Statistical Confusion Among Graduate Students: Sickness or Symptom?

Abstract: Statistics is one of the most important yet difficult subjects for many ecology and wildlife graduate students to learn. Insufficient knowledge about how to conduct quality science and the ongoing debate about the relative value of competing statistical ideologies contribute to uncertainties among graduate students regarding which statistical tests are most appropriate. Herein, we argue that increased education of the available statistical tests alone is unlikely to ameliorate the problem. Instead, we suggest that statistical uncertainties among graduate students are a secondary symptom of a larger problem. We believe the root cause lies in the lack of education on how to conduct science as an integrated process from hypothesis creation through statistical analysis. We argue that if students are taught to think about how each step of the process will affect all other steps, many statistical uncertainties will be avoided.     

Environmental Control of Flowering in Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.). II. Rate of Developement as a Function of Temperature and Photoperiod and its Modification by Low-temperature Vernalization

Plants of six contrasting genotypes of barley were raised fromvernalized (imbibed at 1 °C for 30 d) or non-vernalizedseeds and grown in 12 different controlled environments comprisingfactorial combinations of three photoperiods (10, 13 and 16h d^–1), two day temperatures (18 and 28 °C) and twonight temperatures (5 and 13 °C). Except at longer daysfor Athenais or Arabi Abiad, the 28 °C day temperature wasgenerally supra-optimal and delayed awn emergence. At lowertemperatures and in photoperiods shorter than the critical value,P_C, which delay awn emergence, the time from sowing to awn emergencefor five of the genotypes conformed to the equation 1/f=a +bT{macron}+cPwhere f is the time to awn emergence (d), T{macron} is meandiurnal temperature (°C), P is photoperiod (h d^–1)and a, b and c are genotype-specific constants. In Arabi Abiad,however, significant responses to temperature were not detected.The low temperature pre-treatment of the seeds reduced the subsequenttime to awn emergence in Athenais and the autumn-sown genotypesAger, Arabi Abiad and Gerbel B, especially in longer days, buteither had no effect or tended to delay awn emergence in thespring-sown types Emir and Mona. In the spring-sown types P_Cwas outside the range investigated (i.e. > 16 h d^–1),but in Ager it was approx. 13 h d^–1 and in Gerbel B justover 13 h d^–1. For plants of Arabi Abiad grown from vernalizedseeds P_c was almost 15 h, but     

Metabolism of Auxin in Pine Tissues: Naphthaleneacetic Acid Conjugation

Incubation of sections of various tissues of Pinus pinea L. and Pinus halepensis Mill, with α-naphthaleneacetie acid-1-¹⁴C (NAA) resulted in two metabolites which proved to be l-O-(α-naphthylacetyl)-β-D-glucose (NAGlu) and α-naphthylacetylaspartic acid (NAAsp). NAGlu was purified by means of insoluble polyvinyl-polypyrrolidone (Polyclar AT) column chromatography and preparative thin layer chromatography and identified by its ‘H-nuclear magnetic resonance and mass spectra. NAAsp was partially purified by means of preparative thin-layer chromatography and identified by co-chromatography with a synthetic standard and hydrolysis to the parent compounds. NAA and L-aspartic acid. Needles and shoot bark rapidly converted NAA mainly to NAGlu. In contrast, woody roots and shoot wood showed a much slower rate of conjugation with the formation of both NAGlu and NAAsp. Preincubation of wood sections in NAA increased the formation of NAGlu, whereas the formation of NAAsp was almost unaffected.     

Toward an improved Silurian conodont biostratigraphy

Silurian conodonts have been widely reported and many species have worldwide distribution. However, present zonations utilizing them have many limitations and no single scheme provides a suitable standard. A good standard zonation for Silurian conodonts is desirable, but impossible at our present state of knowledge. Environmental differentiation, the rapid evolution of several unrelated conodont lineages and the lack of distributional data are the principal factors producing this situation. Existing Silurian conodont zonations are evaluated, and zonal schemes based on well documented phylogenetic lineages are advocated. Eight datum planes are proposed as an additional biostratigraphic framework in the system. These are the Distomodus staurognathoides Datum, Pterospathodus amorphognathoides Datum, Pterospathodus Extinction Datum, Kockelella walliseri Datum, Kockelella variabilis Datum, Ancoradella ploeckensis Datum, Kockelella Extinction Datum and Ozarkodina crispa Datum. Six of these datum planes are based on the evolutionary appearance of the datum-defining species. Extinction datum planes correspond to a significant level of extinction amongst the conodont-bearing animals.     

Diversification of coordination patterns during feeding behaviour in cheiline wrasses

Successful fish feeding often requires the coordination of several complex motor and sensory systems to ensure that food is accurately detected, approached, acquired, and consumed. In the present study, we address feeding behaviour as a coordinated set of multiple, facultatively independent, anatomical systems. We sought to determine whether the patterns of interaction between trophic, locomotor, and oculomotor systems are associated with changes in morphology and ecology within a closely-related, but trophically divergent, group of fishes. We present a quantitative kinematic analysis of skull motion, locomotor behaviour, and oculomotor responses during feeding to assess coordination in three functional systems directly involved in feeding. We use coordination profiles to depict the feeding behaviours of three carnivorous coral reef fishes of the tribe Cheilinini in the family Labridae (the wrasses): Cheilinus fasciatus (a slow-swimming predator of benthic invertebrates), Epibulus insidiator (a slow-stalking predator with extraordinary jaw protrusion), and Oxycheilinus digrammus (a fast-attack predator). Differences were detected in several variables relating to jaw, body, fin, and eye movements. Overall patterns of coordination were more similar between E. insidiator and O. digrammus , which are capable of capturing elusive prey, than between C. fasciatus and E. insidiator , which are the two most closely-related species among the three. Evidence for the evolution of coordination patterns among cheiline fishes suggests that the sensory-motor systems involved in processing stimuli and coordinating a physical response during feeding have changed considerably, even among closely-related species.  © 2008 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society , 2008, 93 , 289–308.