CO2-driven decrease in pH disrupts olfactory behaviour and increases individual variation in deep-sea hermit crabs

Deep-sea species are generally thought to be less tolerant of environmental variation than shallow-living species due to the relatively stable conditions in deep waters for most parameters (e.g. temperature, salinity, oxygen, and pH). To explore the potential for deep-sea hermit crabs (Pagurus tanneri) to acclimate to future ocean acidification, we compared their olfactory and metabolic performance under ambient (pH 7.6) and expected future (pH 7.1) conditions. After exposure to reduced pH waters, metabolic rates of hermit crabs increased transiently and olfactory behaviour was impaired, including antennular flicking and prey detection. Crabs exposed to low pH treatments exhibited higher individual variation for both the speed of antennular flicking and speed of prey detection, than observed in the control pH treatment, suggesting that phenotypic diversity could promote adaptation to future ocean acidification.

Temporal variation, dormancy, and coexistence: A field test of the storage effect

Theoretical models suggest that overlapping generations, in combination with a temporally fluctuating environment, may allow the persistence of competitors that otherwise would not coexist. Despite extensive theoretical development, this “storage effect” hypothesis has received little empirical attention. Herein I present the first explicit mathematical analysis of the contribution of the storage effect to the dynamics of competing natural populations. In Oneida Lake, NY, data collected over the past 30 years show a striking negative correlation between the water-column densities of two species of suspension-feeding zooplankton, Daphnia galeata mendotae and Daphnia pulicaria. I have demonstrated competition between these two species and have shown that both possess long-lived eggs that establish overlapping generations. Moreover, recruitment to this long-lived stage varies annually, so that both daphnids have years in which they are favored (for recruitment) relative to their competitor. When the long-term population growth rates are calculated both with and without the effects of a variable environment, I show that D. galeata mendotae clearly cannot persist without the environmental variation and prolonged dormancy (i.e., storage effect) whereas D. pulicaria persists through consistently high per capita recruitment to the long-lived stage.

Spring Phenology of Butterflies : The role of seasonal variation in life-cycle regulation

Animals and plants in temperate regions must adapt their life cycle to pronounced seasonal variation. The research effort that has gone into studying these cyclical life history events, or phenological traits, has increased greatly in recent decades. As phenological traits are often correlated to temperature, they are relevant to study in terms of understanding the effect of short term environmental variation as well as long term climate change. Because of this, changes in phenology are the most obvious and among the most commonly reported responses to climate change. Moreover, phenological traits are important for fitness as they determine the biotic and abiotic environment an individual encounters. Fine-tuning of phenology allows for synchronisation at a local scale to mates, food resources and appropriate weather conditions. On a between-population scale, variation in phenology may reflect regional variation in climate. Such differences can not only give insights to life cycle adaptation, but also to how populations may respond to environmental change through time. This applies both on an ecological scale through phenotypic plasticity as well as an evolutionary scale through genetic adaptation. In this thesis I have used statistical and experimental methods to investigate both the larger geographical patterns as well as mechanisms of fine-tuning of phenology of several butterfly species. The main focus, however, is on the orange tip butterfly, Anthocharis cardamines, in Sweden and the United Kingdom. I show a contrasting effect of spring temperature and winter condition on spring phenology for three out of the five studied butterfly species. For A. cardamines there are population differences in traits responding to these environmental factors between and within Sweden and the UK that suggest adaptation to local environmental conditions. All populations show a strong negative plastic relationship between spring temperature and spring phenology, while the opposite is true for winter cold duration. Spring phenology is shifted earlier with increasing cold duration. The environmental variables show correlations, for example, during a warm year a short winter delays phenology while a warm spring speeds phenology up. Correlations between the environmental variables also occur through space, as the locations that have long winters also have cold springs. The combined effects of these two environmental variables cause a complex geographical pattern of phenology across the UK and Sweden. When predicting phenology with future climate change or interpreting larger geographical patterns one must therefore have a good enough understanding of how the phenology is controlled and take the relevant environmental factors in to account. In terms of the effect of phenological change, it should be discussed with regards to change in life cycle timing among interacting species. For example, the phenology of the host plants is important for A. cardamines fitness, and it is also the main determining factor for oviposition. In summary, this thesis shows that the broad geographical pattern of phenology of the butterflies is formed by counteracting environmental variables, but that there also are significant population differences that enable fine-tuning of phenology according to the seasonal progression and variation at the local scale.

Genetic and environmentally derived variation in the cell wall composition of miscanthus and implications for thermo-chemical conversion

Fifteen Miscanthus genotypes grown in five locations across Europe were analysed to investigate the influence of genetic and environmental factors on cell wall composition. Chemometric techniques combining near infrared reflectance spectroscopy and conventional chemical analyses were used to construct calibration models for determination of acid detergent lignin, acid detergent fibre, and neutral detergent fibre from sample spectra. The developed equations were shown to predict cell wall components with a good degree of accuracy and significant genetic and environmental variation was identified. The influence of nitrogen and potassium fertiliser on the dry matter yield and cell wall composition of M. x giganteus was investigated. A detrimental affect on feedstock quality was observed to result from application of these inputs which resulted in an overall reduction in concentrations of cell wall components and increased accumulation of ash within the biomass. Pyrolysis-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and thermo-gravimetric analysis indicates that genotypes other than the commercially cultivated M. x giganteus have potential for use in energy conversion processes and in the bio-refining. The yields and quality parameters of the pyrolysis liquids produced from Miscanthus compared favourably with that produced from SRC willow and produced a more stable pyrolysis liquid with a higher lower heating value. Overall, genotype had a more significant effect on cell wall composition than environment. This indicates good potential for dissection of this trait by QTL analysis and also for plant breeding to produce new genotypes with improved feedstock characteristics for energy conversion.

Genotypic and environmentally derived variation in the cell wall composition of Miscanthus in relation to its use as a biomass feedstock

Fifteen Miscanthus genotypes grown in five locations across Europe were analysed to investigate the influence of genetic and environmental factors on cell wall composition. Chemometric techniques combining near infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS) and conventional chemical analyses were used to construct calibration models for determination of acid detergent lignin (ADL), acid detergent fibre (ADF), and neutral detergent fibre (NDF) from sample spectra. Results generated were subsequently converted to lignin, cellulose and hemicellulose content and used to assess the genetic and environmental variation in cell wall composition of Miscanthus and to identify genotypes which display quality traits suitable for exploitation in a range of energy conversion systems. The NIRS calibration models developed were found to predict concentrations with a good degree of accuracy based on the coefficient of determination (R2), standard error of calibration (SEC), and standard error of cross-validation (SECV) values. Across all sites mean lignin, cellulose and hemicellulose values in the winter harvest ranged from 76–115 g kg-1, 412–529 g kg-1, and 235–338 g kg-1 respectively. Overall, of the 15 genotypes Miscanthus x giganteus and Miscanthus sacchariflorus contained higher lignin and cellulose concentrations in the winter harvest. The degree of observed genotypic variation in cell wall composition indicates good potential for plant breeding and matching feedstocks to be optimised to different energy conversion processes.

Geographical gradients in Argentinean terrestrial mammal species richness and their environmental correlates.

We analysed the main geographical trends of terrestrial mammal species richness (SR) in Argentina, assessing how broad-scale environmental variation (defined by climatic and topographic variables) and the spatial form of the country (defined by spatial filters based on spatial eigenvector mapping (SEVM)) influence the kinds and the numbers of mammal species along these geographical trends. We also evaluated if there are pure geographical trends not accounted for by the environmental or spatial factors. The environmental variables and spatial filters that simultaneously correlated with the geographical variables and SR were considered potential causes of the geographic trends. We performed partial correlations between SR and the geographical variables, maintaining the selected explanatory variables statistically constant, to determine if SR was fully explained by them or if a significant residual geographic pattern remained. All groups and subgroups presented a latitudinal gradient not attributable to the spatial form of the country. Most of these trends were not explained by climate.We used a variation partitioning procedure to quantify the pure geographic trend (PGT) that remained unaccounted for. The PGT was larger for latitudinal than for longitudinal gradients. This suggests that historical or purely geographical causes may also be relevant drivers of these geographical gradients in mammal diversity.

The role of productivity in the ecological and evolutionary dynamics of predator-prey interaction

Productivity is predicted to drive the ecological and evolutionary dynamics of predator-prey interaction through changes in resource allocation between different traits. However, resources are seldom constantly available and thus temporal variation in productivity could have considerable effect on the species' potential to evolve. To study this, three long-term microbial laboratory experiments were established where Serratia marcescens prey bacteria was exposed to predation of protist Tetrahymena thermophila in different prey resource environments. The consequences of prey resource availability for the ecological properties of the predator-prey system, such as trophic dynamics, stability, and virulence, were determined. The evolutionary changes in species traits and prey genetic diversity were measured. The prey defence evolved stronger in high productivity environment. Increased allocation to defence incurred cost in terms of reduced prey resource use ability, which probably constrained prey evolution by increasing the effect of resource competition. However, the magnitude of this trade-off diminished when measured in high resource concentrations. Predation selected for white, non-pigmented, highly defensive prey clones that produced predation resistant biofilm. The biofilm defence was also potentially accompanied with cytotoxicity for predators and could have been traded off with high motility. Evidence for the evolution of predators was also found in one experiment suggesting that co-evolutionary dynamics could affect the evolution and ecology of predator-prey interaction. Temporal variation in resource availability increased variation in predator densities leading to temporally fluctuating selection for prey defences and resource use ability. Temporal variation in resource availability was also able to constrain prey evolution when the allocation to defence incurred high cost. However, when the magnitude of prey trade-off was small and the resource turnover was periodically high, temporal variation facilitated the formation of predator resistant biofilm. The evolution of prey defence constrained the transfer of energy from basal to higher trophic levels, decreasing the strength of top-down regulation on prey community. Predation and temporal variation in productivity decreased the stability of populations and prey traits in general. However, predation-induced destabilization was less pronounced in the high productivity environment where the evolution of prey defence was stronger. In addition, evolution of prey defence weakened the environmental variation induced destabilization of predator population dynamics. Moreover, protozoan predation decreased the S. marcescens virulence in the insect host moth (Parasemia plantaginis) suggesting that species interactions outside the context of host-pathogen relationship could be important indirect drivers for the evolution of pathogenesis. This thesis demonstrates that rapid evolution can affect various ecological properties of predator-prey interaction. The effect of evolution on the ecological dynamics depended on the productivity of the environment, being most evident in the constant environments with high productivity.

Assessment of insect occurrence in boreal forests based on satellite imagery and field measurements.

The presence/absence data of twenty-seven forest insect taxa (e.g. Retinia resinella, Formica spp., Pissodes spp., several scolytids) and recorded environmental variation were used to investigate the applicability of modelling insect occurrence based on satellite imagery. The sampling was based on 1800 sample plots (25 m by 25 m) placed along the sides of 30 equilateral triangles (side 1 km) in a fragmented forest area (approximately 100 km2) in Evo, S Finland. The triangles were overlaid on land use maps interpreted from satellite images (Landsat TM 30 m multispectral scanner imagery 1991) and digitized geological maps. Insect occurrence was explained using either environmental variables measured in the field or those interpreted from the land use and geological maps. The fit of logistic regression models varied between species, possibly because some species may be associated with the characteristics of single trees while other species with stand characteristics. The occurrence of certain insect species at least, especially those associated with Scots pine, could be relatively accurately assessed indirectly on the basis of satellite imagery and geological maps. Models based on both remotely sensed and geological data better predicted the distribution of forest insects except in the case of Xylechinus pilosus, Dryocoetes sp. and Trypodendron lineatum, where the differences were relatively small in favour of the models based on field measurements. The number of species was related to habitat compartment size and distance from the habitat edge calculated from the land use maps, but logistic regressions suggested that other environmental variables in general masked the effect of these variables in species occurrence at the present scale.

Multi-species and multi-interest management: An ecosystem approach to market squid (Loligo opalescens) harvest in California

Market squid (Loligo opalescens) plays a vital role in the California ecosystem and serves as a major link in the food chain as both a predator and prey species. For over a century, market squid has also been harvested off the California coast from Monterey to San Pedro. Expanding global markets, coupled with a decline in squid product from other parts of the world, in recent years has fueled rapid expansion of the virtually unregulated California fishery. Lack of regulatory management, in combination with dramatic increases in fishing effort and landings, has raised numerous concerns from the scientific, fishing, and regulatory communities. In an effort to address these concerns, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary (CINMS) hosted a panel discussion at the October 1997 California Cooperative Oceanic and Fisheries Investigations (CalCOFI) Conference; it focused on ecosystem management implications for the burgeoning market squid fishery. Both panel and audience members addressed issues such as: the direct and indirect effects of commercial harvesting upon squid biomass; the effects of harvest and the role of squid in the broader marine community; the effects of environmental variation on squid population dynamics; the sustainability of the fishery from the point of view of both scientists and the fishers themselves; and the conservation management options for what is currently an open access and unregulated fishery. Herein are the key points of the ecosystem management panel discussion in the form of a preface, an executive summary, and transcript. (PDF contains 33 pages.)

Sensing and Actuation from Biology to Electronics

We introduce an in vitro diagnostic magnetic biosensing platform for immunoassay and nucleic acid detection. The platform has key characteristics for a point-of-use (POU) diagnostic: portability, low-power consumption, low cost, and multiplexing capability. As a demonstration of capabilities, we use this platform for the room temperature, amplification-free detection of a 31 bp DNA oligomer and interferon-gamma (a protein relevant for tuberculosis diagnosis). Reliable assay measurements down to 100 pM for the DNA and 1 pM for the protein are demonstrated. We introduce a novel "magnetic freezing" technique for baseline measurement elimination and to enable spatial multiplexing. We have created a general protocol for adapting integrated circuit (IC) sensors to any of hundreds of commercially available immunoassay kits and custom designed DNA sequences.

We also introduce a method for immunotherapy treatment of malignant gliomas. We utilize leukocytes internalized with immunostimulatory nanoparticle-oligonucleotide conjugates to localize and retain immune cells near the tumor site. As a proof-of-principle, we develop a novel cell imaging and incubation chamber for in vitro magnetic motility experiments. We use the apparatus to demonstrate the controlled movement of magnetically loaded THP-1 leukocytes.

Finally, we introduce an IC transmitter and power ampli er (PA) that utilizes electronic digital infrastructure, sensors, and actuators to self-heal and adapt to process, dynamic, and environmental variation. Traditional IC design has achieved incredible degrees of reliability by ensuring that billions of transistors on a single IC die are all simultaneously functional. Reliability becomes increasingly difficult as the size of a transistor shrinks. Self-healing can mitigate these variations.

An Assessment of Fishery Yields from the East China Sea Ecosystem

A first assessment ofimportant East China Sea fisheries was carried out using data from 1956 to 1993. Two different data sets were available: 1) catch and effort data taken from landings and boat registrations and 2) catch and effort data from skipper's logs taken at sea. The two sets provided similar trends in CPUE over the study period. Stocks of high value, low volume species have been fished heavily and now produce very low landings or have been depleted (e.g. small and large yellow croaker). Some high volume and low value species have also been heavily fished (e.g. green filefish) while others (e.g. hairtail) are still producing high landings. Surplus production models were fitted to seven stocks. All showed considerable fluctuations in landings around MSY. The green filefish stock had an estimated MSY of around 160,000 tlyr at an effort of 2,500,000 kw and was depleted by a combination of excessive effort (around 4,000,000 kw in 1993) and marked fluctuations in landings (up to 70,000 tlyr above or below MSY). A sustainable policyfor managing ECS fisheries should address the effects ofboth effort and environmental variation.

松嫩平原碱化草地景观空间格局及环境因子的综合分析

本文对松嫩平原羊草地的群落结构及空间格局进行了分析，主要内容包含以下三个方面： 1、本文第一部分是对碱化草地植物群落分布的空间、环境因子分离。决定碱化草地植物物种在空间分布的因素可以大致分解成4个部分：（1）通过物种的生态位起作用的环境因子;（2）决定物种、群落间竞争激烈程度的空间距离因子;（3）环境和空间因子的交叉或耦合作用;（4）其它未知因子（如生物和随机因子）。本研究在1996年野外实地采样的基础上，运用DCA消势对应分析（Detrended Correspondence Analysis）对群落主要变化趋势及其与土壤环境因子之间的关系进行了分析。运用DCCA消势典范对应分析（Detrended Canonical Correspondence Analysis）对影响松嫩平原碱化草地群落结构季节动态的空间和环境因素进行了定量的分解。结果表明： 在影响群落分布的各因子中，环境因子独立约占40％，而环境一空间耦合因子占35％，空间因子独立约占3％，其它因子约占20％。在诸多因子中，土壤的盐渍化程度在整个生长季起着决定性作用，但土壤水分和氮素的作用因季节而变化。在干旱季节，植物生长的主要制约因子表现为土壤碱化度和土壤水份，而土壤氮素的作用处于次要地位。但在降雨较多、土壤湿润度较大的季节，土壤氮素的影响明显增强，成为仅次于土经度的决定性因素。 2、第二部分对东北松嫩平原碱化草地植物群落空间格局的分形性质进行了分析，分别用边长－面积指数和Korcak指数估计了斑块边界复杂性和斑块面积分布的分形维数。结果表明： 随放牧强度增加，占优势的羊草斑块的相对斑块化加剧，而斑块的边界在中度放牧时最不规则： 在水淹地，占优势的羊草斑块和次优势的碱茅斑块、獐茅斑块的斑块边界复杂性和斑块化程度比未水淹地都低，说明水降低了群落复合体内的异质性： 水淹地优势植物斑块的边长－面积指数和Korcak指数均低于次优势种，但在重度放牧地结果好相反，说明两种样地处于不同的演替阶段; 斑块边界复杂性符合同一尺度规律，在现有的面积范围以内没有尺度转换，而斑块面积分布则存在尺度转换点。对重牧地和水淹地的尺度分析表明，较小尺度上， 群落空间格局的相对斑块化程度较低，说明较小尺度上的空间格局要相对稳定一些，而较大尺度上则相反。可能原因是放牧干扰对大尺度的斑块影响更大。 3、对1989年开始围栏封育的样地10年来的空间格局变化进行时间序列分析，研究恢复演替过程中各个主要斑块类型的分布特征及动态，以及整个样地总体格局在演替系列中的变化。得出如下结果： 羊草是该区植被的优势种，其格局动态为：1989－1993年，羊草斑块总面积增加，斑块数目减少，相对斑块化指数降低，1994年后羊草的空间格局基本稳定。 羊草的斑块面积分布曲线在20平方米左右发生转折，即空间格局在此尺度发生尺度转换。不同尺度上斑块的相对斑块化指数及其在恢复演替中的变化趋势不同：小斑块的相对斑块化指数低，在1989－1993年期间增加，而后降低;大斑块的情况正好相反。说明羊草空间格局的主要变化之一是中等大小斑块的合并和数目减少，羊草斑块生长对格局的影响比斑块合并的影响要小。 獐茅斑块的格局动态为：1989－1994，斑块总面积、斑块数目、最大斑块面积增大，1995年开始降低。相对斑块化程度则先降后增。碱蓬斑块在1989－1993年间的格局动态与羊草正好相反：总面积减少，斑块数目增加，斑块面积大小的变化范围变窄，说明1993年之前，控制碱蓬斑块的主要生态学过程是其他物种的侵入，隔离原来较大的斑块，同时占据某些小斑块。1994年之后，碱蓬斑块的变化比较随机，其格局变化受到其他物种如杂草对策种虎尾草等的影响很大。 样地总体格局的变化为：1991年前，斑块种类和总斑块数目增加，斑块化程度随着增大;1993年后，斑块种类基本稳定下来;1991－1995，斑块化指数降低。在此期间，斑块数目增加，所以斑块化程度降低意味着斑块大小频率分布趋于均匀，大斑块被分裂，小斑块在长大，群落总体空间格局逐渐稳定。总体格局在三个尺度上有不同的自相似规律，这三个尺度分别为：La(a)<=1; 15.5。小尺度上相对斑块化程度低，但年际间变化较中尺度剧烈;中尺度相对斑块化程度变化较为缓，大尺度上，斑块分布一直趋于减少最大的斑块数目。总的变化趋势为，随恢复演替的深入，最大和最小的斑块数目都减少，处于中间尺度的斑块最多。

Caracterização morfoagronômica e avaliação de parâmetros genéticos de girassol em três núcleos rurais do Distrito Federal.

RESUMO: O objetivo deste trabalho foi estimar caracteres genéticos, fenotípicos e ambientais relacionados aos componentes de produção e caracteres agromorfológicos de girassol em três núcleos rurais do Distrito Federal. Os experimentos foram conduzidos nas áreas experimentais da Embrapa Cerrados, Planaltina, DF, Embrapa Produtos e Mercado, Recanto das Emas, DF e na Fazenda Agua Limpa, da Universidade de Brasília. Através dos resultados obtidos, foram verificadas diferenças significativas entre os genótipos de girassol nos três núcleos rurais do Cerrado para todas as características agronômicas avaliadas. Ainda, baixos coeficientes de variação ambiental para quase todas as características, exceto para o tamanho de capitulo, indicaram boa precisão experimental e altos valores de herdabilidade, coeficientes de variação genéticos e acurácia evidenciaram condições favoráveis à seleção dos materiais para as características agronômicas avaliadas. ABSTRACT: The purpose of this study was to assess genetic, phenotypic and environmental characteristics related to agro-morphological traits of sunflower in three rural centers of Distrito Federal. The experiments were conducted at the experimental areas of Embrapa Cerrados, Planaltina, DF, Embrapa Produtos e Mercado, Recanto das Emas, DF e na Fazenda Agua Limpa, da Universidade de Brasília. Through the obtained results, were verified significate genotypic differences of sunflower at the three rural centers of Brazilian Savannah for all traits evaluated. In addition, low coefficients of environmental variation for almost all trait, except the head size, indicate good experimental precision and high values of heritability, genetic variation and accuracy showed favorable conditions to selecting materials for the agronomic traits evaluated.

A New Analysis of Mars "Special Regions": Findings of the Second MEPAG Special Regions Science Analysis Group (SR-SAG2)

A committee of the Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group (MEPAG) has reviewed and updated the description of Special Regions on Mars as places where terrestrial organisms might replicate (per the COSPAR Planetary Protection Policy). This review and update was conducted by an international team (SR-SAG2) drawn from both the biological science and Mars exploration communities, focused on understanding when and where Special Regions could occur. The study applied recently available data about martian environments and about terrestrial organisms, building on a previous analysis of Mars Special Regions (2006) undertaken by a similar team. Since then, a new body of highly relevant information has been generated from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (launched in 2005) and Phoenix (2007) and data from Mars Express and the twin Mars Exploration Rovers (all 2003). Results have also been gleaned from the Mars Science Laboratory (launched in 2011). In addition to Mars data, there is a considerable body of new data regarding the known environmental limits to life on Earth—including the potential for terrestrial microbial life to survive and replicate under martian environmental conditions. The SR-SAG2 analysis has included an examination of new Mars models relevant to natural environmental variation in water activity and temperature; a review and reconsideration of the current parameters used to define Special Regions; and updated maps and descriptions of the martian environments recommended for treatment as “Uncertain” or “Special” as natural features or those potentially formed by the influence of future landed spacecraft. Significant changes in our knowledge of the capabilities of terrestrial organisms and the existence of possibly habitable martian environments have led to a new appreciation of where Mars Special Regions may be identified and protected. The SR-SAG also considered the impact of Special Regions on potential future human missions to Mars, both as locations of potential resources and as places that should not be inadvertently contaminated by human activity. Key Words: Martian environments—Mars astrobiology—Extreme environment microbiology—Planetary protection—Exploration resources. Astrobiology 14, 887–968.

Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Genetic Associations: Mostly False? A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

OBJECTIVE/BACKGROUND: Many associations between abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) and genetic polymorphisms have been reported. It is unclear which are genuine and which may be caused by type 1 errors, biases, and flexible study design. The objectives of the study were to identify associations supported by current evidence and to investigate the effect of study design on reporting associations.

METHODS: Data sources were MEDLINE, Embase, and Web of Science. Reports were dual-reviewed for relevance and inclusion against predefined criteria (studies of genetic polymorphisms and AAA risk). Study characteristics and data were extracted using an agreed tool and reports assessed for quality. Heterogeneity was assessed using I(2) and fixed- and random-effects meta-analyses were conducted for variants that were reported at least twice, if any had reported an association. Strength of evidence was assessed using a standard guideline.

RESULTS: Searches identified 467 unique articles, of which 97 were included. Of 97 studies, 63 reported at least one association. Of 92 studies that conducted multiple tests, only 27% corrected their analyses. In total, 263 genes were investigated, and associations were reported in polymorphisms in 87 genes. Associations in CDKN2BAS, SORT1, LRP1, IL6R, MMP3, AGTR1, ACE, and APOA1 were supported by meta-analyses.

CONCLUSION: Uncorrected multiple testing and flexible study design (particularly testing many inheritance models and subgroups, and failure to check for Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium) contributed to apparently false associations being reported. Heterogeneity, possibly due to the case mix, geographical, temporal, and environmental variation between different studies, was evident. Polymorphisms in nine genes had strong or moderate support on the basis of the literature at this time. Suggestions are made for improving AAA genetics study design and conduct.