1. World-wide declines in pollinators, including bumblebees, are attributed to a multitude of Stressors such as habitat loss, resource availability, emerging viruses and parasites, exposure to ...pesticides, and climate change, operating at various spatial and temporal scales. Disentangling individual and interacting effects of these Stressors, and understanding their impact at the individual, colony and population level are a challenge for systems ecology. Empirical testing of all combinations and contexts is not feasible. A mechanistic multilevel systems model (individual-colony-population-community) is required to explore resilience mechanisms of populations and communities under stress. 2. We present a model which can simulate the growth, behaviour and survival of six UK bumblebee species living in any mapped landscape. Bumble-BEEHAVE simulates, in an agent-based approach, the colony development of bumblebees in a realistic landscape to study how multiple Stressors affect bee numbers and population dynamics. We provide extensive documentation, including sensitivity analysis and validation, based on data from literature. The model is freely available, has flexible settings and includes a user manual to ensure it can be used by researchers, farmers, policy-makers, NGOs or other interested parties. 3. Model outcomes compare well with empirical data for individual foraging behaviour, colony growth and reproduction, and estimated nest densities. 4. Simulating the impact of reproductive depression caused by pesticide exposure shows that the complex feedback mechanisms captured in this model predict higher colony resilience to stress than suggested by a previous, simpler model. 5. Synthesis and applications. The Bumble-BEEHAVE model represents a significant step towards predicting bumblebee population dynamics in a spatially explicit way. It enables researchers to understand the individual and interacting effects of the multiple Stressors affecting bumblebee survival and the feedback mechanisms that may buffer a colony against environmental stress, or indeed lead to spiralling colony collapse. The model can be used to aid the design of field experiments, for risk assessments, to inform conservation and farming decisions and for assigning bespoke management recommendations at a landscape scale.
Cambodia is prone to extreme weather events, especially floods, droughts and typhoons. Climate change is predicted to increase the frequency and intensity of such events. The Cambodian population is ...highly vulnerable to the impacts of these events due to poverty; malnutrition; agricultural dependence; settlements in flood-prone areas, and public health, governance and technological limitations. Yet little is known about the health impacts of extreme weather events in Cambodia. Given the extremely low adaptive capacity of the population, this is a crucial knowledge gap. A literature review of the health impacts of floods, droughts and typhoons in Cambodia was conducted, with regional and global information reviewed where Cambodia-specific literature was lacking. Water-borne diseases are of particular concern in Cambodia, in the face of extreme weather events and climate change, due to, inter alia, a high pre-existing burden of diseases such as diarrhoeal illness and a lack of improved sanitation infrastructure in rural areas. A time-series analysis under quasi-Poisson distribution was used to evaluate the association between floods and diarrhoeal disease incidence in Cambodian children between 2001 and 2012 in 16 Cambodian provinces. Floods were significantly associated with increased diarrhoeal disease in two provinces, while the analysis conducted suggested a possible protective effect from toilets and piped water. Addressing the specific, local pre-existing vulnerabilities is vital to promoting population health resilience and strengthening adaptive capacity to extreme weather events and climate change in Cambodia.
•Consumers are interested in cancer genomic testing if it gives actionable results.•Ability to predict risk, inform management, benefit families are motivators to test.•Patients are concerned about ...cost, confidentiality, utility, psychological harm.•Providers must educate and manage patient expectations of testing.
Single-gene testing is associated with psycho-social challenges for cancer patients. Genomic testing may amplify these. The aim of this study was to understand patients’ motivations and barriers to pursue cancer genomic testing, to enable healthcare providers to support their patients throughout the testing process and interpretation of test results.
Five databases were searched for original peer reviewed research articles published between January 2001 and September 2018 addressing motivation for genomic cancer testing. QualSyst was used to assess quality.
182 studies were identified and 17 were included for review. Studies were heterogenous. Both somatic and germline testing were included, and 14 studies used hypothetical scenarios. 3249 participants were analyzed, aged 18 to 94. Most were female and white. The most common diagnoses were breast, ovarian, lung and colorectal cancer. Interest in testing was high. Motivations included ability to predict cancer risk, inform disease management, benefit families, and understand cancer. Barriers included concerns about cost, privacy/confidentiality, clinical utility, and psychological harm.
Despite concerns, consumers are interested in cancer genomic testing if it can provide actionable results for themselves and their families.
Providers must manage understanding and expectations of testing and translate genetic information into health-promoting behaviours.
A common management intervention to support declining wild pollinators is ‘pollinator planting’. However, despite years of inclusion in conservation initiatives, global pollinator declines continue.
...Using the agent‐based model BEE‐STEWARD with two example species, Bombus terrestris (L. 1758) and B. pascuorum (Scopoli, 1763) (Hymenoptera: Apidae), we explore when during the year bumblebee resource demand is the highest and how that relates to seasonal changes in colony composition (numbers of eggs, larvae, pupae and adults). We then examine the impact of two‐week periods of resource scarcity across the year. Finally, we explore how enhancement with early spring‐blooming herbaceous species or trees changes colony survival and queen production.
In the United Kingdom, there is a previously under‐appreciated ‘hungry gap’ for bumblebees in March–April, before the peak flight period, driven by the demands of larvae for protein and thermoregulation in the colony, rather than the number of adult bees.
A 2‐week gap in forage availability during this period drives a 50%–87% drop in the production of daughter queens. Adding early‐blooming species in the model had significant, positive, long‐term effects on colony survival probability and daughter queen production.
Pollinator‐planting initiatives in both national and international conservation schemes need to include plants that flower up to 1 month before the adults of target social pollinator species are apparent in the field, during the period that larvae dominate the colony. This approach is likely to increase colony survival and queen production, contributing towards halting and reversing global pollinator decline.
Despite years of ‘pollinator planting’, pollinator declines continue. We use the agent‐based model BEE‐STEWARD to investigate bumblebee resource demands versus seasonal colony composition (numbers of eggs, larvae, pupae and adults).
There is a phenological mismatch between floral resources and colony demand, driven by the needs of larvae before the peak adult flight period, when there is little forage and few foragers.
Floral resources should be provided up to a month before peak adult flight period, to meet the needs of early larvae, improve colony survival and queen production.
The demand for agent‐based models to explore the effects of environmental change on pollinator population dynamics is growing. However, models need a simple yet flexible interface to enable adoption ...by a wide range of stakeholders.
We introduce BEE‐STEWARD: a research and decision‐support software tool, enabling researchers, policymakers, land management advisors and practitioners to predict and compare the effects of bee‐friendly management interventions on bumblebee populations over several years.
BEE‐STEWARD integrates the BEESCOUT and Bumble‐BEEHAVE agent‐based models of bumblebee behaviour, colony growth and landscape exploration into a user‐friendly interface, with reconstructed code, and expanded functionality. Bespoke automatic reports can be created to illustrate how different land management interventions can affect the densities of bumblebees and their colonies over time.
BEE‐STEWARD could be an important virtual test bed for scientists exploring the impacts of different stressors on bumblebees and used by those with little or no modelling experience, enabling a shared methodology between research, policy and practice.
Bumblebees (Bombus spp.) rely on an abundant and diverse selection of floral resources to meet their nutritional requirements. In farmed landscapes, mass‐flowering crops can provide an important ...forage resource for bumblebees, with increased visitation from bumblebees into mass‐flowering crops having an additional benefit to growers who require pollination services. This study explores the mutualistic relationship between Bombus terrestris L. (buff‐tailed bumblebee), a common species in European farmland, and the mass‐flowering crop courgette (Cucurbita pepo L.) to see how effective B. terrestris is at pollinating courgette and in return how courgette may affect B. terrestris colony dynamics. By combining empirical data on nectar and pollen availability with model simulations using the novel bumblebee model Bumble‐BEEHAVE, we were able to quantify and simulate for the first time, the importance of courgette as a mass‐flowering forage resource for bumblebees. Courgette provides vast quantities of nectar to ensure a high visitation rate, which combined with abundant pollen grains, enables B. terrestris to have a high pollination potential. While B. terrestris showed a strong fidelity to courgette flowers for nectar, courgette pollen was not found in any pollen loads from returning foragers. Nonetheless, model simulations showed that early season courgette (nectar) increased the number of hibernating queens, colonies, and adult workers in the modeled landscapes. Synthesis and applications. Courgette has the potential to improve bumblebee population dynamics; however, the lack of evidence of the bees collecting courgette pollen in this study suggests that bees can only benefit from this transient nectar source if alternative floral resources, particularly pollen, are also available to fulfill bees’ nutritional requirements in space and time. Therefore, providing additional forage resources could simultaneously improve pollination services and bumblebee populations.
By combining empirical data on nectar and pollen availability with model simulations using the novel bumblebee model Bumble‐BEEHAVE, we were able to quantify and simulate for the first time, the importance of courgette as a mass‐flowering forage resource for bumblebees. Results show that courgette has the potential to improve bumblebee population dynamics. Nonetheless, bees will only benefit from this transient nectar source if alternative floral resources (particularly pollen) are also available to fulfil their nutritional requirements in space and time. This study is the first to quantify and simulate the importance of courgette as a mass‐flowering forage resource for bumblebees and highlights the importance of matching crop, wild flower, and pollinator species’ phenologies to improve bumblebee populations and therefore pollination services.
Aim
Children living in families impacted by parental mental illness are at increased risk of adverse mental and physical health outcomes compared with children living in families unaffected by mental ...illness. Considered to be a hard‐to reach group, it is likely that there are unique barriers for these young people in seeking help for their difficulties. This systematized review synthesizes what is currently known about help‐seeking barriers, facilitators and interventions for young people affected by parental mental illness.
Methods
Three databases were searched, yielding 2556 results and three studies were identified through other sources. Studies were screened on title and review and were excluded if they were published before 2005 or if they did not include the perspectives of young people. At a second stage, full‐text articles were screened based on the inclusion criteria. Eleven studies were included for data extraction and quality appraisal.
Results
Qualitative and quantitative data synthesis revealed three significant barriers (i) stigma, (ii) family communication and (iii) lack of belonging and shared experience, three key facilitators (i) individual characteristics, (ii) group identification and (iii) anonymity and three primary components of therapeutic interventions (i) psychoeducation, (ii) connection with peers and (iii) accessibility.
Conclusions
It was found that stigma towards mental illness is highly salient amongst young people impacted by parental mental illness and has unique effects on their patterns of help‐seeking. Help‐seeking research amongst this group is still emerging, with a need for greater clarity in operationalisation of help‐seeking constructs and more robust methodological designs.
Objective
This study aimed to discern preferences for receiving somatic molecular profiling (MP) results in cancer patients who have given consent to undergo testing.
Methods
We conducted a ...mixed‐methods study to explore patients' views on which MP results they would like to receive and why. Advanced cancer patients (n = 1299) completed questionnaires after giving consent to participate in a parent genomics study and undergoing MP. A subset of patients (n = 20) participated in qualitative interviews.
Results
Almost all (96%) participants were interested in receiving results which would direct cancer treatment (ie, were actionable). A smaller majority wanted to access results which were not actionable (64%) or were variants of unknown significance (60%). Most (86%) were interested in finding out about germline findings, though not as a priority. Themes identified in interview data were: (a) Cancer is the focus; (b) Trust in clinicians; and (c) Respect for a right not to know.
Conclusions
The majority of advanced cancer patients undergoing MP prioritised results which would lead to treatment options. They trusted their oncologists to help them navigate the results return process. While there was interest in knowing about other results, this was a lesser priority. Nevertheless, given high levels of interest in receiving all results, ethical aspects of not providing uninformative results requires further research, including a consideration of patient rationales for desiring this information and what health professionals can and should do to support patients in the absence of meaningful information being available.
An overview of the current state of knowledge on the pollution of agricultural soils with microplastic and nanoplastic (MnP) particles is provided and the main MnP sources are discussed. MnP ...transport mechanisms from soil to groundwater, as well as the potential impact of MnPs on soil structure are considered, and the relevance of co-contaminants such as agrochemicals is further highlighted. We elaborate on why MnPs in soil and groundwater are understudied and how analytical capabilities are critical for furthering this crucial research area. We point out that plastic fragmentation in soils can generate secondary MnPs, and that these smaller particles potentially migrate into aquifers. The transport of MnP in soils and groundwater and their migration and fate are still poorly understood. Higher MnP concentrations in agricultural soils can influence the sorption behavior of agrochemicals onto soil grains while attachment/detachment of MnPs onto soil grains and MnP-agrochemical interactions can potentially lead to enhanced transport of both MnP particles and agrochemicals towards underlying groundwater systems.
PDF
