Reorganization of bird communities along a rainforest elevation gradient during a strong El Niño event in Papua New Guinea.

The El Niño 2015 event, most extreme since 1997, led to severe droughts in tropical wet Papua New Guinea (PNG), reducing May to October dry season rainfall by 75% in the lowlands and 25% in the highlands. Such droughts are likely to have significant effects on terrestrial ecosystems, but they have been poorly explored in Papua New Guinea. Here, we report changes in bird community composition prior to, during, and after the 2015 El Niño event along the elevational gradient ranging from 200 m to 2700 m a.s.l. at the Mt. Wilhelm rainforest in PNG. The abundance of birds in the lowlands dropped by 60% but increased by 40% at elevations above 1700 m during El Niño year. In the following year, the individual bird species reached mean population sizes similar to pre-El Niño years but did not fully recover. Species richness roughly followed the pattern of observed abundance and quickly and fully re-established after the event to the pre- El Niño values. Thus, at least some terrestrial birds seem to react quickly to the extreme droughts in lowlands and shift to less affected mountain habitats. We recorded upper elevational range limits to shifts by more than 500 m a.s.l. in 22 bird species (out of 237 recorded in total) during El Niño year, in contrast to their typical ranges. Our study suggests that a strong El Niño event can have strong but reversible effects on bird communities as long as they have an opportunity to move to more favorable sites through undisturbed habitats.

Health service needs and perspectives of a rainforest conserving community in Papua New Guinea's Ramu lowlands: a combined clinical and rapid anthropological assessment with parallel treatment of urgent cases.

OBJECTIVES: Determine community needs and perspectives as part of planning health service incorporation into Wanang Conservation Area, in support of locally driven sustainable development. DESIGN: Clinical and rapid anthropological assessment (individual primary care assessments, key informant (KI) interviews, focus groups (FGs), ethnography) with treatment of urgent cases. SETTING: Wanang (pop. c189), a rainforest community in Madang province, Papua New Guinea. PARTICIPANTS: 129 villagers provided medical histories (54 females (f), 75 males (m); median 19 years, range 1 month to 73 years), 113 had clinical assessments (51f, 62m; median 18 years, range 1 month to 73 years). 26 ≥18 years participated in sex-stratified and age-stratified FGs (f<40 years; m<40 years; f>40 years; m>40 years). Five KIs were interviewed (1f, 4m). Daily ethnographic fieldnotes were recorded. RESULTS: Of 113 examined, 11 were 'well' (a clinical impression based on declarations of no current illness, medical histories, conversation, no observed disease signs), 62 (30f, 32m) were treated urgently, 31 referred (15f, 16m), indicating considerable unmet need. FGs top-4 ranked health issues concorded with KI views, medical histories and clinical examinations. For example, ethnoclassifications of three ((A) 'malaria', (B) 'sotwin', (C) 'grile') translated to the five biomedical conditions diagnosed most ((A) malaria, 9 villagers; (B) upper respiratory infection, 25; lower respiratory infection, 10; tuberculosis, 9; (C) tinea imbricata, 15) and were highly represented in declared medical histories ((A) 75 participants, (B) 23, (C) 35). However, 29.2% of diagnoses (49/168) were limited to one or two people. Treatment approaches included plant medicines, stored pharmaceuticals, occasionally rituals. Travel to hospital/pharmacy was sometimes undertaken for severe/refractory disease. Service barriers included: no health patrols/accessible aid post, remote hospital, unfamiliarity with institutions and medicine costs. Service introduction priorities were: aid post, vaccinations, transport, perinatal/birth care and family planning. CONCLUSIONS: This study enabled service planning and demonstrated a need sufficient to acquire funding to establish primary care. In doing so, it aided Wanang's community to develop sustainably, without sacrificing their forest home.

Bird preferences for fruit size, but not color, vary in accordance with fruit traits along a tropical elevational gradient.

Birds constitute one of the most important seed dispersal agents globally, especially in the tropics. The feeding preferences of frugivorous birds are, therefore, potentially of great ecological importance. A number of laboratory-based and observational studies have attempted to ascertain the preferences of certain bird species for certain fruit traits. However, little attention has been paid to community-wide preferences of frugivorous birds and the impact this may have on fruit traits on a broader scale. Here, we used artificial fruits of different colors and sizes to investigate community-wide fruit trait preferences of birds at three sites along an elevational gradient in Papua New Guinea. We recorded attack rates on artificial fruits as visible impressions made by a bird's beak during a feeding attempt. We also measured the colors and sizes of real fruits at each site, and the gape widths of frugivorous birds, allowing for comparisons between bird feeding preferences and bird and fruit traits. Regardless of elevation, red and purple fruits were universally preferred to green and attacked at similar rates to one another, despite strong elevational patterns in real fruit color. However, elevation had a significant effect on fruit size preferences. A weak, non-significant preference for large fruits was recorded at 700 m, while medium fruits were strongly preferred at 1700 m and small fruits at 2700 m. These patterns mirror those of both real fruit size and frugivorous bird gape width along the gradient, suggesting the potential for selective pressure of birds on fruit size at different elevations.

Induction of apoptosis in the gonads of Mytilus edulis by metformin and increased temperature, via regulation of HSP70, CASP8, BCL2 and FAS.

Pharmaceutically active compounds have been considered contaminants of emerging concern, in response to evidence that these substances may adversely affect aquatic organisms. Here we expose mussels for 7 days to metformin, the most commonly prescribed anti-diabetes treatment, at a concentration of 40 µg/L and a high temperature of 20 °C. The apoptosis-related genes HSP70, CASP8, BCL2 and FAS showed variation in expression in gonadal tissue. The results suggest that complex interactions between these genes are modulating the onset of apoptotic changes such as atresia and follicle degeneration. The temperature induced apoptosis may be initiated by overexpression of CASP8. Conversely, metformin may induce apoptosis by suppressing the anti-apoptotic gene BCL2, thus promoting the process. Interestingly, apoptosis and follicle degeneration are likely FAS-mediated, following the synergistic effect of metformin and temperature. The potential of metformin to act as a non-traditional EDC, due to its impact on the reproductive system in mussels is discussed.

Spatial scaling of plant and bird diversity from 50 to 10,000 ha in a lowland tropical rainforest.

While there are numerous studies of diversity patterns both within local communities and at regional scales, the intermediate scale of tens to thousands of km2 is often neglected. Here we present detailed local data on plant communities (using 20 × 20 m plots) and bird communities (using point counts) for a 50 ha ForestGEO plot in lowland rainforest at Wanang, Papua New Guinea. We compare these local diversity patterns with those documented in the surrounding 10,000 ha of lowland rainforest. Woody plant species richness was lower within 50 ha (88% of 10,000 ha richness), even when both were surveyed with identical sampling effort. In contrast, bird communities exhibited identical species accumulation patterns at both spatial scales. Similarity in species composition (Chao-Jaccard) remained constant while similarity in dominance structure (Bray-Curtis) decreased with increased distance between samples across the range from < 1 to 13.8 km for both plant and bird communities. The similarity decay was more rapid in plants, but in both cases was slow. The results indicate low to zero beta-diversity at the spatial scale represented here, particularly for birds but also for woody plants. A 50 ha plot provided a highly accurate representation of broader-scale diversity and community composition within 10,000 ha for birds, and a relatively good representation for woody plants. This suggests potential for wider generalization of data from ForestGEO plots which are almost always locally unreplicated, at least for those in lowland tropical forest.

Actions on sustainable food production and consumption for the post-2020 global biodiversity framework.

Current food production and consumption trends are inconsistent with the Convention on Biological Diversity's 2050 vision of living in harmony with nature. Here, we examine how, and under what conditions, the post-2020 biodiversity framework can support transformative change in food systems. Our analysis of actions proposed in four science-policy fora reveals that subsidy reform, valuation, food waste reduction, sustainability standards, life cycle assessments, sustainable diets, mainstreaming biodiversity, and strengthening governance can support more sustainable food production and consumption. By considering barriers and opportunities of implementing these actions in Peru and the United Kingdom, we derive potential targets and indicators for the post-2020 biodiversity framework. For targets to support transformation, genuine political commitment, accountability and compliance, and wider enabling conditions and actions by diverse agents are needed to shift food systems onto a sustainable path.