University of Georgia

About: University of Georgia is a education organization based out in Athens, Georgia, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Poison control. The organization has 41934 authors who have published 93622 publications receiving 3713212 citations. The organization is also known as: UGA & Franklin College.

Predictions and tests of climate‐based hypotheses of broad‐scale variation in taxonomic richness

Abstract: Broad-scale variation in taxonomic richness is strongly correlated with climate. Many mechanisms have been hypothesized to explain these patterns; however, testable predictions that would distinguish among them have rarely been derived. Here, we examine several prominent hypotheses for climate–richness relationships, deriving and testing predictions based on their hypothesized mechanisms. The ‘energy–richness hypothesis’ (also called the ‘more individuals hypothesis’) postulates that more productive areas have more individuals and therefore more species. More productive areas do often have more species, but extant data are not consistent with the expected causal relationship from energy to numbers of individuals to numbers of species. We reject the energy–richness hypothesis in its standard form and consider some proposed modifications. The ‘physiological tolerance hypothesis’ postulates that richness varies according to the tolerances of individual species for different sets of climatic conditions. This hypothesis predicts that more combinations of physiological parameters can survive under warm and wet than cold or dry conditions. Data are qualitatively consistent with this prediction, but are inconsistent with the prediction that species should fill climatically suitable areas. Finally, the ‘speciation rate hypothesis’ postulates that speciation rates should vary with climate, due either to faster evolutionary rates or stronger biotic interactions increasing the opportunity for evolutionary diversification in some regions. The biotic interactions mechanism also has the potential to amplify shallower, underlying gradients in richness. Tests of speciation rate hypotheses are few (to date), and their results are mixed.

Theories of Creativity

Abstract: This article surveys the range of contemporary theories of creativity. These are heuristically divided into ten categories: developmental, psychometric, economic, stage and componential process, cognitive, problem solving and expertise-based, problem finding, evolutionary, typological, and systems. These perspectives span a range of subtopics, levels of analysis, and emphases within the study of creativity. Beyond the general overview, prospects for the future role and development of theories of creativity are discussed, offering a critical but hopefully constructive appraisal of current theories and their promise for a continued deeper understanding of the nature of creativity.

Depletion of 13 C in lignin and its implications for stable carbon isotope studies

Abstract: Stable carbon isotope compositions of organic matter are now widely used to trace carbon flow in ecosystems, and have been instrumental in shaping current perceptions of the importance of terrestrial vegetation to estuarine and coastal marine environments. A general assumption in these and other studies relying on carbon isotope compositions for source identification of organic matter has been that the major biochemical components of plant tissues are isotopically invariant. We report here large differences between the carbon isotope compositions of the polysaccharide and lignin components of a variety of vascular plants, including the salt-marsh grass Spartina alterniflora, and demonstrate that the carbon isotope composition of Spartina detritus gradually changes during biogeochemical processing as polysaccharides are preferentially removed, leaving a material that is relatively enriched in lignin-derived carbon and depleted in 13C.