Climate change drives migratory range shift via individual plasticity in shearwaters.

How individual animals respond to climate change is key to whether populations will persist or go extinct. Yet, few studies investigate how changes in individual behavior underpin these population-level phenomena. Shifts in the distributions of migratory animals can occur through adaptation in migratory behaviors, but there is little understanding of how selection and plasticity contribute to population range shift. Here, we use long-term geolocator tracking of Balearic shearwaters (Puffinus mauretanicus) to investigate how year-to-year changes in individual birds' migrations underpin a range shift in the post-breeding migration. We demonstrate a northward shift in the post-breeding range and show that this is brought about by individual plasticity in migratory destination, with individuals migrating further north in response to changes in sea-surface temperature. Furthermore, we find that when individuals migrate further, they return faster, perhaps minimizing delays in return to the breeding area. Birds apparently judge the increased distance that they will need to migrate via memory of the migration route, suggesting that spatial cognitive mechanisms may contribute to this plasticity and the resulting range shift. Our study exemplifies the role that individual behavior plays in populations' responses to environmental change and highlights some of the behavioral mechanisms that might be key to understanding and predicting species persistence in response to climate change.

Achieving biodiversity net gain by addressing governance gaps underpinning ecological compensation policies.

Biodiversity compensation policies have emerged around the world to address the ecological harms of infrastructure expansion, but historically compliance is weak. The Westminster government is introducing a requirement that new infrastructure developments in England demonstrate they achieve a biodiversity net gain (BNG). We sought to determine the magnitude of the effects of governance gaps and regulator capacity constraints on the policy's potential biodiversity impacts. We collated BNG information from all new major developments across six early-adopter councils from 2020 to 2022. We quantified the proportion of the biodiversity outcomes promised under BNG at risk of noncompliance, explored the variation in strategies used to meet developers' biodiversity liabilities, and quantified the occurrence of simple errors in the biodiversity metric calculations. For large developments and energy infrastructure, biodiversity liabilities frequently met within the projects' development footprint. For small developments, the purchase of offsets was most common. We estimated that 27% of all biodiversity units fell into governance gaps that exposed them to a high risk of noncompliance because they were associated with better-condition habitats delivered on-site that were unlikely to be monitored or enforced. More robust governance mechanisms (e.g., practical mechanisms for monitoring and enforcement) would help ensure the delivery of this biodiversity on-site. Alternatively, more biodiversity gains could be delivered through off-site biodiversity offsetting. For the latter case, we estimated that the demand for offsets could rise by a factor of 4; this would substantially increase the financial contributions from developers for conservation activities on private land. Twenty-one percent of development applications contained a simple recurring error in their BNG calculations. One-half of these applications were approved by councils, which may indicate under-resourcing in council development assessments. Our findings demonstrate that resourcing and governance shortfalls risk undermining the policy's effectiveness.

sObtención de la ganancia neta de biodiversidad mediante el abordaje de las lagunas en la gobernanza que apuntalan las políticas de compensación ecológica Resumen Las políticas de compensación por biodiversidad han surgido en todo el mundo para abordar los daños ecológicos de la expansión infraestructural, aunque su cumplimiento histórico es deficiente. El gobierno de Westminster está introduciendo un requerimiento para que las nuevas infraestructuras en Inglaterra demuestren que obtienen una ganancia neta de biodiversidad (GNB). Buscamos determinar la magnitud que tienen los efectos de las lagunas de gobernanza y las restricciones de la capacidad regulatoria sobre los impactos potenciales de la política en la biodiversidad. Recopilamos la información de GNB de todos los desarrollos principales en seis consejos pioneros entre 2020 y 2022. Cuantificamos la proporción de los resultados de biodiversidad prometidos bajo la GNB en riesgo de no ser cumplidos, exploramos la variación de estrategias usadas para cumplir las responsabilidades de biodiversidad de los desarrolladores y cuantificamos la incidencia de errores simples en el cálculo de las medidas de biodiversidad. En los grandes desarrollos y en la infraestructura energética, las responsabilidades de biodiversidad fueron cumplidas con frecuencia dentro de la huella de desarrollo del proyecto. En los pequeños desarrollos, la compra de compensaciones fue más común. Estimamos que el 27% de todas las unidades de biodiversidad caen dentro de las lagunas de gobernanza que las exponen a un riesgo elevado de no ser cumplidas porque se asociaban con hábitats en mejores condiciones entregados en sitios con mayor probabilidad de no ser monitoreados o implementados. Tener mecanismos de gobernanza más robustos (mecanismos prácticos para el monitoreo y la implementación) ayudaría a asegurar la entrega de esta biodiversidad en sitio. Como alternativa, una mayor ganancia de biodiversidad podría entregarse a través de las compensaciones de biodiversidad fuera de sitio. Para el último caso, estimamos que la demanda de compensaciones podría aumentar en un factor de 4; esto incrementaría sustancialmente las contribuciones económicas de los desarrolladores para las actividades de conservación en suelo privado. El 21% de las aplicaciones de desarrollo incluyeron un error simple recurrente en los cálculos de su GNB. La mitad de estas aplicaciones fueron aprobadas por consejos, lo que podría indicar una escasez de evaluaciones en los consejos. Nuestros resultados demuestran que la insuficiencia en la dotación de recursos y la de gobernanza arriesga la efectividad de las políticas.

Compound heterozygous SLC19A3 mutations further refine the critical promoter region for biotin-thiamine-responsive basal ganglia disease.

Mutations in the gene SLC19A3 result in thiamine metabolism dysfunction syndrome 2, also known as biotin-thiamine-responsive basal ganglia disease (BTBGD). This neurometabolic disease typically presents in early childhood with progressive neurodegeneration, including confusion, seizures, and dysphagia, advancing to coma and death. Treatment is possible via supplement of biotin and/or thiamine, with early treatment resulting in significant lifelong improvements. Here we report two siblings who received a refined diagnosis of BTBGD following whole-genome sequencing. Both children inherited compound heterozygous mutations from unaffected parents; a missense single-nucleotide variant (p.G23V) in the first transmembrane domain of the protein, and a 4808-bp deletion in exon 1 encompassing the 5' UTR and minimal promoter region. This deletion is the smallest promoter deletion reported to date, further defining the minimal promoter region of SLC19A3 Unfortunately, one of the siblings died prior to diagnosis, but the other is showing significant improvement after commencement of therapy. This case demonstrates the power of whole-genome sequencing for the identification of structural variants and subsequent diagnosis of rare neurodevelopmental disorders.

Successful treatment of refractory Trichomonas vaginalis infection using intravenous metronidazole.

Trichomonas vaginalis is a sexually transmitted protozoan infection resulting in a vulvo-vaginitis and altered vaginal discharge in symptomatic women. Since its introduction in the 1960 s, metronidazole has been the first-line drug for trichomonal infection. Other nitroimidazoles, such as tinidazole, are used as alternative regimens with similar activity but at a greater expense. Treatment failure usually represents patient non-compliance or reinfection, although metronidazole resistance has previously been documented. Sensitivity testing is currently not available in the UK. Patients with disease unresponsive to first-line treatments pose a major challenge, as therapeutic options are limited. This case looks at a patient with refractory disease over an 18-month period, where intravenous infusion of metronidazole resulted in cure after multiple previous therapy failures. There is limited evidence to endorse the use of intravenous metronidazole, and this case report provides further support for its efficacy.