Recent ucsb items

Final Report Rancho Mariano Biodiversity Surveys 2025: Select Macroinvertebrates & Herpetofauna

Tue, 13 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

● >800 hours were spent in the ﬁeld and lab to survey, image, collect, and identify macroinvertebrate, amphibian, and reptile diversity on Ventura Land Trust’s Rancho Mariano Preserve ● 851 macroinvertebrate specimens were collected and incorporated into the UCSB Natural History Collection, and 32 observations were recorded. ● 190 unique taxa, 22 unique orders, and 85 unique families were collected or observed (checklist included). ● Sensitive riparian (dry river bed) and coastal sage scrub habitats are noted because of their high diversity, especially in native bees. ● Bombus crotchii and Bombus californicus were observed multiple times in two locations. ● Established 11 sampling sites for macroinvertebrates to allow for long-term sampling and historical comparisons ● 20 species of native amphibians and reptiles occur on Ventura Land Trust’s Rancho Mariano Preserve based on historical records, observations, and survey results ● One species, Blainville’s Horned Lizard (Phrynosoma...

Polymorphism as a precursor to speciation in a California endemic salamander

Tue, 13 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The salamander species Batrachoseps stebbinsi is an underrepresented subject in morphological studies. Authors have noted morphological differences and genetic divergence between northern and southern populations. This has led to speculation as to whether or not the northern and southern populations are separate species due to their observed differences and the apparent gap in their distribution. To date, no formal analysis of range-wide morphological data has been published. In addition, this species contains distinct color morphologies that appear to be correlated with habitat. This study aims to quantify the color morphology and shape differences (body and limb proportions) between northern and southern populations of B. stebbinsi. The role of sexual dimorphism and size at maturity will be included in the analysis. Whether selection is driving the observed variation in color and shape differences is not yet known.

Poster presented at CA/NV Amphibian Task Force Meeting...

Genital Morphology of California Land Snails From Family Xanthonychidae

Tue, 13 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Sexual conflict has the potential to drive evolution of both reproductive behavior and genital morphology. This project investigates evidence for sexual conflict in gential morphology of simultaneous hermaphrodite shoulderband snails, Family Xanthonychidae. Shoulderband snails are a group of land snails which occur in coastal, foothill, mountain, and desert habitats across California. This study uses measurement data from 12 species from across Southern California. It focuses on the role of sexual behaviors in shaping the morphology of reproductive organs, including the length of the penis+epiphallus, vagina, bursa diverticulum, and bursa tract. The research findings will provide insight into the natural selection and evolutionary processes that have driven the development of reproductive organs and gross morphology in California land snails. Consistent with coevolution, male (penis + epiphallus) and female (vagina) length showed a strong and significant positive correlation...

Divergence Time Estimation & Paleobiogeography of the Salamander Subgenus Plethopsis

Tue, 13 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The disparate global range of Plethodontid salamanders in the Batrachoseps subgenus Plethopsis is unique, and implicates perplexing historical biogeographic scenarios. Using uncorrelated relaxed molecular clock methods and fossil-calibrated divergence estimates from Shen et al. (2016), we present a time-scaled phylogeny for the genus Batrachoseps in order to test hypotheses concerning the diversi?cation of the subgenus Plethopsis. Our estimated divergence time intervals detract support from a hypothesis that Batrachoseps robustus diverged as the ?ow of the Owens river changed course at ca. 3.2 Ma, as evidenced by sediment deposits at Searles Lake (Phillips, 2008). Instead, our estimates support that diversi?cation of the known Plethopsis species began earlier, in the late Miocene to early Pliocene, as extensional activity formed the proto-Owens Valley and led to ensuing hydrological and climatic changes, driving vicariance between populations in the proto-southern Sierra Nevada...

Morphological variation in a Threatened Amphibian

Tue, 13 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Tehachapi Slender Salamander (Batrachoseps stebbinsi) is endemic to the Tehachapi Mountains to the Piute Mountains and is listed as a threatened species by the State of California. They are found in scattered populations from the San Andreas Fault to Walker Basin. Previous studies had found that northern and southern populations of this species have high levels of genetic, color, and size differences. It has been suggested that the two populations of B. stebbinsi could be separate species (Hansen and Wake 2005). We obtained morphological measurements from images of preserved specimens from both populations. No signiﬁcant differences in shape or size was detected between these two populations. In future work we will increase sample size and incorporate evolution of color variation across the range of this species.

Poster presented at UCSB spring URCA colliquium in 2023

Exploring Connections Between Soil and Sage Scrub Health in a Restored Ecosystem

Tue, 13 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Past observations indicate that scrubs such as California Sagebrush (Artemisia californica) are more successful in certain parts of UCSB North Campus Open Space. We hypothesized that persistent soil saturation in human-transported soil at the NCOS Mesa reduced plant vigor. We conducted a comparison of vegetation and soil moisture to evaluate the effects of soil alteration and guide restoration efforts.

This poster was presented at the 2025 UC Santa Barbara Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities (URCA) poster colloquium.

Microhabitat Preferences and Disease Dynamics in Endemic Sympatric Slender Salamanders on Santa Cruz Island

Tue, 13 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Santa Cruz Island harbors two congeneric slender salamanders: the island-endemic Batrachoseps pacificus, and Batrachoseps nigriventris. Over two years, habitat transect and coverboard surveys were conducted, recording microhabitat characteristics, collecting morphometric data, and swabbing for the chytrid fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), a globally significant amphibian disease responsible for widespread declines and extinctions in amphibian populations worldwide. Results indicate spatial variation in population distribution and differences between species in body size and morphology. At syntopic sites, body size differed between the two species but not when comparing sites where only one species occurred. Bd was detected in over 25% of each species. Differences were detected in habitat use, with B. nigriventris being present more evenly across surveyed habitat types, and also across a broader range of microclimate. These findings suggest another explanation...

Combination of ATLAS and CMS Searches for Higgs Boson Pair Production at s=13 TeV

Tue, 13 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This Letter presents a combination of searches for Higgs boson pair ( ) production performed by the ATLAS and CMS Collaborations using proton-proton collision datasets recorded at during the Large Hadron Collider Run 2, corresponding to integrated luminosities ranging between 126 and . The upper limit at the 95% confidence level on the total signal strength, defined as the ratio of the measured cross section to the standard model (SM) prediction, corresponds to 2.5, with an expected value of 1.7 (2.8) assuming the absence (presence) of the SM signal. The strength of the signal is measured to be relative to the SM prediction. The observed significance is found to be 1.1 standard deviations whereas 1.3 are expected for the SM signal. Constraints are set on the Higgs boson trilinear self-coupling and on the couplings of two Higgs bosons to two vector bosons, both normalized to the SM predictions and denoted as and , respectively. The observed individual constraints at the...

Autonomous quantification of kelp biomass on offshore aquaculture installations using side scan sonar

Fri, 9 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

In recent years, global demand for macroalgae has grown as a sustainable food resource, potential tool for marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR), and various pharmaceutical and cosmetic applications. Traditional commercial macroalgae monitoring is time-, labor-, and cost-intensive, with manual inspection limited to surveying small areas and shallow depth ranges. While advanced acoustic technologies such as side scan sonar (SSS) have long been established as a tool within the fishing industry, sonar use in commercial macroalgae aquaculture has been limited. Sonar allows for broad scales of qualitative and quantitative measurement and thus will be an important component in autonomous monitoring of offshore aquaculture installations to assess infrastructure integrity and crop growth. Here, we present a method for the analysis of side scan sonar observations on a commercial macroalgae installation. We utilize geometric principles to estimate kelp height on each farm line and approximate...

A Swinging Pendulum and Future Possibilities

Fri, 9 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This essay is the author’s response to a forum focused on The Secular Paradox: On the Religiosity of the Not Religious (Blankholm 2022), which was published in Secular Studies in December 2024. The essay has three parts. The first part summarizes The Secular Paradox as the author sees it today. It emphasizes the importance of taking the titular “paradox” seriously, as an ostensible contradiction rather than mere confusion. It also considers the persistent challenges we face when trying to study something paradoxical. Our language and concepts fail us, and The Secular Paradox diagnoses that failure. The second part summarizes the essays in the forum and engages with each of them to highlight their insights and draw attention to the important projects from which they’re drawn. The final part describes several future directions in the study of secularism, secularity, and secular people.

Secularism and Nonreligion: Making Sense of Confusing Concepts

Fri, 9 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

ABSTRACT: Secularism and nonreligion are confusing concepts. Over time, with strategic redefinition, they have accreted several, sometimes contradictory meanings. Today, their semantic excess creates confusion, both among scholars and between scholars and the public. This confusion undermines their analytic value and makes the rich conversations they generate unnecessarily obscure. By building on scholarship from several subfields, this essay observes key moments in these concepts' redefinition and describes the strategies their new meanings have supported. Understanding how different subfields approach secularism and nonreligion—and how those approaches relate to one another—helps us rethink our basic assumptions and overcome our field‐specific path‐dependency. Making sense of secularism and nonreligion is important because doing so helps describe enormous changes as disparate as declining rates of religion and the crisis of political liberalism. We cannot...

Catalyst Control of Alkylbenzene Molecular Architecture in Tandem Catalytic Hydrogenolysis-Aromatization of Polyethylene

Thu, 8 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Abstract Upcycling of polyethylene (PE) can transform waste material into chemically valuable building blocks such as linear alkylbenzenes, with potential use in anionic surfactants. Alkylbenzenes can be formed by tandem hydrogenolysis-aromatization of PE, catalyzed by Pt nanoparticles supported on an acidic oxide. In the complex mixture of hydrocarbon products, the difficulty in identifying precise structures makes it hard to predict how the choice of catalyst and variations in PE feedstock will influence molecular architectures. Here, we report a detailed characterization of the alkylbenzenes, with insight into the catalytic mechanism that controls their formation. Acid-catalyzed skeletal isomerization is the key factor that determines branching, initiates cyclization, and dictates aromatic substitution patterns. Highly acidic Pt/F-Al2O3 catalyst yields predominantly 3,4-dialkyl-substituted toluenes, in which the lightly branched alkyl substituents have a very small number of...

Coordinated Volunteer's Dilemma

Tue, 6 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Coordinated Volunteer's Dilemma

Relativistic Propulsion Using Directed Energy

Mon, 5 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Relativistic Propulsion Using Directed Energy

Quantitative X‐ray scattering and reflectivity measurements of polymer thin films with 2D detectors

Thu, 1 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Abstract We describe a fully open‐sourced Python package to process raw X‐ray scattering data using a GANESHA SAXSLAB facility, and review in this manuscript the connection of X‐ray scattering theories with the open‐sourced package. This package affords researchers more flexibility in analyzing and visualizing X‐ray scattering and reflectivity data from what is now a commonplace facility at many universities and research laboratories engaged in polymer research. We briefly review the applications of X‐ray scattering and diffraction, followed by the scattering theories. A pedagogical introduction to processing X‐ray scattering data is provided using the modules in the Python package. We compare conventions to visualize and interpret transmission and grazing‐incidence scattering data using self‐assembled lamellar morphology of bottlebrush copolymers as an example, then describe how area detectors measure specular and off‐specular reflectivity. Examples of in‐house reflectivity and...

Combination of inclusive top-quark pair production cross-section measurements using ATLAS and CMS data at s = 7 and 8 TeV

Wed, 30 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

A combination of measurements of the inclusive top-quark pair production cross-section performed by ATLAS and CMS in proton–proton collisions at centre-of-mass energies of 7 and 8 TeV at the LHC is presented. The cross-sections are obtained using top-quark pair decays with an opposite-charge electron–muon pair in the final state and with data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of about 5 fb−1 at s$$ \sqrt{s} $$ = 7 TeV and about 20 fb−1 at s$$ \sqrt{s} $$ = 8 TeV for each experiment. The combined cross-sections are determined to be 178.5 ± 4.7 pb at s$$ \sqrt{s} $$ = 7 TeV and 243.3−5.9+6.0$$ {243.3}_{-5.9}^{+6.0} $$ pb at s$$ \sqrt{s} $$ = 8 TeV with a correlation of 0.41, using a reference top-quark mass value of 172.5 GeV. The ratio of the combined cross-sections is determined to be R8/7 = 1.363 ± 0.032. The combined measured cross-sections and their ratio agree well with theory calculations using several parton distribution function (PDF) sets. The values of the top-quark...

Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology

Wed, 30 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology

Generating Metrically Accurate Homeric Poetry withRecurrent Neural Networks

Wed, 30 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

We investigate the generation of metrically accurate Homeric poetry using recurrent neural networks (RNN). We assess two models: a basic encoder-decoder RNN and the hierarchical recurrent encoderdecoder model (HRED). We assess the quality of the generated lines of poetry using quantitative metrical analysis and expert evaluation. This evaluation reveals that while the basic encoder-decoder is able to capture complex poetic meter, it under performs in terms of semantic coherence. The HRED model, however, produces more semantically coherent lines of poetry but is unable to capture the meter. Our research highlights the importance of expert evaluation and suggests that future research should focus on encoder-decoder models that balance various types of input – both immediate and long-range.

What Computers Still Can't Do: A Critique of Artificial Reason

Wed, 30 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

What Computers Still Can't Do: A Critique of Artificial Reason

Virtual Reality as the End of the Enlightenment Project

Wed, 30 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Virtual Reality as the End of the Enlightenment Project

The history of classics in California Community Colleges: a study of curricular shifts, 1992–2024

Wed, 30 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Abstract: We present the first long-term analysis of Classics instruction in California’s community colleges, drawing on a dataset of nearly 47,000 course sections offered between 1993 and 2024. While the field of Classics has been the subject of ongoing discussion and restructuring in four-year institutions, its presence in two-year colleges, where nearly 40% of US undergraduates are enrolled, has received far less attention. We identify three distinct phases in the curricular history of Classics in the California Community Colleges (CCC) system: growth through the 1990s and early 2000s; a sharp contraction in 2007–2008; and a prolonged period of reduced offerings from 2008 to 2024. The data reveal a 38% overall decline in annual Classics-related course sections since 2008, with steep reductions in Latin, which fell by 86%. Our analysis shows that specialised areas with limited general education alignment were disproportionately affected. We argue that institutional...

Virtual Reality as the End of the Enlightenment Project

Wed, 30 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Virtual Reality as the End of the Enlightenment Project

Chimpanzees steal less from their friends and expect them to do the same

Fri, 25 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Are chimpanzees able to inhibit anti-social behavior towards their friends? And how do they react when a friend acts anti-socially towards them? Past work has demonstrated that chimpanzees are selectively prosocial towards their friends: they groom them more, help them more, and share more food with them. However, the influence of friendship on anti-social behavior remains underexplored. Here, we use food theft as a test case to examine (1) the influence of friendship on anti-social behavior and (2) emotional responses to anti-social behavior. We assigned 26 chimpanzees to pairs of friends (friend condition) and non-friends (non-friend condition) based on 800 h of observations of naturally occurring interactions. The pairs then participated in a stealing task, in which one chimpanzee (the “thief”) could pull a tray with pieces of pineapple, on which the other was feeding (the “victim”). Friends and non-friends were matched on sex and dominance rank. We found that chimpanzees...

Degradation Mechanisms of Fluorinated Disordered Rocksalt Cathodes: Effects of Electrolyte Chemistry and Discharge Voltage

Fri, 25 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Cation-disordered rock-salt (DRX) oxides have emerged as a promising class of high energy density cathodes for next-generation lithium-ion batteries. Fluorination has been widely employed to tune the redox chemistry and structural stability of these materials, leading to enhanced electrochemical performance. However, the degradation mechanisms of fluorinated DRX (F-DRX) cathodes during electrochemical cycling remain poorly understood. Here, we investigate the degradation behavior of an F-DRX cathode cycled in a conventional carbonate-based electrolyte and a localized high-concentration electrolyte (LHCE). By correlating electrochemical performance with interfacial and bulk structural evolution, we elucidate the role of electrolyte chemistry and deep discharge voltage in governing structural transformation and degradation. The results reveal more pronounced surface and bulk structural changes in the conventional LiPF6-carbonate electrolyte relative to LiFSI-LHCE, indicating accelerated...

Spread of invasive ginger Zingiber spectabile (Zingiberaceae) in successional and old-growth tropical forest

Thu, 24 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Introduction: Zingiber spectabile, a shade-tolerant ornamental ginger native to Southeast Asia, is invading tropical wet forest understories in Central America. This shade-tolerant species is of concern, yet no ecological impact or management assessment exists. Objective: To examine the invasion patterns of Z. spectabile in primary and secondary forests, reproductive capacity, effects on understory vegetation, and the effectiveness of control efforts. Methods: Field trials were conducted in 30-year-old secondary forest and in primary forest remnants in southern Costa Rica that were invaded by Z. spectabile, which was introduced to the region in the early 1990s. Control efforts consisted of aboveground biomass removal and herbicide application to rhizomes. Results: Both primary and secondary forests showed substantial invasion, but stem and inflorescence densities and aboveground biomass were three-fold higher in secondary forests, suggesting that secondary forests are more susceptible...

The worst energy policy in the world

Thu, 24 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The Iran war could serve as a turning point in accelerating the global transition away from fossil fuels: Every additional day that oil and gas prices are high and future supplies are uncertain, wind and solar power-cheaper and more scalable than ever before-grow all the more appealing. But nearly half of the world's countries have adopted emergency subsidies that research shows will make this transition slower, more expensive, and less equitable.

Aboveground Biomass Accumulation Over Two Decades Across a Gradient of Tropical Forest Restoration Interventions

Thu, 24 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Tropical forest restoration is an important nature-based solution that can sequester carbon as a means to mitigate climate change. Restoration approaches range from natural regeneration to intensive tree planting, but few studies have compared aboveground biomass (AGB) stocks over decadal time scales across multiple restoration treatments implemented at the same sites. Here we leverage data from a two-decade restoration experiment in southern Costa Rica; in 2004-2006, we established restoration plots representing a gradient of intervention intensity: natural regeneration (no planting), applied nucleation (planting tree clusters), and plantation (full planting). We compare 18-20 years of AGB across treatments of the four planted tree species and naturally recruited trees. We also examine the relationships between AGB pools and structural metrics derived from UAV-borne LiDAR data collected after 16-18 years. Because most AGB was in planted trees, AGB was about 6.5 times greater...

Functional and structural characterization of dendritic spine pathology in a mouse model of tauopathy

Mon, 21 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Abnormal deposition of the microtubule-associated protein tau has long been associated with spine loss and neuronal death in neurodegenerative diseases. Elucidating how pathological tau affects synaptic activity in vivo and whether individual synaptic properties dictate the survival fate of dendritic spines is central to understanding disease progression. Here we examined the visual response properties of layer 2/3 primary visual cortical dendrites and spines, using longitudinal two-photon calcium imaging in the P301S mouse model of tauopathy. Neuronal outputs in tau mutant mice were hyperactive and poorly tuned whereas dendritic spine responses were also poorly tuned but hypoactive. Moreover, in controls, stable spines were larger in size and more sharply tuned but less active compared to those that turned over. Such a function-to-structure relationship was absent in mutants. Our findings illustrate how tauopathy disrupts the preferential maintenance of well-tuned inputs...

Ventura Marsh Milk-vetch (Astragalus pycnostachyus var. lanosissimus) 2025 Management and Monitoring Report

Thu, 17 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Ventura marsh milk-vetch (Astragalus pycnostachyus var. lanosissimus) is a California state and federally endangered species in the legume family (Fabaceae) which historically grew in alluvial coastal systems in Los Angeles and Ventura counties (USFWS, 2020). The species was declared extinct in the 1960s after several decades without record in surveys, but was rediscovered in 1997 in Oxnard at a planned development site; development was halted and the site was preserved in the following decades. Since then, the species has been reintroduced at McGrath State Beach in 2004 and Carpinteria Salt Marsh Reserve in 2002.

The establishment of Ventura marsh milk-vetch at North Campus Open Space and Coal Oil Point Reserve (COPR) in Santa Barbara County represent novel introductions outside of the historic range. These two locations comprise the upper and lower arms of the Devereux Slough, and intermittently tidal estuarine system. Ventura marsh milk-vetch prefers shallow or perched...

The Linguistic Marginalization of Low-Resource Languages: Confronting AI's Limits in Digital Cultural Heritage

Wed, 16 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

ABSTRACT: Cultural-heritage institutions are increasingly digitizing vast collections to preserve and make accessible the histories of diverse communities, including those forcibly displaced. However, a significant and often overlooked challenge in this endeavor lies in the inherent limitations of current artificial intelligence (AI) models, particularly for non-English and low-resource linguistic communities. This article examines how the scarcity and inadequacy of AI tools for languages such as Palestinian Arabic impede deep scholarly and public engagement with crucial historical narratives. Drawing on a detailed case study of the Palestinian Oral History Archive, this article illustrates how a community-governed, linguistically attentive digital archive exposes the limitations of English-centric, high-resource natural language processing pipelines. This article also addresses broader structural inequities shaped by market incentives, data colonialism, institutional capacity...

Korean War POWs’ Individual Gastrodiplomacy: Comparing Morris R. Wills and Clarence Adams’ Odyssey

Tue, 15 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

How does food operate as a medium for informal diplomacy between individuals and nations? In what ways do citizen culinary diplomacy and individual gastrodiplomacy diverge from official or state-sponsored culinary exchanges? This article examines these questions through the experiences of two American POWs from the Korean War, Morris R. Wills and Clarence Adams, focusing on food as a site of private, people-to-people interaction. As POWs in Korea and later as foreign guests in China, Adams and Wills navigated identities suspended between official representation and personal agency, granting them unique access to Chinese diplomats and political elites. How did their trajectories evolve after returning to the United States during the Cultural Revolution? Wills attained a prestigious position at Harvard in the late 1960s, while Adams became the first African American millionaire through his ownership of a Chinese restaurant chain in the 1970s. While Wills prioritized survival—securing...

Forward Introduction: Interior Empire

Tue, 15 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Editors' introduction to a curated selection of excerpts from recent thought-provoking work in the field of transnational American studies.

Review: Levine, Jill Unfaithful. A Translator's Memoir (2025)

Tue, 15 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Review: Levine, Jill Unfaithful. A Translator's Memoir (2025)

Thinking gastrodiplomacy through a gastrological reading of conflict

Tue, 15 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The combination of the fields of study of gastronomy and diplomacy is generating a number of highly valuable academic works that cover multiple dimensions of knowledge and social spheres. However, the potential of gastrodiplomacy to explore conflict (or the possibility of it) has not been fully explored. This article aims to fill this gap by complementing the concept of gastrodiplomacy with that of gastrology. In this way, it aims to consider the relationship between gastronomy, diplomacy and conflict, understanding the latter as the conflict zones that emerge between communities, identities, worldviews or even different ways of understanding the value and uses of gastronomy. Based on this analysis, and assuming that gastronomy is part of every culture and, therefore, is open to a multiplicity of meanings giving rise to ambivalences, paradoxes and tensions, it will be argued that gastronomy (and gastrodiplomacy) as a tool, practice and discourse of mediation (and expansion)...

Food as a vehicle for successful inter-cultural communication among college students: Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) in food and nutrition courses

Tue, 15 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This case study examines how food may play a role in enhancing inter-cultural communication and collaboration through a food-related COIL project among students who are enrolled in food and nutrition courses in two different countries. Students taking a semester-long nutrition course at a university in California and students in a culinary art course in Ecuador worked in groups to complete a Food Product Analysis and Development project. The project focused on Ecuadorian food products, and most of the COIL activities involved examination of food. A qualitative evaluation revealed that food played an important role in enhancing inter-cultural communication and collaboration in different ways. First, food was an effective ice breaker and a tool for team building. Second, food also played a role in learning about culture and identifying similarities between the two cultures in a unique way. The project gave Ecuadorian students the opportunity to showcase their own culture, which...

Introduction to Territories issue on Gastrodiplomacy

Tue, 15 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Introduction to Territories issue on Gastrodiplomacy

Charge readout electronics for the DUNE horizontal drift far detector: design and performance in ProtoDUNE-HD

Tue, 15 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

DUNE (Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment) is a long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment currently under construction, whose far detectors will be the largest liquid argon time projection chambers ever built. This detector design calls for custom-built cryogenic front-end electronics to meet its performance requirements. This paper describes the charge readout electronics that will be used in the DUNE horizontal drift (HD) far detector and presents performance results using data from the ProtoDUNE-HD detector, a 770 ton liquid argon time projection chamber operated at the CERN Neutrino Platform in 2024 that served as the final prototype of the DUNE HD design.

Beyond the Autistic Strengths Narrative: How Autonomy, Anxiety, and Attention Constrain Participation and Recognition in Neurodiverse Teams

Tue, 15 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Background: Strengths-based narratives of autism often presume that autistic individuals’ expertise will naturally translate into better outcomes for the teams they work with. However, such perspectives overlook the fundamentally relational nature of collaborative work, in which teams infer, evaluate, and recognize members’ knowledge and abilities through social interaction. When autistic communication and cognitive styles diverge from neurotypical teamwork norms, autistic individuals’ expertise may remain unrecognized in team contexts. Methods: Our data consist of semi-structured interviews with 35 autistic adults from a larger study and two newly collected serial focus groups with five additional autistic adults, all of whom had experience with team-based collaboration in academic or workplace settings. Using phronetic iterative qualitative data analysis, we identified recurring patterns in participants’ lived experiences of teamwork. Results: We identified three predominant...

Subordinated integration and political waves in the 21st century Latin America

Mon, 14 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

In the 2000s and early 2010s, Brazil, Peru, and Chile experienced leftist electoral victories, reflecting the regional trend known as the Pink Tide. However, in the mid-2010s, the erosion of the popular support for left-wing governments interrupted this process, marking the start of a period of instability. On the one hand, in different countries, conservative forces managed to regain power, renewing the impulse to marketization; on the other hand, left-wing parties kept their electoral strength, obtaining new victories after the late 2010s and even opening the debate about a second left turn in the region. Although these electoral cycles in Brazil, Peru, and Chile reflected domestic political conditions, they cannot be detached from Latin America’s position in the hierarchy of global capitalism. This paper argues that the region’s integration into international trade and global finance has also shaped and subordinated political cycles, introducing varied constraints and opportunities...

UCSB Restoration Register - September 2026

Mon, 14 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The Cheadle Center at UCSB manages more than 340 acres of open space between Ellwood Mesa and Goleta Slough, carrying out ecological restoration, research, and education projects across these sites. Characterized by a rich mosaic of oak woodland, coastal sage scrub, grassland, and wetland ecosystems, the area is known for its relatively high level of biodiversity. The Cheadle Center’s project sites and management areas help protect and strengthen the region’s ecology through habitat conservation, upland restoration, wetland creation and enhancement, and the implementation of sustainable stormwater management solutions. Through careful integration with local watersheds and surrounding natural areas, the Cheadle Center’s management areas provide important corridors and refuge for wildlife, support the long-term preservation of the region’s natural resources, and serve as outdoor classrooms, research sites, and recreational areas for the campus community and the public.

The...

Synapse-Specific Control of Experience-Dependent Plasticity by Presynaptic NMDA Receptors

Sun, 13 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Synapse-Specific Control of Experience-Dependent Plasticity by Presynaptic NMDA Receptors

Remapping California's wildland urban interface: A property-level time-space framework, 2000–2020

Sat, 12 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Wildland fire poses a significant risk to property and people, and these risks tend to be highest in places where flammable, wildland vegetation abuts urban development. Traditionally, efforts to map these areas of intersection, known as the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI), have relied on satellite-derived land cover and census data. While these types of data are valuable for broadly delineating WUI areas, they are constrained in their ability to specifically identify at-risk residential properties and their characteristics over time. This article addresses these challenges through a multi-time-step, property-level framework that enhances current approaches based on moving window mapping, the Time Step Moving Window (TSMW) framework. We implement this framework on approximately 10 million geo-located property records from Zillow's Transaction and Assessment Database for California. Using this framework, we generate estimates of California's WUI from 2000 to 2020 and find that our...

Does demolition improve biodiversity? Linking urban green space and socioeconomic characteristics to avian richness in a shrinking city

Sat, 12 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Anthropogenic change, specifically urbanization, has lasting impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem services. Past work has linked green space variables and socioeconomic characteristics with biodiversity in urban areas. Shrinking cities present an interesting case for studying biodiversity because many of these places have implemented demolition policies to remove vacant buildings from the landscape, which returns previously urbanized land back into a “natural” state. The objective of this study is to investigate the multifaceted relationship among urban green space, socioeconomic characteristics, demolition activities, and avian species richness in the shrinking city of Buffalo, NY. We first establish a baseline understanding of how social and ecological factors are related to avian species richness through generalized linear models (GLM) and then incorporate a variable characterizing demolition to understand how the process of demolition may be impacting species richness relative...

Scope and its role in advancing a science of scaling in landscape ecology

Sat, 12 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

ContextThe scope of a measurement is the ratio of the range (or extent) to the resolution. Scope can also be defined as the number of steps in a measurement instrument given the step size or the distance between two points on a space-time diagram. Scope differs from scale in that it is dimensionless and thus provides a means for comparability across studies.ObjectivesThis perspective argues that advancing a science of scaling in landscape ecology can benefit from acknowledging and embracing the concept of scope to facilitate replications and provide linkages to scaling laws.MethodsScope is defined and linked to existing focii on scale in landscape ecology. A simple case study demonstrates how landscape metrics computed for several extent-to-grain ratios are more similar according to scope than either grain or extent.ResultsMetric distributions naturally group according to scope, with same/similar scopes displaying more similar means and distributions. Distribution shapes also...

Systematic review and best practices for drone remote sensing of invasive plants

Sat, 12 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Abstract Drones have emerged as a cost‐effective solution to detect and map plant invasions, offering researchers and land managers flexibility in flight design, sensors and data collection schedules. A systematic review of trends in drone‐based image collection, data processing and analytical approaches is needed to advance the science of invasive species monitoring and management and improve scalability and replicability. We systematically reviewed studies using drones for plant invasion research to identify knowledge gaps, best practices and a path toward advancing the science of invasive plant monitoring and management. We devised a database of 33 standardized reporting parameters, coded each study to those parameters, calculated descriptive statistics and synthesized how these technologies are being implemented and used. Trends show a general increase in studies since 2009 with a bias toward temperate regions in North America and Europe. Most studies have focused on...

Historical and recent fire ecology on national wildlife refuges: a case study on Aransas National Wildlife Refuge

Sat, 12 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

BackgroundThe southeastern United States consists of diverse ecosystems, many of which are fire-dependent. Fires were common during pre-European times, and many were anthropogenic in origin. Understanding how prescribed burning practices in use today compare to historic fire regimes can provide perspective and context on the role of fire in critical ecosystems. On the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), prescribed burning is conducted to prevent live oak (Quercus fusiformis) encroachment and preserve the openness of the herbaceous wetlands and grasslands for endangered whooping cranes (Grus americana) and Aplomado falcons (Falco femoralis). This field note builds a digital fire atlas of recent prescribed burning on the refuge and compares it to the historical fire ecology of ANWR.ResultsFindings indicate that the refuge is maintaining fire-dependent ecosystems with an extensive burn program that includes a fire return interval between 2 and 10 years on a majority of the refuge,...

Harnessing the full potential of drones for fieldwork

Sat, 12 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Abstract Field-based research in the biological sciences encounters several challenges, including cost, accessibility, safety, and spatial coverage. Drones have emerged as a transformative technology to address these challenges while providing a less intrusive alternative to field surveys. Although drones have mainly been used for high-resolution image collection, their capabilities extend beyond mapping and image production. They can be tailored to track wildlife, measure environmental parameters, and collect physical samples, and their versatility enables researchers to tackle a variety of biodiversity and conservation challenges. In this article, we advocate for drones to be integrated more comprehensively into field-based research, from site reconnaissance to sampling, interventions, and monitoring. We discuss the future innovations needed to harness their full potential, including customized instrumentation, fit-for-purpose software and apps, and better integration with existing...

A research agenda for GIScience in a time of disruptions

Sat, 12 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Social issues, AI, and climate change are just a few of the disruptive focuses impacting science. The field of GIScience is well positioned to respond to accelerating disruptions due to the interdisciplinary nature of the field and the ability of GIScience approaches to be used in support of decision-making. This manuscript aims to start a conversation that will establish a research agenda for GIScience in an age of disruptions. We outline three guiding principles: (1) focusing on the relevance and real-world impact of research, (2) adopting systems-based thinking and contextual approaches and (3) emphasizing inclusive practices. We then outline prioritized research areas organized by what topics are important focal areas (Data and Infrastructure, Artificial Intelligence, and Causality and Generalizability), and what approaches to science we should be attentive to (Impactful Open Science, Collaborative and Convergent Science, and through Diverse Participation and Partnerships)....

Improved prediction of tree species richness and interpretability of environmental drivers using a machine learning approach

Sat, 12 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Biodiversity is in decline globally and predicting species diversity is critically important if current trends are to be reversed. Tree species richness (TSR) has long been a key measure of biodiversity, but considerable uncertainties exist in current models, particularly given the classic statistical assumptions and poor ecological interpretability of machine learning outcomes. Here, we test several ecologically interpretable machine learning approaches to predict TSR and interpret the driving environmental factors in the continental United States. We develop two artificial neural networks (ANN) and one random forest (RF) model to predict TSR using Forest Inventory and Analysis data and 20 environmental covariates and compare them to a classic generalized linear model (GLM). Models were evaluated on an independent, unseen testing dataset using R2 and Mean Absolute Error (MAE) and residual spatial autocorrelation analysis. An Interpretable Machine Learning approach, SHapley Additive...

Parental responses to human infants (and puppy dogs): Evidence that the perception of eyes is especially influential, but eye contact is not.

Fri, 11 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The present investigation tests: (i) whether the perception of an human infants eyes, relative to other facial features, especially strongly elicits parental responses (e.g., appraisals of cuteness and vulnerability); (ii) if, so, whether effects of the visual perception of eyes may be partially attributable to eye contact; (iii) whether the perception of non-human animals (puppy dogs) eyes also especially strongly influence appraisals of their cuteness and vulnerability; and (iv) whether individual differences in caregiving motives moderate effects. Results from 5 experiments (total N = 1458 parents and non-parents) provided empirical evidence to evaluate these hypotheses: Appraisals of human infants were influenced especially strongly by the visual perception of human infants eyes (compared to other facial features); these effects do not appear to be attributable to eye contact; the visual perception of eyes influenced appraisals of puppy dogs, but not exactly in the same way...

Climate-Change Based Analysis of the Water-Food-Energy Nexus with System-Dynamics

Fri, 11 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Numerous countries face water crises due to population growth, shifting climatic patterns, limited water resources, rapid industrialization, societal changes, and poor resource governance, which pose challenges to the supply of water, food, and energy. This study develops a Water–Food–Energy Nexus (WFE) model using the System Dynamics (SD) approach to capture the complex interactions among domestic, industrial, and agricultural sectors while incorporating environmental protection policies. The proposed model is developed and applied to assess the water crisis in the Zayandeh-Roud River basin, which plays a strategic role in ensuring water, energy, and food security in central Iran. Climate change alters hydroclimatic patterns and directly and indirectly affects the subsystems of the water–food–energy nexus. Precipitation and temperature outputs from three Atmosphere–Ocean General Circulation Models (AOGCMs), obtained from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Sixth Assessment...

The Study of Early Social Evaluation: Contextualizing Failures to Replicate and Looking Forward