Response Rates and Nonresponse Errors in Surveys Johnson, Timothy P; Wislar, Joseph S
JAMA : the journal of the American Medical Association,
05/2012, Letnik:
307, Številka:
17
Journal Article
Recenzirano
The article discusses nonresponse bias, one of the most common multiple sources of errors in surveys. Several approaches for estimating, evaluating and reporting nonresponse bias are highlighted.
Abstract North American bat populations have experienced precipitous declines since the introduction of white-nose syndrome (WNS). Evidence that bats have responded to WNS by altering their winter ...habitat selection has been used to manipulate underground environments and improve winter survival. However, such management practices must be based on local data, which do not exist for all regions. Our goal was to identify determinants of winter habitat use for 3 bat species with varying susceptibility to WNS. To do so, we conducted 188 surveys of 129 potential hibernacula over 3 winters. We found that the range of winter temperatures and presence of water were important for the Little Brown Myotis (Myotis lucifugus) and Tricolored Bat (Perimyotis subflavus), species that are highly susceptible to WNS. Counts of both species were greater in sites with a narrow (<5 °C) temperature range and where streams or water bodies >25 m2 were present. In addition, we found larger groups of Little Brown Myotis in abandoned railroad tunnels than in caves. Winter counts of these species increased over time at 3 railroad tunnels that were surveyed for 3 consecutive winters, whereas populations were extirpated from historically important caves and mines. Counts of Big Brown Bats (Eptesicus fuscus), which are less susceptible to WNS, were also greater in hibernacula with water bodies. However, average winter temperature also helped predict counts of Big Brown Bats. This species had a curvilinear response to temperature, with most bats found at hibernacula with average winter temperatures of 4 to 6 °C, and fewer bats observed at warmer and colder conditions. These data show that focusing solely on historically important hibernacula may fail to achieve conservation goals for the Little Brown Myotis and Tricolored Bat in our region, and suggest that anthropogenic structures can provide habitat for remnant populations of imperiled bat species.
Optimal hibernation theory Boyles, Justin G.; Johnson, Joseph S.; Blomberg, Anna ...
Mammal review,
January 2020, 2020-01-00, 20200101, Letnik:
50, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Hibernation has received considerable attention from physiologists and natural historians, but theoretical and ecological treatments of hibernation are rarer. There is ample recent evidence that ...costs associated with hibernation affect the degree to which hibernation is expressed in nature, but we currently lack a quantitative framework under which to make predictions about how the costs and benefits of hibernation interact under various environmental conditions. Here, we attempt the first steps towards building an optimal hibernation theory for making specific predictions about the expression of hibernation (i.e. the depth and duration of torpor bouts), metabolic functioning, and the total period of hibernation in mammals and birds. Our current understanding of the costs associated with hibernation do not allow for parameterisation of optimal hibernation theory, but we hope this work provides a roadmap for physiologists and ecologists to collect the necessary data in the future.
Hibernation was historically caricatured as little more than an energy conservation strategy during winter. This view drove the assumption that all hibernating mammals and birds can maximize fitness by maximising the use of hibernation. However, we now know that relative use of hibernation varies widely among individuals, populations, and species. Here, we provide a theoretical framework to predict, at least in relative terms, what factors should drive the degree to which an individual mammal or bird should express hibernation using classical optimality theory. We then use cave‐hibernating bats as a case study to demonstrate the principles of ‘optimal hibernation theory’.
White-nose syndrome (WNS) in North American bats is caused by an invasive cutaneous infection by the psychrophilic fungus Pseudogymnoascus destructans (Pd). We compared transcriptome-wide changes in ...gene expression using RNA-Seq on wing skin tissue from hibernating little brown myotis (Myotis lucifugus) with WNS to bats without Pd exposure. We found that WNS caused significant changes in gene expression in hibernating bats including pathways involved in inflammation, wound healing, and metabolism. Local acute inflammatory responses were initiated by fungal invasion. Gene expression was increased for inflammatory cytokines, including interleukins (IL) IL-1β, IL-6, IL-17C, IL-20, IL-23A, IL-24, and G-CSF and chemokines, such as Ccl2 and Ccl20. This pattern of gene expression changes demonstrates that WNS is accompanied by an innate anti-fungal host response similar to that caused by cutaneous Candida albicans infections. However, despite the apparent production of appropriate chemokines, immune cells such as neutrophils and T cells do not appear to be recruited. We observed upregulation of acute inflammatory genes, including prostaglandin G/H synthase 2 (cyclooxygenase-2), that generate eicosanoids and other nociception mediators. We also observed differences in Pd gene expression that suggest host-pathogen interactions that might determine WNS progression. We identified several classes of potential virulence factors that are expressed in Pd during WNS, including secreted proteases that may mediate tissue invasion. These results demonstrate that hibernation does not prevent a local inflammatory response to Pd infection but that recruitment of leukocytes to the site of infection does not occur. The putative virulence factors may provide novel targets for treatment or prevention of WNS. These observations support a dual role for inflammation during WNS; inflammatory responses provide protection but excessive inflammation may contribute to mortality, either by affecting torpor behavior or causing damage upon emergence in the spring.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
The decline in northern myotis (Myotis septentrionalis) populations due to the disease white-nose syndrome (WNS) has led to the species receiving federal protection in the United States and Canada, ...requiring conservation of critical habitats. However, considerably more is known about summer habitat preferences of northern myotis compared to late summer through winter. Our goal was to describe the seasonal presence and habitat use of a remnant colony of northern myotis in central Pennsylvania. We radio-tagged 31 northern myotis and established 6 acoustic monitoring stations to document activity from 2017-2021. We found that roost trees used during the maternity season by reproductive females were occupied by bats during both summer (21 June-14 August) and autumn (15 August-31 October), indicating similar habitat use patterns between seasons. During this time, both males and females preferred to roost in dead and declining trees. No other variable influenced male use, but females also preferred trees located close to water and in forest stands with higher basal area than randomly located trees. Northern myotis with active transmitters never left the study area and were tracked to roosts until early November. During October and November, a female and male were tracked to an underground network of air-filled voids (the Milieu Souterrain Superficiel) we presume to be a hibernaculum. Northern myotis calls were recorded outside this roost between March and October, and bats were observed emerging from this roost during spring and autumn but not summer. Acoustic activity at this site exhibited a seasonal pattern that differed from acoustic activity near roost trees and foraging areas, with a peak of activity during late summer when northern myotis are known to swarm. These data show that northern myotis maternity roosts are used extensively outside of summer and may be vulnerable to forestry practices that occur even outside of the pup-rearing season. These data also support the growing evidence that some northern myotis hibernate outside of caves and mines.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
To understand genome evolution in a group of microbes, we need to know the timing of events such as duplications, deletions and horizontal transfers. A common approach is to perform a gene-tree / ...species-tree reconciliation. While a number of software packages perform this type of analysis, none are geared toward a complete reconstruction for all families in an entire clade. Here we describe an update to the xenoGI software package which allows users to perform such an analysis using the newly developed DTLOR (duplication-transfer-loss-origin-rearrangement) reconciliation model starting from genome sequences as input.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
The eastern red bat (Lasiurus borealis) is widely considered to be in decline, inspiring interest in identifying important habitats for conservation in the eastern United States. Unfortunately, ...knowledge of important day-roosting habitats is lacking for much of the species' range. We examined patterns of day-roost selection by male and female eastern red bats at two study sites in southeastern Ohio, U. S. A, to help fill this information gap. We radio-tagged 28 male and 25 female bats during the summers of 2016-2019 and located 53 male and 74 female roosts. Day-roost selection differed between sexes and study areas. In a mostly even-aged forest with significant historical disturbance, we found males and females roosting in trees located at higher elevations, with no clear selection based on tree or stand characteristics. Specifically, males selected trees with larger diameters located at lower, cooler elevations than females, which selected smaller diameter trees found at higher, warmer elevations. However, in a forest with less historical disturbance and more structural diversity, we found sexes differed in how they selected from available habitats. These data show that heterogeneity in environmental conditions can lead to different patterns in selection, even between sites located within a small geographic area. They also show that eastern red bats sexually segregate on the local landscape in the presence of diverse forest conditions but may not do so in the absence of such diversity. We recommend managing forests to maintain structural diversity across an elevational gradient to provide male and female eastern red bats with suitable day-roosting habitat in southeast Ohio.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Winter habitats of bats in Texas Meierhofer, Melissa B; Johnson, Joseph S; Leivers, Samantha J ...
PloS one,
08/2019, Letnik:
14, Številka:
8
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Few studies have described winter microclimate selection by bats in the southern United States. This is of particular importance as the cold-adapted fungus, Pseudogymnoascus destructans, which causes ...the fatal bat disease white-nose syndrome (WNS), continues to spread into southern United States. To better understand the suitability of winter bat habitats for the growth of P. destructans in this region, we collected roost temperature and vapor pressure deficit from 97 hibernacula in six ecoregions in Texas during winter 2016-17 and 2017-18. We also measured skin temperature of Rafinesque's big-eared bats (Corynorhinus townsendii), Townsend's big-eared bats (C. townsendii), big-brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus), southeastern myotis (Myotis austroriparius), cave myotis (M. velifer), tri-colored bats (Perimyotis subflavus), and Mexican free-tailed bats (Tadarida brasiliensis) during hibernation to study their use of torpor in these habitats. We found that temperatures within hibernacula were strongly correlated with external air temperatures and were often within the optimal range of temperatures for P. destructans growth. Hibernacula and skin temperatures differed among species, with Rafinesque's big-eared bats, southeastern myotis, and Mexican free-tailed bats occupying warmer microclimates and having higher torpid skin temperatures. For species that were broadly distributed throughout Texas, hibernacula and skin temperatures differed within species by ecoregion; Tri-colored bats and cave myotis in colder, northern regions occupied colder microclimates within hibernacula and exhibited colder skin temperatures, than individuals of the same species in warmer, southern regions. These data illustrate the variability in microclimates used as hibernacula by bats in Texas and suggest similar variation in susceptibility to WNS in the state. Thus, monitoring microclimates at winter roosts may help predict where WNS may develop, and where management efforts would be most effective.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified approximately 100 breast cancer risk loci. Translating these findings into a greater understanding of the mechanisms that influence disease risk ...requires identification of the genes or non-coding RNAs that mediate these associations. Here, we use Capture Hi-C (CHi-C) to annotate 63 loci; we identify 110 putative target genes at 33 loci. To assess the support for these target genes in other data sources we test for associations between levels of expression and SNP genotype (eQTLs), disease-specific survival (DSS), and compare them with somatically mutated cancer genes. 22 putative target genes are eQTLs, 32 are associated with DSS and 14 are somatically mutated in breast, or other, cancers. Identifying the target genes at GWAS risk loci will lead to a greater understanding of the mechanisms that influence breast cancer risk and prognosis.
Abstract The severity of bacterial pneumonia can be worsened by impaired innate immunity resulting in ineffective pathogen clearance. We describe a mitochondrial protein, aspartyl-tRNA synthetase ...(DARS2), which is released in circulation during bacterial pneumonia in humans and displays intrinsic innate immune properties and cellular repair properties. DARS2 interacts with a bacterial-induced ubiquitin E3 ligase subunit, FBXO24, which targets the synthetase for ubiquitylation and degradation, a process that is inhibited by DARS2 acetylation. During experimental pneumonia, Fbxo24 knockout mice exhibit elevated DARS2 levels with an increase in pulmonary cellular and cytokine levels. In silico modeling identified an FBXO24 inhibitory compound with immunostimulatory properties which extended DARS2 lifespan in cells. Here, we show a unique biological role for an extracellular, mitochondrially derived enzyme and its molecular control by the ubiquitin apparatus, which may serve as a mechanistic platform to enhance protective host immunity through small molecule discovery.
PDF
