USING SURFACE WASHING TO REMOVE THE ENVIRONMENTAL COMPONENT FROM FLEA MICROBIOME ANALYSIS.

Microbial metabarcoding is a common method to study the biology of blood-feeding arthropods and identify patterns of potential pathogen transmission. Before DNA extraction, specimens are often surface washed to remove environmental contaminants. While surface washing is common, its effects on microbial diversity remain unclear. We characterized the microbiome of the flea species Ceratophyllus idius, an avian ectoparasite, and a potential vector of pathogens, using high-throughput 16S rRNA sequencing. Half of the nests from which fleas were collected were subjected to an environmental manipulation in which nesting materials were periodically replaced. In a crossed study design we surface washed half of the flea samples from each environmental condition to produce 4 experimental conditions. Environmental manipulations resulted in significant differences in the diversity and structure of the flea microbiome, but these differences were unapparent when specimens were surface washed. Furthermore, differential abundance testing of the experimental groups revealed that surface washing predominantly affected the abundance of bacterial groups that are characterized as environmental contaminants. These findings suggest that environmental changes primarily affect the surface microbiome of arthropods and that surface washing is a useful tool to reduce the footprint of the external microbiome on analysis.

Support for a relationship between demography and modeled habitat suitability is scale dependent for the purple martin Progne subis.

Species distribution models (SDMs) estimate habitat suitability for species in geographic space. They are extensively used in conservation under the assumption that there is a positive relationship between habitat suitability and species success and stability. Given the difficulties in obtaining demographic data across a species' range, this assumption is rarely tested. Here we provide a range-wide test of this relationship for the eastern subspecies of purple martin Progne subis subis. We build a well-supported SDM for the breeding range of the purple martin, and pair it with an unparalleled demographic dataset of nest success and local and regional abundance data for the species to test the proposed link between habitat suitability and fecundity and demography. We find a positive relationship between regional abundance and habitat suitability but no relationship between local abundance or fecundity and habitat suitability. Our data suggest that local success is driven largely by biotic and stochastic factors and raise the possibility that purple martins are experiencing a time lag in their distribution. More broadly our results call for caution in how we interpret SDMs and do not support the assumption that areas of high habitat suitability are the best areas for species persistence.

Expanding our view of Bartonella and its hosts: Bartonella in nest ectoparasites and their migratory avian hosts.

BACKGROUND: Bartonella is a genus of Gram-negative facultative intracellular Alphaproteobacteria of public health importance. Although they are known to mainly infect mammalian hosts with some blood-feeding arthropods having been confirmed as vectors, there is some evidence of Bartonella association with non-mammalian hosts including birds. METHODS: Here we used high-throughput sequencing of 16S rRNA and Sanger sequencing of the citrate synthase (gltA) genes to test for the presence of Bartonellaceae in the blood of three migratory cavity nesting bird species, purple martins (Progne subis), tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) and eastern bluebirds (Sialia sialis) and their most prevalent and abundant nest ectoparasites, Dermanyssus prognephilus (mite), Ceratophyllus idius (flea) and Protocalliphora sialia (bird blow fly larva). We constructed maximum likelihood phylogenetic trees to verify the placement of the resulting sequences in the Bartonellaceae. RESULTS: We found evidence of Bartonella in all three bird species and all three arthropod species tested. We report multiple instances of identical Bartonella sequences in both birds and parasites, leading to the likely hypothesis that these ectoparasites are potential vectors of Bartonella. Our phylogenetic analysis suggests that 'avian Bartonella' may form its own sub-clade within the genus Bartonella. CONCLUSIONS: To the best of our knowledge, we provide the first confirmation of overlapping Bartonella strains among bird hosts and various species of nest-associated ectoparasites from the same system, suggesting a possible Bartonella host-vector relationship between these arthropods and a non-mammalian host. Our study adds to the growing appreciation of the Bartonellaceae as a phylogenetically diverse group with a wide range of hosts.

O engajamento do público em um projeto de conservação: O caso da andorinha- azul / Engaging the society in a conservation project: the purple martin case

We studied the relationship between citizen science, health and the purple martin, a migratory bird. Since 1900, Butantan has pioneering the engagement of the society in scientific projects, when its first director, the physician Vital Brazil created a very successful antivenom serum-serpent exchange system with residents of rural regions in the state of São Paulo. Citizen science consists in a partnership between amateurs and scientists for collecting and analyzing scientific data thus enabling the public participation in research and, in some cases, also promoting biodiversity conservation. Due to the widespread use of smartphones, digital media and the Internet, the Purple Martin Project is a successful example in Brazil of a positive conservation outcome of the collaboration between the society and scientists. According to the concept of One Health, dedicating efforts to environmental and species conservation is a way to promote human and ecosystem health. This purple martin is important in controlling populations of insects that constitute their diet, and it is declining in numbers in North America. In the last year, we put together a widespread virtual network of birdwatchers and nature connoisseurs throughout Brazil that made possible recording and monitoring the species while it is spending the northern winter in South America. The objectives were to (i) investigate how scientific communication is successfully promoting the participation of the society; (ii) increase the number of people involved with the project and the knowledge about roosting places and the biology of this species and (iii) analyze the public perception, whether scientific or not about the citizen science, that means explain the reality that surrounds the study group, enabling them to reconfigure a certain social phenomenon for common sense. For the first and second goal, we invested in the scientific divulgation through social media (mainly Facebook and Instagram) which importants topics such as ""Citizen Science"" and ""One Health"" were explored. To evaluate the results, we performed an analysis of the involvement through Facebook Analytic and the Instagram Business Profile and it was observed a very significant increase in the number of followers and consequently a greater involvement in the sharing of records of purple martin by birdwatchers. Besides that, we built and applied an interactive Quizz on Instagram to the project's followers about their perceptions and knowledge about the webpage content that also has a satisfactory feedback from the responses evaluated. Finally, for the third objective, a questionnaire was conducted through Google Forms and sent to birdwatchers, whether amateurs or experts. The data collected were based on the Social Representation Theory and the Central Core Theory. The terms “Society”, “Collaboration”, “Engagement” and “Research” were the main words evoked, although presented in different order and frequency, the groups demonstrated the groups showed similar thinking about the key term “Citizen Science”.

Este trabalho apresenta um estudo sobre a relação entre a ciência cidadã, saúde e a andorinha-azul, uma ave migratória. Desde 1900, o Instituto Butantan é pioneiro no engajamento da sociedade em projetos científicos, quando seu primeiro diretor, o médico Vital Brazil, cria um sistema de permuta de serpentes por soro e conhecimento científico com os moradores das regiões rurais do estado de São Paulo. A Ciência cidadã consiste em uma parceria entre amadores e cientistas para coletar e analisar dados científicos, possibilitando a participação do público em pesquisas e, em alguns casos também promovendo a conservação da biodiversidade. Graças ao amplo uso de smartphones, mídia digital e Internet, o Projeto Andorinha-Azul é um exemplo bem-sucedido no Brasil de um resultado positivo da colaboração entre a sociedade e os cientistas. De acordo com o conceito de Saúde Única, dedicar esforços à conservação ambiental e de espécies é uma maneira de promover a saúde humana e dos ecossistemas. A andorinha-azul é importante no controle de populações de insetos que constituem sua dieta e suas populações vem decrescendo em de indivíduos na América do Norte. No último ano, reunimos uma ampla rede virtual de observadores de pássaros e apreciadores da natureza em todo o Brasil, que possibilitou o registro e o monitoramento das espécies durante sua passagem pela América do Sul. Os objetivos são (i) investigar como a divulgação científica está promovendo com sucesso a participação da sociedade; (ii) aumentar o número de pessoas envolvidas no projeto e o conhecimento sobre os locais de dormitórios e a biologia dessa espécie e (iii) analisar a percepção do público, científica ou não, sobre a ciência cidadã, isto é, compreender e explicar a realidade que cerca o grupo de estudo possibilitando-os reconfigurar um determinado fenômeno social para o senso comum. Para o primeiro e o segundo objetivo, investimos na divulgação científica por meio das redes sociais (principalmente Facebook e Instagram), no qual foram explorados temas importantes como "Ciência Cidadã" e "Saúde Única”. Para avaliar os resultados, foi realizada uma análise do envolvimento através do Facebook Analytics e do Instagram Business Profile o que foi observado um aumento bastante significativo do número de seguidores nas redes e consequentemente um maior envolvimento dos mesmos no compartilhamento de registros da andorinha-azul por observadores de aves. Além disso, foi elaborado e aplicado um Quizz interativo no Instagram aos seguidores do projeto sobre seus conhecimentos a respeito do conteúdo da página tendo também um retorno satisfatório das respostas avaliadas. Por fim, para o terceiro objetivo, foi realizado um questionário por meio do Google Forms e enviado para observadores de aves sejam eles apenas apreciadores (amadores) ou especialistas (ornitólogos). Os dados coletados foram baseados na Teoria das Representações Sociais e na Teoria do Núcleo Central. Os termos “Sociedade”, “Colaboração”, “Engajamento” e “Pesquisa” foram as principais palavras evocadas ainda que apresentadas em ordem e frequência diferentes, os grupos demonstraram um raciocínio lógico semelhante ao pensarem no termo chave “Ciência Cidadã”.