Consumption of products derived from vulnerable wildlife species pervasive in Laos

Demand for bear and serow could precipitate 'conservation challenge,' authors say

SAN DIEGO ZOO GLOBAL

A new study of wildlife consumption in northern Laos by San Diego Zoo Global researchers found widespread use of products made from sun bears, Asiatic bears and serows--goat-like mammals found throughout Asia--among other vulnerable species. The findings indicate that efforts are needed to reduce the unsustainable harvest of bears and serows, in particular, "before this demand becomes a significant conservation challenge," the authors wrote.

"Our results indicate the importance of identifying emerging trends in wildlife consumption, which can inform efforts to halt population declines before they become full-blown crises," said Elizabeth Oneita Davis, Ph.D., a postdoctoral associate in Community Engagement at San Diego Zoo Global. She co-authored the study, published in April in the journal Animals, with Jenny Glikman, Ph.D., an associate director in Community Engagement at San Diego Zoo Global.

"The research presented here represents a critical first step towards a conservation management solution in northern Laos that incorporates the emerging threat of consumption of serow, which may be excluded from management plans directed at conserving more 'charismatic' fauna," said Davis.

Unsustainable wildlife consumption is widespread in Southeast Asia. Exports to neighboring China and Vietnam have led to the extirpation of tigers and Javan rhinos in Laos, the authors said. Less is known, though, about the demand for wildlife products within Laos. To learn more about use patterns, Davis and Glikman interviewed 100 adults in 18 villages, in the Luang Prabang region of the country.

The most commonly used substances, consumed by about a quarter of those interviewed, were derived from the bile or gallbladder of sun bears and Asiatic bears. While use of bear products in the region had been documented, this study suggests consumption may be more common than previously thought. The second most-consumed items, used by 7% of respondents, were derived from serows. Products derived from serows and bears are similar in form and use, often being made into topicals or consumables to treat bruises or fight fatigue. However, serow products are less expensive than comparable bear products.

Sun bears and Asiatic black bears are listed as Vulnerable on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species. The Chinese serow is listed as Near Threatened, but the IUCN is in the process of changing its status to the more-urgent Vulnerable, the study authors said.

Overall, interviewees reported they had used or knew someone who had used a wide variety of products derived from animals ranging from elephants to tigers, snakes, porcupines, monkeys and bats. Approximately half of respondents said they viewed wildlife products as a form of traditional medicine. A majority of the species consumed were listed as Vulnerable or Least Threatened on the Red List of Threatened Species.

"Our results of present and prevalent demand for wildlife in northern Laos indicate both that enforcement efforts are not working and that the Laos government's goals of reducing wildlife trade may be challenging to achieve," Davis said.

It isn't known if the current harvest of serows in Laos is sustainable. But it is possible that demand could increase sharply if those who consume bear products turn to less-pricey serow products instead. If that happens, the ungulates "may suffer a sudden, serious and rapid decline in the next decade," the authors wrote.

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About San Diego Zoo Global

Bringing species back from the brink of extinction is the goal of San Diego Zoo Global. As a leader in conservation, the work of San Diego Zoo Global includes on-site wildlife conservation efforts (representing both plants and animals) at the San Diego Zoo, San Diego Zoo Safari Park, and San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research, as well as international field programs on six continents. The work of these entities is made accessible to over 1 billion people annually, reaching 150 countries via social media, our websites and the San Diego Zoo Kids network, in children's hospitals in 12 countries. The work of San Diego Zoo Global is made possible with support from our incredible donors committed to saving species from the brink of extinction. To learn more, visit SanDiegoZooGlobal.org or connect with us on Facebook.

States with highest income inequality experienced a larger number of COVID-19 deaths

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA - LOS ANGELES HEALTH SCIENCES

FINDINGS

States with the highest level of income inequality had a larger number of COVID-19-related deaths compared with states with lower income inequality. New York state, with the highest income inequality, had a mortality rate of 51.7 deaths per 100,000. This is 125 times greater than Utah, the state with the lowest income inequality and which had a mortality of 0.41 per 100,000 at the end of the period studied. Looking at the top three in each category, New York was followed by Louisiana with 19 deaths per 100,000, and Connecticut with 16.9 deaths per 100,000. States in addition to Utah with the lowest COVID deaths that were linked to income inequality were South Dakota, with 0.7 deaths per 100,000 and North Dakota, which had one death per 100,000.

BACKGROUND

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, data from New York City and Chicago shows that African Americans and Hispanics have experienced higher rates of infection and death. These groups are largely low income, have less access to health care, hold essential jobs limiting their ability to maintain social distancing, and frequently live in extended family households where the infection risk is higher.

METHODS

The researchers limited their analysis to January 22 through April 13, 2020. They used data on cases and deaths from the COVID-19 Dashboard maintained by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. State income inequality data came from the 2018 American Community Survey as measured by the Gini index, a statistical formula used to measure income distribution.

The authors note some limitations in the findings, such as the effect of co-morbidities on death rates and weaknesses in state-level data that might have missed other associations between inequality and COVID-19 infections.

IMPACT

The findings suggest that social factors such as income inequality may explain why some states experienced more COVID-19 deaths than others. The findings could be useful in developing policies to mitigate the effects of the pandemic on socio-economically vulnerable populations.

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AUTHORS

Dr. Carlos Oronce, Dr. Christopher Scannell, and Dr. Yusuke Tsugawa of UCLA, and Dr. Ichiro Kawachi of Harvard University. Oronce and Scannell also have positions with the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System.

JOURNAL

The study is published by the peer-reviewed Journal of General Internal Medicine.

FUNDING

Drs. Oronce and Scannell are supported by the VA Office of Academic Affiliations through the VA/National Clinician Scholars Program.

Media Contact

Enrique Rivero
erivero@mednet.ucla.edu

Men more likely than women to be seen as brilliant

New global study finds an unconscious stereotype linked to gender

NEW YORK UNIVERSITY

 

Men are more likely than are women to be seen as "brilliant," finds a new study measuring global perceptions linked to gender. The work concludes that these stereotyped views are an instance of implicit bias, revealing automatic associations that people cannot, or at least do not, report holding when asked directly.

The research, which appears in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, was conducted by scientists at New York University, the University of Denver, and Harvard University.

"Stereotypes that portray brilliance as a male trait are likely to hold women back across a wide range of prestigious careers," observes Daniel Storage, an assistant professor in the University of Denver's Department of Psychology and the paper's lead author.

"Understanding the prevalence and magnitude of this gender-brilliance stereotype can inform future efforts to increase gender equity in career outcomes," adds Andrei Cimpian, an associate professor in NYU's Department of Psychology and the paper's senior author.

Previous work by Cimpian and his colleagues has suggested that women are underrepresented in careers where success is perceived to depend on high levels of intellectual ability (e.g., brilliance, genius), including those in science and technology.

Less understood are the factors that explain this phenomenon. To address this, the new Journal of Experimental Social Psychology study explored the potential impact of stereotypes. For example, perhaps the qualities of genius and brilliance are associated in people's minds with men more than with women--and, as a result, women are less encouraged to pursue these fields--or the atmosphere of these fields is less welcoming to women.

However, accurately measuring stereotyping is a challenge. People are often reluctant to admit they have stereotypes, so asking directly about these beliefs is unlikely to provide an accurate measure of whether they endorse the idea that brilliance is more common among men than it is among women.

To overcome this methodological obstacle, the researchers adopted a test that is geared to measure stereotyping indirectly. Here, the aim is to capture implicit stereotypes--or the automatic associations that come to mind between certain traits (e.g., brilliance) and certain groups (e.g., men). This is in contrast to explicit stereotyping, in which we knowingly and verbally ascribe traits to groups of people.

The team employed a long-established tool, the Implicit Association Test (IAT), which measures the degree of overlap between concepts (e.g., brilliant and male) without explicitly asking subjects whether or not they hold stereotyped views.

The IAT is essentially a speeded sorting task. In the study, participants saw a series of stimuli (such as a picture of a woman or the word "brilliant") on a computer screen and were asked to sort them into two categories by pressing either the E or the I key on their keyboard. For example, in some trials participants were asked to press E if they saw a stimulus that is related to either the category male or the trait brilliant. On other trials, the sorting rule was different. For example, the gender categories were swapped such that participants had to press E if they saw a stimulus that is related to either the category female or the trait brilliant.

The logic of the IAT, the authors explain, is as follows: If brilliant is more associated with male than with female in people's minds, then participants will be faster to sort the stimuli when brilliant and male are paired with the same response key--because the stereotype makes these two concepts seem like they "go together"--than when brilliant and female are paired.

Across a series of five studies, which included U.S. women and men, U.S. girls and boys (ages 9 and 10), and women and men from 78 other countries, the researchers consistently found evidence for an implicit stereotype associating brilliance with men more than with women. The magnitude of this stereotype was striking as well--for example, it was similar in strength to the implicit stereotype that associates men more than women with careers (and women more than men with the family), which was identified in earlier work.

The team also gauged explicit stereotypes, directly asking subjects whether they believed that men are more brilliant than women. In marked contrast to the implicit stereotyping measures, subjects reported disagreeing with this idea--and, in one study, explicitly associated the quality of being "super smart" with women more than with men. The finding is consistent with previous scholarship showing that people are unlikely admit to stereotyping, reinforcing the importance of measuring such perceptions through more subtle means.

Tessa Charlesworth, a doctoral student at Harvard University and co-author of the paper, notes that "a particularly exciting finding from this work is that, if anything, people explicitly say that they associate women with brilliance. Yet implicit measures reveal a different story about the more automatic gender stereotypes that come to mind when thinking about brilliance."

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The paper's author team also included Mahzarin Banaji, Richard Clarke Cabot Professor of Social Ethics at Harvard University.

The research was supported by grants from the National Science Foundation (BCS-1530669, BCS-1733897).

Pet dogs may improve social-emotional development in young children

SPRINGER

 Young children from dog-owning households have better social and emotional wellbeing than children from households who do not own a dog, suggests research published in the journal Pediatric Research.

A team of researchers at the University of Western Australia and Telethon Kids Institute utilised questionnaire data from 1,646 households that included children aged two to five years. The researchers found that, after taking into account children's age, biological sex, sleep habits, screen time and parents' education levels, children from dog-owning households were 23% less likely to have overall difficulties with their emotions and social interactions than children who did not own a dog. Children from dog-owning households were 30% less likely to engage in antisocial behaviours, 40% less likely to have problems interacting with other children, and were 34% more likely to engage in considerate behaviours, such as sharing.

Associate Professor Hayley Christian, the corresponding author said: "While we expected that dog ownership would provide some benefits for young children's wellbeing, we were surprised that the mere presence of a family dog was associated with many positive behaviours and emotions."

Among children from dog-owning households, those who joined their family on dog walks at least once per week were 36% less likely to have poor social and emotional development than those who walked with their family dog less than once per week. Children who played with their family dog three or more times per week were 74% more likely to regularly engage in considerate behaviours than those who played with their dog less than three times per week.

Associate Professor Hayley Christian said: "Our findings indicate that dog ownership may benefit children's development and wellbeing and we speculate that this could be attributed to the attachment between children and their dogs. Stronger attachments between children and their pets may be reflected in the amount of time spent playing and walking together and this may promote social and emotional development."

To examine children's social and emotional development and its possible association with family dog ownership, the authors analysed data collected between 2015 and 2018 as part of the Play Spaces and Environments for Children's Physical Activity (PLAYCE) study. During the study, parents of children aged between two and five years completed a questionnaire assessing their child's physical activity and social-emotional development. . Out of the 1,646 households included in the study, 686 (42%) owned a dog.

The authors caution that due to the observational nature of the study they were not able to determine the exact mechanism by which dog ownership may benefit social and emotional development in young children, or to establish cause and effect. Further research should assess the potential influence of owning different types of pets or the influence that children's attachment to their pets may have on child development.

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Decontamination methods for reuse of filtering facepiece respirators

NEWS RELEASE 2-JUL-2020

JAMA OTOLARYNGOLOGY - HEAD & NECK SURGERY

 What The Article Says: Studies describing various methods of decontamination to allow safe reuse of N95 respirators are summarized in this article.

Authors: Brooke M. Su-Velez, M.D., M.P.H., of the University of California, Los Angeles, is the corresponding author.

(doi:10.1001/jamaoto.2020.1423)

Editor's Note: Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, conflicts of interest and financial disclosures, and funding and support.

#  #  #

Media advisory: The full study is linked to this news release.

Embed this link to provide your readers free access to the full-text article This link will be live at the embargo time https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamaotolaryngology/fullarticle/10.1001/jamaoto.2020.1423?guestAccessKey=3479b786-fe51-48b6-af75-5a1b58486b24&utm_source=For_The_Media&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=ftm_links&utm_content=tfl&utm_term=070220

New platform gauges effects of plastic nanoparticles on human development and health

ALPHAMED PRESS

 

IMAGE: CORRESPONDING AUTHOR MIODRAG STOJKOVIC, PH.D., DVM. view more 

CREDIT: ALPHAMED PRESS

Durham, NC - Plastic pollution is a critical environmental issue facing the world today, yet the impact of all the microplastics (MPs) and nanoplastics (NPs) that have seeped into the food and beverage supply on human health is an "undervalued avenue of research," according to the team behind a revealing new study released today in STEM CELLS. This study outlines the new platform researchers designed that allowed them to investigate the potentially harmful effects of MPs and NPs. The results show not only how these particles can impact a developing infant's health, but also may open novel ways to study this prevalent type of pollution and its contributions to the origin of various diseases.

From 1950 to now, plastic production has increased nearly 200-fold to the current 350 million tons, according to a study published last June in Science of The Total Environment. As of 2018, approximately 6.9 billion tons had become waste, with 79 percent of that accumulated in the natural environment.

"Assuming that only 15 percent of their total caloric intake is from plastic-packaged nutrients, it was calculated that the average person consumes up to 121,000 MP particles per year, while people who drink bottled water consume an additional 90,000 MP. And these numbers don't account for particulates that enter our bodies through occupational exposure (such as construction, boating or the bath and shower industries) and other means. So you can see this number has the potential to increase substantially," said Miodrag Stojkovic, Ph.D., DVM. Dr. Stojkovic is corresponding author of the international study, led by researchers from the Medical Fertility Hospital, Leskovac, Serbia, and Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Kragujevac, Serbia, and currently is affiliated with Massachusetts Eye and Ear, Harvard Medical School in Boston.

Few studies have investigated the potentially harmful effects of MPs/NPs on early human development and health. To further complicate things, the plethora of plastic types, particle sizes and the lack of a reliable model makes studying the impact of rising environmental plastic pollution on human health a real challenge.

"Adding to that," Dr. Stojkovic said, "no clear definition or regulation of MPs/NPs exists on an international basis."

All this led Dr. Stojkovic and his colleagues to develop a new platform that would enable them, for the first time, to estimate gene changes and signaling pathways that might be altered in response to the exposure of pre-implantation human embryos and human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) to plastic particles. They focused their work on nanoparticles shed by one of the most prevalent types of plastics used in food and beverage packaging -- polystyrene.

To begin, they analyzed human iPSC growth media that was persistently exposed to plastic (storage bottles, dishes, pipettes and tips, laboratory air and lab coats) using pyrolysis-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (PyGC/MS). The PyGC/MS analysis excluded the additional presence of any known polymer. Next, they exposed thawed early human expanded blastocysts and human iPSCs to nano- (40 nm) and micro- (200 nm) polystyrene items and examined the effects. And lastly, the researchers used the HiPathia method -- a model that allows the estimation of how changes in the expression of genes affect signaling circuits and consequent cell functional decisions -- to enable them to detect any disease mechanisms and predict relevant clinical outcomes.

The collective data from these analyses showed that NPs alter genes that are connected to eye development, cardiac malformations and ischemia.

"Taken together, results obtained with our embryo- and stem cell-based platform and polystyrene NPs clearly demonstrate that an understanding of bio-NP interactions and the implications on human health is, more than ever, of utmost importance, especially in this era of increased environmental plastic pollution and the presence of microscopic plastic particles in the air, soil, food, beverages, and tap water," Dr. Stojkovic said. "We also believe that the study findings make a strong call for an urgent action by scientific and policymaking authorities to create regulatory measures that might lessen NPs' impact, especially given that our platform deciphers the links between environmental and intracellular pollutions, and origin of detrimental diseases."

"This outstanding report provides a sobering look at the effects of plastic nanoparticles on human stem cells. It has been known that these particles are problematic, but this is the first report, to my knowledge, to provide mechanistic, detailed data on how polystyrene nanoplastics affect human iPSCs and embryonic cells," said Jan Nolta, Editor-in-Chief of STEM CELLS. "This platform will be very useful for future studies evaluating the negative effects of different types of plastic nanoparticle contaminants."

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The full article, "Platform to study intracellular polystyrene nanoplastic pollution and clinical outcomes," can be accessed at https://stemcellsjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/stem.3244.

About the Journal: STEM CELLS, a peer reviewed journal published monthly, provides a forum for prompt publication of original investigative papers and concise reviews. The journal covers all aspects of stem cells: embryonic stem cells/induced pluripotent stem cells; tissue-specific stem cells; cancer stem cells; the stem cell niche; stem cell epigenetics, genomics and proteomics; and translational and clinical research. STEM CELLS is co-published by AlphaMed Press and Wiley.

About AlphaMed Press: Established in 1983, AlphaMed Press with offices in Durham, NC, San Francisco, CA, and Belfast, Northern Ireland, publishes three internationally renowned peer-reviewed journals with globally recognized editorial boards dedicated to advancing knowledge and education in their focused disciplines. STEM CELLS® is the world's first journal devoted to this fast paced field of research. THE ONCOLOGIST® is devoted to community and hospital-based oncologists and physicians entrusted with cancer patient care. STEM CELLS TRANSLATIONAL MEDICINE® is dedicated to significantly advancing the clinical utilization of stem cell molecular and cellular biology. By bridging stem cell research and clinical trials, SCTM will help move applications of these critical investigations closer to accepted best practices.

Grassroots dog vaccinations can help stop rabies, but not alone

Rabies is preventable. Inequality has kept it a threat.

FIELD MUSEUM

 

IMAGE: VETERINARIANS (JOSEPH NYAGUCHA, LEFT, AND PATRICK MUINDE, RIGHT) VACCINATING A PUPPY AGAINST RABIES IN KENYA'S LAIKIPIA COUNTY. view more 

CREDIT: © RAVI RUPAREL.In the US, dying from rabies is virtually unheard of. But around the world, rabies kills 59,000 people every year. Ninety-nine percent of those deaths are caused by dog bites; half of the people killed are children. There's a relatively simple way of preventing these deaths--vaccinating dogs against the disease--but systemic challenges make that easier said than done. In a new study in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, an international team of researchers reported on a multi-year effort to vaccinate dogs in Kenya and highlighted some of the challenges scientists and public health officials face in eradicating the disease. They found that grassroots efforts helped lots of individuals--but that to stop the disease once and for all, these smaller campaigns must be coupled with large-scale efforts.

"It's important to focus on rabies because it's 100% preventable," says Adam Ferguson, a mammalogist at Chicago's Field Museum and one of the study's lead authors. "There's no reason why people should be dying from rabies. It's not like COVID in the sense that we don't have a vaccine for it or we don't know what to do with it."

Rabies is a virus, and it spreads through saliva in animal bites. It causes brain inflammation, and once a person begins showing symptoms, it's nearly always fatal. Any mammal can carry rabies, but humans are most likely to pick it up from dogs, because we spend more time in close contact with them than with wild animals like raccoons and bats. And while a rabies vaccine was first discovered in 1885, large parts of the world remain vulnerable to the disease to this day. "It disproportionately impacts low-income, rural communities," says Ferguson, who began the project as a National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellow at Kenya's Karatina University. "In the US, we have the luxury that if one person dies of rabies a year, it makes the front page news. In Kenya, an estimated 2,000 people die of the disease every year."

For the new study, Ferguson and his colleagues conducted grassroots dog vaccination campaigns in 2015, 2016, and 2017 in Kenya's Laikipia County. The Laikipia Rabies Vaccination Campaign expanded over the course of the three-year period, and 13,155 dogs were vaccinated. Across different communities, the team set up a central station for people to bring their dogs to get vaccines. "The excitement and commitments by the communities to bring their dogs in the centers was overwhelming. This for sure made the effort feel worth investing into. You could tell that rabies eradication was tending to be more communal than an individual effort," says Dedan Ngatia, a scientist at the University of Wyoming and one of the study's lead authors.

For rural areas, team members used a combination of central stations and door-to-door vaccinations, asking people if they had dogs and offering free rabies vaccines. "We found that in the pastoral communities, you definitely need more door-to-door outreach than you do in the other communities," says Ferguson, partly because of how sparsely populated those areas are, and partly because many of the dogs there are working animals used to herd goats and sheep and wouldn't be used to walking on a leash to go to one of the central vaccination stations.

As the project grew, more and more people were interested in getting their dogs vaccinated. But the project's popularity presented the researchers with a tough decision. They could focus on smaller areas where they could try to get 70% of the dogs vaccinated, the amount needed for risk of dogs spreading the disease to humans to be effectively eliminated. Alternatively, they could vaccinate as many dogs from as many places as possible, without reaching a critical mass of vaccinations necessary for herd immunity. They didn't have the resources to get to 70% immunity on the large scale.

"I think the question grassroots campaigns have to ask themselves is, is that their goal just to have local outreach and help a few individuals, or are they trying to eliminate it at the landscape-level scale, which is the bigger picture goal. I think, going forward, the answer should be, you should have both," says Ferguson. "We need massive, large-scale efforts, but the reality is that money and resources are limited. That's where these grassroots campaigns are helpful. We were able to expand from 5 to 17 communities because we partnered with the national and county government from the get-go."

"Our target of vaccinating more than 70% of dogs in Laikipia County through sustained campaigns will interrupt transmission in the reservoir population so that the disease is eliminated. LRVC does more than just vaccinating dogs against rabies, we visit schools to raise awareness amongst children--the most affected population by the disease--about rabies prevention," says Dishon Muloi, a scientist at International Livestock Research Institute and one of the study's lead authors.

"The need to eradicate rabies is both for the protection of people as well as wildlife, which includes some of the most endangered carnivores like the African wild dogs. For many years, infectious diseases have remained the main cause of endangerment for these species, with rabies playing a leading role in the endangerment of the African wild dogs. With massive vaccinations, and achieving 70% coverage, we will be able to protect both people and wildlife," says Ngatia.

This study was contributed to by scientists from the Field Museum, the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, the University of Edinburgh, the International Livestock Research Institute, Karatina University, Maasai Mara University, the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization, the Kenya Zoonotic Disease Unit, Washington State University, the Zoological Society of London, the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, and Fisheries, County Government of Laikipia, the University of Liverpool, and the Mpala Research Centre.

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Climate change threat to tropical plants

UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES

 

Tropical plants closer to the equator are most at risk from climate change because it is expected to become too hot for many species to germinate in the next 50 years, UNSW researchers have found.

Their study analysed almost 10,000 records for more than 1300 species from the Kew Gardens' global seed germination database.

The research, published in the journal Global Ecology and Biogeography recently, was the first to look at the big picture impact of climate change on such a large number of plant species worldwide.

Lead author Alex Sentinella, UNSW PhD researcher, said past research had found that animal species closer to the equator would be more at risk from climate change.

"The thought was that because tropical species come from a stable climate where it's always warm, they can only cope with a narrow range of temperatures - whereas species from higher latitudes can cope with a larger range of temperatures because they come from places where the weather varies widely," Mr Sentinella said.

"However, this idea had never been tested for plants.

"Because climate change is a huge issue globally, we wanted to understand these patterns on a global scale and build upon the many studies on plants at an individual level in their environment."

Seeds a key indicator of survival

The researchers examined seed germination data from the Millennium Seed Bank Partnership Data Warehouse, hosted by Kew Royal Botanic Gardens in London, to quantify global patterns in germination temperature.

They analysed 9737 records for 1312 plant species from every continent except Antarctica and excluded agricultural crops.

Mr Sentinella said they chose seed data because it was widely available and relevant to the ability of a species to cope with different temperatures.

"With seeds, you can experiment on them quickly, there are a lot of studies about them and importantly, germination directly relates to how a species will survive, because if the seed doesn't germinate the plant won't live," he said.

"So, we collated the data from the Kew Gardens database, examined all experiments on the same species from the same locations, and then determined the range of temperatures each species could tolerate in order to survive."

The researchers also examined climate data for the same locations as the plant species used in the study.

They looked at current temperature - the average temperature of the warmest three months from 1970 to 2000 - and predicted temperature for 2070.

The researchers then compared the temperatures the plants were experiencing now with the forecasted 2070 temperatures.

Tropical plants to hit or exceed temperature limits

The study discovered tropical plants do not have narrower temperature tolerances but were more at risk from global warming, because it would bring them close to their maximum seed germination temperatures.

Mr Sentinella said, on average, the closer a plant was to the equator, the more at risk it would be of exceeding its temperature ceiling by 2070.

"These plants could be more at risk because they are near their upper limits. So, even a small increase in temperature from climate change could push them over the edge," he said.

"The figures are quite shocking because by 2070, more than 20 per cent of tropical plant species, we predict, will face temperatures above their upper limit, which means they won't germinate, and so can't survive."

Mr Sentinella said the researchers also found that more than half of tropical species are expected to experience temperatures exceeding their optimum germination temperatures.

"That's even worse because if those plants can survive it would be at a reduced rate of germination and therefore, they might not be as successful," he said.

"If a seed's germination rate is 100 per cent at its optimum temperature, then it might only manage 50 or 60 per cent, for example, if the temperature is higher than what's ideal."

Mr Sentinella said he was surprised to find that climate change would threaten so many tropical species.

"But our most unexpected discovery was that the hypothesis often used for animals - that those near the equator would struggle to survive the impact of climate change because they have narrower temperature tolerances - was not true for plants," he said.

"We found that regardless of latitude, plant species can germinate at roughly the same breadth of temperatures, which does not align with the animal studies."

The researchers also found 95 per cent of plant species at latitudes above 45 degrees are predicted to benefit from warming, because environmental temperatures are expected to shift closer to the species' optimal germination temperatures.

Findings to help target conservation efforts

Mr Sentinella said it was possible for some plants to slowly evolve to increasing temperatures, but it was difficult to predict which ones would survive.

"The problem with the quick change in temperatures forecasted, is that some species won't be able to adapt fast enough," he said.

"Sometimes plants can migrate by starting to grow further away from the equator or, up a mountain slope where it's cooler. But if a species can't do that it will become extinct.

"There are almost 400,000 plant species worldwide - so, we would expect a number of them to fail to germinate between now and 2070."

Mr Sentinella hopes the researchers' findings will help to conserve plant species under threat from climate change.

"Ideally, we would be able to conserve all ecosystems, but the funding is simply not there. So, our findings could help conservation efforts target resources towards areas which are more vulnerable," he said.

"We also hope our findings further strengthen the global body of research about the risks of climate change.

"Humans have known about dangers of climate change for decades and we already have the answers to tackle it. So, hopefully our study will help encourage people and policy makers to take action now."

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Read the study in Global Ecology and Biogeography: https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13117

Mothering in domestic violence: Protecting children behind closed doors

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA

 

As emerging data shows an alarming rise of domestic violence during the pandemic, researchers at the University of South Australia are urging practitioners to look beyond clinical observations and focus on the strengths that mothers exercise to protect their children from domestic abuse.

The call follows UniSA research that upends the perception that abused women are unable to adequately protect their children, instead revealing the ways that women think and act to shield their children from abuse, often at the expense of their own personal safety.

In the past 12 months, more than 243 million women and girls (aged 15-49) across the globe, were subjected to sexual or physical violence by an intimate partner. In Australia, one in six (or 1.6 million women) have experienced physical or sexual violence with 80 per cent experiencing coercive control by a current or previous partner since the age of 15. More than a quarter of the women said that children in their care had witnessed this violence and abuse.

Lead researcher and experienced social worker, UniSA's Dr Fiona Buchanan, says practitioners need to recognise mothers' protective behaviour if they are to work towards increasing safety for women and children living in abusive environments.

"Far too often, women are perceived as passive victims of domestic abuse, who while enduring unconscionable abuse, are unable to protect their own children," Dr Buchanan says.

"But what many practitioners don't realise is that these women are protecting their children in many unseen ways, that hope to reduce the likelihood of an abusive partner lashing out.

"The mothers in our research talked about the things they did to avoid conflict with their partners, things like controlling the home environment - making sure dinner was ready and on the table; ensuring the children were clean and quiet; and by making sure the house was neat and tidy.

"By trying to pre-empt abuse, they sought to limit their partner's aggressive outbursts, effectively managing his mood and behaviour to safeguard their children's wellbeing."

The study also showed that mothers intentionally tried to 'keep the peace' by purposely avoiding conflict with aggressive partners.

"Protective behaviours could span anything from keeping the children out of harm's way when they thought an assault was likely to occur, to putting themselves physically close to their abuser to try and placate him," Dr Buchanan says.

"In this instance, despite wanting to put distance between them and their violent partner, they placed themselves closer to the danger, arguably increasing risk to themselves in order to reduce the risk to the children."

Using interviews and focus groups UniSA's Dr Buchanan and Professor Nicole Moulding explored the lived experiences of 16 women who had mothered children in domestic abuse, hoping to better understand their thoughts, feelings and actions during that time. Each of the women had left their abusive partner at least one year prior to participating in the study.

Dr Buchanan warns that practitioners who rely on attachment theory (the observed emotional bonds between children and caregivers) in child protection practice are at risk of overlooking invisible acts of protective agency.

"Despite the popularity of attachment theory in child protection, it does not offer much guidance about supporting women and children living in abusive home environments, especially as it categorises the child-mother relationship without context," Dr Buchanan says.

"Clinical observation downplays the protective role of mothers in abusive relationships and promotes a notion of 'bad mothering'.

"There is no evidence to assume that abused women are worse mothers.

"Instead of identifying deficits and assigning blame, practitioners should seek to understand the invisible behaviours that women engage in behind closed doors to protect their children from abuse.

"A strengths-based approach is essential if we are to move towards more positive and empowered practices of safety and protection.

"Sadly, we cannot remove women and children from these terrible scenarios without taking a good look at the society which tolerates domestic abuse and blames women for being victimized."

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NOTES FOR EDITORS - Other Domestic Abuse Statistics:

• On average one woman a week is murdered by her current or former partner
• One in four women have experienced emotional abuse by a current or former partner since the age of 15
• 80 per cent of women in domestic abuse situations experience coercive control
• One in five women have experienced sexual violence since the age of 15
• 85 per cent of Australian women have been sexually harassed
• Almost 40 per cent of women continue to experience violence from a partner while temporarily separated
• One in six women have experienced stalking since the age of 15
• Domestic and family violence is the leading cause of homelessness for women and their children.
• Indigenous women are 32 times more likely to be hospitalised due to family violence than non-indigenous women.
• Violence against women and children is estimated to cost the Australian economy $22 billion a year.

Rising water temperatures could endanger the mating of many fish species

ALFRED WEGENER INSTITUTE, HELMHOLTZ CENTRE FOR POLAR AND MARINE RESEARCH

Because fish that are ready to mate and their young are especially sensitive to changes in temperature, in the future up to 60 percent of all species may be forced to leave their traditional spawning areas

In a new meta-study, experts from the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) have published ground-breaking findings on the effects of climate change for fish stock around the globe. As they report, the risks for fish are much higher than previously assumed, especially given the fact that in certain developmental stages they are especially sensitive to rising water temperatures. One critical bottleneck in the lifecycle of fish is their low tolerance for heat during mating. In other words, the water temperature in their spawning areas determines to a great extent how successfully they reproduce, making fish particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change - not only in the ocean, but also in lakes, ponds and rivers. According to the researchers' analyses, if left unchecked, climate change and rising water temperatures will negatively affect the reproduction of up to 60 percent of all fish species. Their study was released today in the latest issue of the journal Science.

Organisms have to breathe in order for their bodies to produce energy; this is equally true for human beings and for fish. In addition, we know that the energy needs of humans and animals alike depend on the temperature: when it's warmer, the need for energy rises exponentially, and with it, the need for oxygen. On this basis, it follows that organisms can only adapt to rising temperatures in their immediate vicinity by providing their bodies with more oxygen. But there are certain species-specific limits on this ability; if those limits are exceeded, it can lead to cardiovascular collapse.

Armed with this knowledge, in a new meta-study, experts from the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) have investigated in which life phases saltwater and freshwater fish around the world are most sensitive to heat. To do so, the biologists compiled scientific data on the temperature tolerance of 694 fish species and analysed the temperature ranges within which fish can survive as adults ready to mate, as embryos in eggs, as larvae, and as adults outside the mating season.

Most sensitive during the mating season

"Our findings show that, both as embryos in eggs and as adults ready to mate, fish are far more sensitive to heat than in their larval stage or sexually mature adults outside the mating season," says first author and AWI marine biologist Dr Flemming Dahlke. "On the global average, for example, adults outside the mating season can survive in water that's up to 10 degrees Celsius warmer than adults ready to mate or fish eggs can."

The reason for this variable temperature tolerance lies in the anatomy of fish: fish embryos have no gills that would allow them to take in more oxygen. In contrast, fish that are ready to mate produce egg and sperm cells; this additional body mass also needs to be supplied with oxygen, which is why, even at lower temperatures, their cardiovascular systems are under enormous strain.

Every degree of warming increases the pressure on fish stocks

These findings apply to all fish species, and make it clear why fish are sensitive to heat, especially during the mating season and in their embryonic stage. Accordingly, in a second step the team of researchers analysed to what extent water temperatures in the spawning areas of the species investigated would likely rise due to climate change. For this purpose, they employed new climate scenarios (Shared Socioeconomic Pathways - SSPs), which will also be used in the IPCC's next Assessment Report.

Their conclusions confirm that every degree Celsius of warming spells more trouble for the world's fish stocks. "If we human beings can successfully limit climate warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius by the year 2100, only ten percent of the fish species we investigated will be forced to leave their traditional spawning areas due to rising temperatures," explains AWI biologist and co-author Prof Hans-Otto Pörtner. In contrast, if greenhouse-gas emissions remain at a high or very high level (SSP 5 - 8.5), it's likely to produce average warming of 5 degrees Celsius or more, which would endanger up to 60 percent of all fish species.

Limited options for adapting

Those species affected would then be forced to either adapt through biological evolution - a process that would most likely take far too long - or to mate at another time of year or in some other place. "Some species might successfully manage this change," says Flemming Dahlke. "But if you consider the fact that fish have adapted their mating patterns to specific habitats over extremely long timeframes, and have tailored their mating cycles to specific ocean currents and available food sources, it has to be assumed that being forced to abandon their normal spawning areas will mean major problems for them." In addition, fish living in rivers and lakes have the problem that their habitat is limited by the size and geographic location of the waters they live in: migrating to deeper waters or to cooler regions is nearly impossible.

New level of detail for improved projections

"Our detailed analyses, which cover all of the fishes' developmental stages, will help us to understand how these species are being affected by climate change, and to what extent the loss of suitable habitats is being driven by the climate-related transformation of ecosystems," says Hans-Otto Pörtner.

Wherever fish migrate or their reproduction rates decline, there will be new interactions between species, and in some cases the ecosystems will experience a drop in productivity. The IPCC published corresponding projections on the future of worldwide fish stocks in its Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate. According to Pörtner: "Our new detailed assessments will help to improve those projections."

Spawning fish and embryos most vulnerable to climate's warming waters

AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE

  

Spawning fish and embryos are far more vulnerable to Earth's warming waters than fish in other life stages, according to a new study, which uniquely relates fish physiological tolerance to temperature across the lifecycles of nearly 700 fish species. The results reveal a critical bottleneck in the lifecycle of fish and suggest that many ecologically and economically important fish species are threatened by climate warming more than studies based on adult fish thermal tolerance alone have shown. Understanding an organism's physiological limits to temperature changes can provide a window into how some species will likely respond to Earth's changing climate. However, thermal tolerances often vary throughout an organism's life. Thus, the vulnerability of a species to climate change hinges on its most temperature-sensitive life stages. But due to a lack of experimental data, large-scale climate risk assessments often simplify or fail to account for the effects of these thermal bottlenecks across the entire lifecycle of many major animal groups, including fish. Whether our current climate mitigation targets are sufficient enough to sustain healthy fish populations remains poorly understood. Flemming Dahlke and colleagues compiled published observational and experimental data to assess the life stage-specific thermal tolerances for 694 marine and freshwater fish from waters worldwide. Their large-scale meta-analysis found that spawning adults and embryos were much more susceptible to temperature changes than other life stages across fish species. Dahlke et al.'s findings suggest that, with unchecked warming, up to 60% of the fish species they evaluated will not be able to exist in the current geographic range of their most vulnerable life stages within a century - a sharp contrast to the 10% of species estimated if using only the thermal tolerance of adults. "The minute thermal safety margins of spawning fish and embryos in the tropics suggest that there are limited fish species on Earth that can tolerate warmer or less oxygenated habitats. Intensified efforts to stabilize global warming are warranted more than ever," writes Jennifer Sunday in a related Perspective.