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Global gradients in species biodiversity are expected to reflect tighter packing of species closer to the equator. Yet, empirical validation of these patterns has so far focused on less diverse taxa, with comparable assessments of mega-diverse groups historically constrained by the taxonomic impediment. Here we assess the temporal and spatial turnover dynamics of arthropod communities sampled across 129 globally distributed monitoring sites. Overall, we encountered more than 150,000 unique BINs (i.e., species proxies). We show that global differences in community compositional change are linked to latitudinal, spatial, and temporal gradients, which are largely consistent across biogeographic regions. This general latitudinal imprint on community composition provides a mechanistic underpinning for global biodiversity gradients.

Pisum sativum L. (Fabaceae) is important in diet due to its fiber content, protein, starch, trace elements and phytochemical substances. Dichlorvos (2, 3-dichlorovinyl dimethyl phosphate) is commonly known as organophosphates belong to the classes of insecticides that are used to control households and stored products insects. The aim of this study was to analyze the kinetic characteristics of esterase enzyme from four different varieties of Pisum sativum L. using qualitative and quantitative method and also the docking position of esterase with Dichlorvos by insilico method. According to our study the total activity was highest for Arka Nirmala and Arka Priya varieties. The specific activity was highest for Arka Mayur variety. Km and Vmax, were found to be higher for Arka Uttam. The optimum temperature and pH for all the varieties were found to be same, 40�C and 7.5 respectively. The inhibitor studies showed Arka Nirmala was more sensitive to inhibitor. From the fitness and interaction profile it was found that the inhibitor dichlorovos is an effective pesticide which can be used to inhibit esterase activity. It has one hydrogen bond of H-S and had an amino acid residue at ARG57.

Publisher Copyright: © 2021 The Authors. Molecular Ecology Resources published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. To associate specimens identified by molecular characters to other biological knowledge, we need reference sequences annotated by Linnaean taxonomy. In this study, we (1) report the creation of a comprehensive reference library of DNA barcodes for the arthropods of an entire country (Finland), (2) publish this library, and (3) deliver a new identification tool for insects and spiders, as based on this resource. The reference library contains mtDNA COI barcodes for 11,275 (43%) of 26,437 arthropod species known from Finland, including 10,811 (45%) of 23,956 insect species. To quantify the improvement in identification accuracy enabled by the current reference library, we ran 1000 Finnish insect and spider species through the Barcode of Life Data system (BOLD) identification engine. Of these, 91% were correctly assigned to a unique species when compared to the new reference library alone, 85% were correctly identified when compared to BOLD with the new material included, and 75% with the new material excluded. To capitalize on this resource, we used the new reference material to train a probabilistic taxonomic assignment tool, FinPROTAX, scoring high success. For the full-length barcode region, the accuracy of taxonomic assignments at the level of classes, orders, families, subfamilies, tribes, genera, and species reached 99.9%, 99.9%, 99.8%, 99.7%, 99.4%, 96.8%, and 88.5%, respectively. The FinBOL arthropod reference library and FinPROTAX are available through the Finnish Biodiversity Information Facility (www.laji.fi) at https://laji.fi/en/theme/protax. Overall, the FinBOL investment represents a massive capacity-transfer from the taxonomic community of Finland to all sectors of society.

The reliable taxonomic identification of organisms through DNA sequence data requires a well parameterized library of curated reference sequences. However, it is estimated that just 15% of described animal species are represented in public sequence repositories. To begin to address this deficiency, we provide DNA barcodes for 1,500,003 animal specimens collected from 23 terrestrial and aquatic ecozones at sites across Canada, a nation that comprises 7% of the planet’s land surface. In total, 14 phyla, 43 classes, 163 orders, 1123 families, 6186 genera, and 64,264 Barcode Index Numbers (BINs; a proxy for species) are represented. Species-level taxonomy was available for 38% of the specimens, but higher proportions were assigned to a genus (69.5%) and a family (99.9%). Voucher specimens and DNA extracts are archived at the Centre for Biodiversity Genomics where they are available for further research. The corresponding sequence and taxonomic data can be accessed through the Barcode of Life Data System, GenBank, the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, and the Global Genome Biodiversity Network Data Portal., Measurement(s)DNA • digital imagingTechnology Type(s)taxonomic diversity assessment by targeted gene survey • digital curationFactor Type(s)species • geographic location • habitatSample Characteristic - OrganismMetazoaSample Characteristic - Environmentterrestrial biome • freshwater biome • marine biomeSample Characteristic - LocationCanada Machine-accessible metadata file describing the reported data: 10.6084/m9.figshare.10298354

We report one year (2013–2014) of biomonitoring an insect community in a tropical old-growth rain forest, during construction of an industrial-level geothermal electricity project. This is the first-year reaction by the species-rich insect biodiversity; six subsequent years are being analyzed now. The site is on the margin of a UNESCO Natural World Heritage Site, Área de Conservación Guanacaste (ACG), in northwestern Costa Rica. This biomonitoring is part of Costa Rica’s ongoing efforts to sustainably retain its wild biodiversity through biodevelopmental integration with its societies. Essential tools are geothermal engineering needs, entomological knowledge, insect species-rich forest, government–NGO integration, common sense, DNA barcoding for species-level identification, and Malaise traps. This research is tailored for integration with its society at the product level. We combine an academic view with on-site engineering decisions. This biomonitoring requires alpha-level DNA barcoding combined with centuries of morphology-based entomological taxonomy and ecology. Not all desired insect community analyses are performed; they are for data from subsequent years combined with this year. We provide enough analysis to be used by both guilds now. This biomonitoring has shown, for the first year, that the geothermal project impacts only the biodiversity within a zone less than 50 m from the project margin.

Three new genera are described:Michener(Proteropinae),Bioalfa(Rogadinae), andHermosomastax(Rogadinae). Keys are given for the New World genera of the following braconid subfamilies: Agathidinae, Braconinae, Cheloninae, Homolobinae, Hormiinae, Ichneutinae, Macrocentrinae, Orgilinae, Proteropinae, Rhysipolinae, and Rogadinae. In these subfamilies 416 species are described or redescribed. Most of the species have been reared and all but 13 are new to science. A consensus sequence of the COI barcodes possessed by each species is employed to diagnose the species, and this approach is justified in the introduction. Most descriptions consist of a lateral or dorsal image of the holotype, a diagnostic COI consensus barcode, the Barcode Index Number (BIN) code with a link to the Barcode of Life Database (BOLD), and the holotype specimen information required by the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature. The following species are treated and those lacking authorship are newly described here with authorship attributable to Sharkey except for the new species of Macrocentrinae which are by Sharkey & van Achterberg: AGATHIDINAE:Aerophilus paulmarshi,Mesocoelus davidsmithi,Neothlipsis bobkulai,Plesiocoelus vanachterbergi,Pneumagathis erythrogastra(Cameron, 1905),Therophilus bobwhartoni,T. donaldquickei,T. gracewoodae,T. maetoi,T. montywoodi,T. penteadodiasae,Zacremnops brianbrowni,Z. coatlicueSharkey, 1990,Zacremnops cressoni(Cameron, 1887),Z. ekchuahSharkey, 1990,Z. josefernandezi,Zelomorpha sarahmeierottoae. BRACONINAE:Bracon alejandromarini,B. alejandromasisi,B. alexamasisae,B. andresmarini,B. andrewwalshi,B. anniapicadoae,B. anniemoriceae,B. barryhammeli,B. bernardoespinozai,B. carlossanabriai,B. chanchini,B. christophervallei,B. erasmocoronadoi,B. eugeniephillipsae,B. federicomatarritai,B. frankjoycei,B. gerardovegai,B. germanvegai,B. isidrochaconi,B. jimlewisi,B. josejaramilloi,B. juanjoseoviedoi,B. juliodiazi,B. luzmariaromeroae,B. manuelzumbadoi,B. marialuisariasae,B. mariamartachavarriae,B. mariorivasi,B. melissaespinozae,B. nelsonzamorai,B. nicklaphami,B. ninamasisae,B. oliverwalshi,B. paulamarinae,B. rafamoralesi,B. robertofernandezi,B. rogerblancoi,B. ronaldzunigai,B. sigifredomarini,B. tihisiaboshartae,B. wilberthbrizuelai,Digonogastra montylloydi,D. montywoodi,D. motohasegawai,D. natwheelwrighti,D. nickgrishini. CHELONINAE:Adelius adrianguadamuzi,A. gauldiShimbori & Shaw, 2019,A. janzeniShimbori & Shaw, 2019,Ascogaster gloriasihezarae,A. grettelvegae,A. guillermopereirai,A. gustavoecheverrii,A. katyvandusenae,A. luisdiegogomezi,Chelonus alejandrozaldivari,C. gustavogutierrezi,C. gustavoinduni,C. harryramirezi,C. hartmanguidoi,C. hazelcambroneroae,C. iangauldi,C. isidrochaconi,C. janecheverriae,C. jeffmilleri,C. jennyphillipsae,C. jeremydewaardi,C. jessiehillae,C. jesusugaldei,C. jimlewisi,C. jimmilleri,C. jimwhitfieldi,C. johanvalerioi,C. johnburnsi,C. johnnoyesi,C. jorgebaltodanoi,C. jorgehernandezi,C. josealfredohernandezi,C. josefernandeztrianai,C. josehernandezcortesi,C. josemanuelperezi,C. josephinerodriguezae,C. juanmatai,C. junkoshimurae,C. kateperezae,C. luciariosae,C. luzmariaromeroae,C. manuelpereirai,C. manuelzumbadoi,C. marianopereirai,C. maribellealvarezae,C. markmetzi,C. markshawi,C. martajimenezae,C. mayrabonillae,C. meganmiltonae,C. melaniamunozae,C. michaelstroudi,C. michellevanderbankae,C. mingfangi,C. minorcarmonai,C. monikaspringerae,C. moniquegilbertae,C. motohasegawai,C. nataliaivanovae,C. nelsonzamorai,C. normwoodleyi,C. osvaldoespinozai,C. pamelacastilloae,C. paulgoldsteini,C. paulhansoni,C. paulheberti,C. petronariosae,C. ramyamanjunathae,C. randallgarciai,C. rebeccakittelae,C. robertoespinozai,C. robertofernandezi,C. rocioecheverriae,C. rodrigogamezi,C. ronaldzunigai,C. rosibelelizondoae,C. rostermoragai,C. ruthfrancoae,C. scottmilleri,C. scottshawi,C. sergioriosi,C. sigifredomarini,C. stevearonsoni,C. stevestroudi,C. sujeevanratnasinghami,C. sureshnaiki,C. torbjornekremi,C. yeimycedenoae,Leptodrepana alexisae,L. erasmocoronadoi,L. felipechavarriai,L. freddyquesadai,L. gilbertfuentesi,L. manuelriosi,Phanerotoma almasolisae,P. alvaroherrerai,P. anacordobae,P. anamariamongeae,P. andydeansi,P. angelagonzalezae,P. angelsolisi,P. barryhammeli,P. bernardoespinozai,P. calixtomoragai,P. carolinacanoae,P. christerhanssoni,P. christhompsoni,P. davesmithi,P. davidduthiei,P. dirksteinkei,P. donquickei,P. duniagarciae,P. duvalierbricenoi,P. eddysanchezi,P. eldarayae,P. eliethcantillanoae,P. jenopappi,Pseudophanerotoma alanflemingi,Ps. albanjimenezi,Ps. alejandromarini,Ps. alexsmithi,Ps. allisonbrownae,Ps. bobrobbinsi. HOMOLOBINAE:Exasticolus jennyphillipsae,E. randallgarciai,E. robertofernandezi,E. sigifredomarini,E. tomlewinsoni. HORMIINAE:Hormius anamariamongeae,H. angelsolisi,H. anniapicadoae,H. arthurchapmani,H. barryhammeli,H. carmenretanae,H. carloswalkeri,H. cesarsuarezi,H. danbrooksi,H. eddysanchezi,H. erikframstadi,H. georgedavisi,H. grettelvegae,H. gustavoinduni,H. hartmanguidoi,H. hectoraritai,H. hesiquiobenitezi,H. irenecanasae,H. isidrochaconi, H. jaygallegosi,H. jimbeachi,H. jimlewisi,H. joelcracrafti,H. johanvalerioi,H. johnburleyi,H. joncoddingtoni,H. jorgecarvajali,H. juanmatai,H. manuelzumbadoi,H. mercedesfosterae,H. modonnellyae,H. nelsonzamorai,H. pamelacastilloae,H. raycypessi,H. ritacolwellae,H. robcolwelli,H. rogerblancosegurai,H. ronaldzunigai,H. russchapmani,H. virginiaferrisae,H. warrenbrighami,H. willsflowersi. ICHNEUTINAE:Oligoneurus kriskrishtalkai,O. jorgejimenezi,Paroligoneurus elainehoaglandae,P. julianhumphriesi,P. mikeiviei. MACROCENTRINAE:Austrozele jorgecampabadali,A. jorgesoberoni,Dolichozele gravitarsis(Muesebeck, 1938),D. josefernandeztrianai,D. josephinerodriguezae,Hymenochaonia kalevikulli,H. kateperezae,H. katherinebaillieae,H. katherineellisonae,H. katyvandusenae,H. kazumifukunagae,H. keithlangdoni,H. keithwillmotti,H. kenjinishidai,H. kimberleysheldonae,H. krisnorvigae,H. lilianamadrigalae,H. lizlangleyae,Macrocentrus fredsingeri,M. geoffbarnardi,M. gregburtoni,M. gretchendailyae,M. grettelvegae,M. gustavogutierrezi,M. hannahjamesae,M. harisridhari,M. hillaryrosnerae,M. hiroshikidonoi,M. iangauldi,M. jennyphillipsae,M. jesseausubeli,M. jessemaysharkae,M. jimwhitfieldi,M. johnbrowni,M. johnburnsi,M. jonathanfranzeni,M. jonathanrosenbergi,M. jorgebaltodanoi,M. lucianocapelli. ORGILINAE:Orgilus amyrossmanae,O. carrolyoonae,O. christhompsoni,O. christinemcmahonae,O. dianalipscombae,O. ebbenielsoni,O. elizabethpennisiae,O. evertlindquisti,O. genestoermeri,O. jamesriegeri,O. jeanmillerae,O. jeffmilleri,O. jerrypowelli,O. jimtiedjei,O. johnlundbergi,O. johnpipolyi,O. jorgellorentei,O. larryspearsi,O. marlinricei,O. mellissaespinozae,O. mikesmithi,O. normplatnicki,O. peterrauchi,O. richardprimacki,O. sandraberriosae,O. sarahmirandae,O. scottmilleri,O. scottmorii,Stantonia billalleni,S. brookejarvisae,S. donwilsoni,S. erikabjorstromae,S. garywolfi,S. henrikekmani,S. luismirandai,S. miriamzunzae,S. quentinwheeleri,S. robinkazmierae,S. ruthtifferae. PROTEROPINAE:Hebichneutes tricolorSharkey & Wharton, 1994,Proterops iangauldi,P. vickifunkae,Michener charlesi. RHYSIPOLINAE:Pseudorhysipolis luisfonsecai,P. mailyngonzalezaeRhysipolis julioquirosi. ROGADINAE:Aleiodes adrianaradulovae,A. adrianforsythi,A. agnespeelleae,A. alaneaglei,A. alanflemingi,A. alanhalevii,A. alejandromasisi,A. alessandracallejae,A. alexsmithi,A. alfonsopescadori,A. alisundermieri,A. almasolisae,A. alvarougaldei,A. alvaroumanai,A. angelsolisi,A. annhowdenae,A. bobandersoni,A. carolinagodoyae,A. charlieobrieni,A. davefurthi,A. donwhiteheadi,A. doylemckeyi,A. frankhovorei,A. henryhowdeni,A. ingaShimbori & Shaw, 2020,A. johnchemsaki,A. johnkingsolveri,A. gonodontovorusShimbori & Shaw, 2020,A. manuelzumbadoi,A. mayrabonillae,A. michelledsouzae,A. mikeiviei,A. normwoodleyi,A. pammitchellae,A. pauljohnsoni,A. rosewarnerae,A. steveashei,A. terryerwini,A. willsflowersi,Bioalfa pedroleoni,B. alvarougaldei,B. rodrigogamezi,Choreborogas andydeansi,C. eladiocastroi,C. felipechavarriai,C. frankjoycei,Clinocentrus andywarreni,Cl. angelsolisi,Cystomastax alexhausmanni,Cy. angelagonzalezae,Cy. ayaigarashiae,Hermosomastax clavifemorusQuicke sp. nov.,Heterogamus donstonei,Pseudoyelicones bernsweeneyi,Stiropius bencrairi,S. berndkerni,S. edgargutierrezi,S. edwilsoni,S. ehakernae,Triraphis billfreelandi,T. billmclarneyi,T. billripplei,T. bobandersoni,T. bobrobbinsi,T. bradzlotnicki,T. brianbrowni,T. brianlaueri,T. briannestjacquesae,T. camilocamargoi,T. carlosherrerai,T. carolinepalmerae,T. charlesmorrisi,T. chigiybinellae,T. christerhanssoni,T. christhompsoni,T. conniebarlowae,T. craigsimonsi,T. defectusValerio, 2015,T. danielhubi,T. davidduthiei,T. davidwahli,T. federicomatarritai,T. ferrisjabri,T. mariobozai,T. martindohrni,T. matssegnestami,T. mehrdadhajibabaei,T. ollieflinti,T. tildalauerae,Yelicones dirksteinkei,Y. markmetzi,Y. monserrathvargasae,Y. tricolorQuicke, 1996.Y. woldaiQuicke, 1996.The following new combinations are proposed:Neothlipsis smithi(Ashmead), new combination forMicrodus smithiAshmead, 1894;Neothlipsis pygmaeus(Enderlein), new combination forMicrodus pygmaeusEnderlein, 1920;Neothlipsis unicinctus(Ashmead), new combination forMicrodus unicinctusAshmead, 1894;Therophilus anomalus(Bortoni and Penteado-Dias) new combination forPlesiocoelus anomalusBortoni and Penteado-Dias, 2015;Aerophilus areolatus(Bortoni and Penteado-Dias) new combination forPlesiocoelus areolatusBortoni and Penteado-Dias, 2015;Pneumagathis erythrogastra(Cameron) new combination forAgathis erythrogastraCameron, 1905.Dolichozele citreitarsis(Enderlein), new combination forPaniscozele citreitarsisEnderlein, 1920.Dolichozele fuscivertex(Enderlein) new combination forPaniscozele fuscivertexEnderlein, 1920. Finally,Bassus brooksiSharkey, 1998 is synonymized withAgathis erythrogastraCameron, 1905;Paniscozele griseipesEnderlein, 1920 is synonymized withDolichozele koebeleiViereck, 1911;Paniscozele carinifronsEnderlein, 1920 is synonymized withDolichozele fuscivertex(Enderlein, 1920); andPaniscozele nigricaudaEnderlein,1920 is synonymized withDolichozele quaestor(Fabricius, 1804). (originally described asOphion quaestorFabricius, 1804).

DNA sequencing brings another dimension to exploration of biodiversity, and large-scale mitochondrial DNA cytochrome oxidase I barcoding has exposed many potential new cryptic species. Here, we add complete nuclear genome sequencing to DNA barcoding, ecological distribution, natural history, and subtleties of adult color pattern and size to show that a widespread neotropical skipper butterfly known as Udranomia kikkawai (Weeks) comprises three different species in Costa Rica. Full-length barcodes obtained from all three century-old Venezuelan syntypes of U. kikkawai show that it is a rainforest species occurring from Costa Rica to Brazil. The two new species are Udranomia sallydaleyae Burns, a dry forest denizen occurring from Costa Rica to Mexico, and Udranomia tomdaleyi Burns, which occupies the junction between the rainforest and dry forest and currently is known only from Costa Rica. Whereas the three species are cryptic, differing but slightly in appearance, their complete nuclear genomes totaling 15 million aligned positions reveal significant differences consistent with their 0.00065-Mbp (million base pair) mitochondrial barcodes and their ecological diversification. DNA barcoding of tropical insects reared by a massive inventory suggests that the presence of cryptic species is a widespread phenomenon and that further studies will substantially increase current estimates of insect species richness.

The relationship connecting the biomolecular sequence, the molecular structure, and the biological function is of extreme importance in nanostructure analysis such as drug discovery. Previous studies involving multiple sequence alignment of biomolecules have demonstrated that associated sites are indicative of the structural and functional characteristics of biomolecules, comparable to methods such as consensus sequences analysis. In this paper, a new method to detect associated sites in aligned sequence ensembles is proposed. It involves the use of multiple sub-tables (or levels) of two-dimensional contingency table analysis. The idea is to incorporate analysis by using a concept known as granular computing, which represents information at different levels of granularity. The analysis involves two phases. The first phase includes labeling of the molecular sites in the p53 protein multiple sequence alignment according to the detected associated patterns. The sites are consequently labeled into three different types based on their site characteristics: 1) conserved sites, 2) associated sites and 3) hypervariate sites. In the second phase, the significance of the extracted site patterns is evaluated with respect to targeted structural and functional characteristics of the p53 protein. The results indicate that the extracted site patterns are significantly associated with some of the known functionalities of p53, a cancer suppressor. Furthermore, when these sites are aligned with p63 and p73, the homologs of p53 without the same cancer suppressing property, based on the common domains, the sites significantly discriminate between the human sequences of the p53 family. Therefore, the study confirms the importance of these detected sites that could indicate their differences in cancer suppressing property.

Flash memory based SSD (solid state disk) has quick access time, which make it an attractive storage device for read-intensive applications like VoD (Video-on-Demand). However, flash SSD is much more expensive than HDD (hard disk drive). Thus, we propose a hybrid storage architecture that integrates small capacity flash SSDs into HDDs to form a high-performance and cost-effective storage subsystem for VoD servers. Further, on top of the hybrid storage architecture, a dynamic data replication strategy called FLARE (flash for replication) has been developed. Inspired by the insights of a recent user behavior investigation on a large-scale VoD system, FLARE only makes replicas for the first several minutes of a popular video file. A comprehensive simulation study using a real-world trace on a validated disk simulator demonstrates that FLARE consistently performs better than conventional pure HDD based data striping.