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Despite increasing concern for coral reef ecosystem health within the last decade, there is scant literature concerning the histopathology of diseases affecting the major constituents of coral reef ecosystems, particularly marine invertebrates. This study describes histologic findings in 6 species of marine invertebrates (California sea hare [Aplysia californica], purple sea urchin [Strongylocentrotus purpuratus], sunburst anemone [Anthopleura sola], knobby star [Pisaster giganteus], bat star [Asterina miniata], and brittle star [Ophiopteris papillosa]) with spontaneous copper toxicosis, 4 purple sea urchins with experimentally induced copper toxicosis, and 1 unexposed control of each species listed. The primary lesions in the California sea hare with copper toxicosis were branchial and nephridial necrosis. Affected echinoderms shared several histologic lesions, including epidermal necrosis and ulceration and increased numbers of coelomocytes within the water-vascular system. The sunburst anemone with copper toxicosis had necrosis of both epidermis and gastrodermis, as well as expulsion of zooxanthellae from the gastrodermis. In addition to the lesions attributed to copper toxicosis, our results describe normal microscopic features of these animals that may be useful for histopathologic assessment of marine invertebrates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chondro-osseous respiratory epithelial adenomatoid hamartomas (COREAHs) are rare tumors in the nasal cavity of people, which have not been described in other species. COREAHs in people are minimally invasive and rarely recur following excision. Histologically, these tumors are composed of disorganized, mature, nasal turbinate tissue that is organized into polypoid growths. These growths are lined by respiratory epithelium, contain glandular elements, and are organized around central cores of chondro-osseous matrix. This report describes 3 cases of dogs with nasal tumors that have histomorphology similar to that of COREAH in people. The tumors were all identified within the nasal cavity and were associated with regional bony lysis of the turbinates and surrounding skull bones, a feature that has not been reported in COREAH in people. There was no evidence of metastasis or extension beyond the nasal cavity in any of the 3 cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aleutian disease virus (ADV, Amdovirus, Parvoviridae) primarily infects farmed mustelids (mink and ferrets) but also other fur-bearing animals and humans. Three Aleutian disease (AD) cases have been described in captive striped skunks; however, little is known about the relevance of AD in free-ranging carnivores. This work describes the pathological findings and temporospatial distribution in 7 cases of AD in free-ranging striped skunks. All cases showed neurologic disease and were found in a 46-month period (2010–2013) within a localized geographical region in California. Lesions included multisystemic plasmacytic and lymphocytic inflammation (ie, interstitial nephritis, myocarditis, hepatitis, meningoencephalitis, pneumonia, and splenitis), glomerulonephritis, arteritis with or without fibrinoid necrosis in several organs (ie, kidney, heart, brain, and spleen), splenomegaly, ascites/hydrothorax, and/or encephalomalacia with cerebral microangiopathy. ADV infection was confirmed in all cases by specific polymerase chain reaction and/or in situ hybridization. The results suggest that AD is an emerging disease in free-ranging striped skunks in California. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Odontogenic cysts are derived from odontogenic epithelium, can be locally invasive and destructive and have been reported rarely in cats. A 16-year-old, male domestic shorthair cat had a 3-year history of a slowly progressive, right mandibular swelling. Intraoral dental radiographs revealed a multilocular, radiolucent, cystic mass within the right mandible that extended from the distal aspect of the canine tooth to the mesial aspect of the fourth premolar tooth. Radiographically, the mass was associated with distortion and regional destruction of the right mandibular bone and resorption of regional tooth roots. Histological examination of an incisional biopsy sample revealed multiple ruptured cysts lined by stratified squamous epithelium of odontogenic origin with luminal parakeratinization and a prominent palisading basal cell layer. The cyst contained abundant orthokeratotic and parakeratotic keratin. The clinical, radiographical and histological features were consistent with a diagnosis of odontogenickeratocyst, as seen in man. This is the first report of an odontogenickeratocyst in a cat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over a period of 6 months, dozens of moon jelly (Aurelia aurita) medusae from a single-species exhibit at the California Science Center (CSC) developed exumbrellar ulcers. Ulcers were progressive, causing umbrellar creases that expanded radially to the bell rim and occasional adoral erosions that extended into gastrovascular cavities. Husbandry interventions, including addition of ultraviolet light sterilizers, repopulation with fresh cultures, and enclosure disinfection, did not arrest the recurrence of lesions. Biopsies or whole specimens representing 17 medusae (15 affected and 2 grossly unaffected) from CSC and 2 control medusae from Aquarium of the Pacific were submitted to a private diagnostic laboratory and processed for light and electron microscopy. Microscopic lesions were present in all CSC medusae and were not observed or negligible in control medusae. Lesions included ulceration, necrosis, and hyperplasia in all umbrellar layers, with most severe lesions in the exumbrella and amoebocyte infiltration in the underlying mesoglea. Special stains, electron microscopy, and fungal culture did not associate microorganisms with the lesions. Bacterial cultures from the CSC population consistently grew Shewanella and Vibrio spp, both of which were considered commensal. Trauma and environmental stress are proposed as possible causes for the ulcers. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A soil seed bank is the collective name for viable seeds that are stored naturally in the soil. At the species or population level, the ability to form a seed bank represents a strategy for (re)colonization following a disturbance or other change in the local environmental conditions. At the community level, seed banks are thought to buffer local diversity during periods of environmental change and are often studied in relation to the potential for passive habitat restoration. The role that seed banks play in plant population and community dynamics, as well as their importance in the agricultural sector, means that they have been widely studied in ecological research. This database is the result of a comprehensive literature search, including all seed bank studies from the Web of Science from which data could be extracted, as well as an additional search of the Russian language literature. The database contains information on the species richness, seed density, and/or seed abundance in 3096 records from at least 1929 locations across the world's seven continents, extracted from 1442 studies published between 1940 and 2020. Records are grouped into five broad habitat categories (aquatic, arable, forest, grassland-including shrubland-and wetland), including information relating to habitat degradation from, or restoration to other habitats (total 14 combinations). Sampling protocols were also extracted for each record, and the database was extensively checked for errors. The location of each record was then used to extract summary climate data and biome classification from external published databases. The database has several potential uses. The large geographical spread relative to many other global biodiversity datasets is relevant for investigating patterns of diversity in biogeographical or macroecological contexts. Habitat type and status (intact, degraded, and restored) can be used to provide insights for biodiversity conservation, while the potential effects of sampling method and effort can be used to inform optimized data collection for future seed bank studies. This database is released under the CC-BY license., (© 2024 The Author(s). Ecology published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of The Ecological Society of America.)

Few reports are available describing lesions in captive electric eels Electrophorus spp. This report describes 2 types of cutaneous proliferative lesions (i.e. hamartoma and neoplasm) in a captive electric eel. Ampullary electroreceptor hamartomas appeared grossly as 2 discrete, smooth, pink, spherical, cutaneous masses measuring 6 and 18 mm in diameter. Histologically, hamartomas were composed of predominately spindle cells that were separated into lobules by a peripheral rim of polygonal cells. Spindle cells were arranged in vague streams and occasionally whorls within a myxomatous matrix. Polygonal cells arranged in variably sized trabeculae and cords within a pre-existing fibrovascular stroma surrounded the streams of spindle cells. Admixed with the polygonal cell population were multiple mucous glands and alarm cells, similar to those seen in normal regions of epidermis. Histochemical stains confirmed similar components in the normal ampullary electroreceptor as in the hamartomas. Lymphoma was also present, appearing grossly as patchy pitting, erythematous, and thickened areas of the skin affecting the entire animal. Lymphoma was diffusely infiltrating and expanding the epidermis, oral mucosa, and branchial mucosa up to 1.5 mm in thickness. It was composed of an unencapsulated, well-demarcated, moderately cellular neoplasm composed of lymphocytes arranged in small dense sheets and clusters that separated and effaced epidermal cells. This is the first report of lymphoma in an electric eel, and the first report of ampullary electroreceptor hamartoma in any animal species.

Ecological restoration is critical for recovering degraded ecosystems but is challenged by variable success and low predictability. Understanding which outcomes are more predictable and less variable following restoration can improve restoration effectiveness. Recent theory asserts that the predictability of outcomes would follow an order from most to least predictable from coarse to fine community properties (physical structure > taxonomic diversity > functional composition > taxonomic composition) and that predictability would increase with more severe environmental conditions constraining species establishment. We tested this "hierarchy of predictability" hypothesis by synthesizing outcomes along an aridity gradient with 11 grassland restoration projects across the United States. We used 1829 vegetation monitoring plots from 227 restoration treatments, spread across 52 sites. We fit generalized linear mixed-effects models to predict six indicators of restoration outcomes as a function of restoration characteristics (i.e., seed mixes, disturbance, management actions, time since restoration) and used variance explained by models and model residuals as proxies for restoration predictability. We did not find consistent support for our hypotheses. Physical structure was among the most predictable outcomes when the response variable was relative abundance of grasses, but unpredictable for total canopy cover. Similarly, one dimension of taxonomic composition related to species identities was unpredictable, but another dimension of taxonomic composition indicating whether exotic or native species dominated the community was highly predictable. Taxonomic diversity (i.e., species richness) and functional composition (i.e., mean trait values) were intermittently predictable. Predictability also did not increase consistently with aridity. The dimension of taxonomic composition related to the identity of species in restored communities was more predictable (i.e., smaller residuals) in more arid sites, but functional composition was less predictable (i.e., larger residuals), and other outcomes showed no significant trend. Restoration outcomes were most predictable when they related to variation in dominant species, while those responding to rare species were harder to predict, indicating a potential role of scale in restoration predictability. Overall, our results highlight additional factors that might influence restoration predictability and add support to the importance of continuous monitoring and active management beyond one-time seed addition for successful grassland restoration in the United States., (© 2023 The Authors. Ecological Applications published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of The Ecological Society of America.)

A coral reef system at the Steinhart Aquarium in San Francisco, CA, USA experienced a population explosion of pycnogonid sea spiders (Arthropoda: Class Pycnogonida) with subsequent deleterious health effects on the corals in the system. Sixteen coral colonies across three species ( Stylophora pistillata , Pocillopora damicornis , and Acropora tenuis ) were chosen from this system for milbemycin oxime immersion therapy trials, with the goal of decreasing or eradicating the sea spider population with minimal detrimental effect to the corals. Corals underwent two milbemycin immersion treatments, administered 1 wk apart, at the previously published aquatic invertebrate dose of 0.016 parts per million (ppm; mg/L), but therapy did not reduce the number of sea spiders. Doubling the dose to 0.032 ppm milbemycin and repeating this immersion therapy 1/wk for three treatments successfully reduced the sea spiders. Histopathology was used to assess the health of the corals and tolerance to therapy, and posttreatment biopsies confirmed that there were no adverse effects to any of the three species of coral. Repeated 1/ wk treatments of milbemycin oxime immersion therapy at 0.032 ppm appears to be both safe and effective for reducing the numbers of pycnogonid sea spiders in the stony corals S. pistillata , P. damicornis , and A. tenuis .

Background: Reports of allergic reactions to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines, coupled with an "infodemic" of misinformation, carry the potential to undermine confidence in the COVID-19 vaccines. However, no attempts have been made to comprehensively synthesize the literature on how allergic disease and fear of allergic reactions to the vaccines contribute to hesitancy., Objectives: Our aim was to review the academic and gray literature on COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and allergic reactions., Methods: We searched 4 databases (CINAHL, PsycINFO, MEDLINE, and Embase) using a search strategy developed by content and methodologic experts. No restrictions were applied regarding COVID-19 vaccine type, country of study, or patient age. Eligible articles were restricted to 10 languages., Results: Of the 1385 unique records retrieved from our search, 60 articles (4.3%) were included. Allergic reactions to the COVID-19 vaccine were rare but slightly more common in individuals with a history of allergic disease. A fifth of the studies (13 of 60 [22%]) discussed vaccine hesitancy due to possibility of an allergic reaction. Additionally, the present review identified research on details of vaccine-related anaphylaxis (eg, a mean and median [excluding clinical trial data] of 12.4 and 5 cases per million doses, respectively) and allergic reactions (eg, a mean and median [excluding clinical trial data] of 489 and 528 cases per million doses, respectively)., Conclusion: COVID-19 vaccine acceptance among individuals living with allergy and among those with no history of allergic disease may be affected by fear of an allergic reaction. Despite the low incidence of allergic reactions to the COVID-19 vaccine, fear of such reactions is one of the most commonly cited concerns reported in the literature., (© 2023 The Author(s).)

Neoplasia is a common cause of morbidity and mortality in captive nondomestic felids. Seven tigers ( Panthera tigris ), two African lions ( Panthera leo ), and two snow leopards ( Panthera uncia ) were diagnosed with melanocytic neoplasia (10 malignant melanomas, two benign melanocytomas) over a 20-yr period. Animals were 10-19 yr old and 5/7 tigers were phenotypically white. Malignant melanoma tumor location included skin ( n = 4), oral mucosa ( n = 2), nasal planum ( n = 1), iris/uvea ( n = 2), and lip margin ( n = 1); melanocytomas were found in skin ( n = 2). Metastasis to regional lymph nodes was seen at diagnosis in 3/7 melanoma cases. Thoracic radiography ( n = 6) and/or computed tomography ( n = 2) did not detect pulmonary metastasis at diagnosis but were useful for detection later in the disease course. Median survival time (MST) for all cases ranged from 1 mon - 40 mon. Seven cases with malignant melanoma underwent treatment, which included surgery, radiation therapy, and administration of the canine melanoma vaccine (Oncept ® ) or a combination of these treatments; MST was 5-40 mon for these cases. While multimodal therapy may provide an improved survival time, the majority of animals with malignant melanoma invariably died from neoplastic disease. Necropsy confirmed metastasis of malignant melanoma in 7/9 animals; sites included lung, liver, lymph node, kidney, mesentery, pleural cavity, heart, stomach, spleen, and adrenal gland. This case series describes the clinical and histologic findings of melanocytic neoplasia in nondomestic felids as well as multimodal treatment strategies incorporating the canine melanoma vaccine.

Restoration ecology commonly seeks to re-establish species of interest in degraded habitats. Despite a rich understanding of how succession influences re-establishment, there are several outstanding questions that remain unaddressed: are short-term abundances sufficient to determine long-term re-establishment success, and what factors contribute to unpredictable restorations outcomes? In other words, when restoration fails, is it because the restored habitat is substandard, because of strong competition with invasive species, or alternatively due to changing environmental conditions that would equally impact established populations? Here, we re-purpose tools developed from modern coexistence theory to address these questions, and apply them to an effort to restore the endangered Contra Costa goldfields (Lasthenia conjugens) in constructed ("restored") California vernal pools. Using 16 years of data, we construct a population model of L. conjugens, a species of conservation concern due primarily to habitat loss and invasion of exotic grasses. We show that initial, short-term appearances of restoration success from population abundances is misleading, as year-to-year fluctuations cause long-term population growth rates to fall below zero. The failure of constructed pools is driven by lower maximum growth rates compared with reference ("natural") pools, coupled with a stronger negative sensitivity to annual fluctuations in abiotic conditions that yield decreased maximum growth rates. Nonetheless, our modeling shows that fluctuations in competition (mainly with exotic grasses) benefit L. conjugens through periods of competitive release, especially in constructed pools of intermediate pool depth. We therefore show how reductions in invasives and seed addition in pools of particular depths could change the outcome of restoration for L. conjugens. By applying a largely theoretical framework to the urgent goal of ecological restoration, our study provides a blueprint for predicting restoration success, and identifies future actions to reverse species loss., (© 2022 The Authors. Ecological Applications published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of The Ecological Society of America.)

Background: Reports of allergic reactions to the COVID-19 vaccines have been documented, which may also contribute to hesitancy. Despite the low likelihood that the COVID-19 vaccine will trigger an allergic reaction, we and others have reported that families with allergy remain vaccine hesitant due to concerns of COVID-19-vaccine-triggered anaphylaxis., Objective: To present our scoping review protocol, that will inform a forthcoming living scoping review in which we will investigate the peer-reviewed and grey literature on COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and allergic disease and/or allergic reactions following a COVID-19 vaccine., Methods: Informed by Arksey and O'Malley framework for methodological review, we have developed a search strategy with content and methodological experts, and which has undergone Peer Review of Electronic Search Strategies review. A search of four scientific databases, as well as gray literature, will be performed without restriction to articles by type of COVID-19 vaccine, or country of study, and will include publications in the ten languages our team can handle. Bi-monthly search alerts based on the search strategy will be generated., Results: The first search will result in a stand alone peer reviewed scoping review. Bi-monthly updates will be posted on a pre-print server. Depending on the volume of literature, these updates will be synthesized and submitted for peer-review at 6 and/or 12 months., Conclusion: COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy amongst individuals with allergy persists, despite very low risk of serious adverse reactions. Our living scoping review, which includes multiple forms of knowledge translation, will be a rigorous way to address hesitancy., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Modelling species interactions in diverse communities traditionally requires a prohibitively large number of species-interaction coefficients, especially when considering environmental dependence of parameters. We implemented Bayesian variable selection via sparsity-inducing priors on non-linear species abundance models to determine which species interactions should be retained and which can be represented as an average heterospecific interaction term, reducing the number of model parameters. We evaluated model performance using simulated communities, computing out-of-sample predictive accuracy and parameter recovery across different input sample sizes. We applied our method to a diverse empirical community, allowing us to disentangle the direct role of environmental gradients on species' intrinsic growth rates from indirect effects via competitive interactions. We also identified a few neighbouring species from the diverse community that had non-generic interactions with our focal species. This sparse modelling approach facilitates exploration of species interactions in diverse communities while maintaining a manageable number of parameters., (© 2022 The Authors. Ecology Letters published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

European gypsy moths ( Lymantria dispar dispar ) are an invasive species in North America, and are listed by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature as one of the 100 most destructive invasive species worldwide. They have several known viruses, some of which are used as biological control agents. However, there are no detailed descriptions of many entomopathogenic viral infections, including in European gypsy moths, using bright-field microscopy. In this study, 11 European gypsy moth caterpillars were evaluated histologically: 4 were experimentally infected with Lymantria dispar multicapsid nucleopolyhedrovirus (LdMNPV; Baculoviridae); 4 were experimentally infected with Lymantria dispar cytoplasmic polyhedrosis virus (LdCPV; Reoviridae); 3 control animals were uninfected. A complete tissue set was evaluated in all animals from all groups using bright-field microscopy, including epidermis, cuticle, striated muscle, tracheae, foregut, midgut, hindgut, Malpighian tubules, hemocytes, fat body, and nervous system. LdMNPV-infected caterpillars had marked karyomegaly and intranuclear viral inclusions in cells of the epidermis, tracheae, fat body, and hemocytes. LdMNPV-infected caterpillars also had hyperplasia and hypertrophy of epidermal and tracheal epithelial cells. LdCPV-infected caterpillars had numerous granular eosinophilic intracytoplasmic viral inclusions in midgut epithelial cells. Both LdMNPV-infected and LdCPV-infected caterpillars had atrophy of fat body adipocytes; this change was more pronounced in LdCPV-infected caterpillars. This work provides the first detailed descriptions of these viral infections in European gypsy moth caterpillars using bright-field light microscopy and provides images of normal histology from control caterpillars.

Neoplasia is rarely reported in decapod crustaceans, and sarcoma has not been previously reported in any crab species. A California king crab Paralithodes californiensis with a recent history of autotomy (4 legs lost) and anorexia was found dead. Grossly, the crab had a pigmented ulcer on the right cheliped merus. Necropsy tissue samples were placed in 10% neutral buffered formalin and processed routinely for histology. Both histochemical (i.e. Brown and Brenn Gram, Fite-Faraco acid fast, Fontana-Masson, Giemsa, hematoxylin and eosin, Masson's trichrome, periodic acid-Schiff [PAS], phosphotungstic acid-hematoxylin, and von Kossa) and immunohistochemical (i.e. cytokeratin, vimentin, and lysozyme) stains were performed. The body wall (presumably of the right cheliped merus) was ulcerated and subtended by a densely cellular, unencapsulated, invasive neoplasm composed of spindle cells arranged in intersecting streams and bundles embedded in a small to moderate amount of fibromatous stroma. Neoplastic cells were oval to elongate with fibrillar, pale eosinophilic cytoplasm that occasionally contained moderate numbers of small, spherical, brightly eosinophilic granules that were highlighted with PAS and Giemsa stains. Neoplastic cells had mild atypia and no evident mitoses. Immunohistochemical stains were noncontributory. This neoplasm is consistent with hemocytic sarcoma of semi-granulocytic origin. Decapod crustaceans have 3 types of hemocytes: hyalinocytes, granulocytes, and semi-granulocytes. Neoplastic cells had PAS- and Giemsa-positive granules, which are present in both semi-granulocytes and granulocytes. Semi-granulocytes can elongate and are associated with deposition of extracellular matrix during some immune responses. Neoplastic cells were elongate and associated with deposition of matrix. These findings suggest neoplastic cells were of semi-granulocytic origin.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

Metacommunity ecology combines local (e.g., environmental filtering and biotic interactions) and regional (e.g., dispersal and heterogeneity) processes to understand patterns of species abundance, occurrence, composition, and diversity across scales of space and time. As such, it has a great potential to generalize and synthesize our understanding of many ecological problems. Here, we give an overview of how a metacommunity perspective can provide useful insights for conservation biology, which aims to understand and mitigate the effects of anthropogenic drivers that decrease population sizes, increase extinction probabilities, and threaten biodiversity. We review four general metacommunity processes-environmental filtering, biotic interactions, dispersal, and ecological drift-and discuss how key anthropogenic drivers (e.g., habitat loss and fragmentation, and nonnative species) can alter these processes. We next describe how the patterns of interest in metacommunities (abundance, occupancy, and diversity) map onto issues at the heart of conservation biology, and describe cases where conservation biology benefits by taking a scale-explicit metacommunity perspective. We conclude with some ways forward for including metacommunity perspectives into ideas of ecosystem functioning and services, as well as approaches to habitat management, preservation, and restoration., (© 2020 The Authors. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences published by Wiley Periodicals, LLC. on behalf of New York Academy of Sciences.)

Granular cell tumours (GCTs) are uncommon neoplasms mostly reported in man, dogs and horses. The origin of GCT is thought to be Schwann cells, with the associated characteristics of neural crest morphology. Neoplastic cells often demonstrate positive immunoreactivity for S100, LC3, vimentin and p62. They are also periodic acid-Schiff (PAS) positive and diastase resistant. A female green tree python (Morelia viridis) was presented for severe constipation and hyporexia of 4 month's duration and, despite treatment, died the next day. A 4.8 × 3.4 mm intracalvarial GCT was identified, compressing the overlying cerebrum without invasion. Neoplastic cells were immunoreactive to S100 and had brightly eosinophilic cytoplasmic granules that were PAS positive and diastase resistant. Electron microscopy revealed numerous cytoplasmic lysosomes in neoplastic cells. GCTs are reported rarely in non-mammalian species with three reports in birds. This represents the first report of a GCT in a reptile., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Proliferative, myxomatous change was identified in the cardiac valves (i.e. valvular endocardiosis) with extension into some cardiac walls (i.e. mural endocardiosis) of five tetras (four neon tetras [Paracheirodon innesi] and one rummynose tetra [Hemigrammus rhodostomus]). Review of cardiac sections from tetras (family Characiformes) submitted to two diagnostic laboratories revealed a prevalence of endocardiosis in tetras of 4.3% and 5.7%, respectively. In four cases, concurrent disease that could be a primary cause of death was not identified, and endocardiosis was considered the primary cause of death; in the fifth case, egg binding was present concurrently. This retrospective case series suggests that endocardiosis is a significant concern in fish of the family Characiformes., (Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Leaf traits are frequently measured in ecology to provide a 'common currency' for predicting how anthropogenic pressures impact ecosystem function. Here, we test whether leaf traits consistently respond to experimental treatments across 27 globally distributed grassland sites across 4 continents. We find that specific leaf area (leaf area per unit mass)-a commonly measured morphological trait inferring shifts between plant growth strategies-did not respond to up to four years of soil nutrient additions. Leaf nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium concentrations increased in response to the addition of each respective soil nutrient. We found few significant changes in leaf traits when vertebrate herbivores were excluded in the short-term. Leaf nitrogen and potassium concentrations were positively correlated with species turnover, suggesting that interspecific trait variation was a significant predictor of leaf nitrogen and potassium, but not of leaf phosphorus concentration. Climatic conditions and pretreatment soil nutrient levels also accounted for significant amounts of variation in the leaf traits measured. Overall, we find that leaf morphological traits, such as specific leaf area, are not appropriate indicators of plant response to anthropogenic perturbations in grasslands.

Globally, annual expenditure on ecological restoration of degraded areas for habitat improvement and biodiversity conservation is approximately $18bn. Seed farming of native plant species is crucial to meet restoration goals, but may be stymied by the disconnection of academic research in seed science and the lack of effective policies that regulate native seed production/supply. To illustrate this problem, we identified 1,122 plant species important for European grasslands of conservation concern and found that only 32% have both fundamental seed germination data available and can be purchased as seed. The " restoration species pool," or set of species available in practice, acts as a significant biodiversity selection filter for species use in restoration projects. For improvement, we propose: (1) substantial expansion of research and development on native seed quality, viability, and production; (2) open-source knowledge transfer between sectors; and (3) creation of supportive policy intended to stimulate demand for biodiverse seed.

Case series summary This case series describes the clinical utility of antigen testing for the diagnosis of feline ocular histoplasmosis. Four cats with suspected (n = 2) or confirmed (n = 2) ocular histoplasmosis are described: three from Oklahoma and one from California. In one case, serial urine antigen tests, as well as a serum antigen test for Histoplasma capsulatum, were negative; however, light microscopy identified microorganisms consistent with H capsulatum in ocular tissues at necropsy. In a further two cats with recurrent ocular histoplasmosis following long-term systemic antifungal therapy, Histoplasma species urine antigen concentrations were negative, but both cats improved clinically following systemic antifungal therapy and remained in apparent clinical remission after treatment cessation (9-16 months). The final cat displayed profound bilateral endophthalmitis; however, Histoplasma species antigen testing of vitreous humor and subretinal fluid from the left eye was negative. Intralesional organisms were detected on histopathology of both eyes, and H capsulatum was subsequently isolated and sequenced from tissue of one eye. Relevance and novel information These cases highlight the potential difficulty in definitively diagnosing ocular histoplasmosis in cats when conducting antigen testing of serum, urine and even ocular fluids. Although antigen testing has previously proven useful in the diagnosis of disseminated feline histoplasmosis, it may not be adequate in cats with only ocular signs.

Ameloblastoma is a locally aggressive tumour derived from the odontogenic epithelium of the developing tooth germ. This uncommon odontogenic tumour is generally considered benign, but rarely, both distant metastasis and cytological atypia occur and this malignant version is referred to as malignant ameloblastic carcinoma. Here we document a spontaneous malignant ameloblastic carcinoma in a rat (Rattus norvegicus) with metastasis to the submandibular lymph node. We also describe ameloblastomas in two other muroid rodents, an Amaragosa vole (Microtus californicus scirpensis) and a Syrian hamster (Mesocricetus auratus). To our knowledge, this is the first report of a malignant ameloblastic carcinoma in any animal and the first report of ameloblastoma in a vole and hamster., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Aleutian disease virus (ADV, Amdovirus, Parvoviridae) primarily infects farmed mustelids (mink and ferrets) but also other fur-bearing animals and humans. Three Aleutian disease (AD) cases have been described in captive striped skunks; however, little is known about the relevance of AD in free-ranging carnivores. This work describes the pathological findings and temporospatial distribution in 7 cases of AD in free-ranging striped skunks. All cases showed neurologic disease and were found in a 46-month period (2010-2013) within a localized geographical region in California. Lesions included multisystemic plasmacytic and lymphocytic inflammation (ie, interstitial nephritis, myocarditis, hepatitis, meningoencephalitis, pneumonia, and splenitis), glomerulonephritis, arteritis with or without fibrinoid necrosis in several organs (ie, kidney, heart, brain, and spleen), splenomegaly, ascites/hydrothorax, and/or encephalomalacia with cerebral microangiopathy. ADV infection was confirmed in all cases by specific polymerase chain reaction and/or in situ hybridization. The results suggest that AD is an emerging disease in free-ranging striped skunks in California., (© The Author(s) 2014.)