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Important marine areas for the conservation of northern rockhopper penguins within the Tristan da Cunha Exclusive Economic Zone
No full textThe designation of Marine Protected Areas has become an important approach to conserving marine ecosystems that relies on robust information on the spatial distribution of biodiversity. We used GPS tracking data to identify marine Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBAs) for the Endangered northern rockhopper penguin Eudyptes moseleyi within the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of Tristan da Cunha in the South Atlantic. Penguins were tracked throughout their breeding season from 3 of the 4 main islands in the Tristan da Cunha group. Foraging trips remained largely within the EEZ, with the exception of those from Gough Island during the incubation stage. We found substantial variability in trip duration and foraging range among breeding stages and islands, consistent use of areas among years and spatial segregation of the areas used by neighbouring islands. For colonies with no or insufficient tracking data, we defined marine IBAs based on the mean maximum foraging range and merged the areas identified to propose IBAs around the Tristan da Cunha archipelago and Gough Island. The 2 proposed marine IBAs encompass 2% of Tristan da Cunha’s EEZ, and are used by all northern rockhopper penguins breeding in the Tristan da Cunha group, representing ~90% of the global population. Currently, one of the main threats to northern rockhopper penguins within the Tristan da Cunha EEZ is marine pollution from shipping, and the risk of this would be reduced by declaring waters within 50 nautical miles of the coast as ‘areas to be avoided’.Copyright © The authors 2020. Open Access under Creative Commons by Attribution Licence. Use, distribution and reproduction are un restricted. Authors and original publication must be credited.NHM Repositor
What's in a name? Nomenclature for colour aberrations in birds reviewed
Get PDFA review is presented of the seven commonest types of colour aberrations in birds together with suggestions for a standardised universal nomenclature to identify and distinguish these aberrations. These aberrations are: Leucism (congenital absence of melanin-producing cells), Progressive Greying (progressive loss of melanin-producing cells), Albino (total absence of melanin due to lack of the key enzyme), Brown (incompletely coloured melanin), Ino (even less completely coloured melanin), Dilution (altered deposition of melanin) and Melanism (altered distribution of melanin). It is proposed that these terms should be based not only on the resulting plumage but also should distinguish the underlying processes resulting in the aberrant pigmentation. By reviewing previously used terms for colour aberrations, and cross-referencing these with my proposed terminology, errors in earlier names are pointed out, and resulting in a more comprehensive nomenclature for colour aberrations found in wild birds.© 2021 The Authors; This is an open‐access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial Licence, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.NHM Repositor
Evolutionary Ecology of Fish Venom: Adaptations and Consequences of Evolving a Venom System
No full textResearch on venomous animals has mainly focused on the molecular, biochemical, and pharmacological aspects of venom toxins. However, it is the relatively neglected broader study of evolutionary ecology that is crucial for understanding the biological relevance of venom systems. As fish have convergently evolved venom systems multiple times, it makes them ideal organisms to investigate the evolutionary ecology of venom on a broader scale. This review outlines what is known about how fish venom systems evolved as a result of natural enemy interactions and about the ecological consequences of evolving a venom system. This review will show how research on the evolutionary ecology of venom in fish can aid in understanding the evolutionary ecology of animal venoms more generally. Further, understanding these broad ecological questions can shed more light on the other areas of toxinology, with applications across multiple disciplinary fields.This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly citedNHM Repositor
The origin of evolutionary storytelling
Get PDFCopyright © 2019, Padova University Press. Permission to deposit granted by publisher on 21/06/2022. The attached file is the published version of the article.NHM Repositor
Nanopore Sequencing Resolves Elusive Long Tandem-Repeat Regions in Mitochondrial Genomes
Get PDFLong non-coding, tandem-repetitive regions in mitochondrial (mt) genomes of many metazoans have been notoriously difficult to characterise accurately using conventional sequencing methods. Here, we show how the use of a third-generation (long-read) sequencing and informatic approach can overcome this problem. We employed Oxford Nanopore technology to sequence genomic DNAs from a pool of adult worms of the carcinogenic parasite, Schistosoma haematobium, and used an informatic workflow to define the complete mt non-coding region(s). Using long-read data of high coverage, we defined six dominant mt genomes of 33.4 kb to 22.6 kb. Although no variation was detected in the order or lengths of the protein-coding genes, there was marked length (18.5 kb to 7.6 kb) and structural variation in the non-coding region, raising questions about the evolution and function of what might be a control region that regulates mt transcription and/or replication. The discovery here of the largest tandem-repetitive, non-coding region (18.5 kb) in a metazoan organism also raises a question about the completeness of some of the mt genomes of animals reported to date, and stimulates further explorations using a Nanopore-informatic workflow.Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/).NHM Repositor
Urogenital schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminthiasis (STH) in Cameroon: An epidemiological update at Barombi Mbo and Barombi Kotto crater lakes assessing prospects for intensified control interventions
Get PDFBackground - The crater lakes of Barombi Mbo and Barombi Kotto are well-known transmission foci of schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminthiasis having had several important control initiatives previously. To collect contemporary epidemiological information, a cross-sectional survey was undertaken inclusive of: signs and symptoms of disease, individual treatment histories, local water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH)-related factors and malacological surveillance, with molecular characterisation of specimens.
Methods - At each lake, a community cross-sectional survey was undertaken using a combination of stool and urine parasitological sampling, and interview with pro-forma questionnaires. A total of 338 children and adults participated. Material from snail and parasite species were characterised by DNA methods.
Results - Egg-patent prevalence of urogenital schistosomiasis was 8.7% at Barombi Mbo (all light-intensity infections) and 40.1% at Barombi Kotto (21.2% heavy-intensity infections). Intestinal schistosomiasis was absent. At Barombi Kotto, significantly more women reported signs and symptoms associated with female genital schistosomiasis. While there had been extensive recent improvement in WASH-related infrastructure at Barombi Mbo, water contact risk scores were higher among schistosomiasis-infected participants (P ConclusionsSTH is currently at very low levels while urogenital schistosomiasis is of greatest concern at Barombi Kotto. This assessment highlights a unique opportunity for further study of the epidemiological dynamics at these crater lakes, to evaluate future intensified interventions both in terms of gaining and sustaining control at Barombi Kotto or in moving towards local interruption of transmission of both diseases at Barombi Mbo.Copyright © The Author(s). 2017 Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated. The attached file is the published version of the article.NHM Repositor
The detection of Schistosoma bovis in livestock on Pemba Island, Zanzibar: A preliminary study
Get PDFSchistosoma bovis is a parasitic trematode of ungulates transmitted by freshwater snails in Sub-Saharan Africa causing bovine intestinal schistosomiasis that leads to chronic morbidity and significant agricultural economic losses. The recently reported occurrence of Bulinus globosus infected with S. bovis for the first time on Pemba Island (Zanzibar, United Republic of Tanzania) is a cause of concern for livestock/wildlife health and complicates the surveillance of Schistosoma haematobium. To confirm that local cattle are infected with S. bovis, fresh faecal samples were collected from six adult cows surrounding two schistosomiasis transmission sites in Kinyasini, Pemba Island. Schistosome eggs were concentrated, egg hatching stimulated and miracidia were individually captured and identified by analysis of the partial mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (cox1) and the partial nuclear internal transcribed spacer region (ITS1+5.8S+ITS2). Two S. bovis miracidia were collected from one faecal sample with two cox1 haplotypes, one matching cox1 data obtained from S. bovis cercariae, collected previously at the same site in Pemba, the other matching S. bovis cox1 data originating from coastal Tanzania. The findings conclude that S. bovis transmission has been established on Pemba Island and is likely to have been imported through livestock trade with East Africa. Increasing the sensitivity of non-invasive diagnostics for bovine schistosomiasis, together with wider sampling, will enable a better assessment on the epidemiology of S. bovis on Pemba Island.Copyright: ©2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CCBY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). The attached file is the published version of the article.NHM Repositor
Analytical and Clinical Assessment of a Portable, Isothermal Recombinase Polymerase Amplification (RPA) Assay for the Molecular Diagnosis of Urogenital Schistosomiasis
Get PDFAccurate diagnosis of urogenital schistosomiasis is crucial for disease surveillance and control. Routine diagnostic methods, however, lack sensitivity when assessing patients with low levels of infection still able to maintain pathogen transmission. Therefore, there is a need for highly sensitive diagnostic tools that can be used at the point-of-care in endemic areas. Recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) is a rapid and sensitive diagnostic tool that has been used to diagnose several pathogens at the point-of-care. Here, the analytical performance of a previously developed RPA assay (RT-ShDra1-RPA) targeting the Schistosoma haematobium Dra1 genomic region was assessed using commercially synthesised S. haematobium Dra1 copies and laboratory-prepared samples spiked with S. haematobium eggs. Clinical performance was also assessed by comparing diagnostic outcomes with that of a reference diagnostic standard, urine-egg microscopy. The RT-ShDra1-RPA was able to detect 1 × 101 copies of commercially synthesised Dra1 DNA as well as one S. haematobium egg within laboratory-spiked ddH2O samples. When compared with urine-egg microscopy, the overall sensitivity and specificity of the RT-ShDra1-RPA assay was 93.7% (±88.7–96.9) and 100% (±69.1–100), respectively. Positive and negative predictive values were 100% (±97.5–100) and 50% (±27.2–72.8), respectively. The RT-ShDra1-RPA therefore shows promise as a rapid and highly sensitive diagnostic tool able to diagnose urogenital schistosomiasis at the point-of-care.Copyright: © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The attached file is the published version of the article.NHM Repositor
Revision of the World Species of Megaphragma Timberlake (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae)
Get PDFMegaphragma species are important models for basic organismal research, and many are potential biological control agents. We present the first extensive revision of species of the genus Megaphragma based on morphological and molecular data. Our revision includes all previously described species, 6 of which are synonymized, and 22 of which are described here as new. We also provide the first key to all species of the genus and reconstruct their phylogeny based on 28S and CO1 molecular markers. The following species are synonymized with M. longiciliatum Subba Rao: M. aligarhensis Yousuf and Shafee syn. nov.; M. amalphitanum Viggiani syn. nov.; M. decochaetum Lin syn. nov.; M. magniclava Yousuf and Shafee syn. nov.; M. shimalianum Hayat syn. nov. M. anomalifuniculi Yuan and Lou syn. nov. is synonymized with M. polychaetum Lin. The following species are described as new: M. antecessor Polaszek and Fusu sp. nov.; M. breviclavum Polaszek and Fusu sp. nov.; M. chienleei Polaszek and Fusu sp. nov.; M. cockerilli Polaszek and Fusu sp. nov.; M. digitatum Polaszek and Fusu sp. nov.; M. fanenitrakely Polaszek and Fusu sp. nov.; M. funiculatum Fusu, Polaszek, and Viggiani sp. nov.; M. giraulti Viggiani, Fusu, and Polaszek sp. nov.; M. hansoni Polaszek, Fusu, and Viggiani sp. nov.; M. kinuthiae Polaszek, Fusu, and Viggiani sp. nov.; M. liui Polaszek and Fusu sp. nov.; M. momookherjeeae Polaszek and Fusu sp. nov.; M. nowickii Polaszek, Fusu, and Viggiani sp. nov.; M. noyesi Polaszek and Fusu sp. nov.; M. pintoi Viggiani sp. nov.; M. polilovi Polaszek, Fusu, and Viggiani sp. nov.; M. rivelloi Viggiani sp. nov.; M. tamoi Polaszek, Fusu, and Viggiani sp. nov.; M. tridens Fusu, and Polaszek sp. nov.; M. uniclavum Polaszek and Fusu sp. nov.; M. vanlentereni Polaszek and Fusu sp. nov.; M. viggianii Fusu, Polaszek, and Polilov sp. nov.Copyright: © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The attached file is the published version of the article.NHM Repositor
Sequence locally, think globally: The Darwin Tree of Life Project
No full textThe goals of the Earth Biogenome Project—to sequence the genomes of all eukaryotic life on earth—are as daunting as they are ambitious. The Darwin Tree of Life Project was founded to demonstrate the credibility of these goals and to deliver at-scale genome sequences of unprecedented quality for a biogeographic region: the archipelago of islands that constitute Britain and Ireland. The Darwin Tree of Life Project is a collaboration between biodiversity organizations (museums, botanical gardens, and biodiversity institutes) and genomics institutes. Together, we have built a workflow that collects specimens from the field, robustly identifies them, performs sequencing, generates high-quality, curated assemblies, and releases these openly for the global community to use to build future science and conservation efforts.This is an open access article, available to all readers online, published under a creative commons licensing (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).NHM Repositor