5,190 Matching Annotations
  1. Feb 2018
    1. Biodiversity

      A measure of the variety of life or different species in a specific environment. Increased biodiversity is associated with promoting competition which increases carbon storage.

    2. Carbon storage

      The ability of plants to uptake carbon from the environment and convert it into biomass. Plants decrease CO2 levels by absorbing carbon from the atmosphere to use for photosynthesis.

    1. polypropylene

      Polypropylene is a plastic polymer used in packaging, reusable containers, laboratory equipment, and medical devices. It is a polymer made of repeating subunits (groups of atoms) with three carbons in each subunit. Polypropylene is the second-most widely produced synthetic plastic, after polyethylene.

    2. polyethylene

      Polyethylene is a polymer, made of repeating subunits (groups of atoms) with two carbons in each subunit. It is the most commonly produced plastic in the world, used in applications such as plastic bags, films, and bottles.

    1. derivatization

      This is a technique used in chemistry. It is important because it allows for the development of chemical compound of a desired chemical structure based on a similar product.

    2. Corpora allata-corpora cardiaca complexes (CA-CC)

      The corpora allata (CA) is responsible for the production and release of juvenile hormones. The corpora cardiaca (CC) complexes are responsible for regulating reproduction and metamorphosis. The CC send out messages for the body to produce hormones that mature ovaries and hormones to produce insulin.

    3. PI3K

      This involves an intracellular signaling pathway, which occurs within the cell membrane of a cell, and is important in regulating the cell cycle. Also, it is directly related to how cancer forms and the length of an organism's lifespan.

    4. bovine insulin

      This type of insulin is also known as beef insulin because it is extracted from the pancreas of cattle. Bovine insulin differs from human insulin because it is less soluble and absorbed by the body more slowly. Like human insulin, bovine insulin regulates how much glucose is administered to muscle and fat cells.

    5. insulin-TOR (target of rapamacyn) signaling pathway

      The insulin/TOR pathway regulates a cell's and an organism's metabolism, and serves an essential function in controlling tissue growth and responses to starvation.

    1. acceleration specialist

      Barracudas' swimming mode is accelerator specialists: they swim with moderate drag but maximized thrust when they almost "jump" out at their prey, which is locally available. Because of this, they are considered by fishermen to be like "lazy fish" for mostly sitting still in shady areas, waiting for prey to swim near them and pounce, rather than going to hunt.

    2. unloaded muscle

      Remodeling of muscle (atrophic response) as an adaptation to the reduced loads placed upon it; decrements occur in skeletal muscle strength, fatigue resistance, motor performance, and connective tissue integrity.

    3. hydrodynamic

      Relating to the study of hydrodynamics: a branch of physics that deals with the motion of fluids and the forces acting on solid bodies immersed in fluids and in motion relative to them.

    4. accelerometers

      An electromechanical device that measures acceleration forces affecting something. These forces can be all sorts of things such as the force of gravity pulling you down at your feet.

    1. Soil-Plant Analyses Development (SPAD)

      Soil-Plant Analysis Development refers to the method for estimating the chlorophyll content present in a plant leaf. This is typically accomplished using a handheld meter.

    2. controlled release fertilizer (CRF)

      A controlled release fertilizer contains plant nutrients in a form that is not immediately available to the plant. A CRF provides the plant with nutrients for a longer period of time, throughout the growing season.

    Tags

    Annotators

    1. goodness-of-fit

      The extent to which observed data match the values expected by theory.

      In this context, the value P = 0.86 says that 86% of the values observed matched those predicted by the proposed model.

    2. ecosystem

      A community of interacting agents and their environment. In the context of this paper, the ecosystem has interacting agents (aggregates and followers), an environment (the Internet), and even predatory entities (police cybergroups, individual hackers, and website moderators).

    1. skewedness

      A measure of asymmetry, primarily describing some distribution by reference to the tails of the dataset. Left skewed data has a tail that leans to the left and right skewed data has a tail that leans to the right.

    2. control

      A baseline or standard that allows scientists to ensure that their manipulation of some variable, such as a food type in this experiment, actually has an observable effect that deviates from the baseline or standard.

    1. bootstrap values

      Data at present used to predict that of entire population. Usually completed by the extraction of data, probably randomly, and re-tested. Essentially, bootstrap resembles the confidence level in the values resulted. The results don't necessarily have to be correct, its a measure of certainty.

    2. phylogenetic signal

      A model-based measurement utilized in data sets of phylogenetic comparative analysis made up of qualitative traits observed of species related to the same phylogenetic tree.

  2. Jan 2018
    1. olfactory receptors

      Olfactory receptors are neurons that are responsible for the detection of odorants which allow the sense of smell. Olfactory receptors are one of three types of receptors used by mosquitos, the others include ionotropic receptors and gustatory receptors.

    2. non-selective cation channels,

      Macromolecular pores in the cell membrane that form an aqueous pathway. Allows rapid flow of cations based on their electrochemical driving force.

    1. caudal, spinal, cervical, ventral, humeral, and femoral

      Caudal: pertaining to the tail

      Spinal: pertaining to the spine

      Cervical: pertaining to the neck

      Ventral: pertaining to the underside or abdominal part of the body

      Humeral: pertaining to the humerus (a bone in the arm)

      Femoral: pertaining to the femur (a bone in the leg)

    1. experimental

      A study is referred to as experimental if it contains random allocation of participants to experimental conditions or treatments in which a variable of interest is manipulated. Such experiments can allow claims that the manipulation has caused changes in outcomes.

      For example, if we wanted to study the influence of rewards during class on students’ biology exam scores in an experimental study, we would randomly assign students to two conditions: In condition 1, students would receive candy bars for active participation in class, whereas in condition 2, students would not receive any candy bars.

      Then we would observe the exam scores for each group of students, to judge if our candy-bar treatment improved the scores compared to the no-candy-bar control condition. We could then conclude if rewards cause better exam scores in this context.

    1. waste management

      Waste management is the set of systems required to manage waste from when it is created to when it is finally disposed of. Steps of waste management include collection, transport, treatment, and disposal.

    1. warm mixed forest

      A temperate biome that is slightly warmer than the global average, marked by distinct seasons, sometimes with dry or rainy seasons. The forests are, as the name implies, of mixed composition. In this particular biome the predominant trees are broadleaf (ex: maple or oak) and conifers (ex: pine).

  3. Dec 2017
    1. Paris Agreement of December 2015

      An agreement under the UNFCCC framework addressing three main aims:

      • lessening greenhouse gas emissions,
      • preparing for and negating the effects of climate change, and
      • financing dedicated to accomplish the previous two aims.

      Under the agreement, countries set targets to lessen global warming, develop plans to meet those targets, and report on their progress.

      The agreement was negotiated in Paris at the 21st Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC in December 2015 and adopted in 2016.

    2. pollen-based reconstructions

      Pollen grains are made of materials that are highly resistant to breaking down in the environment, so they can be found in sediments going back thousands of years (and even further in the fossil record). The grains are diverse and researchers can identify the plant types they come from by examining them under a microscope. This allows researchers to see which seed-baring plants were in a given location in the past by taking sediment core samples and examining the pollen grains in each layer. The deeper the layer, the older the layer.

    3. Mediterranean basin

      The geographic area surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. There are many different sets of boundaries for this region used by researchers, historians, and others. For this paper, the authors use the region between longitudes 10°W to 45°E and latitudes 28°N to 48°N. The region can be seen in Figure 3, and an approximate map of the region is included here.

    1. homozygous for a codominant mutation

      The scaleless bearded dragons have two copies of the same alleles (Sca). This gene is codominant, meaning both alleles are expressed even in heterozygotes.

    1. Neonicotinoid pesticides

      Pronounced "neo-NICK-uh-tin-oid." A large family of pesticides that is currently the most widely used type of pesticide in the world, for both commercial and home use. The "nicotin" refers to the biochemical similarities between these pesticides and nicotine, which itself evolved in plants as an herbivore repellent. Both chemicals work by affecting the nervous system and, in toxic doses, cause paralysis and death.

    1. annealing

      The process of how a single stranded DNA form hydrogen bonds with other complementary DNA strands to make double stranded DNA.Often used in the PCR steps of creating or mass producing certain DNA sequences. (EM)

    1. heterospecific individuals

      Heterospecific is used to classify organisms. "Hetero" means differ, and "specific" pertains to a particular subject/concept. Heterospecific means organisms that aren't the same species. ~J.D.A.

    2. conspecifics

      Conspecific is also like heterospecific as it pertains to classifying species. In the sentence it seems to be an opposing word to heterospecific. If heterospecific means organisms of differ species, then conspecfics must mean the opposite--must mean organisms of same species. ~J.D.A.

    3. Parsimony analysis

      Parsimony analysis deals with simplicity. In regards to science, there will be various explanations to certain phenomenon. According to parsimony analysis, the simplest explanation is the best one. ~J.D.A.

    4. tenable explanations

      Tenable is defined as something that can be "holdable". It could mean that something must have enough support for it to be upheld. In other words, if someone has an argument against an idea, the explanation should be enough to defend the concept. ~J.D.A.

    5. concordant variation

      Concordant means to agree. A variation of this word would be "concor", which has the same meaning. For this paper, the word may be used to describe how data collected seem to show the same variation or consistency. ~J.D.A.

    6. shoaled

      The word shoal describes a shallow body of water. This is synonymous to sandbars or elevated sand in beaches. Therefore, something that "shoals" means that it doesn't have much depth. ~J.D.A.

    7. strombinid gastropods

      Strombinid refers to the taxa Strombidae. It's a family of medium-sized conch sea snails. Gastropods is also another term used to describe the Mollusca phylum. ~J.D.A.

    8. intraoceanic divergences

      "Intra" means within. Divergence is when something separates. Thus, this word could mean how species diverge from each other from within the same oceanic community. ~J.D.A.

    9. classic allopatric model

      The classic allopatric model is also known as geographic speciation or the dumbbell model. Classic allopatric model is a kind of speciation that occurs when biological populations of the same species become isolated from each other. This isolation is what will prevent genetic exchange between the separated populations. ~S.Z.

    10. Fossil foraminiferal assemblages

      Foraminifera are single-celled planktonic animals. They have an external shell and a granular ectoplasm for catching their food. When they die their shell becomes part of seafloor matter. ~J.D.A.

    11. allozymes

      Allozyme is an enzyme. They are coded by differ alleles found at the same locus of the gene. They were studied in this experiment via taxonomic branching to map out closely related pairs. ~J.D.A.

    12. oxidase I (COI) gene

      A gene coding for the cytochrome oxidase enzyme. This enzyme is found in the mitochondrial membrane. It is responsible for catalyzing transfer of electrons to the oxygen atom. This is for the electron transport chain to make ATP as a product. ~J.D.A.

    13. transisthmian

      Transisthmian refers to the opposite sides of an isthmus. The authors utilize this term to portray that the shrimps that were measured were from opposite sides (Pacific side and Caribbean side) of the Isthmus of Panama. ~J.D.A. (DV)

    14. phylogenetic

      Phylogeny refers to the study of evolutionary history among groups of organisms or individuals. The phylogenetic tree is a diagram that illustrates the relationships among species; this diagram is based on similarities and differences in the physical or genetic characteristics of different organisms. This diagram shows that all organisms originate from a single ancestor but have diverged due to speciation over a long period of time. (JP)

    15. staggered isolation

      Staggered suggests that the occurrence or arrangement of events did not happen at the same time. Staggered isolation is the thought of organisms become genetically isolated at different events or moments in time, therefore leading to speciation of these organisms. (DV)

    16. Isthmus of Panama

      Isthmus is a stretch of narrow land that connects two large landmasses and separates two bodies of water.

      The Isthmus of Panama formed 3 million years ago connecting North America and South America, while separating the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean. (DV)

    17. sister taxa

      Taxa refers to taxonomical groups like species, family, or class. Taxa are used in classifying organisms based on relatedness of characteristics.

      Sister taxa refers to two groups in which the organisms derived from a common ancestral organism, therefore these two groups are very closely related. (DV)

    18. molecular divergence

      Divergence is the differentiation of something (like an organism's genetic information) from its common state.

      Molecular divergence is the differentiation between the nucleotide sequence in DNA or amino acid sequences in proteins of organisms. (DV)

    19. snapping shrimps (Alpheus)

      The snapping shrimp (Alpheus) is a species of shrimp well known for their asymmetrical claws which when closed produce a loud snapping noise. They borrow in the sand and attack their prey by quickly reaching out with their larger claw to capture it. (DV)

    20. gene flow

      This explains the process of gene transfer. Usually this is observed from shifts in genes between different populations. So lets say a blue bird from one population migrates out of its territory and mates with a brown bird from the new population, the allele frequency shifts. ~J.D.A.

    1. recombinant inbred lines

      Offspring that have different alleles than their parents as a result of genetic recombination (such as crossing over and random assortment of chromosomes which causes each sex cell to be different from the parents' sex cells). These offspring are then crossed with each other so that resulting generations have nearly identical genes.

    2. genotypes

      The genetic makeup of an individual inherited from one's parents. Genotypes are particularly important in determining which variant of an allele or trait that individual has. When the author says that 14 genotypes were sowed, they mean that 14 different combinations of the same genes were planted in the populations. The plants each had their own variety of these genes. This is an important distinction because a genotype does not mean that the plants had different genes. They simply had different varieties of them.

    3. stochastic

      Random processes, events occurring with no apparent relationship or meaning. Stochastic models are necessary for ecological studies because environmental systems are often impacted by random events such as natural catastrophes or human interference. In order to account for this randomness, multiple trials are done in studies to ensure that the results were not simply a result of randomness. The more trials that affirm a result, the less likely it is that result is due to chance.

    4. genetic drift

      The random selection of organisms to survive and reproduce. Unlike other selection devices, genetic drift is completely due to random chance. An example of genetic drift could be something like a volcano erupting and randomly taking out half of the population just due to chance. Genetic drift is typically more pronounced in smaller populations because changes in allele frequencies are more observable when even just a few members of a population are removed. If those members had a unique trait, their removal can be very influential on the traits of that population.

    5. epigenetic

      Factors outside the strand of DNA that impact how the genes are expressed. The most common examples of this are DNA methylation and histone modifications. Both essentially make the DNA harder to access by the enzymes that convert it into proteins. These epigenetic regulators are mostly caused by environmental factors such as nutrition or exposure to certain chemicals. These epigenetic changes are heritable, meaning the modifications can be passed on to offspring.