scholarly journals Author Correction: Patterns and processes of pathogen exposure in gray wolves across North America

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ellen E. Brandell ◽  
Paul C. Cross ◽  
Meggan E. Craft ◽  
Douglas W. Smith ◽  
Edward J. Dubovi ◽  
...  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ellen E. Brandell ◽  
Paul C. Cross ◽  
Meggan E. Craft ◽  
Douglas W. Smith ◽  
Edward J. Dubovi ◽  
...  

AbstractThe presence of many pathogens varies in a predictable manner with latitude, with infections decreasing from the equator towards the poles. We investigated the geographic trends of pathogens infecting a widely distributed carnivore: the gray wolf (Canis lupus). Specifically, we investigated which variables best explain and predict geographic trends in seroprevalence across North American wolf populations and the implications of the underlying mechanisms. We compiled a large serological dataset of nearly 2000 wolves from 17 study areas, spanning 80° longitude and 50° latitude. Generalized linear mixed models were constructed to predict the probability of seropositivity of four important pathogens: canine adenovirus, herpesvirus, parvovirus, and distemper virus—and two parasites: Neospora caninum and Toxoplasma gondii. Canine adenovirus and herpesvirus were the most widely distributed pathogens, whereas N. caninum was relatively uncommon. Canine parvovirus and distemper had high annual variation, with western populations experiencing more frequent outbreaks than eastern populations. Seroprevalence of all infections increased as wolves aged, and denser wolf populations had a greater risk of exposure. Probability of exposure was positively correlated with human density, suggesting that dogs and synanthropic animals may be important pathogen reservoirs. Pathogen exposure did not appear to follow a latitudinal gradient, with the exception of N. caninum. Instead, clustered study areas were more similar: wolves from the Great Lakes region had lower odds of exposure to the viruses, but higher odds of exposure to N. caninum and T. gondii; the opposite was true for wolves from the central Rocky Mountains. Overall, mechanistic predictors were more informative of seroprevalence trends than latitude and longitude. Individual host characteristics as well as inherent features of ecosystems determined pathogen exposure risk on a large scale. This work emphasizes the importance of biogeographic wildlife surveillance, and we expound upon avenues of future research of cross-species transmission, spillover, and spatial variation in pathogen infection.


PeerJ ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. e1523 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clint A. Boyd

The systematic relationships of taxa traditionally referred to as ‘basal ornithopods’ or ‘hypsilophodontids’ remain poorly resolved since it was discovered that these taxa are not a monophyletic group, but rather a paraphyletic set of neornithischian taxa. Thus, even as the known diversity of these taxa has dramatically increased over the past two decades, our knowledge of their placement relative to each other and the major ornithischian subclades remained incomplete. This study employs the largest phylogenetic dataset yet compiled to assess basal ornithischian relationships (255 characters for 65 species level terminal taxa). The resulting strict consensus tree is the most well-resolved, stratigraphically consistent hypothesis of basal ornithischian relationships yet hypothesized. The only non-iguanodontian ornithopod (=basal ornithopod) recovered in this analysis isHypsilophodon foxii. The majority of former ‘hypsilophodontid’ taxa are recovered within a single clade (Parksosauridae) that is situated as the sister-taxon to Cerapoda. The Parksosauridae is divided between two subclades, the Orodrominae and the Thescelosaurinae. This study does not recover a clade consisting of the Asian taxaChangchunsaurus,Haya, andJeholosaurus(=Jeholosauridae). Rather, the former two taxa are recovered as basal members of Thescelosaurinae, while the latter taxon is recovered in a clade withYueosaurusnear the base of Neornithischia.The endemic South American clade Elasmaria is recovered within the Thescelosaurinae as the sister taxon toThescelosaurus. This study supports the origination of Dinosauria and the early diversification of Ornithischia within Gondwana. Neornithischia first arose in Africa by the Early Jurassic before dispersing to Asia before the late Middle Jurassic, where much of the diversification among non-cerapodan neornithischians occurred. Under the simplest scenario the Parksosauridae originated in North America, with at least two later dispersals to Asia and one to South America. However, when ghost lineages are considered, an alternate dispersal hypothesis has thescelosaurines dispersing from Asia into South America (via North America) during the Early Cretaceous, then back into North America in the latest Cretaceous. The latter hypothesis may explain the dominance of orodromine taxa prior to the Maastrichtian in North America and the sudden appearance and wide distribution of thescelosaurines in North America beginning in the early Maastrichtian. While the diversity of parksosaurids has greatly increased over the last fifteen years, a ghost lineage of over 40 myr is present between the base of Parksosauridae and Cerapoda, indicating that much of the early history and diversity of this clade is yet to be discovered. This new phylogenetic hypothesis provides a comprehensive framework for testing further hypotheses regarding evolutionary patterns and processes within Ornithischia.


2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 20170613 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susumu Tomiya ◽  
Julie A. Meachen

Recent advances in genomics and palaeontology have begun to unravel the complex evolutionary history of the gray wolf, Canis lupus . Still, much of their phenotypic variation across time and space remains to be documented. We examined the limb morphology of the fossil and modern North American gray wolves from the late Quaternary (< ca 70 ka) to better understand their postcranial diversity through time. We found that the late-Pleistocene gray wolves were characterized by short-leggedness on both sides of the Cordilleran–Laurentide ice sheets, and that this trait survived well into the Holocene despite the collapse of Pleistocene megafauna and disappearance of the ‘Beringian wolf' from Alaska. By contrast, extant populations in the Midwestern USA and northwestern North America are distinguished by their elongate limbs with long distal segments, which appear to have evolved during the Holocene possibly in response to a new level or type of prey depletion. One of the consequences of recent extirpation of the Plains ( Canis lupus nubilus ) and Mexican wolves ( C. l. baileyi ) from much of the USA is an unprecedented loss of postcranial diversity through removal of short-legged forms. Conservation of these wolves is thus critical to restoration of the ecophenotypic diversity and evolutionary potential of gray wolves in North America.


2012 ◽  
Vol 25 (20) ◽  
pp. 7266-7281 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul C. Loikith ◽  
Anthony J. Broccoli

Abstract Motivated by a desire to understand the physical mechanisms involved in future anthropogenic changes in extreme temperature events, the key atmospheric circulation patterns associated with extreme daily temperatures over North America in the current climate are identified. The findings show that warm extremes at most locations are associated with positive 500-hPa geopotential height and sea level pressure anomalies just downstream with negative anomalies farther upstream. The orientation, physical characteristics, and spatial scale of these circulation patterns vary based on latitude, season, and proximity to important geographic features (i.e., mountains, coastlines). The anomaly patterns associated with extreme cold events tend to be similar to, but opposite in sign of, those associated with extreme warm events, especially within the westerlies, and tend to scale with temperature in the same locations. Circulation patterns aloft are more coherent across the continent than those at the surface where local surface features influence the occurrence of and patterns associated with extreme temperature days. Temperature extremes may be more sensitive to small shifts in circulation at locations where temperature is strongly influenced by mountains or large water bodies, or at the margins of important large-scale circulation patterns making such locations more susceptible to nonlinear responses to future climate change. The identification of these patterns and processes will allow for a thorough evaluation of the ability of climate models to realistically simulate extreme temperatures and their future trends.


Author(s):  
ANTHONY HEATH

The experience of the second generation of migrants gives a clearer idea of whether liberal developed countries of Europe and North America provide equal opportunities to all their citizens, irrespective of their ethnic or national origin. This chapter examines the relationship between patterns of ethnic disadvantage and the nature of each country's economy, its patterns of social fluidity, its conception of nationhood, racism and xenophobia, and the relevant government policies. It discusses the gross disadvantages that ethnic minorities typically experience in the labour market and the net disadvantages (or ethnic penalties) after controlling for individual characteristics, especially for educational level and age. The chapter also assesses the gross differences between groups to determine the overall extent of ethnic stratification in each society and the nature of the vertical mosaic.


Author(s):  
Eric E. Jones

This chapter compares the settlement ecology—factors influencing settlement location choices, settlement size, and settlement relocation—of Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) communities in northeastern North America predating the arrival of Europeans, to early Colonial Period communities. It enhances understanding of Haudenosaunee reactions to the introduction of European societies, politics, economics, ecologies, and ideologies in the region. Results suggest that settlement location choices changed very little after Europeans arrived. Either the landscape changed little from the Haudenosaunee perspective, or Haudenosaunee communities were not significantly influenced by the changes that did occur, although particular landscape features related to agricultural subsistence activities did shift. The chapter investigates these large-scale trends and explores the ecology of Haudenosaunee settlement patterns and processes before and during early colonialism. Results are supplemented with existing data on community life to create a multiscalar view of Haudenosaunee settlement ecology as it relates to the advent of colonialism in northeastern North America.


Author(s):  
Emily W. B. Russell Southgate

This chapter opens with a discussion naturally ignited fires and fire adaptations, which have evolved over millions of years. It then considers the role people have played over time in manipulating fire regimes, both locally and on a broad scale. Examples from diverse biomes such as the savannas and grasslands of South Africa and Madagascar, the forests of northern Europe and the grasslands and forests of North America provide evidence of the interactions between climate and human-set ignitions. The studies of the systems include analysis of a diverse range of evidence, including sediments, documents, and field evidence, analyzed using models that focus on patterns and processes of fire regimes under differing climates and human activities. The importance of perceptions of the role of fire is also discussed in terms of using fire for management, with examples of changes in attitude in North America from the 19th to the 21st centuries, which have led from seeing all fires as bad to valuing fire as a management tool. Analysis of the historical importance of human-set and natural fires has been critical to arriving at current management decisions.


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