Varroa destructor shapes the unique viral landscapes of the honey bee populations of the Azores archipelago.

The worldwide dispersal of the ectoparasitic mite Varroa destructor from its Asian origins has fundamentally transformed the relationship of the honey bee (Apis mellifera) with several of its viruses, via changes in transmission and/or host immunosuppression. The extent to which honey bee-virus relationships change after Varroa invasion is poorly understood for most viruses, in part because there are few places in the world with several geographically close but completely isolated honey bee populations that either have, or have not, been exposed long-term to Varroa, allowing for separate ecological, epidemiological, and adaptive relationships to develop between honey bees and their viruses, in relation to the mite's presence or absence. The Azores is one such place, as it contains islands with and without the mite. Here, we combined qPCR with meta-amplicon deep sequencing to uncover the relationship between Varroa presence, and the prevalence, load, diversity, and phylogeographic structure of eight honey bee viruses screened across the archipelago. Four viruses were not detected on any island (ABPV-Acute bee paralysis virus, KBV-Kashmir bee virus, IAPV-Israeli acute bee paralysis virus, BeeMLV-Bee macula-like virus); one (SBV-Sacbrood virus) was detected only on mite-infested islands; one (CBPV-Chronic bee paralysis virus) occurred on some islands, and two (BQCV-Black queen cell virus, LSV-Lake Sinai virus,) were present on every single island. This multi-virus screening builds upon a parallel survey of Deformed wing virus (DWV) strains that uncovered a remarkably heterogeneous viral landscape featuring Varroa-infested islands dominated by DWV-A and -B, Varroa-free islands naïve to DWV, and a refuge of the rare DWV-C dominating the easternmost Varroa-free islands. While all four detected viruses investigated here were affected by Varroa for one or two parameters (usually prevalence and/or the Richness component of ASV diversity), the strongest effect was observed for the multi-strain LSV. Varroa unambiguously led to elevated prevalence, load, and diversity (Richness and Shannon Index) of LSV, with these results largely shaped by LSV-2, a major LSV strain. Unprecedented insights into the mite-virus relationship were further gained from implementing a phylogeographic approach. In addition to enabling the identification of a novel LSV strain that dominated the unique viral landscape of the easternmost islands, this approach, in combination with the recovered diversity patterns, strongly suggests that Varroa is driving the evolutionary change of LSV in the Azores. This study greatly advances the current understanding of the effect of Varroa on the epidemiology and adaptive evolution of these less-studied viruses, whose relationship with Varroa has thus far been poorly defined.

Refining Vascular Care Through Science Without Losing the Art.

The science of medicine involves the incorporation of data from evidence-based medicine (collecting, analyzing, conducting clinical trials), medical knowledge (learned patterns of health and disease), diagnostic testing (objective evidence), treatment protocols (guidelines based on scientific evidence and/or expert consensus), and pharmacology (prescribing safely and effectively). The art of medicine involves clinical judgment (learn to interpret clinical signs, symptoms, and histories often relying on intuition and gut feelings), bedside manner (understanding patient needs), customization of care (artistic touch to meet each person's unique circumstances including values, preferences, and social determinants of health), complex decision-making (decision-making based on experience or expertise when confronted with limited or conflicting data), and managing uncertainty (making decisions keeping "doors open" when faced with limited objective confirmation). The delivery of healthcare is not "either science or art" but rather "both science and art" proposition. So, how do we wrestle with this potential paradox?

Pounce Thrombectomy System to Treat Acute and Chronic Peripheral Arterial Occlusions.

Peripheral arterial occlusions are composed of variable amounts of thrombus. Endovascular techniques should initially address the variably aged thrombus prior to treating plaque (percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) ± stenting). This should ideally be accomplished in a single procedural session. Forty-four consecutive patients treated with the Pounce thrombectomy system (PTS) as captured in a retrospective database, who presented with acute (n = 18), subacute (n = 7), or chronic (n = 19) lower extremity ischemia, were treated and followed for a mean of 7 months. The peripheral occlusions were considered thrombus-dominant by the feel and ease of wire traversal. They were treated with PTS along with complimentary PTA/stenting when appropriate. The mean number of passes with PTS was 4.0 ± 2.7. Sixty-five percent (29/44) were successfully revascularized in a single setting with only 2 requiring concomitant thrombolysis for incomplete thrombus removal from the PTS target artery. An additional 15 patients (34%) had thrombolysis for tibial thrombus that was not attempted with PTS. PTA ± stenting after PTS occurred in 57% of limbs. Technical success was 83% and procedural success was 95%. Reintervention rate throughout follow-up was 22.7%. Major amputation occurred in 4.5%. Complications were limited to minor groin hematomas (n = 3). Outcomes were equally effective in patients with pre-existing stents or denovo arterial occlusions as evidenced with ankle brachial index improvement from 0.48 pre-to 0.93 postintervention and 0.95 at latest follow-up (P < 0.001). PTS coupled with PTA/stenting is expeditiously safe and effective in patients with thrombus-associated lower limb occlusion.

CycLing and EducATion (CLEAT): protocol for a single centre randomised controlled trial of a cycling and education intervention versus standard physiotherapy care for the treatment of hip osteoarthritis.

BACKGROUND: Osteoarthritis (OA) is a chronic degenerative joint disorder for which there is no known cure. Non-surgical management for people with mild-to-moderate hip OA focuses mainly on alleviating pain and maximising function via the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommended combination of education and advice, exercise, and, where appropriate, weight loss. The CHAIN (Cycling against Hip pAIN) intervention is a group cycling and education intervention conceived as a way of implementing the NICE guidance. METHODS: CycLing and EducATion (CLEAT) is a pragmatic, two parallel arm, randomised controlled trial comparing CHAIN with standard physiotherapy care for the treatment of mild-to-moderate hip OA. We will recruit 256 participants referred to the local NHS physiotherapy department over a 24-month recruitment period. Participants diagnosed with hip OA according to NICE guidance and meeting the criteria for GP exercise referral will be eligible to participate. Primary outcome is the difference in Hip Disability and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (HOOS) function, daily living subscale between those receiving CHAIN and standard physiotherapy care. Secondary outcomes include performance-based functional measures (40 m walking, 30s chair stand and stair climb tests), ability for patient to self-care (patient activation measure) and self-reported health-related resource use including primary and secondary care contacts. The primary economic endpoint is the number of quality adjusted life years (QALYs) at 24 weeks follow-up. The study is funded by the National Institute for Health Research, Research for Patient Benefit PB-PG-0816-20033. DISCUSSION: The literature identifies a lack of high-quality trials which inform on the content and design of education and exercise in the treatment of patients with hip OA and explore cost-effectiveness. CLEAT is a pragmatic trial which seeks to build further evidence of the clinical benefits of the CHAIN intervention compared to standard physiotherapy care within a randomised, controlled trial setting, and examine its cost-effectiveness. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: ISRCTN19778222. Protocol v4.1, 24th October 2022.

Trends in seabird breeding populations across the Great Barrier Reef.

The Great Barrier Reef is an iconic ecosystem, known globally for its rich marine biodiversity that includes many thousands of tropical breeding seabirds. Despite indications of localized declines in some seabird species from as early as the mid-1990s, trends in seabird populations across the reef have never been quantified. With a long history of human impact and ongoing environmental change, seabirds are likely sentinels in this important ecosystem. Using 4 decades of monitoring data, we estimated site-specific trends for 9 seabird species from 32 islands and cays across the reef. Trends varied markedly among species and sites, but probable declines occurred at 45% of the 86 species-by-site combinations analyzed compared with increases at 14%. For 5 species, we combined site-specific trends into a multisite trend in scaled abundance, which revealed probable declines of Common Noddy (Anous stolidus), Sooty Tern (Onychoprion fuscatus), and Masked Booby (Sula dactylatra), but no long-term changes in the 2 most widely distributed species, Greater Crested Tern (Thalasseus bergii) and Brown Booby (Sula leucogaster). For Brown Booby, long-term stability largely resulted from increases at a single large colony on East Fairfax Island that offset declines at most other sites. Although growth of the Brown Booby population on East Fairfax points to the likely success of habitat restoration on the island, it also highlights a general vulnerability wherein large numbers of some species are concentrated at a small number of key sites. Identifying drivers of variation in population change across species and sites while ensuring long-term protection of key sites will be essential to securing the future of seabirds on the reef.

Tendencias en las Poblaciones de Aves Marinas Reproductoras a lo largo de la Gran Barrera de Arrecifes Resumen La Gran Barrera de Arrecife es un ecosistema icónico, conocido mundialmente por la riqueza de biodiversidad marina que incluye a miles de aves marinas tropicales en reproducción. A pesar de las indicaciones de la declinación localizada de algunas especies de aves marinas que datan desde tan temprano como mediados de la década de 1990, nunca se han cuantificado las tendencias de las poblaciones de aves marinas a lo largo del arrecife. Con una larga historia de impacto antropogénico y el cambio climático en curso, las aves marinas son los probables centinelas de este importante ecosistema. Usamos cuatro décadas de datos de monitoreo para estimar las tendencias específicas de sitio para nueve especies de aves marinas en 32 islas y cayos en todo el arrecife. Las tendencias variaron notablemente entre especies y sitios, aunque las declinaciones probables ocurrieron en 45% de las 86 combinaciones de especie por sitio analizadas en comparación con los incrementos al 14%. Combinamos las tendencias específicas de sitio para cinco especies con una tendencia multisitio con abundancia escalada. Lo anterior reveló declinaciones probables para las siguientes especies: Anous stolidus, Onychoprion fuscatus y Sula dactylatra, pero ningún cambio a largo plazo para las dos especies con mayor distribución: Thalasseus bergii y Sula leucogaster. Para Sula leucogaster, la estabilidad a largo plazo resultó principalmente de los incrementos en una gran colonia única en la isla Fairfax del Este, la cual compensó las declinaciones en casi todos los demás sitios. Aunque el crecimiento de la población de Sula leucogaster en la isla Fairfax del Este apunta hacia el éxito probable de la restauración del hábitat en la isla, también resalta una vulnerabilidad general en la que los grandes números de algunas especies están concentrados en un número reducido de sitios importantes. La identificación de los causantes de la variación en los cambios poblacionales en las especies y en los sitios mientras se asegura la protección a largo plazo de los sitios importantes será esencial para asegurar el futuro de las aves marinas del arrecife.

Why we should care about movements: Using spatially explicit integrated population models to assess habitat source-sink dynamics.

Assessing the source-sink status of populations and habitats is of major importance for understanding population dynamics and for the management of natural populations. Sources produce a net surplus of individuals (per capita contribution to the metapopulation > 1) and will be the main contributors for self-sustaining populations, whereas sinks produce a deficit (contribution < 1). However, making these types of assessments is generally hindered by the problem of separating mortality from permanent emigration, especially when survival probabilities as well as moved distances are habitat-specific. To address this long-standing issue, we propose a spatial multi-event integrated population model (IPM) that incorporates habitat-specific dispersal distances of individuals. Using information about local movements, this IPM adjusts survival estimates for emigration outside the study area. Analysing 24 years of data on a farmland passerine (the northern wheatear Oenanthe oenanthe), we assessed habitat-specific contributions, and hence the source-sink status and temporal variation of two key breeding habitats, while accounting for habitat- and sex-specific local dispersal distances of juveniles and adults. We then examined the sensitivity of the source-sink analysis by comparing results with and without accounting for these local movements. Estimates of first-year survival, and consequently habitat-specific contributions, were higher when local movement data were included. The consequences from including movement data were sex specific, with contribution shifting from sink to likely source in one habitat for males, and previously noted habitat differences for females disappearing. Assessing the source-sink status of habitats is extremely challenging. We show that our spatial IPM accounting for local movements can reduce biases in estimates of the contribution by different habitats, and thus reduce the overestimation of the occurrence of sink habitats. This approach allows combining all available data on demographic rates and movements, which will allow better assessment of source-sink dynamics and better informed conservation interventions.

A Critical Analysis of the Exercise Prescription and Return to Activity Advice That Is Provided in Patient Information Leaflets Following Lumbar Spine Surgery.

Background and objectives: Lumbar spine surgery may be considered if pharmacologic, rehabilitation and interventional approaches cannot provide sufficient recovery from low back-related pain. Postoperative physiotherapy treatment in England is often accompanied by patient information leaflets, which contain important rehabilitation advice. However, in order to be an effective instrument for patients, the information provided in these leaflets must be up to date and based on the best available evidence and clinical practice. This study aims to critically analyse the current postoperative aspects of rehabilitation (exercise prescription and return to normal activity) that are provided in patient information leaflets in England as part of an evaluation of current practice following lumbar spine surgery. Materials and Methods: Patient information leaflets from English National Health Service (NHS) hospitals performing lumbar spine surgery were sourced online. A content analysis was conducted to collect data on postoperative exercise prescription and return to normal activities. Results: Thirty-two patient information leaflets on lumbar surgery were sourced (fusion, n = 11; decompression, n = 15; all lumbar procedures, n = 6). Many of the exercises prescribed within the leaflets were not based on evidence of clinical best practice and lacked a relationship to functional activity. Return to normal activity advice was also wide ranging, with considerable variation in the recommendations and definitions provided. Conclusions: This study highlights a clear variation in the recommendations of exercise prescription, dosage and returning to normal activities following lumbar spine surgery. Future work should focus on providing a consistent and patient-centred approach to recovery.

Disentangling the effects of date, individual, and territory quality on the seasonal decline in fitness.

The seasonal timing of reproduction is a major fitness factor in many organisms. Commonly, individual fitness declines with time in the breeding season. We investigated three suggested but rarely tested hypotheses for this seasonal fitness decline: (1) time per se (date hypothesis), (2) late breeders are of lower quality than early ones (individual quality hypothesis), and (3) late breeders are breeding at poorer territories than early breeders (territory quality hypothesis). We used Bayesian variance component analyses to examine reproductive output (breeding success, number fledged, and number of recruits) from repeated observations of female Northern Wheatears (Oenanthe oenanthe) and individual territories from a 20-yr population study. The major part of the observed seasonal decline in reproductive output seemed to be driven by date-related effects, whereas female age and territory type (i.e., known indicators of temporary quality) contributed to a smaller degree. Other, persistent effects linked to individual and territory identity did not show any clear patterns on the seasonal decline in reproductive output. To better disentangle the quality effects (persistent and temporary) of individual and territory from effects caused by the deterioration of the environment we suggest a protocol combining experimental manipulation of breeding time with a variance-covariance partitioning method used here.

Constraining Quirky Tracks with Conventional Searches.

Quirks are particles that are charged both under the standard model and under a new confining group. The quirk setup assumes there are no light flavors of the new confining group, so that while the theory is in a confining phase, the quirk-antiquirk distance can be macroscopic. In this Letter, we reinterpret existing collider limits, those from monojet and heavy stable charged particle searches, as limits on quirks. Additionally, we propose a new search in the magnetic-field-less CMS data for quirks and estimate the sensitivity. We focus on the region where the confinement scale is roughly between 1 and 100 eV and find mass constraints in the TeV range, depending on the quirk's quantum numbers.

The importance of accounting for larval detectability in mosquito habitat-association studies.

BACKGROUND: Mosquito habitat-association studies are an important basis for disease control programmes and/or vector distribution models. However, studies do not explicitly account for incomplete detection during larval presence and abundance surveys, with potential for significant biases because of environmental influences on larval behaviour and sampling efficiency. METHODS: Data were used from a dip-sampling study for Anopheles larvae in Ethiopia to evaluate the effect of six factors previously associated with larval sampling (riparian vegetation, direct sunshine, algae, water depth, pH and temperature) on larval presence and detectability. Comparisons were made between: (i) a presence-absence logistic regression where samples were pooled at the site level and detectability ignored, (ii) a success versus trials binomial model, and (iii) a presence-detection mixture model that separately estimated presence and detection, and fitted different explanatory variables to these estimations. RESULTS: Riparian vegetation was consistently highlighted as important, strongly suggesting it explains larval presence (-). However, depending on how larval detectability was estimated, the other factors showed large variations in their statistical importance. The presence-detection mixture model provided strong evidence that larval detectability was influenced by sunshine and water temperature (+), with weaker evidence for algae (+) and water depth (-). For larval presence, there was also some evidence that water depth (-) and pH (+) influenced site occupation. The number of dip-samples needed to determine if larvae were likely present at a site was condition dependent: with sunshine and warm water requiring only two dips, while cooler water and cloud cover required 11. CONCLUSIONS: Environmental factors influence true larval presence and larval detectability differentially when sampling in field conditions. Researchers need to be more aware of the limitations and possible biases in different analytical approaches used to associate larval presence or abundance with local environmental conditions. These effects can be disentangled using data that are routinely collected (i.e., multiple dip samples at each site) by employing a modelling approach that separates presence from detectability.

Reproductive patterns result from age-related sensitivity to resources and reproductive costs in a mammalian carnivore.

Although the effects of individual age, resource availability, and reproductive costs have been extensively studied to understand the causes of variation in reproductive output, there are almost no studies showing how these factors interact in explaining this variation. To examine this interaction, we used longitudinal demographic data from an 18-year study of 53 breeding female wolverines (Gulo gulo), and corresponding environmental data from their individual home ranges. Females showed a typical age-related pattern in reproductive output, with an initial increase followed by a senescent decline in later years. This pattern was largely driven by four processes: (1) physiological/behavioral maturation between ages two and three; (2) age-related differences in the costs of reproduction resulting in an initial increase, and then a declining probability of breeding two years in a row as individuals aged; (3) resource availability (reindeer [Rangifer tarandus] carcass abundance; mostly Eurasian lynx [Lynx lynx] kills) in the months preceding parturition, which influenced the probability of having cubs, but only for individuals that had successfully bred in the previous year; and (4) resource availability also influenced the cost of reproduction in an age-dependent manner, as prime age females that had bred in the previous year were more responsive to resource availability than those at other ages. This study demonstrates that by examining how drivers of reproductive variation interact, we can get a much clearer understanding of the mechanisms responsible for age-related patterns of reproduction. This has implications not only for general ecological theory, but will also allow better predictions of population resnonses to environmental changes or management based on a population's age-structure.

Decomposing the seasonal fitness decline.

Seasonal fitness declines are common, but the relative contribution of different reproductive components to the seasonal change in the production of reproductive young, and the component-specific drivers of this change is generally poorly known. We used long-term data (17 years) on breeding time (i.e. date of first egg laid) in northern wheatears (Oenanthe oenanthe) to investigate seasonal reproductive patterns and estimate the relative contributions of reproductive components to the overall decline in reproduction, while accounting for factors potentially linked to seasonal declines, i.e. individual and habitat quality. All reproductive components-nest success (reflecting nest predation rate), clutch size, fledging success and recruitment success-showed a clear decline with breeding time whereas subsequent adult survival did not. A non-linear increase in nest predation rate caused nest success to decline rapidly early in the season and level off at ~80% success late in the breeding season. The combined seasonal decline in all reproductive components caused the mean production of recruits per nest to drop from around 0.7-0.2; with the relative contribution greatest for recruitment success which accounted for ~50% of the decline. Our data suggest that changing environmental conditions together with effects of nest predation have strong effects on the seasonal decline in fitness. Our demonstration of the combined effects of all reproductive components and their relative contribution shows that omitting data from later stages of breeding (recruitment) can greatly underestimate seasonal fitness declines.

Unclear relationships between mean survival rate and its environmental variance in vertebrates.

Current environmental changes may increase temporal variability of life history traits of species thus affecting their long-term population growth rate and extinction risk. If there is a general relationship between environmental variances (EVs) and mean annual survival rates of species, that relationship could be used as a guideline for analyses of population growth and extinction risk for populations, where data on EVs are missing. For this purpose, we present a comprehensive compilation of 252 EV estimates from 89 species belonging to five vertebrate taxa (birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians and fish) covering mean annual survival rates from 0.01 to 0.98. Since variances of survival rates are constrained by their means, particularly for low and high mean survival rates, we assessed whether any observed relationship persisted after applying two types of commonly used variance stabilizing transformations: relativized EVs (observed/mathematical maximum) and logit-scaled EVs. With raw EVs at the arithmetic scale, mean-variance relationships of annual survival rates were hump-shaped with small EVs at low and high mean survival rates and higher (and widely variable) EVs at intermediate mean survival rates. When mean annual survival rates were related to relativized EVs the hump-shaped pattern was less distinct than for raw EVs. When transforming EVs to logit scale the relationship between mean annual survival rates and EVs largely disappeared. The within-species juvenile-adult slopes were mainly positive at low (<0.5) and negative at high (>0.5) mean survival rates for raw and relativized variances while these patterns disappeared when EVs were logit transformed. Uncertainties in how to interpret the results of relativized and logit-scaled EVs, and the observed high variation in EV's for similar mean annual survival rates illustrates that extrapolations of observed EVs and tests of life history drivers of survival-EV relationships need to also acknowledge the large variation in these parameters.

Malaria infections reinforce competitive asymmetry between two Ficedula flycatchers in a recent contact zone.

Parasites may influence the outcome of interspecific competition between closely related host species through lower parasite virulence in the host with which they share the longer evolutionary history. We tested this idea by comparing the prevalence of avian malaria (Haemosporidia) lineages and their association with survival in pied and collared flycatchers (Ficedula hypoleuca and F. albicollis) breeding in a recent contact zone on the Swedish island of Öland. A nested PCR protocol amplifying haemosporidian fragments of mtDNA was used to screen the presence of malaria lineages in 1048 blood samples collected during 6 years. Competitively inferior pied flycatchers had a higher prevalence of blood parasites, including the lineages that were shared between the two flycatcher species. Multistate mark-recapture models revealed a lower survival of infected versus uninfected female pied flycatchers, while no such effects were detected in male pied flycatchers or in collared flycatchers of either sex. Our results show that a comparatively new host, the collared flycatcher, appears to be less susceptible to a local northern European malarial lineage where the collared flycatchers have recently expanded their distribution. Pied flycatchers experience strong reproductive interference from collared flycatchers, and the additional impact of species-specific blood parasite effects adds to this competitive exclusion. These results support the idea that parasites can strongly influence the outcome of interspecific competition between closely related host species, but that the invading species need not necessarily be more susceptible to local parasites.

Birds differentially prioritize visual and olfactory foraging cues depending on habitat of origin and sex.

Animals interpret their environment by combining information from multiple senses. The relative usefulness of different senses may vary between species, habitats and sexes; yet, how multimodal stimuli are integrated and prioritized is unknown for most taxa. We experimentally assessed foraging preferences of great tits (Parus major) to test whether urban and forest individuals prioritize visual and olfactory cues differently during foraging. We trained 13 wild-caught birds to associate multimodal (colour + odour) cues with a food reward and assessed their foraging preferences in a cue-separation test. In this, the birds could choose between the multimodal training cue and its olfactory or visual components. Our results suggest that the birds did not perceive multimodal cues in an integrated way, as their response was not stronger than for unimodal cue components. Urban birds preferred olfactory cues, while forest birds preferred visual cues. Nevertheless, female birds preferred the multimodal cue, while males foraged more randomly with respect to which cue was present. These findings contribute to our understanding of the relative roles of vision and olfaction in bird foraging behaviour. Future work should focus on how habitat- and sex-specific sensory prioritization modifies bird foraging behaviour and foraging success in the context of urban adaptations across populations.

Affordance-based practice: An ecological-enactive approach to chronic musculoskeletal pain management.

BACKGROUND: The biomedical understanding of chronic musculoskeletal pain endorses a linear relationship between noxious stimuli and pain, and is often dualist or reductionist. Although the biopsychosocial approach is an important advancement, it has a limited theoretical foundation. As such, it tends to be misinterpreted in manners that lead to artificial boundaries between the biological, psychological, and social, with fragmented and polarized clinical applications. OBJECTIVE: We present an ecological-enactive approach to complement the biopsychosocial model. In this approach, the disabling aspect of chronic pain is characterized as an embodied, embedded, and enactive process of experiencing a closed-off field of affordances (i.e., shutting down of action possibilities). Pain is considered as a multi-dimensional, multicausal, and dynamic process, not locatable in any of the biopsychosocial component domains. Based on a person-centered reasoning approach and a dispositional view of causation, we present tools to reason about complex clinical problems in face of uncertainty and the absence of 'root causes' for pain. Interventions to open up the field of affordances include building ability and confidence, encouraging movement variability, carefully controlling contextual factors, and changing perceptions through action according to each patient's self-identified goals. A clinical case illustrates how reasoning based on an ecological-enactive approach leads to an expanded, multi-pronged, affordance-based intervention. CONCLUSIONS: The ecological-enactive perspective can provide an overarching conceptual and practical framework for clinical practice, guiding and constraining clinicians to choose, combine, and integrate tools that are consistent with each other and with a true biopsychosocial approach.

The prevalence of rodent-borne zoonotic pathogens in the South Gobi desert region of Mongolia.

The alpine ecosystems and communities of central Asia are currently undergoing large-scale ecological and socio-ecological changes likely to affect wildlife-livestock-human disease interactions and zoonosis transmission risk. However, relatively little is known about the prevalence of pathogens in this region. Between 2012 and 2015 we screened 142 rodents in Mongolia's Gobi desert for exposure to important zoonotic and livestock pathogens. Rodent seroprevalence to Leptospira spp. was >1/3 of tested animals, Toxoplasma gondii and Coxiella burnetii approximately 1/8 animals, and the hantaviruses being between 1/20 (Puumala-like hantavirus) and <1/100 (Seoul-like hantavirus). Gerbils trapped inside local dwellings were one of the species seropositive to Puumala-like hantavirus, suggesting a potential zoonotic transmission pathway. Seventeen genera of zoonotic bacteria were also detected in the faeces and ticks collected from these rodents, with one tick testing positive to Yersinia. Our study helps provide baseline patterns of disease prevalence needed to infer potential transmission between source and target populations in this region, and to help shift the focus of epidemiological research towards understanding disease transmission among species and proactive disease mitigation strategies within a broader One Health framework.

Viral infection changes the expression of personality traits in an insect species reared for consumption.

Disease-induced personality change results from endogenous and adaptive host responses or parasitic manipulation. Within animal husbandry systems understanding the connection between behaviour and disease is important for health monitoring and for designing systems considerate to animal welfare. However, understanding these relationships within insect mass-rearing systems is still in its infancy. We used a simple repeated behavioural-emergence test to examine parasite-induced differences in group personality traits in the house cricket Acheta domesticus, by comparing the behaviours of 37 individuals infected with the Acheta domesticus densovirus (AdDV) and 50 virus-free individuals. AdDV-infected animals had a much lower emergence probability, longer times until emergence, and did not change their behaviour with experience compared to the virus-free animals. AdDV-infected animals also had lower variation in their probability of emergence within the population, most likely related to animals displaying a relatively uniform sickness response. These infected animals also had higher variation in their response to experimental trial experience; this greater variation resulted from a difference between males and females. Infected females responded to experience in a similar way as virus-free animals, while AdDV-infected males showed a response to experience in the opposite direction: i.e., while all other groups reduced emergence time with experience, infected males always increased their mean emergence time as trials progressed. Our results are important not only in the context of animal personality research, but also with regards to creating husbandry systems and disease monitoring within the insects-as-food industry that are considerate to both production traits and animal welfare.

Seasonal variation in daily activity patterns of snow leopards and their prey.

The daily and seasonal activity patterns of snow leopards (Panthera uncia) are poorly understood, limiting our ecological understanding and hampering our ability to mitigate threats such as climate change and retaliatory killing in response to livestock predation. We fitted GPS-collars with activity loggers to snow leopards, Siberian ibex (Capra sibirica: their main prey), and domestic goats (Capra hircus: common livestock prey) in Mongolia between 2009 and 2020. Snow leopards were facultatively nocturnal with season-specific crepuscular activity peaks: seasonal activity shifted towards night-sunrise during summer, and day-sunset in winter. Snow leopard activity was in contrast to their prey, which were consistently diurnal. We interpret these results in relation to: (1) darkness as concealment for snow leopards when stalking in an open landscape (nocturnal activity), (2) low-intermediate light preferred for predatory ambush in steep rocky terrain (dawn and dusk activity), and (3) seasonal activity adjustments to facilitate thermoregulation in an extreme environment. These patterns suggest that to minimise human-wildlife conflict, livestock should be corralled at night and dawn in summer, and dusk in winter. It is likely that climate change will intensify seasonal effects on the snow leopard's daily temporal niche for thermoregulation in the future.