What we're reading

Bookshelf
As we head into the weekend, here’s a few things we’ve noticed that might be worth your screen-time.
In the journals
Rodelo-Urrego, M., Pagán, I., González-Jara, P., Betancourt, M., Moreno-Letelier, a, Ayllón, M. a, et al. 2013. Landscape heterogeneity shapes host-parasite interactions and results in apparent plant-virus codivergence. Molecular Ecology, doi: 10.1111/mec.12232.

Also, environ- mental heterogeneity similarly shaped the spatial genetic structures of host and viruses. This resulted in the congruence between host and virus phylogenies, which does not seem to be due to host-virus co-evolution.

Dart, S. & Eckert, C.G. 2013. Experimental and genetic analyses reveal that inbreeding depression declines with increased self-fertilization among populations of a coastal dune plant. Journal of Evolutionary Biology, doi: 10.1111/jeb.12075.

Based on lifetime measures of dry mass and flower production, ID [inbreeding depression] was stronger in nine [outcrossing] populations [mean ∂ = 1-(fitness of selfed seed/fitness of outcrossed seed) = 0.39] than 16 [selfing] populations (mean ∂ = 0.03). However, predispersal ID during seed maturation was not stronger for LF populations, and ID was not more pronounced under simulated drought, a pervasive stress in sand dune habitat.

In the blogosphere
Our own Tim Vines discusses how to decide what to put in a public archive on the Dryad blog.
An adjunct lecturer explains why her course syllabus instructs her students not to call her “professor.”
A new study concludes that there’s no racial bias in NIH funding, but the sample size is, um, kind of underwhelming.

About Jeremy Yoder

Jeremy B. Yoder is an Associate Professor of Biology at California State University Northridge, studying the evolution and coevolution of interacting species, especially mutualists. He is a collaborator with the Joshua Tree Genome Project and the Queer in STEM study of LGBTQ experiences in scientific careers. He has written for the website of Scientific American, the LA Review of Books, the Chronicle of Higher Education, The Awl, and Slate.
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