The goal of the present research was to examine the relationship between the cognitive paradigm systems thinking and an ecologically informed worldview, specifically the New Ecological Paradigm. One hundred and fifteen psychology undergraduate students completed an online questionnaire assessing systems thinking, ecological worldview, environmental value-orientation, connectivity to nature, and environmental behaviors. Results demonstrated that systems thinkers possess a stronger ecological worldview and sense of connectivity with nature, harbour biospheric environmental values, and engage in more pro-environmental behaviors than those scoring low on systems thinking. Furthermore, it was found that systems thinking both uniquely predicted and was predicted by the New Ecological Paradigm. Moreover, results demonstrated that systems thinkers are better able to acknowledge 'system membership' and possess a greater understanding of the characteristics of complex ecological systems and their mutual influence on social-economic domains. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.Keywords systems thinking; cognitive paradigm; complex adaptive system; environmental worldview; New Ecological ParadigmThe traditional approach to resolving environmental dilemmas is in need of reform. These predicaments are complex and affect not only the ecological spheres of society but also implicate social and economic domains as well (Holland, 1995;Walker and Salt, 2006;Folke et al., 2010). It has been argued that the traditional, mechanistic way of thinking is inadequate to accurately perceive the multifaceted, fluid, and emergent nature of complex social, ecological, and economic phenomena (Goerner, 2007;Wulun, 2007;Moore and Westley, 2011;Meyfroidt, 2013). To tackle these challenges a new perceptual framework has been proposed; one that may facilitate the capacity to acknowledge the emergent and unpredictable characteristics of complex systems. This construct has been termed systems thinking (Checkland, 1981;Richmond, 1993;Maani and Maharaj, 2004; Randle and Stroink, 2012). What Is Systems Thinking?Systems thinking is a trans-disciplinary construct that has been promoted as a means of being able to better comprehend and mitigate complex social-ecological dilemmas (Bosh et al., 2007;Fazey, 2010). It arose concurrently with complexity theory, quantum physics, and general systems theory during the mid-20th century and has been argued to be essential for perceiving and understanding the behavior of complex adaptive systems (CASs) (Fazey, 2010;Moore and Westley, 2011;Henning and Chen, 2012).A CAS is a collection of individual nodes (i.e. agents and elements) that self-organize and exchange information amongst each other locally to produce spontaneous and emergent global outcomes (Holland, 1995;Cilliers, 1998;Gunderson and Holling, 2002;Edson, 2012). CASs are dynamic, fluid, comprised of positive and negative feedback loops, have no central authority, and are inseparably entwined with, and contained within, other CASs. Because of the constant ...

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Many of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii expressed sequence tags (ESTs) in GenBank dbEST and community EST assemblies were either over-or undertrimmed in terms of their cDNA termini, which are defined as the diagnostic sequence elements that delineate 39/59 ends of mRNA transcripts. Overtrimming represents a loss of directional, positional, and structural information of transcript ends whereas undertrimming causes unclean spurious sequences retained in ESTs that exert deleterious impacts on downstream EST-based applications. We examined 309,278 raw EST sequencing trace files of C. reinhardtii and found that only 57% had cDNA termini that matched the expected structures specified in their cDNA library constructions while satisfying our minimum length requirement for their final clean sequences. Using GMAP, 156,963 individual ESTs were mapped to the genome successfully, with their in silico-verified cDNA termini anchored to the genome. Our data analysis suggested strong macro-and microheterogeneity of 39/59 end positions of individual transcripts derived from the same genes in C. reinhardtii. This work annotating differential ends of individual transcripts in the draft genome presents the research community with a new stream of data that will facilitate accurate determination of gene structures, genome annotation, and exploration of the transcriptome and mRNA metabolism in C. reinhardtii.

Human overpopulation continues to be a pressing problem for the health and viability of the environment, which impacts the survival and well-being of human populations. Limiting the number of offspring one produces or deciding to remain child-free may be viewed as a proenvironmental behavior (PEB) that can significantly reduce one's carbon footprint. Nonetheless, few researchers have examined the relations between environmental concerns, reported PEB, and reproductive attitudes. The goal of the current study was to examine the above relations in a sample of 200 Canadian undergraduates. Environmental concern as part of an ecologically conscious worldview (the New Ecological Paradigm) was found to negatively predict pro-reproductive attitudes. In contrast, more self-oriented (egoistic) and human-centric (altruistic) environmental concerns positively predicted pro-reproductive attitudes. Additionally, self-reported PEB was found to negatively predict proreproductive attitudes. All of the above relations were found to be statistically significant while controlling for the influence of age, sex, and religious status. These findings add to a limited empirical literature on environmental concerns, PEB, and attitudes toward reproducing, which can help inform discussion regarding the environmental issues associated with human overpopulation and potential ways to mitigate these dilemmas.

Jealousy is argued to be an adaptive emotion that coordinates the use of mate retention acts, denoting behavior intended to guard a relationship from rivals, to prevent infidelity, and to hinder defection from the mateship. Nevertheless, few researchers have examined these relations. We sampled 144 women and men in romantic relationships and found that anxious (unease over potential infidelity) and preventive (preventing one's partner from consorting with others) but not reactive (anger over a partner being unfaithful) jealousy positively predicted costinflicting mate retention. Only anxious jealousy positively predicted benefit-provisioning acts. Sex moderated the relations between reactive jealousy with cost-inflicting and benefit-provisioning behavior, such that reactively jealous women used more of both kinds of mate retention.