Assessing data bias in visual surveys from a cetacean monitoring programme.

Long-term monitoring datasets are fundamental to understand physical and ecological responses to environmental changes, supporting management and conservation. The data should be reliable, with the sources of bias identified and quantified. CETUS Project is a cetacean monitoring programme in the Eastern North Atlantic, based on visual methods of data collection. This study aims to assess data quality and bias in the CETUS dataset, by 1) applying validation methods, through photographic confirmation of species identification; 2) creating data quality criteria to evaluate the observer's experience; and 3) assessing bias to the number of sightings collected and to the success in species identification. Through photographic validation, the species identification of 10 sightings was corrected and a new species was added to the CETUS dataset. The number of sightings collected was biased by external factors, mostly by sampling effort but also by weather conditions. Ultimately, results highlight the importance of identifying and quantifying data bias, while also yielding guidelines for data collection and processing, relevant for species monitoring programmes based on visual methods.

Potential recurrence of COVID-19 in a healthcare professional: SARS-CoV-2 genome sequencing confirms contagiousness after re-positivity.

Re-positivity of SARS-CoV-2 tests is widely reported, raising discussion about guidance for patient discharge and ending isolation. The unsuccessful recovery of replication-competent virus and/or absence of secondary cases has suggested that re-positive patients are not contagious. This study reports SARS-CoV-2 re-positivity in a healthcare professional 16 days after three negative tests, with viral genome sequencing supporting contagiousness leading to secondary cases.

A dataset of cetacean occurrences in the Eastern North Atlantic.

The CETUS project is a cetacean monitoring program that takes advantage of cargo ships to undertake survey routes between Continental Portugal, Macaronesian archipelagos and West Africa. From 2012 to 2017, over 50 volunteers participated in the program, actively surveying more than 124.000 km, mostly beyond national jurisdictions in the high seas, for which little or no previous data existed. In total, the collection comprises 3058 georeferenced transect lines and 8913 positions, which are associated with 2833 cetacean sightings, 362 occurrences of other pelagic megafauna, 5260 estimates of marine traffic and 8887 weather observations. This dataset may provide new insights into the distribution of marine mammals in the Eastern North Atlantic and was published following the OBIS-ENV-DATA format (with the most recent biodiversity data standards at the time of writing). Consequently, it may serve as a model for similar visual line transect data collections yet to be published.

Fungal Endophyte Communities in Begonia Species from the Brazilian Atlantic Rainforest.

Tropical plants represent hotspots of endophytic fungal species diversity. Based on culture-dependent methods, we evaluated the endophytic fungal communities in leaves of three plant species found in the Brazilian Atlantic Rainforest: Begonia fischeri, Begonia olsoniae, and Begonia venosa. These species are found in two distant sites: a continental region and an insular area. A total of 426 fungal endophytes in 19 genera were isolated in pure culture including Colletotrichum (51.6% of isolates) and Diaporthe (22.5%) as the most abundant, followed by Phyllosticta (3.5%), Neopestalotiopsis (1.8%), Stagonospora (1.8%), and Nigrospora (1.6%) among the genera found in minor abundance. The diversity and composition of fungal taxa differed across plant hosts. Richness and diversity of fungi were higher in B. fischeri in comparison to B. olsoniae and B. venosa. Discriminatory analysis revealed that fungal communities are structured according to hosts, which means that each plant species had its distinct endophytic communities, but dominated by common fungal taxa. This is the first study to report fungal endophytes in begonia leaves and characterize their communities.