Niche partitioning in an assemblage of granivorous rodents, and the challenge of community-level conservation

Coexistence of competing species in the same foraging guild has long puzzled ecologists. In particular, how do small subordinate species persist with larger dominant competitors? This question becomes particularly important when conservation interventions, such as reintroduction or translocation, become necessary for the smaller species. Exclusion of dominant competitors might be necessary to establish populations of some endangered species. Ultimately, however, the goal should be to conserve whole communities. Determining how subordinate species escape competitive exclusion in intact communities could inform conservation decisions by clarifying the ecological conditions and processes required for coexistence at local or regional scales. We tested for spatial and temporal partitioning among six species of native, granivorous rodents using null models, and characterized the microhabitat of each species using resource-selection models. We found that the species’ nightly activity patterns are aggregated temporally but segregated spatially. As expected, we found clear evidence that the larger-bodied kangaroo rats drive spatial partitioning, but we also found species-specific microhabitat associations, which suggests that habitat heterogeneity is part of what enables these species to coexist. Restoration of natural disturbance regimes that create habitat heterogeneity, and selection of translocation sites without specific competitors, are among the management recommendations to consider in this case. More generally, this study highlights the need for a community-level approach to conservation and the usefulness of basic ecological data for guiding management decisions.

Intonation and Prosody in Creole Languages: An Evolving Ecology

Research on the prosody and intonation of creole languages has largely remained an untapped resource, yet it is important for enriching our understanding of how or if their phonological systems changed or developed under contact. Further, their hybrid histories and current linguistic ecologies present descriptive and analytical treasure troves. This has the potential to inform many areas of linguistic inquiry including contact effects on the typological classification of prosodic systems, socioprosodic variation (individual and community level), and the scope of diversity in prosodic systems among creole languages and across a variety of languages similarly influenced by language contact. Thus, this review highlights the importance of pushing beyond questions of creole language typology and genetic affiliation. I review the existing research on creole language prosody and intonation, provide some details on a few studies, and highlight some key challenges and opportunities for the subfield and for linguistics in general.

Developing indicators of age-friendly neighbourhood environments for urban and rural communities across 20 low-, middle-, and high-income countries

Background By 2050, the global population of adults 60 + will reach 2.1 billion, surging fastest in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). In response, the World Health Organization (WHO) has developed indicators of age-friendly urban environments, but these criteria have been challenging to apply in rural areas and LMIC. This study fills this gap by adapting the WHO indicators to such settings and assessing variation in their availability by community-level urbanness and country-level income. Methods We used data from the Prospective Urban and Rural Epidemiology (PURE) study’s environmental-assessment tools, which integrated systematic social observation and ecometrics to reliably capture community-level environmental features associated with cardiovascular-disease risk factors. The results of a scoping review guided selection of 18 individual indicators across six distinct domains, with data available for 496 communities in 20 countries, including 382 communities (77%) in LMIC. Finally, we used both factor analysis of mixed data (FAMD) and multitrait-multimethod (MTMM) approaches to describe relationships between indicators and domains, as well as detailing the extent to which these relationships held true within groups defined by urbanness and income. Results Together, the results of the FAMD and MTMM approaches indicated substantial variation in the relationship of individual indicators to each other and to broader domains, arguing against the development of an overall score and extending prior evidence demonstrating the need to adapt the WHO framework to the local context. Communities in high-income countries generally ranked higher across the set of indicators, but regular connections to neighbouring towns via bus (95%) and train access (76%) were most common in low-income countries. The greatest amount of variation by urbanness was seen in the number of streetscape-greenery elements (33 such elements in rural areas vs. 55 in urban), presence of traffic lights (18% vs. 67%), and home-internet availability (25% vs. 54%). Conclusions This study indicates the extent to which environmental supports for healthy ageing may be less readily available to older adults residing in rural areas and LMIC and augments calls to tailor WHO’s existing indicators to a broader range of communities in order to achieve a critical aspect of distributional equity in an ageing world.

The ups and downs of space and time: topography in Yupno language, culture, and cognition

Much prior research has investigated how humans understand time using body-based contrasts like front/back and left/right. It has recently come to light, however, that some communities instead understand time using environment-based contrasts. Here, we present the richest portrait yet of one such case: the topographic system used by the Yupno of Papua New Guinea, in which the past is construed as downhill and the future as uphill. We first survey topographic concepts in Yupno language and culture, showing how they constitute a privileged resource for communicating about space. Next, we survey time concepts in Yupno, focusing on how topographic concepts are used to construe past, present, and future. We then illustrate how this topographic understanding of time comes to life in the words, hands, and minds of Yupno speakers. Drawing on informal interviews, we offer a view of the topographic system that goes beyond a community-level summary, and offers a glimpse of its individual-level and moment-to-moment texture. Finally, we step back to account for how this topographic understanding of time is embedded within a rich cognitive ecology of linguistic, cultural, gestural, and architectural practices. We close by discussing an elusive question: Why is the future uphill?

Examining Social Vulnerability and the Association With COVID-19 Incidence in Harris County, Texas

Studies have investigated the association between social vulnerability and SARS-CoV-2 incidence. However, few studies have examined small geographic units such as census tracts, examined geographic regions with large numbers of Hispanic and Black populations, controlled for testing rates, and incorporated stay-at-home measures into their analyses. Understanding the relationship between social vulnerability and SARS-CoV-2 incidence is critical to understanding the interplay between social determinants and implementing risk mitigation guidelines to curtail the spread of infectious diseases. The objective of this study was to examine the relationship between CDC's Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) and SARS-CoV-2 incidence while controlling for testing rates and the proportion of those who stayed completely at home among 783 Harris County, Texas census tracts. SARS-CoV-2 incidence data were collected between May 15 and October 1, 2020. The SVI and its themes were the primary exposures. Median percent time at home was used as a covariate to measure the effect of staying at home on the association between social vulnerability and SARS-CoV-2 incidence. Data were analyzed using Kruskal Wallis and negative binomial regressions (NBR) controlling for testing rates and staying at home. Results showed that a unit increase in the SVI score and the SVI themes were associated with significant increases in SARS-CoV-2 incidence. The incidence risk ratio (IRR) was 1.090 (95% CI, 1.082, 1.098) for the overall SVI; 1.107 (95% CI, 1.098, 1.115) for minority status/language; 1.090 (95% CI, 1.083, 1.098) for socioeconomic; 1.060 (95% CI, 1.050, 1.071) for household composition/disability, and 1.057 (95% CI, 1.047, 1.066) for housing type/transportation. When controlling for stay-at-home, the association between SVI themes and SARS-CoV-2 incidence remained significant. In the NBR model that included all four SVI themes, only the socioeconomic and minority status/language themes remained significantly associated with SARS-CoV-2 incidence. Community-level infections were not explained by a communities' inability to stay at home. These findings suggest that community-level social vulnerability, such as socioeconomic status, language barriers, use of public transportation, and housing density may play a role in the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection regardless of the ability of some communities to stay at home because of the need to work or other reasons.

Mental Health Consequences from COVID-19 Pandemic and Strategies for Community Level Recovery

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has spread across the globe from 2019 affecting millions of people physically, mentally, and socio-economically. The purpose of the study was to map out the mental health consequences of the COVID-19 Pandemic and suggest recovery strategies.Methods: A qualitative inquiry into the mental health aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic using observations from working in busy health clinics, general practices, primary and community care setting, and dedicated COVID acute care wards during the pandemic in Australia, United Kingdom and Sri Lanka; discussions with colleagues worldwide; analyzing social and news media comments; literature survey and experience of dealing with past disasters were used to map out mental health consequences and put forward recovery strategies.Results: In covid sufferers, neuropsychiatric symptoms lasting months, unrelated to respiratory insufficiency suggested brain damage due to vascular endothelial injury and/or cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT). A third went onto develop or have a relapse of a psychological or neurological conditions. In the general population, common consequences included common mental health disorders; changing patterns of substance abuse including alcohol; increased domestic violence and child abuse. Family relationships, interactions and understanding improved in many but minority had strained dynamics. Vulnerable groups included the elderly, women, youth; children; disabled; frontline and health workers; minorities and severely mentally ill. At the community level, there were signs of collective (mass) hysteria from panic buying to conspiracy theories, public shaming, fake news and disinformation spreading on social media and mass protests. There were also positive effects such as better understanding of bio-knowledge; interventions (rapid vaccine production, contact tracing methods) and discoveries (mRNA Vaccines), health systems improvements (tele-health), online learning, gratitude toward heath care workers, increased social/community/family cohesion, closer international networking, reduction in suicide rates and drop in interstate and civil conflicts, road accidents, crime and communicable diseases with their resultant morbidity, mortality and mental health consequences. Conclusions: In view of the widespread mental health and psychosocial consequences from the COVID-19 pandemic, a community-based approach is suggested while treating more severe mental disorders at the primary care or specialist level.