Neutral Theory Research Articles

Supporting the President in a #NotMyPresident Context: Experiences of College-Aged Trump Supporters at a Southern University

In light of sexual misconduct allegations involving the former president of the United States, this study analyzes the reasons some university students provide for their continued support of Donald Trump. Relying on ten semi-structured qualitative interviews with college students who align with the president, this paper identifies three interrelated stages making up a model of support. First, students identify their conservative worldviews as helping to explain their initial support of Trump. Second, given the numerous accusations leveled against the president in the media, students readily use neutralization tactics to counter these narratives and rationalize their continued support. Finally, they feel vilified at their university and elsewhere for supporting Trump, and they find it necessary to conceal their opinions. Such experiences do not contribute to them questioning their beliefs. On the contrary, they lead to more entrenched and rigid support of the president. By identifying this three-stage process and applying neutralization theory to better understand it, this paper contributes to the existing sociological literature on the persistence of conservatism in the United States today.

Dispersal limitations and long-term persistence drive differentiation from haplotypes to communities within a tropical sky-island: Evidence from community metabarcoding.

Neutral theory proposes that dispersal stochasticity is one of the main drivers of local diversity. Haplotypes-level genetic variation can now be efficiently sampled from across whole communities, thus making it possible to test neutral predictions from the genetic to species-level diversity, and higher. However, empirical data is still limited, with the few studies to date coming from temperate latitudes. Here, we focus on a tropical mountain within the Transmexican Volcanic Belt to evaluate spatially fine-scale patterns of arthropod community assembly to understand the role of dispersal limitation and landscape features as drivers of diversity. We sampled whole-communities of arthropods for eight orders at a spatial scale ranging from 50m to 19km, using whole community metabarcoding. We explored multiple hierarchical levels, from individual haplotypes to lineages at 0.5, 1.5, 3, 5, and 7.5% similarity thresholds, to evaluate patterns of richness, turnover, and distance decay of similarity with isolation-by-distance and isolation-by-resistance (costs to dispersal given by landscape features) approaches. Our results showed that distance and altitude influence distance decay of similarity at all hierarchical levels. This holds for arthropod groups of contrasting dispersal abilities, but with different strength depending on the spatial scale. Our results support a model where local-scale differentiation mediated by dispersal constraints, combined with long-term persistence of lineages, is an important driver of diversity within tropical sky islands.

Why do I take deviant disclosure behavior on internet platforms? An explanation based on the neutralization theory

Internet platforms increasingly rely on personal data to maintain user base and attract potential users. However, users might misrepresent their personal information in response to the requests when they expect their personal information to be used for unstated purposes. Misrepresenting of personal information (MPI), as a regular deviant behavior on online platforms, leads to data noises and service failures and needs further investigation. Drawing on the neutralization theory and online scenario survey, this study constructs a model to examine the factors of MPI. The results show that techniques of neutralization, such as denial of injury, defense of necessity, metaphor of the ledger, and avoidance of greater harm, are positively associated with users’ intention of MPI. In particular, avoidance of greater harm has a stronger effect on MPI intention than other neutralization techniques. Furthermore, we also explore the contingent role of personality traits. The results show that extraversion negatively moderates the relationships between denial of injury, avoidance of greater harm and MPI, whereas neuroticism plays a positive role in moderating the relationships between denial of injury, metaphor of the ledger, avoidance of greater harm and MPI. Moreover, post-hoc analysis results show that users do some differernces regarding justify their deviant disclosure behavior by using neutralization techniques between e-commerce platform and social networking site. Focusing on the dark side of disclosure behavior, this study enriches the current literature by applying neutralization theory and provides a new direction for academia and Internet practitioners to understand users’ deviant disclosure behavior.

Phytoplankton biodiversity and the inverted paradox

Earth’s aquatic food webs are overwhelmingly supported by planktonic microalgae that live in the sunlit water column where only a minimum number of physical niches are readily identifiable. Despite this paucity of environmental differentiation, these “phytoplankton” populations exhibit a rich biodiversity, an observation not easily reconciled with broadly accepted rules of resource-based competitive exclusion. This conundrum is referred to as the “Paradox of the Plankton”. Consideration of physical distancing between nutrient depletion zones around individual phytoplankton, however, suggests a competition-neutral resource landscape. Application of neutral theory to the sheer number of phytoplankton in physically-mixed water masses yields a prediction of astronomical biodiversity, suggesting the inverted paradox: Why are there so few phytoplankton species? Here, we introduce a trophic constraint on phytoplankton that, when combined with stochastic principals of ecological drift, predicts only modest levels of diversity in an otherwise competition-neutral landscape. Our “trophic exclusion” principle predicts diversity to be independent of population size and yields a species richness across cell-size classes that is consistent with broad oceanographic survey observations.

That's not my fault: Excuses given by players exhibiting in-game intra-team aggressive behavior in online games

Social interaction acts as a key motivation for playing online games; however, some players engage in in-game intra-group aggressive behavior, such as swearing, ignoring, and sabotaging their teammates. This study uses the motivation theory and techniques of the neutralization theory to understand this phenomenon in the multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game. A partial least squares analysis conducted on the data collected from 221 League of Legends players revealed three types of aggressive acts: psychological, passive, and active. Psychological acts have the least negative impact on victory, while passive and active acts have the greatest negative impact. Players’ achievement, immersion, and social motivations have limited contribution to aggressive acts. Those engaging in psychological acts deploy many neutralization techniques to justify their actions, while players who only engage in active acts employ a very limited set of neutralization techniques. Thus, this study contributes to the understanding of the phenomenon that deviates from the MOBA norm of intra-team co-operation and cohesion through the techniques of the neutralization theory.

Species ecology explains the spatial components of genetic diversity in tropical reef fishes.

Generating genomic data for 19 tropical reef fish species of the Western Indian Ocean, we investigate how species ecology influences genetic diversity patterns from local to regional scales. We distinguish between the α, β and γ components of genetic diversity, which we subsequently link to six ecological traits. We find that the α and γ components of genetic diversity are strongly correlated so that species with a high total regional genetic diversity display systematically high local diversity. The α and γ diversity components are negatively associated with species abundance recorded using underwater visual surveys and positively associated with body size. Pelagic larval duration is found to be negatively related to genetic β diversity supporting its role as a dispersal trait in marine fishes. Deviation from the neutral theory of molecular evolution motivates further effort to understand the processes shaping genetic diversity and ultimately the diversification of the exceptional diversity of tropical reef fishes.

Neutral evolution test of the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 and its implications in the binding to ACE2

As the SARS-CoV-2 has spread and the pandemic has dragged on, the virus continued to evolve rapidly resulting in the emergence of new highly transmissible variants that can be of public health concern. The evolutionary mechanisms that drove this rapid diversity are not well understood but neutral evolution should open the first insight. The neutral theory of evolution states that most mutations in the nucleic acid sequences are random and they can be fixed or disappear by purifying selection. Herein, we performed a neutrality test to better understand the selective pressures exerted over SARS-CoV-2 spike protein from homologue proteins of Betacoronavirus, as well as to the spikes from human clinical isolates of the virus. Specifically, Tyr and Asn have higher occurrence rates on the Receptor Binding Domain (RBD) and in the overall sequence of spike proteins of Betacoronavirus, whereas His and Arg have lower occurrence rates. The in vivo evolutionary phenomenon of SARS-CoV-2 shows that Glu, Lys, Phe, and Val have the highest probability of occurrence in the emergent viral particles. Amino acids that have higher occurrence than the expected by the neutral control, are favorable and are fixed in the sequence while the ones that have lower occurrence than expected, influence the stability and/or functionality of the protein. Our results show that most unique mutations either for SARS-CoV-2 or its variants of health concern are under selective pressures, which could be related either to the evasion of the immune system, increasing the virus’ fitness or altering protein – protein interactions with host proteins. We explored the consequences of those selected mutations in the structure and protein – protein interaction with the receptor. Altogether all these forces have shaped the spike protein and the continually evolving variants.

The evolution of species abundances in terrestrial vertebrates

Interspecific differences in species abundances are one of the oldest and most universal patterns in ecology, yet little is known about how these differences are generated over evolutionary time. In this study, we test whether there is evidence for phylogenetic signal in population densities of four large groups of terrestrial vertebrates, namely birds, mammals, amphibians, and squamates. In addition, we test the hypothesis that the relative number of species in a clade might be a predictor of the abundance of its constituent species. However, given that the number of species in a clade is the outcome of both its age and diversification rate, and each of these factors was tested separately. Our results provide strong support for phylogenetic signal in species densities for all clades, regardless of differences in how species density was computed, or phylogenetic uncertainty. On the other hand, there was no evidence for a relationship between species abundance and the diversity of its encompassing clade. The implications of phylogenetic signal are discussed in the context of models of species abundance distributions, including Hubbell's neutral theory of biodiversity and biogeography.

Neutral theory reveals the challenge of bending the curve for the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework.

In October, nations of the world will begin negotiations for the post‐2020 Global Biodiversity Framework under the Convention on Biological Diversity. An influential ambition is “bending the curve of biodiversity loss,” which aims to reverse the decline of global biodiversity indicators. A second relevant, yet less prominent, milestone is the 20th anniversary of the publication of The Unified Neutral Theory of Biodiversity and Biogeography. Here, I apply neutral theory to show how global biodiversity indicators for population size (Living Planet Index) and extinction threat (Red List Index) decline under neutral ecological drift. This demonstrates that declining indicators are not solely caused by deterministic species‐specific or geographical patterns of biodiversity loss. Instead, indicators are sensitive to nondirectional stochasticity. Thus, “bending the curve” could be assessed relative to a counterfactual based on neutral theory, rather than static baselines. If used correctly, the 20‐year legacy of neutral theory can be extended to make a valuable contribution to the post‐2020 Global Biodiversity Framework.

Philosophical Skepticism Concerning the Neutral Theory or Randomness: Misplaced or Misconceived? A Reply to Madison, "Stochasticity and Randomness in Community Assembly: Real or As-If?"

I appreciate a recent communication from Dr. Joseph Madison (1), titled “Stochasticity and randomness in community assembly: real or as-if?,” regarding my recent article (2), titled “Cross-scale analyses of animal and human gut microbiome assemblies from metacommunity to global landscape,” both published in mSystems.

Quantifying the relationship between genetic diversity and population size suggests natural selection cannot explain Lewontin's Paradox.

Neutral theory predicts that genetic diversity increases with population size, yet observed levels of diversity across metazoans vary only two orders of magnitude while population sizes vary over several. This unexpectedly narrow range of diversity is known as Lewontin's Paradox of Variation (1974). While some have suggested selection constrains diversity, tests of this hypothesis seem to fall short. Here, I revisit Lewontin's Paradox to assess whether current models of linked selection are capable of reducing diversity to this extent. To quantify the discrepancy between pairwise diversity and census population sizes across species, I combine previously-published estimates of pairwise diversity from 172 metazoan taxa with newly derived estimates of census sizes. Using phylogenetic comparative methods, I show this relationship is significant accounting for phylogeny, but with high phylogenetic signal and evidence that some lineages experience shifts in the evolutionary rate of diversity deep in the past. Additionally, I find a negative relationship between recombination map length and census size, suggesting abundant species have less recombination and experience greater reductions in diversity due to linked selection. However, I show that even assuming strong and abundant selection, models of linked selection are unlikely to explain the observed relationship between diversity and census sizes across species.

Illegal Waste Dumping under a Municipal Solid Waste Charging Scheme: Application of the Neutralization Theory

Illegal waste dumping has become a threat to human health and the global environment. In Hong Kong, the government has proposed a quantity-based municipal solid waste charging scheme to reduce waste. However, individuals may still dispose of waste improperly, even if such a scheme has been implemented. In this study, the neutralization theory was adopted and an online survey with 273 respondents was conducted to examine the reasons for improper dumping intentions. A principal component analysis identified two types of neutralization: intrinsic neutralization (including denial of responsibility, denial of injury, and defense of necessity) and extrinsic neutralization (including condemnation of the condemners and appeal to higher loyalties). A regression analysis showed that intrinsic neutralization and gender were significant factors for illegal waste dumping intentions when attitude toward illegal waste dumping was controlled.

The relative fitness of the de novo variants in general Lithuanian population vs. in individuals with intellectual disability.

The effect of a variant on an organism is always multifaceted and can be considered from multiple perspectives-biochemical, medical, or evolutionary. However, the relationship between the effects of amino acid substitution on protein activity, human health, and an individual's evolutionary fitness is not trivial. We uncover that the general Lithuanian population is characterized by a "mirror reflection" of the de novo variant fitness effect, confirming the theory of neutrality. Meanwhile, in the group of individuals with intellectual disability, compared with the reference exome de novo variants significantly changed the composition of the amino acid. Therefore, it predicts that, both in terms of the number of amino acids and changes in their relative fitness, the structure of the proteins encoded by the studied amino acids undergo significant changes following the de novo variant, leading to possible changes in protein function associated with phenotypic traits. These results suggest that the analysis of relative fitness of exome sequences with de novo variants can predict the future phenotype. Therefore even in those cases, then only a few of all functional prediction analysis tools predict a variant as damaging, the negative relative fitness or even adaptability of the genome variant should be carefully evaluated considering both its direct function and the global background of the possible disease-associated mechanism regardless of the phenotype being studied.

Down the Slippery Slope: Moral Disengagement and Academic Integrity’s Grey Areas

Most students do not engage in serious cheating, but many engage in seemingly insignificant transgressions. While these small misgivings may be brushed aside as trivial, prior research shows that major ethical violations tend to follow small, common violations – the so-called slippery slope effect. In this study we combine computer-facilitated focus groups, an online survey and open-ended responses to identify when and why students think it is acceptable to engage in both specific minor academic integrity violations and violations more generally. We also demonstrate that the slippery slope effect occurs in academia as students who find it acceptable to violate academic integrity in more “grey area” situations also engage in more trivial and non-trivial academic integrity violations in general. We analyze our findings using mechanisms of moral disengagement and neutralization theory to categorize why students violate academic integrity and find that the mechanisms they use to justify engaging in specific trivial violations differ from those they use to justify violating academic integrity more generally. We conclude with recommendations that directly address ways that faculty and administration can neutralize the mechanisms that students use to morally disengage both in relation to specific trivial violations as well as more generally.

In defense of leader misconduct: the use of neutralization techniques by ingroup members

ABSTRACT The current study is an initial effort to investigate the value of neutralization theory to understand how, by what method, to what degree, and in what condition ingroup members defend their leader against charges of misconduct. We propose that ingroup members use neutralizing techniques to defend their leaders in the same way they would defend themselves. After exploring the underlying social identity theory driving the use of leader defense, we test our proposition by analyzing the Trump-Ukraine Impeachment Inquiry Republican Staff Report. Using content analysis, we determine the presence of neutralization techniques and classify those instances into specific neutralization categories proposed in the literature. Using a post-hoc analysis, we then explore under what conditions ingroup members use specific neutralization techniques in defense of an ingroup leader. Our study extends prior theory and research by examining the use of neutralization techniques in defense of an ingroup leader’s alleged misconduct.

Effect of Productivity on Community Size Explains the Latitudinal Diversity Gradient of South American Small Mammals.

AbstractAlthough many studies have shown that species richness increases from high to low latitudes (the latitudinal diversity gradient), the mechanisms responsible for generating and maintaining higher species richness in the tropics remain intensely debated. Here we investigate how the effects of temperature on speciation rates (kinetic effects) and the effects of productivity on community size (chemical effects) explain the latitudinal diversity gradient of South American small mammals. We implemented Bayesian models that integrate processes from the neutral and metabolic theories, comparing model predictions with empirical richness patterns. The neutral-metabolic model predicted the latitudinal richness gradient in South American small mammals. We found evidence that the effects of productivity on community size are more important for explaining differences in species richness than the effects of temperature on speciation rates. These results suggest that differences in species richness along latitudinal gradients are regulated primarily by the chemical effects of productivity on speciation-extinction dynamics.

Reconstructing the History of Variation in Effective Population Size along Phylogenies.

The nearly neutral theory predicts specific relations between effective population size (Ne) and patterns of divergence and polymorphism, which depend on the shape of the distribution of fitness effects (DFE) of new mutations. However, testing these relations is not straightforward, owing to the difficulty in estimating Ne. Here, we introduce an integrative framework allowing for an explicit reconstruction of the phylogenetic history of Ne, thus leading to a quantitative test of the nearly neutral theory and an estimation of the allometric scaling of the ratios of nonsynonymous over synonymous polymorphism () and divergence (dN/dS) with respect to Ne. As an illustration, we applied our method to primates, for which the nearly neutral predictions were mostly verified. Under a purely nearly neutral model with a constant DFE across species, we find that the variation in and dN/dS as a function of Ne is too large to be compatible with current estimates of the DFE based on site frequency spectra. The reconstructed history of Ne shows a 10-fold variation across primates. The mutation rate per generation u, also reconstructed over the tree by the method, varies over a 3-fold range and is negatively correlated with Ne. As a result of these opposing trends for Ne and u, variation in πS is intermediate, primarily driven by Ne but substantially influenced by u. Altogether, our integrative framework provides a quantitative assessment of the role of Ne and u in modulating patterns of genetic variation, while giving a synthetic picture of their history over the clade.

Protection of a Famous Person’s Surname in the Light of the European Union Trade Mark Regulation

Purpose: The main goal of the paper is to analyse the possibilities and rules of management of the protection of a famous person’s surname based on the provisions of the Regulation 2017/1001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 June 2017 on the European Union trade mark (EUTMR). Moreover, the author aims at exploring whether the general principles of European Union trade marks protection are modified in view of the relation between a trade mark and a famous person in the case of the conflict between a trade mark containing a famous person’s surname and a similar trade mark of another person. Design/Methodology/Approach: The author analyses and interprets legal provisions of EUTMR and a variety cases concerning the problem of a famous person’s surname protection based on the EUTMR provisions. Findings: A specific theory of a trade mark neutralization is applied in the case of a conflict between a trade mark containing a famous person’s surname and a similar trade mark of another person. Furthermore, in such a conflict the general rule formulated by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in the SABEL case (“the more distinctive the earlier mark, the greater will be the likelihood of confusion”) tends to be modified by CJEU. Practical Implications: The paper is addressed to both lawyers dealing with the protection of intangible assets (particularly personal names and trade marks) and managers of famous persons. Originality/Value: The article contains a comprehensive analysis of the subject matter. The possibilities and principles of protection of a famous person’s surname on the ground of the EUTMR are discussed in the context of specific cases, including the latest ones, to enable the author to detect the specific approach to the matter that tends to be applied by the courts.

Emerging Patterns of Microbial Functional Traits.

Functional traits are measurable characteristics that affect an organism's fitness under certain environmental conditions. The use of functional traits in microbial ecology holds great promise for improving our ability to develop biogeochemical models and predict ecosystem responses to global changes. Notably, functional traits could be decoupled from taxonomic relatedness, owing to horizontal gene transfer among microorganisms and adaptive evolution. In recent years, our knowledge about microbial functional traits has been substantially enhanced, thereby revealing the multitude of ecological processes in driving community assembly and dynamics. Here, I summarize the emerging patterns of how microbial functional traits respond to changing environments, which considerably differ from better-studied microbial taxonomy. I use niche and neutral theories to explain microbial functional traits. Finally, I highlight future challenges to analyze, elucidate, and utilize functional traits in microbial ecology.

Neutral theory: applicability and neutrality of using generic health-related quality of life tools in diseases or conditions where specific tools are available

BackgroundHealth-related quality of life (HRQoL) tools are limited by the indicators included in the construct and variation in interpretation by different researchers. Neutral Theory describes the ideal construct that includes all relevant indicators and, therefore, complete accuracy, or neutrality. Neutral Theory can thereby provide the framework to develop or test constructs. To assess the application of Neutral Theory, the neutrality of generic tools (SF-36 and EQ-5D) at measuring HRQoL was compared to disease/condition-specific tools, with the latter considered surrogates for the Neutral construct.MethodsFull descriptions of all disease/condition-specific HRQoL tools published on PubMed (to 01-Jul-19) were sourced. For each tool, the number of items with and without a direct match within the SF-36 and EQ-5D was recorded and the sensitivity/specificity calculated.ResultsThe SF-36 and EQ-5D did not achieve a sensitivity/specificity both > 50% against any of the 163 disease/condition-specific tools identified. At 20% prevalence of poor HRQoL, the false positive rate (FPR) was > 75% for all but two tools against the SF-36 and six tools against the EQ-5D. Increasing poor HRQoL to 80%, 47 tools for the SF-36 and 48 tools for the EQ-5D had a FPR < 50%. For rare disease tools (< 1/2000 population; n = 17), sensitivity/specificity ranged from 0 to 40%/5–31% for the SF-36 and 0–22%/29–100% for the EQ-5D. For non-rare (n = 75) and symptom-specific tools (n = 71) sensitivity/specificity was: 0–100%/0–100% (SF-36) and 0–50%/0–100% (EQ-5D); and 0–60%/0–19% (SF-36) and 0–25%/0–100% (EQ-5D), respectively. No concordance was recorded for 18% (2/11) of results from studies of rare disease tools versus the SF-36 (no data vs EQ-5D). For non-rare, disease-specific tools, results were discordant for 30% (25/84) and 35% (23/65) of studies against the SF-36 and EQ-5D, respectively. For symptom-specific tools, corresponding results were 36% (24/66) and 16% (5/31).ConclusionsGeneric HRQoL tools appear poorly correlated with disease/condition-specific tools, which indicates that adoption of Neutral Theory in the development and assessment of HRQoL tools could improve their relevance, accuracy, and utility in economic evaluations of health interventions.