RACIST MEDICINE U$A

Black and Hispanic men saw worse COVID-19 outcomes, study shows

New research highlights nationwide health disparities in COVID-19 testing, hospitalization and death during initial COVID-19 lockdowns

Peer-Reviewed Publication

MID-ATLANTIC PERMANENTE MEDICAL GROUP

More than two years into the pandemic, multiple analyses of federal, state and local data show that people of color were, and continue to be, disproportionately impacted by COVID-19.  New research from physicians and researchers from the Mid-Atlantic Permanente Research Institute (MAPRI) and the Mid-Atlantic Permanente Medical Group shows these disparities also existed in the early months of the pandemic and were more likely to negatively impact Black and Hispanic men. The study, “Differences in COVID-19 testing and adverse outcomes by race, ethnicity, sex, and health system setting in a large diverse U.S. cohort,” was published in PLOS One. 

Key Findings: 

From March 2020 to August 2020, 

• Hispanic patients had the highest rates of COVID-19 PCR testing and positivity. 

• Both male and female Black patients were more likely to be hospitalized with COVID-19 compared to white patients.   

• Black men were at the highest risk of death from COVID-19. 

• Regardless of ethnicity, men were more likely to be hospitalized or die from COVID-19 compared to women. 

• Men of any ethnicity were less likely to test for COVID-19, yet were more likely to be positive for COVID-19 when they did test. 

• The percentage of patients hospitalized for COVID-19 and overall mortality rates from COVID-19 were lower in integrated health systems (ex. Kaiser Permanente) regardless of race or sex.  

“Understanding the disparities of different populations helps us determine where there are gaps in care,” said co-author of the study and Director of Research Data Analytics for the Mid-Atlantic Permanente Research Institute Eric Watson. “Studies like ours show us that nationwide, medical systems need to be more proactive in ensuring that everyone has access to equitable healthcare, particularly during a worldwide pandemic.” 

Researchers analyzed the electronic medical records of over five million adult patients across several medical systems throughout the United States from March 2020 to August 2020. 

COVID-19 Testing and Positivity Rates 

Analyses found Hispanic patients had the highest rates of COVID-19 PCR testing and positivity. Those findings were in line with other reports showing Hispanic patients were over two and a half times more likely to test positive for COVID-19 than their white counterparts. 

"Some patients from this population were unable to work from home or social distance during the height of lockdowns,” said co-author of the study and infectious diseases physician Michael Horberg, MD. “This could’ve led to an increased risk of exposure to COVID-19, therefore a higher portion of patients testing positive.” 

Asian/Pacific Islanders had low rates of COVID-19 PCR testing and low positivity rates. White patients had the lowest overall COVID-19 positivity rates despite having high testing rates. Compared to women, men of any ethnicity were less likely to test for COVID-19 yet were more likely to be positive for COVID-19 when they did test.  

Hospitalization 

A total of 5,724 patients studied were hospitalized due to COVID-19 infection. The study found that Black patients were more likely to be hospitalized from COVID-19 compared to white patients. Regardless of ethnicity, men were hospitalized for COVID-19 more frequently than women. The authors said many factors could have driven severe outcomes for Black patients and men during this timeframe. 

“We know that, in general, men are less likely to seek care when they are sick,” Watson explained. “Delaying care for COVID-19 could lead to more severe outcomes.” 

Death 

Nearly 1,400 patients studied died after being hospitalized with COVID-19. Black men experienced the highest rates of death, closely followed by Hispanic men.  

The Importance of Greater Access to Care 

Researchers noted that patients who received care within integrated health systems like Kaiser Permanente were less likely to experience severe outcomes from COVID-19 compared to academic health systems. The percentage of patients hospitalized for COVID-19 and overall mortality rates from COVID-19 were lower in integrated health systems regardless of race or sex.    

“Our model of care makes it easier for patients to prevent and treat illnesses” Watson explained. “Our patients have a team of doctors guiding them throughout their health journey. If they are sick, their care team can quickly and seamlessly point them in the right direction to get proper care. Not all health systems can do that.” 

Dr. Horberg said that while integrated health systems had improved outcomes, there are still health disparities present. He hopes future research can identify how to better close gaps in care. 

“While access to care is important, it represents the end of the disparity pathway, not the beginning,” Dr. Horberg said. “We need to better understand how individual, household and structural differences among certain populations may be driving forces for disparities in testing and outcomes related to COVID-19.” 

Future Research 

Physicians and research scientists from the Mid-Atlantic Permanente Research Institute are currently involved in a variety of studies regarding long COVID, formally known as post-acute sequelae of SARS CoV-2 infection (PASC). This research will also analyze health disparities related to vaccination status.  

“If someone is vaccinated against COVID-19, they are less likely to experience symptoms of PASC,” Watson said. “So, if we find that there is a disparity in those who received the vaccine, there could potentially a disparity in who experienced more severe acute symptoms or symptoms of PASC.” 

Stay up to date with research from the Mid-Atlantic Permanente Research Institute and the Mid-Atlantic Permanente Medical Group at https://mydoctor.kaiserpermanente.org/mas/research/  

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JOURNAL

PLoS ONE

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Observational study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

“Differences in COVID-19 testing and adverse outcomes by race, ethnicity, sex, and health system setting in a large diverse U.S. cohort

Bloating common issue among Americans, study reports

Women were more than twice as likely as men to report feeling bloated

Peer-Reviewed Publication

CEDARS-SINAI MEDICAL CENTER

Nearly 1 in 7 Americans experience bloating on a weekly basis, and most aren’t seeking professional care for it, according to a new study led by Cedars-Sinai investigators. The findings are published in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology.

“Although bloating is a common symptom, some patients may not bring it up with their doctors,” said Janice Oh, MD, a resident physician within the Division of General Internal Medicine Division at Cedars-Sinai and first author of the study. “It’s important that people feel comfortable discussing bloating because it could be a symptom of a serious condition and there are treatments available.”

Bloating can make people feel swollen or tight in the abdomen. It may occur when a person’s gastrointestinal tract fills with air or gas and can sometimes be the result of diet or an underlying condition, such as irritable bowel syndrome, carbohydrate enzyme deficiency or chronic constipation. 

To understand the scope of bloating in the U.S., the authors emailed a survey to nearly 90,000 people. Of the 88,795 people who completed the survey from May through June 2020, 12,324 (13.9%) reported bloating in the past seven days. 

“To our knowledge, this is among the largest studies of bloating in the U.S.,” said Brennan Spiegel, MD, MSHS, director of Health Services Research at Cedars-Sinai and senior author of the study. “Anecdotally, we often hear about bloating in the clinic, but this study adds concrete evidence to describe how commonly it occurs and what other conditions it’s associated with.”

Of the people who reported experiencing bloating, about 58.5% said they have never sought care for their symptoms. 

Some of the reasons they gave for not seeking care were that the bloating resolved on its own (32.5%), it wasn’t bothersome (29.9%), they were able to manage it with over-the-counter medications or lifestyle changes (20.8%), they didn’t have health insurance (10.2%) or time to go to the doctor (9%), or they weren’t comfortable discussing bloating with a healthcare provider (8.5%).

Women were also more than twice as likely as men to report bloating. 

“Other studies have also found that women report more bloating than men, and researchers have proposed various hypotheses for why this may be occurring,” Oh explained. “These include hormonal, metabolic, psychosocial, lifestyle and dietary differences between men and women.”

Latinos and people under the age of 60 were also more likely to report bloating within the past seven days, as were people with medical conditions such as such as irritable bowel syndrome, chronic constipation, and ulcerative colitis. People with related gastrointestinal symptoms, such as abdominal pain and excess gas, were also more likely to experience bloating.  

“Bloating can often be managed effectively with various medications, such as gut-directed antibiotics or treatments that affect serotonin levels in the gut. There is also evidence that lifestyle changes can help, including exercise, such as core strengthening, as well as dietary changes, but it requires discussion with a healthcare provider about what might be causing the bloating,” Oh said. 

More studies are needed to investigate the causes of bloating and how to best treat it, according to the investigators. 

Funding: The study was funded by Ironwood Pharmaceuticals.

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JOURNAL

Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology

DOI

10.1016/j.cgh.2022.10.031 

ARTICLE TITLE

Abdominal bloating in the US: Results of a survey of 88,795 Americans examining prevalence and healthcare seeking

"It is universally well known, that in digesting our common food, there is created or produced in the bowels of human creatures, a great quantity of wind," Franklin wrote in an essay variously known as "To the Royal Academy of Farting" or simply "Fart Proudly." "That the permitting this Air to escape and mix with the ...

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Fart Proudly is the popular name of an essay about flatulence written by Benjamin Franklin c. 1781 while he was living abroad as United States Ambassador to ...

"Fart Proudly," by Ben Franklin (1781) PDF

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"Fart Proudly," by Ben Franklin (1781). To the Royal Academy of Farting c. 1781. GENTLEMEN,. I have perused your late mathematical Prize Question, ...

‘Mass testing’ linked to 25% cut in covid-19 related hospital admissions

If causal, this is equivalent to over 200 fewer hospital admissions than expected without this intervention, say researchers

Peer-Reviewed Publication

BMJ

The first ever voluntary ‘mass testing’ pilot for people without covid symptoms was associated with an overall 25% reduction in covid-19 related hospital admissions, including an initial 43% reduction with military assistance, finds a study published by The BMJ today. 
 
Assuming this effect was causal, the researchers say the pilot prevented 6,829 infections and led to 239 fewer hospital admissions across the city of Liverpool, before being rolled out to the rest of the UK.
 
Transmission of the covid-19 virus by people without symptoms has been a major challenge in controlling the pandemic. These latest findings show that large scale voluntary community testing for covid-19 can potentially reduce virus transmission and prevent hospital admissions. 
 
The pilot, known as Covid-SMART, offered supervised voluntary lateral flow testing to all people over the age of 5 years without symptoms who were living or working in Liverpool from 6 November 2020 to 2 January 2021. The aim was to identify infectious people sooner and disrupt transmission.
 
Covid-SMART coincided with the start of the second national UK lockdown (5 November to 2 December 2020). At the time, the unvaccinated population of Liverpool had the highest covid-19 case rate in the country.
 
The researchers wanted to find out whether such large scale testing was effective at reducing covid-19 related hospital admissions.
 
To do this, they compared weekly covid-19 related hospital admissions among the pilot (intervention) population with a control population selected from the rest of England with similar previous covid-19 hospital admissions and sociodemographic factors to the intervention population.
 
When analysis was restricted to the first month of the pilot (6 November to 3 December 2020), the results show that it was associated with a 43% reduction in covid-19 related hospital admissions in Liverpool compared with the control population.
 
In absolute numbers this is the equivalent of 146 fewer admissions in the period up to 3 December 2020.
 
However, the researchers stress that this was a time of intensive testing with military assistance when Liverpool was under higher (tier 3) lockdown restrictions than many other areas of the country. 
 
When analysis was extended across the full intervention period (6 November 2020 to 2 January 2021), and regional differences in lockdown restrictions were taken into account, a 25% reduction in covid-19 related hospital admissions was seen (equivalent to 239 fewer admissions) compared with the control population.
 
This is an observational study, and the researchers stress that care should be taken when interpreting the findings in the context of different variants, levels of immunity, and testing policies. What’s more, they can’t rule out the possibility that other unmeasured (confounding) factors may have influenced their results.
 
Nevertheless, their approach ensured that control areas were likely to have been affected by similar coronavirus transmission patterns before the introduction of CovidSMART in Liverpool, and the results were similar after additional analyses, suggesting that they are robust.
 
As such, they say: “It is plausible that the main effect in our analysis is causally related to the Covid-SMART intervention, especially as the study period pre-dates the main roll-out of covid-19 vaccination.”
 
They note that large scale community testing is a complex intervention, where one person’s testing may affect another’s (eg. family member’s) covid risk behaviour, and therefore the testing effect is not a simple relationship between one test and one chain of virus transmission. They also emphasise that success relies on high levels of uptake and effective support to enable isolation of infectious people and their close contacts.
 
But they say their findings suggest that even when uptake is unequal and barriers to effective isolation exist, “widespread community testing can potentially reduce transmission and subsequent hospital admissions at least in the short term.”
 

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JOURNAL

The BMJ

DOI

10.1136/bmj-2022-071374 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Observational study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Impact of community asymptomatic rapid antigen testing on covid-19 related hospital admissions: synthetic control study

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

23-Nov-2022

Astronomers observe intra-group light – the elusive glow between distant galaxies

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES

 

IMAGE: LIGHT 'BETWEEN' THE GROUPS OF GALAXIES – THE 'INTRA-GROUP LIGHT' – HOWEVER DIM, IS RADIATED FROM STARS STRIPPED FROM THEIR HOME GALAXY. IMAGE: SUPPLIED. view more 

CREDIT: MARTÍNEZ-LOMBILLA ET AL./UNSW SYDNEY

An international team of astronomers have turned a new technique onto a group of galaxies and the faint light between them – known as ‘intra-group light’ – to characterise the stars that dwell there. 

Lead author of the study published in MNRAS, Dr Cristina Martínez-Lombilla from the School of Physics at UNSW Science, said “We know almost nothing about intra-group light. 

“The brightest parts of the intra-group light are ~50 times fainter than the darkest night sky on Earth. It is extremely hard to detect, even with the largest telescopes on Earth – or in space.” 

Using their sensitive technique, which eliminates light from all objects except that from the intra-group light, the researchers not only detected the intra-group light but were able to study and tell the story of the stars that populate it. 

“We analysed the properties of the intra-group stars – those stray stars between the galaxy groups. We looked at the age and abundance of the elements that composed them and then we compared those features with the stars still belonging to galaxy groups,” Dr Martínez-Lombilla said. 

“We found that the intra-group light is younger and less metal-rich than the surrounding galaxies.” 

Rebuilding the story of intra-group light 

Not only were the orphan stars in the intra-group light ‘anachronistic’ but they appeared to be of a different origin to their closest neighbours. The researchers found the character of the intra-group stars appeared similar to the nebulous ‘tail’ of a further away galaxy. 

The combination of these clues allowed the researchers to rebuild the history – the story – of the intra-group light and how its stars came to be gathered in their own stellar orphanage. 

“We think these individual stars were at some points stripped from their home galaxies and now they float freely, following the gravity of the group,” said Dr Martínez-Lombilla. “The stripping, called tidal stripping, is caused by the passage of massive satellite galaxies – similar to the Milky Way – that pull stars in their wake.” 

This is the first time the intra-group light of these galaxies has been observed. 

“Unveiling the quantity and origin of the intra-group light provides a fossil record of all the interactions a group of galaxies has undergone and provides a holistic view of the system's interaction history,” Dr Martínez-Lombilla said. 

“Also, these events occurred a long time ago. The galaxies [we’re looking at] are so far away, that we're observing them as they were 2.5 billion years ago. That is how long it takes for their light to reach us.” 

By observing events from a long time ago, in galaxies so far away, the researchers are contributing vital datapoints to the slow-burning evolution of cosmic events. 

Tailored image treatment procedure 

The researchers pioneered a unique technique to achieve this penetrating view. 

“We have developed a tailored image treatment procedure that allows us to analyse the faintest structures in the Universe,” said Dr Martínez-Lombilla. 

“It follows the standard steps for the study of faint structures in astronomical images – which implies 2D modelling and the removal of all light except that coming from the intra-group light. This includes all the bright stars in the images, the galaxies obscuring the intra-group light and a subtraction of the continuum emission from the sky. 

“What makes our technique different is that it is fully Python-based so it is very modular and easily applicable to different sets of data from different telescopes rather than being just useful for these images. 

“The most important outcome is that when studying very faint structures around galaxies, every step in the process counts and every undesirable light should be accounted for and removed. Otherwise, your measurements will be wrong. 

The techniques presented in this study are a pilot, encouraging future analyses of intra-group light, Dr Martínez-Lombilla said. 

“Our main long-term goal is to extend these results to a large sample of group of galaxies. Then we can look at statistics and find out the typical properties regarding the formation and evolution of the intra-group light and these extremely common systems of groups of galaxies. 

“This is key work for preparing the next generation of deep all-sky surveys such as those to be performed with the Euclid space telescope and the LSST with the Vera C. Rubin Observatory.” 

 

 

—ENDS—

Media Contact:

Jesse Hawley

UNSW Science | News and Content Coordinator

Jesse.hawley@unsw.edu.au

0422 537 392

Dr Cristina Martínez Lombilla, Postdoctoral Research Associate School of Physics, UNSW Sydney. Contact: Jesse Hawley

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JOURNAL

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

DOI

10.1093/mnras/stac3119 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Imaging analysis

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA): Extended intra-group light in a group at 𝑧 = 0.2 from deep hyper-suprime cam images

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

24-Nov-2022

Duke-NUS scientists reveal first close-up look at bats’ immune response to live infection

Understanding how bats tolerate viral infections without developing symptoms may lead to better ways of combatting human disease

Peer-Reviewed Publication

DUKE-NUS MEDICAL SCHOOL

SINGAPORE, 23 November 2022 – In a world first, scientists at Duke-NUS Medical School and colleagues in Singapore have sequenced the response to viral infection in colony-bred cave nectar bats (Eonycteris spelaea) at single-cell resolution. Published in the journal Immunity, the findings contribute to insights into bat immunity that could be harnessed to protect human health.

Bats harbour many types of viruses. Even when they are infected with viruses deadly to humans, they show no notable signs or symptoms of disease. 

“It is our hope that by understanding how bats’ immune responses protect them from infections, we may find clues that will help humans to better combat viral infections,” explained Dr Akshamal Gamage, Research Fellow with Duke-NUS’ Emerging Infectious Diseases (EID) Programme and a co-first author of the study.

“And knowing how to better fight viral infections can aid in the development of treatments that will help us to be more bat-like—by falling sick less and ageing better,” added Mr Wharton Chan, an MD-PhD candidate at Duke-NUS who is also a co-first author of the study.

In this study, the scientists investigated bat immune responses to Malacca virus, a double-stranded RNA virus that uses bats as its natural reservoir. This virus also causes mild respiratory disease in humans.

The team used single-cell transcriptome sequencing to study lung immune responses to infections at the cellular level, identifying the different types of immune cells in bats—some of which are different from those in other mammals, including humans—and uncovering what they do in response to such viral infections.

They found that a type of white blood cell, called neutrophils, showed a very high expression of a gene called IDO1, which is known to play a role in mediating immune suppression in humans. The scientists believe that IDO1 expression in cave nectar bats could play an important role in limiting inflammation following infection.

Dr Feng Zhu, Research Fellow with the EID Programme and a co-first author of the study, said, “We also found marked anti-viral gene signatures in white blood cells known as monocytes and alveolar macrophages, which—in a sense—consume viral particles and then teach T cells how to recognise the virus. This observation is interesting as it shows that bats clearly activate an immune response following infection despite showing few outward symptoms or pathology.”

The team also identified an unusual diversity and abundance of T cells and natural killer cells—named for their ability to kill tumour cells and cells infected with a virus—in the cave nectar bat, which are broadly activated to respond to the infection.

“This is the first study that details the bat immune response to in vivo infection at the single-cell transcriptome level,” said Professor Linfa Wang, senior author of the study from the EID Programme. “We believe that our work serves as a key guide to inform further investigations into uncovering the remarkable biology of bats. Moving forward, besides studies into viral disease tolerance, we also hope to uncover clues to longevity from bats as long-lived mammals and also learn how these nectarivorous bats can live on the high sugar diet in nectar without getting diabetes.”

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JOURNAL

Immunity

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Single-cell transcriptome analysis of the in vivo response to viral infection in the cave nectar bat Eonycteris spelaea

AI-powered make-up mirrors are driving consumers back to stores as they enhance sense of ‘fakeness’, new study finds

New research explores why consumers are reluctant to use augmented reality make-up mirrors, with users fearing Augmented Reality (AR) devices/apps distort how others see them as well as how they perceive themselves.

Peer-Reviewed Publication

CITY UNIVERSITY LONDON

A new study has found that digital make-up mirrors enhance a sense of ‘fakeness’ and embarrassment and creates a desire for the ‘real’ in-store experience among consumers.

The report, co-authored by Bayes Business School and conducted between 2018-2022, has explored the psychological and sociological factors of the consumer experience when using Augmented Reality (AR) make-up technology; in particular the role that digital make-up mirrors play in enhancing people’s imagination and their perception of self.

The authors find that although individuals may feel comfortable wearing make-up when looking at themselves through a ‘real’ mirror the opposite is true when looking into a digital make-up mirror.

Consumers found that digital mirrors, promoted by brands including Charlotte Tilbury, L’Oréal and Amazon, enhanced their self-imagination as they were able to imagine themselves looking like their favourite celebrity or how they looked in the past. However, when compared with the ‘real’ shopping experience of buying make-up, AR mirrors have created a strong sense of self inauthenticity. This is because of factors including:

• Trying make-up instore brings a sense of enjoyment, whereas looking at ourselves through a digital make-up mirror brings a feeling of ‘horror’
• Individuals have a sense of embarrassment when using digital make-up mirrors and feel less likely to want to share digital content in their search for social acceptance
• Make-up is an emotional experience: real instore make-up shopping is perceived as a journey of self-reflection which is difficult to compare with digital make-up mirror
• Individuals view themselves through a lens whereby how they should look is based on a collective online observation of friends, celebrities or influencers. A digital make-up mirror hinders the way individuals search for this proxy-self.

This feeling of self-inauthenticity initially deflates the consumers’ desire to use online make-up mirrors. However, for consumers to ‘complete’ and ‘enjoy’ their shopping experience, they would rather be physically inside the make-up store. In the meantime, while these apps and devices allow them to send a photo of their transformed self to social media, they fear embarrassment from their social network. So, instead of using an AR make-up mirror to try-on makeup, consumers prefer to find a make-up influencer who shares similarity with their own look, such as skin type or face contour and follow their recommendations.

Users of the digital make-up mirror for the study criticised AR’s lack of understanding or respect for human skin, ethnicity or feelings when applying colour on skin, in particular with luxury make-up brands. They also claimed ‘shameful surprise’ with how they looked when using AR make-up mirrors. For instance, although they looked surprised when seeing AR colours on their face, they quickly felt ashamed of their AR look and would barely share their AR photo ‘privately’ with close family and friends rather than sharing it publicly online.

One participant said:

“... It’s my face. I want it. I want to feel it. I want to try it [real makeup products] on. I want to see the consistency...with makeup it’s not something that I can trust any kind of virtual augmented anything for a decision like what I’m putting on my face.”

Khaled El-Shamandi Ahmed, co-author of the study, said managers and creative companies were “a world apart” from consumers in the experience, adding that consumers must be involved as co-creators if progress is to be made.

However, he added that online AR make-up apps could drive consumers’ footfalls to visit make-up stores ahead of Black Friday on 25 November – with the most recent retail footfall figures showing a 14 per cent decline over the pre-Covid comparative period in 2019 – and enjoy ‘real’ makeup shopping experience.

“Digital make-up mirrors do not extend the self but, to the contrary, create a sense of inauthentic self that can result in embarrassment and shame. This is despite the research which promises that AR will transform consumers’ shopping experience.

“Those surveyed described finding the right make-up as an ‘emotional process’ and ‘a journey’. This study makes clear that technology, while a powerful and progressive tool in the service sector, can also be a negative and disruptive influence for the consumer.

“Technology companies and consumers are a world apart in terms of the expected and perceived digital service experience, and customer experience managers have a responsibility to balance the fun-factor with reality.”

Ends

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JOURNAL

Journal of Service Management

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

I.C.Y.M.I.

Planet’s most unique birds at higher risk of extinction

Peer-Reviewed Publication

BRITISH ECOLOGICAL SOCIETY

 

IMAGE: AGAMI HERON (AGAMIA AGAMI) view more 

CREDIT: JOE TOBIAS

A new study finds that bird species with extreme or uncommon combinations of traits face the highest risk of extinction. The findings are published in the British Ecological Society journal Functional Ecology.

A new study led by researchers at Imperial College London finds that the most unique birds on the planet are also the most threatened. Losing these species and the unique roles they play in the environment, such as seed dispersal, pollination and predation, could have severe consequences to the functioning of ecosystems.

The study analysed the extinction risk and physical attributes (such as beak shape and wing length) of 99% of all living bird species, making it the most comprehensive study of its kind to date.

The researchers found that in simulated scenarios in which all threatened and near-threatened bird species became extinct, there would be a significantly greater reduction in the physical (or morphological) diversity among birds than in scenarios where extinctions were random.

Bird species that are both morphologically unique and threatened include the Christmas Frigatebird (Fregata andrewsi), which nests only on Christmas Island, and the Bristle-thighed Curlew (Numenius tahitiensis), which migrates from its breeding grounds in Alaska to South Pacific islands every year.

Jarome Ali, a PhD candidate at Princeton University who completed the research at Imperial College London and was the lead author of the research, said: “Our study shows that extinctions will most likely prune a large proportion of unique species from the avian tree. Losing these unique species will mean a loss of the specialised roles that they play in ecosystems.

“If we do not take action to protect threatened species and avert extinctions, the functioning of ecosystems will be dramatically disrupted.”

In the study, the authors used a dataset of measurements collected from living birds and museum specimens, totalling 9943 bird species. The measurements included physical traits like beak size and shape, and the length of wings, tails and legs.

The authors combined the morphological data with extinction risk, based on each species’ current threat status on the IUCN Red List. They then ran simulations on what would happen if the most threatened birds were to go extinct.

Although the dataset used in the study was able to show that the most unique birds were also classified as threatened on the Red List, it was unable to show what links uniqueness in birds to extinction risk.

Jarome Ali said: “One possibility is that highly specialised organisms are less able to adapt to a changing environment, in which case human impacts may directly threaten species with the most unusual ecological roles. More research is needed to delve deeper into the connection between unique traits and extinction risk.”

Blyth's Kingfisher (Alcedo hercules)

Bristle-thighed Curlew (Numenius tahitiensis)

CREDIT

Joe Tobias

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JOURNAL

Functional Ecology

DOI

10.1111/1365-2435.14201 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Computational simulation/modeling

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animals

ARTICLE TITLE

Bird extinctions threaten to cause disproportionate reductions of functional diversity and uniqueness

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

24-Nov-2022