Challenges and advances in measuring phenotypic convergence.

Tests of phenotypic convergence can provide evidence of adaptive evolution, and the popularity of such studies has grown in recent years due to the development of novel, quantitative methods for identifying and measuring convergence. These methods include the commonly applied C1-C4 measures of Stayton (2015a), which measure morphological distances between lineages, and Ornstein-Uhlenbeck (OU) model-fitting analyses, which test whether lineages converged on shared adaptive peaks. We test the performance of C-measures and other convergence measures under various evolutionary scenarios and reveal a critical issue with C-measures: they often misidentify divergent lineages as convergent.

Does Phenotypic Integration Promote Convergent Evolution?

Phenotypic integration is often perceived as being able to produce convergent evolution in the absence of selection, but specific mechanisms for this process are lacking and a connection has never been empirically demonstrated. A new model of the effect of integration on convergence provides such a mechanism, along with other predictions about the influence of integration on evolutionary patterns. I use simulations and data from three empirical systems-turtle shells, characiform fish, and squirrel mandibles-to investigate the degree to which evolutionary integration is associated with high levels of convergent evolution.

Psychological and Physical Intimate Partner Violence, Measured by the New York City Community Health Survey - New York City, 2018.

Purpose: Intimate partner violence (IPV) can damage long-term physical and mental health, yet IPV prevalence in New York City (NYC) is unknown. We described prevalence and health correlates of psychological and physical IPV in NYC.

Method: The 2018 NYC Community Health Survey, a representative telephone survey among adult residents, asked about lifetime psychological or physical IPV experiences.

Are our phylomorphospace plots so terribly tangled? An investigation of disorder in data simulated under adaptive and nonadaptive models.

Contemporary methods for visualizing phenotypic evolution, such as phylomorphospaces, often reveal patterns which depart strongly from a naïve expectation of consistently divergent branching and expansion. Instead, branches regularly crisscross as convergence, reversals, or other forms of homoplasy occur, forming patterns described as "birds' nests", "flies in vials", or less elegantly, "a mess". In other words, the phenotypic tree of life often appears highly tangled.

Self-Reported Speeding Among New York City Adult Drivers, 2015-2016.

Motor vehicle crashes are a leading cause of injury related deaths. Urban areas accommodate multiple road users and pedestrians account for a larger share of traffic fatalities. Speed reduction has been one component of New York City's multidisciplinary approach to reduce traffic fatalities-Vision Zero.

Performance Surface Analysis Identifies Consistent Functional Patterns across 10 Morphologically Divergent Terrestrial Turtle Lineages.

Newly-developed methods for utilizing performance surfaces-multivariate representations of the relationship between phenotype and functional performance-allow researchers to test hypotheses about adaptive landscapes and evolutionary diversification with explicit attention to functional factors. Here, information from performance surfaces of three turtle shell functions-shell strength, hydrodynamics, and self-righting-is used to test the hypothesis that turtle lineages transitioning from aquatic to terrestrial habitats show patterns of shell shape evolution consistent with decreased importance of hydrodynamic performance. Turtle shells are excellent model systems for evolutionary functional analysis.

Performance in three shell functions predicts the phenotypic distribution of hard-shelled turtles.

Adaptive landscapes have served as fruitful guides to evolutionary research for nearly a century. Current methods guided by landscape frameworks mostly utilize evolutionary modeling (e.g.

Warped finite element models predict whole shell failure in turtle shells.

Finite element (FE) models have become increasingly popular in comparative biomechanical studies, with researchers continually developing methods such as 'warping' preexisting models to facilitate analyses. However, few studies have investigated how well FE models can predict biologically crucial whole-structure performance or whether 'warped' models can provide useful information about the mechanical behavior of actual specimens. This study addresses both of these issues through a validation of warped FE models of turtle shells.

The influence of multiple functional demands on morphological diversification: A test on turtle shells.

Organismal parts are often involved in the performance of more than one function. The role of trade-offs in influencing phenotypic evolution of such parts is well-studied; less well-understood is their role in influencing phenotypic diversity. Increases in the number of functions a part is involved in may inhibit subsequent diversification, as the number of trade-offs increases.

Utility of a near real-time emergency department syndromic surveillance system to track injuries in New York City.

Background: The New York City emergency department (ED) syndromic surveillance (SS) system provides near real-time data on the majority of ED visits. The utility of ED SS for injury surveillance has not been thoroughly evaluated. We created injury syndromes based on ED chief complaint information and evaluated their utility compared to administrative billing data.

What does convergent evolution mean? The interpretation of convergence and its implications in the search for limits to evolution.

Convergent evolution is central to the study of life's evolutionary history. Researchers have documented the ubiquity of convergence and have used this ubiquity to make inferences about the nature of limits on evolution. However, these inferences are compromised by unrecognized inconsistencies in the definitions, measures, significance tests and inferred causes of convergent evolution.

Evaluating the Use of an Electronic Death Registration System for Mortality Surveillance During and After Hurricane Sandy: New York City, 2012.

Objectives: We evaluated the use of New York City's (NYC's) electronic death registration system (EDRS) to conduct mortality surveillance during and after Hurricane Sandy.

Methods: We used Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines for surveillance system evaluation to gather evidence on usefulness, flexibility, stability, timeliness, and quality. We assessed system components, interviewed NYC Health Department staff, and analyzed 2010 to 2012 death records.

The definition, recognition, and interpretation of convergent evolution, and two new measures for quantifying and assessing the significance of convergence.

Convergent evolution is an important phenomenon in the history of life. Despite this, there is no common definition of convergence used by biologists. Instead, several conceptually different definitions are employed.

The colorful language of Australian flowers.

The enormous increase in phylogenetic information in recent years has allowed many old questions to be reexamined from a macroevolutionary perspective. We have recently considered evolutionary convergence in floral colors within pollination syndromes, using bird-pollinated species in Australia. We combined quantitative measurements of floral reflectance spectra, models of avian color vision, and a phylogenetic tree of 234 Australian species to show that bird-pollinated flowers as a group do not have colors that are significantly different from the colors of insect-pollinated flowers.

Distinctive convergence in Australian floral colours seen through the eyes of Australian birds.

We used a colour-space model of avian vision to assess whether a distinctive bird pollination syndrome exists for floral colour among Australian angiosperms. We also used a novel phylogenetically based method to assess whether such a syndrome represents a significant degree of convergent evolution. About half of the 80 species in our sample that attract nectarivorous birds had floral colours in a small, isolated region of colour space characterized by an emphasis on long-wavelength reflection.

Morphological and mechanical changes in juvenile red-eared slider turtle (Trachemys scripta elegans) shells during ontogeny.

Turtles experience numerous modifications in the morphological, physiological, and mechanical characteristics of their shells through ontogeny. Although a general picture is available of the nature of these modifications, few quantitative studies have been conducted on changes in turtle shell shape through ontogeny, and none on changes in strength or rigidity. This study investigates the morphological and mechanical changes that juvenile Trachemys scripta elegans undergo as they increase in size.

Indicators of intimate partner violence: identification in emergency departments.

Background: Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a widespread, but often unidentified, health concern. Understanding distinguishing characteristics of IPV assaults when compared to non-IPV assaults would advance IPV identification in health care settings.

Study Objectives: We sought to determine incident-specific factors differentiating these two assault types using Emergency Department (ED) visit data from a unique active surveillance system.

Effects of asymmetry on the strength of the chelonian shell: a comparison of three species.

A major focus of the field of organismal biology is to understand how morphology impacts performance. Although the functional implications of certain aspects of shape have been widely examined, the functional implications of a related parameter, symmetry, remain mostly unknown. We used finite-element models to examine the effects of turtle shell asymmetry on shell strength across three morphologically distinct emydid species.

Victimization and health risk factors among weapon-carrying youth.

Objective: To compare health risks of 2 subgroups of weapon carriers: victimized and nonvictimized youth.

Methods: 2003-2007 NYC Youth Risk Behavior Surveys were analyzed using bivariate analyses and multinomial logistic regression.

Results: Among NYC teens, 7.

Terrestrial feeding in aquatic turtles: environment-dependent feeding behavior modulation and the evolution of terrestrial feeding in Emydidae.

Evolutionary transitions between aquatic and terrestrial environments are common in vertebrate evolution. These transitions require major changes in most physiological functions, including feeding. Emydid turtles are ancestrally aquatic, with most species naturally feeding only in water, but some terrestrial species can modulate their feeding behavior appropriately for both media.

Biomechanics on the half shell: functional performance influences patterns of morphological variation in the emydid turtle carapace.

This study uses the carapace of emydid turtles to address hypothesized differences between terrestrial and aquatic species. Geometric morphometrics are used to quantify shell shape, and performance is estimated for two shell functions: shell strength and hydrodynamics. Aquatic turtle shells differ in shape from terrestrial turtle shells and are characterized by lower frontal areas and presumably lower drag.

Finite element modeling of shell shape in the freshwater turtle Pseudemys concinna reveals a trade-off between mechanical strength and hydrodynamic efficiency.

Aquatic species can experience different selective pressures on morphology in different flow regimes. Species inhabiting lotic regimes often adapt to these conditions by evolving low-drag (i.e.

Bicyclist fatalities in New York City: 1996-2005.

Objectives: To describe bicyclist fatalities in a traffic-dense, urban environment.

Methods: Multiple New York City (NYC) agencies provided information on bicyclist deaths. Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) data were used to compare NYC's bicyclist fatality rate involving motor vehicles with rates in comparable urban centers.

Application of thin-plate spline transformations to finite element models, or, how to turn a bog turtle into a spotted turtle to analyze both.

Finite element (FE) models are popular tools that allow biologists to analyze the biomechanical behavior of complex anatomical structures. However, the expense and time required to create models from specimens has prevented comparative studies from involving large numbers of species. A new method is presented for transforming existing FE models using geometric morphometric methods.