Biodiversity Informatics
Not a member yet
16515 research outputs found
Sort by
Poner el cuerpo as a practice of Embodying, Naming and Worldmaking in two plays from Argentina and Uruguay
No full textEvaluation of Muscle Disorders After Patients Have Been Placed In A Phenotypic Pattern
Full text linkRapid ecomorphological divergence between island and mainland populations of the Peruvian Lava Lizard (Microlophus peruvianus) in Northern Peru
Full text linkIsland-mainland systems provide ideal scenarios in which to study the influence that contrasting ecologicalpressures have on closely related taxa. In exceptional cases, recent colonization events or anthropogenic introduction ofcontinental individuals to islands can facilitate the study of rapid phenotypic divergence experienced by newly formed insular populations. The Peruvian Lava Lizard (Microlophus peruvianus) is an abundant and conspicuous species found along the Peruvian coastal desert. This species was introduced to several offshore Peruvian islands in the 1940s as a potential biological control of guano-bird ectoparasites. Less than a century later, some populations of M. peruvianus still thrive in some of these islands. Relative to continental environments, the islands have barren, sparsely vegetated andscapes, and terrestrial vertebrates are generally scarce. Thus, potential differences in the availability of microhabitats and prey and the presence of predators might have imposed distinct selective pressures on island and mainland popu- ations, consequently resulting in the evolution of diverging phenotypes. In this study we compared the morphology of an insular and a continental population of M. peruvianus and found significant differences possibly driven by the contrasting ecological pressures they experience. For example, the larger heads of mainland lizards might allow them to take advantage of the higher diversity of prey found in the continent, which apparently includes items of relatively greater hardness that require stronger bite forces to subdue and consume. Similarly, the relatively longer hindlimb traits found in mainland individuals might allow them to navigate their habitat with higher speed, a beneficial trait in open terrains. In contrast, high speeds might not be as necessary for island individuals due to high population density and lack of predators that often characterize insular habitats. Despite strong morphological divergence, further studies on the ecological and population dynamics at both localities are necessary to clarify these potential ecomorphological relationships. Besides highlighting the importance of insular environments in driving phenotypic diversity, this study represents the first morphological comparison between populations found in the Peruvian desert and its offshore islands, a virtually unexplored island-mainland system
Annual reproduction and reproductive frequency of Burmese Pythons (Python bivittatus) in southwestern Florida, USA
Full text link
Special issue series: Advancing wild bee research and conservation through standardized methods
Full text linkThis introductory piece offers an overview of the seven accompanying papers featured in this special issue, a product of the U.S. Native Bee Monitoring Research and Coordination Network
Deconstructing the “Special Relationship”:: The Cultural Erosion of American Popular Support for Israel
No full textThis article attempts to explain the growing criticism of Israel among young Americans, most recently on display in the widespread demonstrations across American university campuses in response to the Israel-Hamas war, through the unlikely engagement with American studies. Employing scholarship from multiple fields, it sheds light on the eroding cultural foundations of the so-called “special relationship” between the U.S. and Israel by highlighting the evolving ways through which the once celebrated image of Israel has been deconstructed in American eyes and transformed into something far less sympathetic and more controversial. Rather than approach any specific facet or field the article casts a wider interdisciplinary net that connects the broad and diverse body of existing scholarship surveying the cultural representations of Israel across American film, television, literature, and popular culture in recent decades. By integrating various academic discourses, usually detached from one another, into a single cohesive narrative, the article reconceptualizes them as part of an overarching cultural process of deconstructing Israel’s romanticized image in the American public eye that has unfolded since the 1980s. In doing so, the article explains, at least to some extent, why many young Americans, especially those who came of age in recent decades, have become much more critical of Israel, at times hostile to it, than previous generations. The conclusion evaluates the potential impact the cultural deconstruction could have on the future of U.S.-Israel relations and considers ways in which it might inform foreign policymaking and possibly diminish American popular support for Israel
Treatise Online no. 192: Part T, Revised, Volume 1, Paleoecology and functional morphology of unusual crinoids: stretching the limits of the crinoid Bauplan
No full textAssessing the use of Canadian Literature in teaching at Simon Fraser University
Full text linkFor over a decade, members of Canada’s creative industries have claimed that Canadian post-secondary institutions are copying and using content without adequately compensating creators; these campaigns have primarily focused on fiction authors. This study aims to address these claims by determining how much Canadian creative literature is actually being used in a representative Canadian university. We analyzed reading materials provided to students as library reserves, textbooks, and course packs for the periods 2010-2012 and 2018-2022 and found that across both periods approximately 1.3% of courses assigned Canadian creative works as readings. An analysis of only the Fall semesters across these periods found that approximately 0.7% of all works – that is, copied excerpts and uncopied (purchased) works – assigned via library reserves, textbooks, and course packs were Canadian creative works. The number of assigned readings that included copied Canadian creative works (generally consisting only of course packs, not textbooks and likely not library reserves) would comprise much less than 0.7%. Therefore, this research suggests that the use and specifically copying of Canadian creative content in Canadian universities is not substantial enough to result in significant potential remuneration for the copying of an author’s work
The Practitioners’ Guide to Using the Copyright Act of Canada to Make Accessible Content for People with Print Disabilities
Full text linkThis article documents the process and guidelines developed to respond to a library practitioner’s question as to what constitutes a reasonable search, in the context of section 32 of the Canadian Copyright Act. In answering the question, the authors decided that a Canadian guide would be helpful to all practitioners facing the same question, and they undertook a project to create “Accessible Content: A Guide to the Canadian Copyright Act on Searching for Accessible Formats and Producing and Distributing Alternate Formats” (----, 2025). The authors formed a multi-stakeholder coalition, and developed a set of guidelines aimed at aiding practitioners to understand and apply the exceptions in the Copyright Act that enable the reproduction of works for persons with perceptual disabilities