Phylogenetic relationships of the primarily wingless insects are still considered unresolved. Even the most comprehensive phylogenomic studies that addressed this question did not yield congruent results. In order to get a grip on these problems, we here analyzed the sources of incongruence in these phylogenomic studies using an extended transcriptome dataset.Our analyses showed that unevenly distributed missing data can be severely misleading by inflating node support despite the absence of phylogenetic signal. In consequence, only...

Understanding how natural environments shape phenotypic variation is a major aim in evolutionary biology. Here, we have examined clinal, likely genetically-based variation in morphology among 19 populations of the fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster) from Africa and Europe, spanning a range from sea level to 3000 m altitude and including locations approximating the southern and northern range limit. We were interested in testing whether latitude and altitude have similar phenotypic effects, as has often been postulated....

The process of ecological speciation drives the evolution of locally adapted and reproductively isolated populations in response to divergent natural selection. In Southern Mexico, several lineages of the freshwater fish species of the genus Poecilia have independently colonized toxic, hydrogen sulfide-rich springs. Even though ecological speciation processes are increasingly well understood in this system, aligning the taxonomy of these fish with evolutionary processes has lagged behind. While some sulfide spring populations are classified as ecotypes...

Allopatric speciation often yields ecologically equivalent sister species, so that their secondary admixis enforces competition. The shores of Lake Tanganyika harbor about 120 distinct populations of the cichlid genus Tropheus, but only some are sympatric. When alone, Tropheus occupies a relatively broad depth zone, but in sympatry, fish segregate by depth. To assess the effects of competition, we studied the partial co-occurrence of Tropheus moorii ‘Kaiser’ and ‘Kirschfleck’ with Tropheus polli. A previous study demonstrated...

Background: On average 7% of patients admitted to intensive-care units (ICUs) suffer from a potentially preventable ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP). Our objective was to survey attitudes and practices of ICUs doctors in the field of VAP prevention. Methods: A questionnaire was made available online in 6 languages from April, 1st to September 1st, 2012 and disseminated through international and national ICU societies. We investigated reported practices as regards (1) established clinical guidelines for VAP prevention, and...

The major goal of evolutionary thermal biology is to understand how variation in temperature shapes phenotypic evolution. Comparing thermal reaction norms among populations from different thermal environments allows us to gain insights into the evolutionary mechanisms underlying thermal adaptation. Here, we have examined thermal adaptation in six wild populations of the fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster) from markedly different natural environments by analyzing thermal reaction norms for fecundity, thorax length, wing area and ovariole number under...

The purple saxifrages, Saxifraga sect. Porphyrion subsect. Oppositifoliae, comprise the closest relatives of the arctic-alpine model plant S. oppositifolia and have a centre of diversity in the central and southern European mountain ranges. A multitude of taxa has been described and taxonomic concepts vary among different treatments. Using amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) fingerprinting we show that some taxa indeed form strongly supported genetic entities best recognized on the species level (S. biflora, S. blepharophylla,...