An experimental investigation of explanations for inconsistencies in responses to second offers in double referenda

This paper demonstrates the potential for induced preference experiments to test previously unverified explanations of observed behavior in contingent valuation surveys. The NOAA Panel on Contingent Valuation called for experimental evidence on potential biases in the double referendum format. We test Carson, Groves, and Machina's (Incentives and informational properties of preference questions, Plenary address to the European Association of Resource and Environmental Economists, Oslo, Norway, June 1999) simple cost uncertainty and weighted averaging explanations of inconsistent responses to follow-up offers in such double referenda against a baseline of certainty and truthful preference revelation. The results find evidence to support the Weighted Average hypothesis. Results regarding the cost uncertainty hypothesis are more ambiguous and merit further investigation.     

DNA sequence evidence for speciation,paraphyly and a Mesozoic dispersal of cancellothyridid articulate brachiopods

Because the classification of extant and fossil articulate brachiopods is based largely upon shell characters observable in fossils, it identifies morphotaxa whose biological status can, in practice, best be inferred from estimates of genetic divergence. Allozyme polymorphism and restriction fragment length polymorphism of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA RFLP) have been used to show that nuclear and mitochondrial genetic divergence between samples of the cancellothyridid brachiopods Terebratulina septentrionalis from Canada and T. retusa from Europe is compatible with biological speciation, but the genetic distances obtained were biased by methodological limitations. Here, we report estimates of divergence in 12S rDNA mitochondrial sequences within and between samples of these brachiopods. The sequence-based genetic distance between these samples (5.98ǂ.07% SE) is at least 10 times greater than within them and, since they also differ in a complex life-history trait, their species status is considered to be securely established. Divergence levels between 12S rDNA genes of three other cancellothyridids, T. unguicula from Alaska, T. crossei from near Japan, and Cancellothyris hedleyi from near Australia are higher than between the two North Atlantic species, and the mean nucleotide distance between all these cancellothyrids is similar to the mean distance between species of Littorina (Mollusca: Gastropoda). Sequences of both 12S and 16S genes from cancellothyridids and other short-looped brachiopod species show neither saturation nor lineage-specific rate differences and, when analysed with different outgroups, either separately or together, yield one unexpected, but well-supported, tree with Alaskan T. unguicula basal and C. hedleyi nested within Terebratulina, i.e. these genera are paraphyletic. A geologically dated divergence between Antarctic and New Zealand species of the short-looped brachiopod Liothyrella is used to calibrate the rate of 12S divergence at ca. 0.1% per million years (MY), and this rate is used to infer that T. septentrionalis and T. retusa have been diverging for ca. 60 MY and that they and T. unguicula have been diverging from their last common ancestor for ca. 100 MY. This indicates a Mesozoic origin for the present-day distribution of cancellothyridids and the basal position of T. unguicula suggests a possible North Pacific centre of origin, with separate Atlantic and Pacific radiations. The inclusion of Cancellothyris within Terebratulina also shows that adult shell characters such as umbo, foramen and symphytium shape, whilst probably indispensible for the practical classification of fossils, are not reliable guides to genealogy.     

Exoautometabolic regulation of transgenes in microorganisms

Data on the existence of a specific system regulating the growth, size, and structure of enterobacterial populations are first summarized in terms of the chemical ecology concept formulated by S.S. Shvarts. The role of this system in transgene functioning is described using the example of the lux operon integrated into Escherichia coli. A relatively simple test for estimating such interactions is proposed.Translated from Ekologiya, No. 2, 2005, pp. 91–96.Original Russian Text Copyright © 2005 by Pshenichnov, Maslennikova, Nikitina.     

Ecological and genetic characteristics of the distribution of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Bradybaena fruticum</Emphasis> Mull. (mollusca,gastropoda, pulmonata) in a forest-steppe landscape

The distribution pattern of the gastropod Bradybaena fruticum has been studied in a forest-steppe landscape. Analysis of the frequencies of polymorphic biochemical and conchological characters has yielded preliminary results on the characteristics of the species population structure whose formation was determined by a set of natural and anthropogenic factors.Translated from Ekologiya, No. 1, 2005, pp. 39–47.Original Russian Text Copyright © 2005 by Snegin.     

The State of the Mammal Community of Boreal Forest Ecosystems in the Vicinity of a Nickel-Smelting Plant

The effect of industrial air pollution on natural small mammal populations has been studied in the northern taiga subzone of the boreal forest zone. The results of long-term monitoring have been used to demonstrate the possibility of predicting changes in the main population and community characteristics of the animal species studied as dependent on the degree of anthropogenic impact.