Characterization of polymorphic microsatellites for the rough periwinkle gastropod, Littorina saxatilis (Olivi, 1792) and their cross-amplification in four congeners.

Eight new microsatellite loci were characterized for Littorina saxatilis (Olivi, 1792) and tested for their cross-hybridization in congeners. All loci were polymorphic in Irish and Celtic Sea samples, with an average number of alleles per locus of 15 (range, 6–31). Observed and expected locus heterozygosities ranged from 26 to 85% and from 53 to 92%, respectively. Three loci showed excess homozygosity and significant departures from Hardy–Weinberg expectations in one sample, possibly due to null alleles, population structuring or inbreeding. No linkage disequilibrium was detected among loci within samples. A high degree of cross-hybridization was observed in closely related congeners and most loci were polymorphic. These markers will be useful for investigating population genetic diversity and connectivity in coastal populations, especially for marine reserve design.

Affective disruption: Walter Benjamin and the 'history' of Ireland's industrial schools

What role do organizations play in writing history? In this paper, I address the part played by organizations in the enactment of large-scale violence, and focus on the ways in which the resulting histories come to be written. Drawing on the case of Ireland's industrial schools, I demonstrate how such accounts can act to serve the interests of those in power, effectively silencing and marginalizing weaker people. A theoretical lens that draws on ideas from Walter Benjamin and Judith Butler is helpful in understanding this; the concept of 'affective disruption' enables an exploration of how people's experiences of organizational violence can be reclaimed from the past, and protected in a continuous remembrance. Overall, this paper contributes a new perspective on the writing of organizational histories, particularly in relation to the enactment of violence. 

Ecological differences and coexistence in a guild of microparasites: Bartonella in wild rodents

The study of ecological differences among coexisting microparasites has been largely neglected, but it addresses important and unusual issues because there is no clear distinction in such cases between conventional (resource) and apparent competition. Here patterns in the population dynamics are examined for four species of Bartonella (bacterial parasites) coexisting in two wild rodent hosts, bank voles (Clethrionomys glareolus) and wood mice (Apodemus sylvaticus). Using generalized linear modeling and mixed effects models, we examine, for these four species, seasonal patterns and dependencies on host density (both direct and delayed) and, having accounted for these, any differences in prevalence between the two hosts. Whereas previous studies had failed to uncover species differences, here all four were different. Two, B. doshiae and B. taylorii, were more prevalent in wood mice, and one, B. birtlesii, was more prevalent in bank voles. B. birtlesii, B. grahamii, and B. taylorii peaked in prevalence in the fall, whereas B. doshiae peaked in spring. For B. birtlesii in bank voles, density dependence was direct, but for B. taylorii in wood mice density dependence was delayed. B. birtlesii prevalence in wood mice was related to bank vole density. The implications of these differences for species coexistence are discussed.