The Southwest Mountainous region of the eastern Himalayas is a hotspot with extraordinarily high biodiversity and endemism, but the processes that have driven this unique diversity are largely unknown. We evaluated processes that have contributed to the current observed high genetic diversity in this region by integrating comparative phylogeography with ecological niche modeling in a study of t...

BACKGROUND The Central Asian flora plays a significant role in Eurasia and the Northern Hemisphere. Calophaca, a member of this flora, includes eight currently recognized species, and is centered in Central Asia, with some taxa extending into adjacent areas. A phylogenetic analysis of the genus utilizing nuclear ribosomal ITS and plastid trnS-trnG and rbcL sequences was carried out in order to ...

Physical stature is used as a proxy for the biological standard of living in the two Germanies before and after unification in an analysis of a cross-sectional sample (1998) of adult heights, as well as among military recruits of the 1990s. West Germans tended to be taller than East Germans throughout the period under consideration. Contrary to official proclamations of a classless society, the...

Spruce beetle, Dendroctonus rufipennis (Kirby), is one of the most broadly distributed bark beetles in North America, extending from Alaska to Newfoundland, south to Arizona. It colonizes most species of spruce within its range. Usually it is associated with highly stressed or killed trees, but under certain conditions undergoes landscape level eruptions that kill millions of trees (Werner and ...

Soaring migrants travelling through Israel use three principal routes which are used in the opposite directions during the spring and autumn: (1) the Western Route lies mainly along the western edge of the central mountain range, ( 2 ) the Eastern Route lies mainly along the Jordan Valley, crossing the mountain range during part of the day, continuing southward along the Dead Sea towards the Si...

In this paper, we will study the simplest kind of beauty that can be found in a simple piece of music and can be appreciated universally. The proposed model suggest that there is a link between beautiful music and the Dyson distribution which seems to be the result of a deeper optimisation process between randomness and regularity. Then we show that beautiful music need to satisfy a more fundam...

In this paper, we will study the simplest kind of beauty that can be found in a simple visual pattern and can be appreciated universally. The proposed model suggest that there is a link between beautiful pattern and a deeper optimisation process between randomness and regularity. Then we show that beautiful patterns need to satisfy a more fundamental law that seeks to deliver the highest amount...

persian carpet weaving is one of iran’s most famous industries that has attracted the world’s attention to persian arts through the centuries. what above all, have given prominence to persian carpet as a beautiful work of art are the pattern and its composition in a two-dimensional space. the diversity of patterns, use of deep and beautiful colors, good composition, harmony of colors, delicate ...

Precipitation patterns and their variations over the Tibetan Plateau (TP) are mainly dominated by Asian summer monsoon, westerlies, interactions. The exact extent of monsoon’s influence, however, remains undetermined. Referencing climatological northern boundary index East we demonstrate that 300 mm precipitation isoline from May to September can be utilized as an indicator monsoon TP, allowing...

Abstract An integrative taxonomic analysis of Sundaic populations Gekko smithii from the Thai-Malaya Peninsula, Sumatra, and Borneo recovered four deeply divergent mitochondrial lineages that are separated by major geographic barriers (mountains seaways). Furthermore, they bear a number concordant statistically significant differences in meristic morphometric features, morphospatial separation ...