Birds living in natural habits can help inform captive care

UNIVERSITY OF EXETER

Research News

Bird species that live in their natural habitats can help zoos learn how to manage those in captivity, according to a new review.

Birds are the most diverse group housed by zoos around the world, but zoo-based research tends not to focus on birds.

A new article published in the journal Birds, by Dr Paul Rose of the University of Exeter, suggests zoos can improve management of birds by looking at how species live in their natural habitats.

Likewise, birds living under the care of humans can also help guide and develop conservation action for those living in the wild.

"Research into wild birds is extremely useful for furthering how birds are managed in zoos," said Dr Rose.

"For species of conservation concern, zoo professionals can be linked with field biologists to share information on how to best care for these species in captivity and how to develop and formulate conservation actions.

"We can use proxy species - those common in zoos - to develop practices for conservation that can be used for less familiar species that might be of concern and need help from information gathered through things such as captive breeding.

"Or we can promote the threats that these not-in-the-zoo species face by using the commoner species as an ambassador.

"We do this through my work at the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust, promoting the rarer species of flamingo that are in the wild using the commoner ones we keep in the living collection."

In the review, Dr Rose uses hornbills as an example, a species of bird that is essential to the long viability and sustainability of biodiversity in the rainforest.

The helmeted hornbill, a critically endangered species, plays an important role in the dispersal of seeds within pristine, undistributed areas of south-east Asian rainforests.

The population decline of the helmeted hornbill has been caused by poaching of the birds for their "ivory", the large casque on the bird's head and bill that can be up to 10% of its overall body mass.

Whilst the helmeted hornbill is not found in captivity, other species of large hornbill are.

By looking at the ecological role of the helmeted hornbill in its natural habitat, zoos have been able to design enclosures that will increase chances of reproduction.

For example, by identifying the temperature and humidity range of hornbill nesting sites in the wild which are more likely to hatch eggs, zoos have been able to use this data to enable them to match these environmental conditions as closely as possible.

A similar situation happened with the Guam kingfishers, a species that is extinct in the wild and reliant on captive breeding for its survival.

Data from the nesting locations of the closely related Pohnpei kingfisher, found on a neighbouring island, showed that temperatures were hotter than those sometimes provided for captive Guam kingfishers.

The findings led to zoos raising the temperature to improve nesting success amongst the species.

Zoos have also been able to guide conservation action for hornbills living in the wild by monitoring the behaviour of these birds and discovering that using nest boxes enhances the quality of habitats for hornbills to breed in, which has led to these boxes being built in areas of the helmeted hornbill's range in Borneo.

Expertise and financial support has been provided by several large zoological collections in European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA) and North American Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) that has successfully seen wild rhinoceros hornbills, listed as vulnerable, fledge a chick from an artificial nest box in the Bornean rainforest.

"The effect of visitors on zoos can also help direct future research questions and increase understanding of birds under human care," adds Dr Rose.

"Developing zoo bird exhibits to theme them around specific conservation messages can be used to promote wider understanding of the threats faced by wild birds specifically and hopefully encourage human behaviour change that benefits ecosystem health."

###

The review article published in the Journal Birds, is entitled: "Evidence for aviculture: Identifying research needs to advance the role of ex situ bird populations in conservation initiatives and collection planning."

Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.

 FOR POSTMODERN DRUIDS

Forests of the world in 3D

Research team led by the University of Göttingen analyses complexity of forest structure

UNIVERSITY OF GÖTTINGEN

Research News

 

IMAGE: THE RESEARCHERS USE LASERS TO SCAN THE TREE STRUCTURE. THE STRUCTURE OF A PRIMEVAL FOREST IS SHOWN HERE. view more 

CREDIT: DOMINIK SEIDEL

Primeval forests are of great importance for biodiversity and global carbon and water cycling. The three-dimensional structure of forests plays an important role here because it influences processes of gas and energy exchange with the atmosphere, whilst also providing habitats for numerous species. An international research team led by the University of Göttingen has investigated the variety of different complex structures that can be found in the world's forests, as well as the factors that explain this diversity. The results have been published in Nature Communications.

The researchers investigated the structure of primeval forests on several continents in different climate zones. To achieve this, they spent two years travelling to remote primeval forest areas around the world to record the structure of the forests with the help of 3D laser scanners. A laser scanner captures the environment with the help of a laser beam and thus builds a 3D representation of the forest. This allows important metrics to be calculated to describe the structure. They found that the global variability of forest structures can be explained to a large extent by the amount of precipitation and thus by the availability of water in the different ecosystems. Based on these findings and with the help of climate data, they were able to create maps of the world's forests showing the global variability of structural complexity.

The world maps describe the structures that forests can develop free from human influence. Only 30 percent of the world's forests are still primeval forests. "A long-term goal of our research is to better understand how human influence and climate change affect the forest, its structure and the processes linked to it. The structure of primeval forests is an important reference point for this," says first author Dr Martin Ehbrecht from the University of Göttingen. A particular focus here is the question of how changes in precipitation patterns due to climate change affect the structure of forests. "The importance of water for the formation of complex forest structures can be explained by various interacting mechanisms," says Ehbrecht. "The availability of water is an important driver of the diversity of tree species. The more tree species a forest holds, the more pronounced is the coexistence of different crown shapes and sizes of trees. This means that the space available for the crowns of trees can often be utilised more efficiently in species-rich forests, which makes the forest structure more complex."

CAPTION

Dr Martin Ehbrecht studied the tropical rainforest in Borneo, in addition to many other areas.

CREDIT

M Ehbrecht/University of Göttingen

Tropical rainforests have a more complex structure than the deciduous and coniferous forests found in temperate zones, which are in turn generally more complex in structure than boreal coniferous forests such as those in Scandinavia, or subtropical forest savannahs in Africa. "Nevertheless, forests with high structural complexity can also be found in temperate zones, such as in areas with a high rainfall like the Pacific Northwest of the USA or in coastal forests of Chile," says Professor Ammer, senior author of the study and head of Silviculture and Forest Ecology of Temperate Zones at Göttingen University.

The results of this study are an important starting point for further work. "With the help of satellite-based recording of 3-D forest structure, in the future it will be possible to precisely record the actual complexity of forests," says Ehbrecht. "This will make it possible to better understand the effects of forest management and climate change on the world's forests. Our world maps can serve as an important reference for this."

CAPTION

3D laser scanners were set up in many forest areas around the world. The tropical rainforest in Uganda is shown here.

CREDIT

M Ehbrecht/University of Göttingen

Original publication: Martin Ehbrecht et al. Global patterns and climatic controls of forest structural complexity. Nature Communications (2021). Doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-20767-z

Contact:
Dr Martin Ehbrecht
University of Göttingen
Silviculture and Forest Ecology of the Temperate Zones
Büsgenweg 1, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
martin.ehbrecht@forst.uni-goettingen.de

Healthy oceans need healthy soundscapes

Researchers document the impacts of noise on marine animals and ecosystems and identify actions to restore healthy ocean sounds

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA - SANTA BARBARA

Research News

 

Rain falls lightly on the ocean's surface. Marine mammals chirp and squeal as they swim along. The pounding of surf along a distant shoreline heaves and thumps with metronomic regularity. These are the sounds that most of us associate with the marine environment. But the soundtrack of the healthy ocean no longer reflects the acoustic environment of today's ocean, plagued with human-created noise.

A global team of researchers set out to understand how human-made noise affects wildlife, from invertebrates to whales, in the oceans, and found overwhelming evidence that marine fauna, and their ecosystems, are negatively impacted by noise. This noise disrupts their behavior, physiology, reproduction and, in extreme cases, causes mortality. The researchers call for human-induced noise to be considered a prevalent stressor at the global scale and for policy to be developed to mitigate its effects.

The research(link is external), led by Professor Carlos M. Duarte, distinguished professor at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), and published in the journal Science, is eye opening to the global prevalence and intensity of the impacts of ocean noise. Since the Industrial Revolution, humans have made the planet, the oceans in particular, noisier through fishing, shipping, infrastructure development and more, while also silencing the sounds from marine animals that dominated the pristine ocean.

"The landscape of sound - or soundscape - is such a powerful indicator of the health of an environment," noted Ben Halpern(link is external), a coauthor on the study and director of the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis at UC Santa Barbara. "Like we have done in our cities on land, we have replaced the sounds of nature throughout the ocean with those of humans."

The deterioration of habitats, such as coral reefs, seagrass meadows and kelp beds with overfishing, coastal development, climate change and other human pressures, have further silenced the characteristic sound that guides the larvae of fish and other animals drifting at sea into finding and settling on their habitats. The call home is no longer audible for many ecosystems and regions.

The Anthropocene marine environment, according to the researchers, is polluted by human-made sound and should be restored along sonic dimensions, and along those more traditional chemical and climatic. Yet, current frameworks to improve ocean health ignore the need to mitigate noise as a pre-requisite for a healthy ocean.

Sound travels far, and quickly, underwater. And marine animals are sensitive to sound, which they use as a prominent sensorial signal guiding all aspects of their behavior and ecology. "This makes the ocean soundscape one of the most important, and perhaps under-appreciated, aspects of the marine environment," the study states. The authors' hope is that the evidence presented in the paper will "prompt management actions ... to reduce noise levels in the ocean, thereby allowing marine animals to re-establish their use of ocean sound."

"We all know that no one really wants to live right next to a freeway because of the constant noise," commented Halpern. "For animals in the ocean, it's like having a mega-freeway in your backyard."

The team set out to document the impact of noise on marine animals and on marine ecosystems around the world. They assessed the evidence contained across more than 10,000 papers to consolidate compelling evidence that human-made noise impacts marine life from invertebrates to whales across multiple levels, from behavior to physiology.

"This unprecedented effort, involving a major tour de force, has shown the overwhelming evidence for the prevalence of impacts from human-induced noise on marine animals, to the point that the urgency of taking action can no longer be ignored," KAUST Ph.D. student Michelle Havlik said. The research involved scientists from Saudi Arabia, Denmark, the U.S. and the U.K., Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Norway and Canada.

"The deep, dark ocean is conceived as a distant, remote ecosystem, even by marine scientists," Duarte said. "However, as I was listening, years ago, to a hydrophone recording acquired off the U.S. West Coast, I was surprised to hear the clear sound of rain falling on the surface as the dominant sound in the deep-sea ocean environment. I then realized how acoustically connected the ocean surface, where most human noise is generated, is to the deep sea; just 1,000 m, less than 1 second apart!"

The takeaway of the review is that "mitigating the impacts of noise from human activities on marine life is key to achieving a healthier ocean." The KAUST-led study identifies a number of actions that may come at a cost but are relatively easy to implement to improve the ocean soundscape and, in so doing, enable the recovery of marine life and the goal of sustainable use of the ocean. For example, simple technological innovations are already reducing propeller noise from ships, and policy could accelerate their use in the shipping industry and spawn new innovations.

Deploying these mitigation actions is a low hanging fruit as, unlike other forms of human pollution such as emissions of chemical pollutants and greenhouse gases, the effects of noise pollution cease upon reducing the noise, so the benefits are immediate. The study points to the quick response of marine animals to the human lockdown under COVID-19 as evidence for the potential rapid recovery from noise pollution.

Using sounds gathered from around the globe, multimedia artist and study coauthor Jana Winderen created a six-minute audio track that demonstrates both the peaceful calm, and the devastatingly jarring, acoustic aspects of life for marine animals. The research is truly eye opening, or rather ear opening, both in its groundbreaking scale as well as in its immediacy.

###

Bioplastics in the sustainability dilemma

Scientists investigate the factors affecting the global land use impacts and CO2 emissions of plant-based plastics

UNIVERSITY OF BONN

Research News

 

Plastics made from crops such as maize or sugarcane instead of fossil fuels are generally considered sustainable. One reason is that plants bind CO2, which compensates for the carbon released into the atmosphere when plastics are disposed. However, there is a catch: With increasing demand for raw materials for bioplastic production, the areas under cultivation may not be sufficient. As a result, natural vegetation is often converted to agricultural land and forests are cut down. This in turn releases large amounts of CO2. The assumption that more bioplastics does not necessarily lead to more climate protection has now been confirmed by researchers at the University of Bonn (Germany) in a new study. They found that the sustainability of plant-based bioplastics depends largely on the country of origin, its trade relationships and the raw material processed. The study has been published in the journal "Resources, Conservation & Recycling".

As in previous analyses, the scientists used a global, flexible and modular economic model developed at the University of Bonn to simulate the impact of rising supply for bioplastics. The model is based on a world database (Global Trade Analysis Project). For their current study, the researchers modified the original model by disaggregating both conventional plastics and bioplastics, as well as additional crops such as maize and cassava. "This is crucial to better represent the bioplastics supply chain in major producing regions and assess their environmental impacts from a life cycle perspective," emphasizes agricultural engineer Dr. Neus Escobar, who conducted the study at the Institute for Food and Resource Economics (ILR) and the Center for Development Research (ZEF) at the University of Bonn and is now based at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis in Laxenburg (Austria).

In the current study, she and her colleague Dr. Wolfgang Britz considered the loss of natural vegetation on a global scale. They made estimates of readily available land to be converted into productive uses at the region level and associated model parameters. In their previous publication, the Bonn scientists had already disaggregated the production of conventional plastics and bioplastics in Brazil, China, the EU and the U.S. - the countries that lead the way in bioplastics production. In their current study, they also included Thailand, which is home of carbon-rich forests. Experts expect the Asian country to become a leading global producer of biodegradable and biobased plastics in the near future. "All these changes in the model are necessary to estimate global spillovers of policies or technologies," says Dr. Wolfgang Britz, who worked with his team on the extension of the model to derive sustainability indicators considering global land use change.

Factors such as country of origin and raw materials are decisive

The researchers simulated a total of 180 scenarios (36 scenarios per region) that varied according to the degree of bioplastics market penetration and other model parameters determining economywide responses. "We found that the carbon footprints of commercially available bioplastics are much larger than the values previously estimated in scientific literature and policy reports," says Neus Escobar.

The reason: CO2 emissions resulting from changes in land use outweigh the greenhouse gas savings resulting from the substitution for fossil raw materials in the long term. With one exception, the bioplastics produced in Thailand save an average of two kilograms of CO2 per ton. This is mainly due to the relatively smaller increase in bioplastics production that is simulated, which translates into minor adjustments in food prices and associated land cover changes. However, increasing production of bioplastics from cassava and sugarcane in Thailand to catch up with the other regions can result in the loss of carbon-rich ecosystems within the country.

None of the regions is clearly better positioned than another

The overall calculations show that none of the regions is clearly better positioned than another to become a hub for sustainable bioplastics production. The largest land footprints are estimated for Chinese bioplastics, while the European Union has the largest average carbon footprint: Bioplastics produced in the EU take an average of 232.5 years to offset global CO2 emissions. Bioplastics production in the U.S. causes the greatest land and carbon spillovers, which means that the production generates greater agricultural land expansion, deforestation and carbon emissions in the rest of the world than within the country. Bioplastics production in Thailand and Brazil comes at the cost of forest cover loss to a large extent, which can lead to additional impacts on biodiversity.

"Our study shows that an expansion in bio-based production should be carefully assessed on a region-by-region case in order to understand potentially sustainability risks and trade-offs," says Neus Escobar. The authors emphasize that the proposed metrics can be used in the future to monitor the long-term sustainability of bioeconomic interventions globally. Among other things, the metrics could help identify where complementary policies are needed - for example, to prevent deforestation.

Working on future-relevant research topics

The study is thematically embedded in the Transdisciplinary Research Area (TRA) "Innovation and Technology for Sustainable Futures" at the University of Bonn. In six different TRAs, scientists from a wide range of faculties and disciplines come together to work on future-relevant research topics. Neus Escobar was a member of the Transdisciplinary Research Area during the study, Wolfgang Britz is a member of the "PhenoRob" Cluster of Excellence at the University of Bonn.

###

Publication: Neus Escobar & Wolfgang Britz: Metrics on the sustainability of region-specific bioplastics production, considering global land use change effects. Resources, Conservation & Recycling; DOI: 10.1016/j.resconrec.2020.105345

Nehandertals' gut microbiota and the bacteria helping our health

UNIVERSITÀ DI BOLOGNA

Research News

 

IMAGE: THE RESEARCH GROUP ANALYSED THE ANCIENT DNA EXTRACTED FROM 50,000 YEARS OLD SEDIMENTARY FAECES (THE OLDEST SAMPLE OF FAECAL MATERIAL AVAILABLE TO DATE). THE SAMPLES WERE COLLECTED IN EL SALT... view more 

CREDIT: UNIVERSITY OF BOLOGNA

Neanderthals' gut microbiota already included some beneficial micro-organisms that are also found in our own intestine. An international research group led by the University of Bologna achieved this result by extracting and analysing ancient DNA from 50,000-year-old faecal sediments sampled at the archaeological site of El Salt, near Alicante (Spain).

Published in Communication Biology, their paper puts forward the hypothesis of the existence of ancestral components of human microbiota that have been living in the human gastrointestinal tract since before the separation between the Homo Sapiens and Neanderthals that occurred more than 700,000 years ago.

"These results allow us to understand which components of the human gut microbiota are essential for our health, as they are integral elements of our biology also from an evolutionary point of view" explains Marco Candela, the professor of the Department of Pharmacy and Biotechnology of the University of Bologna, who coordinated the study. "Nowadays there is a progressive reduction of our microbiota diversity due to the context of our modern life: this research group's findings could guide us in devising diet- and lifestyle-tailored solutions to counteract this phenomenon".

THE ISSUES OF THE "MODERN" MICROBIOTA

The gut microbiota is the collection of trillions of symbiont micro-organisms that populate our gastrointestinal tract. It represents an essential component of our biology and carries out important functions in our bodies, such as regulating our metabolism and immune system and protecting us from pathogenic micro-organisms.

Recent studies have shown how some features of modernity - such as the consumption of processed food, drug use, life in hyper-sanitized environments - lead to a critical reduction of biodiversity in the gut microbiota. This depletion is mainly due to the loss of a set of microorganisms referred to as "old friends".

"The process of depletion of the gut microbiota in modern western urban populations could represent a significant wake-up call," says Simone Rampelli, who is a researcher at the University of Bologna and first author of the study. "This depletion process would become particularly alarming if it involved the loss of those microbiota components that are crucial to our physiology".

Indeed, there are some alarming signs. For example, in the West, we are witnessing a dramatic increase in cases of chronic inflammatory diseases, such as inflammatory bowel disease, metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes and colorectal cancer.

HOW THE "ANCIENT" MICROBIOTA CAN HELP

How can we identify the components of the gut microbiota that are more important for our health? And how can we protect them with targeted solutions? This was the starting point behind the idea of identifying the ancestral traits of our microbiota - i.e. the core of the human gut microbiota, which has remained consistent throughout our evolutionary history. Technology nowadays allows to successfully rise to this challenge thanks to a new scientific field, paleomicrobiology, which studies ancient microorganisms from archaeological remains through DNA sequencing.

The research group analysed ancient DNA samples collected in El Salt (Spain), a site where many Neanderthals lived. To be more precise, they analysed the ancient DNA extracted from 50,000 years old sedimentary faeces (the oldest sample of faecal material available to date). In this way, they managed to piece together the composition of the micro-organisms populating the intestine of Neanderthals. By comparing the composition of the Neanderthals' microbiota to ours, many similarities aroused.

"Through the analysis of ancient DNA, we were able to isolate a core of microorganisms shared with modern Homo sapiens", explains Silvia Turroni, researcher at the University of Bologna and first author of the study. "This finding allows us to state that these ancient micro-organisms populated the intestine of our species before the separation between Sapiens and Neanderthals, which occurred about 700,000 years ago".

SAFEGUARDING THE MICROBIOTA

These ancestral components of the human gut microbiota include many well-known bacteria (among which Blautia, Dorea, Roseburia, Ruminococcus and Faecalibacterium) that are fundamental to our health. Indeed, by producing short-chain fatty acids from dietary fibre, these bacteria regulate our metabolic and immune balance. There is also the Bifidobacterium: a microorganism playing a key role in regulating our immune defences, especially in early childhood. Finally, in the Neanderthal gut microbiota, researchers identified some of those "old friends". This confirms the researchers' hypotheses about the ancestral nature of these components and their recent depletion in the human gut microbiota due to our modern life context.

"In the current modernization scenario, in which there is a progressive reduction of microbiota diversity, this information could guide integrated diet- and lifestyle-tailored strategies to safeguard the micro-organisms that are fundamental to our health", concludes Candela. "To this end, promoting lifestyles that are sustainable for our gut microbiota is of the utmost importance, as it will help maintain the configurations that are compatible with our biology".

###

THE AUTHORS OF THE STUDY

The study titled "Components of a Neanderthal gut microbiome recovered from fecal sediments from El Salt" was published in Communication Biology. The University of Bologna participated in this study thanks to Marco Candela, Simone Rampelli, Silvia Turroni and Elena Biagi from the Department of Pharmacy and Biotechnology; Annalisa Astolfi from the Interdepartmental Center for Cancer Research "Giorgio Prodi"; Patrizia Brigidi from the Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences; and Stefano Benazzi from the Department of Cultural Heritage.

Moreover, this study saw the participation of researchers from the Universidad de La Laguna (Spain), from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA) as well as the University of Oklahoma (USA) and Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution and Cognition Research (Austria).

FARMWORKERS TAN 

Grape consumption may protect against UV damage to skin

New study finds grapes increased resistance to sunburn and reduced markers of UV damage

CALIFORNIA TABLE GRAPE COMMISSION

Research News

 

Fresno, CA - A recent human study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology found that consuming grapes protected against ultraviolet (UV) skin damage.1 Study subjects showed increased resistance to sunburn and a reduction in markers of UV damage at the cellular level. 2 Natural components found in grapes known as polyphenols are thought to be responsible for these beneficial effects.

The study, conducted at the University of Alabama, Birmingham and led by principal investigator Craig Elmets, M.D., investigated the impact of consuming whole grape powder - equivalent to 2.25 cups of grapes per day - for 14 days against photodamage from UV light. Subjects' skin response to UV light was measured before and after consuming grapes for two weeks by determining the threshold dose of UV radiation that induced visible reddening after 24 hours - the Minimal Erythema Dose (MED). Grape consumption was protective; more UV exposure was required to cause sunburn following grape consumption, with MED increasing on average by 74.8%.3 Analysis of skin biopsies showed that the grape diet was associated with decreased DNA damage, fewer deaths of skin cells, and a reduction in inflammatory markers that if left unchecked, together can impair skin function and can potentially lead to skin cancer. 4

It is estimated that 1 in 5 Americans will develop skin cancer by the age of 70. 5 Most skin cancer cases are associated with exposure to UV radiation from the sun: about 90% of nonmelanoma skin cancers and 86% of melanomas, respectively. Additionally, an estimated 90% of skin aging is caused by the sun.

"We saw a significant photoprotective effect with grape consumption and we were able to identify molecular pathways by which that benefit occurs - through repair of DNA damage and downregulation of proinflammatory pathways," said Dr. Elmets. "Grapes may act as an edible sunscreen, offering an additional layer of protection in addition to topical sunscreen products."

###

1 Oak, A.S.W., Shafi, R., Elsayed, M., Bae, S., Saag, L., Wang, C.L., & Elmets, C.A. (2021). Dietary table grape protects against UV photodamage in humans: 1. clinical evaluation. Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaad.2021.01.035.

2 Oak, A.S.W., Shafi, R., Elsayed, M., Mishra, B., Bae, S., Barnes, S., Slominksi, A.T., Wilson, L.S., Athar, M., & Elmets, C.A. (2021). Dietary table grape protects against UV photodamage in humans: 2. molecular evaluation. Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaad.2021.01.036.

3 Oak, A.S.W., Shafi, R., ... & Elmets, C.A. (2021). Dietary table grape protects against UV photodamage in humans: 1. clinical evaluation. Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaad.2021.01.035.

4 Oak, A.S.W., Shafi, R., ...& Elmets, C.A. (2021). Dietary table grape protects against UV photodamage in humans: 2. molecular evaluation. Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaad.2021.01.036.

5 Skin Cancer Facts and Statistics. Skin Cancer Foundation website https://www.skincancer.org/skin-cancer-information/skin-cancer-facts/ Accessed January 26, 2021.

Vegan diet better for weight loss and cholesterol control than Mediterranean diet

PHYSICIANS COMMITTEE FOR RESPONSIBLE MEDICINE

Research News

 

A vegan diet is more effective for weight loss than a Mediterranean diet, according to a groundbreaking new study that compared the diets head to head. The randomized crossover trial, which was published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition, found that a low-fat vegan diet has better outcomes for weight, body composition, insulin sensitivity, and cholesterol levels, compared with a Mediterranean diet.

The study randomly assigned participants--who were overweight and had no history of diabetes--to a vegan diet or a Mediterranean diet in a 1:1 ratio. For 16 weeks, half of the participants started with a low-fat vegan diet that eliminated animal products and focused on fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes. The other half started with the Mediterranean diet, which followed the PREDIMED protocol, which focuses on fruits, vegetables, legumes, fish, low-fat dairy, and extra virgin olive oil, while limiting or avoiding red meat and saturated fats. Neither group had a calorie limit, and participants did not change exercise or medication routines, unless directed by their personal doctors. As part of the crossover design, participants then went back to their baseline diets for a four-week washout period before switching to the opposite group for an additional 16 weeks.

The study found that within 16 weeks on each diet:

• Participants lost an average of 6 kilograms (or about 13 pounds) on the vegan diet, compared with no mean change on the Mediterranean diet.
• Participants lost 3.4 kg (about 7.5 pounds) more fat mass on the vegan diet.
• Participants saw a greater reduction in visceral fat by 315 cm3 on the vegan diet.
• The vegan diet decreased total and LDL cholesterol levels by 18.7 mg/dL and 15.3 mg/dL, respectively, while there were no significant cholesterol changes on the Mediterranean diet.
• Blood pressure decreased on both diets, but more on the Mediterranean diet (6.0 mm Hg, compared to 3.2 mmHg on the vegan diet).

"Previous studies have suggested that both Mediterranean and vegan diets improve body weight and cardiometabolic risk factors, but until now, their relative efficacy had not been compared in a randomized trial," says study author Hana Kahleova, MD, PhD, director of clinical research for the Physicians Committee. "We decided to test the diets head to head and found that a vegan diet is more effective for both improving health markers and boosting weight loss."

The authors note that the vegan diet likely led to weight loss, because it was associated with a reduction in calorie intake, increase in fiber intake, decrease in fat consumption, and decrease in saturated fat consumption.

"While many people think of the Mediterranean diet as one of the best ways to lose weight, the diet actually crashed and burned when we put it to the test," says study author Neal Barnard, MD, president of the Physicians Committee. "In a randomized, controlled trial, the Mediterranean diet caused no weight loss at all. The problem seems to be the inclusion of fatty fish, dairy products, and oils. In contrast, a low-fat vegan diet caused significant and consistent weight loss."

"If your goal is to lose weight or get healthy in 2021, choosing a plant-based diet is a great way to achieve your resolution," adds Dr. Kahleova.

###

For a copy of the study or an interview with a study author, please contact Laura Anderson at landerson@pcrm.org or 202-527-7396.

Founded in 1985, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine is a nonprofit organization tat promotes preventive medicine, conducts clinical research, and encourages higher standards for ethics and effectiveness in education and resear

FOOD TRUCK POTENTIAL

'Runway Roadkill' rapidly increasing at airports across the world, UCC study finds

Study hopes to aid aviation authorities worldwide to protect wildlife and prevent costly damage.

UNIVERSITY COLLEGE CORK

Research News

 

IMAGE: AN INFOGRAPHIC OUTLINING DATA FROM THE STUDY "RUNWAY ROADKILL: A GLOBAL REVIEW OF MAMMAL STRIKES WITH AIRCRAFT ". view more 

CREDIT: SAMANTHA BALL UCC

- World's wildlife, from giraffes to voles, kangaroos to coyotes being hit by aircraft.

- Study identifies incidences at airports in 47 countries across the globe.

- 'Runway Roadkill' increasing by up to 68% annually and has caused damage that has cost in excess of $103 million in the United States alone over a 30 year period.

- It is hoped study could pave way for international efforts to protect wildlife and reduce costly aircraft damage.

From giraffes to the world's smallest mammals, the world's wildlife is being increasingly struck by aircraft, a global study finds.

Airports from Sydney to London and the USA to Germany were examined by researchers who found that incidences of mammal strikes with aircraft - so-called 'runway roadkill' - are increasing significantly year-on-year, are costing aviation authorities millions per annum, but are under-reported internationally.

The international study led by University College Cork (UCC) researcher Samantha Ball, found that 'runway roadkill' has been increasing by up to 68% annually and have caused damage that has cost in excess of $103 million in the United States alone over a 30 year period.

The global review of mammal strikes with aircraft, is funded by the Irish Research Council and the Dublin Airport Authority and is published in Mammal Review.

It is hoped the findings of the study may aid aviation authorities worldwide to increase mitigation measures to protect wildlife and prevent costly damage.

Ms Ball of UCC's School of Biological, Earth & Environmental Sciences said mammals are incredibly diverse and those involved in strike events are no exception.

"As we identified 47 countries which have reported strikes with mammals, the species involved ranged from some of the world's smallest mammals, such as voles, all the way up to the mighty giraffe and included mammals of all sizes in between. As strike events can affect everything from passenger safety, airline economics and local conservation, understanding the species composition and ecology of the local fauna at an airfield is paramount for effective strike mitigation," she said.

However, most aircraft strikes involve birds, meaning there has been comparatively little research to date on collisions with mammals.

The airport environment can provide productive habitat for wildlife due to expanses of semi-natural grasslands, creating favourable ecological habitats, often in heavily urbanised areas.

Airport operators have a legal obligation to reduce wildlife hazard at airfields. It is therefore important for airports to understand the relative risk associated with each species, in order to prioritise and implement effective Wildlife Hazard Management Plans (WHMP).

By analysing published information and mammal strike data from national aviation authorities in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States, researchers found that bats accounted for the greatest proportion of strikes in Australia; rabbits and dog-like carnivores in Canada, Germany, and the United Kingdom; and bats and deer in the United States. Average mammal strikes per year ranged from 1.2 to 38.7 across the countries analysed, for every million aircraft movements.

Researchers identified:

- Reports of around 10 strikes a year with kangaroos

- Around 40 strikes a year with coyotes

- Around 60 strikes with skunks.

- Around 100 strikes a year with fruit bats in Australia

- Over 100 strikes annually in recent years with leporids (rabbits and hares) in only three countries in Europe (France, Germany, UK).

They also found that:

- More mammals were struck during the landing phase of an aircraft's rotation than any other phase.

- Dusk was identified as having the highest strike rate per hour for Australia and the USA and night conferred the greatest risk in Canada and Germany.

- In the USA, it is estimated that mammal strikes are five times more likely to cause damage to aircraft than bird strikes.

- Under-reporting of strikes is recognised on both an international and national level: estimates suggest that only 5-47% of wildlife strikes are reported to aviation authorities, and the reporting of strike events remains voluntary in many countries.

The researchers argue that the ecological and behavioural traits of mammal populations in proximity to and inhabiting airports need to be understood and integrated into WHMPs if effective management policies are to be developed and implemented.

"Therefore, mitigation measures developed in the USA for the specific fauna of North America may not be effective for high-risk species in other parts of the world. As air travel is a global industry, increased research efforts targeted at high risk mammal families outside the USA would benefit not only the national aviation authorities responsible for the research, but also international authorities and airline operators. A more thorough understanding of the ecology of mammal groups inhabiting and using airfields is required to maximise the efficacy of any mitigation measures," their paper argues.

###

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/mam.12241

Pandemic caused 'staggering' economic, human impact in developing counties, research says

Falling incomes, smaller meals, educational setbacks among consequences

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA - BERKELEY

Research News

 

Berkeley -- The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic last year led to a devastating loss of jobs and income across the global south, threatening hundreds of millions of people with hunger and lost savings and raising an array of risks for children, according to new research co-authored at the University of California, Berkeley.

The research, to be published Friday Feb. 5, 2021, in the journal Science Advances, found "staggering" income losses after the pandemic emerged last year, with a median 70% of households across nine countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America reporting financial losses. By April last year, roughly 50% or more of those surveyed in several countries were forced to eat smaller meals or skip meals altogether, a number that reached 87% for rural households in the West African country of Sierra Leone.

"In the early months of the pandemic, the economic downturn in low- and middle-income countries was almost certainly worse than any other recent global economic crisis that we know of, whether the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s, the Great Recession that started in 2008, or the more recent Ebola crisis," said UC Berkeley economist Edward Miguel, a co-author of the study. "The economic costs were just severe, absolutely severe."

The pandemic has produced some hopeful innovations, including a partnership between the government of Togo in West Africa and UC Berkeley's Center for Effective Global Action (CEGA) on a system to provide relief payments via digital networks.

But such gains are, so far, isolated.

The new study -- the first of its kind globally -- reports that after two decades of growth in many low- and middle-income countries, the economic crisis resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic threatens profound long-term impact: Reduced childhood nutrition could have health consequences later in life. Closed schools may lead to delayed development for some students, while others may simply drop out. When families use their savings to eat, rather than invest in fertilizer or farm improvements, crop yields can decline.

"Such effects can slow economic development in a country or a region, which can lead to political instability, diminished growth or migration," said Miguel, a co-director at CEGA.

A troubling picture of life during the pandemic

The study was launched in spring 2020, as China, Europe and the U.S. led global efforts to check spread of the virus through ambitious lockdowns of business, schools and transit. Three independent research teams, including CEGA, joined to conduct surveys in the countries where they already worked.

Between April and early July 2020, they connected with 30,000 households, including over 100,000 people, in nine countries with a combined population of 500 million: Burkina Faso, Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda and Sierra Leone in Africa; Bangladesh, Nepal and the Philippines in Asia; and Colombia in South America. The surveys were conducted by telephone.

Reports early in the pandemic suggested that developing countries might be less vulnerable because their populations are so much younger than those in Europe and North America.

But the research teams found that, within weeks after governments imposed lockdowns and other measures to control the virus's spread, the pandemic was having a pervasive economic impact:

Income fell broadly. In Colombia, 87% of respondents nationwide reported lost income in the early phase of the pandemic. Such losses were reported by more than 80% of people nationwide in Rwanda and Ghana.

People struggled to find food. In the Philippines, 77% of respondents nationwide said they faced difficulty purchasing food because stores were closed, transport was shut down or food supplies were inadequate. Similar reports came from 68% of Colombians and 64% of respondents in Sierra Leone; rates were similar for some communities within other countries.

Food insecurity rose sharply. While the impact was worst in rural Sierra Leone, other communities were hard hit: In Bangladesh, 69% of landless agricultural households reported that they were forced to eat less, along with 48% of households in rural Kenya.

Children faced increased risk. With schools closed, the risk of educational setbacks rose. Many respondents reported delaying health care, including prenatal care and vaccinations. Some communities reported rising levels of domestic violence.

"The combination of a lengthy period of undernutrition, closed schools, and limited health care may be particularly damaging in the long run for children from poorer households who do not have alternative resources," the authors wrote.

Miguel's recent research has focused on economic conditions for poor people in Kenya, and he said people there scrambled to cope with the crisis.

"People moved in with relatives," he said. "People moved back to their home areas in rural places where there was food. Other people were just relying on the generosity of friends and relatives and co-workers to get by. When you're living on only a couple of dollars a day, and you don't get that money, it's a desperate situation."

Wealthier countries are also gripped by crisis, but co-author Susan Athey, an economist at Stanford University's Graduate School of Business, said they're better able to cope.

"COVID-19 and its economic shock present a stark threat to residents of low- and middle-income countries -- where most of the world's population resides -- which lack the social safety nets that exist in rich countries," Athey said. "The evidence we've collected shows dire economic consequences ... which, if left unchecked, could thrust millions of vulnerable households into poverty."

A model of positive, high-impact international partnership

In fact, Miguel said, governments everywhere have struggled to address the health and economic dimensions of the pandemic. In both rich and poor nations, he said, governments have used the pandemic as a reason to crack down on political opponents.

But the crisis has also produced hopeful engagements. The CEGA initiative to support Togolese leaders in developing a system for digital relief payments could be a model for international partnerships.

Under that project, CEGA co-Director Joshua Blumenstock has worked closely with top government officials in Togo to develop an advanced data-driven system for identifying people in need and delivering financial aid. The system uses new computational technologies, with data from satellite imagery, mobile phones and traditional surveys to identify people or communities in economic distress.

CEGA and the GiveDirectly aid organization have just won a $1.2 million grant under the data.org Inclusive Growth and Recovery Challenge to allow further work on the project.

Already, "over 550,000 Togolese individuals have received cash transfers of roughly $20 a month," said Lauren Russell, CEGA director of operations. "The grant should allow for the project to be scaled and evaluated even further, with the hope that the methods might be well-suited for adoption by other low- and middle-income countries."

Global crises require global solutions

Still, Miguel said the disparities between rich and poor nations have been "disheartening." In North America and Europe, nations may be struggling with vaccination plans, but vaccines have barely arrived in most low-income countries, he said.

"We will not recover in the rich countries until the whole world gets the vaccine and until the crisis is dealt with globally," he said. "As long as there's active pandemic in parts of the world that's affecting travel and tourism and trade, our economy and our society is going to suffer. If we can spread the wealth in terms of pandemic relief assistance and vaccine distribution, we're all going to get out of this hole faster."

###