This paper presents the palaeoecological analysis of five latest Pleistocene (17,500–13,500 cal yr BP) Arctic ground squirrel (Urocitellus parryii) middens from three sites in the Klondike goldfields of central Yukon Territory. Plant and invertebrate macrofossil records were represented by 24 and 20 taxa, respectively, providing a record of the local environment and the earliest known occurrences in Yukon Territory for several taxa (e.g., the robber fly [Lasiopogon sp.] and marsh yellowcress [Rorippa cf. palustris]). The plant and invertebrate assemblages indicate the persistence of steppe-tundra to at least 13,680 cal yr BP by the preservation of taxa typically occupying dry sites, many of which remain components of grasslands and south-facing azonal steppe communities in present-day Yukon Territory. In the context of shrub expansion that is documented to have occurred by 14,000 cal yr BP in interior Alaska, we consider the taphonomic biases associated with Arctic ground squirrel middens that may lead to the lack of shrub macrofossils preserved at the sites. Our study provides an ecologically unique and chronologically constrained perspective on the local persistence of steppe-tundra in easternmost Beringia despite the regional expansion of shrubs.

Research indicates a lack of presence of lower socioeconomic status (SES) individuals in parliament, hindering their representation due to a lack of shared experiences between low SES citizens and representatives. Theorists argue that understanding low SES experiences depends not only on representatives’ own SES but also on those closest to them. However, little is known about whether elected representatives count lower SES citizens in their intimate network. Surveying 1,185 representatives across 13 Western countries, we examine the educational attainment and social class of their parents, partner, and two closest friends. In none of these countries do representatives’ ties mirror the share of lower SES citizens in the population. The results are only slightly better when we examine how many representatives have at least a single lower SES tie. We also find evidence for homophily. High SES representatives tend to associate with high SES individuals, and they tend to do that much more than high SES citizens associate with other high SES citizens. This shows that representatives who could benefit most from lower SES perspectives in their personal networks often lack them.

Germany’s 2023 Feminist Foreign Policy (FFP) Guidelines commit to a transformative, intersectional agenda across diplomacy, security, and climate policy, but omit migration. This article examines how and why migration was excluded, despite its centrality to foreign policy and the involvement of civil society in the drafting process. Drawing on practice theory, Black feminist and postcolonial scholarship, we analyze state–civil society consultations as a community of practice shaped by epistemic hierarchies based on race and coloniality. We show how the Foreign Office’s reliance on established, Germany-based policy actors with limited expertise in gendered mobility sidelined migration as a feminist concern. The consultation format constrained participation and reinforced boundaries around what counted as legitimate feminist knowledge. Bridging literature on migration and FFP, the article advances understandings of how institutional and epistemic power shape feminist policy-making. It calls for a more inclusive FFP attentive to the gendered and racialized dynamics of mobility.

During the Ordovician, the brachiopod order Atrypida originated and diversified. However, speciation patterns and evolutionary drivers within three atrypide Laurentian genera, Anazyga, Catazyga, and Zygospira, remain poorly known. Herein, we propose a Bayesian phylogenetic framework for these clades. Morphological character data, including 34 internal and external characters, were collected for 20 species, including seven species assigned to Zygospira, six species previously assigned to Anazyga, and seven species previously assigned to Catazyga. Morphological data were analyzed in BEAST2.5 via an Mk Model of morphological character evolution implementing the fossilized birth–death (FBD) model. In addition, FBD-based rates of extinction, origination, and fossil sampling were estimated across four Late Ordovician time intervals. Primary results include: (1) each genus was polyphyletic as traditionally established; (2) proposed transfer of all Anazyga and two Catazyga species to Zygospira based on reconstructed evolutionary relationships; (3) recognition of one new species, Zygospira idahoensis Vilela-Andrade n. sp., and the elevation of Z. multicostata Howe, 1965, originally a subspecies, to species status; and (4) updated understanding of clade origination and speciation. The origination age for the clade is calibrated to be 453 Ma (Sandbian 2). Recovered biodiversification rates indicate that the highest speciation and extinction rates occurred in the Katian 3 stage slice, when the number of species in the clade peaked. Subsequently, a decline in biodiversification led to an extinction episode in the Katian 4 for all lineages. Catazyga and Zygospira are interpreted as early Late Ordovician atrypids that experienced both rapid radiation and extinction during the Katian.

UUID: http://zoobank.org/442febc2-f7bb-4c04-b454-d43180237ebc

Afrikaans is spoken by a wide range of ethnic groups in Namibia, both as an L1 and an L2. Stell (2021) showed that, in its phonetic variation, Namibian Afrikaans forms a continuum between Whites and Blacks with Coloureds1 located in between. This article aims to find out whether a continuum can likewise be observed in the grammatical patterns of Namibian Afrikaans varieties. The dataset is based on a translation task, administered to L1 Afrikaans-speaking Whites and Coloureds and to L2 Afrikaans-speaking Damaras and Ovambos, whose respective L1s are Khoekhoegowab and Oshiwambo. The article finds a contrast between L1 and L2 speakers as the Damara and Ovambo Afrikaans varieties show evidence of L1 transfers. However, it also finds evidence of a continuum linking the Whites, Coloureds, and Damaras in the form of commonly shared Orange River Afrikaans features. The fact that Ovambo Afrikaans does not quite fit into this continuum, the article argues, has to do with the historically late exposure of Oshiwambo speakers to L1 Afrikaans varieties. Finally, the article attempts to match evidence of Khoekhoegowab influence on Damara Afrikaans with Den Besten’s (2001) and Roberge’s (1994a) reflections on historical contact between Khoekhoe and Cape Dutch.

This study reconstructs the fluvial dynamics of the Bras de Fer distributary in the Rhône Delta (France) during the Little Ice Age (LIA) in response to short-term climatic forcing. A multiproxy approach combining historical cartography, sedimentology, geochemistry, magnetic susceptibility, and hydrological archives reveals accelerated meander migration and extensive overbank accretion between the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries CE. Increased flood frequency, coinciding with positive phases of the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO+), promoted rapid lateral channel shifts and the formation of crevasse splay complexes along the outside bank of the Grande Ponche meander. The results demonstrate that, despite stable relative sea levels, deltaic morphology remained highly sensitive to decadal-scale climatic variability, highlighting the dominant role of hydrological extremes in shaping fluvial-deltaic environments of Rhône delta during the late LIA.

How does racial inequality shape who dies in war? Focusing on the era of United States military segregation, we argue that discriminatory societal institutions and prejudicial attitudes combined to reduce commanders’ beliefs about Black soldiers’ combat effectiveness. These biased assessments decreased the likelihood that Black soldiers were assigned combat occupational specialties, and that Black combat units received key frontline assignments. However, commanders’ biases also created a desire to preserve white lives. Accordingly, we expect Black soldiers received worse support. These choices shaped soldiers’ risk of death. Analyzing the case of World War I (WWI), we leverage data on over 44,000 infantry fatalities and show that white units incurred four times as many combat fatalities as comparable Black units. However, holding fixed exposure to combat, Black units suffered higher levels of noncombat deaths. Commanders thus deemed Black soldiers insufficiently qualified to fight as equals, but sufficiently expendable to die in war’s least consequential conditions.

We give a new criterion which guarantees that a free group admits a bi-ordering that is invariant under a given automorphism. As an application, we show that the fundamental group of the “magic manifold” is bi-orderable, answering a question of Kin and Rolfsen.

The development of a sound change can be influenced by linguistic and social factors, both within the language community and from cases of language contact. The present study is an examination of the internally generated ongoing tonogenesis process in Afrikaans, specifically analyzing production and perception of word-initial plosives among different age and gender groups. Results show that female speakers are devoicing significantly more often than male speakers, and the perception of female voices is influenced more by f0 levels than the perception of male voices. This study finds that gender is a larger predictor overall of tonogenetic patterns than age.*

This study analyzes 1,000 meta-analyses drawn from 10 disciplines—including medicine, psychology, education, biology, and economics—to document and compare methodological practices across fields. We find large differences in the size of meta-analyses, the number of effect sizes per study, and the types of effect sizes used. Disciplines also vary in their use of unpublished studies, the frequency and type of tests for publication bias, and whether they attempt to correct for it. Notably, many meta-analyses include multiple effect sizes from the same study, yet fail to account for statistical dependence in their analyses. We document the limited use of advanced methods—such as multilevel models and cluster-adjusted standard errors—that can accommodate dependent data structures. Correlations are frequently used as effect sizes in some disciplines, yet researchers often fail to address the methodological issues this introduces, including biased weighting and misleading tests for publication bias. We also find that meta-regression is underutilized, even when sample sizes are large enough to support it. This work serves as a resource for researchers conducting their first meta-analyses, as a benchmark for researchers designing simulation experiments, and as a reference for applied meta-analysts aiming to improve their methodological practices.