Preprints (not yet peer-reviewed)

1) DNA metabarcoding holds great promise for assessment of stream ecosystems with macroinvertebrates. However, few large-scale studies have compared the performance of DNA metabarcoding with that of routine morphological identification. 2) We tested metabarcoding...

The goal of educating the public about environmental and conservation issues is found in the mission statements of almost every zoo in the world. In order to effectively teach their visitors, zoos must understand how they are communicating with their public. In...

A novel reconstruction of the nodosaurid dinosaur Struthiosaurus austriacus Bunzel 1871 is presented. Because bones and dermal armor are preserved as disarticulated elements only and because of the lack of field notes from the original excavation(s), any attempt...

We estimated the genetic diversity of 50 Jatropha curcas Costa Rican samples using 18 EST-SSR, one G-SSR and nrDNA-ITS markers. We also evaluated the phylogenetic relationships among samples using nuclear ribosomal ITS markers. Non-toxicity was also evaluated using...

Harding grass (Phalaris aquatica), an invasive non-native species of bunchgrass, has been introduced to grasslands in many regions of California, particularly those with a history of disturbance, such as tilling and grazing. Due do the invasive nature of Harding...

Based on sequence data from the nuclear ITS and four cpDNA regions (matK, trnH-psbA, trnL-trnF, rbcL), phylogeny of the tribe Thermopsideae was inferred. Our analyses supported this tribe being merged into a monophyletic Sophoreae in a broad sense, with exclusion...

Besides offering fun activities for non-scientists to explore the natural world through experiments, simulations or games, the evolving concept of citizen science is increasingly allowing some serious publication quality science to be published by the practitioners...

Aims. Mountain ranges in the tropics are characterised by high levels of localised endemism, often-aberrant evolutionary trajectories, and some of the world’s most diverse regional biotas. Here we investigate the evolution of montane endemism, ecology and body...

The human male specific Y-chromosome passes from father to son essentially unchanged, but occasionally a random change, known as a mutation, occurs. These mutations, also called markers, serve as beacons and can be mapped. When geneticists identify a mutation in...

Research collaborations are hampered by copyright law. While these laws are aimed at solving sustainability of writing and later other creative processes, and nowadays knowledge too, the make it harder in a time where research is funded with on temporary projects....

In the health self-management services it is beneficial to identify and address the already existing healthy activity patterns of the user. Some of these healthy activity patterns might be of a utilitarian nature, e.g. commuting to work by bike or on foot, or might...

Introduction Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) platforms have radically changed the field of genomics and are routinely applied to a variety of functional genomics problems. Although NGS has markedly accelerated multiple areas of genomics research it is a massively...

Background. Opsin proteins are seven transmembrane receptor proteins which detect light. Opsins can be classified into two types and share little sequence identity: type 1, typically found in bacteria, and type 2, primarily characterized in metazoa. The type 2...

Tourism today is moving towards sustainable approaches because the industry poses significant threats to the environment. This includes a shift in construction type: to building structures that aim to coexist with their surroundings. One example of this is the...

Feature selection in machine learning is of great interest since it is reckoned as creating more efficient predictive models in several engineering domains. It is even of special importance in the pulp and paper transformation industry as the knowledge of this...