Internal Representations of Temporal Statistics and Feedback Calibrate Motor-Sensory Interval Timing

Humans have been shown to adapt to the temporal statistics of timing tasks so as to optimize the accuracy of their responses, in agreement with the predictions of Bayesian integration. This suggests that they build an internal representation of both the experimentally imposed distribution of time intervals (the prior) and of the error (the loss function). The responses of a Bayesian ideal observer depend crucially on these internal representations, which have only been previously studied for simple distributions. To study the nature of these representations we asked subjects to reproduce time intervals drawn from underlying temporal distributions of varying complexity, from uniform to highly skewed or bimodal while also varying the error mapping that determined the performance feedback. Interval reproduction times were affected by both the distribution and feedback, in good agreement with a performance-optimizing Bayesian observer and actor model. Bayesian model comparison highlighted that subjects were integrating the provided feedback and represented the experimental distribution with a smoothed approximation. A nonparametric reconstruction of the subjective priors from the data shows that they are generally in agreement with the true distributions up to third-order moments, but with systematically heavier tails. In particular, higher-order statistical features (kurtosis, multimodality) seem much harder to acquire. Our findings suggest that humans have only minor constraints on learning lower-order statistical properties of unimodal (including peaked and skewed) distributions of time intervals under the guidance of corrective feedback, and that their behavior is well explained by Bayesian decision theory.     

Application of the Red List Index as an indicator of habitat change

For the first time ever, the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List Index for habitat types was calculated for an entire country, Finland. The RLIs were based on species threat assessments from 2000 and 2010 and included habitat definitions for all 10,131 species of 12 organism groups. The RLIs were bootstrapped to track statistically significant changes. The RLI changes of species grouped by habitats were negative for all habitat types except for forests and rural biotopes which showed a stable trend. Trends of beetles and true bugs were positive in rural and forest habitats. Other 16 observed trends of species group and habitat combinations were negative. Several trends observed were in accordance with studies focusing on particular taxa and habitats, and drivers for their change. This study demonstrates the usefulness of the RLI as a tool for observing habitat change based on species threat assessment data.     

Recurrent Pseudo-nitzschia calliantha (Bacillariophyceae) and Alexandrium insuetum (Dinophyceae) winter blooms induced by agricultural runoff

A winter bloom dominated by Pseudo-nitzschia calliantha Lundholm, Moestrup et Hasle (Bacillariophyceae), a potential domoic acid producer, is reported for the first time in the Aegean Sea, Greece, in a semi-enclosed embayment (Kalloni Gulf) surrounded by agricultural land and drained by intermittent rivers. Abundances of this species in the inner part of the Gulf during February were extremely high (max 1.1 × 10⁷ cells l⁻¹). The species Alexandrium insuetum Balech (Dinophyceae) was also found in considerable cell numbers (max 1.4 × 10⁵ cells l⁻¹) during the bloom and reached up to 40% of the total biovolume. This study demonstrates an evident cause and effect relationship between nutrient inflows originating from agricultural activities in the watershed and the development of a potential HAB. The massive bloom formation was observed soon after an episodic rainfall event during the fertilizer application period (December to February). A bloom was also observed the following year, but it was less pronounced due to the fact that rainfalls were more evenly spaced in time and were of moderate intensity.     

Proper timing of cytokinesis is regulated by Schizosaccharomyces pombe Etd1

Cytokinesis must be initiated only after chromosomes have been segregated in anaphase and must be terminated once cleavage is completed. We show that the fission yeast protein Etd1 plays a central role in both of these processes. Etd1 activates the guanosine triphosphatase (GTPase) Spg1 to trigger signaling through the septum initiation network (SIN) pathway and onset of cytokinesis. Spg1 is activated in late anaphase when spindle elongation brings spindle pole body (SPB)–localized Spg1 into proximity with its activator Etd1 at cell tips, ensuring that cytokinesis is only initiated when the spindle is fully elongated. Spg1 is active at just one of the two SPBs during cytokinesis. When the actomyosin ring finishes constriction, the SIN triggers disappearance of Etd1 from the half of the cell with active Spg1, which then triggers Spg1 inactivation. Asymmetric activation of Spg1 is crucial for timely inactivation of the SIN. Together, these results suggest a mechanism whereby cell asymmetry is used to monitor cytoplasmic partitioning to turn off cytokinesis signaling.     

A Temporally Explicit Production Efficiency Model for Fuel Load Allocation in Southern Africa

Abstract We present a regional fuel load model (1 km² spatial resolution) applied in the southern African savanna region. The model is based on a patch-scale production efficiency model (PEM) scaled up to the regional level using empirical relationships between patch-scale behavior and multi-source remote sensing data (spatio-temporal variability of vegetation and climatic variables). The model requires the spatial distribution of woody vegetation cover, which is used to determine separate respiration rates for tree and grass. Net primary production, grass and tree leaf death, and herbivory are also taken into account in this mechanistic modeling approach. The fuel load model has been calibrated and validated from independent measurements taken from savanna vegetation in Africa southward from the equator. A sensitivity analysis on the effect of climate variables (incoming radiation, air temperature, and precipitation) has been conducted to demonstrate the strong role that water availability has in determining productivity and subsequent fuel load over the southern African region. The model performance has been tested in four different areas representative of a regional increasing rainfall gradient—Etosha National Park, Namibia, Mongu and Kasama, Zambia, as well as in Kruger National Park, South Africa. Within each area, we analyze model output from three different magnitudes of canopy coverage (<5, 30, and 50%). We find that fuel load ranges predicted by the model are globally in agreement with field measurements for the same year. High rainfall sustains green herbaceous production late in the dry season and delays tree leaf litter production. Effect of water on production varies across the rainfall gradient with delayed start of green material production in more arid regions.     

Isoforms of myosin and actin in human, monkey and rat myometrium. Comparison of pregnant and non-pregnant uterus proteins

Using several electrophoretic procedures, we have compared the forms of myosin and actin in pregnant and non-pregnant uterus of woman, monkey (Macaca fascicularis) and rat. On non-dissociating gels, native myosin of the three species migrates as a single band, of identical mobility independently of the physiological state. Remigration of this band in dissociating conditions shows that it is constituted of two heavy chains of respectively 201 kDa and 205 kDa; the relative proportions of these two bands are different for the three animal species but do not vary during pregnancy. Using two-dimensional gel electrophoresis, we found that the 17-kDa light chain of purified uterus myosin exists under two isoelectric forms, the more acidic one becoming progressively predominant at the end of pregnancy in the human as in the monkey uterus, while we observed no changes in the rat. In two-dimensional gel electrophoresis, actin of human, monkey and rat uterus is present under three isoforms, the most basic one (the gamma form) increasing early in pregnancy in the two primate species but being always the most abundant form in the rat. The ATPase activity of human uterus myosin was found to be similar for the protein extracted from both pregnant and non-pregnant uterus. The changes observed in the 17-kDa light chain and in the actin isoforms might nevertheless participate in the modifications of contractility of the uterus during pregnancy of the primates.     

Environmental stability affects phenotypic evolution in a globally distributed marine picoplankton

Marine phytoplankton can evolve rapidly when confronted with aspects of climate change because of their large population sizes and fast generation times. Despite this, the importance of environment fluctuations, a key feature of climate change, has received little attention—selection experiments with marine phytoplankton are usually carried out in stable environments and use single or few representatives of a species, genus or functional group. Here we investigate whether and by how much environmental fluctuations contribute to changes in ecologically important phytoplankton traits such as C:N ratios and cell size, and test the variability of changes in these traits within the globally distributed species Ostreococcus. We have evolved 16 physiologically distinct lineages of Ostreococcus at stable high CO₂ (1031±87 μatm CO₂, SH) and fluctuating high CO₂ (1012±244 μatm CO₂, FH) for 400 generations. We find that although both fluctuation and high CO₂ drive evolution, FH-evolved lineages are smaller, have reduced C:N ratios and respond more strongly to further increases in CO₂ than do SH-evolved lineages. This indicates that environmental fluctuations are an important factor to consider when predicting how the characteristics of future phytoplankton populations will have an impact on biogeochemical cycles and higher trophic levels in marine food webs.