Dietary inferences from dental occlusal microwear at Mission San Luis de Apalachee

San Luis de Apalachee, one of a chain of Roman Catholic missions established in Spanish Florida (modern states of Georgia and Florida) in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, was the principal center of missionization of native populations in the Florida panhandle. Paleoethnobotanical remains yield evidence of production of various kinds of crops at the site, typical of nearly all mission period sites in the area. Stable isotope (carbon and nitrogen) analysis and dental caries evidence suggest that maize was not as important in the diet at San Luis as in other contemporary settings in the region. Ethnohistorical research indicates a heavier reliance on meat consumption compared to other mission settings. This study examines dental microwear of occlusal surfaces of maxillary molars from San Luis and five other Native American mission period sites in Spanish Florida. Epoxy casts of molar crushing facets were photographed under 500x magnification, using a scanning electron microscope. Photomicrographs were digitized using Microware 4.02 (Ungar [2002a]) and statistically evaluated using one-way ANOVA and post hoc Tukey's multiple comparisons tests. These analyses reveal that the frequency of pitting on the San Luis molars is significantly greater than for other mission period sites. Consistent with bioarchaeological, historical, and archaeological documentation, these findings suggest that diets were different in the San Luis natives in comparison with the other native populations in Spanish Florida. Various dietary factors likely came into play, resulting in these differences, and may have included significantly greater meat consumption at San Luis.     

Depicting the Tree of Life: the Philosophical and Historical Roots of Evolutionary Tree Diagrams

It is a popularly held view that Darwin was the first author to draw a phylogenetic tree diagram. However, as is the case with most popular beliefs, this one also does not hold true. Firstly, Darwin never called his diagram of common descent a tree. Secondly, even before Darwin, tree diagrams were used by a variety of philosophical, religious, and secular scholars to depict phenomena such as “logical relationships,” “affiliations,” “genealogical descent,” “affinity,” and “historical relatedness” between the elements portrayed on the tree. Moreover, historically, tree diagrams themselves can be grouped into a larger class of diagrams that were drawn to depict natural and/or divine order in the world. In this paper, we trace the historical roots and cultural meanings of these tree diagrams. It will be demonstrated that tree diagrams as we know them are the outgrowth of ancient philosophical attempts to find the “true order” of the world, and to map the world “as it is” (ontologically), according to its true essence. This philosophical idea would begin a fascinating journey throughout Western European history. It lies at the foundation of the famous “scala naturae,” as well as religious and secular genealogical thinking, especially in regard to divine, familial (kinship), and linguistic pedigrees that were often depicted by tree images. These scala naturae would fuse with genealogical, pedigree thinking, and the trees that were the result of this blend would, from the nineteenth century onward, also include the element of time. The recognition of time would eventually lead to the recognition of evolution as a fact of nature, and subsequently, tree iconographies would come to represent exclusively the evolutionary descent of species.     

Choosing appropriate temporal and spatial scales for ecological restoration

Classic ecological restoration seems tacitly to have taken the Clementsian “balance of nature” paradigm for granted: plant succession terminates in a climax community which remains at equilibrium until exogenously disturbed after which the process of succession is restarted until the climax is reached. Human disturbance is regarded as unnatural and to have commenced in the Western Hemisphere at the time of European incursion. Classic ecological restoration thus has a clear and unambiguous target and may be conceived as aiming to foreshorten the natural processes that would eventually lead to the climax of a given site, which may be determined by its state at “settlement”. According to the new “flux of nature” paradigm in ecology a given site has notelos and is constantly changing. Human disturbance is ubiquitous and long-standing, and at certain spatial and temporal scales is “incorporated”. Any moment in the past 10,000 years that may be selected as a benchmark for restoration efforts thus appears to be arbitrary. Two prominent conservationists have therefore suggested that the ecological conditions in North America at the Pleistocene—Holocene boundary, prior to the anthropogenic extinction of the Pleistocene megafauna, be the target for ecological restoration. That suggestion explicitly assumes evolutionary temporal scales and continental spatial scales as the appropriate frame of reference for ecological restoration. However, ecological restoration should be framed in ecological spatio-temporal scales, which may be defined temporally in reference to ecological processes such as disturbance regimes and spatially in reference to ecological units such as landscapes, ecosystems, and biological provinces. Ecological spatio-temporal scales are also useful in achieving a scientifically defensible distinction between native and exotic species, which plays so central a role in the practice of ecological restoration and the conservation of biodiversity. Because post-settlement human disturbances have exceeded the limits of such scales, settlement conditions can be justified scientifically as appropriate targets of restoration efforts without recourse to obsolete teleological concepts of equilibria and without ignoring the presence and ecological influence of indigenous peoples.     

Don’t Call it “Darwinism”

Evolutionary biology owes much to Charles Darwin, whose discussions of common descent and natural selection provide the foundations of the discipline. But evolutionary biology has expanded well beyond its foundations to encompass many theories and concepts unknown in the 19th century. The term “Darwinism” is, therefore, ambiguous and misleading. Compounding the problem of “Darwinism” is the hijacking of the term by creationists to portray evolution as a dangerous ideology—an “ism”—that has no place in the science classroom. When scientists and teachers use “Darwinism” as synonymous with evolutionary biology, it reinforces such a misleading portrayal and hinders efforts to present the scientific standing of evolution accurately. Accordingly, the term “Darwinism” should be abandoned as a synonym for evolutionary biology.     

Translocal Ecologies: The Norfolk Broads,the “Natural,” and the International Phytogeographical Excursion, 1911

What we consider “nature” is always historical and relational, shaped in contingent configurations of representational and social practices. In the early twentieth century, the English ecologist A.G. Tansley lamented the pervasive problem of international misunderstandings concerning the nature of “nature.” In order to create some consensus on the concepts and language of ecological plant geography, Tansley founded the International Phytogeographical Excursion, which brought together leading plant geographers and botanists from North America and Europe. The first IPE in August 1911 started with the Norfolk Broads. It was led by Marietta Pallis, Tansley’s former student at Cambridge. This trip and the work of Pallis, neglected in other accounts of this early period of the history of ecology, influenced the relations between Tansley and important American ecologists H.C. Cowles and F.E. Clements. Understanding “place” as a network of relations, our regional focus shows how taking international dialogue, travel and interchange into account enriches understanding of ecological practice.     

Evolutionary Morphology in Belgium

In historical literature, Edouard van Beneden (1846–1910) is mostly remembered for his cytological discoveries. Less well known, however, is that he also introduced evolutionary morphology – and indeed evolutionary theory as such – in the Belgian academic world. The introduction of this research programme cannot be understood without taking both the international and the national context into account. It was clearly the German example of the Jena University that inspired van Beneden in his research interests. The actual launch of evolutionary morphology at his University of Liège was, however, also connected with the dynamic of Belgian university reforms and the local rationale of creating a research “school.” Thanks to his networks, his mastering of the rhetoric of the “new” biology, his low ideological profile and his capitalising on the new academic élan in late-19th century Belgium, van Beneden managed to turn his programme into a local success from the 1870s onwards. Two decades later, however, the conceptual underpinnings of evolutionary morphology came under attack and the “Van Beneden School” lost much of its vitality. Despite this, van Beneden’s evolutionary morphology was prototypical for the research that was to come. He was one of the first scientific heavyweights in Belgium to turn the university laboratory into a centre of scientific practice and the hub of a research school.     

The Spiritual Conquest of La Florida

Spanish exploration and colonization of the New World has long been characterized as a quest for "Gold, Glory, and God." This article examines the last of these motives, the religious aspects of colonization, as revealed through seventeenth-century mortuary remains and documentary evidence from the Spanish territory known as La Florida. Data suggest that these missionized native populations underwent religious transformations that resulted in a unique expression of Christianity incorporating both European and native elements. Related data indicate that while religious conversion may have had a lasting impact, other native social and political institutions remained largely intact during the mission period. [missions, Native Americans, Spanish colonization, southeastern United States]     

Use of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Capsicum frutescens</Emphasis> L. by the Indigenous Peoples of Taiwan and the Batanes Islands

Use of Capsicum frutescens L. by the Indigenous Peoples of Taiwan and the Batanes Islands. The local nomenclature, use, and distribution of C. frutescens among indigenous peoples in Taiwan and the Batanes Islands were studied. Among Taiwanese indigenous peoples, the distribution, frequency of use, and importance of C. frutescens were found to increase with decreasing latitude, which appears to have affected the local names of Capsicum and C. frutescens. The local name for Capsicum in the Batanes Islands—“sili”—is used by several indigenous peoples in Taiwan, suggesting that Capsicum was brought from the south to the north. Indigenous peoples in Taiwan and the Batanes Islands used C. frutescens fruits as condiments, medicines, ornaments, or for ritual uses; also, they used its leaves for soup. A complex of both green and yellowish-green types possessing ShDH-B was introduced from Indonesia into the Batanes Islands and Taiwan, and later only the type with yellowish-green immature fruit was introduced to the Ryukyu Islands under the bottleneck effect.     

Microsatellite DNA analysis of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) from western Alberta, Canada: native status and evolutionary distinctiveness of “Athabasca” rainbow trout

Molecular genetic assays can contribute to conservation of aquatic taxa by assessing evolutionary and taxonomic distinctiveness, levels of genetic variation within and between populations, and the degree of introgression with introduced taxa. The Athabasca River drainage of␣western Alberta, Canada is one of only three (and the largest) drainages flowing east of the continental divide that contain native populations of rainbow trout (Salmonidae: Oncorhynchus mykiss). The “Athabasca” rainbow trout has been considered a preglacial relict worthy of special conservation measures. In addition, the native range of Athabasca rainbow trout has seen many instances of introductions of non-native populations since the beginning of the 20th century. We assayed rainbow trout from the Athabasca River drainage, from hatchery populations, and from representative populations in adjacent regions (N = 49 localities) for variation at 10 microsatelite loci to assess the level of evolutionary distinctiveness of Athabasca rainbow trout, and to assess the levels of introgression with non-native hatchery fish. We found that native Athabasca rainbow trout did not form a distinctive genetic assemblage and that the greatest amount of allele frequency variation was attributable to contemporary drainage systems (29.3%) rather than by a Athabasca/non-Athabasca distinction (12.6%). We found that 78% of all fish were confidently assigned to a “wild” rather than a “hatchery” genetic grouping and that most of the inferred introgression with hatchery fish was restricted to a few localities (N = 6). Our results suggest that: (i)␣Athabasca River rainbow trout are likely postglacial immigrants from adjacent populations of the Fraser River, and (ii) that there is no evidence of widespread introgression of hatchery alleles into native Athabasca River drainage rainbow trout.     

Transforming Our Thinking about Transitional Forms

A common misconception of evolutionary biology is that it involves a search for “missing links” in the history of life. Relying on this misconception, antievolutionists present the supposed absence of transitional forms from the fossil record as evidence against evolution. Students of biology need to understand that evolution is a branching process, paleontologists do not expect to find “missing links,” and evolutionary research uses independent lines of evidence to test hypotheses and make conclusions about the history of life. Teachers can facilitate such learning by incorporating cladistics and tree-thinking into the curriculum and using evograms to focus on important evolutionary transitions.     

Incidence of ecological factors on the evolution of infant mortality in a Mediterranean population (La Alpujarra,SE Spain)

The infant mortality evolution in the present century has been analyzed in a rural Mediterranean population (La Alpujarra, SE Spain). The “conventional infant mortality rate” shows a decrease from 184.82, in 1900–1904, to 25.16, in 1975–1978. The sexual proportion for all period studied indicates a male supermortality about 1.13. The biometric analysis reveals an excess of exogenous mortality at the first half of the century, attributed to digestive problems, as has been found in other Mediterranean populations. The seasonal distribution presents an evolutionary change from a maximum in estival months to a maximum in winter ones.     

Edward Hitchcock’s Pre-Darwinian (1840) “Tree of Life”

The “tree of life” iconography, representing the history of life, dates from at least the latter half of the 18th century, but evolution as the mechanism providing this bifurcating history of life did not appear until the early 19th century. There was also a shift from the straight line, scala naturae view of change in nature to a more bifurcating or tree-like view. Throughout the 19th century authors presented tree-like diagrams, some regarding the Deity as the mechanism of change while others argued for evolution. Straight-line or anagenetic evolution and bifurcating or cladogenetic evolution are known in biology today, but are often misrepresented in popular culture, especially with anagenesis being confounded with scala naturae. Although well known in the mid 19th century, the geologist Edward Hitchcock has been forgotten as an early, if not the first author to publish a paleontologically based “tree of life” beginning in 1840 in the first edition of his popular general geology text Elementary Geology. At least 31 editions were published and those between 1840 and 1859 had this “paleontological chart” showing two trees, one for fossil and living plants and another for animals set within a context of geological time. Although the chart did not vary in later editions, the text explaining the chart did change to reflect newer ideas in paleontology and geology. Whereas Lamarck, Chambers, Bronn, Darwin, and Haeckel saw some form of transmutation as the mechanism that created their “trees of life,” Hitchcock, like his contemporaries Agassiz and Miller, who also produced “trees of life,” saw a deity as the agent of change. Through each edition of his book Hitchcock denounced the newer transmutationist hypotheses of Lamarck, then Chambers, and finally Darwin in an 1860 edition that no longer presented his tree-like “paleontological chart.”     

Ethnobotanical investigation of the acjachemen clapperstick from blue elderberry,Sambucus mexicana (Caprifoliaceae)

The Acjachemen Indians of San Juan Capistrano, California, have a rich history predating the establishment of the Spanish Missions. The Acjachemen have many uses for the plants indigenous to the area. The Blue or Mexican Elderberry, Sambucus mexicana C. Presl, Caprifoliaceae, continues to be a plant of great importance to the Acjachemen people. Known as the “tree of music,” its wood is used in the construction of the clapperstick, a percussion instrument used to accompany song. We documented the construction stages of the clapperstick by Acjachemen artisans: harvest, woodworking, and decoration. Tribal elders granted permission to document the process with videotape and photographs. While the methods and tools employed in the process have changed over time, the cultural importance of the clapperstick has not.     

What would T. H. Huxley have made of prion diseases?

T. H. Huxley was “Darwin’s bulldog,” and took the offensive in championing the cause of evolution against skeptical scientists and outraged theologians. As such, he took part in one of the great “paradigm shifts” of biology, at the end of the nineteenth century. Huxley was a rigorous scientist and wrote important articles on scientific method, as well as publishing extensively on a wide range of subjects in natural history. In the second half of the twentieth century, the “prion hypothesis” was put forward to explain the pathogenesis of a curious group of diseases known as the transmissible spongiform encephalopathies. This also involved a “paradigm shift” because the prion hypothesis postulated that biologically relevant information could be enciphered in protein conformation (rather than encoded in nucleic acid base sequences), and could be transmitted from one molecule to another, thereby causing infectious disease. This article examines a few of Huxley’s remarks to speculate on how he might have responded to the scientific debate about prion disease had he lived a century later.     

“Force-Talk” in Evolutionary Explanation: Metaphors and Misconceptions

The notion of “pressure” as an evolutionary “force” that “causes” evolution is a pervasive linguistic feature of biology textbooks, journal articles, and student explanatory discourse. We investigated the consequences of using a textbook and curriculum that incorporate so-called force-talk. We examined the frequency with which biology majors spontaneously used notions of evolutionary “pressures” in their explanations, students’ definitions and explanations of what they meant when they used pressures, and the structure of explanatory models that incorporated evolutionary pressures and forces. We found that 12–20 percent of undergraduates spontaneously used “pressures” and/or “forces” as explanatory factors but significantly more often in trait gain scenarios than in trait loss scenarios. The majority of explanations using “force-talk” were characterized by faulty evolutionary reasoning. We discuss the conceptual similarity between faulty notions of evolutionary pressures and linguists’ force-dynamic models of everyday reasoning and ultimately question the appropriateness of force-talk in evolution education.     

Contribution to the probabilistic theory of neural nets: II. Facilitation and threshold phenomena

The output curve of a single neuron with a threshold of response with respect to the frequency of the stimuli is derived. If the stimuli are regularly spaced in time, the output curve has discontinuities. If the threshold and/or refractory period are sufficiently large, the output curve approaches the “all-or-none” curve. In the case of completely randomized stimuli, the output curve is sigmoid. The equation of this curve is derived and some properties are studied. Threshold and “all-or-none” effects can be achieved by “pyramiding” neurons of this type to converge on neurons of higher order.     

Grandmothers,hunters and human life history

This paper critiques the competing “Grandmother Hypothesis” and “Embodied Capital Theory” as evolutionary explanations of the peculiarities of human life history traits. Instead, I argue that the correct explanation for human life history probably involves elements of both hypotheses: long male developmental periods and lives probably evolved due to group selection for male hunting via increased female fertility, and female long lives due to the differential contribution women’s complex foraging skills made to their children and grandchildren’s nutritional status within groups provisioned by male hunting.     

Frits Went’s Atomic Age Greenhouse: The Changing Labscape on the Lab-Field Border

In Landscapes and Labscapes Robert Kohler emphasized the separation between laboratory and field cultures and the creation of new “hybrid” or mixed practices as field sciences matured in the early twentieth century. This article explores related changes in laboratory practices, especially novel designs for the analysis of organism–environment relations in the mid-twentieth century. American ecologist Victor Shelford argued in 1929 that technological improvements and indoor climate control should be applied to ecological laboratories, but his recommendations were too ambitious for the time. In the postwar period Frits W. Went, plant physiologist at the California Institute of Technology, created a new high-tech laboratory, dubbed a “phytotron”, in the hope that it would transform plant sciences by allowing for unprecedented control of environmental variables. Went’s aspirations, the research conducted in his laboratory, and its impact in initiating an international movement, are considered. Went’s laboratory can be seen as a “hybrid culture” evolving in the laboratory, complementing and intersecting with some of the field practices that Kohler describes. It was also a countercultural movement against the reductionist trends of molecular biology in the 1950s and 1960s. By considering the history of the laboratory in relation to field sciences, we can explore how new funding sources and cross-disciplinary relations affected the development of field sciences, especially in the postwar period.