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1. Acoustic information about upper limb movement in voicing

   https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2004163117  

   Pouw, Wim; Paxton, Alexandra; Harrison, Steven J.; Dixon, James A. (May 2020, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences)

   null (Ed.)

   We show that the human voice has complex acoustic qualities that are directly coupled to peripheral musculoskeletal tensioning of the body, such as subtle wrist movements. In this study, human vocalizers produced a steady-state vocalization while rhythmically moving the wrist or the arm at different tempos. Although listeners could only hear and not see the vocalizer, they were able to completely synchronize their own rhythmic wrist or arm movement with the movement of the vocalizer which they perceived in the voice acoustics. This study corroborates recent evidence suggesting that the human voice is constrained by bodily tensioning affecting the respiratory–vocal system. The current results show that the human voice contains a bodily imprint that is directly informative for the interpersonal perception of another’s dynamic physical states. 

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2. Riverbank vertical temperature profiler data and calculated groundwater discharge flux estimates from the Farmington River corridor, CT, USA

   https://doi.org/10.5066/P9B3CYWW  

   Haynes, Adam B; Briggs, Martin; Moore, Eric; Rey, David M; Jackson, Kevin; Helton, Ashley (January 2023, U.S. Geological Survey)

   As the climate warms and dry periods become more extreme, shallow groundwater discharge is generally becoming a less reliable source of streamflow while deep groundwater discharge remains a more resilient source. The implications of shifts in the relative balance of shallow and deep groundwater discharge sources are profound in gaining streams. These different sources exert critical controls on stream temperature and water quality as influenced by legacy groundwater contaminant transport. Groundwater discharge flux rates over time were used for the inference of source groundwater characteristics to prominent riverbank groundwater discharge faces along the mainstem Farmington River, CT USA. To estimate groundwater discharge rates, we deployed sediment temperature loggers (iButton #DS1922L, Maxim Integrated, Inc., San Jose, CA, USA) in vertical profilers installed directly into mapped preferential groundwater discharge points across extensive riverbank discharge face features.Temperature data contained in this release were collected from June 24 to November 5, 2020, at 40 distinct discharge point riverbank locations, similar to those described by Barclay et al. (2022) and Briggs et al. (2022). Saturated sediment thermal conductivity and heat capacity were measured in-situ with a TEMPOS Thermal Property Analyzer (TEMPOS, Meter Group, Inc., Pullman, WA, USA) at multiple points across each riverbank discharge face to aid in estimating groundwater discharge flux rates. Barclay, J. R., Briggs, M. A., Moore, E. M., Starn, J. J., Hanson, A. E. H., & Helton, A. M. (2022). Where groundwater seeps: Evaluating modeled groundwater discharge patterns with thermal infrared surveys at the river-network scale. Advances in Water Resources, 160. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.advwatres.2021.104108 Briggs, M. A., Jackson, K. E., Liu, F., Moore, E. M., Bisson, A., & Helton, A. M. (2022). Exploring Local Riverbank Sediment Controls on the Occurrence of Preferential Groundwater Discharge Points. Water, 14(1). https://doi.org/10.3390/w14010011 

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3. Eruption Rates, Tempo, and Stratigraphy of Paleocene Flood Basalts on Baffin Island, Canada

   https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GC010172  

   Biasi, Joseph; Asimow, Paul; Horton, Forrest; Boyes, Xenia (September 2022, Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems)

   Abstract High‐temperature melting in mantle plumes produces voluminous eruptions that are often temporally coincident with mass extinctions. Paleocene Baffin Island lavas—products of early Iceland mantle plume activity—are exceptionally well characterized geochemically but have poorly constrained stratigraphy, geochronology, and eruptive tempos. To provide better geologic context, we measured seven stratigraphic sections of the volcanic deposits and collected paleomagnetic data from 38 sites in the lavas and underlying Cretaceous sediments (Quqaluit Fm.). The average paleomagnetic pole from this study does not overlap with the expected pole for a stable North American locality at 60 Ma, yet the data have sufficient dispersion to average out secular variation. After ruling out other possibilities, we find that the picrites were probably erupted during a polarity transition, over less than 5 kyr. If so, the average eruption interval was ∼67 years per flow for the thickest sequence of exposed lavas. We also calculate that the flood basalts had a minimum total volume of ∼176 km³(excluding submerged lavas in Baffin Bay). This implies a minimum eruption rate of ∼0.035 km³ yr⁻¹, which is similar to rates found in West Greenland lavas but less than rates found in larger flood basalts. Despite this, the Baffin and West Greenland lavas temporally correlate with the “End C27n event” (a period of ∼2°C global warming) and may be its underlying cause. 

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4. Topological data analysis reveals core heteroblastic and ontogenetic programs embedded in leaves of grapevine (Vitaceae) and maracuyá (Passifloraceae)

   https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1011845  

   Percival, Sarah; Onyenedum, Joyce G; Chitwood, Daniel H; Husbands, Aman Y (February 2024, PLOS Computational Biology)

   Bollenbach, Tobias (Ed.)

   Leaves are often described in language that evokes a single shape. However, embedded in that descriptor is a multitude of latent shapes arising from evolutionary, developmental, environmental, and other effects. These confounded effects manifest at distinct developmental time points and evolve at different tempos. Here, revisiting datasets comprised of thousands of leaves of vining grapevine (Vitaceae) and maracuyá (Passifloraceae) species, we apply a technique from the mathematical field of topological data analysis to comparatively visualize the structure of heteroblastic and ontogenetic effects on leaf shape in each group. Consistent with a morphologically closer relationship, members of the grapevine dataset possess strong core heteroblasty and ontogenetic programs with little deviation between species. Remarkably, we found that most members of the maracuyá family also share core heteroblasty and ontogenetic programs despite dramatic species-to-species leaf shape differences. This conservation was not initially detected using traditional analyses such as principal component analysis or linear discriminant analysis. We also identify two morphotypes of maracuyá that deviate from the core structure, suggesting the evolution of new developmental properties in this phylogenetically distinct sub-group. Our findings illustrate how topological data analysis can be used to disentangle previously confounded developmental and evolutionary effects to visualize latent shapes and hidden relationships, even ones embedded in complex, high-dimensional datasets. 

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5. Inbreeding avoidance and cost in a small, isolated trout population

   https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2024.1164  

   Bell, Donovan A; Kovach, Ryan P; Whiteley, Andrew R (November 2024, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences)

   The persistence of small populations is influenced by the degree and cost of inbreeding, with the degree of inbreeding depending on whether close-kin mating is passively or actively avoided. Few studies have simultaneously studied these factors. We examined inbreeding in a small, isolated population of westslope cutthroat trout using extensive genetic and demographic data. Passive inbreeding avoidance was low, with predicted lifetime dispersal of approximately 36 and 74 m for females and males, respectively. Additionally, we found limited evidence for active inbreeding avoidance during reproduction. Relatives remained spatially clustered into adulthood, and observed relatedness among mate pairs was greater than expected under random mating by 0.09, suggesting that inbreeding is a concern in this population. Further, we examined sex-specific inbreeding depression throughout the life cycle and provide evidence for inbreeding depression in some fitness components, including family size, juvenile survival and reproductive success. Our results suggest that, in an at-risk trout population, limited passive and active inbreeding avoidance lead to a higher degree of inbreeding than expected under random mating. Observed inbreeding, along with evidence for fitness reduction due to inbreeding depression, could put the population at a heightened risk of decline or extirpation. 

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