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Are Road Crossings Fragmenting Populations of Clinch Dace?
Bourquin, Rebecca M.; Orth, Donald J.; Hallerman, Eric M.; Stauffer, Dean F. (Humboldt Field Research Institute, 2020-11-16)
Chrosomus sp. cf. saylori (Clinch Dace) is a newly recognized species of minnow with a restricted distribution in southwestern Virginia. We analyzed genetic variation and abundance at paired sites above and below road crossings. Road crossings did not have a strong effect on presence, abundance, or genetic differentiation of Clinch Dace. Of all sites where Clinch Dace were found, only 1 perched culvert presented a barrier to upstream migration; however, no genetic differentiation was found between collections above and below that or any other culvert. Distribution and abundance of Clinch Dace populations were not influenced by habitat variables measured at the site level. Low abundance in small headwaters, nest association, and high mobility appear to be characteristics of this species of Chrosomus.
Contrasting long-term population trends of beach-nesting shorebirds under shared environmental pressures
Kwon, Eunbi; Robinson, Samantha G.; Weithman, Chelsea E.; Catlin, Daniel H.; Karpanty, Sarah M.; Altman, Jon; Simons, Theodore R.; Fraser, James D. (Elsevier, 2021-08-01)
Identifying the drivers of long-term population change is a key goal of ecological studies. It is complicated by extrinsic and intrinsic factors that may covary with time and/or operate on a time lag. For migratory shorebirds that breed on the barrier islands of eastern North America, populations may be limited by the anthropogenic, climatic, biological environments they encounter throughout the annual cycle. Using three-decades (1989–2017) of breeding monitoring data collected by the National Park Service at two national seashores in North Carolina (Hatteras and Lookout), we examined the potential drivers of nesting piping plover (Charadrius melodus) and American oystercatcher (Haematopus palliates) populations. Hatteras had five times more annual visitors than Lookout, and our modelling revealed a strong negative relationship between the population size of breeding plovers and human activity and a positive relationship with protection efforts aimed at reducing disturbance. Breeding and wintering climatic conditions, population productivity, and nesting habitat availability showed only weak effects. Thus, a decade-long decline in plover numbers at both seashores starting in the mid-90s reversed as the parks' visitor counts decreased and stricter protections from potential disturbance were implemented. However, the two sympatric populations of oystercatchers showed the opposite population trends from each other at the neighboring seashores, increasing only on Lookout after a hurricane improved habitat and subsequently the reproductive output. Our study suggests a strong relationship between the anthropogenic environment and the population trend of a threatened species and, simultaneously, the important role of stochastic events in shaping populations of long-lived shorebird species.
Does a complex life cycle affect adaptation to environmental change? Genome-informed insights for characterizing selection across complex life cycle
Albecker, Molly A.; Wilkins, Laetitia G. E.; Krueger-Hadfield, Stacy A.; Bashevkin, Samuel M.; Hahn, Matthew W.; Hare, Matthew P.; Kindsvater, Holly K.; Sewell, Mary A.; Lotterhos, Katie E.; Reitzel, Adam M. (Royal Society, 2021-12-08)
Complex life cycles, in which discrete life stages of the same organism differ in form or function and often occupy different ecological niches, are common in nature. Because stages share the same genome, selective effects on one stage may have cascading consequences through the entire life cycle. Theoretical and empirical studies have not yet generated clear predictions about how life cycle complexity will influence patterns of adaptation in response to rapidly changing environments or tested theoretical predictions for fitness trade-offs (or lack thereof) across life stages. We discuss complex life cycle evolution and outline three hypotheses—ontogenetic decoupling, antagonistic ontogenetic pleiotropy and synergistic ontogenetic pleiotropy—for how selection may operate on organisms with complex life cycles. We suggest a within-generation experimental design that promises significant insight into composite selection across life cycle stages. As part of this design, we conducted simulations to determine the power needed to detect selection across a life cycle using a population genetic framework. This analysis demonstrated that recently published studies reporting within-generation selection were underpowered to detect small allele frequency changes (approx. 0.1). The power analysis indicates challenging but attainable sampling requirements for many systems, though plants and marine invertebrates with high fecundity are excellent systems for exploring how organisms with complex life cycles may adapt to climate change.
Does long-term fire suppression impact leaf litter breakdown and aquatic invertebrate colonization in pine flatwoods wetlands?
Chandler, Houston C.; Colon-Gaud, J. Checo; Gorman, Thomas A.; Carson, Khalil; Haas, Carola A. (PeerJ, 2021-11-29)
Ephemeral wetlands are commonly embedded within pine uplands of the southeastern United States. These wetlands support diverse communities but have often been degraded by a lack of growing-season fires that historically maintained the vegetation structure. In the absence of fire, wetlands develop a dense mid-story of woody vegetation that increases canopy cover and decreases the amount of herbaceous vegetation. To understand how reduced fire frequency impacts wetland processes, we measured leaf litter breakdown rates and invertebrate communities using three common plant species (Longleaf Pine (Pinus palustris), Pineland Threeawn Grass (Aristida stricta), and Black Gum (Nyssa sylvatica)) that occur in pine flatwoods wetlands located on Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. We also tested whether or not the overall habitat type within a wetland (fire maintained or fire suppressed) affected these processes. We placed leaf packs containing 15.0 g of dried leaf litter from each species in both fire-maintained and fire-suppressed sections of three wetlands, removing them after 103±104 days submerged in the wetland. The amount of leaf litter remaining at the end of the study varied across species (N. sylvatica D 7.97 ± 0.17 g, A. stricta D 11.84 ± 0.06 g, and P. palustris D 11.37 ± 0.07 g (mean ± SE)) and was greater in fire-maintained habitat (leaf type: F2,45 D 437.2, P < 0.001; habitat type: F1,45 D 4.6, P D 0.037). We identified an average of 260 ± 33.5 (SE) invertebrates per leaf pack (range: 19±1,283), and the most abundant taxonomic groups were Cladocera, Isopoda, Acariformes, and Diptera. Invertebrate relative abundance varied significantly among litter species (approximately 39.9 ± 9.4 invertebrates per gram of leaf litter remaining in N. sylvatica leaf packs, 27.2 ± 5.3 invertebrates per gram of A. stricta, and 14.6 ± 3.1 invertebrates per gram of P. palustris (mean ± SE)) but not habitat type. However, both habitat (pseudo-F1,49 D 4.30, P D 0.003) and leaf litter type (pseudo-F2,49 D 3.62, P D 0.001) had a significant effect on invertebrate community composition. Finally, this work was part of ongoing projects focusing on the conservation of the critically imperiled Reticulated Flatwoods Salamander (Ambystoma bishopi), which breeds exclusively in pine flatwoods wetlands, and we examined the results as they relate to potential prey items for larval flatwoods salamanders. Overall, our results suggest that the vegetation changes associated with a lack of growing-season fires can impact both invertebrate communities and leaf litter breakdown.
Exploring spatial nonstationary environmental effects on Yellow Perch distribution in Lake Erie
Liu, Changdong; Liu, Junchao; Jiao, Yan; Tang, Yanli; Reid, Kevin B. (PeerJ, 2019-07-25)
Background: Global regression models under an implicit assumption of spatial stationarity were commonly applied to estimate the environmental effects on aquatic species distribution. However, the relationships between species distribution and environmental variables may change among spatial locations, especially at large spatial scales with complicated habitat. Local regression models are appropriate supplementary tools to explore species-environment relationships at finer scales. Method: We applied geographically weighted regression (GWR) models on Yellow Perch in Lake Erie to estimate spatially-varying environmental effects on the presence probabilities of this species. Outputs from GWR were compared with those from generalized additive models (GAMs) in exploring the Yellow Perch distribution. Local regression coefficients from the GWR were mapped to visualize spatially-varying species-environment relationships. K-means cluster analyses based on the t-values of GWR local regression coefficients were used to characterize the distinct zones of ecological relationships. Results: Geographically weighted regression resulted in a significant improvement over the GAM in goodness-of-fit and accuracy of model prediction. Results from the GWR revealed the magnitude and direction of environmental effects on Yellow Perch distribution changed among spatial locations. Consistent species-environment relationships were found in the west and east basins for adults. The different kinds of species-environment relationships found in the central management unit (MU) implied the variation of relationships at a scale finer than the MU. Conclusions: This study draws attention to the importance of accounting for spatial nonstationarity in exploring species-environment relationships. The GWR results can provide support for identification of unique stocks and potential refinement of the current jurisdictional MU structure toward more ecologically relevant MUs for the sustainable management of Yellow Perch in Lake Erie.
Impacts of rural to urban migration, urbanization, and generational change on consumption of wild animals in the Amazon
Chaves, Willandia A.; Valle, Denis; Tavares, Aline S.; Morcatty, Thais Q.; Wilcove, David S. (Wiley, 2020-10-30)
For the first time in history, more people live in urban areas than in rural areas. This trend is likely to continue, driven largely by rural-urban migration. We investigated how rural-urban migration, combined with urbanization and generational change, affects consumption of wild animals, using one of the most hunted taxa in the Amazon: chelonians (tortoises and freshwater turtles). We surveyed 1,356 households and 2,776 schoolchildren across 10 urban areas of the Brazilian Amazon (six small towns, three large towns, and Manaus, the largest city in the Amazon Basin), using a Randomized Response Technique and anonymous questionnaires. Urban demand for wildmeat (i.e., meat from wildlife) was alarmingly high, with conservative estimates of approximately 1.7 million turtles and tortoises being consumed annually in Amazonas state. However, consumption rates declined with urban area size and between generations (adults versus children). Furthermore, the longer rural-urban migrants lived in urban areas, the lower their consumption rates were. These results suggest that wildlife consumption is a rural-related tradition that decreases with urbanization and over time after people move to urban areas. Current conservation efforts in the Amazon do not address urban demand for wildlife and may be insufficient to ensure the survival of traded species in the face of urbanization and human population growth. Our findings show that conservation interventions must target the urban demand for wildlife, especially by focusing on young people and recent rural-urban migrants.
The importance of migratory connectivity for global ocean policy
Dunn, Daniel C.; Harrison, Autumn-Lynn; Curtice, Corrie; DeLand, Sarah; Donnelly, Ben; Fujioka, Ei; Heywood, Eleanor; Kot, Connie Y.; Poulin, Sarah; Whitten, Meredith; Akesson, Susanne; Alberini, Amalia; Appeltans, Ward; Manuel Arcos, Jos; Bailey, Helen; Ballance, Lisa T.; Block, Barbara A.; Blondin, Hannah; Boustany, Andre M.; Brenner, Jorge; Catry, Paulo; Cejudo, Daniel; Cleary, Jesse; Corkeron, Peter; Costa, Daniel P.; Coyne, Michael; Crespo, Guillermo Ortuno; Davies, Tammy E.; Dias, Maria P.; Douvere, Fanny; Ferretti, Francesco; Formia, Angela; Freestone, David; Friedlaender, Ari S.; Frisch-Nwakanma, Heidrun; Frojan, Christopher Barrio; Gjerde, Kristina M.; Glowka, Lyle; Godley, Brendan J.; Gonzalez-Solis, Jacob; Granadeiro, Jose Pedro; Gunn, Vikki; Hashimoto, Yuriko; Hawkes, Lucy M.; Hays, Graeme C.; Hazin, Carolina; Jimenez, Jorge; Johnson, David E.; Luschi, Paolo; Maxwell, Sara M.; McClellan, Catherine; Modest, Michelle; di Sciara, Giuseppe Notarbartolo; Palacio, Alejandro Herrero; Palacios, Daniel M.; Pauly, Andrea; Rayner, Matt; Rees, Alan F.; Salazar, Erick Ross; Secor, David; Sequeira, Ana MM M.; Spalding, Mark; Spina, Fernando; Van Parijs, Sofie; Wallace, Bryan; Varo-Cruz, Nuria; Virtue, Melanie; Weimerskirch, Henri; Wilson, Laurie; Woodward, Bill; Halpin, Patrick N. (Royal Society, 2019-09-18)
The distributions of migratory species in the ocean span local, national and international jurisdictions. Across these ecologically interconnected regions, migratory marine species interact with anthropogenic stressors throughout their lives. Migratory connectivity, the geographical linking of individuals and populations throughout their migratory cycles, influences how spatial and temporal dynamics of stressors affect migratory animals and scale up to influence population abundance, distribution and species persistence. Population declines of many migratory marine species have led to calls for connectivity knowledge, especially insights from animal tracking studies, to be more systematically and synthetically incorporated into decision-making. Inclusion of migratory connectivity in the design of conservation and management measures is critical to ensure they are appropriate for the level of risk associated with various degrees of connectivity. Three mechanisms exist to incorporate migratory connectivity into international marine policy which guides conservation implementation: site-selection criteria, network design criteria and policy recommendations. Here, we review the concept of migratory connectivity and its use in international policy, and describe the Migratory Connectivity in the Ocean system, a migratory connectivity evidence-base for the ocean. We propose that without such collaboration focused on migratory connectivity, efforts to effectively conserve these critical species across jurisdictions will have limited effect.
The Influence of Forests on Freshwater Fish in the Tropics: A Systematic Review
Lo, Michaela; Reed, James R.; Castello, Leandro; Steel, E. Ashley; Frimpong, Emmanuel A.; Ickowitz, Amy (Oxford University Press, 2020-05-01)
Tropical forests influence freshwater fish through multiple pathways, only some of which are well documented. We systematically reviewed the literature to assess the current state of knowledge on forests and freshwater fish in the tropics. The existing evidence is mostly concentrated in the neotropics. The majority of studies provided evidence that fish diversity was higher where there was more forest cover; this was related to the greater heterogeneity of resources in forested environments that could support a wider range of species. Studies quantifying fish abundance (or biomass) showed mixed relationships with forest cover, depending on species-specific habitat preferences. We identify the key challenges limiting our current understanding of the forest-fish nexus and provide recommendations for future research to address these knowledge gaps. A clear understanding of the functional pathways in forest-freshwater ecosystems can improve evidence-based policy development concerned with deforestation, biodiversity conservation, and food insecurity in the tropics.
Macroinvertebrate sensitivity thresholds for sediment in Virginia streams
Govenor, Heather; Krometis, Leigh-Anne H.; Willis, Lawrence; Angermeier, Paul L.; Hession, W. Cully (2019-01)
Sediment is the most commonly identified pollutant associated with macroinvertebrate community impairments in freshwater streams nationwide. Management of this physical stressor is complicated by the multiple measures of sediment available (e.g., suspended, dissolved, bedded) and the variability in natural "healthy" sediment loadings across ecoregions. Here we examine the relative importance of 9 sediment parameters on macroinvertebrate community health as measured by the Virginia Stream Condition Index (VSCI) across 5 ecoregions. In combination, sediment parameters explained 27.4% of variance in the VSCI in a multiregion data set and from 20.2% to 76.4% of variance for individual ecoregions. Bedded sediment parameters had a stronger influence on VSCI than did dissolved or suspended parameters in the multiregion assessment. However, assessments of individual ecoregions revealed conductivity had a key influence on VSCI in the Central Appalachian, Northern Piedmont and Piedmont ecoregions. In no case was a single sediment parameter sufficient to predict VSCI scores or individual biological metrics. Given the identification of embeddedness and conductivity as key parameters for predicting biological condition, we developed family-level sensitivity thresholds for these parameters, based on extirpation. Resulting thresholds for embeddedness were 68% for combined ecoregions, 65% for the Mountain bioregion (composed of Central Appalachian, Ridge and Valley, and Blue Ridge ecoregions), and 88% for the Piedmont bioregion (composed of Northern Piedmont and Piedmont ecoregions). Thresholds for conductivity were 366 μS/cm for combined ecoregions, 391 μS/cm for the Mountain bioregion, and 136 μS/cm for the Piedmont bioregion. These thresholds may help water quality professionals identify impaired and at-risk waters designated to support aquatic life and develop regional strategies to manage sediment-impaired streams. Inclusion of embeddedness as a restoration endpoint may be warranted; this could be facilitated by application of more quantitative, less time-intensive measurement approaches. We encourage refinement of thresholds as additional data and genus-based metrics become available. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2019;15:77-92. Published 2018. This article has been contributed to by US Government employees and their work is in the public domain in the USA.
Testing a global standard for quantifying species recovery and assessing conservation impact
Grace, Molly K.; Akcakaya, H. Resit; Bennett, Elizabeth L.; Brooks, Thomas M.; Heath, Anna; Hedges, Simon; Hilton-Taylor, Craig; Hoffmann, Michael; Hochkirch, Axel; Jenkins, Richard; Keith, David A.; Long, Barney; Mallon, David P.; Meijaard, Erik; Milner-Gulland, E. J.; Paul Rodriguez, Jon; Stephenson, P. J.; Stuart, Simon N.; Young, Richard P.; Acebes, Pablo; Alfaro-Shigueto, Joanna; Alvarez-Clare, Silvia; Andriantsimanarilafy, Raphali Rodlis; Arbetman, Marina; Azat, Claudio; Bacchetta, Gianluigi; Badola, Ruchi; Barcelos, Luis MD D.; Barreiros, Joao Pedro; Basak, Sayanti; Berger, Danielle J.; Bhattacharyya, Sabuj; Bino, Gilad; Borges, Paulo A.; Boughton, Raoul K.; Brockmann, H. Jane; Buckley, Hannah L.; Burfield, Ian J.; Burton, James; Camacho-Badani, Teresa; Santiago Cano-Alonso, Luis; Carmichael, Ruth H.; Carrero, Christina; P Carroll, John; Catsadorakis, Giorgos; Chapple, David G.; Chapron, Guillaume; Chowdhury, Gawsia Wahidunnessa; Claassens, Louw; Cogoni, Donatella; Constantine, Rochelle; Craig, Christie Anne; Cunningham, Andrew A.; Dahal, Nishma; Daltry, Jennifer C.; Das, Goura Chandra; Dasgupta, Niladri; Davey, Alexandra; Davies, Katharine; Develey, Pedro; Elangovan, Vanitha; Fairclough, David; Di Febbraro, Mirko; Fenu, Giuseppe; Fernandes, Fernando Moreira; Fernandez, Eduardo Pinheiro; Finucci, Brittany; Foldesi, Rita; Foley, Catherine M.; Ford, Matthew; Forstner, Michael RJ J.; Garcia, Nestor; Garcia-Sandoval, Ricardo; Gardner, Penny C.; Garibay-Orijel, Roberto; Gatan-Balbas, Marites; Gauto, Irene; Ghazi, Mirza Ghazanfar Ullah; Godfrey, Stephanie S.; Gollock, Matthew; Gonzalez, Benito A.; Grant, Tandora D.; Gray, Thomas; Gregory, Andrew J.; van Grunsven, Roy HA A.; Gryzenhout, Marieka; Guernsey, Noelle C.; Gupta, Garima; Hagen, Christian A.; Hagen, Christian A.; Hall, Madison B.; Hallerman, Eric M.; Hare, Kelly; Hart, Tom; Hartdegen, Ruston; Harvey-Brown, Yvette; Hatfield, Richard; Hawke, Tahneal; Hermes, Claudia; Hitchmough, Rod; Hoffmann, Pablo Melo; Howarth, Charlie; Hudson, Michael A.; Hussain, Syed Ainul; Huveneers, Charlie; Jacques, Helene; Jorgensen, Dennis; Katdare, Suyash; Katsis, Lydia KD D.; Kaul, Rahul; Kaunda-Arara, Boaz; Keith-Diagne, Lucy; Kraus, Daniel T.; de Lima, Thales Moreira; Lindeman, Ken; Linsky, Jean; Louis, Edward; Loy, Anna; Lughadha, Eimear Nic; Mangel, Jeffrey C.; Marinari, Paul E.; Martin, Gabriel M.; Martinelli, Gustavo; McGowan, Philip JK K.; McInnes, Alistair; Mendes, Eduardo Teles Barbosa; Millard, Michael J.; Mirande, Claire; Money, Daniel; Monks, Joanne M.; Laura Morales, Carolina; Mumu, Nazia Naoreen; Negrao, Raquel; Anh, Ha Nguyen; Niloy, Md Nazmul Hasan; Norbury, Grant Leslie; Nordmeyer, Cale; Norris, Darren; O'Brien, Mark; Oda, Gabriela Akemi; Orsenigo, Simone; Outerbridge, Mark Evan; Pasachnik, Stesha; Perez-Jimenez, Juan Carlos; Pike, Charlotte; Pilkington, Fred; Plumb, Glenn; Portela, Rita de Cassia Quitete D. C. Q.; Prohaska, Ana; Quintana, Manuel G.; Rakotondrasoa, Eddie Fanantenana; Ranglack, Dustin H.; Rankou, Hassan; Rawat, Ajay Prakash; Reardon, James Thomas; Rheingantz, Marcelo Lopes; Richter, Stephen C.; Rivers, Malin C.; Rogers, Luke Rollie; da Rosa, Patricia; Rose, Paul; Royer, Emily; Ryan, Catherine; de Mitcheson, Yvonne J. Sadovy; Salmon, Lily; Salvador, Carlos Henrique; Samways, Michael J.; Sanjuan, Tatiana; Dos Santos, Amanda Souza; Sasaki, Hiroshi; Schutz, Emmanuel; Scott, Heather Ann; Scott, Robert Michael; Serena, Fabrizio; Sharma, Surya P.; Shuey, John A.; Silva, Carlos Julio Polo; Simaika, John P.; Smith, David R.; Spaet, Julia LY Y.; Sultana, Shanjida; Talukdar, Bibhab Kumar; Tatayah, Vikash; Thomas, Philip; Tringali, Angela; Hoang, Trinh-Dinh; Tuboi, Chongpi; Usmani, Aftab Alam; Vasco-Palacios, Aida M.; Vie, Jean-Christophe; Virens, Jo; Walker, Alan; Wallace, Bryan; Waller, Lauren J.; Wang, Hongfeng; Wearn, Oliver R.; van Weerd, Merlijn; Weigmann, Simon; Willcox, Daniel; Woinarski, John; Yong, Jean WH H.; Young, Stuart (Wiley, 2021-07-21)
Recognizing the imperative to evaluate species recovery and conservation impact, in 2012 the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) called for development of a “Green List of Species” (now the IUCN Green Status of Species). A draft Green Status framework for assessing species’ progress toward recovery, published in 2018, proposed 2 separate but interlinked components: a standardized method (i.e., measurement against benchmarks of species’ viability, functionality, and preimpact distribution) to determine current species recovery status (herein species recovery score) and application of that method to estimate past and potential future impacts of conservation based on 4 metrics (conservation legacy, conservation dependence, conservation gain, and recovery potential). We tested the framework with 181 species representing diverse taxa, life histories, biomes, and IUCN Red List categories (extinction risk). Based on the observed distribution of species’ recovery scores, we propose the following species recovery categories: fully recovered, slightly depleted, moderately depleted, largely depleted, critically depleted, extinct in the wild, and indeterminate. Fifty-nine percent of tested species were considered largely or critically depleted. Although there was a negative relationship between extinction risk and species recovery score, variation was considerable. Some species in lower risk categories were assessed as farther from recovery than those at higher risk. This emphasizes that species recovery is conceptually different from extinction risk and reinforces the utility of the IUCN Green Status of Species to more fully understand species conservation status. Although extinction risk did not predict conservation legacy, conservation dependence, or conservation gain, it was positively correlated with recovery potential. Only 1.7% of tested species were categorized as zero across all 4 of these conservation impact metrics, indicating that conservation has, or will, play a role in improving or maintaining species status for the vast majority of these species. Based on our results, we devised an updated assessment framework that introduces the option of using a dynamic baseline to assess future impacts of conservation over the short term to avoid misleading results which were generated in a small number of cases, and redefines short term as 10 years to better align with conservation planning. These changes are reflected in the IUCN Green Status of Species Standard.
Towards progressive regulatory approaches for agricultural applications of animal biotechnology
Hallerman, Eric M.; Bredlau, Justin P.; Camargo, Luiz Sergio A.; Dagli, Maria Lucia Zaidan; Karembu, Margaret; Ngure, Godfrey; Romero-Aldemita, Rhodora; Rocha-Salavarrieta, Pedro Jesus; Tizard, Mark; Walton, Mark; Wray-Cahen, Diane (Springer, 2022-01-09)
Traditional breeding techniques, applied incrementally over thousands of years, have yielded huge benefits in the characteristics of agricultural animals. This is a result of significant, measurable changes to the genomes of those animal species and breeds. Genome editing techniques may now be applied to achieve targeted DNA sequence alterations, with the potential to affect traits of interest to production of agricultural animals in just one generation. New opportunities arise to improve characteristics difficult to achieve or not amenable to traditional breeding, including disease resistance, and traits that can improve animal welfare, reduce environmental impact, or mitigate impacts of climate change. Countries and supranational institutions are in the process of defining regulatory approaches for genome edited animals and can benefit from sharing approaches and experiences to institute progressive policies in which regulatory oversight is scaled to the particular level of risk involved. To facilitate information sharing and discussion on animal biotechnology, an international community of researchers, developers, breeders, regulators, and communicators recently held a series of seven virtual workshop sessions on applications of biotechnology for animal agriculture, food and environmental safety assessment, regulatory approaches, and market and consumer acceptance. In this report, we summarize the topics presented in the workshop sessions, as well as discussions coming out of the breakout sessions. This is framed within the context of past and recent scientific and regulatory developments. This is a pivotal moment for determination of regulatory approaches and establishment of trust across the innovation through-chain, from researchers, developers, regulators, breeders, farmers through to consumers.
Using historical dip net data to infer absence of flatwoods salamanders in stochastic environments
Brooks, George C.; Haas, Carola A. (PeerJ, 2021-10-28)
Local extinction and undetected presence are two very different biological phenomena, but they can be challenging to differentiate. Stochastic environments hamper the development of standardized monitoring schemes for wildlife, and make it more challenging to plan and evaluate the success of conservation efforts. To avoid reintroductions of species at risk that could jeopardize extant populations, managers attempting translocation events require a higher level of confidence that a failure to confirm presence represents a true absence. For many pond breeding amphibians, monitoring of the breeding population occurs indirectly through larval surveys. Larval development and successful recruitment only occurs after a sequence of appropriate environmental conditions, thus it is possible for a breeding population of adults to exist at a site but for detectability of the species to be functionally zero. We investigate how annual variability in detection influences long-term monitoring efforts of Reticulated Flatwoods Salamanders (Ambystoma bishopi) breeding in 29 wetlands in Florida. Using 8 years of historic dip net data, we simulate plausible monitoring scenarios that incorporate environmental stochasticity into estimates of detection probability. We found that annual variation in environmental conditions precluded a high degree of certainty in predicting site status for low-intensity monitoring schemes. Uncertainty was partly alleviated by increasing survey effort, but even at the highest level of sampling intensity assessed, multiple years of monitoring are required to confidently determine presence/absence at a site. Combined with assessments of habitat quality and landscape connectivity, our results can be used to identify sites suitable for reintroduction efforts. Our methodologies can be generally applied to increase the effectiveness of surveys for diverse organisms for which annual variability in detectability is known.
Using host traits to predict reservoir host species of rabies virus
Worsley-Tonks, Katherine E. L.; Escobar, Luis E.; Biek, Roman; Castaneda-Guzman, Mariana; Craft, Meggan E.; Streicker, Daniel G.; White, Lauren A.; Fountain-Jones, Nicholas M. (PLoS, 2020-12-01)
Wildlife are important reservoirs for many pathogens, yet the role that different species play in pathogen maintenance frequently remains unknown. This is the case for rabies, a viral disease of mammals. While Carnivora (carnivores) and Chiroptera (bats) are the canonical mammalian orders known to be responsible for the maintenance and onward transmission of rabies Lyssavirus (RABV), the role of most species within these orders remains unknown and is continually changing as a result of contemporary host shifting. We combined a trait-based analytical approach with gradient boosting machine learning models to identify physiological and ecological host features associated with being a reservoir for RABV. We then used a cooperative game theory approach to determine species-specific traits associated with known RABV reservoirs. Being a carnivore reservoir for RABV was associated with phylogenetic similarity to known RABV reservoirs, along with other traits such as having larger litters and earlier sexual maturity. For bats, location in the Americas and geographic range were the most important predictors of RABV reservoir status, along with having a large litter. Our models identified 44 carnivore and 34 bat species that are currently not recognized as RABV reservoirs, but that have trait profiles suggesting their capacity to be or become reservoirs. Further, our findings suggest that potential reservoir species among bats and carnivores occur both within and outside of areas with current RABV circulation. These results show the ability of a trait-based approach to detect potential reservoirs of infection and could inform rabies control programs and surveillance efforts by identifying the types of species and traits that facilitate RABV maintenance and transmission.

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