Community science birding data does not yet capture global bird trends

More observations and more focus on common birds could fill the data gap

UNIVERSITY OF UTAH

 

IMAGE: QUECHUA WOMAN LOOKING FOR BIRDS THROUGH A BIRDWATCHING TELESCOPE IN MONTANE RAINFOREST, SAN MIGUEL POLYLEPIS FOREST, COCHABAMBA, BOLIVIA. view more 

CREDIT: ÇA?AN ?EKERCIO?LU.

Binoculars in hand, birders around the world contribute every day to a massive database of bird sightings worldwide. But while community science observations of birds can be useful data, it may not be enough to fill the data gaps in developing countries where professional bird surveys are insufficient or absent.

Ornithologists at the University of Utah say that community science bird data shows different trends in bird populations than professional bird surveys do, especially in developing countries. Researchers look for trends to know whether the number of individuals in a species is increasing, stable or decreasing--with the latter as a warning sign that the species is in trouble. Their results are published in Biological Conservation. More observations are needed, the researchers say, both by birders and professionals.

"We hope that this study will encourage birdwatchers to be more conscientious in their recording," says Monte Neate-Clegg, doctoral student and lead author of the study, "to think of these data not just as a personal record but as contributing to a wider cause."

Birding is a long tradition, but as paper guidebooks and life lists have given way to digital records and mobile apps, birders have become more connected, compiling their data into near real-time global snapshots of where and when birders are seeing species. For this study, the authors accessed data from eBird.

Developed by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, eBird is the world's largest biodiversity-related community science project, the lab says, with more than 100 million bird sightings contributed each year. Birders submit sightings and checklists to eBird, which reaches out to birding experts when a sighting seems out of the ordinary.

U ornithologist Çağan Şekercioğlu is a world-class eBirder, currently ranked fifth in the world for spotting more than 8,000 bird species--more than 76% of all the species that eBirders have ever reported.

In 2018, former Şekercioğlu lab member JJ Horns found that eBird trend data matched the U.S. Breeding Bird Survey to within 0.4%. The results of the three-year project were encouraging--maybe eBird, they hoped, could serve to accurately fill in data for countries that didn't have the same level of governmental or professional surveys.

So, to compare eBird trends with worldwide trends, they turned to BirdLife International, an independent global partnership of conservation organizations.

"BirdLife amasses data and expert opinion across the world," Neate-Clegg says. Their methods for assessing bird populations and trends vary, though. "Some estimates are based on complete population counts or interpolated surveys," he says. "Most are indirectly assessed via changes in habitat or other impacts, such as hunting or wildlife trade."

Downloading and analyzing eBird data is not an Excel-scale task. The U's Center for High Performance Computing assisted in processing the data, which includes more than 800 million records. Using observations from the past 20 years, Neate-Clegg further filtered the data to focus on the best-quality observations and to match the list of species with those reported by BirdLife International. Calculating the trends in bird counts over time, Neate-Clegg rated them as increasing, decreasing or stable.

For the final list of 8,121 species, BirdLife listed 624 (7.7%) as increasing, 3,616 (44.5%) as stable and 3,881 (47.8%) as decreasing.  The eBird trends differed: 1,974 (24.3%) species were rated as increasing, 4,942 (60.9%) as stable, and 1,205 (14.8%) as decreasing. Only a little more than a third of the species displayed trends that agreed between the two data sources. Unfortunately, that's not much better than would have been expected by chance.

"This isn't particularly reassuring," Neate-Clegg says.

Part of the disagreement is due to the different experience of birdwatching in the tropics as compared to the U.S.

"Birdwatchers in the tropics tend to be more targeted in their approach," Neate-Clegg says, "meaningfully searching for particular species. This may mean that, although a species is declining, eBirders are still finding them reliably and so we do not detect that decline in the eBird data."

"In some cases," Şekercioğlu adds, "the rarer bird species can be seen more often by birders who may overlook the common species nearby that they have already seen before."

Some results of the study were encouraging, though.

As in the earlier study, Neate-Clegg's study shows that the rate of agreement with BirdLife trends for a species increases as the number of eBird checklists for that species increases. "This suggests that our accuracy will increase as more people gather data in the tropics," he says. The rate of agreement is also higher for species where population trends are directly estimated rather than indirectly inferred. "This suggests that we still need in situ population trend estimation by experts to validate eBird trends," he adds.

Neate-Clegg says that the results of this study are far from the end of the story. "It is really important that we carry out studies such as these to validate the use of eBird data," he says. "It would be great to get to the point where we can successfully leverage what will soon exceed 1 billion bird records to estimate population trends."

With a need for more quality data, Neate-Clegg encourages eBirders to include as much additional information in their checklists as possible. For example, he says, eBirders have the option of recording all species seen or counts of every species, as well as associated metadata such as the duration of the birdwatching period and the distance traveled.

"All of these data are important for maximizing the number of checklists we can use while controlling for variation in effort," he says.

Birding in many different places, and not just hotspots with high species numbers, is also important. "You should be birding everywhere you go," Şekercioğlu says, "which also has the personal satisfaction of being a pioneer as you are adding data from places with little or no bird data."

In other words, keep watching the skies. And the trees. And the wetlands. Birders' efforts do not go unnoticed. The researchers express their gratitude to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, BirdLife International and the millions of birders who contribute to eBird and other community science efforts like iNaturalist. "The centuries-long symbiosis between birdwatchers and ornithologists is the best example of the collaboration of community scientists, professional scientists and conservationists," Şekercioğlu says.

Find this release here.

Find the full study here.

Conservation agriculture increases carbon sequestration in extensive crops

UNIVERSITY OF CÓRDOBA

IMAGE: CROPS SOWN UNDER NO TILL FARMING. view more 

CREDIT: UNIVERSITY OF CORDOBA

Agricultural activity is responsible for about 12% of the total emissions of greenhouse gases in Spain. Nevertheless, adopting good agricultural practices can help reverse this situation, by increasing the sequestration of organic carbon in soil. With the goal of compensating for CO2 emissions produced by agricultural activity by means of fixing organic carbon in soil, the 4perMille initiative came about, in the framework of the Paris Climate Agreement (adopted at the COP21 in 2015).

Conservation Agriculture uses practices such as no-till farming (sowing without having previously tilled the soil), making use of the organic soil cover and rotating crops, which are beneficial in decreasing greenhouse gas emissions. In this vein, Rural Engineering Department Professor, at the School of Agricultural and Forestry Engineering, University of Cordoba, Emilio J. González, in the GI AGR 126 Mechanization and Rural Technology group, participated in the project working with Dr. Rafaela Ordóñez's team, from the Agriculture and the Environment Area at the Institute of Agricultural Research and Training. They analyzed the potential of Conservation Agriculture to reach the aim of increasing organic carbon in soil by 0.4% yearly, which is the main goal of the 4perMille initiative. Applying the Carbon Benefit Project model, designed by the UN Environment Programme, they concluded that by using no-till farming for extensive crops, carbon sequestration levels could reach up to three times the goal amount in the agreement.

After comparing the situation of conventional agriculture based on heavy tilling to data from the model based on a no-till farming situation with extensive crops (grains, sunflower, legumes, forage crops), regions appeared where carbon sequestration could triple the amount fixed by the 4permille initiative, places such as the Guadalquivir valley, Navarre, Aragon and Catalonia. With this study, Conservation Agriculture's capacity to mitigate climate change has been scientifically contrasted, and in doing so, tools are offered up for agricultural management policies such as the European Union's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), which is currently undergoing debate on green aims focused on mitigation and adaptation to climate change. This study is found within the European project called LIFE Agromitiga, whose objective is to contribute to shifting towards a low-carbon farming system.

Soil conservation

In addition to increasing organic carbon sequestration, using no-till farming and other Conservation Agriculture practices means reducing soil erosion by up to 95%. In this way, the main environmental problem in this country is also being dealt with. Soil loss is especially marked in the basins of the Guadalquivir and Ebro rivers.

Large communities devoted to agriculture, therefore, will benefit greatly from applying Conservation Agriculture, which has over 700,000 ha of extensive crops in Spain, making it the European country with the greatest amount of application of these techniques.

If we continue down this path, we will not only increase the environmental advantages for the surrounding area and society, but also increase the financial feasibility of farms, farms that will keep their key production asset, soil, and will also save on work and fuel costs.

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1.5 billion people will depend on water from mountains

UNIVERSITY OF ZURICH

IMAGE: THE ROSEGBACH RIVER IN THE UPPER ENGADINE, SWITZERLAND, IS PART OF THE DANUBE RIVER BASIN WHERE ROUGHLY ONE THIRD OF THE 46 MILLION PEOPLE LIVING DOWNSTREAM STRONGLY DEPEND ON WATER... view more 

CREDIT: D. VIVIROLI

Global water consumption has increased almost fourfold in the past 100 years, and many regions can only meet their water demand thanks to essential contributions from mountain regions. In 30 years, almost a quarter of the world's lowland population will strongly depend on runoff from the mountains. Only sustainable development can ensure the important function of mountain areas as Earth's "water towers".

Water is a key resource for the 21st century, and many lowland regions all over the world depend on water resources originating in mountain regions, not least when it comes to irrigating agricultural land. A study led by the University of Zurich has now quantified this dependence for the first time by comparing water supply and consumption in the world's lowland areas with runoff contributions from the mountains. Based on a high-resolution global model, the study provides detailed information on the dependence on mountain water resources around the globe. The comprehensive analyses were carried out using a regular grid and then compared for every river catchment area of at least 10,000 km2. This allowed for highly differentiated insights into regional characteristics and differences.

Increasing dependence despite declining per-capita consumption

"Until now, research has focused mainly on river basins that originate in High Mountain Asia," says Daniel Viviroli from the Department of Geography at the University of Zurich, first author of the study. "But in many other regions, irrigated agriculture is heavily dependent on water from mountainous areas, such as in the Middle East and North Africa, as well as parts of North America, South America and Australia."

This dependence has increased strongly since the 1960s - despite more efficient water use and thus declining per-capita water consumption. Whereas only 7 percent of the lowland population used to be strongly dependent on contributions from mountain areas at that time, this figure is projected to rise to 24 percent by mid-21st century. This corresponds to about 1.5 billion people in lowland areas. Particular focus is on catchment areas such as those of the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna, Yangtze and Indus rivers in Asia, the Nile and Niger in Africa, the Euphrates and Tigris in the Middle East as well as the Colorado River in North America. For their analyses, the researchers assumed a middle-of-the-road scenario in terms of population growth as well as technological, economic and social development.

Functioning ecosystems and climate protection

"Ensuring the function of mountains as 'water towers' should be a major concern of the world's lowland populations," says Viviroli. Sustainable development of mountain regions is therefore essential, for example by preventing agricultural overuse and ensuring the functioning of ecosystems, the researchers say. In addition, climate action is of paramount importance: Due to the rising temperatures, meltwater peaks from snow-covered mountain regions sometimes already occur several weeks earlier and are thus not as useful for summer agriculture. Adjustments in water management will be necessary, and possibly also new infrastructure such as dams and water transfers.

"However, technical solutions go hand in hand with major ecological damage, and some rivers, such as the Indus, have little potential for expansion," says Viviroli. For the future, it will be crucial that lowland and mountain regions work closely together despite political, cultural, social and economic differences.

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Agriculture - a climate villain? Maybe not!

A proposal to rethink agriculture in the climate calculations

LINKÖPING UNIVERSITY NEWS RELEASE 7-JUL-2020

 

IMAGE: EVERY SECTOR IN SOCIETY EMITS GREENHOUSE GASES. BUT AGRICULTURE IS DIFFERENT FROM MOST OTHER SECTORS BECAUSE OF THE LARGE-SCALE PHOTOSYNTHESIS. CROPS PRODUCE OXYGEN (O2) AND EMIT IT TO THE ATMOSPHERE,... view more 

CREDIT: PER FRANKELIUS

The UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) claims that agriculture is one of the main sources of greenhouse gases, and is thus by many observers considered as a climate villain. This conclusion, however, is based on a paradigm that can be questioned, writes Per Frankelius, Linkoping University, in an article in Agronomy Journal.

The fundamental process in agriculture is large-scale photosynthesis, in which carbon dioxide is captured by crops and at the same time oxygen is produced. A fraction of the carbon is bound in the plant roots, while most of it is bound in the form of carbohydrates that are harvested and used in other sectors of society. This involves various form of cereal, oilseed crops, vegetables and grassland.

"The fact that the carbon is bound in the crops, which at the same time produce oxygen, just as growing forest does, is a positive effect that is not included in the IPCC calculations. These only consider the greenhouse gases that have a negative impact on the climate. This is also the case in The Greenhouse Gas Protocol, which is a well established standard for calculating the emission of greenhouse gases", says Per Frankelius, associate professor in business administration at Linköping University, who has recently written an article in the prestigious Agronomy Journal, published by the American Society of Agronomy.

"This view is based on a paradigm that has essentially never been questioned. Politicians and decision-makers must understand the complete range of the climate impact of agriculture, otherwise there is a risk that many decisions that influence long-term sustainability in a negative manner will be taken", says Per Frankelius.

The justification that crops are not included as a positive factor is probably that carbon dioxide is formed in the next step along the chain, when the crops are consumed by humans. "But that takes place in another sector: it's not part of agriculture", Per Frankelius points out.

Per Frankelius gives an example calculation in the article in Agronomy Journal:

Many different crops are cultivated as agricultural products, and all of them perform photosynthesis. One common crop is cereals, such as wheat, and in 2019, global production of cereals was 2.7 billion tonnes. This corresponds to approximately 1 billion tonnes of carbon, which in turn corresponds to 3.8 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide. The figure would be significantly higher if we included other crops such as oilseed crops and sugar beet.

"The total agricultural production has been estimated to be 9200 million tons by FAOSTAT. Different crops have different water content, but a good guess is that the total production corresponds to approximately 9100 million tonnes of carbon dioxide", adds Per Frankelius.

Agriculture produces also grasslands and grazing that bind carbon, and a further 2.7 billion tonnes of carbon is bound in the soil.

"So is agriculture one of the world's largest climate villains, or does the sector actually have a positive impact on climate?" asks Per Frankelius.

He does not question the fact that agriculture also produces a significant amount of negative greenhouse gases, and it is important to reduce this in a sustainable manner.

Per Frankelius, who is also process manager at Agtech 2030, an innovation platform at Linköping University, presents in the article no less than seven concrete measures that can both advance the sector and reduce emissions. The measures range from ensuring that fields are green throughout the year to the marketing of animal ecosystem services, the use of fossil-free mineral-based fertilisers, the spread of biochar, replacing diesel by fossil-free biodiesel, electricity, fuel cells or even steam to power engines, planting trees in rows along the edges of fields and placing solar panels there to follow the sun with a recently patented technology, and various ways to reduce soil compaction. He refers to concrete examples in all cases.

The conclusions Per Frankelius draws are unambiguous: in order to achieve long-term sustainability, all aspects of global agriculture must be developed, not wound down or given less advantageous economic conditions. One key to success is innovation.

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Frankelius, Per (2020). A proposal to rethink agriculture in the climate calculations, Agronomy Journal (published by American Society of Agronomy), vol 112, issue 4, pp. 3216-3221. DOI 10.1002/agj2.20286 https://acsess.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/agj2.20286

Contact: Per Frankelius, per.frankelius@liu.se, +46 13 28 15 96

Background:

According to the latest and Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) published in 2014, the IPPC argues that "Agriculture, forestry and other land use" (AFOLU) stands for 24% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions. Only the sector "Electricity and heat production" stands for slightly more, 25%. In the special report on land use published in 2019, the IPPC modified 24% to 23% but underlined: "Agriculture, forestry and other land use (AFOLU) is a significant net source of GHG emissions (high confidence), contributing to about 23% of anthropogenic emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) combined as CO2 equivalents in 2007-2016 (medium confidence)."

Climate Change 2014: Synthesis Report. Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Core Writing Team, R.K. Pachauri and L.A. Meyer (eds.)]. IPCC, Geneva, Switzerland, 2014.

Climate change and land: An IPCC special report on climate change, desertification, land degradation, sustainable land management, food security, and greenhouse gas fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems. Geneva: The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC, 2019. Page 45.

Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy

Engineers use electricity to clean up toxic water

Powerful electrochemical process destroys water contaminants, such as pesticides

UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY

IMAGE: WATER BEFORE AND AFTER ELECTROCHEMICAL TREATMENT. view more 

CREDIT: JULIA CIARLINI JUNGERS SOARES, UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY

A team of engineers may be one step closer to cleaning up heavily contaminated industrial wastewater streams.

Researchers from the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering developed an electrochemical oxidation process with the aim of cleaning up complex wastewater that contained a toxic cocktail of chemical pollutants.

"Our study, published in Algal Research, involved industrial wastewater that had been heavily contaminated with a cocktail of organic and inorganic species during a biofuel production process", said Julia Ciarlini Jungers Soares, who is completing a PhD in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering under the supervision of Dr Alejandro Montoya.

The wastewater, which contained carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus, was generated in a pilot plant, designed by the team for the production of biofuels using naturally abundant microalgae.

The process involved treating wastewater with electricity using specialised electrodes. They discharged electricity, then drove oxidation reactions near the electrode surfaces, transforming the organic contaminants into harmless gasses, ions or minerals.

The water before, during and after treatment. Photo credit: Julia Ciarlini Jungers Soares, University of Sydney

"We have employed an incredibly powerful process that eliminates even the most persistent non-biodegradable pollutants, such as pharmaceuticals and pesticides, as well as various classes of organic compounds that can be found in many industrial effluents," she said.

"The process is relatively simple, does not require the addition of chemicals or severe operation conditions, and does not produce additional waste streams."

"Wastewater is a significant issue for our environment, as well as for many industries who use substantial volumes of water in their processes, such as in reactions, transport, and washing and cooling. Finding suitable solutions for reuse or disposal is often very challenging and costly.

"The electrochemical method that we used can be readily applied to industries that must comply with strict regulations for wastewater disposal, such as pulp and paper processing, wineries, as well as pharmaceutical production facilities.

"Worldwide, researchers are investigating methods for the development of biofuels from algae. Developing alternatives for the treatment and reuse of this industrial effluent is a hot research topic and can bring opportunities for energy and resource recovery within a circular bio-economy framework."

The team will soon carry out research focused on specific contaminants to better understand the chemical transformations that take place during electrochemical oxidation and will upscale the process.

A 2017 UNESCO report found that the opportunities from exploiting wastewater as a resource were vast, and that safely managed wastewater is an affordable and sustainable source of water, energy, nutrients and other recoverable materials.

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DISCLOSURE:

The researchers have no conflicts of interest to declare. The research was supported by a University of Sydney Engineering and Information Technology Research Scholarship.

THE RESEARCH:

Please contact Luisa Low for a PDF copy of the research.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Luisa Low, Media and PR Adviser (Engineering), University of Sydney
luisa.low@sydney.edu.au

COVID-related discrimination disproportionately impacts racial minorities, study shows

Discrimination against people perceived to have COVID-19 increased from March to April 2020

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

 

Discrimination against people thought to be infected with coronavirus was experienced by a rising number of United States residents, particularly racial minorities, in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new study from the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences.

From March to April 2020, the overall percentage of U.S. residents who experienced COVID-related discrimination more than doubled from 4% to 10%, according to researchers. The sharpest increase was among Asians and African Americans, who were most likely to report experiences of discrimination based on the perception they were infected with COVID-19.

In March, during the early stage of the pandemic in the U.S., 11% of Asians and 9% of African Americans had experienced discrimination by someone who perceived them as having the coronavirus, compared to 4% of whites. In April, this increased to 16% of Asians and 15% of African Americans, compared to 9% of whites, according to the study, which was published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

Researchers analyzed responses from the Understanding Coronavirus in America tracking survey conducted by the USC Dornsife Center for Economic and Social Research (CESR) to evaluate the contribution of various risk factors for discrimination--including race/ethnicity and wearing a face mask--during in-person and social media encounters when discriminatory acts might occur. They also looked at how such discrimination was related to mental distress among U.S. adults in the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic in March and April 2020.

Mask-wearing was a risk factor for discrimination

Survey participants consisted of a probability-based, nationally representative sample of 3,665 U.S. residents aged 18 years or older who completed COVID-19-related surveys online in March and April. To measure incidents of discrimination, respondents were asked if "people thinking they might have the coronavirus" acted as if they were afraid of them, threatened or harassed them, treated them with less courtesy and respect, or gave them poorer service at restaurants or stores.

"The early spike in the percentage of people who experienced COVID-related discrimination was attributable - in part - to discriminatory reactions to the growing number of people wearing masks or face coverings at the early stage of the pandemic," said Ying Liu, a research scientist with CESR.

The researchers found Asian Americans were the first racial/ethnic group to experience substantial discrimination, followed by African Americans, and that the higher degree of discrimination experienced by Asians in March was partially explained by their immigration status and mask-wearing.

African Americans' risk of experiencing discrimination was higher than other non-Asian groups and also increased faster between March and April than other groups, according to the study.

"This increase may in part be attributable to the spike in media coverage we saw during this time regarding African Americans' disproportionate vulnerability to COVID-19," said Kyla Thomas, a sociologist at CESR.

Mask-wearing was a persistent risk factor for discrimination associated with COVID-19, although it varied from March to April. The study found other groups, including frontline workers who didn't wear masks, people who worked partially or fully from home, and those who did not work experienced less discrimination.

"In March, before widespread stay-at-home orders and when mask-wearing was rare, people wearing masks were more likely to experience discrimination," said Brian Karl Finch, research professor of sociology and spatial sciences with CESR. "In April, only the frontline workers who wore masks had higher risks of experiencing discrimination."

The research team found that in some earlier weeks of the pandemic, people who were heavy users of social media were more likely to report an experience of discrimination. They also found that experiences of discrimination were associated with increased anxiety and depression, consistent with literature associating general discrimination with poorer mental health especially among racial/ethnic minorities.

"The relationship between COVID-related discrimination and worsening anxiety and depression is particularly pertinent during this pandemic, as it compounds mental health distress attributable to concerns of disease spread, social restrictions, and financial stress," said PhuongThao Le, a postdoctoral researcher at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Stigma can undermine public health efforts

Discrimination toward people who share social or behavioral characteristics with COVID-19 patients, but may not carry the novel virus, was first seen in heightened anti-Chinese rhetoric online. Social media analyses showed a nearly 10-fold increase in the use of offensive language, and reports on in-person racist acts against Asians increased during the early stages of the pandemic.

"In mid-March, President Donald Trump referred to a 'China virus' or 'Chinese virus,' which coincided with an increase of online and in-person crimes including robbery and harassment of Asian Americans," said Savannah Brenneke, a pre-doctoral researcher at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Researchers say this disease-associated stigma toward people, regardless of infection status, has been observed in previous outbreaks of novel viruses. For example, Mexicans and other Latinos were shunned during the 2009 H1N1 pandemic owing to the virus' link to hog farms where migrants worked.

The United Nations and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have called for increased attention to preventing stigma associated with COVID-19, which could undermine disease control efforts, worsen mental health outcomes and exacerbate disparities.

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About the study

The UAS coronavirus surveys referred in this paper were initiated and financed by USC and funded in part by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The parent study protocol was approved by the USC IRB, and data access was granted by UAS' data user agreement.

Ms. Brenneke's work was supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (T32DA007292) and Dr. Le's work was supported by a training grant from the National Institute of Mental Health (T32MH103210).

The Understanding Coronavirus in America Study regularly surveys a panel of more than 7,000 people throughout the country to learn how COVID-19 impacts their attitudes, lives and behaviors. Data from the study, supported in part by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and USC, is updated daily and available to researchers and the public at: covid19pulse.usc.edu.

The survey questions, topline data and data files, and a press room are available at: https://uasdata.usc.edu/page/COVID19+Corona+Virus.

Targeted taxes and school lunch policies benefit low-income populations

Two studies highlight the beneficial health effects of a sugar-sweetened beverage tax and the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010

HARVARD T.H. CHAN SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH

Boston, MA--Targeted taxes on sweetened beverages and policies that strengthen nutritional standards for meals and beverages at schools may be effective tools for decreasing the purchase of sweetened drinks and reducing obesity among children living in poverty, according to two studies led by researchers from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

The studies will be published online July 7, 2020 in Health Affairs.

In the first study, researchers analyzed the influence of an excise tax of 1.5 cents per ounce on sweetened beverages (sugar or artifically sweetened) that was passed in Philadelphia on January 1, 2017. It is the first study to examine the influence of the tax on the purchase of sweetened beverages in small independent stores in urban areas, where sweetened drinks are among the most commonly purchased item.

Philadelphia is the largest of the seven U.S. cities and counties that have a tax on sweetened beverages and, among those localities, it has the highest percentage of racial and ethnic minority groups and people in poverty among its population. These groups are more likely to consume sweetened beverages and are disproportionately affected by health problems linked to excessive consumption of these drinks.

The researchers compared beverage prices and purchases in Philadelphia before the tax's implementation and one year later. They also looked at comparable data from Baltimore, which does not have an sweetened beverages excise tax. The sample included 134 stores and 4,584 customer purchases.

According to the researchers' analysis, the tax significantly increased the price of taxed beverages by 1.81 cents per ounce and decreased the volume of taxed beverages sold by 38.9 percent. Customers shopping in low-income neighborhoods and people with lower education levels purchased slightly less taxed beverages (about 7 fewer ounces) than the overall reduction in the purchase of taxed beverages (about 6 fewer ounces).

According to the researchers, the findings suggest that beverage excise taxes may be an effective policy tool for reducing sweetened beverage purchases among populations at higher risk for sweetened drink consumption.

"Beverage taxes are a policy win-win since they lead people to buy fewer drinks that are bad for health and generate revenue that can be spent on programs such as children's education," said first author Sara Bleich, professor of public health policy in the Department of Health Policy and Management and Carol K. Pforzheimer Professor at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study.

In the second study, a research team led by Erica Kenney, assistant professor of public health nutrition in the Departments of Nutrition and Social and Behavioral Sciences, examined the impact of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 on child obesity risk. The legislation strengthened nutritional standards for meals and beverages provided through the National School Lunch, Breakfast, and Smart Snacks programs. The Act's whole grain standards were relaxed under the Trump administration, but this change was struck down in federal court. Additional rollbacks of the Act's standards have been proposed.

The researchers reviewed data for 173,013 youths taken from the National Survey of Children's Health from 2003-2018, prior to when rollbacks went into effect.

While they found no significant association between the legislation and childhood obesity trends overall, they did find significant reductions in obesity risk among children living in poverty--a population that is particularly reliant on school meals. Among these children, the risk of obesity, which had been trending steadily upwards prior to the legislation going into effect, declined substantially each year following the act's implementation, translating to a 47% reduction in obesity prevalence in 2018 from what would have been expected without the legislation.

The researchers conclude that the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act's science-based nutritional standards should be maintained to support healthy growth, especially among children living in poverty. They also suggest that policymakers consider strategies to increase participation in school meals programs.

"Based on our study, as well as research that USDA and other researchers have conducted showing improvements in diet, the improved school meals standards have been a great public health success story," said first author Kenney. "These healthier school meals are helping to protect the health of the children who have been placed at highest risk for poor health, and they reduce hunger while also reducing their risk of chronic diseases later in life."

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Other Harvard Chan School authors of the Kenney study included: Jessica Barrett, Sara Bleich, Zachary Ward, Angie Cradock, and Steven Gortmaker.

Funding for the Philadelphia beverage tax study came from Bloomberg Philanthropies.

Funding for the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act study came from JPB Foundation (Grant No. 1085). Jessica Barrett, Zachary Ward, Sara Bleich, Angie Cradock, and Steven Gortmaker were supported by the National Institutes of Health (Grant No. R01HL146625). Erica Kenney, Barrett, Bleich, Cradock, and Gortmaker were supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (Grant No. U48DP006376). Gortmaker was supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

"The Association Of A Sweetened Beverage Tax With Changes In Beverage Prices And Purchases At Independent Stores," Sara N. Bleich, Hannah G. Lawman, Michael T. LeVasseur, Jiali Yan, Nandita Mitra, Caitlin M. Lowery, Ana Peterhans, Sophia Hua, Laura A. Gibson, and Christina A. Roberto, Health Affairs, online July 7, 2020, doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.2019.01058

"Impact Of The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act On Obesity Trends," Erica L. Kenney, Jessica L. Barrett, Sara N. Bleich, Zachary J. Ward, Angie L. Cradock, and Steven L. Gortmaker, Health Affairs, online July 7, 2020, doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.2020.00133

Visit the Harvard Chan School website for the latest news, press releases, and multimedia offerings.

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Microplastic pollution harms lobster larvae, study finds

Microplastic fibers in the ocean impact larval lobsters at each stage of their development

BIGELOW LABORATORY FOR OCEAN SCIENCES

 

IMAGE: ACCUMULATED MICROPLASTIC FIBERS ARE VISIBLE UNDER THIS LARVAL LOBSTER'S CARAPACE. NEW RESEARCH SHOWS THAT MICROPLASTIC FIBER POLLUTION IMPACTS LARVAL LOBSTERS AT EACH STAGE OF THEIR DEVELOPMENT. view more 

CREDIT: MADELYN WOODS

Microplastic fiber pollution in the ocean impacts larval lobsters at each stage of their development, according to new research. A study published in the Marine Pollution Bulletin reports that the fibers affect the animals' feeding and respiration, and they could even prevent some larvae from reaching adulthood.

"In today's ocean, organisms are exposed to so many environmental factors that affect how many make it to the next stage of life," said Paty Matrai, a study author and senior research scientist at Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences. "Lobsters play a fundamental role in the Gulf of Maine ecosystem as well as the state's economy, and it is important that we understand how pollutants impact their development."

Young lobsters grow to adulthood through four distinct developmental stages, and the researchers found that the physiology of each stage determined how the animals interacted with plastic fibers. The youngest lobsters didn't consume them - but they were plagued by fibers accumulating under the shells that protect their gills. In experiments where the larvae were exposed to high levels of fibers, the youngest larvae were the least likely to survive.

More mobile and agile, the older lobster larvae did not accumulate fibers under their shells - but they did ingest the particles and keep them in their digestive systems. This could be problematic for lobster larvae coming of age in the ocean. Fresh plastics often leach chemicals, and their surfaces can foster potentially toxic sea life.

"Plastic particles have been found in almost every animal in the ocean," said David Fields, another study author and a senior research scientist at Bigelow Laboratory. "If an animal can fit something in its tiny little piehole, it's probably going to - and that can have repercussions for the animal and potentially for the food web."

Microplastic fibers enter the ocean from sources including wastewater, and they can also be created in the ocean as larger materials degrade. Plastics tend to float at the surface, where they are exposed to sunlight and wave action that eventually break them down into small particles.

Though the levels of microplastic fibers in coastal Maine waters are relatively low, they can still present a serious challenge to the animals that encounter them. In addition, some animals are predisposed to encounter any fibers that are in the area. Because microplastic fibers tend to remain at the ocean's surface, animals that inhabit surface waters are more likely to come into contact with them - including larval lobsters.

"Even relatively low levels of plastics can be harmful for the animals that encounter them, and where an animal lives in the water column can amplify the problem," Fields said. "A lobster larva that eats a plastic fiber is just like us eating a candy wrapper - it's not great, but it will probably just pass though. But if all you're eating is candy wrappers, it's certainly going to have other repercussions for your health." 

With ocean acidification and rising temperatures already challenging lobsters and other sea life, the researchers are particularly interested in how this plastic pollution may compound with the other environmental stressors that ocean animals are facing. They are interested in conducting future experiments that could probe how animals are impacted when challenged by all three of these factors simultaneously.

Matrai and Fields previously studied the impact of microplastic fibers on mussels with Madelyn Woods, a recent Bigelow Laboratory intern and the lead author of this paper. Fellow authors Theresa Hong, Donaven Baughman, and Grace Andrews also all studied with Matrai and Fields as Research Experience for Undergraduates interns during the summer of 2019.

"As a global community, we are just becoming aware of the impact of plastics in the ocean, and the reality that this pollution is superimposed on other changes in the environment," Matrai said. "By working together to reduce the amount of microplastic fibers in the ocean, we can all help protect our important marine resources."

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This work was supported by the National Science Foundation, the National Oceans and Atmospheric Administration, SeaGrant-Maine, and Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences.

Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences is an independent, nonprofit research institute located in East Boothbay, Maine. From the Arctic to the Antarctic, Bigelow Laboratory scientists use cutting-edge techniques to understand the ocean's mysteries, address its challenges, and unlock its hidden opportunities. Learn more at bigelow.org, and join the conversation on Facebook,Twitter.

Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy

Repurposing public health systems to decode COVID-19

Existing public health monitoring systems in the UK, could improve understanding of the risk factors associated with severe COVID-19

MICROBIOLOGY SOCIETY

 Existing public health monitoring systems in the UK, could improve understanding of the risk factors associated with severe COVID-19.

Research published in the journal Microbial Genomics describes how national surveillance systems can be linked with the UK Biobank. This pooled data could then be used to understand how genetics and other epidemiological factors impact risk of developing severe infection.

The UK Biobank (UKB) is an international health resource which enables researchers to understand the genetic and lifestyle determinants of common diseases. The researchers linked UKB with Public Health England's Second-Generation Surveillance System (SGSS), a centralised microbiology database used for national disease surveillance in England. SGSS holds data collected in clinical diagnostic laboratories in England, including test results for SARS-CoV-2.

Large cohorts such as UKB are a useful resource for understanding how a disease behaves in different groups, according to Dr Danny Wilson, Associate Professor at the Big Data Institute, University of Oxford (UK). He said: "Large datasets are helpful for detecting risk factors, including those that have modest effects or vary from person-to-person, and for providing a sound footing for conclusions by reducing statistical noise. These discoveries help scientists better understand the disease and could inspire efforts aimed at improving treatment."

By linking the two systems, researchers hope to facilitate research into the risk factors for severe COVID-19. Repurposing public health systems in this way can provide near-to-real-time data on SARS-CoV-2, and allow researchers to understand the spread, testing and disease characteristics of the virus.

This new computerised system will provide weekly linkage of test results to UKB and other cohorts. The UK Biobank database consists of around 500,000 men and women in the UK, aged 50+. This group is particularly appropriate for the study of COVID-19, as severity of disease increases with age. Further data is also being released by UKB, according to Dr Wilson: "UK Biobank are releasing, or have released other data relevant to COVID-19, like mortality records, and they plan to release hospital episode statistics and primary care data soon too".

Their data provides in-depth analysis of disease severity, symptoms and risk in people from the UKB database. Researchers hope that this data can reveal additional risk factors for severe infection and improve understanding of the disease. "By providing information about COVID-19 to large cohorts including UK Biobank, INTERVAL, COMPARE, Genes & Health, Genomics England and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Biorepository, this work facilitates research into lifestyle, medical and genetic risk factors" said Dr Wilson.

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Sensory neurons outside the brain drive autistic social behaviors, Penn study suggests

Fly model points to potential new therapeutic target for autism spectrum disorders

UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA SCHOOL OF MEDICINE

PHILADELPHIA-- A new study from Penn Medicine lends further evidence  the social behaviors tied to autism spectrum disorders (ASD) emerge from abnormal function of sensory neurons outside the brain. It's an important finding, published today in the journal Cell Reports, because peripheral sensory systems--which determine how we perceive the environment around us --makes for more accessible therapeutic targets to treat ASD-related symptoms, rather than the central brain itself.

In the fruit fly Drosophila-- a powerful model for studying neurobiology-- the researchers showed that loss of a protein known as neurofibromin 1 caused adult male flies to have social impairments. Those deficits, the researchers also showed, traced back to a primary disruption in a small group of peripheral neurons controlling external stimuli, like smell and touch, that communicate to the brain.

"These data raise the exciting possibility that the root of the problem doesn't begin with errors in the brain itself. It's the disrupted flow of information from the periphery to the brain we should be taking a closer look at," said senior author Matthew Kayser, MD, PhD, an assistant professor in the department of Psychiatry in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. "The findings should help guide the field toward sensory processing therapeutic targets that, if effective, could be transformative for patients suffering from these disorders."

In humans, a loss of neurofibromin 1 is associated with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1), a neurodevelopmental disorder with high rates of ASD, but how that loss leads to social deficits is unknown. Past studies have also shown a link between the peripheral sensory system and social deficits; however, this is the first study to implicate neurofibromin's function.

Up to 50 percent of children with NF1 fall on the autism spectrum, and are 13 times more likely to exhibit highly elevated ASD symptoms, including social and communicative disabilities, increased isolation and bullying, difficulties on social tasks, and sensitivities to sound or light. Those symptoms are all tied to difficulties with processing sensory information. Face and gaze processing, for example, makes a social gesture like eye contact exceedingly difficult.

The team, led by Penn postdoctoral scientist Emilia Moscato, PhD, used genetically manipulated flies to show that a loss of neurofibromin led to diminished social courtship behavior and errors in gustatory sensory neurons called ppk23, which are known to coordinate such behaviors. These behavioral deficits stem from an ongoing role for neurofibromin in coordinating social functions in adults, as opposed to guiding development of social behavioral neural circuits.

More specifically, in vivo monitoring of neural activity in the mutant flies showed decreased sensory neuron activation in response to specific pheromonal cues, which then disrupted proper function of downstream brain neurons that direct social decisions. The disruption also led to persistent changes in behavior of the flies beyond the social interaction itself, suggesting a brief sensory error can have long-lasting consequences on behavior.

Next, the researchers aim to better understand how this mutation translates to disruption in brain activity and ultimately behaviors associated with ASD and NF1. They also hope to test different drugs in animal models to identify novel compounds that can restore social behaviors.

"Sensory processing is a readily testable entry-point into social behavioral dysfunction," Kayser said, "so findings from these experiments have potential to rapidly impact the clinical setting."

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