Critical Stretching of Mean-Field Regimes in Spatial Networks

We study a spatial network model with exponentially distributed link lengths on an underlying grid of points, undergoing a structural crossover from a random, Erdős-Rényi graph, to a d-dimensional lattice at the characteristic interaction range ζ. We find that, whilst far from the percolation threshold the random part of the giant component scales linearly with ζ, close to criticality it extends in space until the universal length scale ζ^{6/(6-d)}, for d<6, before crossing over to the spatial one. We demonstrate the universal behavior of the spatiotemporal scales characterizing this critical stretching phenomenon of mean-field regimes in percolation and in dynamical processes on d=2 networks, and we discuss its general implications to real-world phenomena, such as neural activation, traffic flows or epidemic spreading.

Population structure of elephant foot yams (Amorphophallus paeoniifolius (Dennst.) Nicolson) in Asia

The corms and leaves of elephant foot yams (Amorphophallus paeoniifolius (Dennst.) Nicolson) are important foods in the local diet in many Asian regions. The crop has high productivity and wide agroecological adaptation and exhibits suitability for the agroforestry system. Although the plant is assumed to reproduce via panmixia, a comprehensive study on the genetic background across regions to enhance wider consumer palatability is still lacking. Here, ten informative microsatellites were analyzed in 29 populations across regions in India, Indonesia and Thailand to understand the genetic diversity, population structure and distribution to improve breeding and conservation programs. The genetic diversity was high among and within regions. Some populations exhibited excess heterozygosity and bottlenecking. Pairwise FST indicated very high genetic differentiation across regions (FST = 0.274), and the Asian population was unlikely to be panmictic. Phylogenetic tree construction grouped the populations according to country of origin with the exception of the Medan population from Indonesia. The current gene flow was apparent within the regions but was restricted among the regions. The present study revealed that Indonesia and Thailand populations could be alternative centers of the gene pool, together with India. Consequently, regional action should be incorporated in genetic conservation and breeding efforts to develop new varieties with global acceptance.