Behavioral responses of coyotes to the CLOD in familiar and unfamiliar environments

The Coyote Lure Operative Device (CLOD) is designed to deliver a variety of substances to coyotes. Field evaluations have demonstrated free-ranging coyotes will activate CLODs, but little is known about coyote behavior when encountering the device in familiar or unfamiliar environments, an essential consideration. Captive coyotes show neophobic behaviors toward novel objects in familiar territory, while responses to scent stations in similar scenarios have been mixed. Free-ranging coyotes are more likely to investigate novel items and are more vulnerable to capture while trespassing in adjacent territories than when “at home”. We examined responses of captive coyotes toward CLODs in familiar and unfamiliar settings. We found no significant neophobic response toward CLODs with respect to territory familiarity, although captive coyotes spent significantly more time within 1 m of the device in a familiar environment. Relatively small sample sizes make broad inferences difficult, but our data suggest that territory familiarity might not be a strong factor in responses to the CLOD. However, more research is necessary

MAPK phosphatase-1 represents a novel antiinflammatory target of glucocorticoids in the human endothelium

Glucocorticoids are well-established anti- inflammatory drugs thought to mainly act by inhibition of proinflammatory transcription factors like NF-κB. In recent years, however, transcription factorindependent mechanisms of glucocorticoid action have been proposed, namely the influence on MAPK pathways. Here we identify MAPK phosphatase-1 (MKP-1) as a pivotal mediator of the anti-inflammatory action of glucocorticoids in the human endothelium. We applied dexamethasone (Dex) to TNF-α-activated human endothelial cells and used the adhesion molecule E-selectin as inflammatory read-out parameter. Dex is known to reduce the expression of E-selectin, which is largely regulated by NF-κB. Here, we communicate that Dex at low concentrations (1–100 nM) markedly attenuates E-selectin expression without affecting NF-κB. Importantly, Dex is able to increase the expression of MKP-1, which causes an inactivation of TNF-α-induced p38 MAPK and mediates inhibition of E-selectin expression. In endothelial MKP-1ˉ/ˉ cells differentiated from MKP-1ˉ/ˉ embryonic stem cells and in MKP-1-silenced human endothelial cells, Dex did not inhibit TNF-α-evoked E-selectin expression. Thus, our findings introduce MKP-1 as a novel and crucial mediator of the anti-inflammatory action of glucocorticoids at low concentrations in the human endothelium and highlight MKP-1 as an important and promising antiinflammatory drug target

A century of Shope Papillomavirus in museum rabbit specimens

Sylvilagus floridanus Papillomavirus (SfPV) causes growth of large horn-like tumors on rabbits. SfPV was described in cottontail rabbits (probably Sylvilagus floridanus) from Kansa and Iowa by Richard Shope in 1933, and detected in S. audubonii in 2011. It is known almost exclusively from the US Midwest. We explored the University of Kansas Natural History Museum for historical museum specimens infected with SfPV, using molecular techniques, to assess if additional wild species host SfPV, and whether SfPV occurs throughout the host range, or just in the Midwest. Secondary aims were to detect distinct strains, and evidence for strain spatio-temporal specificity. We found 20 of 1395 rabbits in the KU collection SfPV symptomatic. Three of 17 lagomorph species (S. nuttallii, and the two known hosts) were symptomatic, while Brachylagus, Lepus and eight additional Sylvilagus species were not. 13 symptomatic individuals were positive by molecular testing, including the first S. nuttallii detection. Prevalence of symptomatic individuals was significantly higher in Sylvilagus (1.8%) than Lepus. Half of these specimens came from Kansas, though new molecular detections were obtained from Jalisco—Mexico’s first—and Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, and Texas, USA. We document the oldest lab-confirmed case (Kansas, 1915), predating Shope’s first case. SfPV amplification was possible from 63.2% of symptomatic museum specimens. Using multiple methodologies, rolling circle amplification and, multiple isothermal displacement amplification in addition to PCR, greatly improved detection rates. Short sequences were obtained from six individuals for two genes. L1 gene sequences were identical to all previously detected sequences; E7 gene sequences, were more variable, yielding five distinct SfPV1 strains that differing by less than 2% from strains circulating in the Midwest and Mexico, between 1915 and 2005. Our results do not clarify whether strains are host species specific, though they are consistent with SfPV specificity to genus Sylvilagus.Costs of lab work were funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, (Ref CGL2010-15734/BOS) awarded to JPT. RW was supported by the Programa Internacional de Captación de Talento (PICATA) de Moncloa Campus de Excelencia Internacional(http://www.campusmoncloa.es/en/calls/picata.php) while writing the manuscript. The authors thank The One University Open Access Author Fund at The University of Kansas for funding this publication. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript

Plants, people and health: Three disciplines at work in Namaqualand

In Paulshoek, Namaqualand, three research projects focusing on medicinal plants were developed concurrently. The projects were based in the disciplines of anthropology, botany and chemistry. In this paper, we explore how these projects related to one another and describe the conversations that occurred in the process of searching for transdisciplinary knowledge. The projects ostensibly shared a common object of knowledge, but it was through working together that the medicinal plants constituted us as a community of scholars. As our insight into our respective disciplinary relationships with the plants grew, so did our understanding of the limitations of our respective disciplinary positions. The process made possible a ‘reimagination’ of both the object of study and our relationships to it and to one another. The research project, conceptualised in 2009, engaged current debates on indigenous knowledge and its historical erasures, and offered an approach that has potential to produce new knowledges while respecting the integrity of the disciplines. This approach requires a non-competitive attitude to research and one that acknowledges the contributions that can be made by multiple approaches

Coyotes Nipping At Our Heels: A New Suburban Dilemma

In the 1970s, coyote attacks on humans in urban and suburban environments began to occur, primarily in Southern California. Such attacks have increased in number, and since the late 1980s coyote attacks on people have been reported from at least 16 additional states and 4 Canadian provinces. Attack incidents are typically preceded by a sequence of increasingly bold coyote behaviors, including attacks on pets during daylight hours. In suburban areas, coyotes can habituate to humans as a result of plentiful food resources, including increased numbers of rabbits and rodents, household refuse, pet food, water from ponds and landscape irrigation run-off, and intentional feeding. Cessation of predator control has also contributed to coyotes’ loss of wariness toward humans. Preventive (e.g., habitat modification) and corrective actions (e.g., hazing) can be effective if implemented before coyote attacks on pets become common. However, if environmental modification and changes in human behavior toward coyotes are delayed, then removal of offending coyotes is needed to resolve threats to human safety. Coyote attacks on humans in suburbia are largely preventable, but the long-term solution of this conflict requires public education, changes in residents’ behavior, and in some situations, the means to effectively remove individual offending animals

Devices for Vertebrate Pest Control: Are they of Value?

Electromagnetic, sonic, and ultrasonic devices claiming effectiveness in controlling rodents and other pests have seen resurgence in the marketplace. Laboratory and field tests of such devices have generally failed to show they are effective, despite advertising claims. Rodent burrow exploders have been marketed for use against pocket gophers, ground squirrels, prairie dogs, and other burrowing rodents since the 1980s. Field tests indicate these exploders are expensive to use and typically provide unacceptably low efficacy. Vehicle-mounted devices to scare deer off roadways, with many claiming to generate ultrasonic sound, have been widely sold. Studies reveal that deer are unable to hear ultrasonic sound, and that the devices appear to have no effect on deer behavior. While Federal regulatory agencies have authority to prohibit false and misleading statements in advertising of such devices, enforcement actions and scientific testing on which regulatory actions are based are expensive and time-consuming, and agencies are resource-limited

Comments on ectoparasites of two species of Microtus in Nebraska

The ectoparasitic fauna of Nebraskan Microtus pennsylvanicus and Microtus ochrogaster was examined to determine what species were present, the relative abundance of each species, sex, and developmental stage. Four species of mites of the family Laelapidae were found. Hyperlaelaps microti, the most abundant ectoparasite collected, and Androlaelaps fahrenholzi were obtained from both species of voles. Hirstionyssus isabellinus is reported from Nebraska for the first time on the basis of three specimens taken from M. pennsylvanicus. One adult female Hirstionyssus utahensis was collected from M. ochrogaster and constitutes the first record of this mite for Nebraska and on M. ochrogaster. Dermacentor variabilis, the American dog tick, was the only tick taken during the study. Two species of fleas, Epitedia wennmani and Monopsyllus wagneri, were found on M. pennsylvanicus. The single species of louse obtained, Hoplopleura acanthopus, was collected only from M. pennsylvanicus and is herein initially reported from Nebraska

Fahrenholz's Rule and Resource Tracking: A Study of Host-Parasite Coevolution

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