The Cambrian (Miaolingian; Wuliuan) Spence Shale Lagerstätte of northern Utah and southern Idaho is one of the most diverse Burgess Shale-type deposits of Laurentia. It yields a diverse fauna consisting of abundant biomineralized and locally abundant soft-bodied fossils, along a range of environments from shallow-water carbonates to deep-shelf dark shales. Panarthropods are the dominant component throughout the deposit, both in time and space, but whereas the trilobites and agnostoids are abundant, most of the soft-bodied taxa are only known from very few specimens. Additionally, the knowledge of soft-bodied panarthropods is currently largely limited to locations in the Wellsville Mountains of northeastern Utah. This contribution describes 21 new soft-bodied panarthropods from six locations, including the first occurrences of soft-bodied panarthropods in the High-Creek, Smithfield Creek, Spence Gulch, and Two-Mile Canyon localities. Additionally, we report the presence of bradoriids— i.e., Branchiocaris pretiosa Resser, 1929, Perspicaris? dilatus Robison and Richards, 1981, Naraoia? sp. indet., Thelxiope cf. T. palaeothalassia Simonetta and Delle Cave, 1975, and Tuzoia guntheri Robison and Richards, 1981—for the first time from the Spence Shale Lagerstätte; the first reported occurrence outside of the Burgess Shale for Thelxiope cf. T. palaeothalassia; and the first Wuliuan occurrence of Tuzoia guntheri. We also report on a new hurdiid carapace element and additional specimens of Buccaspinea cooperi? Pates et al., 2021, Dioxycaris argenta Walcott, 1886, Hurdia sp. indet., and Tuzoia retifera Walcott, 1912. This new material improves our understanding of the panarthropod fauna of the Spence Shale Lagerstätte and substantially increases our understanding of the distribution of the described taxa in time and space.

Following domestication of the cat about 5000 years ago, it followed man into many areas of the world. The vast resources available in urban environments have led to increasing numbers of free-roaming cats on the streets. The high population density of these cats and, in many cases, the lack of suitable nourishment and veterinary care, is conducive to their poor condition of health. They are frequently perceived as a nuisance to human society. This article surveys the different methods of management of free-roaming cat populations, focusing on the urban environment, and discusses the animal welfare implications and the advantages and disadvantages of each method.

While substantial evidence has identified low birth weight (LBW; <2500 g) as a risk factor for early life morbidity, mortality and poor childhood development, relatively little is known on the links between birth weight and economic outcomes in adulthood. The objective of this study was to systematically review the economics (EconLit) and biomedical literature (Medline) and estimate the pooled association between birth weight and adult earnings. A total of 15 studies from mostly high-income countries were included. On average, each standard deviation increase in birth weight was associated with a 2.75% increase in annual earnings [(95% CI: 1.44 to 4.07); 9 estimates]. A negative, but not statistically significant, association was found between being born LBW and earnings, compared to individuals not born LBW [mean difference: −3.41% (95% CI: −7.55 to 0.73); 7 estimates]. No studies from low-income countries were identified and all studies were observational. Overall, birth weight was consistently associated with adult earnings, and therefore, interventions that improve birth weight may provide beneficial effects on adult economic outcomes.

Prior research on Hodgins’ (2008) typology of offenders with schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSD) has revealed inconsistencies in the number of subgroups and the operationalization of the concept. This study addressed these inconsistencies by applying latent class analysis (LCA) based on the most frequently explored variables in prior research. This novel case-centred methodology identified similarities and differences between the subjects contained in the sample instead of the variables explored. The LCA was performed on 71 variables taken from data on a previously unstudied sample of 370 case histories of offenders with SSD in a centre for inpatient forensic therapies in Switzerland. Results were compared with Hodgins’ theoretically postulated patient typologies and confirm three separate homogeneous classes of schizophrenic delinquents. Previous inconsistencies and differences in operationalizations of the typology of offenders with SDD to be found in the literature are discussed.

We present liquid-cell transmission electron microscopy (liquid-cell TEM) imaging of fixed and non-fixed prostate cancer cells (PC3 and LNCaP) with high resolution in a custom developed silicon nitride liquid cell. Fixed PC3 cells were imaged for 90–120 min without any discernable damage. High contrast on the cellular structures was obtained even at low electron doses (~2.5 e−/nm2 per image). The images show distinct structures of cell compartments (nuclei and nucleoli) and cell boundaries without any further sample embedding, dehydration, or staining. Furthermore, we observed dynamics of vesicles trafficking from the cell membrane in consecutive still frames in a non-fixed cell. Our findings show that liquid-cell TEM, operated at low electron dose, is an excellent tool to investigate dynamic events in non-fixed cells with enough spatial resolution (few nm) and natural amplitude contrast to follow key intracellular processes.

The identification of randomness and nonrandomness is a perennial problem in evolutionary research. Stochastic thinking in evolutionary biology and paleobiology has solidified the use of a statistical notion of chance, but the idea of chance in evolutionary studies goes beyond statistics. A duality arises from the use of a statistical meaning on the one hand, and a more strictly evolutionary meaning on the other. The former implies a combination of indiscriminate sampling and unpredictability due to multiple causes; the latter codifies independence from adaptation and the directionality imposed by natural selection. Often these meanings are kept separate in evolutionary research, used in isolation according to the empirical situation or the goal of the investigator (recognition of pattern versus process). I argue that evolutionary studies in general and paleobiological studies in particular can benefit from the simultaneous application of statistical and evolutionary notions of chance. Following some background on the notion of chance and its use, I discuss a series of examples in which insight can be gained by explicit consideration of both meanings. Thus, typologies of extinction become clearer when phenomena like wanton extinction are made explicit; exaptive radiations are exposed as an alternative to adaptive radiations; the possible nonadaptive nature of deterministic chaos becomes sensible; the nonrandomness of community-assembly is put into question; parallel taxonomies of sorting rooted in different notions of nonrandomness are suggested as a means of facilitating understanding of relationships across the hierarchy; developmental constraints and self-organization are more easily distinguished from selective constraints; and a new term, “incidentals,” is suggested to refer to both exaptations and nonaptations. Finally, I point to ways in which the dichotomy between chance and necessity can be approached in evolutionary theory, by showing that the dual nature of chance in evolution entails a distinction between functional and structural necessity, and that chance ultimately becomes a unifying concept for a number of criticisms to neo-Darwinism.

The analysis of morphological disparity and of morphospace occupation through the macroevolutionary history of clades is now a major research program in paleobiology, and increasingly so in organismal and comparative biology. Most studies have focused on the relationship between taxonomic diversity and morphological disparity, and on ecological or developmental controls. However, the geographic context of diversification has remained understudied. Here we address geography quantitatively. Diversity, disparity, and paleogeographic dispersion are used to describe the evolutionary history of an extinct echinoderm clade, the class Stylophora (cornutes, mitrates), from the Middle Cambrian to the Middle Devonian (about 128 Myr subdivided into 12 stratigraphic intervals). Taxonomic diversity is estimated from a representative sample including 73.3% of described species and 92.4% of described genera. Stylophoran morphology is quantified on the basis of seven morphometric parameters derived from image analysis of homologous skeletal regions. Three separate principal coordinates analyses (PCO) are performed for thecal outlines, plates from the lower thecal surface, and plates from the upper thecal surface, respectively. PCO scores from these three separate analyses are then used as variables for a single, global, meta-PCO. For each time interval, disparity is calculated as the sum of variance in the multidimensional morphospace defined by the meta-PCO axes. For each time interval, a semiquantitative index of paleogeographic dispersion is calculated, reflecting both global (continental) and local (regional) aspects of dispersion.

Morphospace occupation of cornutes and mitrates is partly overlapping, suggesting some morphologic convergences between the two main stylophoran clades, probably correlated to similar modes of life (e.g., symmetrical cornutes and primitive mitrocystitids). Hierarchical clustering allowed the identification of three main morphological sets (subdivided into 11 subsets) within the global stylophoran morphospace. These morphological sets are used to analyze the spatiotemporal variations of disparity. The initial radiation of stylophorans is characterized by a low diversity and a rapid increase in disparity (Middle Cambrian–Tremadocian). The subsequent diversification involved filling and little expansion of morphospace (Arenig–Middle Ordovician). Finally, both stylophoran diversity and disparity decreased relatively steadily from the Late Ordovician to the Middle Devonian, with the exception of a second (lower) peak in the Early Devonian. Such a pattern is comparable to that of other Paleozoic marine invertebrates such as blastozoans and orthid brachiopods. During the Lower to Middle Ordovician, the most dramatic diversification of stylophorans took place with a paleogeographic dispersion essentially limited to the periphery of Gondwana. In the Late Ordovician, stylophorans steadily extended toward lower paleolatitudes, and new environmental conditions, where some of them radiated, and finally survived the end-Ordovician mass extinction (e.g., anomalocystitids). This pattern of paleobiogeographic dispersion is comparable to that of other examples of Paleozoic groups of marine invertebrates, such as bivalve mollusks.

For decades, theoretical morphological studies of different groups of organisms have been successfully pursued in biological, paleontological, and computational contexts, often with distinct modeling approaches and research questions. A regular influx of new perspectives and varied expertise has contributed to the emergence of a veritable multidisciplinary outlook for theoretical morphology. The broadening of this discipline is reflected in a substantial increase in the number of models, leading to a bewildering diversity that has yet to be scrutinized. In this work, we tackle this issue in a synthetic fashion, with a quantitative meta-analysis that allows an objective comparison of theoretical morphological models treated as entities. By analogy with empirical morphospace analyses of actual organisms, we performed a multivariate ordination of a representative sample of models, producing a metaspace of models in which patterns of similarity and difference are visualized. A phenetic tree was used to characterize the relationships between models. Four major groups have been identified, and their disparity analyzed. We suggest this typology as a useful starting point to identify a core set of fundamental principles and protocols for better interpretation of the plethora of current models and for more efficient construction of models in the future. This in turn can help in diversifying the scope of macroevolutionary, developmental, and bioenvironmental questions in theoretical morphology.

We have devised a simple model for assessing the role of development in shaping the evolution of morphological disparity. Disparity of a clade at any given time is expressed in terms of the developmental dynamics that lead to the variety of adult morphotypes observed. We use assumed phenotypic manifestations of developmental processes, as they could be detected from allometric characterizations, to distinguish a few, nonexclusive types of evolutionary changes in ontogeny. On the basis of this formalization, we describe the diversification of hypothetical clades, using the standard curve of adult morphological disparity, the curve of juvenile disparity, and the curve of allometric disparity, the latter quantifying the diversification of clades in allometric space. Contrasts of these curves reflect the underlying developmental scheme that drives temporal changes in disparity. We then vary the parameters of the model to assess the expected signature of each metric under specific conditions: changes in the relative frequencies of the types of evolutionary developmental changes, changes in the transition magnitude attached to each of them, and effects of temporal variation in average adult size on disparity curves and patterns of morphospace occupation. Results emphasize the potential contribution of these proxies for developmental dynamics—juvenile morphological disparity, allometric disparity, and average adult size—in enriching the interpretation of standard disparity curves and the description of clade histories, with possible process-oriented inferences.

The quantification of disparity is an important aspect of recent macroevolutionary studies, and it is usually motivated by theoretical considerations about the pace of innovation and the filling of morphospace. In practice, varying protocols of data collection and analysis have rendered comparisons among studies difficult. The basic question remains, How sensitive is any given disparity signal to different aspects of sampling and data analysis? Here we explore this issue in the context of the radiation of the echinoid order Spatangoida during the Cretaceous. We compare patterns at the genus and species levels, with time subdivision into subepochs and into stages, and with morphological sampling based on landmarks, traditional morphometrics, and discrete characters. In terms of temporal scale, similarity of disparity pattern accrues despite a change in temporal resolution, and a general deceleration in morphological diversification is apparent. Different morphometric methods also produce similar signals. Both the landmark analysis and the discrete character analysis suggest relatively high early disparity, whereas the analysis based on traditional morphometrics records a much lower value. This difference appears to reflect primarily the measurement of different aspects of overall morphology. Disparity patterns are similar at both the genus and species levels. Moreover, inclusion or exclusion of the sister order Holasteroida and the stem group Disasteroida in the sampled morphospace did not affect proportional changes in spatangoid disparity. Similar results were found for spatangoid subclades vis-à-vis spatangoids as a whole. The relative robustness of these patterns implies that the choice of temporal scale, morphometric scheme, and taxonomic level may not affect broad trends in disparity and the representation of large-scale morphospace structure.

Conventional radiocarbon analysis of carbonate records with accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) is time consuming and the achievable spatial resolution is limited, because individual samples have to be taken and need to be converted to graphite for the measurement. A new laser ablation (LA) in situ sampling technique for rapid online 14C analyses of carbonate records by AMS is presented. By focusing a 193-nm ArF excimer laser on carbonate samples, carbon dioxide is generated and can directly be introduced into the gas ion source of an AMS. A dedicated LA cell for AMS was constructed in a way that combines rapid gas exchange with the capacity to carry sample specimen with maximum dimensions of 15×2.5×1.5 cm3. With the presented setup, negative carbon ion currents up to 20 µA were achieved. A low 14C background of 0.011±0.002 F14C was observed on 14C-free marble and different standard and reference materials could be well reproduced within errors. The novel technique allows scanning carbonate samples continuously over several cm per hour with achievable measurement precisions of less than 1% for modern samples. This approach allows acquiring highly spatially resolved 14C records at a far higher rate than with any currently available method.