Article
Economics
Katharina Muhlhoff
Summary: This article explores the relationship between declining mortality and fertility decline, proposing a combination of life-history theory and unified growth model. The author challenges traditional economic explanations for demographic transitions and suggests that evolutionary mechanisms offer a new explanation. Evolutionary adaptations provide a culture-free mechanism to complement older theories and suggest that natural selection may eventually counter the benefits of population shocks claimed by Malthusian theories.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Michael Zakharin, Timothy C. Bates
Summary: The study found that the traditional five-factor models of moral foundations theory had poor fit to the data. Through five studies, a well-fitting model of the Moral Foundations Questionnaire was constructed, revealing that moral foundations can be divided into seven foundations. The model was validated in data from multiple countries, highlighting the importance of modeling measurement structure and identifying additional foundations and structure above the foundational level.
Article
Humanities, Multidisciplinary
Matthew J. Baker
Summary: The Age-Area Hypothesis suggests that the geographical origin of a culture is likely where the most divergent language is spoken. A model based on economic theory is used to calculate cultural divergence and the likelihood of different locations as origin points. The theory indicates that simpler migratory paths are more likely to be origin points.
HUMANITIES & SOCIAL SCIENCES COMMUNICATIONS
(2021)
Article
Psychology, Multidisciplinary
Guy Lavender A. Forsyth, Ananish Chaudhuri, Quentin Douglas Atkinson
Summary: Psychological research has identified two dimensions of political values, reflecting the dual evolutionary foundations of human social and political life. These dimensions are a trade-off between cooperation and competition that generates differences in values about social inequality, and a trade-off in managing group coordination that generates differences in values about social control. The existing scales used to measure political values were created prior to this framework. The introduction of the Dual Foundations Scale validates and accurately measures both dimensions, supporting the predictions of the dual foundations framework and paving the way for future research on the foundations of political ideology.
FRONTIERS IN PSYCHOLOGY
(2023)
Editorial Material
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Julia M. Kreiner, Tom R. Booker
Summary: Quantifying the impact of human activity on the capacity of populations to persist is crucial for conservation biology. Studying the population collapse of sea otters due to fur trade can provide insights into the consequences of population collapse on species persistence.
Review
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Gil G. Rosenthal, Michael J. Ryan
Summary: Darwin's theory of sexual selection revolutionized our understanding of sex and evolution, highlighting the role of mating and fertilization in driving species diversification. Both male and female mate choice play a crucial role in sexual selection, contrary to the contemporaries' dismissal of Darwin's idea. Mate choice mechanisms can evolve in response to selection pressures unrelated to sexual selection, and the coevolution of traits and preferences can occur regardless of the fitness effects on the choosers. The interplay between traits, preferences, social effects, and broader-scale processes like reproductive isolation and population responses to environmental change determine the influence of sexual selection and mate choice.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Pier Francesco Roggero, Arianna Calistri, Giorgio Palu
Summary: This article proposes a hypothesis about the evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic, suggesting an inverse relationship between infectivity and lethality of SARS-CoV-2. The hypothesis is supported by a mutation process that gives the virus a survival advantage. The authors verify the hypothesis by observing changes in the parameters of different variants of the virus, and further validation is found in other viral species. They believe that this equation, considering virus biology in Darwinian terms, could be highly useful in addressing infectious viral threats and understanding viral pathogenesis.
COMPUTATIONAL AND STRUCTURAL BIOTECHNOLOGY JOURNAL
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Mohamed A. Abdelhafez, Bruce Ellingwood, Hussam Mahmoud
Summary: Coastal civil infrastructure is vulnerable to the effects of climate change, and the damage to building foundations caused by saltwater intrusion and sea level rise may result in significant costs, but the understanding of this issue is currently limited.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2022)
Article
Physics, Multidisciplinary
Florian Otterpohl, Peter Nalbach, Michael Thorwart
Summary: In this study, we investigate the dynamics of a quantum two-level system immersed in a sub-Ohmic bath. By numerical simulations, we find that the system exhibits aperiodic behavior in the strong coupling regime.
PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS
(2022)
Review
Ecology
Julianna L. Santos, Holly Sitters, David A. Keith, William L. Geary, Reid Tingley, Luke T. Kelly
Summary: This study reviews the impacts of inappropriate fire regimes on Australian squamate populations. High fire intensity and severity, high fire frequency, and large fires are the main causes of population declines, particularly through their impacts on survival. Low fire frequency also contributes to declines of certain species through reduced survival or reproductive success. Weed invasion and predation interact with fire to amplify reptile declines.
GLOBAL ECOLOGY AND BIOGEOGRAPHY
(2022)
Review
Plant Sciences
Keely E. Brown, Daniel Koenig
Summary: Adaptation to a wide range of environments is crucial for plant diversity. Understanding the genetic basis of adaptive phenotypes in plants is a major goal for evolutionary biologists and crop breeders. Current methods have limitations, and direct observation of the adaptation process is essential.
CURRENT OPINION IN PLANT BIOLOGY
(2022)
Review
Biology
Liisa Loog
Summary: Demographic processes have a direct impact on genetic variation within contemporary populations and future generations, allowing for inference about demographic trends from patterns of present-day and past genetic variation. However, genetic processes are stochastic and genetic variation only indirectly reflects demographic histories, thus requiring inferential methods to reconstruct past demographic processes based on model expectations from theoretical population genetics.
PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2021)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Julian Padro, Felix Hernan Vargas, Sergio A. Lambertuccia, Paula L. Perriga, Jonathan N. Pauli, Andres Ortega, Sebastian Kohn, Jorge Navarrete, Shady Heredia, Fabricio Narvaez, Diego Andrade-Brito, Jaime A. Chaves
Summary: Determining the conservation status of long-lived and highly mobile species, such as vultures, is challenging due to their long generational time and interaction with the landscape at a large scale. This study focused on Andean condors in the equatorial Andes and found that their effective population size has been severely affected, potentially leading to extinction. However, there is still genetic variation in the captive population that could be used to strengthen the wild populations. Landscape resistance models showed a suitable habitat for condors, but anthropogenic processes have caused spatial disruptions. This study highlights the importance of integrating multiple data sources to assess extinction risks in species with high dispersal capabilities and long generational times.
BIOLOGICAL CONSERVATION
(2023)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Michael J. Roast, Samir Martins, Lourdes Fernandez-Peralta, Jose Carlos Baez, Ahmed Diame, David March, Jazel Ouled-Cheikh, Adolfo Marco, Jacob Gonzalez-Solis, Luis Cardona
Summary: Fisheries bycatch poses a serious threat to sea turtle populations worldwide, especially due to their vulnerability to various fishing gear. In the intensely fished region of the Canary Current, the Cabo Verde loggerhead turtle population lacks a comprehensive assessment integrating bycatch and population management information. By analyzing subpopulation data from Boa Vista Island in Cabo Verde, the study evaluated population viability, estimated regional bycatch rates, and examined nesting trends in relation to bycatch estimates, hatchery conservation measures, and environmental variability. The results indicated that current bycatch mortality rates would lead to the near extinction of the Boa Vista subpopulation, highlighting the urgent need for bycatch reduction efforts and diversified conservation management strategies.
CONSERVATION BIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Agronomy
Rui Zhang, Yanfeng Wang, Jie Lyu, Zhanxiang Sun
Summary: Climate change has a significant impact on farmers and agriculture, resulting in crop failures and reduced yields. China is the leading country in terms of research publications, and key areas of study include farmers' vulnerability, use of meteorological information, risk sources, and agricultural adaptation.
