A confidence level is the probability that the value of a parameter falls within a specified range of values. In this case, the authors are 99% certain that there is an increasing trend in the number of North Atlantic hurricane and storm days.

Total hurricane days = number of days where surface wind speeds remained higher than 33 m s–1.

Tropical storm days = number of days where surface wind speeds remained between 18 and 33 m s–1.

The Saffir-Simpson scale utilizes a hurricanes sustained wind speeds in order to try and estimate potential property damage.

Category 3 hurricanes and higher have the potential for significant loss of life and damage.

Check out the definitions for each category at the National Hurricane Center website: https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/aboutsshws.php

The term "hurricane" is given to systems that develop over the Atlantic or the eastern Pacific Oceans. They are called "typhoons" in the western North Pacific and Philippines. Lastly, they are called "cyclones" in the Indian and South Pacific Ocean.

Using satellite data it is possible to track the development and movement of hurricanes. The tracks that hurricanes progress upon are recorded and stored in online archives typically run by governmental agencies.

For example, the National Hurricane Center compiles past track maps which allow us to look at U.S. landfalling major hurricanes from 2001-2010:

Check out some of the other tracks and data available here: https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/data/?#tracks_all

The U.S. Department of Defense agency responsible for issuing tropical cyclone warnings for the Pacific and Indian Oceans does so through the Joint Typhoon Warning Center, which utilizes satellite data in order to estimate the risk of typhoons and hurricanes of the Pacific and Indian Oceans.

To check out if any storms are currently being watched, visit their website: http://www.metoc.navy.mil/jtwc/jtwc.html

For example from September 19th, 2018:

These authors used a statisical test called the Kendall Test (also known as the Mann Kendall Trend Test or M-K Test) in order to determine if there was a trend through time in the data.

For more information visit: http://www.statisticshowto.com/mann-kendall-trend-test/

"Interannual" means occurring between years or from one year to the next.

Thus this is stating that there is variability in hurricanes from one year to the next due to the effects of large scale climate conditions.

Compounds derived from a plant known as the opium poppy. Originally these came only from natural sources, but now there are synthetic opioids. They are often prescribed for pain relief.

Opiates are considered controlled substances due to their addictive properties. One example is heroin.

A type of chemical messenger. Dopamine levels spike in certain brain regions in response to a reward. They also sometimes spike in anticipation of a reward.

Once the reward is over, dopamine levels will return to normal. Cocaine stops dopamine from being cleared from the synapse by binding to dopamine transporters, so cocaine can cause a larger than normal response, resulting in greater reinforcement.

Skin can become a better or worse conductor of energy/electricity when it is presented with stimuli that represent arousal. When something is physiologically arousing (e.g. scary), the electrical conductance of our skin increases because certain sweat glands become more active. Because of this, skin conductivity is an important indicator of attention and memory function.

Neurons that can be activated by stimuli associated with rewards.

A stimulus that is used to trigger a learned response.

For example, let’s say that you like ice cream, and every time you go to your aunt’s house she gives you your favorite ice cream. Now you tend to associate visiting your aunt with getting ice cream. The stimulus is visiting your aunt, and the association is getting ice cream.

A response that prevents a (usually negative) outcome from occurring.

A test that allows scientists to test for habitual behavior by devaluing certain stimuli that people were trained to associate with a reward. After the stimuli have been devalued, it no longer makes sense to respond to them because there is no longer a reward. If people continue to respond, their behavior is considered habitual.

Behaviors that can help someone escape uncomfortable feelings and unpleasant situations (such as electric shock).

Behaviors that someone develops as a way to respond to their environment, but that end up causing them harm instead of good.

A guide used to classify and diagnose many different mental disorders, such as drug use and dependence.

For substance abuse, some of the considerations are failure to perform normal tasks and functions, legal problems, and physical hazards. For drug dependence, it assesses the need for higher doses, the amount of effort and risk to get the drug, and the persistence of use. All of these must be recurrent problems to be classified as a disorder.

A behavior that has become associated with a change in the environment over time. Stimulus-driven habits will be performed almost automatically.

Behavior that has a specific outcome in mind, like feelings of enjoyment or avoiding discomfort.

Reckless, foolish, or inappropriate. Here, the author refers to behaviors that can have consequences on health, social life (e.g. personal relationships), employment, housing, and more.

Difficult to control or deal with.

Not smoothly rounded. The particles would have blunt, not sharp angles.

Soil composed of clay and sand that contains decomposed organic matter (leaves, grasses, etc.).

A steep-sided ravine.

Converts irregular X,Y,Z data into a regularly spaced grid composed of a series of grid nodes. Each node has a specific X,Y location and associated Z value.

A set of data points used to represent a surface using X,Y,Z coordinates and serve as a starting point in 3D modeling.

This software processes digital images and generates spatial data required for 3D images.

A process used to create 3D digital models from a set of photographs. The photographs can be used to measure distances which are then used to develop the models.

Conservative.

Referring to the variety of observable characteristics or traits —in this case, among Australopithecus.

An early hominin that is thought to have evolved from Australopithecus or the earliest of the Homo species. H. erectus first appeared in the fossil record about 1.9 million years ago and shares many of the traits seen in modern humans, including upright posture.

Birds.

In humans, this is the non-opposable big toe that is in line with the other toes. The big toe of most other primates points outward, away from the other toes.

Composed of thin, platelike pieces.

A flat, 2D surface.

As the term is used here, these are long, narrow cracks in the Earth.

Refers to the structure of Earth. It includes the forces that cause sections of the crust to move and the results of these movements.

Photogrammetry is a 3D measuring system that uses photographs. In this study, the Laetoli footprints were measured and photographed from two different locations. Lines of sight were developed from each camera to points on the footprint. The lines of sight were then used to mathematically produce 3D coordinates of the points of interest.

Faults are cracks in Earth's crust due to movement. Fractures are cracks in Earth's crust along which there is no movement. A fracture is called a fault when stresses cause the rock surfaces along the fracture to move in opposite directions.

A branch of archaeology that seeks to understand the early development of our humanlike ancestors.

Having only one mate.

A sample of a population used to infer the characteristics shared by the individuals making up the population. As it is used in this article, it refers to the fossil remains of Australopithecus afarensis used to determine the traits of of the population.

This genus consisted of three species classified as Australopithecines. Paranthropus lived during the Pliocene and Pleistocene eras dating from about 1.8 to 1.2 million years ago.

An extinct hominin species that lived between 3.9 and 2.9 million years ago. It is one of the longest lived and best known early human species.

This family includes humans, orangutans, gorillas, chimpanzees, and bonobos. https://www2.palomar.edu/anthro/primate/table_primates.htm

Refers to the combination of two different fields of study. Paleontology examines evidence of past life from fossils and biology studies living organisms. Thus, palaeobiology examines the environmental and biological history of Earth.

Chipped stones.

Groups of soil particles that bind to each other. They have a stronger attraction to each other than to surrounding soil particles.

The term applies to crystals that have partially developed faces.

The soil particles have no flat surfaces or cross-section shape.

Hominins are any species of early human that are more closely related to modern humans than chimpanzees.

Hominids refers to all modern and extinct great apes, including humans, chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans.

All hominins are hominids, but not all hominids are hominins!

Referring to the highest point of the thigh bone, called the femur.

An area where fossils of prehistoric organisms can be studied.

DNA origami is a widely studied method of self-assembly that takes advantage of the complementarity of the base pairs of strands of DNA, meaning that two specific base pairs always pair together (adenine with thymine and guanine with cytosine) by hydrogen bonding.

the part that causes the movement of the systems

Self-assembly is the spontaneous organization of preformed components into patterns or arrangements held together by reversible forces. In molecular self-assembly the components are molecules and the forces are non-covalent forces like hydrogen bonding. In DNA self-assembly, the molecules are DNA molecules.

Nanotechnology, according to the National Nanotechnology Initiative, "is science, engineering, and technology conducted at the nanoscale, which is about 1 to 100 nm."

Bionanotechnology is the use of nanotechnology to biological problems or applications such as medicine or agriculture.

For more information on nanotechnology, why it's important, and how it is being used, visit www.nano.gov.

Supramolecular chemistry is the chemistry not of individual atoms and molecules which combine and are held together by covalent bonds, but of complexes of multiple molecules together which are held together by weaker, reversible non-covalent interactions such as hydrogen bonding, van der Waals forces, or electrostatic interactions (the attraction of like charges).

an approach that involves the combining of smaller pieces or units into a larger or more complex system

Nanoscale refers to a length scale in nanometers (abbreviated nm), typically less than 100 nm. One nanometer is one billionth of a meter, so objects on the nanoscale are not visible to the unaided eye.

For a visualization of the different size scales of the universe, see the videa "The Scale of the Universe 2" at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaGEjrADGPA

A simplified and symbolic representation of elements in a system. Here, the authors use a schematic to represent cell types in the fly olfactory circuit.

These cells send signals to surrounding neurons that make those cells less likely to fire.

This describes an element in a system that passes information from a source (in this case, from odorant receptor neurons) forward to another element in the system (in this case, projection neurons).

A group of neurons connected by synapses (structures that allow electrical signals to pass between neurons) that carry out a specific function in the brain.

A grouping of neurons organized to process specific kinds of information.

An interaction between two elements that creates a combined effect greater than the sum of their parts.

The Status and Trends of European Pollinators (STEP) Collaborative Project, is a multinational European initiative to "assess the current status and trends of pollinators in Europe, quantify the relative importance of various drivers and impacts of change, identify relevant mitigation strategies and policy instruments, and disseminate this to a wide range of stakeholders."

See here for more info.

The precise cause of an observed trend.

For example, if the trend we observe is a door opening and closing by itself, the mechanism causing this trend may be the circulation of air in the hallway adjoining the door, or the mischievous actions of a sibling using a long line of transparent fishing line.

In this study, the observed trend is the lags in range responses at species’ northern or cool thermal limits. Potential mechanisms could include a lack of host-plants in these newly-accessible regions at the northern thermal limit, or a competitor species that currently occupies this space.

The plural of taxon, which refers to a taxonomic group of any rank (species, families, classes, etc.).

Animals that depend on external sources of body heat to control their temperature. Other examples include reptiles (excluding birds), amphibians, and fish.

A class of insecticides designed to affect the central nervous system of insects, causing paralysis and death. They are also systemic insecticides, meaning they are absorbed into every cell of a plant, and making every part poisonous. Pesticides, and neonicotinoids in particular, have been implicated as a possible reason for pollinator declines.

Watch Prof. Richard Pywell (unrelated to this study) explain what neonicotinoids are and how they may be affecting pollinators here.

A group, or community, of species.

An area of land that is saturated with water, either permanently or seasonally.

Carbon Dioxide gas.

A wetland that is dominated by leafy rather than woody plant species and is predominately freshwater.

A daily time series model used in ecosystems to simulate influxes of carbon and nitrogen between the atmosphere, vegetation, and soil.

Parts per million.

Carbon.

Flooding.

Very moist or containing large amounts of water.

Land-based.

Will not lose carbon (which is actually bad).

NEE stands for net ecosystem exchange, referring to the ecosystem's carbon cycle.

GEE stands for gross ecosystem exchange, referring to the ecosystem's carbon cycle.

The dry season in the Everglades is typically November through March.

The highest temperature which will allow for production.

The temperature which is best for production.

A freshwater organism that is attached to plants above the bottom of sediments.

A C4 plant has light dependent reactions in its mesophyll cells and the Calvin Cycle in the specialized cells around the leaf veins. The 4-carbon organic acid, oxaloacetate is fixed from CO2. This is carried out by PEP carboxylase.

Most types of plants are C3, meaning that it does not have photosynthetic adaptations to reduce photorespiration. It utilizes the Calvin cycle.

The seasonal pattern of water levels in a specific wetland. Typically a wetland's hydroperiod is unique "signature" of that specific wetland.

A process where plants take up oxygen and give out some carbon dioxide.

SPAC for short, is the pathway for water moving from soil through plants to the atmosphere.

Environmental pollution usually caused by human activity.

Meter, measure of distance.

Gram, measure of weight.

Degrees Celsius, measure of temperature.

Seasonal pattern of the water level of a wetland.

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a scientific and international body of experts under the United Nations.

The scientific study of the movement, distribution, and quality of water.

An area or ridge of land that separates waters flowing to different rivers, basins, or seas.

The process in which living organisms are said to have developed and diversified from earlier forms in the past.

A species distinguished from others by its morphology —that is, its form/structure.

In ecology, refers to when new individuals join the population.

Stands for diameter at breast height, which is the standard method of measuring tree trunks at the height of an adult's breast. It is now standardized to 1.3m above the ground.

Phrase that describes deductive reasoning made without reference to facts or experience, presumptive.

Also known as ecosystem functions, these are the biological, geochemical, and physical factors that take place in every ecosystem (including water, nutrient, and energy cycles).

Services are the benefits that people gain from nature.

Invertebrates that are grouped together because of their unsegmented bodies, preferences for aquatic or damp-marshy habitat and usually the presence of an outer shell. Some examples are snails, octopuses, and mussels. In this experiment, they used the marsh slug (Deroceras laeve).

A perching bird, as classified by certain criteria pertaining to body morphology and positioning of toes. Passerines makes up half of all bird species.

A general term to describe any herbaceous flowering plant that isn't a grass. In this experiment, they observed the species Achillea borealis, commonly known as boreal yarrow.

The phenomenon of a species or organism dying off or not being found in a specific area at all while it is still found elsewhere. If the foxes were allowed to persist uncontrolled, the sea birds may die off in the Aleutian Islands.

Tundras are flat and treeless swaths of land that have soil that is permanently frozen; in this example, it is bordered by the sea.

Relating to Earth or an organism residing on land. In this experiment, the foxes and plants are terrestrial organisms.

A computer system that is designed to show geographical areas in different ways and can be manipulated for the collection of data. An example is the map of fox-free vs. fox-infested islands in Fig. 1 and the map of concentrated species in Fig. 3.

A geographic region of suitable habitat for a specific organism/organisms that is surrounded by unsuitable habitat. Therefore it is isolated via environmental conditions; in this case, the habitat of both the birds and foxes are the islands on which they reside that are surrounded by the ocean.

Both the bird species and Alopex lagopus are bound to their corresponding landscape. The foxes are trapped on their respective island because they lack the ability to swim to a new location. The birds are unable to use the same islands as Alopex lagopus because of the predation of Alopex lagopus. Therefore, both species belong to an insular ecosystem because of the unsuitable landscape around them.

The birds of a particular geographic region, in this case seabirds such as; the lapland longspur and song sparrows that are being reduced by fox populations.

The polymer that makes up the waxy surfaces of leaves.

A compound that decomposes or stops functioning in response to increases in temperature. Proteins are often heat-labile, nonfunctional over a certain temperature.

Refers to cells that form long tubes. Most types of fungi are filamentous.

A method of returning environments that have been damaged by human actions to a natural or healthy state.

Physiology is the study of an organisms parts and functions.

A physiologist would study how the human arm moves when throwing a ball.

A fellow worker, mainly in the professional work environment.

Discipline with this context is used to describe the general outline of a person's study.

Normally a set of beliefs or principles constructed by an authority as undeniably true: A law.

A situation that is extremely complicated or confusing.

The make up of the ecosystem of the earth, its atmosphere, and the living terrestrial organisms within it.

This refers to something being extremely wasteful.

A tree that loses its leaves annually, usually during the fall and winter seasons.

The state of having a large quantity of something

A component or part of a whole.

To support or strengthen.

Derived from coniferous. Trees that bear cones and needle-like leaves. These trees usually keep their leaves through all seasons, including winter.

Deposition, in science, is the addition or building up of a substance.

The process organisms use in order to produce glucose as a food source.

Photosynthesis converts carbon dioxide, water, and sunlight, and converts it into glucose and oxygen.

Perturbation is the act of an object or subject being "pushed" off of it's normal path. A small setback and/or a sudden change of plan.

An example of perturbation in a biological setting would be a limb being torn off of a tree.

These scientists study the physical, chemical, biological, and geological processes and interactions of the entire natural environment.

An individual who studies focus on regular functions of a living organism. In this case, the physiologist specializes in functions of plants.

To do something profligately is to do spend something fast and unwisely. An example of doing something profligately is to spend large amounts of money on luxury: while being fun, you may regret it at a later time.

Someone who studies and observes the interactions between an organism and its environment, an organism with another organism, or other non-living interactions of the environment.

A detritivore is an organism that feeds off of the dead remains of another organism. The most common example of a detritivore is worm.

A permeable object allows the flow of liquids and gases, such as oxygen.

A less permeable leaf would restrict the flow of oxygen and carbon dioxide greatly.

An ecologist is a person who studies the environment and all organisms living in it. They also study the relations between the environment and the organisms.

Photosynthesis is the process of turning sunlight into glucose. This process is used by almost all plants as means to store energy.

Molecular compounds that contain nitrogen and oxygen. These types of molecules are commonly emitted into the atmosphere through automobile exhaust.

A group of scattered islands within a larger body of water. In this case, the Aleutian archipelago is a grouping of volcanic islands located in the Pacific ocean that are under the possession of both the United States and Russia.

The total mass of an organism or multiple for any given area or plot. Usually refers to dried mass of plant matter from above or below ground.

Categorical feeding positions of groups of organisms in a food chain or web. Some common trophic levels would be primary producers (grasses), primary consumers (birds), and secondary consumers, (birds or foxes).

A technique used in laboratories used to separate macromolecules based on size.The term refers to movement of charged particles in a fluid or gel under the influence of an electric field.

An instrument used to test for single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP's) (common genetic variations among individuals) between DNA fragments.

Denaturing High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (dHPLC) is a technique that is used to separate chemicals in a mixture. dHPLC has been used on 19 patients with auto-inflammatory syndrome suspicion to spot polymorphism in the gene MVK. This technique is a quick and low cost process in order to obtain accurate screening of the mutations.

The processes used to create copies of DNA fragments.

PCR is a technique in the laboratory in which short sequences of DNA are amplified. Real-time PCR has been used to rapidly detect Salmonella from cloves. It has also been used to compare three different methods to extract DNA.

Used to increase DNA of interest. This is done by analyzing the separation patterns on the gel with the use of fluorescently labeled DNA sequencing fragments. Cutting out the desired band and then amplifying the DNA for further use.

An RNA component of the ribosome and is vital for making proteins.

The relationship between two organisms that interact with one another.

Relating to the stigma.

An elongated sucking mouthpart that is typically tubular and flexible, plural of proboscis.

Used to determine if samples come from the same distribution.

A structure in the flower which contains pollen.

A type of plant that persists for many growing seasons. Generally, perennial plants keep their leaves year round.

A gathering of species, excluding non-living factors.

Agents that condition organisms to have either a survival benefit or a disadvantage. Selective pressures drive natural selection. They can include environmental conditions, availability of food and energy sources, predators, diseases, and direct human influence among others.

Location on evolutionary tree based on physical or genetic characteristics.

The study of the form and structure of organisms and their specific structural features. Floral morphology relates the to structural features of the flower.

Any animal that, intentionally or not, takes pollen from one flower to another.

The purpose of this experiment was to analyze population genetics. To achieve this, the researchers used AMOVA, or analysis of molecular variance, to detect population differentiation using molecular markers. The program was set to 10,000 permutations and they were able to obtain estimates of genetic differentiation and mean number of migrants with the GenAIEx v. 6.5 program.

Refers to the non-random association of alleles at different loci in a given population. This experiment included a test for linkage disequilibrium (LD). To achieve this the researcher used ARLEQUIN v.3.5.2.2 which is an integrated software for population genetics data analysis. From this program they used the likelihood ratio test which tested for LD.

The location or position in a chromosome of a particular gene. Plural of locus.

Microsatellites, also known simple sequence repeats (SSRs) in plant genetics, are identified through sequencing. This research helps to identify the biological functions of the genes and how they affect the plant in terms of its genomic makeup.

Differences in the genetic makeup within populations over time.

Differences within the movement and quality of water.

A branch of phylogeny that uses molecular and statistical techniques to determine hereditary differences within organisms.

Plants or animals that exist in one geographical location.

Genetic differentiation is the variation between allele frequency in populations that have been isolated.

A land-locked lake in Hispaniola that contains a high concentration of salt.

The process of taking a data set of any size and mapping (or organizing it) into a specific structure of a set size, such as a table. This makes it easy to find the data later if you need it.

A good example would be books in a library. By assigning each book a call number associated with its location, you can easily look up the book in a database and see where you should go in the library to find it.

To represent by breaking up into individual, separate quantities.

A distinctive, recurrent pattern of activity.

This is a matrix that is generated from a Gaussian distribution. In a Gaussian distribution, also called a normal distribution, the mean value has the highest probability of occurring, and values further away from the mean in both directions have a smaller chance of occurring. An example is a bell curve of grades, where most students get an average C grade and only a few students get either Fs or As.

This is a common technique the brain uses in many different sensory systems (vision, hearing, smell, etc.). The calculation incorporates information about the neuron's receptive field (the area in which it is sensitive to a stimulus) as well as a measure of the contrast (difference) between local stimuli.

To organize into a numerical format.

Associations between the evolutionary history of a group of organisms where"poly" means many and "genetic" refers to origin.

The act of inserting one object or substance into another. For this study, the slices from the EOD records taken through time are put into the slices from EOD records taken through space to create a map that shows the potential and amplitude of the EOD.

An order of freshwater bony fish that can be identified by a long body, anal fins, nocturnal behavior, and the ability to generate electric fields for communication, navigation, and defense. The eel, for example, is a well-known gymnotiform.

This is when animals use electric fields in their surroundings to detect their own location in space. Only certain species with electroreceptors can do this, consider how bats perform echolocation with their vibration detections.

Refers to something that was caused by humans. Anthropogenic barriers could include roads, agricultural areas, or cities. These barriers can reduce the ability for species to migrate.

In the case of this paper, referring to the capacity of individuals within a population to establish themselves in an area. Unlike fitness, this has less to do with surviving to seed, and more to do with being dominant in a space shared with other populations.

As human activities have cleared habitats to extract resources or establish agricultural land or housing, habitats have become concentrated in smaller patches with unfavorable land in between. This is also known as habitat fragmentation, and can impede the migration of species to more favorable habitats.

As species move to new places with different environmental conditions, species evolve. Which traits are favored and how trait and gene frequencies change are aspects of evolutionary dynamics. For example, plant traits including height and dispersal change as plants spread to new areas.

The spreading of, in this case, a plant species due to its dispersal of seeds. The plant itself does not move to new locations like when animals migrate, but instead, it refers to the spreading distribution of the plant species.

Events in which a new organism is introduced to the environment, then grows and reproduces to the point that it becomes common in the new environment. These events are often associated with harming the native species, but are also how species adapt to changing conditions.

Teragram, grams in the trillions.

Research into the amount, source, spread, and control of diseases.

Molecules that lead to the formation of aerosols (suspended particles in air).

Chemical reactions that remove hydroxyl radicals from the atmosphere.

Molecules that contain only carbon and hydrogen atoms (hydrocarbons). Nonane has 9 carbon atoms, decane has 10 carbon atoms, and undecane has 11 carbon atoms.

Calculation that predicts the chemical make-up of air due to emissions and various reactions that occur to transform those emissions.

To hydrolyze a molecule is to break it into two pieces by adding a water molecule to it. Some chemicals undergo this process spontaneously, but in biological systems enzymes often help hydrolyze large biological molecules.