More evolution underground: Accelerated mitochondrial substitution rate in Australian burrowing freshwater crayfishes (Decapoda: Parastacidae).

To further understand the evolutionary history and mitogenomic features of Australia's highly distinctive freshwater crayfish fauna, we utilized a recently described rapid mitogenome sequencing pipeline to generate 24 new crayfish mitogenomes including a diversity of burrowing crayfish species and the first for Astacopsis gouldi, the world's largest freshwater invertebrate. Whole mitogenome-based phylogeny estimates using both Bayesian and Maximum Likelihood methods substantially strengthen existing hypotheses for systematic relationships among Australian freshwater crayfish with evidence of pervasive diversifying selection and accelerated mitochondrial substitution rate among the members of the clade representing strongly burrowing crayfish that may reflect selection pressures for increased energy requirement for adaptation to terrestrial environment and a burrowing lifestyle. Further, gene rearrangements are prevalent in the burrowing crayfish mitogenomes involving both tRNA and protein coding genes. In addition, duplicated control regions were observed in two closely related Engaeus species, together with evidence for concerted evolution. This study significantly adds to the understanding of Australian freshwater crayfish evolutionary relationships and suggests a link between mitogenome evolution and adaptation to terrestrial environments and a burrowing lifestyle in freshwater crayfish.

Knowledge that Acts: Evaluating the Outcomes of a Knowledge Brokering Intervention in Western Australia's Ningaloo Region.

Knowledge exchange involves a suite of strategies used to bridge the divides between research, policy and practice. The literature is increasingly focused on the notion that knowledge generated by research is more useful when there is significant interaction and knowledge sharing between researchers and research recipients (i.e., stakeholders). This is exemplified by increasing calls for the use of knowledge brokers to facilitate interaction and flow of information between scientists and stakeholder groups, and the integration of scientific and local knowledge. However, most of the environmental management literature focuses on explicit forms of knowledge, leaving unmeasured the tacit relational and reflective forms of knowledge that lead people to change their behaviour. In addition, despite the high transaction costs of knowledge brokering and related stakeholder engagement, there is little research on its effectiveness. We apply Park's Manag Learn 30(2), 141-157 (1999); Knowledge and Participatory Research, London: SAGE Publications (2006) tri-partite knowledge typology as a basis for evaluating the effectiveness of knowledge brokering in the context of a large multi-agency research programme in Australia's Ningaloo coastal region, and for testing the assumption that higher levels of interaction between scientists and stakeholders lead to improved knowledge exchange. While the knowledge brokering intervention substantively increased relational networks between scientists and stakeholders, it did not generate anticipated increases in stakeholder knowledge or research application, indicating that more prolonged stakeholder engagement was required, and/or that there was a flaw in the assumptions underpinning our conceptual framework.

An assessment of latrine front-end characteristics and associated surface E. coli indicated faecal contamination in rural Fiji.

In Fiji, 90% of the population has access to basic sanitation; however, there are still persistent health risks from endemic faecal-oral diseases such as typhoid fever. There is a need to assess the contribution of existing sanitation facilities in the faecal pathogen transmission pathway. This study was conducted as part of a larger planetary health study across 29 rural communities within five river catchments. This specific research aimed to characterise latrine front-ends, both infrastructure and usage behaviour, and to assess the faecal contamination levels on various frequently contacted latrine surfaces in rural Fiji. A sanitation survey, along with observation and latrine swab sampling, was conducted in households over three phases: baseline (n = 311) (Aug-Dec 2019), endline (n = 262) (Jun-Sep 2022) and an in-depth front-end study (n = 12) (Oct-Nov 2022). Of 311 households, almost all had pedestal-type latrines, predominately cistern-flush (83%), followed by pour-flush (13%), and then hole-type (pit) latrines (4%). Washable latrine floors had significantly higher E. coli densities (6.7 × 102 CFU/25 cm2) compared to non-washable floors (1.3 × 102 CFU/25 cm2) (p = 0.05), despite washable floors indicating improved latrines. The in-depth front-end analysis found that moist latrine surfaces had significantly elevated E. coli densities (1.2 × 103 CFU/25 cm2) compared to the dry ones (14.3 CFU/25 cm2) (p < 0.001), highlighting the importance of maintaining dry latrine surfaces. Latrine floors and mid-walls were the most frequently contaminated surfaces, emphasising the need to clean and disinfect these surfaces. Only 46% of the households reported always using soap for handwashing after defecation, exacerbating the risk of transmitting faecal pathogens. This study highlights that latrine cleanliness and hygiene are as crucial as latrine infrastructures for the effective disruption of faecal pathogens transmission during latrine use.

Anticipating environmental losses: Effects on place attachment and intentions to move.

Environmental change is often accompanied by non-tangible, non-economic losses, including loss of valued attributes, connection to place, and social cohesion through migration in the face of such changes. Over two studies we sought to test whether imagining the loss of valued environmental characteristics influences intentions to migrate elsewhere and/or engage in place-protective actions, and whether this can be accounted for by changes to place attachment, using the city of Perth, Western Australia as a case study. In Study 1 (N = 148) we found imagined environmental loss significantly increased intentions to move away, and significantly decreased place attachment. There was no influence of imagining loss on place-protective action intentions. We replicated these findings in a representative community sample (Study 2: N = 333). In addition, we found that changes to moving intentions and place attachment related to the type of valued characteristic imagined loss, with characteristics that went beyond the explicitly environmental to encompass social relationships and lifestyle dimensions related to a tendency to stay, and lower reductions to place attachment. The implications of these findings include the inseparability of responses to environmental changes and perceptions of socio-cultural loss.

Effect of fire on characteristics of dissolved organic matter in forested catchments in the Mediterranean biome: A review.

Fires in forested catchments pose a water contamination risk from fire-derived dissolved organic matter (DOM). Fire events are expected to increase under a projection of warmer and drier climatic conditions; therefore, understanding the consequences of fire-derived DOM is critical for water supply and management of drinking water and catchments. This paper addresses how fire regime - the intensity, severity and frequency of fires - influences DOM quantity and composition in surface waters in forested catchments, and how long it takes for water quality to recover to pre-fire levels. A review of post-fire studies in Mediterranean regions reporting on DOM related parameters has been conducted. The literature shows that post-fire DOM composition and reactivity is different from DOM generated under processes of biological degradation, and hence our reliance on DOM 'bulk properties' and surrogate DOM bulk parameters may not provide sufficient information to deal with the potential complexity of the organic compounds produced by a catchment fire. Appropriate measures are important to adequately operate conventional water treatment facilities, for example. Critical parameters for the effects of burning include the alteration of DOM composition, aromaticity, and the relative amounts of labile/recalcitrant organic components. The literature shows mixed information for the influence of both burn severity and fire intensity, on these parameters, which indicates DOM response to fire is highly variable. For fire frequency, the evidence is more unequivocal, indicating that frequent fires change the composition of DOM to components that are less bioavailable, and elevate the degree of aromaticity, which may be detrimental to water quality. In addition, and in general terms, the more recent the fire, the more aromatic and humified DOM components are found, and vice versa. The recovery of surface water quality to pre-fire conditions was variable, with no safe temporal thresholds suggested in the literature. In some cases, fire-induced changes in DOM composition were observable up to 16 years post-fire. The lack of clearly observed trends in post-fire DOM with fire regimes could be attributed to numerous factors such as limited long-term and event-based observations, experimental design challenges, and site-specific biological, physical and hydrological factors. The application of terminologies used to describe fire regimes such as burn severity and fire intensity also creates challenges in comparing the outcomes and results from numerous studies.

Detecting Sex-Related Changes to the Metabolome of a Critically Endangered Freshwater Crayfish During the Mating Season.

Captive breeding is a vital tool in the conservation of highly endangered species, as it is for the Margaret River hairy marron, Cherax tenuimanus, from the south west of Australia. A close relative, Cherax cainii, has almost completely displaced C. tenuimanus in the wild and is a successful aquaculture species, whereas C. tenuimanus has performed poorly in captivity. We used untargeted liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry to obtain metabolomic profiles of female and male C. tenuimanus held in controlled aquarium conditions during their reproductive period. Using repeated haemolymph sampling we tracked the metabolomic profiles of animals just prior to and for a period of up to 34 days after pairing with a similar sized potential mate. We identified 54 reproducible annotated metabolites including amino acids, fatty acids, biogenic amines, purine and pyrimidine metabolites and excretion metabolites. Hierarchical clustering analysis distinguished five metabolite clusters. Principal component-canonical variate analysis clearly distinguished females from males, both unpaired and paired; similar trends in profile changes in both sexes after pairing; and a striking shift in males upon pairing. We discuss three main patterns of metabolomic responses: differentiation between sexes; reactive responses to the disturbance of pairing; and convergent response to the disturbance of pairing for males. Females generally had higher concentrations of metabolites involved in metabolic rate, mobilisation of energy stores and stress. Responses to the disturbance of pairing were also related to elevated stress. Females were mobilising lipid stores to deposit yolk, whereas males had a rapid and strong response to pairing, with shifts in metabolites associated with gonad development and communication, indicating males could complete reproductive readiness only once paired with a female. The metabolomic profiles support a previously proposed potential mechanism for displacement of C. tenuimanus by C. cainii in the wild and identify several biomarkers for testing hypotheses regarding reproductive success using targeted metabolomics.

Evolution underground: a molecular phylogenetic investigation of Australian burrowing freshwater crayfish (Decapoda: Parastacidae) with particular focus on Engaeus Erichson.

Phylogenetic relationships and species boundaries of Australian burrowing freshwater crayfish belonging to the genera Engaeus, Engaewa, Geocharax, Gramastacus and Tenuibranchiurus are investigated using combined mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequence data and Bayesian and Maximum Parsimony methods. Phylogenies are statistically compared to previously published hypotheses. Engaeus, Engaewa, Geocharax, Gramastacus and Tenuibranchiurus form a strongly supported monophyletic clade. This grouping is independently supported by morphology but unites geographically highly disjunct lineages. Our data show two cryptic species in Geocharax, one cryptic species in Gramastacus and two cryptic species within the highly divergent Engaeus lyelli lineage. Using a Bayesian relaxed molecular clock method, the 16S rDNA data show generic-level diversification coinciding with the transition from a wet to arid palaeoclimate near the mid Miocene.

Water, ecology and health: ecosystems as settings for promoting health and sustainability.

Despite the proposed ecological and systems-based perspectives of the settings-based approach to health promotion, most initiatives have tended to overlook the fundamental nature of ecosystems. This paper responds to this oversight by proposing an explicit re-integration of ecosystems within the healthy settings approach. We make this case by focusing on water as an integrating unit of analysis. Water, on which all life depends, is not only an integral consideration for the existing healthy settings (schools, hospitals, workplaces) but also highlights the ecosystem context of health and sustainability. A focus on catchments (also know as watersheds and river basins) exemplifies the scaled and upstream/downstream nature of ecosystems and draws into sharp focus the cross-sectoral and transdisciplinary context of the social and environmental determinants of health. We position this work in relation to the converging agendas of health promotion and ecosystem management at the local, regional and global scales--and draw on evidence from international initiatives as diverse as the WHO Commission on Social Determinants of Health, and the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. Using water as a vehicle for understanding the systemic context for human wellbeing, health promotion and disease prevention draws inevitable attention to key challenges of scale, intersectoral governance and the complementary themes of promoting resilience and preventing vulnerability. We conclude by highlighting the importance of building individual and institutional capacity for this kind of integration--equipping a new generation of researchers, practitioners and decision-makers to be conversant with the language of ecosystems, capable of systemic thought and focused on settings that can promote both health and sustainability.

Local Challenges and Successes Associated with Transitioning to Sustainable Food System Practices for a West Australian Context: Multi-Sector Stakeholder Perceptions.

Large-scale food system practices have diminished soil and water quality and negatively impacted climate change. Yet, numerous opportunities exist to harness food system practices that will ensure better outcomes for human health and ecosystems. The objective of this study was to consider food Production, Processing, Access and Consumption domains, and for each determine the challenges and successes associated with progressing towards a sustainable food system. A workshop engaging 122 participants including producers, consultants, consumers, educators, funders, scientists, media, government and industry representatives, was conducted in Perth, Western Australia. A thematic analysis of statements (Successes (n = 170) or Challenges (n = 360)) captured, revealed issues of scale, knowledge and education, economics, consumerism, big food, environmental/sustainability, communication, policies and legislation, and technology and innovations. Policy recommendations included greater investment into research in sustainable agriculture (particularly the evidentiary basis for regenerative agriculture), land preservation, and supporting farmers to overcome high infrastructure costs and absorb labour costs. Policy, practice and research recommendations included focusing on an integrated food systems approach with multiple goals, food system actors working collaboratively to reduce challenges and undertaking more research to further the regenerative agriculture evidence.

Environmental Foundations of Typhoid Fever in the Fijian Residential Setting.

Proximal characteristics and conditions in the residential setting deserve greater attention for their potential to influence typhoid transmission. Using a case-control design in Central Division, Republic of Fiji, we examined bacterial (coliform and Escherichia coli) contamination and chemical composition of water and soil as potential vehicles of exposure to Salmonella Typhi, combining observational analysis of residential living conditions, geospatial analysis of household locations, and factor analysis to explore multivariate associations with the risk of developing typhoid fever. Factors positively associated with typhoid infection related to drainage [phosphate (OR 4.235, p = 0.042) and E. coli concentrations (OR 2.248, p = 0.029) in toilet drainage soil, housing [external condition (OR 3.712, p < 0.001)], drinking water contamination (OR 2.732, p = 0.003) and sanitary condition (OR 1.973, p = 0.031). These five factors explained 42.5% of the cumulative variance and were significant in predicting typhoid infection. Our results support the hypothesis that a combination of spatial and biophysical attributes of the residential setting influence the probability of typhoid transmission; in this study, factors associated with poor drainage, flooding, and sanitary condition increase local exposure to contaminated water and soil, and thereby infection. These findings extend testing of causal assumptions beyond the immediate domestic domain, enhance the scope of traditional case control epidemiology and allow greater specificity of interventions at the scale of the residential setting.

Australian vegetated coastal ecosystems as global hotspots for climate change mitigation.

Policies aiming to preserve vegetated coastal ecosystems (VCE; tidal marshes, mangroves and seagrasses) to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions require national assessments of blue carbon resources. Here, we present organic carbon (C) storage in VCE across Australian climate regions and estimate potential annual CO2 emission benefits of VCE conservation and restoration. Australia contributes 5-11% of the C stored in VCE globally (70-185 Tg C in aboveground biomass, and 1,055-1,540 Tg C in the upper 1 m of soils). Potential CO2 emissions from current VCE losses are estimated at 2.1-3.1 Tg CO2-e yr-1, increasing annual CO2 emissions from land use change in Australia by 12-21%. This assessment, the most comprehensive for any nation to-date, demonstrates the potential of conservation and restoration of VCE to underpin national policy development for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Sea-level changes and palaeo-ranges: reconstruction of ancient shorelines and river drainages and the phylogeography of the Australian land crayfish Engaeus sericatus Clark (Decapoda: Parastacidae).

Historical sea levels have been influential in shaping the phylogeography of freshwater-limited taxa via palaeodrainage and palaeoshoreline connections. In this study, we demonstrate an approach to phylogeographic analysis incorporating historical sea-level information in a nested clade phylogeographic analysis (NCPA) framework, using burrowing freshwater crayfish as the model organism. Our study area focuses on the Bass Strait region of southeastern Australia, which is marine region encompassing a shallow seabed that has emerged as a land bridge during glacial cycles connecting mainland Australia and Tasmania. Bathymetric data were analysed using Geographical Information Systems (GIS) to delineate a palaeodrainage model when the palaeocoastline was 150 m below present-day sea level. Such sea levels occurred at least twice in the past 500 000 years, perhaps more often or of larger magnitude within the last 10 million years, linking Victoria and Tasmania. Inter-locality distance measures confined to the palaeodrainage network were incorporated into an NCPA of crayfish (Engaeus sericatus Clark 1936) mitochondrial 16S rDNA haplotypes. The results were then compared to NCPAs using present-day river drainages and traditional great-circle distance measures. NCPA inferences were cross-examined using frequentist and Bayesian procedures in the context of geomorphological and historical sea-level data. We found distribution of present-day genetic variation in E. sericatus to be partly explained not only by connectivity through palaeodrainages but also via present-day drainages or overland (great circle) routes. We recommend that future studies consider all three of these distance measures, especially for studies of coastally distributed species.

Bacterial and ciliate biofilm community structure at different spatial levels of a salt lake meta-community.

Meta-communities are assembled along an ecological scale that determines local and regional diversity. Spatial patterns have been detected in planktonic bacterial communities at distances <20 m, but little is known about the occurrence of similar variation for other microbial groups and changes in microbial meta-community assembly at different levels of a meta-community. To examine this variation, the biofilm of eight saline ponds were used to investigate processes shaping diversity within ponds (ß) and between ponds (δ). Bacterial and ciliate communities were assessed using ARISA and T-RFLP respectively, while diversity partitioning methods were used to examine the importance of taxonomic turnover and variation partitioning was used to distinguish spatial from environmental determinants. The results show that turnover is important for determining ß- and δ-diversity of biofilms. Spatial factors are important drivers of bacterial ß-diversity but were unimportant for ciliate ß-diversity. Environmental variation was a strong determinant of bacterial and ciliate δ-diversity, suggesting sorting processes are important for assembling pond communities. Determinants of diversity in bacteria are not universal for ciliates, suggesting higher functional redundancy of bacteria or the greater niche breadth of ciliates may be important in discriminating assembly processes between the two organisms.

Epidemiology and risk factors for typhoid fever in Central Division, Fiji, 2014-2017: A case-control study.

BACKGROUND: Typhoid fever is endemic in Fiji, with high reported annual incidence. We sought to identify the sources and modes of transmission of typhoid fever in Fiji with the aim to inform disease control. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We identified and surveyed patients with blood culture-confirmed typhoid fever from January 2014 through January 2017. For each typhoid fever case we matched two controls by age interval, gender, ethnicity, and residential area. Univariable and multivariable analysis were used to evaluate associations between exposures and risk for typhoid fever. We enrolled 175 patients with typhoid fever and 349 controls. Of the cases, the median (range) age was 29 (2-67) years, 86 (49%) were male, and 84 (48%) lived in a rural area. On multivariable analysis, interrupted water availability (odds ratio [OR] = 2.17; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.18-4.00), drinking surface water in the last 2 weeks (OR = 3.61; 95% CI 1.44-9.06), eating unwashed produce (OR = 2.69; 95% CI 1.48-4.91), and having an unimproved or damaged sanitation facility (OR = 4.30; 95% CI 1.14-16.21) were significantly associated with typhoid fever. Frequent handwashing after defecating (OR = 0.57; 95% CI 0.35-0.93) and using soap for handwashing (OR = 0.61; 95% CI 0.37-0.95) were independently associated with a lower odds of typhoid fever. CONCLUSIONS: Poor sanitation facilities appear to be a major source of Salmonella Typhi in Fiji, with transmission by drinking contaminated surface water and consuming unwashed produce. Improved sanitation facilities and protection of surface water sources and produce from contamination by human feces are likely to contribute to typhoid control in Fiji.

Bacterioplankton assemblages in coastal ponds reflect the influence of hydrology and geomorphological setting.

The factors that shape microbial community assembly in aquatic ecosystems have been widely studied; yet it is still unclear how distinct communities within a connected landscape influence one another. Coastal lakes are recipients of, and thus are connected to, both marine and terrestrial environments. Thus, they may host microbial assemblages that reflect the relative degree of influence by, and connectivity to, either system. In order to address this idea, we interrogated microbial community diversity at 49 sites in seven ponds in two seasons in the Lake MacLeod basin, a system fed by seawater flowing inland through underground karst. Environmental and spatial variation within ponds explain <9% of the community structure, while identity of the pond that samples were taken from explains 50% of community variation. That is, ponds each host distinct assemblages despite similarities in size, environment and position in the landscape, indicating a dominant role for local species sorting. The ponds contain a substantial amount of previously unknown microbial taxa, reflecting the unusual nature of this inland system. Rare marine taxa, possibly dispersed from seawater assemblages via the underground karst connection, are abundant within the inland system, suggesting an important role for regional dispersal within the metacommunities.

The skin microbiome: impact of modern environments on skin ecology, barrier integrity, and systemic immune programming.

Skin barrier structure and function is essential to human health. Hitherto unrecognized functions of epidermal keratinocytes show that the skin plays an important role in adapting whole-body physiology to changing environments, including the capacity to produce a wide variety of hormones, neurotransmitters and cytokine that can potentially influence whole-body states, and quite possibly, even emotions. Skin microbiota play an integral role in the maturation and homeostatic regulation of keratinocytes and host immune networks with systemic implications. As our primary interface with the external environment, the biodiversity of skin habitats is heavily influenced by the biodiversity of the ecosystems in which we reside. Thus, factors which alter the establishment and health of the skin microbiome have the potential to predispose to not only cutaneous disease, but also other inflammatory non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Indeed, disturbances of the stratum corneum have been noted in allergic diseases (eczema and food allergy), psoriasis, rosacea, acne vulgaris and with the skin aging process. The built environment, global biodiversity losses and declining nature relatedness are contributing to erosion of diversity at a micro-ecological level, including our own microbial habitats. This emphasises the importance of ecological perspectives in overcoming the factors that drive dysbiosis and the risk of inflammatory diseases across the life course.

Acid sulphate soil disturbance and metals in groundwater: implications for human exposure through home grown produce.

A significant emerging environmental problem is the disturbance and oxidation of soils with high levels of iron sulphide minerals resulting in acidification and causing the mobilization of metals into groundwater. This process is occurring in many parts of the world. In Western Australia, impacted groundwater is extracted by residents for domestic use. We sought to establish domestic use patterns of bore water and the concentration of metals. Sixty-seven domestic bore water samples clearly indicated oxidation of sulphidic materials with heavy metal concentrations ranging for aluminium (

Health at the Sub-catchment Scale: Typhoid and Its Environmental Determinants in Central Division, Fiji.

The impact of environmental change on transmission patterns of waterborne enteric diseases is a major public health concern. This study concerns the burden and spatial nature of enteric fever, attributable to Salmonella Typhi infection in the Central Division, Republic of Fiji at a sub-catchment scale over 30-months (2013-2015). Quantitative spatial analysis suggested relationships between environmental conditions of sub-catchments and incidence and recurrence of typhoid fever. Average incidence per inhabited sub-catchment for the Central Division was high at 205.9/100,000, with cases recurring in each calendar year in 26% of sub-catchments. Although the numbers of cases were highest within dense, urban coastal sub-catchments, the incidence was highest in low-density mountainous rural areas. Significant environmental determinants at this scale suggest increased risk of exposure where sediment yields increase following runoff. The study suggests that populations living on large systems that broaden into meandering mid-reaches and floodplains with alluvial deposition are at a greater risk compared to small populations living near small, erosional, high-energy headwaters and small streams unconnected to large hydrological networks. This study suggests that anthropogenic alteration of land cover and hydrology (particularly via fragmentation of riparian forest and connectivity between road and river networks) facilitates increased transmission of typhoid fever and that environmental transmission of typhoid fever is important in Fiji.

Parasites, ecosystems and sustainability: an ecological and complex systems perspective.

Host-parasite relationships can be conceptualised either narrowly, where the parasite is metabolically dependent on the host, or more broadly, as suggested by an ecological-evolutionary and complex systems perspective. In this view Host-parasite relationships are part of a larger set of ecological and co-evolutionary interdependencies and a complex adaptive system. These interdependencies affect not just the hosts, vectors, parasites, the immediate agents, but also those indirectly or consequentially affected by the relationship. Host-parasite relationships also can be viewed as systems embedded within larger systems represented by ecological communities and ecosystems. So defined, it can be argued that Host-parasite relationships may often benefit their hosts and contribute significantly to the structuring of ecological communities. The broader, complex adaptive system view also contributes to understanding the phenomenon of disease emergence, the ecological and evolutionary mechanisms involved, and the role of parasitology in research and management of ecosystems in light of the apparently growing problem of emerging infectious diseases in wildlife and humans. An expanded set of principles for integrated parasite management is suggested by this perspective.