Coral reefs benefit from reduced land-sea impacts under ocean warming.

Coral reef ecosystems are being fundamentally restructured by local human impacts and climate-driven marine heatwaves that trigger mass coral bleaching and mortality1. Reducing local impacts can increase reef resistance to and recovery from bleaching2. However, resource managers lack clear advice on targeted actions that best support coral reefs under climate change3 and sector-based governance means most land- and sea-based management efforts remain siloed4. Here we combine surveys of reef change with a unique 20-year time series of land-sea human impacts that encompassed an unprecedented marine heatwave in Hawai'i. Reefs with increased herbivorous fish populations and reduced land-based impacts, such as wastewater pollution and urban runoff, had positive coral cover trajectories predisturbance. These reefs also experienced a modest reduction in coral mortality following severe heat stress compared to reefs with reduced fish populations and enhanced land-based impacts. Scenario modelling indicated that simultaneously reducing land-sea human impacts results in a three- to sixfold greater probability of a reef having high reef-builder cover four years postdisturbance than if either occurred in isolation. International efforts to protect 30% of Earth's land and ocean ecosystems by 2030 are underway5. Our results reveal that integrated land-sea management could help achieve coastal ocean conservation goals and provide coral reefs with the best opportunity to persist in our changing climate.

Progress on thymic function from Maui.

Maui, Hawaii, was the home for the latest Global Thymus Network meeting 5-9 June 2016. Participants gathered together to discuss how one little organ can have such huge effects.

The evolution of ovary-biased gene expression in Hawaiian Drosophila.

With detailed data on gene expression accessible from an increasingly broad array of species, we can test the extent to which our developmental genetic knowledge from model organisms predicts expression patterns and variation across species. But to know when differences in gene expression across species are significant, we first need to know how much evolutionary variation in gene expression we expect to observe. Here we provide an answer by analyzing RNAseq data across twelve species of Hawaiian Drosophilidae flies, focusing on gene expression differences between the ovary and other tissues. We show that over evolutionary time, there exists a cohort of ovary specific genes that is stable and that largely corresponds to described expression patterns from laboratory model Drosophila species. Our results also provide a demonstration of the prediction that, as phylogenetic distance increases, variation between species overwhelms variation between tissue types. Using ancestral state reconstruction of expression, we describe the distribution of evolutionary changes in tissue-biased expression, and use this to identify gains and losses of ovary-biased expression across these twelve species. We then use this distribution to calculate the evolutionary correlation in expression changes between genes, and demonstrate that genes with known interactions in D. melanogaster are significantly more correlated in their evolution than genes with no or unknown interactions. Finally, we use this correlation matrix to infer new networks of genes that share evolutionary trajectories, and we present these results as a dataset of new testable hypotheses about genetic roles and interactions in the function and evolution of the Drosophila ovary.

Infant Mortality in the United States, 2021: Data From the Period Linked Birth/Infant Death File.

Objective-This report presents 2021 infant mortality statistics by age at death, maternal race and Hispanic origin, maternal age, gestational age, leading causes of death, and maternal state of residence. Trends in infant mortality are also examined. Methods-Descriptive tabulations of data are presented and interpreted for infant deaths and infant mortality rates using the 2021 period linked birth/infant death file. The linked birth/infant death file is based on birth and death certificates registered in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Results-A total of 19,928 infant deaths were reported in the United States in 2021, up 2% from 2020. The U.S. infant mortality rate was 5.44 infant deaths per 1,000 live births, essentially unchanged from the rate of 5.42 in 2020. The neonatal mortality rate was essentially unchanged from 3.56 in 2020 to 3.49 in 2021, but the postneonatal mortality rate increased from 1.86 to 1.95. The overall infant mortality rate increased for infants of Asian non-Hispanic women and declined for infants of Dominican women in 2021 compared with 2020; changes in rates for the other race and Hispanic-origin groups were not significant. Infants of Black non-Hispanic women had the highest mortality rate (10.55) in 2021, followed by infants of Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander non-Hispanic and American Indian or Alaska Native non-Hispanic (7.76 and 7.46, respectively), Hispanic (4.79), White non-Hispanic (4.36), and Asian non-Hispanic (3.69) women. By gestational age, infants born very preterm (less than 28 weeks of gestation) had the highest mortality rate (353.76), 170 times as high as that for infants born at term (37-41 weeks of gestation) (2.08). The five leading causes of infant death in 2021 were the same as in 2020. Infant mortality rates by state for 2021 ranged from a low of 2.77 in North Dakota to a high of 9.39 in Mississippi.

Demography and selection analysis of the incipient adaptive radiation of a Hawaiian woody species.

Ecological divergence in a species provides a valuable opportunity to study the early stages of speciation. We focused on Metrosideros polymorpha, a unique example of the incipient radiation of woody species, to examine how an ecological divergence continues in the face of gene flow. We analyzed the whole genomes of 70 plants collected throughout the island of Hawaii, which is the youngest island with the highest altitude in the archipelago and encompasses a wide range of environments. The continuous M. polymorpha forest stands on the island of Hawaii were differentiated into three genetic clusters, each of which grows in a distinctive environment and includes substantial genetic and phenotypic diversity. The three genetic clusters showed signatures of selection in genomic regions encompassing genes relevant to environmental adaptations, including genes associated with light utilization, oxidative stress, and leaf senescence, which are likely associated with the ecological differentiation of the species. Our demographic modeling suggested that the glaberrima cluster in wet environments maintained a relatively large population size and two clusters split: polymorpha in the subalpine zone and incana in dry and hot conditions. This ecological divergence possibly began before the species colonized the island of Hawaii. Interestingly, the three clusters recovered genetic connectivity coincidentally with a recent population bottleneck, in line with the weak reproductive isolation observed in the species. This study highlights that the degree of genetic differentiation between ecologically-diverged populations can vary depending on the strength of natural selection in the very early phases of speciation.

Behavioural plasticity compensates for adaptive loss of cricket song.

Behavioural flexibility might help animals cope with costs of genetic variants under selection, promoting genetic adaptation. However, it has proven challenging to experimentally link behavioural flexibility to the predicted compensation of population-level fitness. We tested this prediction using the field cricket Teleogryllus oceanicus. In Hawaiian populations, a mutation silences males and protects against eavesdropping parasitoids. To examine how the loss of this critical acoustic communication signal impacts offspring production and mate location, we developed a high-resolution, individual-based tracking system for low-light, naturalistic conditions. Offspring production did not differ significantly in replicate silent versus singing populations, and fitness compensation in silent conditions was associated with significantly increased locomotion in both sexes. Our results provide evidence that flexible behaviour can promote genetic adaptation via compensation in reproductive output and suggest that rapid evolution of animal communication systems may be less constrained than previously appreciated.

Recombination map tailored to Native Hawaiians may improve robustness of genomic scans for positive selection.

Recombination events establish the patterns of haplotypic structure in a population and estimates of recombination rates are used in several downstream population and statistical genetic analyses. Using suboptimal maps from distantly related populations may reduce the efficacy of genomic analyses, particularly for underrepresented populations such as the Native Hawaiians. To overcome this challenge, we constructed recombination maps using genome-wide array data from two study samples of Native Hawaiians: one reflecting the current admixed state of Native Hawaiians (NH map) and one based on individuals of enriched Polynesian ancestries (PNS map) with the potential to be used for less admixed Polynesian populations such as the Samoans. We found the recombination landscape to be less correlated with those from other continental populations (e.g. Spearman's rho = 0.79 between PNS and CEU (Utah residents with Northern and Western European ancestry) compared to 0.92 between YRI (Yoruba in Ibadan, Nigeria) and CEU at 50 kb resolution), likely driven by the unique demographic history of the Native Hawaiians. PNS also shared the fewest recombination hotspots with other populations (e.g. 8% of hotspots shared between PNS and CEU compared to 27% of hotspots shared between YRI and CEU). We found that downstream analyses in the Native Hawaiian population, such as local ancestry inference, imputation, and IBD segment and relatedness detections, would achieve similar efficacy when using the NH map compared to an omnibus map. However, for genome scans of adaptive loci using integrated haplotype scores, we found several loci with apparent genome-wide significant signals (|Z-score|> 4) in Native Hawaiians that would not have been significant when analyzed using NH-specific maps. Population-specific recombination maps may therefore improve the robustness of haplotype-based statistics and help us better characterize the evolutionary history that may underlie Native Hawaiian-specific health conditions that persist today.

Risk of contralateral breast cancer among Asian/Pacific Islander women in the United States.

PURPOSE: While breast cancer studies often aggregate Asian/Pacific Islander (API) women, as a single group or exclude them, this population is heterogeneous in terms of genetic background, environmental exposures, and health-related behaviors, potentially resulting in different cancer outcomes. Our purpose was to evaluate risks of contralateral breast cancer (CBC) among subgroups of API women with breast cancer. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of women ages 18 + years diagnosed with stage I-III breast cancer between 2000 and 2016 in the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results registries. API subgroups included Chinese, Japanese, Filipina, Native Hawaiian, Korean, Vietnamese, Indian/Pakistani, and other API women. Asynchronous CBC was defined as breast cancer diagnosed in the opposite breast 12 + months after first primary unilateral breast cancer. Multivariable-adjusted subdistribution hazard ratios (SHR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were estimated and stratified by API subgroups. RESULTS: From a cohort of 44,362 API women with breast cancer, 25% were Filipina, 18% were Chinese, 14% were Japanese, and 8% were Indian/Pakistani. API women as an aggregate group had increased risk of CBC (SHR 1.15, 95% CI 1.08-1.22) compared to NHW women, among whom Chinese (SHR 1.23, 95% CI 1.08-1.40), Filipina (SHR 1.37, 95% CI 1.23-1.52), and Native Hawaiian (SHR 1.69, 95% CI 1.37-2.08) women had greater risks. CONCLUSION: Aggregating or excluding API patients from breast cancer studies ignores their heterogeneous health outcomes. To advance cancer health equity among API women, future research should examine inequities within the API population to design interventions that can adequately address their unique differences.

Chemical species recognition in an adaptive radiation of Hawaiian Tetragnatha spiders (Araneae: Tetragnathidae).

Studies of adaptive radiations have played a central role in our understanding of reproductive isolation. Yet the focus has been on human-biased visual and auditory signals, leaving gaps in our knowledge of other modalities. To date, studies on chemical signals in adaptive radiations have focused on systems with multimodal signalling, making it difficult to isolate the role chemicals play in reproductive isolation. In this study we examine the use of chemical signals in the species recognition and adaptive radiation of Hawaiian Tetragnatha spiders by focusing on entire communities of co-occurring species, and conducting behavioural assays in conjunction with chemical analysis of their silks using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Male spiders significantly preferred the silk extracts of conspecific mates over those of sympatric heterospecifics. The compounds found in the silk extracts, long chain alkyl methyl ethers, were remarkably species-specific in the combination and quantity. The differences in the profile were greatest between co-occurring species and between closely related sibling species. Lastly, there were significant differences in the chemical profile between two populations of a particular species. These findings provide key insights into the role chemical signals play in the attainment and maintenance of reproductive barriers between closely related co-occurring species.

Mesophotic corals in Hawai'i maintain autotrophy to survive low-light conditions.

In mesophotic coral ecosystems, reef-building corals and their photosynthetic symbionts can survive with less than 1% of surface irradiance. How depth-specialist corals rely upon autotrophically and heterotrophically derived energy sources across the mesophotic zone remains unclear. We analysed the stable carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) isotope values of a Leptoseris community from the 'Au'au Channel, Maui, Hawai'i (65-125 m) including four coral host species living symbiotically with three algal haplotypes. We characterized the isotope values of hosts and symbionts across species and depth to compare trophic strategies. Symbiont δ13C was consistently 0.5‰ higher than host δ13C at all depths. Mean colony host and symbiont δ15N differed by up to 3.7‰ at shallow depths and converged at deeper depths. These results suggest that both heterotrophy and autotrophy remained integral to colony survival across depth. The increasing similarity between host and symbiont δ15N at deeper depths suggests that nitrogen is more efficiently shared between mesophotic coral hosts and their algal symbionts to sustain autotrophy. Isotopic trends across depth did not generally vary by host species or algal haplotype, suggesting that photosynthesis remains essential to Leptoseris survival and growth despite low light availability in the mesophotic zone.

Feather corticosterone is lower in translocated and historical populations of the endangered Laysan duck (Anas laysanensis).

Identifying reliable bioindicators of population status is a central goal of conservation physiology. Physiological stress measures are often used as metrics of individual health and can assist in managing endangered species if linked to fitness traits. We analysed feather corticosterone, a cumulative physiological stress metric, of individuals from historical, translocated, and source populations of an endangered endemic Hawaiian bird, the Laysan duck (Anas laysanensis). We hypothesized that feather corticosterone would reflect the improved reproduction and survival rates observed in populations translocated to Midway and Kure Atolls from Laysan Island. We also predicted less physiological stress in historical Laysan birds collected before ecological conditions deteriorated and the population bottleneck. All hypotheses were supported: we found lower feather corticosterone in the translocated populations and historical samples than in those from recent Laysan samples. This suggests that current Laysan birds are experiencing greater physiological stress than historical Laysan and recently translocated birds. Our initial analysis suggests that feather corticosterone may be an indicator of population status and could be used as a non-invasive physiological monitoring tool for this species with further validation. Furthermore, these preliminary results, combined with published demographic data, suggest that current Laysan conditions may not be optimal for this species.

The military gear microbiome: risk factors surrounding the warfighter.

Combat extremity wounds are highly susceptible to contamination from surrounding environmental material. This bioburden could be partially transferred from materials in immediate proximity to the wound, including fragments of the uniform and gear. However, the assessment of the microbial bioburden present on military gear during operational conditions of deployment or training is relatively unexplored. Opportunistic pathogens that can survive on gear represent risk factors for infection following injury, especially following combat blasts, where fibers and other materials are embedded in wounded tissue. We utilized 16S rRNA sequencing to assess the microbiome composition of different military gear types (boot, trouser, coat, and canteen) from two operational environments (training in Hawai'i and deployed in Indonesia) across time (days 0 and 14). We found that microbiome diversity, stability, and composition were dependent on gear type, training location, and sampling timepoint. At day 14, species diversity was significantly higher in Hawai'i samples compared to Indonesia samples for boot, coat, and trouser swabs. In addition, we observed the presence of potential microbial risk factors, as opportunistic pathogenic species, such as Acinetobacter, Pseudomonas, and Staphylococcus, were found to be present in all sample types and in both study sites. These study outcomes will be used to guide the design of antimicrobial materials and uniforms and for infection control efforts following combat blasts and other injuries, thereby improving treatment guidance during military training and deployment.IMPORTANCECombat extremity wounds are vulnerable to contamination from environments of proximity to the warfighter, leading to potential detrimental outcomes such as infection and delayed wound healing. Therefore, microbial surveillance of such environments is necessary to aid the advancement of military safety and preparedness through clinical diagnostics, treatment protocols, and uniform material design.

Risk of Incident Asthma Among Young Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Children from Age 3 to 7 Years in a Northern California Healthcare System.

Incident childhood asthma risk has not been examined among diverse Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander subgroups. In a large California healthcare system, incident asthma was higher among young Filipino/a, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, and South Asian children compared with non-Hispanic White children, whereas Chinese and Japanese children were similar.

Coral species-specific loss and physiological legacy effects are elicited by an extended marine heatwave.

Marine heatwaves are increasing in frequency and intensity, with potentially catastrophic consequences for marine ecosystems such as coral reefs. An extended heatwave and recovery time-series that incorporates multiple stressors and is environmentally realistic can provide enhanced predictive capacity for performance under climate change conditions. We exposed common reef-building corals in Hawai'i, Montipora capitata and Pocillopora acuta, to a 2-month period of high temperature and high PCO2 conditions or ambient conditions in a factorial design, followed by 2 months of ambient conditions. High temperature, rather than high PCO2, drove multivariate physiology shifts through time in both species, including decreases in respiration rates and endosymbiont densities. Pocillopora acuta exhibited more significantly negatively altered physiology, and substantially higher bleaching and mortality than M. capitata. The sensitivity of P. acuta appears to be driven by higher baseline rates of photosynthesis paired with lower host antioxidant capacity, creating an increased sensitivity to oxidative stress. Thermal tolerance of M. capitata may be partly due to harboring a mixture of Cladocopium and Durusdinium spp., whereas P. acuta was dominated by other distinct Cladocopium spp. Only M. capitata survived the experiment, but physiological state in heatwave-exposed M. capitata remained significantly diverged at the end of recovery relative to individuals that experienced ambient conditions. In future climate scenarios, particularly marine heatwaves, our results indicate a species-specific loss of corals that is driven by baseline host and symbiont physiological differences as well as Symbiodiniaceae community compositions, with the surviving species experiencing physiological legacies that are likely to influence future stress responses.

Racial and Ethnic Differences in Social Determinants of Health and Health-Related Social Needs Among Adults - Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, United States, 2022.

Social determinants of health (SDOH) are a broad array of social and contextual conditions where persons are born, live, learn, work, play, worship, and age that influence their physical and mental wellbeing and quality of life. Using 2022 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System data, this study assessed measures of adverse SDOH and health-related social needs (HRSN) among U.S. adult populations. Measures included life satisfaction, social and emotional support, social isolation or loneliness, employment stability, food stability/security, housing stability/security, utility stability/security, transportation access, mental well-being, and health care access. Prevalence ratios were adjusted for age, sex, education, marital status, income, and self-rated health. Social isolation or loneliness (31.9%) and lack of social and emotional support (24.8%) were the most commonly reported measures, both of which were more prevalent among non-Hispanic (NH) American Indian or Alaska Native, NH Black or African American, NH Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander, NH multiracial, and Hispanic or Latino adults than among NH White adults. The majority of prevalence estimates for other adverse SDOH and HRSN were also higher across all other racial and ethnic groups (except for NH Asian) compared with NH White adults. SDOH and HRSN data can be used to monitor needed social and health resources in the U.S. population and help evaluate population-scale interventions.

Amphistomy increases leaf photosynthesis more in coastal than montane plants of Hawaiian 'ilima (Sida fallax).

PREMISE: The adaptive significance of amphistomy (stomata on both upper and lower leaf surfaces) is unresolved. A widespread association between amphistomy and open, sunny habitats suggests the adaptive benefit of amphistomy may be greatest in these contexts, but this hypothesis has not been tested experimentally. Understanding amphistomy informs its potential as a target for crop improvement and paleoenvironment reconstruction. METHODS: We developed a method to quantify "amphistomy advantage" ( AA $\text{AA}$ ) as the log-ratio of photosynthesis in an amphistomatous leaf to that of the same leaf but with gas exchange blocked through the upper surface (pseudohypostomy). Humidity modulated stomatal conductance and thus enabled comparing photosynthesis at the same total stomatal conductance. We estimated AA $\text{AA}$ and leaf traits in six coastal (open, sunny) and six montane (closed, shaded) populations of the indigenous Hawaiian species 'ilima (Sida fallax). RESULTS: Coastal 'ilima leaves benefit 4.04 times more from amphistomy than montane leaves. Evidence was equivocal with respect to two hypotheses: (1) that coastal leaves benefit more because they are thicker and have lower CO2 conductance through the internal airspace and (2) that they benefit more because they have similar conductance on each surface, as opposed to most conductance being through the lower surface. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first direct experimental evidence that amphistomy increases photosynthesis, consistent with the hypothesis that parallel pathways through upper and lower mesophyll increase CO2 supply to chloroplasts. The prevalence of amphistomatous leaves in open, sunny habitats can partially be explained by the increased benefit of amphistomy in "sun" leaves, but the mechanistic basis remains uncertain.

Organellar genomic characterization of Anunuuluaehu liula representing a new genus and species of Phyllophoraceae (Gigartinales, Rhodophyta) from the mesophotic zone of Hawai'i.

Over the last 2 decades, routine collections in the Hawaiian Archipelago have expanded to mesophotic reefs, leading to the discovery of a new red algal genus and species, here described as Anunuuluaehu liula gen. et sp. nov. This study provides a detailed genus and species description and characterizes chloroplast and mitochondrial organellar genomes. The new genus, Anunuuluaehu, shares many characteristics with the family Phyllophoraceae and shows close similarities to Archestennogramma and Stenogramma, including habit morphology, nemathecia forming proliferations at the outer cortex with terminal chains of tetrasporangia, and carposporophytes with multi-layered pericarps. The single species in this genus exhibits distinctive features within the Phyllophoraceae: the presence of single-layer construction of large medullary cells and the development of long, tubular gonimoblastic filaments. Multi-gene phylogenetic analyses confirmed it as a unique, monophyletic lineage within the family. Cis-splicing genes, interrupted by intron-encoded proteins within group II introns, are present in both the chloroplast and mitochondrial genomes of A. liula. Notably, a specific region of the coxI group II intron exhibits similarity to fungal introns. Anunuuluaehu liula is presumed to be endemic to the Hawaiian Archipelago and thus far is known to live solely at mesophotic depths from Holaniku to Kaho'olawe ranging from 54 to 201 m, which is the deepest collection record of any representative in the family. Overall, this study enhances our understanding of the genomic and taxonomic complexities of red algae in mesophotic habitats, emphasizing the significance of continued research in this area to uncover further insights into evolutionary processes and biogeographic patterns.

Reduction of genetic diversity in 'Alala (Hawaiian crow; Corvus hawaiiensis) between the late 1800s and the late 1900s.

Genetic and genomic data are increasingly used to aid conservation management of endangered species by providing insights into evolutionary histories, factors associated with extinction risks, and potential for future adaptation. For the 'Alala, or Hawaiian crow (Corvus hawaiiensis), genetic concerns include negative correlations between inbreeding and hatching success. However, it is unclear if low genetic diversity and inbreeding depression are consequences of a historical population bottleneck, or if 'Alala had historically low genetic diversity that predated human influence, perhaps as a result of earlier declines or founding events. In this study, we applied a hybridization-based sequence capture to generate a genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) dataset for comparing historical specimens collected in the 1890s, when 'Alala were more numerous, to samples taken between 1973 and 1998, when 'Alala population densities were near the lowest documented levels in the wild, prior to all individuals being collected for captive rearing. We found low genome-wide diversity in both sample groups, however, the modern sample group (1973 to 1998 cohort) exhibited relatively fewer polymorphic alleles, a lower proportion of polymorphic loci, and lower observed heterozygosity, consistent with a population decline and potential bottleneck effects. These results combined with a current low population size highlight the importance of continued efforts by conservation managers to mitigate inbreeding and maintain founder representation to preserve what genetic diversity remains.