What is an Invasive Alien Species? Discord, Dissent and Denialism
Kezia Barker, Robert A. Francis in Routledge Handbook of Biosecurity and Invasive Species, 2021
The term ‘invasive alien species’ does not reflect an everyday, obvious and well-known category of species with widespread vernacular recognition across the world. It does not describe biological characteristics but rather stems from how certain species dispersed (i.e. their dispersal history). It needs explaining because it relies on the belief in an order of nature – an ontology or worldview – in which individual species are uniquely associated with specific places. Although this makes sense in relation to human lifespans and history, environmental change is more the norm than the exception over longer geological time frames. Ice flows have covered continents repeatedly, requiring species to move to survive, with related changes in rainfall, sea levels and continental shapes. Species composition and genetic make-up have been subsequently modified in the resulting landscapes, and nowhere is fully isolated or stable. The earth has always been a dynamic and unpredictable place, with extreme geological and climatic changes selecting species that can adapt to survive.
The Origins of Aging
Shamim I. Ahmad in Aging: Exploring a Complex Phenomenon, 2017
The major processes responsible for anthropogenic changes are accelerating technological development, rapid growth of the human population (was estimated to be about 2 million 12,000–14,000 years ago), and increasing consumption of resources (Waters et al. 2016). Until recently, the doctrine of uniformitarianism has been a guiding principle to predict the extent of future geological changes. This principle holds that the processes operating today to cause geophysical changes are just a linear extension of the same forces that have been acting throughout geological time. However, the evidence is that human cultural practices have moved geophysical forces away from linearity (Knight and Harrison 2014). Human-induced climate and land surface changes have entered a stage of nonlinear dynamics; the rate and extent of past geophysical changes cannot be extrapolated to predict the rate and extent of future changes.
Entering a new landscape
Tess Maginess in Dementia and Literature, 2017
In Stefan Merril Block’s (2014) view this debut novel is the truest and most harrowing account of a descent into dementia. As I see it, the book is about three kinds of journeys: a class journey, a journey from health into sickness, and a journey through life – an existential journey. It is also about three levels of time: historical time, individual time and geological time – the steadiness of the stars and the universe, contrasted to the brevity and fragility of human life, its irreducible alterability. The book sees a serious illness, Alzheimer’s, in a life course perspective. A lot of things happen before the tragedy strikes, and afterwards. This gives the story a philosophical dimension, not only a psychological one. The pursuit of happiness, the American Dream, is shown in contrast to that moment when a disaster strikes, when the world falls apart. Thomas tells the story of three generations of an Irish-American family and describes their journey through the decades of an American landscape that is itself in flux. Here is a story about growing up, education, career, success, prosperity, fame and admiration. There are three principal characters. The first part of the book contains the story of the wife, Eileen, and her parents. She loves and marries Ed, who is central in the plot. He is a victim to an ironic and cruel fate. He is a neuroscientist, a brain expert, and his own brain breaks down when he is in his early fifties. The son, Connell, has to care for his father as if he is the parent.
An overview of sex and reproductive immunity from an evolutionary/anthropological perspective
Published in Immunological Medicine, 2021
Yoshihiko Araki, Hiroshi Yoshitake, Kenji Yamatoya, Hiroshi Fujiwara
Nevertheless, life on Earth must coexist with viruses, such as SERS-CoV-2, the cause of the recent pandemic [42]. Viruses may be at odds with life and are clearly not mutually beneficial. This can be said to be an everyday phenomenon in terms of the geological time scale. Before the emergence of sex, eukaryotic cells developed via symbiotic relationships with prokaryotes that became intracellular organelles, according to the endosymbiotic theory [43–45]. Specifically, mitochondria and chloroplasts were derived from aerobic bacteria and cyanobacteria, respectively. Eukaryotes, such as plants and animals, then evolved to undergo sexual reproduction. Furthermore, mammals developed a reproductive strategy that exploits the immune system by acquiring an unusual organ called the placenta, which is possibly the result of a virus being lodged in a mammalian ancestor. What is the destination of human prosperity and evolution through sexual reproduction? If we consider these issues from the perspective of both human cultural and biological histories, we may be able to see a slightly different side to the common sense of the past.
Multi-parametric groundwater quality and human health risk assessment vis-à-vis hydrogeochemical process in an Agri-intensive region of Indus basin, Punjab, India
Published in Toxin Reviews, 2022
Vijay Jaswal, Ravishankar Kumar, Prafulla Kumar Sahoo, Sunil Mittal, Ajay Kumar, Sunil Kumar Sahoo, Yogalakshmi Kadapakkam Nandabalan
The study area comprises of a flat alluvial plain that belongs to the Indo-Gangetic alluvium formed during the quaternary period of geological time scale. The whole district is divided into three terrains Satluj floodplain, sand-dune-infested tract and upland plain (MSME 2020 ). Sandy clay with saltpeter encrustations and clay with sporadic sandy nodules are recognized as the major geological formations. Saltpetre contains a significant amount of potassium and sodium nitrate, unlike chloride, sulfate, and carbonate present in minor fractions. The northern part of the study area possesses sierozem soil, while the southern part consists of sandy soils. Fazilka district is drained by two major rivers, Sutlej in the west and Beas in the north. Phidda drain, Taroori drain, Chand Bhan drain and Sem Nala are the other natural drainages that carry rainwater. Groundwater occurs in both unconfined and confined conditions. The detailed geological map of the study area is provided in Supplementary data (Supplementary Figure S1).
Proteomes of the past: the pursuit of proteins in paleontology
Published in Expert Review of Proteomics, 2019
Even strictly archeological samples exhibit disparity between thermal age and standard age assignments. The molecular integrity of bone collagen in a sample is compared to a collagen decay curve to determine its thermal age. In one study, Buckley and Collins determined thermal (collagen-based) ages for 65 archeologically dated bones [7]. Every one showed a higher standard age than thermal age. The standard ages in their samples (range 2,500a to 1,500,000a) exceeded collagen content-based ages (range 1,584a to 144,862a) by two to tenfold. Original bone collagen in samples bearing even older standard ages highlights the mystery that underlies this disparity. By ‘original’ is meant that the biochemical or even whole tissue under investigation came from the fossilized animal and not some contaminant like recent microbial growth. Hence, ‘The idea that endogenous molecules can be preserved over geological time periods is still controversial’ [14]. Recent reports have sparked new interest in modes of collagen preservation and in technologies with very high collagen detection sensitivity. This question remains an active area of research and additional data should add new insights to questions related to this controversy, such as the expected longevity of particular proteins in particular settings.
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