Animal cultures matter for conservation Brakes, Philippa; Dall, Sasha R X; Aplin, Lucy M ...
Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science),
03/2019, Volume:
363, Issue:
6431
Journal Article
Human activities are increasingly impacting our oceans and the focus tends to be on their environmental impacts, rather than consequences for animal welfare. Global shipping density has quadrupled ...since 1992. Unsurprisingly, increased levels of vessel collisions with cetaceans have followed this global expansion of shipping. This paper is the first to attempt to consider the severity of ship-strike on individual whale welfare. The methodology of the 'Welfare Assessment Tool for Wild Cetaceans' (WATWC) was used, which is itself based upon the Five Domains model. Expert opinion was sought on six hypothetical but realistic case studies involving humpback whales (
) struck by ships. Twenty-nine experts in the cetacean and welfare sector took part. They were split into two groups; Group 1 first assessed a case we judged to be the least severe and Group 2 first assessed the most severe. Both groups then additionally assessed the same four further cases. This was to investigate whether the severity of the first case influenced judgements regarding subsequent cases (i.e. expert judgements were relative) or not (i.e. judgements were absolute). No significant difference between the two groups of assessors was found; therefore, the hypothesis of relative scoring was rejected. Experts judged whales may suffer some level (>1) of overall (Domain 5) harm for the rest of their lives following a ship-strike incident. Health, closely followed by Behaviour were found to be the welfare aspects most affected by ship-strikes. Overall, the WATWC shows a robust potential to aid decision-making on wild cetacean welfare.
A key goal of conservation is to protect biodiversity by supporting the long-term persistence of viable, natural populations of wild species. Conservation practice has long been guided by genetic, ...ecological and demographic indicators of risk. Emerging evidence of animal culture across diverse taxa and its role as a driver of evolutionary diversification, population structure and demographic processes may be essential for augmenting these conventional conservation approaches and decision-making. Animal culture was the focus of a ground-breaking resolution under the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), an international treaty operating under the UN Environment Programme. Here, we synthesize existing evidence to demonstrate how social learning and animal culture interact with processes important to conservation management. Specifically, we explore how social learning might influence population viability and be an important resource in response to anthropogenic change, and provide examples of how it can result in phenotypically distinct units with different, socially learnt behavioural strategies. While identifying culture and social learning can be challenging, indirect identification and parsimonious inferences may be informative. Finally, we identify relevant methodologies and provide a framework for viewing behavioural data through a cultural lens which might provide new insights for conservation management.
In 1967, it was reported that experimental inoculation of serum from a surgeon (G.B.) with acute hepatitis into tamarins resulted in hepatitis. In 1995, two new members of the family Flaviviridae, ...named GBV-A and GBV-B, were identified in tamarins that developed hepatitis following inoculation with the 11th GB passage. Neither virus infects humans, and a number of GBV-A variants were identified in wild New World monkeys that were captured. Subsequently, a related human virus was identified named GBV-C or hepatitis G virus (HGV), and recently a more distantly related virus (named GBV-D) was discovered in bats. Only GBV-B, a second species within the genus Hepacivirus (type species hepatitis C virus), has been shown to cause hepatitis; it causes acute hepatitis in experimentally infected tamarins. The other GB viruses have however not been assigned to a genus within the family Flaviviridae. Based on phylogenetic relationships, genome organization and pathogenic features of the GB viruses, we propose to classify GBV-A-like viruses, GBV-C and GBV-D as members of a fourth genus in the family Flaviviridae, named Pegivirus (pe, persistent; g, GB or G). We also propose renaming 'GB' viruses within the tentative genus Pegivirus to reflect their host origin.
BackgroundHuman bocavirus (HBoV) and PARV4 are newly discovered human parvoviruses. HBoV, which was first detected in respiratory samples, has a potential role in the development of human respiratory ...disease. The present study compared the frequencies, epidemiological profiles, and clinical backgrounds of HBoV and PARV4 infections with those of other respiratory virus infections, by evaluating diagnostic samples referred to the Specialist Virology Laboratory (SVL) at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh (Edinburgh, United Kingdom) MethodsAnonymized samples and study subject information were obtained from the respiratory sample archive of the SVL. Samples were screened for HBoV, PARV4, B19, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), adenoviruses, influenza viruses, and parainfluenza viruses by use of nested polymerase chain reaction ResultsHBoV infection was detected in 47 (8.2%) of 574 study subjects,&ranking third in prevalence behind RSV infection (15.7%) and adenovirus infection (10.3%). Peak incidences of HBoV were noted among infants and young children (age, 6–24 months) during the midwinter months (December and January) and were specifically associated with lower respiratory tract infections. HBoV infections were frequently accompanied by other respiratory viruses (frequency, 43%), and they were more prevalent among individuals infected with other respiratory viruses (17%), frequently adenovirus or RSV. All respiratory samples were negative for PARV4 ConclusionsIn the present study, HBoV was a frequently detected, potential respiratory pathogen, with a prevalence and an epidemiological profile comparable to those of RSV. Identification of HBoV infections may be clinically important in the future
The spread and origins of hepatitis C virus (HCV) in human populations have been the subject of extensive investigations, not least because of the importance this information would provide in ...predicting clinical outcomes and controlling spread of HCV in the future. However, in the absence of historical and archaeological records of infection, the evolution of HCV and other human hepatitis viruses can only be inferred indirectly from their epidemiology and by genetic analysis of contemporary virus populations. Some information on the history of the latter may be obtained by dating the time of divergence of various genotypes of HCV, hepatitis B virus (HBV) and the non-pathogenic hepatitis G virus (HGV)/GB virus-C (GBV-C). However, the relatively recent times predicted for the origin of these viruses fit poorly with their epidemiological distributions and the recent evidence for species-associated variants of HBV and HGV/GBV-C in a wide range of non-human primates. The apparent conservatism of viruses over long periods implied by these latter observations may be the result of constraints on sequence change peculiar to viruses with single-stranded genomes, or with overlapping reading frames. Large population sizes and intense selection pressures that optimize fitness may be the factors that set virus evolution apart from that of their hosts.
Simultaneous in situ measurements of carbon dioxide (CO
2) and the principal gases linked to biomass burning at the Mace Head Observatory, Ireland, reveal a strong correlation in 1998–99 and 2002–03, ...both periods with intense global fires. CO
2, carbon monoxide (CO), methane (CH
4), hydrogen (H
2), ozone (O
3) and methyl chloride (CH
3Cl), all have similar rates of accumulation during these time frames. These perturbations imply a causal relationship between large-scale biomass burning events and the interannual variability of these gases.
The hydroxyl radical (OH) is the dominant oxidizing chemical in the atmosphere. It destroys most air pollutants and many gases involved in ozone depletion and the greenhouse effect. Global ...measurements of 1,1,1-trichloroethane (CH3CCl
3, methyl chloroform) provide an accurate method for determining the global and hemispheric behavior of OH. Measurements show that CH3CCl
3levels rose steadily from 1978 to reach a maximum in 1992 and then decreased rapidly to levels in 2000 that were lower than the levels when measurements began in 1978. Analysis of these observations shows that global OH levels were growing between 1978 and 1988, but the growth rate was decreasing at a rate of 0.23 ± 0.18% year-2, so that OH levels began declining after 1988. Overall, the global average OH trend between 1978 and 2000 was -0.64 ± 0.60% year-1. These variations imply important and unexpected gaps in current understanding of the capability of the atmosphere to cleanse itself.
Hourly measurements of baseline ozone at the Mace Head Atmospheric Research Station on the Atlantic Ocean coast of Ireland are observed when unpolluted air masses are advected to the station from ...across the North Atlantic Ocean. Monthly mean ozone mixing ratios in baseline air masses have risen steadily during the 1980s and 1990s reaching unprecedented levels during the early months of 1999. During the 2000s, baseline ozone mixing ratios have shown evidence of decline and stabilisation. Over the entire 20-year 1987–2007 period, the trend in annual baseline ozone has been +0.31±0.12(2−
σ)
ppb
year
−1 and is highly statistically significant. Trends have been highest in the spring months and lowest in the summer months, producing a significant increase in the amplitude of the seasonal cycle. Over the shorter 1995–2007 period, we demonstrate how the growth to peak in 1999 and the subsequent decline have been driven by boreal biomass burning events during 1998/1999 and 2002/2003. The 2000s have been characterised by relatively constant baseline ozone and CH
4 levels and these may be a reasonable guide to future prospects, at least in the short term.
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