The Science of Nature最新文献

{"title":"Development, detection and decipherment of obfuscated fingerprints in humans: Implications for forensic casework","authors":"Tej Kaur,&nbsp;Nandini Chitara,&nbsp;Ankita Guleria,&nbsp;Rakesh Meena,&nbsp;Damini Siwan,&nbsp;Deepika Rani,&nbsp;Kawaljit Kaur,&nbsp;Vishal Sharma,&nbsp;Tanuj Kanchan,&nbsp;Kewal Krishan","doi":"10.1007/s00114-023-01886-1","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00114-023-01886-1","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Fingerprints have been widely used and accepted as an effective method of human identification. This biometric tool aids in criminal investigations for personal identity for over a century. Whilst the Automatic Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) has bolstered security efforts, it has also opened doors to potential scams, affecting both civilian and law enforcement operations. Despite extensive research on fingerprint authentication issues, very little attention has been given to addressing the problem of fingerprint alteration or obfuscation. Fraudsters, with the guidance of experts, have developed new techniques to obscure their fingerprints intentionally. Fingerprint obfuscation is the deliberate alteration of fingerprint patterns with the aim of concealing their true identity, raising concerns amongst security and investigative organizations. The objective of the current communication is to highlight the numerous techniques used for obfuscation, forgery and alteration of fingerprints in humans. It further accentuates the need for identification and interpretation of these altered fingerprints and recommends notifying law enforcement agencies of potential threats.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":794,"journal":{"name":"The Science of Nature","volume":"110 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.954,"publicationDate":"2023-12-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138476534","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Species-specific traits affect bird species’ susceptibility to global change","authors":"Javier Rivas-Salvador,&nbsp;Jiři Reif","doi":"10.1007/s00114-023-01883-4","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00114-023-01883-4","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The current ecological crisis has risen extinction rates to similar levels of ancient mass extinctions. However, it seems to not be acting uniformly across all species but affecting species differentially. This suggests that species’ susceptibility to the extinction process is mediated by specific traits. Since understanding this response mechanism at large scales will benefit conservation effort around the world, we used the IUCN global threat status and population trends of 8281 extant bird species as proxies of the extinction risk to identify the species-specific traits affecting their susceptibility to extinction within the biogeographic regions and at the global scale. Using linear mixed effect models and multinomial models, we related the global threat status and the population trends with the following traits: migratory strategy, habitat and diet specialization, body size, and generation length. According to our results and independently of the proxy used, more vulnerable species are sedentary and have larger body size, longer generation time, and higher degree of habitat specialization. These relationships apply globally and show little variation across biogeographic regions. We suggest that such concordant patterns might be caused either by a widespread occurrence of the same threats such as habitat modification or by a uniform capacity of some traits to reflect the impact of different local threats. Regardless of the cause of this pattern, our study identified the traits that affect species’ response capability to the current ecological crisis. Conservation effort should focus on the species with trait values indicating the limited response capacity to overcome this crisis.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":794,"journal":{"name":"The Science of Nature","volume":"110 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.954,"publicationDate":"2023-11-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"92152197","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Reflections upon a new definition of life","authors":"Jaime Gómez-Márquez","doi":"10.1007/s00114-023-01882-5","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00114-023-01882-5","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>What is life? Multiple definitions have been proposed to answer this question, but unfortunately, none of them has reached the consensus of the scientific community. Here, the strategy used to define what life is was based on first establishing which characteristics are common to all living systems (organic nature, entropy-producing system, self-organizing, reworkable pre-program, capacity to interact and adapt, reproduction and evolution) and from them constructing the definition taking into account that reproduction and evolution are not essential for life. On this basis, life is defined as an interactive process occurring in entropy-producing, adaptive, and informative (organic) systems. An unforeseen consequence of the inseparable duality between the system (living being) and the process (life) is the interchangeability of the elements of the definition to obtain other equally valid alternatives. In addition, in the light of this definition, cases of temporarily lifeless living systems (viruses, dormant seeds, and ultracold cells) are analyzed, as well as the status of artificial life entities and the hypothetical nature of extraterrestrial life. All living systems are perishable because the passage of time leads to increasing entropy. Life must create order by continuously producing disorder and exporting it to the environment and so we move and stay in the phase transition between order and chaos, far from equilibrium, thanks to the input of energy from the outside. However, the passage of time eventually leads us to an end in which life disappears and entropy increases.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":794,"journal":{"name":"The Science of Nature","volume":"110 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.954,"publicationDate":"2023-11-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"71419503","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Modelling the effects of climate and land-cover changes on the potential distribution and landscape connectivity of three earth snakes (Genus Conopsis, Günther 1858) in central Mexico","authors":"Armando Sunny,&nbsp;Javier Manjarrez,&nbsp;Carmen Caballero-Viñas,&nbsp;René Bolom-Huet,&nbsp;Yuriana Gómez-Ortiz,&nbsp;Hublester Domínguez-Vega,&nbsp;Rosa Laura Heredia-Bobadilla,&nbsp;Erik Joaquín Torres-Romero,&nbsp;Andrea González-Fernández","doi":"10.1007/s00114-023-01880-7","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00114-023-01880-7","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Anthropogenic land use and climate change are the greatest threats to biodiversity, especially for many globally endangered reptile species. Earth snakes (<i>Conopsis</i> spp.) are a poorly studied group endemic to Mexico. They have limited dispersal abilities and specialized niches, making them particularly vulnerable to anthropogenic threats. Species distribution models (SDMs) were used to assess how future climate and land-cover change scenarios might influence the distribution and habitat connectivity of three earth snakes: <i>Conopsis biserialis</i> (Taylor and Smith), <i>C. lineata</i> (Kennicott), and <i>C. nasus</i> (Günther). Two climate models, CNRM-CM5 (CN) and MPI-ESM-LR (MP) (Representative Concentration Pathway 85), were explored with ENMeval Maxent modelling. Important SDM environmental variables and environmental niche overlap between species were also examined. We found that <i>C. biserialis</i> and <i>C. lineata</i> were restricted by maximum temperatures whereas <i>C. nasus</i> was restricted by minimum ones and was more tolerant to arid vegetation. <i>C. biserialis</i> and <i>C. lineata</i> were primarily distributed in the valleys and mountains of the highlands of the TMBV, while <i>C. nasus</i> was mainly distributed in the Altiplano Sur (Zacatecano-Potosino). <i>C. lineata </i>had the smallest potential distribution and suffered the greatest contraction in the future whereas <i>C. nasus</i> was the least affected species in future scenarios. The Sierra de las Cruces and the Sierra Chichinautzin were identified as very important areas for connectivity. Our results suggest that <i>C. lineata</i> may be the most vulnerable of the three species to anthropogenic and climate changes whereas <i>C. nasus</i> seems to be less affected by global warming than the other species.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":794,"journal":{"name":"The Science of Nature","volume":"110 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.954,"publicationDate":"2023-10-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"54227269","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Phoretic behavior of the pseudoscorpion Megachernes ryugadensis on the Japanese wood mouse Apodemus speciosus","authors":"Takuya Shimada,&nbsp;Kimiko Okabe,&nbsp;Shun’ichi Makino,&nbsp;Shoko Nakamura,&nbsp;Saori Fujii","doi":"10.1007/s00114-023-01881-6","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00114-023-01881-6","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Phoresy is a passive transportation behavior where one organism (phoront) disperses to a new location by attaching to another organism. Pseudoscorpions are arthropod predators that mainly live in soil, subterranean habitats, and under tree bark. Some species also live in animal nests and engage in phoresy on small mammals, suggesting close associations with these animals. However, the relationship between phoretic pseudoscorpions and hosts as well as the ecological significance of phoresy remain largely unexplored. Here, to understand the function of phoresy of <i>Megachernes ryugadensis,</i> phoretic on small mammals, their phoretic behavior was investigated in a deciduous forest in northern Japan; individual-level dynamics of phoresy were examined by over 3-year mark-recapture surveys that concurrently marked the host and phoront; and host characteristics, such as sex and age class, were analyzed based on a 2-year small mammal trapping survey. The primary host species was the abundant Japanese wood mouse <i>Apodemus speciosus</i>. Out of 132 pseudoscorpions marked, 5 were recaptured approximately 1 month later. No pseudoscorpions were recaptured within the same census period (3–4 days) when they were marked, indicating that phoresy events last less than one night, and pseudoscorpions are unlikely to engage in phoresy again within a few weeks of their initial engagement. Furthermore, analysis of host characteristics revealed a tendency for female mice and adult individuals to have a higher probability of being hosts compared with males and subadults, respectively. Based on the findings in this and previous studies, the function of phoresy in this species is discussed.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":794,"journal":{"name":"The Science of Nature","volume":"110 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.954,"publicationDate":"2023-10-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"50160294","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The first healed injury in a hyolith operculum","authors":"Oldřich Fatka,&nbsp;Martin Valent,&nbsp;Petr Budil","doi":"10.1007/s00114-023-01879-0","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00114-023-01879-0","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The Palaeozoic sediments of the Barrandian area are globally well-known as a classic example of rocks characterised by an abundant skeletal marine fauna, including well-preserved remains of hyoliths. Several tens specimens of malformed invertebrates such as trilobites, cephalopods and gastropods have been collected and documented from Cambrian to Devonian clastic sediments and carbonates in this area. However, no malformed hyolith specimen has yet been recorded. Hyoliths are Palaeozoic animals with small calcium carbonate shells composed of the conch (= oblong, conical and bilaterally symmetrical shell of diverse cross section and aperture at its wide end) and the operculum (= cap closing the conch aperture). Here we describe an operculum showing regeneration after non-lethal predatory attack in the Ordovician hyolith <i>Elegantilites custos</i>. This is the first record of regeneration in a hyolith operculum that has been repaired after a failed durophagous attack. Epibenthic/infaunal predatory echinoderms, such as ophiuroids, are considered as potential culprits.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":794,"journal":{"name":"The Science of Nature","volume":"110 5","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.954,"publicationDate":"2023-09-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41102471","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Epidermal and subepidermal changes during the formation of hairy galls induced by Eriophyidae on Avicennia schaueriana leaves","authors":"Leticia Ponticel Nobrega,&nbsp;Bárbara de Sá Haiad,&nbsp;Bruno Garcia Ferreira","doi":"10.1007/s00114-023-01876-3","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00114-023-01876-3","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Leaf-galling Eriophyidae (Acarina) may promote simple or complex alterations in the organs of their host plants, such as an increase in indumentum density or the reorganization of epidermis and ground system tissue patterns. To test if hairy galls of Eriophyidae on <i>Avicennia schaueriana</i> (Acanthaceae) are related to complex changes, leaf galls in distinct developmental phases were compared to non-galled leaves using anatomical, histochemical, and histometric analyses. Quantitative comparisons of preferential gall induction sites and gall area according to distinct leaf portions were made to evaluate if the impacts of gall formation can be related to the distinct potentialities of leaf microsites. The apical portion of the leaves and leaf margins were the sites with the highest occurrence of galls, but no relationship was detected between gall area and induction site. The gall anatomy revealed that epidermal features are influenced the most with the development of abnormal stomata and projected or sunken salt glands. The most striking change is the neoformation of elongated filiform trichomes on the abaxial surface (where the mites occur) that accumulate reducing sugars and proteins. The filiform trichomes may protect the inducers against abiotic stressors and enemies, and the primary metabolites that accumulate are important foods for mites. The mesophyll has simple alterations, only in the spongy parenchyma. Complex alterations occur only in abaxial epidermal cells close to feeding sites of the inducer. The number of inducers per gall seems to be the most important influence on gall size, since gall area is not related to the position in the leaves.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":794,"journal":{"name":"The Science of Nature","volume":"110 5","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.954,"publicationDate":"2023-09-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41098411","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Integument colouration and circulating carotenoids in relation to urbanisation in Eurasian kestrels (Falco tinnunculus)","authors":"Petra Sumasgutner,&nbsp;Tom Nilles,&nbsp;Alba Hykollari,&nbsp;Manuela Merling de Chapa,&nbsp;Caroline Isaksson,&nbsp;Lukas Hochleitner,&nbsp;Swen Renner,&nbsp;Leonida Fusani","doi":"10.1007/s00114-023-01874-5","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00114-023-01874-5","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h2> Abstract\u0000</h2><div><p>Urbanisation is one of the biggest environmental challenges of our time, yet we still lack an integrative understanding of how cities affect behaviour, physiology and parasite susceptibility of free-living organisms. In this study, we focus on carotenoids, strictly dietary micronutrients that can either be used as yellow-red pigments, for integument colouration (signalling function), or as antioxidants, to strengthen the immune system (physiological function) in an urban predator, the Eurasian kestrel (<i>Falco tinnunculus</i>). Kestrels are specialised vole hunters but shift to avian prey in cities where diurnal rodents are not sufficiently available. This different foraging strategy might determine the quantity of carotenoids available. We measured integument colouration, circulating carotenoids in the blood and ectoparasite burden in kestrels along an urban gradient. Our results showed that nestlings that were raised in more urbanised areas displayed, unrelated to their ectoparasite burden, a paler integument colouration. Paler colours were furthermore associated with a lower concentration of circulating carotenoids. These findings support the hypothesis that the entire urban food web is carotenoid deprived and only prey of low quality with low carotenoid content is available (e.g. fewer carotenoids in urban trees, insects, small birds and finally kestrels). The alternative hypothesis that nestlings allocate carotenoids to reduce physiological stress and/or to cope with parasites rather than invest into colouration could not be supported. Our study adds to existing evidence that urban stressors negatively affect carotenoid production in urban areas, a deficiency that dissipate into higher trophic levels.</p></div></div>","PeriodicalId":794,"journal":{"name":"The Science of Nature","volume":"110 5","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.954,"publicationDate":"2023-09-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10516791/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41094898","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Homeotic transformation in a terrestrial isopod: insights into the appendage identity in crustaceans","authors":"Naoto Inui,&nbsp;Toru Miura","doi":"10.1007/s00114-023-01875-4","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00114-023-01875-4","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>In many crustacean species, an individual possesses both uniramous and biramous appendages that enable us to compare the two types on the same genetic background. Therefore, among the diverse morphologies of arthropod appendages, crustacean biramous appendages provide interesting subjects for studying the developmental mechanisms underlying appendage modifications. In this study, we report a malformed specimen of the terrestrial isopod <i>Porcellio scaber</i>, in which one of the pleopods was transformed into a different structure. Morphological observations of exoskeletons and musculatures by confocal scanning laser microscopy revealed that the transformed appendage was three-segmented, with at least the apical two segments having pereopod-like musculoskeletal structures. The apical segment of the transformed appendage lacked muscles, and the following segment had a pair of muscle bundles. These findings together with those of some previous studies of gene expression patterns in this species suggest that this anomaly could be caused by homeotic transformation of a flap-like pleopod into a three-segmented pereopod tip, which may be a homologous structure of the pleopod.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":794,"journal":{"name":"The Science of Nature","volume":"110 5","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.954,"publicationDate":"2023-09-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10509081/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41097454","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Obituary: Dr. Margaretha Pangau-Adam","authors":"Matthias Waltert","doi":"10.1007/s00114-023-01878-1","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00114-023-01878-1","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":794,"journal":{"name":"The Science of Nature","volume":"110 5","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.954,"publicationDate":"2023-09-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10504123/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"10288720","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}