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Temperature histories are critical for understanding and predicting ecological functioning in marine systems. Stable oxygen isotopes (δ18O) locked within calcified tissues can uncover experienced temperatures of marine animals, but have been little evaluated in the statoliths of cephalopods. As such, we investigated field applications of oxygen isotope ratios in statoliths (δ18Ostatoliths) for reconstructing the thermal histories of cuttlefish, octopus, and squid. In doing so, we collated measured (instrumental and modelled) temperature and salinity data, alongside δ18Ostatoliths data, of ocean-caught species from Taiwan and Australia. To navigate potential species-bias or “vital effects,” two aragonite-specific thermometry equations were compared, whilst simulation modelling evaluated variation and addressed uncertainties. Linear regressions identified environmental and biological influences on the differences between measured and reconstructed temperatures. Variable trends in temperature reconstructions were observed between taxa, which may be due to ecological traits. For squid, the relationship was highly aligned with no significant model predictors. For cuttlefish and octopus, differences between measured and reconstructed temperatures increased in warmer conditions, and may indicate thermoregulation behaviour. Here, we demonstrate that δ18Ostatoliths values can function as natural proxies of ocean temperature and are an invaluable tool for broadening the field of thermal ecology for the important, yet understudied, cephalopods.

Growing commercial interest in octopus fisheries has increased the need to develop rapid and inexpensive methods to determine the geographical origins (provenance) of individuals. Identifying the provenance of marine species not only supports high-quality and sustainable fisheries, as seafood distributors are held accountable for accurately sourced products, but can address important ecological questions on movement and connectivity. Multi-elemental signatures in statoliths, the cephalopod equivalent of otoliths, could act as geographical proxies but have never been analysed in octopus. As such, we investigated the statolith chemistry of commercially harvested Octopus berrima collected across two seasons (summer and winter) and from four sites along the South Australian coast with different temperature and salinity profiles. Statoliths were analysed using laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, targeting the central portion of the structure, to measure concentrations of chosen elements (7Li, 24Mg, 55Mn, 88Sr, 137Ba, 11B, 23Na, 31P, 39K, 59Co, 60Ni, 65Cu, 66Zn, 208Pb). Significant differences between region and season were found for most elements, except 88Sr and 60Ni. Cross-validation classification found that 85% of octopus from environmentally distinctive regions were able to be correctly classified back to region of origin, regardless of harvest season. Regions with similar environmental profiles had lower classification success (70%). We also found that 11B, 137Ba, and 55Mn contributed most to the discrimination among regions. This study reveals that distinctive geographic signatures are present in statoliths of octopus, establishing the potential of statolith elemental chemistry as a powerful tool for tracking the movement and provenance of octopus. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Rip currents are strong, narrow, and fast-flowing currents of water that initiate along the shorelines of many beaches globally. They are considered a major hazard to beach users and are responsible for most surf rescues conducted by lifeguards and lifesavers and contribute to many drowning deaths. In Australia, rips are the cause of twenty-six drowning deaths each year. There has been a lack of qualitative research exploring effects of firsthand experience of being caught in a rip current from the perspective of the survivor.Participants were recruited via online survey. Fifty-six semi-structured interviews took place between May 2013 and January 2014 with participants who had experience being caught in a rip current. Interviewees self-reported swimming proficiency and varied by country of birth and age.Thematic analysis of the interviews revealed three key temporal elements to the experience of a rip current; 1) Before the rip: in which education, rip preparedness and experience, and attitude were prevalent themes, 2) During the rip: in which panic and temporary inhibition of decision making, physical response, prior experiences, and relationships with other beach users were themes, and 3) After the rip: in which aftereffects, and rip safety messaging and education by experience were prevalent themes. The idea of experiential experience was the prevalent thread across all phases of a rip current encounter–changing many of our interviewee's’ relationship with the ocean forever.Our research highlights the need to develop further educational and messaging strategies to impart the knowledge of rip currents upon the public. However, it also shows that knowledge and messaging may not be enough, and that experience itself is a keystone to avoiding and surviving rip currents.

The heterogeneity of resource distribution in arid environments plays an important role in habitat selection by consumers. The productivity of the riparian zones of intermittently flowing creeks is typically prolonged, relative to the hinterland, as moisture and nutrients concentrate there. Short-beaked echidnas, Tachyglossus aculeatus, sustain arid populations, attributed to ant and termite availability, low predation, and an ability to exploit habitat remnants. However, the scale of their movements in arid habitats is poorly understood. Thus, we investigated echidna home ranges and the importance of food and shelter availability in habitat selection over one winter. We focussed on the riparian zone of a creek at Mount Wood in Sturt National Park, north-western New South Wales, Australia. Radio tracking (VHF and GPS), scat and habitat selection analyses were conducted. Mean core and peripheral home range areas were 0.16 and 1.042 km2, respectively, with a mean home range overlap of 0.56 km2. Habitat selection differed between juveniles and adults and may have been driven by prey availability (predominantly ants). The preferred shelter was thick leaf litter. We concluded that habitat selection patterns were driven by prey availability (ants) and shelter (leaf litter).

There is currently a paucity of publications reporting different ways of minimising stress in collared mammals. We describe the construction of a DIY (do-it-yourself; i.e. self-made) radio-collar attachment that can improve the animal welfare outcomes of radio-tracking surveys for small macropods. The flexible collar is light, designed for long-term wear, and can stretch to allow a snagged animal to free itself without choking. We present our findings using capture and radio-collaring data from a population of an endangered macropod. Of 39 DIY radio-collars, 25 remained attached for over four months, 4 fell off naturally after 9–15 weeks, and 10 were unattached by other mechanisms (e.g. a predation event). Adverse reactions were uncommon, and we present recommendations for future radio-collaring studies.

CYP505A30 is a fungal, self-sufficient cytochrome P450 monooxygenase that can selectively oxyfunctionalise n-alkanes, fatty alcohols, and fatty acids. From alkanes, it produces a mixture of non-vicinal diols by two sequential hydroxylation reactions. Here we report the structure of the haem domain of CYP505A30, the first structure for a member of the CYP505 family, with dodecanoic acid bound within the active site. Overall, a high structural similarity to the related bacterial CYP102A1 was observed, despite low sequence identity (

Despite decades-long existence of the Philippine stingless bee industry, the biological activity of propolis from this native bee species (Tetragonula biroi Friese) remains poorly understood and sparingly investigated. Herein, we examined the potential anti-inflammatory efficacy of Philippine stingless bee propolis using the lambda (λ)-carrageenan-induced mice model of hind paw edema. Thirty (30), six-week-old, male ICR mice were randomly assigned into three treatment groups (n=10/group) as follows: distilled water group, diclofenac sodium group (10 mg/kg), and propolis group (100 mg/kg). All treatment were administered an hour prior to the injection of the phlogistic agent. As observed at 3 h post-injection, λ-carrageenan remarkably evoked the classical signs of hind paw edema exemplified grossly by swelling and hyperemia. The ameliorative effect of propolis became apparent at the onset of 6 h post-injection with a statistically significant finding evident at the 24-h period. This gross attenuation histologically correlated to a considerable and specific reduction of the dermal edema, which mirrored those of the diclofenac sodium group. Furthermore, both propolis and diclofenac sodium significantly attenuated the λ-carrageenan-induced increase in the protein expression levels of the pro-inflammatory cytokine tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) depicting more than two-fold decrement relative to the distilled water group. Altogether, these suggest that Philippine stingless bee propolis also exhibited a promising in vivo anti-inflammatory property, which can be partly mediated through the inhibition of TNF-α.

The majority of drowning deaths on Australian beaches occur significant distances away from lifeguard services. This study uses results of 459 surveys of beachgoers at five beaches unpatrolled by lifeguards in New South Wales, Australia to improve understanding of who visits these beaches and why, and to identify risk factors associated with their beach safety knowledge and behaviour. Many unpatrolled beach users were infrequent beachgoers and weak swimmers, with poor rip current hazard identification skills, who did not observe safety signage that was present, and yet intended to enter the water to swim despite being aware that no lifeguards were present. The survey found that the main reasons beachgoers visited unpatrolled beaches were because they were conveniently close to their holiday accommodation, or they represented a quieter location away from crowds. Future beach safety interventions in Australia need to extend beyond the standard ‘swim between the flags’ message in recognition that people will always frequent unpatrolled beaches. Future beach safety interventions for unpatrolled beaches should be tailored towards the varied types of demographic beach users, such as domestic tourist families, males, and day visitors attracted by social media.

Toxoplasmosis is a parasitic disease caused by infection with Toxoplasma gondii that currently has few therapeutic options. The M1 aminopeptidase enzymes have been shown to be attractive targets for anti-parasitic agents and/or vaccine candidates, suggesting potential to re-purpose inhibitors between parasite M1 aminopeptidase targets. The M1 aminopeptidase TgAPN2 has been suggested to be a potential new drug target for toxoplasmosis. Here we investigate the structure and function of TgAPN2, a homologue of the antimalarial drug target PfA-M1, and evaluate the capacity to use inhibitors that target PfA-M1 against TgAPN2. The results show that despite a similar overall fold, the TgAPN2 has a unique substrate specificity and inhibition profile. Sequence and structure differences are investigated and show how comparative structure-activity relationships may provide a route to obtaining potent inhibitors of TgAPN2.

A versatile one-pot procedure for the preparation of 2-alkyl-substituted N-arylindoles is described. The method combines a visible light-mediated Ni/Ir-photoredox dual catalytic N-arylation of alky...

Purpose Identification of the temporal pattern of associations between bullying perpetration and mental health problems among youth is needed for the optimal targeting of intervention and prevention. We examined the bidirectional association between bullying perpetration and internalizing problems among youth in the U.S. Methods We used data from the prospective cohort study of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health waves 1 (September 12, 2013, to December 14, 2014) and 2 (October 23, 2014, to October 30, 2015), a nationally representative sample of youth. We analyzed the associations of bullying perpetration with internalizing problems using binary and multinomial logistic regressions. The 13,200 youths aged 12–17 years were included in the analytic sample. Results There was a cross-sectional association between bullying perpetration and moderate/high lifetime internalizing problems (ORmoderate vs. no/low = 3.13, 95% CI 2.67–3.65; and ORhigh vs. no/low = 8.77, 95% CI 7.53–10.20). In the prospective analyses, bullying perpetration was associated with increased likelihood of moderate/high internalizing problems at follow-up (ORmoderate vs. no/low = 1.49, 95% CI 1.15–1.94; and ORhigh vs. no/low = 1.71, 95% CI 1.23–2.38), and youth with moderate/high internalizing problems had higher odds of bullying perpetration at follow-up (ORmoderate = 1.95, 95% CI 1.65–2.31; and ORhigh = 3.21, 95% CI 2.74–3.76). Conclusions The association between bullying perpetration and internalizing problems appears to be bidirectional. Bullying behaviors prevention and intervention strategies among youth should consider how to take into account and handle negative feelings and mental health problems.

Supplementary Material 1

Octopus fisheries are expanding worldwide to meet demand and fill market gaps left by overexploited species, a trend that is increasingly apparent in Australia. However, a lack of biological and ecological data is impeding the sustainable development of octopus fisheries. This is the first study to characterise the catch demographics and region-specific abundance of commercially harvested octopus in a remote fishery in southern Australia. Through field surveys, octopus and egg presence was monitored across four seasons and five sampling locations. A sub-sample of octopus from summer and winter were retained and examined. Octopus and eggs were present all year, with peaks of abundance in autumn and low abundance in summer. The catch consisted of large-egged holobenthic species, which were predominantly Octopus berrima (94 %) and Octopus pallidus (6%). Octopus were more abundant in the small and relatively hypersaline bays, but smaller, compared to octopus collected from the more exposed Gulf regions. For O. berrima, females made up 73 % of the catch, were 38 % smaller than males and only 32 % were mature. In contrast, 70 % of the males were mature. Based on the biological and ecological data, recommendations are provided for the sustainability and development of the fishery. As underutilised invertebrate fisheries become increasingly important to global food security, fundamental monitoring studies, such as this, are critical to ensure longevity and conservation of wild populations and fishery resources. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Otolith (ear stone) chemistry provides powerful insights into the lives of fish. Although frequently used to reconstruct past environments, the influence of physiology remains unsettled. As such, we investigated the relationships between otolith chemistry, physiological factors and environmental factors in an iconic fishery species, snapper (Chrysophrys auratus). Lifetime otolith profiles were analysed of carbon (δ13C) and oxygen (δ18O) isotopes, and elemental concentrations of lithium (Li: Ca), magnesium (Mg: Ca), manganese (Mn: Ca), strontium (Sr: Ca), and barium (Ba: Ca). Mixed-effects modelling alongside a detailed literature review was used to investigate physiological (age, otolith growth rate, fish size, sex) and environmental influences (sea-surface temperature and chlorophyll-a) on otolith chemistry. Carbon isotopes and magnesium related to physiological factors, suggesting their potential as physiological proxies. Physiology also weakly related to strontium and lithium. By contrast, oxygen isotopes, barium, and manganese (except for natal signatures) were suggested to provide insights into past environments. Our study stresses the importance of consistency in biological characteristics for study designs, and highlights the potential of physiological proxies for distinguishing between populations in uniform water bodies. This study has not only reinforced our confidence in field applications of otolith chemistry, but has furthered our understanding of the influence of physiology. Refereed/Peer-reviewed