Seabird-fishery interactions are a common phenomenon of conservation concern. Here, we highlight how light-level geolocators provide promising opportunities to study these interactions. By examining ...raw light data, it is possible to detect encounters with artificial lights at night, while conductivity data give insight on seabird behaviour during encounters. We used geolocator data from 336 northern fulmars
Fulmarus glacialis
tracked from 12 colonies in the North-East Atlantic and Barents Sea during the non-breeding season to (1) confirm that detections of artificial lights correspond to encounters with fishing vessels by comparing overlap between fishing effort and both the position of detections and the activity of birds during encounters, (2) assess spatial differences in the number of encounters among wintering areas and (3) test whether some individuals forage around fishing vessels more often than others. Most (88.1%) of the tracks encountered artificial light at least once, with 9.5 ± 0.4 (SE) detections on average per 6 mo non-breeding season. Encounters occurred more frequently where fishing effort was high, and birds from some colonies had higher probabilities of encountering lights at night. During encounters, fulmars spent more time foraging and less time resting, strongly suggesting that artificial lights reflect the activity of birds around fishing vessels. Inter-individual variability in the probability of encountering light was high (range: 0-68 encounters per 6 mo non-breeding season), meaning that some individuals were more often associated with fishing vessels than others, independently of their colony of origin. Our study highlights the potential of geolocators to study seabird-fishery interactions at a large scale and a low cost.
Smoking is a leading cause of preventable death, causing about 5 million premature deaths worldwide each year. Evidence for genetic influence on smoking behaviour and nicotine dependence (ND) has ...prompted a search for susceptibility genes. Furthermore, assessing the impact of sequence variants on smoking-related diseases is important to public health. Smoking is the major risk factor for lung cancer (LC) and is one of the main risk factors for peripheral arterial disease (PAD). Here we identify a common variant in the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor gene cluster on chromosome 15q24 with an effect on smoking quantity, ND and the risk of two smoking-related diseases in populations of European descent. The variant has an effect on the number of cigarettes smoked per day in our sample of smokers. The same variant was associated with ND in a previous genome-wide association study that used low-quantity smokers as controls, and with a similar approach we observe a highly significant association with ND. A comparison of cases of LC and PAD with population controls each showed that the variant confers risk of LC and PAD. The findings provide a case study of a gene-environment interaction, highlighting the role of nicotine addiction in the pathology of other serious diseases.
A wide range of species, including marine mammals, seabirds, birds of prey, fish and bivalves, were investigated for potential population health risks resulting from contemporary (post 2000) mercury ...(Hg) exposure, using novel risk thresholds based on literature and de novo contamination data. The main geographic focus is on the Baltic Sea, while data from the same species in adjacent waters, such as the Greater North Sea and North Atlantic, were included for comparative purposes. For marine mammals, 23% of the groups, each composing individuals of a specific sex and maturity from the same species in a specific study region, showed Hg-concentrations within the High Risk Category (HRC) and Severe Risk Category (SRC). The corresponding percentages for seabirds, fish and bivalves were 2.7%, 25% and 8.0%, respectively, although fish and bivalves were not represented in the SRC.
The results of a genomewide scan for genes conferring susceptibility to anxiety disorders in the Icelandic population are described. The aim of the study was to locate genes that predispose to ...anxiety by utilizing the extensive genealogical records and the relative homogeneity of the Icelandic population. Participants were recruited in two stages: (1) Initial case-identification by a population screening for anxiety disorders, using the Stamm Screening Questionnaire, was followed by aggregation into extended families, with the help of our genealogy database; and (2) those who fulfilled the diagnostic and family aggregation criteria underwent a more detailed diagnostic workup based on the Composite International Diagnostic Interview. Screening for anxiety in close relatives also identified additional affected members within the families. After genotyping was performed with 976 microsatellite markers, affected-only linkage analysis was done, and allele-sharing LOD scores were calculated using the program Allegro. Linkage analysis of 25 extended families, in each of which at least one affected individual had panic disorder (PD), resulted in a LOD score of 4.18 at D9S271, on chromosome 9q31. The intermarker distance was 4.4 cM on average, whereas it was 1.5 cM in the linked region as additional markers were added to increase the information content. The linkage results may be relevant not only to PD but also to anxiety in general, since our linkage study included patients with other forms of anxiety.
PDF
