Preface to the Princeton Landmarks in Biology Edition vii Preface xi Symbols Used xiii 1. The Importance of Islands 3 2. Area and Number of Speicies 8 3. Further Explanations of the Area-Diversity Pattern 19 4. The Strategy of Colonization 68 5. Invasibility and the Variable Niche 94 6. Stepping Stones and Biotic Exchange 123 7. Evolutionary Changes Following Colonization 145 8. Prospect 181 Glossary 185 References 193 Index 201

The Theory of Island Biogeography

Measures of brain activation (e.g., changes in scalp electrical potentials) have become the most popular method for inferring brain function. However, examining brain disruption (e.g., examining behavior after brain injury) can complement activation studies. Activation techniques identify regions involved with a task, whereas disruption techniques are able to discover which regions are crucial for a task. Voxel-based lesion mapping can be used to determine relationships between behavioral measures and the location of brain injury, revealing the function of brain regions. Lesion mapping can also correlate the effectiveness of neurosurgery with the location of brain resection, identifying optimal surgical targets. Traditionally, voxel-based lesion mapping has employed the chi-square test when the clinical measure is binomial and the Student's t test when measures are continuous. Here we suggest that the Liebermeister approach for binomial data is more sensitive than the chi-square test. We also suggest that a test described by Brunner and Munzel is more appropriate than the t test for nonbinomial data because clinical and neuropsychological data often violate the assumptions of the t test. We test our hypotheses comparing statistical tests using both simulated data and data obtained from a sample of stroke patients with disturbed spatial perception. We also developed software to implement these tests (MRIcron), made freely available to the scientific community.

Improving Lesion-Symptom Mapping

Whereas terminological recommendations require authors to use mean intensity or mean abundance to quantify parasites in a sample of hosts, awkward statistical limitations also force them to use either the median or the geometric mean of these measures when making comparisons across different samples. Here, we propose to reconsider this inconsistent practice by giving priority to biological realism in the interpretation of different statistical descriptors and choosing the statistical tools appropriate to our decisions. Prevalence, mean intensity, and indices of parasite distribution (such as median intensity) are suitable descriptors to quantify parasites in a sample of hosts. These measures have different biological interpretations and need different statistical methods to be compared between samples.

/pdf/quantifying-parasites-in-samples-of-hosts-3mbxkolxq1.pdf

Quantifying parasites in samples of hosts

The book Inequality by Christopher Jencks is in one sense an arid waste of somewhat confusing and misleading statistics between chapter one and chapter nine, and, in another sense, a destructive, unscientific critique of American education and families. Jencks' interpretation comes down hard on his basic feeling that "The crucial problem today is that relatively few people view income inequality as a serious problem; indeed the Nixon administration apparently convinced itself that income was too equally distributed in 1968 and that the rich needed additional incentives to get even richer . The Kennedy and Johnson administrations were only marginally better. Neither made any explicit effort to equalize incomes; the subject was hardly discussed. Instead reformers focused on equalizing opportunity." This view is probably correct but it is no excuse for an unscholarly, unscientific polemic against far from "peripheral institutions," which is Jencks' evaluation of the American schools. This book states

Inequality, A Reassessment of the Effect of Family and Schooling in America.

▪ Abstract Mammals are exposed to a diverse array of parasites and infectious diseases, many of which affect host survival and reproduction. Species that live in dense populations, large social groups, or with promiscuous mating systems may be especially vulnerable to infectious diseases owing to the close proximity and higher contact rates among individuals. We review the effects of host density and social contacts on parasite spread and the importance of promiscuity and mating structure for the spread and evolution of sexually transmitted diseases. Host social organization and mating system should influence not only parasite diversity and prevalence but may also determine the fitness advantages of different transmission strategies to parasites. Because host behavior and immune defenses may have evolved to reduce the spread and pathogenicity of infectious diseases, we also consider selective pressures that parasites may exert on host social and mating behavior and the evolutionary responses of hosts at b...

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/30033785.pdf

Social Organization and Parasite Risk in Mammals: Integrating Theory and Empirical Studies

Biostatistics for Parasitologists - A Primer to Quantitative Parasitology.

Antagonistic host-parasite interactions lead to coevolution of host defenses and parasite virulence. Such adaptation by parasites to host defenses may occur to the detriment of the ability of parasites to exploit alternative hosts, causing parasite specialization and speciation. We investigated the relationship between level of anti-parasite defense in hosts and taxonomic richness of two chewing louse suborders (Phthiraptera: Amblycera, Ischnocera) on birds. While Amblyceran lice tend to occur in contact with host skin, feed on host skin and chew emerging tips of developing feathers to obtain blood, Ischnoceran lice live on feathers and feed on the non-living keratin of feather barbules. We hypothesized that Amblyceran abundance and richness would have evolved in response to interaction with the immune system of the host, while Ischnoceran taxonomic richness would have evolved independently of immunological constraints. In an interspecific comparison, the abundance of Ischnocerans was positively related to host body size, while host body mass and Ischnoceran taxonomic richness accounted for the abundance of Amblycerans. Amblyceran taxonomic richness was predicted by the intensity of T-cell mediated immune response of nestling hosts, while the T-cell response of adults had no significant effect. In contrast, Ischnoceran taxonomic richness was not predicted by host T-cell responses. These results suggest that the taxonomic richness of different parasite taxa is influenced by different host defenses, and they are consistent with the hypothesis that increasing host allocation to immune defense increases Amblyceran biodiversity.

http://www.zoologia.hu/list/Moller_Rozsa_Oecologia.pdf

Parasite biodiversity and host defenses: chewing lice and immune response of their avian hosts

We test the hypothesis that avian social system (territorial vs. colonial) has an impact on the ecological characteristics of avian lice. We compared the louse loads of two congeneric host species, the territorial hooded crow (Corvus corone cornix L.) and the colonial rook (C. frugilegus L.). Each species harboured the same five genera of lice ; one species of louse was shared, while the other four species on each host were host-specific. More rooks harboured Myrsidea, Philopterus, Brueelia and Allocolpocephalum spp. than crows. Rooks harboured more species-rich louse loads than crows. Louse loads were also more diverse on rooks than on crows. The frequency distributions of lice on rooks were less aggregated than on crows. Sex ratios of lice were less biased on rooks than on crows. Biased sex ratios were correlated with the subpopulation size of lice on individual hosts, making it necessary to control for subpopulation size in comparative analyses. These findings may result from the increased frequency of horizontal transmissions via increased body-to-body contacts among colonial rooks, compared to territorial hooded crows.

Relationship of host coloniality to the population ecology of avian lice (Insecta: Phthiraptera)

http://phthiraptera.info/sites/phthiraptera.info/files/38953.pdf

Lajos Rózsa

Papers

Quantifying parasites in samples of hosts

Biostatistics for Parasitologists - A Primer to Quantitative Parasitology.

Parasite biodiversity and host defenses: chewing lice and immune response of their avian hosts

Relationship of host coloniality to the population ecology of avian lice (Insecta: Phthiraptera)

Patterns in the abundance of avian lice (Phthiraptera: Amblycera, Ischnocera)