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- OPEN ACCESS
- OPEN ACCESSRanaviruses are emerging pathogens of poikilothermic vertebrates. In 2015 the Global Ranavirus Reporting System (GRRS) was established as a centralized, open access, online database for reports of the presence (and absence) of ranavirus around the globe. The GRRS has multiple data layers (e.g., location, date, host(s) species, and methods of detection) of use to those studying the epidemiology, ecology, and evolution of this group of viruses. Here we summarize the temporal, spatial, diagnostic, and host-taxonomic patterns of ranavirus reports in the GRRS. The number, distribution, and host diversity of ranavirus reports have increased dramatically since the mid 1990s, presumably in response to increased interest in ranaviruses and the conservation of their hosts, and also the availability of molecular diagnostics. Yet there are clear geographic and taxonomic biases among the reports. We encourage ranavirus researchers to add their studies to the portal because such collation can provide collaborative opportunities and unique insights to our developing knowledge of this pathogen and the emerging infectious disease that it causes.
- OPEN ACCESSRanaviruses are large nucleocytoplasmic DNA viruses that infect ectothermic vertebrates. Here we report the results of a scientometric analysis of the field of ranavirology for the last 10 years. Using bibliometric tools we analyse trends, identify top publications and journals, and visualise the ranavirus collaboration landscape. The Web of Science core collection contains 545 ranavirus-related publications from 2010 to 2019, with more publications produced every year and a total of 6830 citations. Research output is primarily driven by the United States and People’s Republic of China, who together account for more than 60% of ranavirus publications. We also observed a positive correlation between the average number of co-authors on ranavirus publications and the year of publication, indicating that overall collaboration is increasing. A keyword analysis of ranavirus publications from 2010 to 2019 reveals several areas of research interest including; ecology, immunology, virology/molecular biology, genetics, ichthyology, and herpetology. While ranavirus research is conducted globally, relatively few publications have co-authors from both European and Asian countries, possibly because closer countries (geographical distance) are more likely to share co-authors. To this end, efforts should be made to foster collaborations across geopolitical and cultural boundaries, especially between countries with shared research interests as ultimately, understanding global pathogens, like ranaviruses, will require global collaboration.
- OPEN ACCESSMercury mass balance models (MMBMs) for fish are powerful tools for understanding factors affecting growth and food consumption by free-ranging fish in rivers, lakes, and oceans. Moreover, MMBMs can be used to predict the consequences of global mercury reductions, overfishing, and climate change on mercury (Hg) concentration in commercially and recreationally valuable species of fish. Such predictions are useful in decision-making by resource managers and public health policy makers, because mercury is a neurotoxin and the primary route of exposure of mercury to humans is via consumption of fish. Recent evidence has emerged to indicate that the current-day version of MMBMs overestimates the rate at which fish eliminate mercury from their bodies. Consequently, MMBMs overestimate food consumption by fish and underestimate Hg concentration in fish. In this perspective, we explore underlying reasons for this overestimation of Hg-elimination rate, as well as consequences and implications of this overestimation. We highlight emerging studies that distinguish species and sex as contributing factors, in addition to body weight and water temperature, that can play an important role in how quickly Hg is eliminated from fish. Future research directions for refining MMBMs are discussed.
- OPEN ACCESSOpen access (OA) allows for peer-reviewed research to be freely accessed and there has been a collective shift from both researchers and publishers towards more OA publishing. OA typically occurs either through article-processing charges (the gold road) or via self-archiving (the green road); the former can be expensive, while the latter has seen minimal uptake. The gold road of OA has led to predatory publishers and, to some, questionable publications. Here, I used publicly available grant information in Canada and combined this with individual publishing statistics to test a variety of factors and their influence on OA publishing. I showed that an individual’s award amount, H-index, and gender did not influence the proportion of OA articles they published, but an individual’s H-index scaled with the number of OA publications. Institute size influenced OA publishing patterns, with researchers at large universities (i.e., >20 000 full-time students) publishing proportionately more OA articles than medium and small institutes. I discuss the potential for this pattern to build on pre-existing systemic biases when it comes to funding and publishing.
- OPEN ACCESS
- Jannie F. Linnebjerg,
- Julia E. Baak,
- Tom Barry,
- Maria V. Gavrilo,
- Mark L. Mallory,
- Flemming R. Merkel,
- Courtney Price,
- Jakob Strand,
- Tony R. Walker, and
- Jennifer F. Provencher
Marine plastic is a ubiquitous environmental problem that can have an impact on a variety of marine biota, such as seabirds, making it an important concern for scientists and policy makers. Although research on plastic ingestion by seabirds is increasing, few studies have examined policies and long-term monitoring programs to reduce marine plastic in the Arctic. This paper provides a review of international, national, and regional policies and long-term monitoring programs that address marine plastic in relation to seabirds in the Arctic countries: Canada, the Kingdom of Denmark (Greenland and the Faroe Islands), Finland, Iceland, Norway, the Russian Federation, Sweden, and the United States of America. Results show that a broad range of international, national, regional and local policies address marine debris, specifically through waste management and the prevention of pollution from ships. However, few policies directly address seabirds and other marine biota. Further, policies are implemented inconsistently across regions, making it difficult to enforce and monitor the efficacy of these policies given the long-range transport of plastic pollution globally. To reduce marine plastic pollution in the Arctic environment, pan-Arctic and international collaboration is needed to implement standardized policies and long-term monitoring programs for marine plastic in the Arctic and worldwide. - OPEN ACCESS
- Martin Krkošek,
- Madeline Jarvis-Cross,
- Kiran Wadhawan,
- Isha Berry,
- Jean-Paul R. Soucy,
- Korryn Bodner,
- Ariel Greiner,
- Leila Krichel,
- Stephanie Penk,
- Dylan Shea,
- Juan S. Vargas Soto,
- Ed W. Tekwa,
- Nicole Mideo, and
- Péter K. Molnár
This study empirically quantifies dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 establishment and early spread in Canada. We developed a transmission model that was simulation tested and fitted in a Bayesian framework to timeseries of new cases per day prior to physical distancing interventions. A hierarchical version was fitted to all provinces simultaneously to obtain average estimates for Canada. Across scenarios of a latent period of 2–4 d and an infectious period of 5–9 d, the R0 estimate for Canada ranges from a minimum of 3.0 (95% CI: 2.3–3.9) to a maximum of 5.3 (95% CI: 3.9–7.1). Among provinces, the estimated commencement of community transmission ranged from 3 d before to 50 d after the first reported case and from 2 to 25 d before the first reports of community transmission. Among parameter scenarios and provinces, the median reduction in transmission needed to obtain R0 < 1 ranged from 46% (95% CI: 43%–48%) to 89% (95% CI: 88%–90%). Our results indicate that local epidemics of SARS-CoV-2 in Canada entail high levels of stochasticity, contagiousness, and observation delay, which facilitates rapid undetected spread and requires comprehensive testing and contact tracing for its containment. - OPEN ACCESSThis research explores the potential hydroponic systems have for contributing to climate mitigation in fodder agriculture. Using British Columbia (BC) and Alberta as case studies, the study compares greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and carbon sequestration potential of hydroponically grown sprouted barley fodder to conventional barley grain fodder. GHG emissions were examined through scenarios that assumed Alberta to be the main barley producer, while exploring different situations of BC and Alberta as consumers, distributed/centralized hydroponic systems, and renewable/nonrenewable energy. Carbon sequestration opportunities were examined through scenarios that explored the land sparing potential of transitioning from conventional to hydroponic barley and shifts from tillage to no-tillage practices. Sensitivity analyses were done to examine how changes in hydroponic seed-to-fodder output and energy consumption affect the systems’ climate mitigation potential. The results indicated that incorporating hydroponic systems into barley production has the potential to reduce GHG emissions, given seed-to-fodder output and energy consumption are maintained at certain levels and the systems are powered by renewable energy. Results also showed that hydroponic farming can provide greater carbon sequestration opportunities than simply shifting to no-tillage farming. The research indicates that hydroponic fodder farming could contribute to climate mitigation objectives if complemented with effective energy and land use policies.
- OPEN ACCESSRoad salt runoff is a leading cause of secondary freshwater salinization in north temperate climates. Increased chloride concentrations in freshwater can be toxic and lead to changes in organismal behavior, lethality, biotic homogenization, and altered food webs. High chloride concentrations have been reported for winter months in urban centers, as road density is highest in cities. However, summer chloride conditions are not typically studied as road salt is not actively applied outside of winter months, yet summer is when many taxa reproduce and are most sensitive to chloride. In our study, we test the spatial variability of summer chloride conditions across four watersheds in Toronto, Canada. We find 89% of 214 sampled sites exceeded the federal chronic exposure guidelines for chloride, and 13% exceeded the federal acute guidelines. Through a model linking concentration to cumulative proportion of impacted species, we estimate 34% of sites show in excess of one-quarter of all species may be impacted by their site-specific chloride concentrations, with up to two-thirds of species impacted at some sites. Our results suggest that even presumed low seasons for chloride show concentrations sufficient to cause significant negative impacts to aquatic communities.
- OPEN ACCESSBalancing human well-being with the maintenance of ecosystem services (ES) for future generations has become one of the central sustainability challenges of the 21st century. In working landscapes, past and ongoing production-centered objectives have resulted in the conversion of ecosystems into simple land-use types, which has also altered the provision of most ES. These inevitable trade-offs between the efficient production of individual provisioning ES and the maintenance of regulating and cultural ES call for the development of a land-use strategy based on the multifunctional use of the landscape. Due to the heterogeneous nature of working landscapes, both protection and restoration actions are needed to improve their multifunctionality. Systematic conservation planning (SCP) offers a decision support framework that can support landscape multifunctionality by indicating where ES management efforts should be implemented. We describe an approach that we developed to include ES provision protection and restoration objectives in SCP with the goal of providing ongoing benefits to society. We explain the general framework of this approach and discuss concepts, challenges, innovations, and prospects for the further development of a comprehensive decision support tool. We illustrate our approach with two case studies implemented in the pan-Canadian project ResNet.
- OPEN ACCESS
- Ashley L. Cooper,
- Cassandra Carter,
- Hana McLeod,
- Marie Wright,
- Prithika Sritharan,
- Sandeep Tamber,
- Alex Wong,
- Catherine D. Carrillo, and
- Burton W. Blais
Bacterial carbapenem resistance is a major public health concern since these antimicrobials are often the last resort to treat serious human infections. To evaluate methodologies for detection of carbapenem resistance, carbapenem-tolerant bacteria were isolated from wastewater treatment plants in Toronto, Ottawa, and Arnprior, Ontario. A total of 135 carbapenem-tolerant bacteria were recovered. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) indicated the presence of carbapenem hydrolysing enzymes KPC (n = 10), GES (n = 5), VIM (n = 7), and IMP (n = 1), and β-lactamases TEM (n = 7), PER (n = 1), and OXA-variants (n = 16). A subset of 46 isolates were sequenced and analysed using ResFinder and CARD-RGI. Both programs detected carbapenem resistance genes in 35 sequenced isolates and antimicrobial resistance genes (ARGs) conferring resistance to multiple class of other antibiotics. Where β-lactamase resistance genes were not initially identified, lowering the thresholds for ARG detection enabled identification of closely related β-lactamases. However, no known carbapenem resistance genes were found in seven sequenced Pseudomonas spp. isolates. Also of note was a multi-drug-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae isolate from Ottawa, which harboured resistance to seven antimicrobial classes including β-lactams. These results highlight the diversity of genes encoding carbapenem resistance in Ontario and the utility of whole genome sequencing over PCR for ARG detection where resistance may result from an assortment of genes. - OPEN ACCESSSalt marshes are ecosystems of significant ecological importance for coastal stability and fundamental roles in marine ecosystems. Salt marshes are declining due to anthropogenic and natural causes including sea level rise. Coastal restoration efforts have increased worldwide, but many fail in long-term coastal stability. We used a naturally occurring arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus (AMF) to test whether survival and early growth of the salt marsh grass Sporobolus pumilus (formerly Spartina patens) improved under simulated salt marsh conditions. Using a tidal mesocosm bench, we grew inoculated plants with varying AMF treatments under simulated tidal regimes to determine if AMF could aid in establishment of healthy Sporobolus communities. Rhizome-derived S. pumilus had greater survival and grew faster than seed-derived plants. Plants inoculated with propagated AMF consistently outperformed both sterile and native sediment controls in terms of plant survival and growth. Use of rhizome-derived Sporobolus inoculated with propagated Funneliformis geosporum showed the most promise in producing successful plant populations for salt marsh restoration. This may be due to plant life stage and improved plant nutrient status, allowing rhizome-derived plants to grow more quickly than seed-derived plants. Using these plants in future large-scale restoration may increase re-establishment of salt marsh ecosystems.
- OPEN ACCESS
- Leonardo B. Custode,
- Matthew M. Guzzo,
- Natasha Bush,
- Claire Ewing,
- Michael Procko,
- Samantha M. Knight,
- Marie-Michele Rousseau-Clair, and
- D. Ryan Norris
Nongovernmental organizations contribute to the securement and management of protected areas, but it is not well known how their lands compare to government protected areas or the effectiveness of different land acquisition strategies. Using data from the International Union for Conservation of Nature and BirdLife International, we estimated total and at-risk terrestrial native vertebrate species richness in southern Canada among (i) private protected areas secured by the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC), government protected areas, and randomly sampled land; (ii) conservation agreements and fee simple (directly acquired) NCC properties; and (iii) purchased or donated fee simple properties. Controlling for property size and ecoregion, NCC protected areas were predicted to be in areas with 6% and 13% more total and at-risk species than randomly sampled land and 4% and 6% more total and at-risk species than government protected areas. Within NCC protected areas, conservation agreements were predicted to be in areas with 2% and 4% more total and at-risk species than fee simple properties, but purchased properties had similar numbers of total and at-risk species as donated properties. Although we caution that diversity estimates were based on course-grained range maps, our findings suggest that private protected areas are important in conserving biodiversity. - OPEN ACCESS
- Steven J. Cooke,
- Robert J. Lennox,
- Jacob W. Brownscombe,
- Sara J. Iverson,
- Frederick G. Whoriskey,
- Joshua J. Millspaugh,
- Nigel E. Hussey,
- Glenn T. Crossin,
- Brendan J. Godley, and
- Robert Harcourt
Monitoring animals with electronic tags is an increasingly important tool for fundamental and applied ecological research. Based on the size of the system under study, the ability to recapture the animal, and research medium (e.g., aerial, freshwater, saltwater, terrestrial), tags selected may either log data in memory (bio-logging), transmit it to a receiver or satellite (biotelemetry), or have a hybrid design. Over time, we perceive that user groups are diverging based on increasing use of technology specific terms, favouring either bio-logging or biotelemetry. It is crucial to ensure that a divide does not become entrenched in the community because it will likely hinder efforts to advance field and analytical methods and reduce accessibility of animal tracking with electronic tags to early-career and new researchers. We discuss the context for this emerging problem and the evidence that this is manifesting within the scientific community. Finally, we suggest how the animal tracking community may work to address this issue to maximize the benefits of information transfer and integration between users of the two technologies. - OPEN ACCESSLarge-scale monitoring is used to track population trends for many ecologically and economically important wildlife species. Often, population monitoring involves professional staff travelling to collect data (i.e., conventional monitoring) or in efforts to reduce monitoring costs, by engaging volunteers (i.e., community science). Although many studies have discussed the advantages and disadvantages of conventional vs. community science monitoring, few have made direct, quantitative comparisons between these two approaches. We compared data quality and financial costs between contemporaneous and overlapping conventional and community science programs for monitoring a major forest pest, the spruce budworm (Choristoneura fumiferanae Clem.). Although community science trapping sites were clumped around urban areas, abundance estimates from the programs were strongly spatially correlated. However, annual program expenditures were nearly four times lower in the community science versus the conventional program. We modelled a hypothetical hybrid model of the two programs, which provided full spatial coverage and potentially the same data, but at half the cost of the conventional program and with the added opportunity for public engagement. Our study provides a unique quantitative analysis of merits and costs of conventional versus community science monitoring. Our study offers insights on how to assess wildlife monitoring programs where multiple approaches exist.
- OPEN ACCESS
- Yannan Huang,
- Lindsay Johnston,
- Ana Parra,
- Crystal Sweeney,
- Emalie Hayes,
- Lisbeth Truelstrup Hansen,
- Graham Gagnon,
- Amina Stoddart, and
- Rob Jamieson
Wastewater-based surveillance methods have been implemented in several countries as a tool for monitoring SARS-CoV-2 at a community scale. A variety of methods have been used for concentrating, extracting, and detecting the virus, with no clear consensus on the most effective approach. In this note, we report preliminary findings from a study that is tracking SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater in Halifax, Nova Scotia, with a specific focus on the use of four reverse transcriptase quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) assays for detecting the virus in wastewater. We were able to detect the virus in wastewater samples during the initial rise of cases in the Halifax region in early November 2020. Levels of the targeted SARS-CoV-2 gene fragments increased and fell in response to reported cases of COVID-19. The CDC N1 and E RT-qPCR assays demonstrated greater relative sensitivity than the CDC N2 and N3 assays for detection of SARS-CoV-2 in raw sewage samples. - OPEN ACCESSFor cities to grow their urban forest canopy the formula appears rather straightforward: the right trees, plus the right conditions, plus the right care equals success. These simplified “tree chain of custody” steps, however, represent activities within a complex value-chain in Canada. Given that there is heightened demand for urban tree planting as natural climate solutions become the norm, how can we prepare the value-chain to meet these demands? To answer this question, we outline the pathways by which trees presently go from nurseries into urban and peri-urban areas. Delineating the actors, roles, and present barriers to success exposes the complexity of the process and relationships in the value-chain, as there are distinct phases with multiple actor groups involved who influence, and are influenced, by one another. We explore the issues that pose prominent challenges to, as well as opportunities for, the value-chain. Emergent themes include communication, forecasting demand and timing, underpricing and undervaluing tree establishment, lack of awareness on the importance of soils, juvenile tree health, species selection, and gaps in evidence-based decision support tools. The touchstones of science and innovation, collaboration, and knowledge mobilization are pertinent for the value-chain in Canada to draw upon to navigate the future.
- OPEN ACCESSPost-transcriptional regulators such as microRNAs are emerging as conserved regulators of innate antiviral immunity in vertebrates, yet their roles in amphibian antiviral responses remain uncharacterized. We profiled changes in microRNA expressions in the Xenopus laevis skin epithelial-like cell line Xela DS2 in response to poly(I:C)—an analogue of viral double-stranded RNA and inducer of type I interferons—or frog virus 3 (FV3), an immunoevasive virus associated with amphibian mortality events. Small RNA libraries generated from untreated, poly(I:C)-treated, and FV3-infected cells were sequenced. We detected 136 known X. laevis microRNAs and discovered 133 novel X. laevis microRNAs. Sixty-five microRNAs were differentially expressed in response to poly(I:C), many of which were predicted to target regulators of antiviral pathways such as cGAS-STING, RIG-I/MDA-5, TLR signaling, and type I interferon signaling, as well as products of these pathways (NF-ĸB-induced and interferon-stimulated genes). In contrast, only 49 microRNAs were altered by FV3 infection, fewer of which were predicted to interact with antiviral pathways. Interestingly, poly(I:C) treatment or FV3 infection downregulated transcripts encoding factors of the host microRNA biogenesis pathway. Our study is the first to suggest that host microRNAs regulate innate antiviral immunity in frogs and sheds light on microRNA-mediated mechanisms of immunoevasion by FV3.
- OPEN ACCESSScientists, like all humans, are subject to self-deceptive valuations of their importance and profile. Vainglorious practice is annoying but mostly harmless when restricted to an individual’s perception of self-worth. Language that can be associated with self-promotion and aggrandizement is destructive when incorporated into scientific writing. So too is any practice that oversells the novelty of research or fails to provide sufficient scholarship on the uniqueness of results. We evaluated whether such tendencies have been increasing over time by assessing the frequencies of articles claiming to be “the first”, and those that placed the requirement for scholarship on readers by using phrases such as “to the best of our knowledge”. Our survey of titles and abstracts of 176 journals in ecology and environmental biology revealed that the frequencies of both practices increased linearly over the past half century. We thus warn readers, journal editors, and granting agencies to use caution when assessing the claimed novelty of research contributions. A system-wide reform toward more cooperative science that values humility, and abhors hubris, might help to rectify the problem.
- OPEN ACCESS
- Shawn R. Craik,
- Rodger D. Titman,
- Anna M. Calvert,
- Gregory J. Robertson,
- Mark L. Mallory, and
- Sarah E. Gutowsky
The addition of eggs to a nest by a conspecific is known for approximately 250 bird species. Understanding the evolution of conspecific brood parasitism (CBP) requires assessment of fitness consequences to the egg recipient (host). We addressed host traits and the effects of CBP on future reproduction (i.e., annual survival) and hatching success of hosts by following the nesting of 206 red-breasted mergansers (Mergus serrator) for a colony in which an average of 41% of nests was parasitized annually. Each host was tracked for ≥2 seasons and up to seven seasons. The proportion of a host’s nesting attempts that was parasitized averaged 43% and varied considerably across individuals (range 0%–100%). Probability of parasitism, however, was not repeatable across a host’s nests. Rather, rates of CBP throughout a host’s lifetime increased with earlier dates of nest initiation. CBP had no effect on annual survival of a host. Hatching success throughout a host’s lifetime declined with a greater number of foreign eggs added to the individual’s nests. This study revealed that there may be measurable costs of CBP to lifetime reproductive success in red-breasted mergansers, although our observations suggest that costs to hosts are limited to the most heavily parasitized clutches.