Re-evaluating patterns of caribou classification in western North America: implications for conservation intraspecies diversity
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Recent biogeographic history in North America has been dominated by glacial- interglacial cycles. The repeated isolation and reconnection of populations of various taxa has had a profound impact on intraspecies diversity. Many formal classifications of this diversity used morphological traits, but these often confound with genetic data. As habitats become increasingly fragmented and populations become isolated, an understanding of subspecific diversity (e.g. ESUs) in threatened and endangered species is paramount to appropriate management intended to promote connectivity. Through analysis of mitochondrial DNA sequences and 14 microsatellite loci we elucidate the phylogeographic history of caribou (Rangifer tarandus) and reevaluate their classification in western North America. Results indicate important restructuring of caribou subspecies, their distribution and the designation of ecotypes. For example, the subspecies R.t. grantiof Alaska and R.t. groenlandicus of northern Canada show significant genetic diversity, reciprocal introgression and common ancestry, belying sufficient differentiation expected at the subspecies level. Conversely, the Northern Mountain ecotype of woodland caribou (R.t. caribou) appears to have closer kinship to caribou classified as grantiorgroenlandicusthan to woodland caribou. These results provide important insight into the evolutionary history of caribou in North America, and are important for managers evaluating source populations for caribou translocation conservation measures.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.002 | 0.005 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.002 | 0.002 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".