University of North Carolina at Wilmington

About: University of North Carolina at Wilmington is a education organization based out in Wilmington, North Carolina, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Poison control. The organization has 3329 authors who have published 6797 publications receiving 186308 citations.

Location-Specific Responses to Thermal Stress in Larvae of the Reef-Building Coral Montastraea faveolata

Abstract: Background: The potential to adapt to a changing climate depends in part upon the standing genetic variation present in wild populations. In corals, the dispersive larval phase is particularly vulnerable to the effects of environmental stress. Larval survival and response to stress during dispersal and settlement will play a key role in the persistence of coral populations. Methodology/Principal Findings: To test the hypothesis that larval transcription profiles reflect location-specific responses to thermal stress, symbiont-free gametes from three to four colonies of the scleractinian coral Montastraea faveolata were collected from Florida and Mexico, fertilized, and raised under mean and elevated (up 1 to 2uC above summer mean) temperatures. These locations have been shown to exchange larvae frequently enough to prevent significant differentiation of neutral loci. Differences among 1,310 unigenes were simultaneously characterized using custom cDNA microarrays, allowing investigation of gene expression patterns among larvae generated from wild populations under stress. Results show both conserved and location-specific variation in key processes including apoptosis, cell structuring, adhesion and development, energy and protein metabolism, and response to stress, in embryos of a reef-building coral. Conclusions/Significance: These results provide first insights into location-specific variation in gene expression in the face of gene flow, and support the hypothesis that coral host genomes may house adaptive potential needed to deal with changing environmental conditions.

Social Isolation and Lethal Violence Across the Metro/Nonmetro Divide: The Effects of Socioeconomic Disadvantage and Poverty Concentration on Homicide*

Abstract: This study extends the macro-level criminological research tradition by examining the links between socioeconomic disadvantage, poverty concentration, and homicide in metropolitan and nonmetropolitan U.S. counties. Most research in this tradition has tested structural theories using urban areas as the unit of analysis. This “urban bias” has resulted in a limited understanding of the social forces driving violence in nonmetropolitan areas. To partially address this problem, we link the literature on the spatial and social organization of nonmetropolitan communities with the social isolation perspective from the urban poverty literature. We hypothesize that the spatial concentration of poverty drives up rates of homicide in both metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas regardless of levels of socioeconomic disadvantage. Negative binomial regression for 1,746 nonmetropolitan and 778 metropolitan counties suggest that both socioeconomic disadvantage and poverty concentration elevate homicide in metropolitan areas. However, in nonmetropolitan counties only socioeconomic disadvantage has a significant impact. We conclude by discussing the implications of these differential findings for the social isolation perspective.

Signature-whistle production in undisturbed free-ranging bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus)

Abstract: Data from behavioural observations and acoustic recordings of free-ranging bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) were analysed to determine whether signature whistles are produced by wild undisturbed dolphins, and how whistle production varies with activity and group size. The study animals were part of a resident community of bottlenose dolphins near Sarasota, Florida, USA. This community of dolphins provides a unique opportunity for the study of signature-whistle production, since most animals have been recorded during capture-release events since 1975. Three mother-calf pairs and their associates were recorded for a total of 141.25 h between May and August of 1994 and 1995. Whistles of undisturbed dolphins were compared with those recorded from the same individuals during capture-release events. Whistles were conservatively classified into one of four categories: signature, probable signature, upsweep or other. For statistical analyses, signature and probable signature whistles were combined into a 'signature' category; upsweep and other whistles were combined into a 'non-signature' category. Both 'signature' and 'non-signature' whistle frequencies significantly increased as group size increased. There were significant differences in whistle frequencies across activity types: both 'signature' and 'non-signature' whistles were most likely to occur during socializing and least likely to occur during travelling. There were no significant interactions between group size and activity type. Signature and probable signature whistles made up ca. 52% of all whistles produced by these free-ranging bottlenose dolphins.

Taking Institutions Seriously: Using the IAD Framework to Analyze Fisheries Policy

Abstract: We argue that the fisheries management literature often does a poor job of analyzing issues related to institutional design and performance. The article begins by examining four competing institutional arrangements used to manage fisheries: bureaucracy, markets, community, and comanagement. The differences are used to highlight the importance of understanding critical issues related to institutional analysis. The article then examines some of the common problems or pitfalls that analysts fall victim to when examining institutional design and performance. We conclude by summarizing the Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework, one approach to institutional analysis that avoids these common pitfalls.

Empathy and intergroup relations.

Abstract: Empathy has received increasing empirical attention in the study of intergroup relations. Much of this research has focused on the potential of interventions that generate empathy for improving intergroup attitudes and reducing intergroup bias. Specifically, this work typically explores how empathy mediates the effects of various manipulations, such as direct instructions to imagine how an outgroup member feels on participants' attitudes toward the outgroup as a whole. In this chapter, we offer complementary perspectives on the role of empathy in intergroup relations. In addition, we examine other potential roles of empathy in intergroup relations, considering the direct impact of intergroup empathy on behavior and how intergroup attitudes can moderate the arousal of empathy and its subsequent intergroup impact. We consider three perspectives on the relations among empathy, intergroup attitudes, and group membership. Our goal is not to test these as corn-