| 1. |
- Schroeder, J., et al.
(författare)
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Fewer invited talks by women in evolutionary biology symposia
- 2013
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Ingår i: Journal of evolutionary biology. - : Wiley. - 1420-9101 .- 1010-061X. ; 26:9, s. 2063-2069
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Lower visibility of female scientists, compared to male scientists, is a potential reason for the under-representation of women among senior academic ranks. Visibility in the scientific community stems partly from presenting research as an invited speaker at organized meetings. We analysed the sex ratio of presenters at the European Society for Evolutionary Biology (ESEB) Congress 2011, where all abstract submissions were accepted for presentation. Women were under-represented among invited speakers at symposia (15% women) compared to all presenters (46%), regular oral presenters (41%) and plenary speakers (25%). At the ESEB congresses in 2001-2011, 9-23% of invited speakers were women. This under-representation of women is partly attributable to a larger proportion of women, than men, declining invitations: in 2011, 50% of women declined an invitation to speak compared to 26% of men. We expect invited speakers to be scientists from top ranked institutions or authors of recent papers in high-impact journals. Considering all invited speakers (including declined invitations), 23% were women. This was lower than the baseline sex ratios of early-mid career stage scientists, but was similar to senior scientists and authors that have published in high-impact journals. High-quality science by women therefore has low exposure at international meetings, which will constrain Evolutionary Biology from reaching its full potential. We wish to highlight the wider implications of turning down invitations to speak, and encourage conference organizers to implement steps to increase acceptance rates of invited talks.
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| 2. |
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| 3. |
- D'Urban Jackson, J., et al.
(författare)
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Polygamy slows down diversification in shorebirds
- 2017
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Ingår i: ASAB Winter Meeting 2017 (Abstract), December 7-8, Londont, UK..
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Here we introduce a novel hypothesis concerning the role of sexual selection in speciation. As an alternative to sexual selection leading to reproductive isolation, the “dispersal to mate” hypothesis predicts that sexual selection pressure may act to slow speciation since polygamous individuals can access additional mates by increased breeding dispersal. High breeding dispersal should hence increase gene flow and reduce diversification in polygamous species (i.e. species under elevated sexual selection pressure). Here we test this hypothesis to assess how polygamy affects population divergence in shorebirds using genetic differentiation and subspecies richness as proxies for diversification. Across 79 populations of ten plover species (genus: Charadrius), in addition to subspecies data from 136 shorebird species, our results suggest that dispersal associated with polygamy may facilitate gene flow and limit population divergence. Therefore, intense sexual selection, as occurring in polygamous species, may act rather as a brake than an engine of speciation in shorebirds. We encourage future research to further investigate this hypothesis using theoretical, direct tracking and genetic approaches which will inevitably improve our understanding of the relationships between sexual selection, dispersal and diversification.
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| 4. |
- D'Urban Jackson, J., et al.
(författare)
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Polygamy slows down population divergence in shorebirds
- 2017
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Ingår i: Evolution. - : Wiley. - 0014-3820. ; 71:5, s. 1313-1326
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Sexual selection may act as a promotor of speciation since divergent mate choice and competition for mates can rapidly lead to reproductive isolation. Alternatively, sexual selection may also retard speciation since polygamous individuals can access additional mates by increased breeding dispersal. High breeding dispersal should hence increase gene flow and reduce diversification in polygamous species. Here, we test how polygamy predicts diversification in shorebirds using genetic differentiation and subspecies richness as proxies for population divergence. Examining microsatellite data from 79 populations in 10 plover species (Genus: Charadrius) we found that polygamous species display significantly less genetic structure and weaker isolation-by-distance effects than monogamous species. Consistent with this result, a comparative analysis including 136 shorebird species showed significantly fewer subspecies for polygamous than for monogamous species. By contrast, migratory behavior neither predicted genetic differentiation nor subspecies richness. Taken together, our results suggest that dispersal associated with polygamy may facilitate gene flow and limit population divergence. Therefore, intense sexual selection, as occurs in polygamous species, may act as a brake rather than an engine of speciation in shorebirds. We discuss alternative explanations for these results and call for further studies to understand the relationships between sexual selection, dispersal, and diversification.
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| 5. |
- Thies, L., et al.
(författare)
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Population and subspecies differentiation in a high latitude breeding wader, the Common Ringed Plover Charadrius hiaticula
- 2018
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Ingår i: Ardea. - : Netherlands Ornithologists' Union. - 0373-2266. ; 106:2
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Exploring the patterns of genetic structure in the context of geographical and phenotypic variation is important to understand the evolutionary processes involved in speciation. We investigated population and subspecies differentiation in the Common Ringed Plover Charadrius hiaticula, a high latitude wader that breeds in arctic and temperate zones from northeast Canada across Eurasia to the Russian Far East. Three subspecies, hiaticula, tundrae and psammodromus, are currently widely recognised, whereas a fourth subspecies, kolymensis, has been proposed based on geographic isolation and phenotypic differences. We genotyped 173 samples from eleven Common Ringed Plover breeding sites, representing all four putative subspecies, at eight polymorphic microsatellite loci to examine the patterns of population and subspecies differentiation. Bayesian clustering identified three genetic clusters among samples, corresponding to the breeding sites of the three currently recognised subspecies. The existence of the subspecies kolymensis was not supported. We also detected the presence of a previously unknown hybridisation zone extending from Northern Scandinavia to Belarus. Differentiation of the subspecies tundrae and hiaticula most likely occurred in allopatry on the Eurasian continent during past glaciation events, followed by population expansion leading to colonisation of Iceland and Greenland. The lack of genetic differentiation within the tundrae subspecies is consistent with ongoing range expansion and high gene flow maintained through migratory behaviour. We discuss the importance of historic climate changes, migratory behaviour and mating system on shaping the observed pattern of genetic differentiation.
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| 6. |
- Vikhorev, PG, et al.
(författare)
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Abnormal contractility in human heart myofibrils from patients with dilated cardiomyopathy due to mutations in TTN and contractile protein genes
- 2017
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Ingår i: Scientific reports. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2045-2322. ; 7:1, s. 14829-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is an important cause of heart failure. Single gene mutations in at least 50 genes have been proposed to account for 25–50% of DCM cases and up to 25% of inherited DCM has been attributed to truncating mutations in the sarcomeric structural protein titin (TTNtv). Whilst the primary molecular mechanism of some DCM-associated mutations in the contractile apparatus has been studied in vitro and in transgenic mice, the contractile defect in human heart muscle has not been studied. In this study we isolated cardiac myofibrils from 3 TTNtv mutants, and 3 with contractile protein mutations (TNNI3 K36Q, TNNC1 G159D and MYH7 E1426K) and measured their contractility and passive stiffness in comparison with donor heart muscle as a control. We found that the three contractile protein mutations but not the TTNtv mutations had faster relaxation kinetics. Passive stiffness was reduced about 38% in all the DCM mutant samples. However, there was no change in maximum force or the titin N2BA/N2B isoform ratio and there was no titin haploinsufficiency. The decrease in myofibril passive stiffness was a common feature in all hearts with DCM-associated mutations and may be causative of DCM.
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