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Multiple Strains of Trichomonas gallinae are Widespread in Reservoir Hosts and Environmental Resources in UK FarmlandNARA Subscribed
Understanding transmission routes of parasites and pathogens is critical for the development of control measures and mitigation of impacts on host populations. Trichomonas gallinae is a widespread parasite in columbids worldwide, and has emerged as a lethal disease in passerines, particularly finches. The postulated transmission route from columbids to passerines via spillover at shared resources has not yet been empirically t...
Marine megafauna species are affected by a wide range of anthropogenic threats. To evaluate the risk of such threats, species’ vulnerability to each threat must first be determined. We build on the existing threats classification scheme and ranking system of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species by assessing the vulnerability of 256 marine megafauna species to 23 at‐sea threat...
Forest Topsoil Organic Carbon Declines Under Ash DiebackNARA Subscribed
Tree diseases are increasingly affecting woodland ecosystems across the world. However, the impact of these diseases upon the soil, and in particular soil carbon, is still poorly understood. Here we present the results of a field survey of ~100 woodlands across Great Britain measured in 1971, 2001 and 2022 and evaluate the fifty‐year trend in topsoil (0–15 cm) carbon based upon measurements of soil organic matter (SOM) and the...
We assembled a European bread wheat ( Triticum aestivum L.) association mapping panel ( n = 480) genotyped using a 90,000 feature single nucleotide polymorphism array, with the aim of identifying genetic loci controlling resistance to four fungal diseases: yellow (stripe) rust (YR), brown (leaf) rust (BR), Septoria tritici blotch (ST) and powdery mildew (PM). Simulations showed our panel to have good power to detect genetic lo...
Aim Ecological state shifts that alter the structure and function of entire ecosystems are a concerning consequence of human impact. Yet, when, where and why discrete ecological states emerge remains difficult to predict and monitor, especially in high‐diversity systems. We sought to quantify state shifts and their drivers through space and time in the most ecologically complex marine ecosystem: tropical coral reefs. Location...
Land surface conductance linked to precipitation: Co‐evolution of vegetation and climate in Earth system modelsNARA Subscribed
Vegetation and precipitation are known to fundamentally influence each other. However, this interdependence is not fully represented in climate models because the characteristics of land surface (canopy) conductance to water vapor and CO 2 are determined independently of precipitation. Working within a coupled atmosphere and land modelling framework (CAM6/CLM5; coupled Community Atmosphere Model v6/Community Land Model v5), we...
Combining multiple investigative approaches to unravel functional responses to global change in the understorey of temperate forestsNARA Subscribed
Plant communities are being exposed to changing environmental conditions all around the globe, leading to alterations in plant diversity, community composition, and ecosystem functioning. For herbaceous understorey communities in temperate forests, responses to global change are postulated to be complex, due to the presence of a tree layer that modulates understorey responses to external pressures such as climate change and ch...
The Toxicology Investigators Consortium 2022 Annual ReportNARA Subscribed
Characterisation of carapace composition in developing and adult ostracods (Skogsbergia lerneri) and its potential for biomaterialsNARA Subscribed
The protective carapace of Skogsbergia lerneri, a marine ostracod, is scratch-resistant and transparent. The compositional and structural organisation of the carapace that underlies these properties is unknown. In this study, we aimed to quantify and determine the distribution of chemical elements and chitin within the carapace of adult ostracods, as well as at different stages of ostracod development, to gain insight into its...
Comprehensive analysis of epigenetic clocks reveals associations between disproportionate biological ageing and hippocampal volumeNARA Subscribed
The concept of age acceleration, the difference between biological age and chronological age, is of growing interest, particularly with respect to age-related disorders, such as Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). Whilst studies have reported associations with AD risk and related phenotypes, there remains a lack of consensus on these associations. Here we aimed to comprehensively investigate the relationship between five recognised meas...
Logistical constraints concerning parasite sample storage can hinder progress with the discovery of genetic variation on a global scale. New storage methods are being developed to address this, but require testing in order to understand how widely applicable these methods are. Whatman FTA cards have been tested previously under laboratory conditions for storing low-concentration Trichomonas gallinae isolates with the conclusio...
Understanding the frequency, spatiotemporal dynamics and impacts of parasite coinfections is fundamental to developing control measures and predicting disease impacts. The European turtle dove ( Streptopelia turtur ) is one of Europe's most threatened bird species. High prevalence of infection by the protozoan parasite Trichomonas gallinae has previously been identified, but the role of this and other coinfecting parasites in...
Seventy five percent of the world's food crops benefit from insect pollination. Hence, there has been increased interest in how global change drivers impact this critical ecosystem service. Because standardized data on crop pollination are rarely available, we are limited in our capacity to understand the variation in pollination benefits to crop yield, as well as to anticipate changes in this service, develop predictions, and...
Common, low-frequency, rare, and ultra-rare coding variants contribute to COVID-19 severityNARA Subscribed
The combined impact of common and rare exonic variants in COVID-19 host genetics is currently insufficiently understood. Here, common and rare variants from whole-exome sequencing data of about 4000 SARS-CoV-2-positive individuals were used to define an interpretable machine-learning model for predicting COVID-19 severity. First, variants were converted into separate sets of Boolean features, depending on the absence or the pr...
Middle Pleistocene environments, landscapes and tephrostratigraphy of the Armenian Highlands: evidence from Bird Farm 1, Hrazdan ValleyNARA Subscribed
The significance of the southern Caucasus in understanding Pleistocene hominin expansions is well established. However, the palaeoenvironments in which Palaeolithic occupation of the region took place are presently poorly defined. The Hrazdan river valley, Armenian Highlands, contains a rich Palaeolithic record alongside Middle Pleistocene volcanic, fluvial and lacustrine strata, and thus offer exciting potential for palaeoenv...
Testing a global standard for quantifying species recovery and assessing conservation impactNARA Subscribed
Recognizing the imperative to evaluate species recovery and conservation impact, in 2012 the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) called for development of a “Green List of Species” (now the IUCN Green Status of Species). A draft Green Status framework for assessing species’ progress toward recovery, published in 2018, proposed 2 separate but interlinked components: a standardized method (i.e., measurement aga...
The global abundance of tree palmsNARA Subscribed
Aim Palms are an iconic, diverse and often abundant component of tropical ecosystems that provide many ecosystem services. Being monocots, tree palms are evolutionarily, morphologically and physiologically distinct from other trees, and these differences have important consequences for ecosystem services (e.g., carbon sequestration and storage) and in terms of responses to climate change. We quantified global patterns of tree...
Species interactions matter to conservation. Setting an ambitious recovery target for a species requires considering the size, density, and demographic structure of its populations such that they fulfill the interactions, roles, and functions of the species in the ecosystems in which they are embedded. A recently proposed framework for an International Union for Conservation of Nature Green List of Species formalizes this requ...