Last Friday I was so invested in some data analysis that I forgot everything around me and that included my Friday blog post with weekend reading material. My apologies for that. Nevertheless, here are my weekly favourites for some throughout the week reading.Mu-DNA: a modular universal DNA extraction method adaptable for a wide range of sample typesEfficient DNA extraction is fundamental to molecular studies. However, commercial kits are expensive when a large number of samples…

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One decade of ZooKeys - not bad at all. That means one decade of Open Access Taxonomy. Descriptions that are not hiding behind a paywall, a no-brainer if you ask me. How can we talk about democratization and equal access to information if a large part of the primary literature is still hidden to a substantial group of researchers simply because they or their institution can't afford a subscription. Especially for taxonomy that is pretty…

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The orchid genus Odontochilus comprises of about 40 known species. Most of them are small terrestrial plants, usually found in humid evergreen broadleaved forests of tropical Asia.The new species is named after Putao, the northernmost town of Myanmar because the species was discovered in a vast area of undisturbed mountain forest next to it.For the experts: Odontochilus putaoensis, a new species of Orchidaceae, is described and illustrated from Putao Township, Kachin State, Myanmar. Odontochilus putaoensis is close…

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Predicting how the timing of cyclic life history events, such as leafing and flowering, respond to climate change is of paramount importance due to the cascading impacts of vegetation phenology on species and ecosystem fitness. However, progress of this field is hampered by the relative scarcity, and geographic and phylogenetic bias, of longterm phenology datasets.By analyzing nearly four decades of archive footage from the cycling Tour of Flanders, researchers from Ghent University have been able…

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Setophaga discolor - Credit: Julie HartBiodiversity is changing all around us and worldwide. Local species disappear and sometimes other species invade. Studying birds in the U.S. and worldwide, we show that patterns and implications of this ongoing change vary strongly with the scale.A minor loss or gain of species richness or functional diversity at the local or county level can look like a major gain at the state or national level, and yet be a…

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Long weekend for all the Canadians which means more time to read and certainly no post on Monday.Comparison of cryptobenthic reef fish communities among microhabitats in the Red Sea.Knowledge of community structure within an ecosystem is essential when trying to understand the function and importance of the system and when making related management decisions. Within the larger ecosystem, microhabitats play an important role by providing inhabitants with a subset of available resources. On coral reefs,…

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The crab family Majidae comprises of about 200 marine species that often live in deeper waters. The legs can be very long in some species which gave them the name spider crab. This new member was found in the Bay of Bengal in India.The species is named after the Mulli plant in Tamil mythology, from the classic poetic work Kurunthogai. Mulli is a coastal plant (Spinifex littoreus) with very sharp spines (mull is the Tamil…

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In case you are looking for ways to learn about metabarcoding, there are actually three different courses offered this year. All of them differ in approach, content focus, and venue but what they have in common is the fact that they provide participants with a comprehensive package that enables them make informed decisions when it comes to organizing experiments, field work and analytics.1) Metabarcoding (4-week online course by yours truly) 12 November - 9 December 2018This program will provide…

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Qrocodiledundee outbackense - Credit Jose Fernandez-TrianaA whooping 17 new genera and 29 new species of parasitoid wasps from around the globe were recently described from specimens at the Canadian National Collection of insects in Ottawa. The new species came from the tropics, including the Afrotropical, Australasian, Neotropical and the Oriental region. The lead author, Dr Jose Fernandez-Triana, colleague and friend, is a world renowned expert of the wasps and with his colleague Caroline Boudreault he published a…

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Xestaspis kandy (credit: Suresh P. Benjamin)The goblins Bom, Snooky and Tumpy and the brownies Chippy, Snippy and Tiggy are fictional characters invented the English children's writer Enid Blyton, famous for her The Famous Five series and many more children books. I admit I read very many of those as a kid.Some colleagues have now used the character names describe six new species of minute goblin spiders discovered in the diminishing forests of Sri Lanka. The spider…

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