and phosphinothricin (PPT) were used as selection agents. We found that cv. Rio Grande inherently produced a significant number of abnormal (“blind”) shoots lacking an apical meristem. Replacing cytokinin zeatin riboside with 6-benzylaminopurine (BAP) reduced the number of blind shoots although it slightly prolonged regeneration time. Survival rate of calli and shoots was very low using PPT as selection, whereas regeneration was achieved using hygromycin. Delayed application of hygromycin selection following co-cultivation with Agrobacterium tumefaciens improved the overall callus and shoot production. In vivo GFP fluorescence was detected to investigate the development of transgenic tissues using different hygromycin selection regimes. Higher transformation frequency was achieved when explants were continuously exposed to selection agents immediately following the pre-selection stage. Reducing the selection period followed by a non-selection stage increased the number of shoots, but these shoots were mostly non-transgenic. Thus, although less stringent selection, as expected, encouraged regeneration of shoots from calli, it did not improve transformation efficiency. Omitting selection altogether greatly reduced the efficiency of transformation. It was concluded that BAP is more suitable for normal shoot development, and that delayed selection followed by continuous selection results in higher transformation frequency.

     

Origin of the Peyote Religion in The United States

Abstract

Peyotism in the United States was dependent upon the Peyote cactus, Lophophora williamsii, which has a very limited distribution along the lower Rio Grande River, centered around Laredo, Texas. The Lipan Apache Indians in the vicinity of Laredo,,1760to 1850’s, learned of the properties of Peyote and the ritual for its use from Coahuiltecan-speaking Carrizo and Tonkawa and in turn taught Peyotism to the Comanche and Kiowa.     

Origin of the Mckean Complex:Evidence from Timberline

Abstract

The Fourth of July valley site (5BL 120), a singlecomponent hunting camp at timberline in the Colorado Front Range, was occupied approximately 6000 radiocarbon years ago. Projectile points from the occupation area are typologically intermediate between James Allen and McKean Lanceolate points, and between Pryor Stemmed and Duncan points. The age and timberline location of the site, together with the transitional nature of the projectile points, support Husted’s (1968) hypothesis that the McKean complex developed from Plano progenitors in high-mountain Altithermal refuge areas.     

Food and foraging behaviour of the Snares fernbird

Abstract

The Snares fernbird (Bowdleria punctata caudata Buller, 1894) is an opportunistic insectivore, its prey ranging greatly in size and type. Birds forage over a wide variety of sites, including forest, tussock, boulder beaches, cliffs, penguin colonies, and floating kelp. Foraging methods vary with the prey sought, and at times birds adopt specific “search images” when hunting certain insects. Details of foods brought to nestlings are given. Four postures used by fernbirds when foraging actively are described.     

Homology in Trivaline Complex Formation with dsDNA and ssRNA

Abstract

It has been shown by the equilibrium dialysis that at a polyU concentration above the “critical” one, the complete polymer saturation with trivaline reaches approximately 0.7 trivaline molecules per one phosphate group. i.e. at these conditions peptide dimer occupies on polyU a site of three bases (phosphates) in length. The trivaline complex with polyU at a concentration lower than the “critical” one does not reveal any noticeable fluorescence, but has rather significant positive linear dichroism at 265 and 330 nm. The trivaline-nucleic acids complex has a significant fluorescence at any dsDNA concentration while with polyU it is only so at a concentration above the “critical” one. Electron microscopy has shown that at a rather high concentration of dsDNA molecules in solution a “biduplex” structure undergoes an additional stage of compaction, during which the extended particles more than 30 nm in diameter are formed.

Schematic models for the trivaline complexes and compact structures with dsDNA and ssRNA are propose     

OBITUARIES

ABSTRACT

Prey often exhibit avoidance behaviors when predators are present. We observed diminished loudness of mating choruses of male silver perch Bairdiella chrysoura in spawning areas when vocalizing bottlenose dolphins Tursiops truncatus, which hunt fish acoustically, were present. Experimental playback of bottlenose dolphin sounds revealed that male silver perch mating calls were reduced by an average of 9 dB. This “acoustical avoidance” behavior, demonstrated previously for interactions involving bats hunting insects and frogs, may also be a common phenomenon in acoustically mediated predator-prey interactions in the sea.     

Two new species of Petunia (Solanaceae) from southern Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

Petunia bajeensis and P. riograndensis, two new species from southern Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil are described, and their morphological distinction from related species and features of their habitats are discussed.     

No quarter: Lack of refuge during flow intermittency results in catastrophic mortality of an imperiled minnow

1. Many once-perennial rivers have become intermittent. Channel drying can result in fish mortality if refuges are not available. Understanding where refuges occur and if fishes use these refuges can provide insight for species persistence and help stakeholders manage limited resources. Streamflow diversions in the Rio Grande of New Mexico can result in >60 km losses of aquatic habitat, affecting up to 30% of the range of imperiled Rio Grande silvery minnow (Hybognathus amarus). Potential refuges include areas with perennial flow below diversion dams, isolated pools, and irrigation return flows.
2. We examined spatial and temporal patterns of both adult and young-of-year Rio Grande silvery minnow collected in isolated pools that formed during streamflow intermittency from 2009 to 2019. We hypothesised that: (1) Rio Grande silvery minnow would be more numerous in pools that persisted longer; (2) they would be more numerous in isolated pools located closer to upstream areas of perennial flow, due to upstream movement to escape drying; and (3) increased rate of aquatic habitat loss each day would result in more Rio Grande silvery minnow in isolated pools.
3. During the 12 years of the study, we counted Rio Grande silvery minnow in 3,985 isolated pools that formed during streamflow intermittency. We related counts of Rio Grande silvery minnow in each pool to the maximum pool depth, rate of loss of aquatic habitat that occurred that day, and distance each pool was to an upstream barrier. In 2016, we examined persistence of 290 isolated pools until complete desiccation or reconnection with continuous flows occurred, and the factors that influenced pool persistence.
4. Deeper pools persisted for longer, but depth had a small positive effect on counts of adult Rio Grande silvery minnow and no effect on counts of young-of-year in isolated pools. Adults were more numerous in upstream isolated pools, whereas young-of-year were more numerous in downstream isolated pools. Rate of channel drying had little effect on the numbers of adult Rio Grande silvery minnow in isolated pools, but more young-of-year were stranded when the rate of drying was faster. On average, pools persisted <4 days and 263 of 290 dried completely before continuous flows returned. Only 66 of 4,749 Rio Grande silvery minnow occurred in pools that did not dry completely.
5. Rio Grande silvery minnow did not appear to escape channel intermittency; instead, they became stranded in shrinking isolated pools that did not persist long enough to act as refuges for fishes. Lack of refuge during channel intermittency would result in catastrophic mortality of fishes through complete desiccation of pools if there were no management actions, such as translocating fish. To increase persistence through streamflow intermittency, conservation actions should match the species response to intermittency by ensuring the availability of perennial-water refuges at the appropriate spatial and temporal scale.

     

A Review of: “Handbook of Material Culture”

The examination of a well‐documented petroglyph site, located near the northeastern shoreline of now‐dry Owens Lake, California, is used as a springboard for a review of explanatory models for the interpretation of rock art sites in California and the Great Basin. Interpretive models and methods of analysis used by Julian Steward, Robert Heizer, and others who have visited or reported on this site are reviewed. The persistence of Heizer's “hunting‐magic” explanation for the creation of the rock art is used as one of several examples of how preconceived notions can affect interpretations of ancient art.     

Geographic distribution of genetic diversity in populations of Rio Grande Chub <Emphasis Type="Italic">Gila pandora</Emphasis>

In the southwestern United States (US), the Rio Grande chub (Gila pandora) is state-listed as a fish species of greatest conservation need and federally listed as sensitive due to habitat alterations and competition with non-native fishes. Characterizing genetic diversity, genetic population structure, and effective number of breeders will assist with conservation efforts by providing a baseline of genetic metrics. Genetic relatedness within and among G. pandora populations throughout New Mexico was characterized using 11 microsatellite loci among 15 populations in three drainage basins (Rio Grande, Pecos, Canadian). Observed heterozygosity (H_O) ranged from 0.71–0.87 and was similar to expected heterozygosity (0.75–0.87). Rio Ojo Caliente (Rio Grande) had the highest allelic richness (A_R = 15.09), while Upper Rio Bonito (Pecos) had the lowest allelic richness (A_R = 6.75). Genetic differentiation existed among all populations with the lowest genetic variation occurring within the Pecos drainage. STRUCTURE analysis revealed seven genetic clusters. Populations of G. pandora within the upper Rio Grande drainage (Rio Ojo Caliente, Rio Vallecitos, Rio Pueblo de Taos) had high levels of admixture with Q-values ranging from 0.30–0.50. In contrast, populations within the Pecos drainage (Pecos River and Upper Rio Bonito) had low levels of admixture (Q = 0.94 and 0.87, respectively). Estimates of effective number of breeders (N _b ) varied from 6.1 (Pecos: Upper Rio Bonito) to 109.7 (Rio Grande: Rio Peñasco) indicating that populations in the Pecos drainage are at risk of extirpation. In the event that management actions are deemed necessary to preserve or increase genetic diversity of G. pandora, consideration must be given as to which populations are selected for translocation.     

Phylogeography of Rhinichthys cataractae (Teleostei: Cyprinidae): pre‐glacial colonization across the Continental Divide and Pleistocene diversification within the Rio Grande drainage

The longnose dace, Rhinichthys cataractae, is a primary freshwater fish inhabiting riffle habitats in small headwater rivers and streams across the North American continent, including drainages east and west of the Continental Divide. The mitochondrially encoded cytochrome b gene (1140 bp) and 2298–2346 bp of the nuclear‐encoded genes S7 and RAG1 were obtained from 87 individuals of R. cataractae (collected from 17 sites throughout its range) and from several close relatives. Phylogenetic analyses recovered a monophyletic R. cataractae species‐group that contained Rhinichthys evermanni, Rhinichthys sp. ‘Millicoma dace’, and a non‐exclusive R. cataractae. Within the R. cataractae species‐group, two well‐supported lineages were identified, including a western lineage (containing R. evermanni, R. sp. ‘Millicoma dace’ and individuals of R. cataractae from Pacific slope drainages) and an eastern lineage (containing individuals of R. cataractae from Arctic, Atlantic, and Gulf slope drainages). Within the eastern lineage of R. cataractae, two well‐supported groups were recovered: a south‐eastern group, containing individuals from the Atlantic slope, southern tributaries to the Mississippi River, and the Rio Grande drainage; and a north‐eastern group, containing individuals from the Arctic slope and northern tributaries to the Mississippi River. Estimates of the timing of divergence within the R. cataractae species‐group, combined with ancestral area‐reconstruction methods, indicate a separation between the eastern and western lineages during the Pliocene to early‐Pleistocene, with a direction of colonization from the west of the Continental Divide eastward. Within the southern portion of its range, R. cataractae likely entered the Rio Grande drainage during the Pleistocene via stream capture events between the Arkansas River (Mississippi River drainage) and headwaters of the Rio Grande. A close relationship between populations of R. cataractae in the Rio Grande drainage and the adjacent Canadian River (Mississippi River drainage) is consistent with hypothesized stream capture events between the Pecos (Rio Grande drainage) and Canadian rivers during the late‐Pleistocene. The population of R. cataractae in the lower Rio Grande may have become separated from other populations in the Rio Grande drainage (upper Rio Grande and Pecos River) and Canadian River during the late‐Pleistocene, well before initiation of recent and significant anthropogenic disturbance within the Rio Grande drainage. © 2014 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2014, 111 , 317–333.     

Tradition and Diversity among the Prehistoric Hunters and Gatherers of Southern Texas

Abstract

Archaeological and ethnohistorical research has been greatly accelerated in southern Texas in the past five years. A new body of data obtained through extensive surveys, major excavations and intensified archival studies make possible a more detailed view of the area’s 11 ,000-year record of hunting and gathering lifeways. We can begin to replace the model of a widespread, homogenous prehistoric cultural pattern (and the early historic “Coahuiltecan” stereotype) with’ a more realistic perspective which documents regional and temporal variations. While a hunting and gathering subsistence tradition dominated the development of prehistoric lifeways, there is now substantial evidence of intraregional cultural diversity. Such diversity was the result of both spatially-and temporally-localized resources within the area, arid perhaps of shifting spheres of extra-areal cultural influences. New geomorphological, climatic, and chronometric data also permit us to examine certain aspects of both tradition and diversity within a suitable chronological framework.