Do Microbiota in the Soil Affect Embryonic Development and Immunocompetence in Hatchling Reptiles?

Reptile eggs develop in intimate association with microbiota in the soil, raising the possibility that embryogenesis may be affected by shifts in soil microbiota caused by anthropogenic disturbance, translocation of eggs for conservation purposes, or laboratory incubation in sterile media. To test this idea we incubated eggs of keelback snakes (Tropidonophis mairii, Colubridae) in untreated versus autoclaved soil, and injected lipopolysaccharide (LPS) into the egg to induce an immune response in the embryo. Neither treatment modified hatching success, water uptake, incubation period, or white-blood-cell profiles, but both treatments affected hatchling size. Eggs incubated on autoclaved soil produced smaller hatchlings than did eggs on untreated soil, suggesting that heat and/or pressure treatment decrease the soil’s suitability for incubation. Injection of LPS reduced hatchling size, suggesting that the presence of pathogen cues disrupts embryogenesis, possibly by initiating immune reactions unassociated with white-blood-cell profiles. Smaller neonates had higher ratios of heterophils to leucocytes, consistent with higher stress in smaller snakes, or body-size effects on investment into different types of immune cells. Microbiota in the incubation medium thus can affect viability-relevant phenotypic traits of hatchling reptiles. We need further studies to explore the complex mechanisms and impacts of environmental conditions on reptilian embryogenesis.

Factors Influencing the Sponsoring of Animals in Slovak Zoos

Anthropogenic disturbance causes biodiversity loss, and consequently the captive conservation (ex situ) of threatened animals may be an effective strategy in protecting species. We used estimated body mass, phylogenetic closeness with humans, International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) conservation status, and species attractiveness scores, to examine the factors influencing the adoption likelihood of a species in all Slovak zoos. In general, vertebrates received more funding than invertebrates, and mammals were the preferred taxa by private contributors. In terms of funding, we propose that the perception of mammals as phylogenetically close to humans, and attractiveness factor, contribute to an advantage over less attractive and phylogenetically distant species. Conservation status also contributed to the amount of donations; however, the magnitude of these relationships was weak when compared to the effect of animal taxa. These results suggest that Slovak zoos might be more successful in raising donations by breeding threatened species, and raising public awareness about these animal species. Displaying popular, flagship species of non-mammal taxa may increase interest among the public as well, and may translate into a significant growth in the amount of donations.

Monitoring of small rock pools reveals differential effects of chronic anthropogenic disturbance on birds and mammals in the Calakmul region, southern Mexico

Great attention has been drawn to the impacts of habitat deforestation and fragmentation on wildlife species richness. In contrast, much less attention has been paid to assessing the impacts of chronic anthropogenic disturbance on wildlife species composition and behaviour. We focused on natural small rock pools (sartenejas), which concentrate vertebrate activity due to habitat’s water limitation, to assess the impact of chronic anthropogenic disturbance on the species richness, diversity, composition, and behaviour of medium and large-sized birds and mammals in the highly biodiverse forests of Calakmul, southern Mexico. Camera trapping records of fauna using sartenejas within and outside the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve (CBR) showed that there were no effects on species richness, but contrasts emerged when comparing species diversity, composition, and behaviour. These effects differed between birds and mammals and between species: (1) bird diversity was greater outside the CBR, but mammal diversity was greater within and (2) the daily activity patterns of birds differed slightly within and outside the CBR but strongly contrasted in mammals. Our study highlights that even in areas supporting extensive forest cover, small-scale chronic anthropogenic disturbances can have pervasive negative effects on wildlife and that these effects contrast between animal groups.

Comparison of methods for revegetation of vehicle tracks in High Arctic tundra on Svalbard

Natural regeneration after anthropogenic disturbance is slow in the tundra biome, but assisted regeneration can help speed up the process. A tracked off-road vehicle damaged a High Arctic dwarf shrub heath in Svalbard in May 2009, drastically reducing vegetation cover, soil seed bank and incoming seed rain. We assisted regeneration the following year using six different revegetation treatments, and monitored their effects one month-, and one- and eight years after their application. By 2018, all treatments still had a lower vegetation cover and limited species composition than the undamaged reference vegetation. The fertiliser treatment was the most effective in restoring vegetation cover (71 % vegetation cover, of which 62 % were bryophytes and 38 % vascular plant species). Compared to the reference plots (98 % vegetation cover, of which 32 % were bryophytes and 66 % were vascular plant species), the composition of the disturbed vegetation was still far from regenerated to its original state nine years after the tracks were made. The slow regrowth demonstrated in this study underlines the importance of avoiding disturbance of fragile tundra, and of implementing and upholding regulations restricting or banning such disturbance.

Numerical modeling of strong effects on ionospheric plasma

В работе представлены постановка задачи начальной стадии мощного антропогенного возмущения ионосферы для последующего вычисления высотно-временного распределения ионосферно-магнитосферных параметров. Данная задача имеет огромное значение в плане теоретического исследования таких возмущений на математических моделях изучаемой среды. Такие возмущения сопровождаются различными физико-химическими процессами, которые к настоящему времени плохо изучены. Основным источником сильных возмущений ионосферы являются мощные электромагнитные излучения (сильная солнечная вспышка, мощный ядерный взрыв). Такие электромагнитные возмущения могут вызывать сильнейшие глобальные перераспределение всей атмосферы Земли, которые к настоящему времени недостаточно надежно изучены, и одним из способов их изучения, является математическое моделирование. Приводится результаты вычислительного эксперимента начальной стадии ионизации нейтрального газа, которые могут помочь в дальнейшем исследовании такого процесса. The paper presents the formulation of the problem of the initial stage of a powerful anthropogenic disturbance of the ionosphere for the subsequent calculation of the altitude-time distribution of the ionosphere-magnetospheric parameters. This problem is of great importance in terms of the theoretical study of such perturbations on mathematical models of the studied environment. Such disturbances are accompanied by various physicochemical processes, which are poorly understood by now. The main source of strong disturbances in the ionosphere are powerful electromagnetic radiation (strong solar flare, powerful nuclear explosion). Such electromagnetic disturbances can cause the strongest global redistribution of the entire atmosphere of the Earth, which by now have not been sufficiently studied reliably, and one of the ways to study them is mathematical modeling. The results of a computational experiment of the initial stage of ionization of a neutral gas are presented, which can help in further investigation of such a process.

Idea Paper: improving forecasts of community composition with lightweight biodiversity monitoring across ecological and anthropogenic disturbance gradients

Accurate and up-to-date biodiversity forecasts enable robust planning for environmental management and conservation of landscapes under a wide range of uses. Future predictions of the species composition of ecological communities complement more frequently reported species richness estimates to better characterize the different dimensions of biodiversity. The models that make community composition forecasts are calibrated with data on species’ geographic patterns for the present, which may not be good proxies for future patterns. The future establishment of novel communities represents data on species interactions unaccounted for by these models. However, detecting them in a systematic way presents challenges due to the lack of monitoring data for landscapes with high environmental turnover, where such communities are likely to establish. Here, we propose lightweight monitoring over both ecological and anthropogenic disturbance gradients using passive sensors (i.e., those that operate continuously without much human input) to detect novel communities with the aim of updating models that make community composition forecasts. Monitoring over these two gradients should maximize detection of novel communities and improve understanding of relationships between community composition and environmental change. Further, barriers regarding cost and effort are reduced by using relatively few sensors requiring minimal upkeep. Ongoing updates to community composition forecasts based on novel community data and better understanding of the associated uncertainty should improve future decision-making for both resource management and conservation efforts.

Sediment impacts on sponges and a deep-sea coral in New Zealand

<p><b>Increased levels of suspended sediment in the water column are important factors contributing to the degradation of marine ecosystems worldwide. In coastal waters, temporal variation in suspended sediment concentrations (SSCs) occurs naturally due to seasonal and oceanographic processes. However, there is evidence that anthropogenic activities are increasing sediment concentrations. The volume of sediment moving from land-based sources into coastal ecosystems and human activities in the ocean disturbing the seafloor, such as dredging and bottom-contact fisheries, have been increasing over the last century. In addition, offshore activities, particularly bottom-contact fishing and potential deep-sea mining, can create sediment plumes in the deep-sea that may extend over long distances. Elevated suspended sediment concentrations have detrimental effects on benthic communities, particularly for suspension feeders like sponges and corals.</b></p> <p>The aim of this thesis was to investigate the effects of increased SSCs that might arise from heavy anthropogenic disturbance on common shallow water and deep-sea sponges and a deep-sea coral in New Zealand, as these groups contribute to habitat structure in some benthic environments, including the deep sea.</p>