Lice were collected from 579 hummingbirds, representing 49 species, in 19 locations in Brazil, Costa Rica, Honduras, Paraguay and Peru, at elevations 0–3000 m above sea level. The following variables were included in an ecological analysis (1) host species' mean body mass, sexual size dimorphism, sexual dichromatism, migratory behaviour and dominance behaviour; (2) mean elevation, mean and predictability of temperature, mean and predictability of precipitation of the host species' geographic area; (3) prevalence and mean abundance of species of lice as measures of infestation. Ordination methods were applied to evaluate data structure. Since the traits are expressed at different scales (nominal, interval and ratio), a principal component analysis based on d-correlations for the traits and a principal coordinates analysis based on the Gower index for species were applied. Lice or louse eggs were found on 80 (13.8%) birds of 22 species. A total of 267 lice of 4 genera, Trochiloecetes, Trochiliphagus, Myrsidea and Leremenopon, were collected, with a total mean intensity of 4.6. There were positive interactions between migration behaviour and infestation indices, with elevational migrants having a higher prevalence and abundance of lice than resident birds. Further, we found weak negative correlations between host body mass and infestation indices and positive correlations between mean elevation and prevalence and abundance of Trochiliphagus. Thus, formerly unknown differences in the ecological characteristics and infestation measures of Trochiliphagus and Trochiloecetes lice were revealed, which allows a better understanding of these associations and their potential impacts on hummingbirds.

The Paisley Cave archeological site in the Northern Great Basin has provided a rich archaeological record from 13,000 to 6000 cal yr BP, including abundant mammalian coprolites preserved in a well-dated stratigraphy. Here we analyze and contrast pollen from within coprolites and pollen in associated sediments to examine vegetation history and assess whether coprolite pollen provides unique information with respect to the coprolite producer, such as the use of specific habitats, foods, or water sources. We found that the dissimilarity of pollen assemblages between coprolites and associated sediments was greater than the serial dissimilarity between stratigraphically adjacent samples within either group. Serial dissimilarity within types was not greater for coprolites than sediments, as would be expected if there were unique pollen signatures derived from the short period (1–2 days) represented by each coprolite. Compared with sediment pollen assemblages, the coprolites had higher abundances of lighter pollen types, and some individual samples were high in wetland taxa (especially Typha). Our results are consistent with coprolite pollen representing short time periods collected as a mammal moves on the landscape, whereas sediment pollen reflects longer time periods and more regional vegetation indicators.

The symbolic argument against women's ordination supposes that the theological significance of Christ's sex is his saving relationship to the Church, which takes the form of that of a bridegroom and his bride. It infers that a male priest alone is fit to represent Christ in his capacity as the Saviour of the Church, and thus that only men should be ordained. Since the emergence of the symbolic argument, however, scholars have rediscovered a long tradition of understanding Christ's saving relationship to the Church in maternal terms. While remaining neutral on whether women ultimately ought to be ordained or not, I argue that the kind of reasoning in the symbolic argument, if updated with the Jesus as Mother tradition, would suggest that it is fitting for a female priest to represent Jesus as Mother, just as it is fitting for a male priest to represent Christ the Bridegroom. Other critics of the symbolic argument tend to contest what is seen as its ‘literalist’ or ‘essentialist’ or overly gendered-valanced assumptions about priestly representation. I show that even if we grant to the symbolic argument more gendered and ‘essentialist’ views on each of the major points of disagreement in these debates, women might still be fit to represent Christ because of the maternal ways that Christ has traditionally been thought to relate to the Church. As a result, the symbolic argument may be repurposed to support women's ordination rather than undermine it.

We investigated the patterns of phylogenetic and functional (dis)similarity in the species composition of host spectra between co-habitating generalist flea species in regional assemblages from four continents (Europe, Asia, North America and Africa) using a recently developed ordination approach (Double Similarity Principal Component Analysis). From the functional perspective, we considered physiological [body mass and basal metabolic rate (BMR)] and ecological (shelter depth and complexity) host traits. We asked (a) whether host phylogeny, physiology or ecology is the main driver of (dis)similarities between flea host spectra and (b) whether the patterns of phylogenetic and functional (dis)similarity in host spectra vary between flea assemblages from different continents. Phylogenetic similarity between the host spectra was highest in Africa, lowest in North America and moderate in Europe and Asia. In each assemblage, phylogenetic clusters of hosts dominating in the host spectra could be distinguished. The functional similarity between the host spectra of co-occurring fleas was low for shelter structure in all assemblages and much higher for body mass and BMR in three of the four assemblages (except North America). We conclude that host phylogeny and shelter structure are the main drivers of (dis)similarity between the host spectra of co-habitating fleas. However, the effects of these factors on the patterns of (dis)similarity varied across continents.

Women's ordination raised issues of conscience across church traditions. The Church of England's statutory legal framework prevented these issues being confined to the Church; they were also played out in parliamentary debate. The interface between law and conscience has, however, considerable historical and contemporary resonance, as well as sound theological pedigree. This article therefore considers the place of conscience in legal and philosophical thought before the Enlightenment. It looks at norms of conscience in Roman Catholic and Church of England liturgical use. On a broader canvas, it looks at the interplay between thought, conscience and religion in human rights case law. The article suggests that a consensus of thought which sees the dictates of conscience as founded in, and inseparable from, the teachings of religion begins to break down in the early seventeenth century. Yet human rights courts find themselves deciding cases of conscience or religion where conscience and religion are often intertwined and where the external manifestation of one is governed by the inner promptings of the other. Such difficulties are not limited to the human rights courts but also play out in debates pertaining to ordination. While the North American churches sought to deal with issues of conscience head on, the Church of England very carefully avoided the language of conscience in its early discussions of women's ordination, conscious, it seems, of a lack of consensus around its meaning and source. As the women's ordination debates developed, arguments of conscience were often deployed more by those opposed to the move than those who supported it. Conscience became as much the locus of pain caused by another's action as it was an inner faculty for self-guidance. Its valence shifted from an intellectual to an emotional category.

Forest fires pose an important threat to tropical rain-forest biodiversity. In the present study, we assessed ground layer (herb and shrub) communities in six differentially disturbed landscape plots in East Kalimantan, Indonesia, including primary and logged forest and once-, twice- and frequently-burnt forest. Overall, we recorded 175 species of herbs and shrubs; richness was highest in twice-burnt forest and lowest in logged forest. Vegetation and topographical variables including the percentage of the plot burnt and tree abundance were significant predictors of variation in composition. The main compositional gradient showed a clear distinction between subplots in unburnt versus burnt forest. A subset of subplots in burnt forest, however, clustered together with subplots from unburnt forest. These plots were located in a network of relatively unscathed forest along floodplains that persisted in the burnt-forest matrix. Small plant species associated with unburnt forest included several species of Dryopteridaceae, Marantaceae and Rubiaceae. Species associated with once- and twice-burnt forest included Mikania scandens (Compositae), Microlepia speluncae (Dennstaedtiaceae), Nephrolepis cf. biserrata (Nephrolepidaceae), Lygodium microphyllum (Schizaeaceae) and Hornstedtia cf. reticulata (Zingiberaceae). The frequently-burnt landscape plot was characterized by a high cover of the grass species Imperata cylindrica and the invasive exotic shrub Chromolaena odorata. Importantly, these species and other exotics had also invaded the once- and twice-burnt forest and represent a potential threat to forest recovery.

Weed data were collected over three tillage systems and two years in southwestern Ontario, in fields of corn, soybean, and winter wheat. Tillage systems involved soil inversion by moldboard plow, soil disturbance without inversion, and no tillage. The data were subjected to multivariate ordination techniques to determine if weed communities were associated with the different crops, tillage systems, or years. Crop, year, and tillage system all had significant effects on the weed community. Weed communities in corn and winter wheat were least similar; those in soybean were intermediate. Several grass weeds were more abundant in the drier of the two years. Some variation was related to tillage system but the effect of tillage was less than that of either crop or year.

Field experiments were initiated at Alliance and Hairy Hill, Alberta, in 1989 to investigate the effects of conventional tillage, zero tillage, and four levels of nitrogen fertilizer on continuous barley production. In both tillage systems, the nitrogen was banded 6 to 8 cm deep between alternate barley rows. Herbicides were used for weed control each year. The influence of tillage and nitrogen on weed seed population dynamics was determined in 1991 and 1992. In the zero-tillage system, a large proportion of the weed seeds were present either at the soil surface or at the 5- to 10-cm depth. Green foxtail, the dominant species at Alliance, was also present at Hairy Hill where field pennycress was dominant. Green foxtail was consistently associated with low (residual) nitrogen and, in most cases, with conventional tillage. At both locations, green foxtail populations tended to decrease to very low levels as nitrogen rate increased, especially in zero tillage. At Hairy Hill, field pennycress populations in the soil seedbank were higher in zero tillage compared with conventional tillage, but plants that emerged from the soil seedbank in the field in spring were lower in zero tillage. Field pennycress populations were highest under low nitrogen. The results indicate that banding nitrogen has the potential to be an effective tool for green foxtail and field pennycress management in conventional- and zero-tillage systems, resulting in less dependence on herbicides for their control.

Distance-based redundancy analysis (db-RDA), a recently developed ordination technique useful for both multivariate hypothesis testing and data interpretation, was used to evaluate treatment effects on weed communities in a long-term study of alternative potato cropping systems. The experiment consisted of a factorial arrangement of three pest management systems, conventional (CON), reduced input (RI), and biointensive (BIO), two soil management systems (amended vs. unamended), and two crop-rotation entry points. Soil samples collected in the spring of 1998 were subjected to exhaustive germination as a means of characterizing the weed community. Using partial ordinations, each factor in the factorial treatment structure was tested separately, revealing a significant interaction between pest and soil management systems. An ordination diagram of the pest by soil management interaction was used to interpret the results. Weed species that were highly correlated with the first two ordination axes included: common lambsquarters, broadleaf plantain, oakleaf goosefoot, common hempnettle and a complex of the Brassicaceae that included wild mustard, birdsrape mustard, and wild radish. Univariate analyses confirmed the response of these species to the factors examined. The BIO pest management system showed a different response to soil amendments than the other systems. Soil amendments caused an increase in the total weed density in the CON and RI systems, but caused a decrease in the BIO system. Given the need for better multivariate hypothesis testing and data interpretation in many types of weed science research, the use of db-RDA is expected to grow.

Quantitative information on vegetation and climate history from the late glacial–Holocene on the Tibetan Plateau is extremely rare. Here, we present palynological results of a 4.30-m-long sediment record collected from Koucha Lake in the Bayan Har Mountains, northeastern Tibetan Plateau. Vegetation change has been traced by biomisation, ordination of pollen data, and calculation of pollen ratios. The application of a pollen–climate calibration set from the eastern Tibetan Plateau to Koucha Lake pollen spectra yielded quantitative climate information. The area was covered by alpine desert/steppe, characteristic of a cold and dry climate (with 50% less precipitation than today) between 16,700 and 14,600 cal yr BP. Steppe vegetation, warm (∼ 1°C higher than today) and wet conditions prevailed between 14,600 and 6600 cal yr BP. These findings contradict evidence from other monsoon-influenced areas of Asia, where the early Holocene is thought to have been moist. Low effective moisture on the northeastern Tibetan Plateau was likely due to high temperature and evaporation, even though precipitation levels may have been similar to present-day values. The vegetation changed to tundra around 6600 cal yr BP, indicating that wet and cool climate conditions occurred on the northeastern Tibetan Plateau during the second half of the Holocene.

Weed species respond to the cumulative effect of multiple practices employed within weed management systems. However, this response is rarely studied at the system level, and the relationships between weed communities and management systems in crops are not well understood. We used multivariate analyses to assess relationships among tomato management systems and weed species identified through on-farm sampling of 59 fields. Giant foxtail, common lambsquarters, prickly sida, and carpetweed were common in all systems. Eastern black nightshade was common in the conventional processing and mixed fresh-market systems but largely absent from the organic system. Barnyardgrass and goosegrass were common in the organic fresh-market system but not in the other systems. Canonical correspondence analysis identified distinct associations between specific species and the management systems. Common purslane was strongly associated with the rain-fed, mixed fresh-market system, and barnyardgrass, goosegrass, yellow nutsedge, and green foxtail were associated with the irrigated, organic fresh-market system. Indicator species analysis identified five species that were significant indicators of the organic, fresh-market system and one species that was a significant indicator of the rain-fed, mixed fresh-market system. Weed populations persist or increase when a set of species-specific environmental conditions are met. The association of weed species in this study with particular systems supports the hypothesis that weed communities are strongly affected by management systems.