Search

Funding: Open access funding provided by FCT|FCCN (b-on). This work was funded by the Operational Programme Mar2020 MAR-02.01.01-FEAMP-0052 “Newcumber-Avanços para o cultivo sustentável de pepinos do mar”. This work was also supported by national funds through FCT–Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P., within the strategic projects MARE (UIDB/04292/2020) Associate Laboratory ARNET (LA/P/0069/2020), CEAUL (UIDB/00006/2020), A.C. Brito with the Scientific Stimulus Programme–CEECIND/00095/2017, A. Pombo by the Scientific Employment Stimulus-Institutional Call-CEECINST/00051/2018 and F. Azevedo e Silva by the individual research grant (SFRH/BD/09563/2020). The demand for sea cucumbers from the NE-Atlantic is increasing as a consequence of the depletion of stocks that historically supplied Asian markets. Some species from the NE-Atlantic are already showing overfishing signs due to either inefficient policies or their total absence, and they do not offer any margins of sustainability to sea cucumber fisheries. The current lack of knowledge of biological and ecological traits has led to ineffective protection of those species. Holothuria arguinensis is a good example of a temperate sea cucumber species suffering from the effects of unregulated and illegal harvest. This study aims to determine the temporal and spatial distribution patterns of H. arguinensis, assessing density and size-class structure in a NE-Atlantic population, in SW Portugal, as a function of environmental conditions. Sampling was done every 1.5 months at 6 stations defined according to habitat heterogeneity, following the coastline from the mouth of the Sado estuary to marine coastal areas. At each station, there were two habitats (rocky substrate and sandy areas) sampled through SCUBA diving along 30-m random transects, each with three replicates. Individuals were counted and measured (total length) and individual behavioural parameters, such as sheltering and settlement surface, were recorded. Water column parameters, sediment composition, and substrate cover were also recorded. Generalised Linear Models were fit to the data, modelling density and size distribution of the species with respect to environmental conditions. The results indicate that the distribution of H. arguinensis was mainly determined by its ability to deal with physical environmental stressors (current), rather than the chemical properties of the water column or sediment composition. The hydrodynamic features of the region exert the greatest impact on this species’ distribution and help shape habitat usage by different size class groups. Publisher PDF

Funding: This study was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation (grant P2BEP3_195232) and by the Academy of Finland (project 323527 and project 329251). Species' range shifts and local extinctions caused by climate change lead to community composition changes. At large spatial scales, ecological barriers, such as biome boundaries, coastlines, and elevation, can influence a community's ability to shift in response to climate change. Yet, ecological barriers are rarely considered in climate change studies, potentially hindering predictions of biodiversity shifts. We used data from two consecutive European breeding bird atlases to calculate the geographic distance and direction between communities in the 1980s and their compositional best match in the 2010s and modeled their response to barriers. The ecological barriers affected both the distance and direction of bird community composition shifts, with coastlines and elevation having the strongest influence. Our results underscore the relevance of combining ecological barriers and community shift projections for identifying the forces hindering community adjustments under global change. Notably, due to (macro)ecological barriers, communities are not able to track their climatic niches, which may lead to drastic changes, and potential losses, in community compositions in the future. Publisher PDF

Funding: LKJ acknowledges funding from UKRI-FLF through MR/T022094/1. LKJ also acknowledges, Professor Iain Baikie for assistance with the work function and APS measurements, and Professor Phil King and Gordon Kentish, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of St Andrews for the XRD measurements and would like to acknowledge (EPSRC): EP/T023449/1. This research used resources of the Advanced Light Source, a U.S. DOE Office of Science User Facility under contract no. DE-AC02-05CH11231. Work was performed at beamline 12.3.2, beamline scientist Nobumichi Tamura. M. A. acknowledges support by the US Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Materials Sciences and Engineering Division under Contract No. DE-AC02-05-CH11231 (D2S2 program KCD2S2). Work at the Molecular Foundry was supported by the Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, of the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231. IDWS acknowledges funding from EPSRC through EP/l017008/1. Indoor photovoltaics are receiving tremendous attention due to the continuous development of the Internet of Things. The present study reports how the fast processing of the triple halide perovskite enables the retention of chlorine and the beneficial role of chlorine in enhancing the indoor light harvesting of a wide bandgap triple anion (TA) perovskite CH3NH3PbI2.6Br0.2Cl0.2. The kinetics of chlorine incorporation/escape investigated by in situ grazing incidence wide-angle X-ray scattering revealed the escape of chlorine after the first ten minutes of thermal annealing and the findings were corroborated with elemental analysis by wavelength dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The best-performing TA perovskite indoor-photovoltaic device achieved a steady-state power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 25.1% with an output power density of ∼75 μW cm−2 under 1000 lux indoor illumination (0.3 mW cm−2 irradiance). Improved crystalline quality, reduced density of trap states and longer carrier lifetime were achieved by the triple anion alloying method. The detrimental role of the commonly used hole transporting layer (HTL) of Spiro-MeOTAD under indoor lighting conditions leading to J–V hysteresis was also investigated, which could then be effectively suppressed by replacing Spiro-MeOTAD with undoped P3HT. The optimized TA perovskite indoor PV cells were then successfully used to wirelessly power a textile fiber-based temperature sensor. The results from the present study demonstrate a novel route to incorporate chlorine effectively and maximize the steady state power output from halide perovskite indoor photovoltaic devices and their promising potential for the IoT industry. Publisher PDF

Funding: L K J acknowledges funding from UKRI-Future Leaders Fellowship, University of St Andrews, UK NRF Korea government (MSIT) Kwangwoon University through MR/T022094/1. This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) Grant funded by the Korea government (MSIT) (NRF-2021R1A2C2012855) and Kwangwoon university in 2023. Recent years have witnessed the emergence of indoor photovoltaic (PV) devices with the rapid development of the Internet of things technology field. Among the candidates for indoor PVs, halide perovskites are attracting enormous attention due to their outstanding optoelectronic properties suitable for indoor light harvesting. Here we investigated the indoor PV properties of CH3NH3PbI3-based devices using Spiro-OMeTAD and P3HT as the hole transport layers. The Spiro-OMeTAD-based devices show a consistently higher power conversion efficiency under indoor illumination and 1 sun, with the champion devices showing a power conversion efficiency of 21.0% and 30.1% for the forward and reverse scan under 1000 lux warm white LED illumination. Fewer trap states and higher carrier lifetime were revealed for Spiro-OMeTAD based devices compared to P3HT. The best-performed Spiro-OMeTAD-based devices are used to self-power a wearable motion sensor, which could detect human motion in real-time, to create a primary sensor system with independent power management. By attaching the Spiro-OMeTAD indoor PV device to the strain sensor, the sensor exhibits an accurate and sensitive response with finger bending movements with good repeatability and negligible degradation of mechanical stability, which indicates the success of sensor powering with the indoor PV device. Publisher PDF

Provenance disclosure—the documentation of an artifact’s origin and how it was produced—is an important aspect to consider when working with historical records which undergo multiple transformations in preparation for and during digitization. Provenance in this context is commonly communicated through explanatory text or static diagrams. However, the methodological and curatorial decisions that have influenced the records’ data are easily overlooked, in particular when exploring the records through visualization as a result of digitization processes. We propose a data-driven approach to provenance disclosure which (1) traces provenance back to when the records were created, (2) documents and categorizes the records’ transformations (transcriptions, content modifications, changes in organization, and representational form), and (3) uses data visualization to disclose provenance in interactive ways. We reflect on how this approach can be practically applied in the context of historical record collections, and we present findings from a qualitative study we conducted to investigate the merits and limitations of provenance-driven visualization. Our findings suggest that data-driven provenance disclosure has the potential to (1) promote transparency and deeper interpretations of historical records, (2) provide rigor in researching historical document collections and underlying production processes, and (3) encourage ethical considerations by making visible labor and implicit bias that influence the production and curation of historical records. Publisher PDF

Funding: This work was supported by the European Research Council (Consolidator Grant 101002326 to J.K.). Ribosomally synthesized and post-translationally modified peptide natural products have provided many highly unusual scaffolds. This includes the intriguing alkaloids crocagins, which possess a tetracyclic core structure and whose biosynthesis has remained enigmatic. Here we use in vitro experiments to demonstrate that three proteins, CgnB, CgnC and CgnE, are sufficient for the production of the hallmark tetracyclic crocagin core from the precursor peptide CgnA. The crystal structures of the homologues CgnB and CgnE reveal them to be the founding members of a peptide-binding protein family and allow us to rationalize their distinct functions. We further show that the hydrolase CgnD liberates the crocagin core scaffold, which is subsequently N-methylated by CgnL. These insights allow us to propose a biosynthetic scheme for crocagins. Bioinformatic analyses based on these data led to the discovery of related biosynthetic pathways that may provide access to a structurally diverse family of peptide-derived pyrroloindoline alkaloids. Publisher PDF

Funding: This research is part of project NGANDU (The Importance of Shark Populations and Sustainable Ocean Use for Human Well-being in Cabo Verde and São Tomé and Príncipe, West Africa) funded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) and the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) under grant agreement FCT AGA-KHAN/541746579/2019. All authors acknowledge funding from FCT under the strategic project UIDB/04292/2020 granted to MARE and project LA/P/0069/2020 granted to the Associate Laboratory ARNET. TM acknowledges funding from the strategic project UIDB/00006/2020 granted to CEAUL. CF acknowledges funding from FCT research contract 2020.03704.CEECIND and FCT grant agreement PTDC/CTA-AMB/30226/2017. VP acknowledges funding from FCT PhD grant 2020.05435.BD. CS acknowledges funding from FCT PhD grant SFRH/BD/117890/2016, FCT research grants under PTDC/CTA-AMB/30226/2017 through FCiencias.ID and AGA-KHAN/541746579/2019 through Nova School of Business and Economics. EN acknowledges funding from FCT PhD grant SFRH/BD/135438/2017. JRP acknowledges funding from FCT research contract 2021.01030.CEECIND. JV acknowledges funding from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (PhD grant, IPCC Scholarship Programme–Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation) and the Camões–Instituto da Cooperação e da Língua, I.P. (Scholarship Programme). This study describes the first potential multi-species shark nursery area in Atlantic Africa (Sal Rei Bay – SRB, Boa Vista Island, Cabo Verde). From August 2016 to September 2019, 6162 neonates and juveniles of 5 different shark species were observed in SRB using beach gillnet-based bycatch surveys, namely milk (Rhizoprionodon acutus; n= 4908), scalloped hammerhead (Sphyrna lewini; n= 1035), blacktip (Carcharhinus limbatus; n=115), Atlantic weasel (Paragaleus pectoralis; n= 93) and nurse (Ginglymostoma cirratum; n= 12) sharks. Except for nurse sharks, significant seasonal variations in shark relative abundance were observed, with higher levels being recorded during summer and autumn. These findings, together with local knowledge (interviews to fishermen), denote the consistent use of SRB by juvenile sharks and its preference relative to other areas in the region. Ensuring the protection and conservation of SRB nursery area is especially relevant as, according to IUCN, all identified shark species are threatened with extinction over the near-future – in particular, scalloped hammerheads (critically endangered) and Atlantic weasel sharks (endangered). The effective protection of SRB will not only support the conservation of shark populations, but also of other charismatic fauna (e.g., loggerhead turtles) and broader benthic and pelagic ecosystems. Publisher PDF

Funding: This study was funded by Moray Offshore Wind Farm (East) Ltd. Mitigation measures to disperse marine mammals prior to pile-driving include acoustic deterrent devices and piling soft starts, but their efficacy remains uncertain. We developed a self-contained portable hydrophone cluster to detect small cetacean movements from the distributions of bearings to detections. Using an array of clusters within 10 km of foundation pile installations, we tested the hypothesis that harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) respond to mitigation measures at offshore windfarm sites by moving away. During baseline periods, porpoise movements were evenly distributed in all directions. By contrast, animals showed significant directional movement away from sound sources during acoustic deterrent device use and piling soft starts. We demonstrate that porpoises respond to measures aimed to mitigate the most severe impacts of construction at offshore windfarms by swimming directly away from these sound sources. Portable directional hydrophone clusters now provide opportunities to characterize responses to disturbance sources across a broad suite of habitats and contexts. Publisher PDF

E.A. received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (Canada) - Postdoctoral grant No. 756-2019-0768, and the Fonds de recherche du Québec – Société et culture - Postdoctoral grant No. 274299. Support for this research was provided to HPA by the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Education with funding from the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation. US racial-ethnic mortality disparities are well documented and central to debates on social inequalities in health. Standard measures, such as life expectancy or years of life lost, are based on synthetic populations and do not account for the real underlying populations experiencing the inequalities. We analyze US mortality disparities comparing Asian Americans, Blacks, Hispanics, and Native Americans/Alaska Natives to Whites using 2019 CDC and NCHS data, using a novel approach that estimates the mortality gap, adjusted for population structure by accounting for real-population exposures. This measure is tailored for analyses where age structures are fundamental, not merely a confounder. We highlight the magnitude of inequalities by comparing the population structure-adjusted mortality gap against standard metrics' estimates of loss of life due to leading causes. Based on the population structure-adjusted mortality gap, Black and Native American mortality disadvantage exceeds mortality from circulatory diseases. The disadvantage is 72% among Blacks (men: 47%, women: 98%) and 65% among Native Americans (men: 45%, women: 92%), larger than life expectancy measured disadvantage. In contrast, estimated advantages for Asian Americans are over three times (men: 176%, women: 283%) and, for Hispanics, two times (men: 123%; women: 190%) larger than those based on life expectancy. Mortality inequalities based on standard metrics' synthetic populations can differ markedly from estimates of the population structure-adjusted mortality gap. We demonstrate that standard metrics underestimate racial-ethnic disparities through disregarding actual population age structures. Exposure-corrected measures of inequality may better inform health policies around allocation of scarce resources. Publisher PDF

We wish to thank Fundación Biodiversidad for supporting COLCA project and all the ecovolunteers involved in the fieldwork of the Balearic Sperm Whale project. We are grateful to OceanCare (Switzerland) for their continuous support of the sperm whale research and conservation activities of the PCRI since 2008 and to Prof. Kostas Kostarelos and the University of Manchester for organizing the crowd-funding project “Nanowhales” to cofund the research expedition of 2019 along the Hellenic Trench. This paper represents HIMB and SOEST contribution nos. 1903 and 11568, respectively. Body mass is a fundamental feature of animal physiology. Although sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) are the largest toothed predators on earth, body mass is seldom included in studies of their ecophysiology and bioenergetics due to the inherent difficulties of obtaining direct measurements. We used UAV‐photogrammetry to estimate the weight of free‐ranging sperm whales. Aerial photographs (23 calves, 11 juveniles, 55 nonmother adults, 13 mothers) were collected in the Eastern Caribbean and Mediterranean Sea during 2017–2020. Body length, widths, and heights (dorso‐ventral distance at 5% increments) were measured from dorsal and lateral photographs, while body volume was calculated using an elliptical model. Volume varied noticeably (12.01 ± 4.79 m3) in larger animals (>8 m), indicating fluctuations in body condition of adults and mothers. Volume was converted to mass, using tissue‐density estimates from catch data, animal‐borne tags, and body‐tissue composition. Average total body density ranged from 834 to 1,003 kg/m3, while the weight predictions matched with existing measurements and weight‐length relationships. Our body‐mass models can be used to study sperm whale bioenergetics, including inter‐ and intraseasonal variations in body condition, somatic growth, metabolic rates, and cost of reproduction. Publisher PDF

Gaia19fct is one of the Gaia-alerted eruptive young stars that has undergone several brightening events. We conducted monitoring observations using multi-filter optical and near-infrared photometry, as well as near-infrared spectroscopy, to understand the physical properties of Gaia19fct and investigate whether it fits into the historically defined two classes. We present the analyses of light curves, color variations, spectral lines, and CO modeling. The light curves show at least five brightening events since 2015, and the multi-filter color evolutions are mostly gray. The gray evolution indicates that bursts are triggered by mechanisms other than extinction. Our near-infrared spectra exhibit both absorption and emission lines and show time-variability throughout our observations. We found lower rotational velocity and lower temperature from the near-infrared atomic absorption lines than from the optical lines, suggesting that Gaia19fct has a Keplerian rotating disk. The CO overtone features show a superposition of absorption and emission components, which is unlike other young stellar objects. We modeled the CO lines, and the result suggests that the emission and absorption components are formed in different regions. We found that although Gaia19fct exhibits characteristics of both types of eruptive young stars, FU Orionis-type objects (FUors) and EX Lupi-type objects (EXors), it shows more similarity with EXors in general., 29 pages, 14 figures, 7 tables, Accepted for publication in ApJ

Funding: Funding for this work was provided by Living Marine Resources Program Grant No. N39430-14-C-1435 and Office of Naval Research Grant No. N00014-15-1‐2142. S.F. was supported by the Department of Defense National Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship. This is Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL) Contribution No. 5101. A single-hydrophone ocean glider was deployed within a cabled hydrophone array to demonstrate a framework for estimating population density of fin whales ( Balaenoptera physalus) from a passive acoustic glider. The array was used to estimate tracks of acoustically active whales. These tracks became detection trials to model the detection function for glider-recorded 360-s windows containing fin whale 20-Hz pulses using a generalized additive model. Detection probability was dependent on both horizontal distance and low-frequency glider flow noise. At the median 40-Hz spectral level of 97 dB re 1 μPa2/Hz, detection probability was near one at horizontal distance zero with an effective detection radius of 17.1 km [coefficient of variation (CV) = 0.13]. Using estimates of acoustic availability and acoustically active group size from tagged and tracked fin whales, respectively, density of fin whales was estimated as 1.8 whales per 1000 km2 (CV = 0.55). A plot sampling density estimate for the same area and time, estimated from array data alone, was 1.3 whales per 1000 km2 (CV = 0.51). While the presented density estimates are from a small demonstration experiment and should be used with caution, the framework presented here advances our understanding of the potential use of gliders for cetacean density estimation. Publisher PDF

Funding: This research was supported by the National Research Foundation (NRF) Singapore, under its CRP funding programme (NRF-CRP 20-2017-0001 Award). JOPG was supported by a PhD Scholarship from the Singapore International Graduate Award (SINGA). CH received funding from the European Union’s 8th Framework Programme, Horizon 2020, under Grant Agreement No. 802719. External eye appearance across primate species is diverse in shape and colouration, yet we still lack an explanation for the drivers of such diversity. Here we quantify substantial interspecific variation in eye shape and colouration across 77 primate species representing all extant genera of anthropoid primates. We reassess a series of hypotheses aiming to explain ocular variation in horizontal elongation and in colouration across species. Heavier body weight and terrestrial locomotion are associated with elongated eye outlines. Species living closer to the equator present more pigmented conjunctivae, suggesting photoprotective functions. Irises become bluer in species living further away from the equator, adding to existing literature supporting a circadian clock function for bluer irises. These results shift the current focus from communicative, to ecological factors in driving variation in external eye appearance in anthropoid primates. They also highlight the possibility that similar ecological factors contributed to selection for blue eyes in ancestral human populations living in northern latitudes. Publisher PDF

Funding: This study was funded by the Science and Technology Foundation, Portugal, grant SFRH/BD/115562/2016 to M.V.; strategic projects UID/MAR/04292/2020 to M.C.P.A. by MARE, UID/BIA/ 00329/2020 to P.J.F. by cE3c and UIDB/00006/2020 to T.A.M. by CEAUL; and project PTDC/BIA-BMA/30517/2017. Climate change is leading to an increase in the frequency and intensity of daily temperature extremes in aquatic environments, posing a threat to ectothermic animals such as fishes. Temperature shifts can impact their reproductive cycle and behaviour, including acoustic signalling associated with courtship and mating in vocal fishes. Here, we examined the effect of temperature and other environmental factors on spawning-related chorusing behaviour in the meagre Argyrosomus regius. Using an automatic recognition system based on hidden Markov models coupled with one-third octave band sound level analysis, we extracted meagre daily vocal activity over 4 yr of passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) in the Tagus estuary (Portugal). Meagre vocal activity showed a distinct diel pattern, with choruses being most prevalent at dusk. Chorus activity started earlier in years with warmer springs, while the end of the season was concurrent with the rise in water temperature. Circa 70% of daily variations were explained by changes in water temperature. Tidal cycle, lunar phase and changes in daylength did not appear to affect vocal behaviour. Choruses were detected on days with mean water temperature ranging from 15-25°C, with stronger chorusing observed around 18°C. Abrupt temperature changes caused disruption in choruses and likely in associated spawning. This study highlights the importance of temperature to fish reproduction and demonstrates that PAM can be a useful tool for long-term conservation management plans. PAM may also allow us to predict how temperature shifts due to climate change may affect fish reproduction, using vocal fishes as model species. Postprint Postprint

Funding information: This study was funded by Australian Research Council Linkage Grants (LP110200603 awarded to RH, DS and Iain Field, and LP160100162 awarded to IJ, Martina Doublin, MC, GC, DS, Iain Suthers and RH) with contributions from the Taronga Conservation Society Australia, NSW National Parks and the Australian Antarctic Division. Coastal pelagic ecosystems are highly variable in space and time, with environmental conditions and the distribution of biomass being driven by complex processes operating at multiple scales. The emergent properties of these processes and their interactive effects result in complex and dynamic environmental mosaics referred to as “seascapes”. Mechanisms that link large-scale oceanographic processes and ecological variability in coastal environments remain poorly understood, despite their importance for predicting how ecosystems will respond to climate change. Here we assessed seascape variability along the path of the rapidly intensifying East Australian Current (EAC) Southern Extension in southeast Australia, a hotspot of ocean warming and ecosystem tropicalisation. Using satellite and in situ measures of temperature, salinity and current velocity coupled with contemporaneous measurements of pelagic biomass distribution from nine boat-based active acoustic surveys in five consecutive years, we investigated relationships between the physical environment and the distribution of pelagic biomass (zooplankton and fish) at multiple timescales. Survey periods were characterised by high variability in oceanographic conditions, with variation in coastal conditions influenced by meso-to-large scale processes occurring offshore, including the position and strength of eddies. Intra-annual variability was often of a similar or greater magnitude to inter-annual variability, suggesting highly dynamic conditions with important variation occurring at scales of days to weeks. Two seascape categories were identified being characterised by (A) warmer, less saline water and (B) cooler, more saline water, with the former indicating greater influence of the EAC on coastal processes. Warmer waters were also associated with fewer, deeper and less dense biological aggregations. As the EAC continues to warm and penetrate further south, it is likely that this will have substantial effects on biological activity in coastal pelagic ecosystems, including a potential reduction in the accessibility of prey aggregations to surface-feeding predators and to fisheries. These results highlight the import role of offshore oceanographic processes in driving coastal seascape variability and biological activity in a region undergoing rapid oceanic warming and ecological change. Publisher PDF

Funding: This research was supported by Commander, U.S. Pacific Fleet (Code N465JR, Award Number N0007020WR0EP8F) and tool development utilized for this analysis was supported by the U.S. Navy’s Living Marine Resources Program (Award Number N0002520WR0141R). North Pacific minke whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) boing calls are commonly detected in Hawaiian waters. When producing boing vocalizations, minke whales seem to be in one of two calling behavioral states. Most often minke whales produce boings with inter-call intervals of several minutes, but sometimes minke whales call rapidly with inter-call intervals of less than a minute. Since minke whales are difficult to detect visually, cue-rate-based density estimation using passive acoustic monitoring has been proposed. However, the variables that influence cue rate or calling rate are poorly understood in most whales, including minke whales. We collected passive acoustic recordings from 47 bottom-mounted hydrophones at the Pacific Missile Range Facility’s instrumented range off the coast of Kauaʻi, Hawaiʻi to test the hypothesis that minke whales call more rapidly when closer in proximity to other calling conspecifics. A total of 599 days of data were recorded between August 2012 and July 2017 and were automatically post-processed to detect, classify, and localize calls. Localized calls were grouped into tracks and manually validated, resulting in 509 individual tracks composed of 36,033 calls within a 16 x 39 km focal study area. Tracked minke whales exhibited a strong bimodal call rate with means of one call every 6.85 min (σ= 2.54 min) and 0.63 min (σ= 0.36 min). We ran hidden Markov models to quantify the relationship between call rate and the distance to the nearest calling conspecific. Overall, the probability of the higher call rate occurring increased as the distance to the nearest conspecific decreased, and the probability of the lower call rate occurring increased as the distance to the nearest conspecific increased. We also examined individual track data and found that minke whales may also exhibit other responses (i.e. increased speed, changes in heading, and cessation of calling) when calling conspecifics are nearby. These findings provide new information about minke whale calling behavior in what is likely a breeding area. Publisher PDF

Young stars show variability on different time-scales from hours to decades, with a range of amplitudes. We studied two young stars, which triggered the Gaia Science Alerts system due to brightenings on a time-scale of a year. Gaia20bwa brightened by about half a magnitude, whereas Gaia20fgx brightened by about two and half magnitudes. We analyzed the Gaia light curves, additional photometry, and spectra taken with the Telescopio Nazionale Galileo and the Gran Telescopio Canarias. Several emission lines were detected toward Gaia20bwa, including hydrogen lines from H$\alpha$ to H$\delta$, Pa$\beta$, Br$\gamma$, and lines of Ca II, O I, and Na I. The H$\alpha$ and Br$\gamma$ lines were detected toward Gaia20fgx in emission in its bright state, with additional CO lines in absorption, and the Pa$\beta$ line with an inverse P Cygni profile during its fading. Based on the Br$\gamma$ lines the accretion rate was $(2.4-3.1)\times10^{-8}$ $M_\odot$ yr$^{-1}$ for Gaia20bwa and $(4.5-6.6)\times10^{-8}$ $M_\odot$ yr$^{-1}$ for Gaia20fgx during their bright state. The accretion rate of Gaia20fgx dropped by almost a factor of 10 on a time-scale of half a year. The accretion parameters of both stars were found to be similar to those of classical T Tauri stars, lower than those of young eruptive stars. However, the amplitude and time-scale of these brightenings place these stars to a region of the parameter space, which is rarely populated by young stars. This suggests a new class of young stars, which produce outbursts on a time-scale similar to young eruptive stars, but with smaller amplitudes., Comment: Accepted to MNRAS

BackgroundAdvance (anticipatory) care planning (ACP) requires discussions between patients and healthcare professionals about planning for future deterioration in health. ACP improves care coordination but uptake is limited and often deferred.AimTo assess the feasibility and acceptability to patients, carers, and GPs of a primary care ACP intervention for people with incurable oesophageal, gastric, or pancreatic cancer.Design and settingA 12-month feasibility randomised controlled trial (RCT) in a Scottish Cancer Network.MethodPatients aged ≥18 years starting palliative oncology treatment were randomised 1:1 to an ACP intervention or standard care. Patients in the intervention group received an oncologist letter supporting them to request a GP review along with a patient information leaflet about ACP. Pre-specified analyses with masking included trial recruitment and retention, ACP completion, and quality-of-life questionnaires (EuroQol EQ-5D-5L and ICECAP Supportive Care Measure) at baseline, 6, 12, 24, and 48 weeks. Qualitative interviews with purposive sampling explored patient, carer, and GP experiences.ResultsOf 99 eligible participants (269 screened), 46% were recruited (n = 46) and randomised; 25 to intervention and 21 to control. By 12 weeks, 45% (n = 9/20) of the individuals in the intervention and 59% (n = 10/17) in the control group had a documented ACP plan. By 24 weeks, 30% (n = 14) had died; in the remaining participants quality of life was maintained at 24 weeks except for physical symptoms. Social norms associating ACP with dying were prevalent among 23 participants interviewed. No psychological or clinical harms were identified.ConclusionAn RCT of ACP for people with incurable cancer in primary care is feasible. Patient, carer, and GP attitudes and behaviours determined acceptability and timing of care planning.

This work was supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council AH/T002638/1 and the Royal Society of Edinburgh 62345_Ebert. We investigate differences in perceived danger and recklessness judgements by experts (experienced skiers, N=362) and laypeople (N=2080) about participation in adventure sports across the same judgemental task using a third person perspective. We investigate the relationship between danger and recklessness and the extent to which fatality frequency, as well as other contextual factors such as gender, dependants, competence, and motivations of the sports participant affect expert and laypeople judgements respectively. Experienced skiers gave lower overall danger and recklessness ratings than non-skiers. Experienced skiers’ judgements were also more sensitive than non-skiers’ to variations in the fatality rate of the activity and the competence level of the participant, yet were less sensitive to whether the event was done for external benefit such as a charity. Recklessness judgements were overall more sensitive to changes in activity descriptions than danger judgements. Our findings support the emerging picture of adventure sports participants as rational and sensitive to risk-relevant features rather than somehow pathological in their risk perception. Publisher PDF

Funding: Analysis was funded by the UK Government Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS; OESEA-16-76/OESEA-17-78) with support from the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC; INSITE Phase II NE/T010614/1 EcoSTAR), EU INTERREG (MarPAMM), and the Scottish Government (MMSS/002/15). DJFR’s contribution was funded by NERC National Capability Funding (NE/R015007/1). WJG was supported by INSITE Phase I (MAPS). Telemetry tags and their deployment were funded in the UK by BEIS (and previous incarnations), NERC, Marine Scotland, Scottish Government, NatureScot, SMRU, SMRU Instrumentation Group, Marine Current Turbines, Ørsted, the Met Office, the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), the Crown Estate, Highlands & Islands Enterprise, Moray Firth Renewables Limited (MORL), Beatrice Offshore Windfarm Limited (BOWL), SITA Trust, BBC Wildlife Fund and the Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust. Tags and their deployment in Ireland were funded by Inland Fisheries Ireland, the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, the Higher Education Authority of Ireland, the National Geographic Society, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, and the National Parks and Wildlife Service. UK aerial surveys conducted by SMRU were funded by NERC (NE/R015007/1), NatureScot, the Department for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (Northern Ireland), Marine Current Turbines, Marine Scotland, Natural England, and Scottish Power. Aerial surveys in Ireland were funded by the Department for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media. Marine predator populations are crucial to the structure and functioning of ecosystems. Like many predator taxa, pinnipeds face an increasingly complex array of natural and anthropogenic threats. Understanding the relationship between at-sea processes and trends in abundance at land-based monitoring sites requires robust estimates of at-sea distribution, often on multi-region scales. Such an understanding is critical for effective conservation management, but estimates are often limited in spatial extent by spatial coverage of animal-borne tracking data. Grey (Halichoerus grypus) and harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) are sympatric predators in North Atlantic shelf seas. The United Kingdom (UK) and Ireland represents an important population centre for both species, and Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) are designated for their monitoring and protection. Here we use an extensive high-resolution GPS tracking dataset, unprecedented in both size (114 grey and 239 harbour seals) and spatial coverage, to model habitat preference and generate at-sea distribution estimates for the entire UK and Ireland populations of both species. We found regional differences in environmental drivers of distribution for both species which likely relate to regional variation in diet and population trends. Moreover, we provide SAC-specific estimates of at-sea distribution for use in marine spatial planning, demonstrating that hotspots of at-sea density in UK and Ireland-wide maps cannot always be apportioned to the nearest SAC. We show that for grey seals, colonial capital breeders, there is a mismatch between SACs (where impacts are likely to be detected) and areas where impacts are most likely to occur (at sea). We highlight an urgent need for further research to elucidate the links between at-sea distribution during the foraging season and population trends observed in SACs. More generally, we highlight that the potential for such a disconnect needs to be considered when designating and managing protected sites, particularly for species that aggregate to breed and exhibit partial migration (e.g. grey seals), or spatial variation in migration strategies. We demonstrate the use of strategic tracking efforts to predict distribution across multiple regions, but caution that such efforts should be mindful of the potential for differences in species-environment relationships despite similar accessible habitats. Publisher PDF

Funding: This work was funded by IWC-SORP and by the DFG within the priority programme SPP 1158 ‘Antarctic Research with comparative investigations in Arctic ice areas’ by grant HE5696/3-1. Additional funding from National Geographic / Disney+ supported field efforts by Hickmott. This study presents the first long-distance tracks of fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus) equipped with satellite transmitters off the Antarctic Peninsula. Southern Hemisphere fin whales were severely depleted by twentieth century industrial whaling, yet recently, they have returned to historical feeding grounds off the northern Antarctic Peninsula, forming large aggregations in austral summers. To date, our knowledge only extended to summer behaviour, while information regarding migration routes and the location of breeding and wintering grounds are lacking. During the austral autumn of 2021, we deployed nsatellite transmitters on four fin whales at Elephant Island. Two transmitters stopped working while the animals were still at the feeding grounds, while two continued to transmit during the transition from feeding activity to migration. Both migrating animals left the feeding ground on 15 April 2021, travelling northward into the Pacific and up along the Chilean coast. The most northerly position received before all tags stopped transmitting on 1 May 2021 was at 48°S. These tracks provide initial evidence of seasonal migratory routes and a first indication toward possible locations of winter destinations. This information, even if preliminary, is critical for investigations of population connectivity, population structure and the identification of breeding grounds of Southern Hemisphere fin whales. Publisher PDF

There is increasing concern over anthropogenically driven changes in our oceans and seas, from a variety of stressors. Such stressors include the increased risk of storms and precipitation, offshore industries and increased coastal development which can affect the marine environment. For some coastal cetacean species, there is an increased exposure to low salinity waters which have been linked with a range of adverse health effects in bottlenose dolphins. Knowledge gaps persist regarding how different time–salinity exposures affect the health and survival of animals. In such data-poor instances, expert elicitation can be used to convert an expert’s qualitative knowledge into subjective probability distributions. The management implications of this stressor and the subjective nature of expert elicitation requires transparency, we have addressed this here, utilizing the Sheffield Elicitation Framework. The results are a series of time response scenarios to estimate time to death in bottlenose dolphins, for use when data are insufficient to estimate probabilistic summaries. This study improves our understanding of how low salinity exposure effects dolphins, guiding priorities for future research, while its outputs can be used to support coastal management on a global scale.

ObjectiveTo explore general practitioners’ (GPs) perceptions of the challenges and facilitators to managing refugee healthcare needs in regional Australia.SettingA regional community in Australia involved in the resettlement of refugees.ParticipantsNine GPs from five practices in the region.DesignA qualitative study based on semistructured interviews conducted between September and November 2020.ResultsThe main challenges identified surrounded language and communication difficulties, cultural differences and health literacy and regional workforce shortages. The main facilitators were clinical and community supports, including refugee health nurses and trauma counselling services. Personal benefits experienced by GPs such as positive relationships, satisfaction and broadening scope of practice further facilitated ongoing healthcare provision.ConclusionsOverall, GPs were generally positive about providing care to refugees. However, significant challenges were expressed, particularly surrounding language, culture and resources. These barriers were compounded by the regional location. This highlights the need for preplanning and consultation with healthcare providers in the community both prior to and during the settlement of refugees as well as ongoing support proportional to the increase in settlement numbers.

Funding: The aerial part of the study in 2018 and 2019 was funded by DFO. Entanglement in fishing gear is a significant threat to many cetaceans. For the 2 largest species, the blue whale Balaenoptera musculus and the fin whale B. physalus, reports of entangled individuals are rare, leading to the assumption that entanglements are not common. Studies of interaction with fisheries in other species often rely on the presence of scars from previous entanglements. Here, scar detection rates were first examined in humpback Megaptera novaeangliae, fin and blue whales using standard vessel-based photo-identification photographs collected between 2009 and 2016 in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Canada. We then examined aerial images of fin whales collected with a drone in 2018 and 2019 and compared both methods. Entanglement rates were 6.5% for fin and 13.1% for blue whales using photo-identification images of individuals. Prominent scarring was observed around the tail and caudal peduncle, visible only when animals lifted those body sections above water when diving. For the small subset of pictures which captured the entire caudal peduncle, entanglement rates ranged between 60% for blue and 80% for fin whales. This result was similar to the 85% entanglement rate estimated in humpback whales. The assessment of aerial-based photography yielded an entanglement rate of 44.1 to 54.7% in fin whales. Scars were always around the peduncle, often the tail, rarely the dorsal fin and never around the pectoral fins, while the mouth cannot be examined from above. Thus, in species that do not regularly expose their tail or peduncle, aerial imagery is the preferred method to quantify entanglement rates by assessment of scars. Publisher PDF

Funding: We acknowledge the financial support of the SEACAMS2 project, which is part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through the Welsh Government (80860). Bass tagging was undertaken with support from the Devon and Severn Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority and funding from the European Maritime Fisheries Fund. Funding was received from the Unlocking the Severn for LIFE Programme, a partnership between the Canal & River Trust, Severn Rivers Trust, Environment Agency and Natural England through funding from the EU LIFE Nature Programme (LIFE15/NAT/UK/000219) and Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF-15–04573). Aquatic biotelemetry increasingly relies on using acoustic transmitters ('tags') that enable passive detection of tagged animals using fixed or mobile receivers. Both tracking methods are resource-limited, restricting the spatial area in which movements of highly mobile animals can be measured using proprietary detection systems. Transmissions from tags are recorded by underwater noise monitoring systems designed for other purposes, such as cetacean monitoring devices, which have been widely deployed in the marine environment; however, no tools currently exist to decode these detections, and thus valuable additional information on animal movements may be missed. Here, we describe simple hybrid methods, with potentially wide application, for obtaining information from otherwise unused data sources. The methods were developed using data from moored, acoustic cetacean detectors (C-PODs) and towed passive receiver arrays, often deployed to monitor the vocalisations of cetaceans, but any similarly formatted data source could be used. The method was applied to decode tag detections that were found to have come from two highly mobile fish species, bass (Dicentrarchus labrax) and Twaite shad (Alosa fallax), that had been tagged in other studies. Decoding results were validated using test tags; range testing data were used to demonstrate the relative efficiency of these receiver methods in detecting tags. This approach broadens the range of equipment from which acoustic tag detections can be decoded. Novel detections derived from the method could add significant value to past and present tracking studies at little additional cost, by providing new insights into the movement of mobile animals at sea. Publisher PDF

Partial support by CEAUL (funded by FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, Portugal, through the project UIDB/00006/2020). Publisher PDF

Funding from the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme under grant agreements No. 602773 (Project KINDRED) was received for all partners in this work. This work also received funds from FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia/Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Ensino Superior through the Research Unit No. 4293 and project POCI-01-0145-FEDER-031013 (PTDC/SAUPAR/31013/2017 to NS); Individual funding from FCT through SFRH/BD/133485/2017 (to MS) and CEECIND/02362/2017 (to JT). Neglected tropical diseases caused by kinetoplastid parasites (Trypanosoma brucei, Trypanosoma cruzi and Leishmania spp.) place a significant health and economic burden on developing nations worldwide. Current therapies are largely out-dated, inadequate and facing mounting drug resistance from the causative parasites. Thus, there is an urgent need for drug discovery and development. Target-led drug discovery approaches have focused on the identification of parasite enzymes catalysing essential biochemical processes, which significantly differ from equivalent proteins found in humans, thereby providing potentially exploitable therapeutic windows. One such target is ribose 5-phosphate isomerase B (RpiB), an enzyme involved in the non-oxidative branch of the pentose phosphate pathway, which catalyses the inter-conversion of D-ribose 5-phosphate and D-ribulose 5-phosphate. Although protozoan RpiB has been the focus of numerous targeted studies, compounds capable of selectively inhibiting this parasite enzyme have not been identified. Here, we present the results of a fragment library screening against Leishmania infantum RpiB, performed using thermal shift analysis. Hit fragments were shown to be effective inhibitors of LiRpiB in activity assays, and several were capable of selectively inhibiting parasite growth in vitro. These results support the identification of LiRpiB as a validated therapeutic target. The X-ray crystal structure of apo LiRpiB was also solved, permitting docking studies to assess how hit fragments might interact with LiRpiB to inhibit its activity. Overall, this work will guide structure-based development of LiRpiB inhibitors as anti-leishmanial agents. Postprint

We use the 21 cm emission line data from the DINGO-VLA project to study the atomic hydrogen gas H\,{\textsc i} of the Universe at redshifts $z, Comment: 13 pages, 9 figures, submitted to MNRAS

Funding: This study was supported by the Bio-Logging Science of the University of Tokyo (UTBLS) program, the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Postdoctoral Fellowships Research Abroad, the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (grant number 17H00776 K.S), the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Bilateral Open Partnership Joint Research Program, the Mitsui and Co. Environment Fund, and The Research Grant against Global Warming of the Ichimura Foundation for New Technology. Animal-borne video loggers are powerful tools for investigating animal behaviour because they directly record immediate and extended peripheral animal activities; however, typical video loggers capture only a limited area on one side of an animal being monitored owing to their narrow field of view. Here, we investigated the resting behaviour of humpback whales using an animal-borne omnidirectional video camera combined with a behavioural data logger. In the video logger footage, two non-tagged resting individuals, which did not spread their flippers or move their flukes, were observed above a tagged animal, representing an apparent bout of group resting. During the video logger recording, the swim speed was relatively slow (0.75 m s ), and the tagged animal made only a few strokes of very low amplitude during drift diving. We report the drift dives as resting behaviour specific to baleen whales as same as seals, sperm whales and loggerhead turtles. Overall, our study shows that an omnidirectional video logger is a valuable tool for interpreting animal ecology with improved accuracy owing to its ability to record a wide field of view. Publisher PDF

Preventing declines in common species is key to sustaining the structure and function of marine ecosystems. Yet for many common marine mammals, including oceanic dolphins, statistical power to detect declines remains low due to patchy distribution and large variability in group sizes. In this study, population viability analyses (PVA) were used to model the dynamics of four oceanic dolphin populations off the United States West Coast: eastern North Pacific long-beaked common dolphins (Delphinus delphis capensis), short-beaked common dolphins (D. delphis delphis), Pacific white-sided dolphins (Lagenorhynchus obliquidens), and “offshore” common bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus). We calibrated the PVA with life-history tables, studies on proxy species, and stock assessment reports. We explored the sensitivity of populations to demographic variation and projected how they may respond to changes in three sublethal threats (prey limitation, ocean noise, and chemical pollution) and one lethal threat (fisheries bycatch). We found the most serious projected declines in long-beaked common dolphins, which showed the lowest birth rate. Most threat scenarios resulted in declines that would not be detected by existing monitoring programs in the United States, which are among the most data-rich surveys of their kind. The cumulative effects of the three sublethal stressors exceeded the effect of the one lethal stressor (fisheries bycatch). To implement pro-active management and monitoring programs, anticipating which cetaceans are more at risk and which anthropogenic threats could cause declines is paramount. Our study highlights the value of model testing with PVA when monitoring data are poor, thereby identifying priorities for future research, monitoring, and management.

Funding: Work on plant-parasitic nematodes at the University of Cambridge is supported by DEFRA licence 125034/359149/3, and was funded by Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) grants BB/R011311/1, BB/N021908/1, and BB/S006397/1, a Synthego Genome Engineer grant, and a Genewiz grant. A.A. was supported by a Wellcome/Newton trust Institutional Strategic Support Fund grant and a UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship MR/S033769/1. C.J.L. was supported by BBSRC grant BB/N016866/1. J.J. receives funding from the Scottish Government Rural and Environmental Science and Analytical Services division. T.R.M. and T.J.B. were supported by grants from the Iowa Soybean Association and by State of Iowa and Hatch funds. A.P.S. and S.A. were supported by grants RPG-2016-089 and BB/L019884/1. Plant-parasitic nematodes are a continuing threat to food security, causing an estimated 100 billion USD in crop losses each year. The most problematic are the obligate sedentary endoparasites (primarily root knot nematodes and cyst nematodes). Progress in understanding their biology is held back by a lack of tools for functional genetics: forward genetics is largely restricted to studies of natural variation in populations and reverse genetics is entirely reliant on RNA interference. There is an expectation that the development of functional genetic tools would accelerate the progress of research on plant-parasitic nematodes, and hence the development of novel control solutions. Here, we develop some of the foundational biology required to deliver a functional genetic tool kit in plant-parasitic nematodes. We characterize the gonads of male Heterodera schachtii and Meloidogyne hapla in the context of spermatogenesis. We test and optimize various methods for the delivery, expression, and/or detection of exogenous nucleic acids in plant-parasitic nematodes. We demonstrate that delivery of macromolecules to cyst and root knot nematode male germlines is difficult, but possible. Similarly, we demonstrate the delivery of oligonucleotides to root knot nematode gametes. Finally, we develop a transient expression system in plant-parasitic nematodes by demonstrating the delivery and expression of exogenous mRNA encoding various reporter genes throughout the body of H. schachtii juveniles using lipofectamine-based transfection. We anticipate these developments to be independently useful, will expedite the development of genetic modification tools for plant-parasitic nematodes, and ultimately catalyze research on a group of nematodes that threaten global food security. Publisher PDF

The whale shark (Rhincodon typus) is an endangered species with a declining global population. The South Ari Atoll Marine Protected Area (SAMPA), Maldives, is one of few locations globally where year-long residency of individuals occurs. This SAMPA aggregation appears to consist almost exclusively of immature males. Due to its year-round residency, this local aggregation is subjected to a high degree of tourism pressure. This ecotourism contributes to the high level of interest and protection offered to whale sharks by the local community. Unfortunately, if regulations are not followed or enforced, tourism can bring with it major stressors, such as accidental injuries. We used POPAN capture-mark-recapture models and lagged identification rate analysis to assess the effect of major injuries on whale shark residency within SAMPA. Injuries may be obtained outside SAMPA. We found individuals with major injuries had a higher apparent survival in the area than those without. Lagged identification rates also demonstrated that sharks with major injuries are more likely to return to the area. We suggest that major injuries result in sharks prolonging their time in the developmental habitat. These findings have implications for individual fitness and the population viability of this endangered species. We propose targeted conservation strategies be considered to protect sharks from further injury. Based on the presented spatio-temporal distributions of sharks, and current local knowledge of sighting patterns, speed limit zones and propeller-exclusion zones should be implemented and enforced. If carried out alongside tourist education, these measures will contribute to the protection of whale sharks within SAMPA and beyond. Furthermore, our results can aid research direction, alongside regulation and enforcement development, at similar sites worldwide.