Texas Biology and Biological Anthropology Faculty Express Their Views on Teaching Evolution

Unsurprisingly, survey results indicate that Texas biology and biological anthropology faculty with expertise in an evolutionary area strongly support teaching “just evolution” (100%; N = 54) and not creationism/intelligent design. Importantly, they do not think that religious faith is incompatible with acceptance of evolutionary biology (91%; N = 55), even though 50% (N = 52) describe themselves as “not at all religious.” As school boards nationwide debate science standards, it is important that faculty with relevant expertise have a voice. Biological anthropologists should not be overlooked as a public resource in these debates.     

Hispanic Students in High School and College: Two Views of a Continuing Challenge

Personas Mexicanas: Chicano High Schoolers in a Changing Los Angeles. James Diego Vigil. New York: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1997. 160 pp.
The Struggle of Latino/Latina University Students: In Search of a liberating Education. Felix M. Padilla. New York Routledge, 1997. 245 pp.     

Astrocytes from Forebrain, Cerebellum, and Spinal Cord Differ in Their Responses to Vasoactive Intestinal Peptide

Astrocytes from cortex, cerebellum, and spinal cord responded to isoproterenol and vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) with increases in intracellular cyclic AMP levels. The response to VIP was as great as that to isoproterenol in cortical astrocytes (180-fold and 185-fold, respectively), and the effect of VIP in combination with isoproterenol was partially additive. Spinal cord astrocytes also responded to VIP and isoproterenol with equal potency (seven- to ninefold and eight- to 13-fold, respectively), but the level of response was much smaller than in cortex. Spinal cord astrocytes were synergistic in their response to VIP and isoproterenol. The response to VIP was lowest in cerebellar astrocytes (only threefold), and no additivity was observed when VIP was added together with isoproterenol. A small response to alpha-melanocyte stimulating hormone (alpha-MSH) was also observed in cortex and cerebellum, but not in spinal cord. Somatostatin inhibited the response to isoproterenol in cortex and cerebellum, but had no effect in spinal cord. The results from the above study show that astrocytes obtained from these three regions of the rat CNS express quite different responses to VIP and alpha-MSH and further point to possible astrocyte heterogeneity.     

Social and Natural Sciences Differ in Their Research Strategies,Adapted to Work for Different Knowledge Landscapes

Do different fields of knowledge require different research strategies? A numerical model exploring different virtual knowledge landscapes, revealed two diverging optimal search strategies. Trend following is maximized when the popularity of new discoveries determine the number of individuals researching it. This strategy works best when many researchers explore few large areas of knowledge. In contrast, individuals or small groups of researchers are better in discovering small bits of information in dispersed knowledge landscapes. Bibliometric data of scientific publications showed a continuous bipolar distribution of these strategies, ranging from natural sciences, with highly cited publications in journals containing a large number of articles, to the social sciences, with rarely cited publications in many journals containing a small number of articles. The natural sciences seem to adapt their research strategies to landscapes with large concentrated knowledge clusters, whereas social sciences seem to have adapted to search in landscapes with many small isolated knowledge clusters. Similar bipolar distributions were obtained when comparing levels of insularity estimated by indicators of international collaboration and levels of country-self citations: researchers in academic areas with many journals such as social sciences, arts and humanities, were the most isolated, and that was true in different regions of the world. The work shows that quantitative measures estimating differences between academic disciplines improve our understanding of different research strategies, eventually helping interdisciplinary research and may be also help improve science policies worldwide.     

Hospital pharmacy committees in England: Their structure,function, and development.

A total of 150 chief and group chief pharmacists in England took part in a survey of the structure and role of pharmacy committees in hospitals. Just over half of the hospitals had such a committee. About two-thirds of these dealt only with pharmacy matters and one-third dealt also with other matters. The number of new committees set up increased slowly until 1967 and then showed a sharp rise. Their terms of reference, membership, and manner of appointment varied greatly. Among subjects dealt with the cost of drugs and the introduction of new prescribing sheets were prominent. Many of the respondents believed that the work of the committees, often with the help of smaller, more specialized groups, had significantly improved various aspects of the local supply and use of drugs.     

Male and Female Meadow Voles,Microtus pennsylvanicus,Differ in Their Responses to Heterospecific/Conspecific Over‐Marks

Voles use runways, paths, and trails that may also be used by rabbits and mink. These shared areas could contain the scent marks of conspecifics and heterospecifics. Thus, it is likely that the scent marks of heterospecifics may overlap or be overlapped by those of voles, forming over‐marks. Much is known about how voles respond to over‐marks of two different conspecifics. However, we do not know how they would respond to an opposite‐sex conspecific whose scent marks are in an over‐mark with the scent marks of predator or the scent marks of a non‐predator heterospecifics. We tested the hypothesis that meadow voles, Microtus pennsylvanicus, differ in their response to the scent mark of the opposite‐sex conspecific if the scent mark was overlapped by that of a mink, a vole predator, or rabbit, a vole non‐predator. We found that female but not male voles showed a preference for the scent marks of the opposite‐sex conspecifics that were part of the mink‐vole over‐mark when compared to those of opposite‐sex conspecifics that were not part of the over‐mark. This preference by female voles was independent of whether the male vole was the top‐scent donor or bottom‐scent donor of the over‐mark. Male and female voles showed no preference between the scent marks of the opposite‐sex conspecifics whose marks were part of or not part of the rabbit‐vole over‐mark. Sex differences in the manner that meadow voles respond to rabbit‐vole and mink‐vole over‐marks are discussed.     

Female Penis,Male Vagina,and Their Correlated Evolution in a Cave Insect

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Nutrients, competition and plant zonation in a New England salt marsh

1 We examined the effects of nutrient availability on the competitive interactions of the New England salt marsh perennials that occupy discrete vegetational zones parallel to the shoreline.
2 Fertilized and unfertilized plots of pair-wise mixtures and monocultures of Spartina alterniflora, S. patens and Juncus gerardi were compared in order to assess the effects of nutrient addition on the competitive dynamics of these species in the field. In addition, we examined competition between some of these species and Distichlis spicata , a species common to disturbed marsh habitats.
3 After two growing seasons, changes in above-ground biomass of the species indicated that in fertilized plots, S. alterniflora outcompeted S. patens, S. patens outcompeted J. gerardi, and D. spicata outcompeted both J. gerardi and S. patens. This was the reverse of the interactions seen under ambient marsh conditions, and suggested that, under conditions of nutrient limitation, competitive dominance may result from efficient competition for nutrients.
4 Using a conceptual model of salt marsh zonation as a function of competition, physical stress and nutrient limitation, we hypothesize that a nutrient-induced reversal in the competitive dynamics among salt marsh perennials may result in modification of the pattern of plant zonation in this and similar marshes.     

Biogeography, Competition, and Microclimate: The Barnacle Chthamalus fragilis in New England

Geographic limits of species are commonly associated with climaticor physical boundaries, but the mechanisms of exclusion at thelimits of distribution are poorly understood. In some intertidalpopulations, the strengths of interactions with natural enemiesare mediated by microclimate, and determine geographic limits.The northern limit of the barnacle Chthamalus fragilis in NewEngland is the south side of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Southof the cape, Chthamalus has a refuge from competition in thehigh intertidal, which is too hot for survival of its superiorcompetitor Semibalanus balanoides. North of the cape, the highintertidal is cooler, and Semibalanus survives, so Chthamalushas no refuge. Thus, geographic variation in the strength ofcompetition may determine the geographic limit of Chthamalus.Intolerance of cold by Chthamalus cannot account for the geographiclimit: transplants of Chthamalus 80 km beyond its northern limitsurvived up to 8 yr in the absence of competition with Semibalanus.At the geographic limit of Chthamalus in the Cape Cod Canalthere are two bridges, 5 km apart. On the southern bridge, Chthamalusis abundant and occupies a refuge above Semibalanus. On thenorthern bridge in 2001, only 7 individual Chthamalus were present.Despite the proximity of the bridges, their microclimates arevery different. The southern bridge, where Chthamalus is abundant,is up to 8°C hotter than the northern bridge. This highertemperature creates a refuge in the high intertidal for Chthamalus.On the cooler northern bridge, there is no refuge for Chthamalus.Because of the difference in temperatures of the water massesthat meet in the canal, heat storage in the rock of the bridgepiers causes the temperatures to differ between the bridges.Thus, geographic change in microclimate alters the strengthof competition, and determines the geographic limit.

"When wetravel from south to north, or from a damp region to a dry,we invariably see some species gradually getting rarer and rarer,and finally disappearing; and the change in climate being conspicuous,we are tempted to attribute the whole effect to its direct action.But this is a very false view: we forget that each species,even where it most abounds, is constantly suffering enormousdestruction at some period of its life, from enemies or fromcompetitors for the same place and food; and if these enemiesor competitors be in the least degree favoured by any slightchange of climate, they will increase in numbers, and as eacharea is already fully stocked with inhabitants, the other specieswill decrease."—Charles Darwin, On the Origin of Species,1859, p. 69.

     

Diagnostic differences in psychogeriatric patients in Toronto,New York and London,England.

National statistics on psychiatric illness in the elderly patient from Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom suggest great differences in morbidity in these three centres. The present study shows that these differences stem mainly from different diagnostic habits in the three countries, but also there were more alcoholics in the Canadian sample. In particular, the diagnostic bias of the New York psychiatrists towards diagnosing most elderly patients as senile was not shared by their Toronto colleagues. Some patients were psychiatrically well, in spite of receiving a psychiatric diagnosis, and could have been helped without hospitalization. In addition, some depressed patients were labelled senile. Recommendations include improvement of catchment and treatment facilities for the elderly alcoholic and the provision of psychogeriatric diagnostic centres.     

Tilefish,Lopholatilus chamaeleonticeps,habitat, behavior and community structure in Mid-Atlantic and southern New England waters

Environmental Biology of Fishes - We made forty-one submersible dives along the outer continental shelf in the Mid-Atlantic-southern New England region to study tilefish distribution, abundance,...     

Heparan Sulfate Proteoglycan Binding by Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1 Glycoproteins B and C, Which Differ in Their Contributions to Virus Attachment, Penetration, and Cell-to-Cell Spread

Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) mutants defective for envelope glycoprotein C (gC) and gB are highly impaired in the ability to attach to cell surface heparan sulfate (HS) moieties of proteoglycans, the initial virus receptor. Here we report studies aimed at defining the HS binding element of HSV-1 (strain KOS) gB and determining whether this structure is functionally independent of gB’s role in extracellular virus penetration or intercellular virus spread. A mutant form of gB deleted for a putative HS binding lysine-rich (pK) sequence (residues 68 to 76) was transiently expressed in Vero cells and shown to be processed normally, leading to exposure on the cell surface. Solubilized gBpK⁻ also had substantially lower affinity for heparin-acrylic beads than did wild-type gB, confirming that the HS binding domain had been inactivated. The gBpK⁻ gene was used to rescue a KOS gB null mutant virus to produce the replication-competent mutant KgBpK⁻. Compared with wild-type virus, KgBpK⁻ showed reduced binding to mouse L cells (ca. 20%), while a gC null mutant virus in which the gC coding sequence was replaced by the lacZ gene (KCZ) was substantially more impaired (ca. 65%-reduced binding), indicating that the contribution of gC to HS binding was greater than that of gB. The effect of combining both mutations into a single virus (KgBpK⁻gC⁻) was additive (ca. 80%-reduced binding to HS) and displayed a binding activity similar to that observed for KOS virus attachment to sog9 cells, a glycosaminoglycan-deficient L-cell line. Cell-adsorbed individual and double HS mutant viruses exhibited a lower rate of virus entry following attachment, suggesting that HS binding plays a role in the process of virus penetration. Moreover, the KgBpK⁻ mutant virus produced small plaques on Vero cells in the presence of neutralizing antibody where plaque formation depended on cell-to-cell virus spread. These studies permitted the following conclusions: (i) the pK sequence is not essential for gB processing or function in virus infection, (ii) the lysine-rich sequence of gB is responsible for HS binding, and (iii) binding to HS is cooperatively linked to the process of efficient virus entry and lateral spread but is not absolutely required for virus infectivity.     

Retrospective Reports of Child Feeding Practices,Current Eating Behaviors,and BMI in College Students

Research concerning child feeding practices has focused on children and adolescents, and little is known about how feeding practices used in childhood relate to eating behaviors and weight status in early adulthood. We assessed college students' and their parents' retrospective reports of child feeding practices used when the students were in middle childhood. We also assessed the college students' current reports of their eating behaviors using the Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire (DEBQ) and the Intuitive Eating Scale (IES), and measured their current BMI. Results showed that college students' and their parents' reports about previous parental use of child feeding practices were not correlated. Parent reports of their own use of child feeding practices were more related to students' eating behaviors and BMI than were students' recollections about feeding practices used by their parents. An analysis of gender effects showed that there were positive correlations between parental child feeding practices, BMI, and emotional eating for female students. These relationships did not exist for male students. The results suggest that child feeding practices recollected by parents are linked to the development of emotional eating and weight status of women in early adulthood.     

Extent, properties, and landscape setting of geographically isolated wetlands in urban southern New England watersheds

We assessed the extent and characteristics of geographically isolated wetlands (i.e., wetlands completely surrounded by upland) in a series of watersheds in the urban northeast US. We applied a previously developed index of urbanization to a sample of 10 watersheds selected at random from a set of 30 watersheds whose boundaries lay within the borders of Rhode Island, USA. The index of urbanization in our sample watersheds ranged over more than an order of magnitude and increased with increasing amount of urban land use in the watersheds (r ² = 0.51, F = 8.22, P = 0.02). The density of isolated wetlands in the watersheds averaged 1.93 ± 0.21 wetlands km⁻² and comprised 38.2 ± 1.77% of all wetlands. Isolated wetlands were smaller than those connected to other waters (non-isolated), and accounted for 6.01–16.5% of the total wetland area in the watersheds. The area of isolated wetlands as a percent of all wetland area significantly increased with increasing watershed urbanization (r ² = 0.62, F = 12.9, P = 0.007). Isolated wetlands were predominantly deciduous forested wetlands, and urban land cover in the 50 m buffer surrounding isolated wetlands was significantly higher than in the 50 m surrounding non-isolated wetlands. The proportion of urban land cover was greater in a 150 than a 50 m buffer surrounding the wetlands. Our results suggest that an increase in the index of urbanization of 50 will result in 7% of the watershed’s wetlands being lost from federal protection. These findings indicate that the process of urbanization, along with accompanying habitat fragmentation, may result in an increase in the vulnerability of wetlands to loss and degradation and therefore has implications for the management and conservation of geographically isolated wetlands.     

Pigment dynamics and autumn leaf senescence in a New England deciduous forest,eastern USA

The leaves of woody plants at Harvard Forest in Central Massachusetts, USA, changed color during senescence; 70% (62/89) of the woody species examined anatomically contained anthocyanins during senescence. Anthocyanins were not present in summer green leaves, and appeared primarily in the vacuoles of palisade parenchyma cells. Yellow coloration was a result of the unmasking of xanthophyll pigments in senescing chloroplasts. In nine red-senescing species, anthocyanins were not detectable in mature leaves, and were synthesized de novo in senescence, with less than 20µg cm^–2 of chlorophyll remaining. Xanthophyll concentrations declined in relation to chlorophyll to the same extent in both yellow- and red-leaved taxa. Declines in the maximum photosystemII quantum yield of leaves collected prior to dawn were only slightly less in the red-senescing species, indicating no long-term protective activity. Red-leaved species had significantly greater mass/area and lower chlorophylla/b ratios during senescence. Nitrogen tissue concentrations in mature and senescent leaves negatively correlated to anthocyanin concentrations in senescent leaves, weak evidence for more efficient nitrogen resorption in anthocyanic species. Shading retarded both chlorophyll loss and anthocyanin production in Cornus alternifolia, Acer rubrum, Acer saccharum, Quercus rubra and Viburnum alnifolium. It promoted chlorophyll loss in yellow-senescing Fagus grandifolia. A reduced red:far-red ratio did not affect this process. Anthocyanins did not increase leaf temperatures in Q.rubra and Vaccinium corymbosum on cold and sunny days. The timing of leaf-fall was remarkably constant from year to year, and the order of senescence of individual species was consistent.