Separating Proactive Conservation from Species Listing Decisions

Proactive Conservation is a paradigm of natural resource management in the United States that encourages voluntary, collaborative efforts to restore species before they need to be protected through government regulations. This paradigm is widely used to conserve at-risk species today, and when used in conjunction with the Policy for Evaluation of Conservation Efforts (PECE), it allows for successful conservation actions to preclude listing of species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Despite the popularity of this paradigm, and recent flagship examples of its use (e.g., greater sage grouse, Centrocercus urophasianus), critical assessments of the outcomes of Proactive Conservation are lacking from the standpoint of species status and recovery metrics. Here, we provide such an evaluation, using the New England cottontail (Sylvilagus transitionalis), heralded as a success of Proactive Conservation efforts in the northeastern United States, as a case study. We review the history and current status of the species, based on the state of the science, in the context of the Conservation Initiative, and the 2015 PECE decision not to the list the species under the ESA. In addition to the impacts of the PECE decision on the New England cottontail conservation specifically, our review also evaluates the benefits and limits of the Proactive Conservation paradigm more broadly, and we make recommendations for its role in relation to ESA implementation for the future of at-risk species management. We find that the status and assurances for recovery under the PECE policy, presented at the time of the New England cottontail listing decision, were overly optimistic, and the status of the species has worsened in subsequent years. We suggest that use of PECE to avoid listing may occur because of the perception of the ESA as a punitive law and a misconception that it is a failure, although very few listed species have gone extinct. Redefining recovery to decouple it from delisting and instead link it to probability of persistence under recommended conservation measures would remove some of the stigma of listing, and it would strengthen the role of Species Status Assessments in endangered species conservation

No differences in egg buoyancy and anti-freeze protein production in genetically divergent subpopulations of Gulf of Maine Atlantic Cod (Gadus morhua)

Locally-adapted subpopulations of Atlantic cod are found in both the northwest and northeast Atlantic and exhibit differences in morphology, behavior and physiological characteristics. We conducted experiments to determine if demonstrable differences were evident in egg buoyancy and antifreeze glycoprotein production between captive populations of genetically divergent winter and spring-spawning cod from the Gulf of Maine. Fertilized eggs (\u3c24 h post-spawning) were collected from both populations on 3 dates and transferred to 3 controlled-temperature rooms (5, 10, and 12 degrees C). Egg buoyancy was determined in triplicate samples, at each temperature, in seawater ranging from 28 to 35 ppt with 0.5 ppt increments. No significant differences in mean neutral buoyancy (similar to 1.024 g/mL) were found between stocks or treatment temperatures. Antifreeze glycoprotein (AFGP) production was examined in captive-bred cod juveniles (13-24 cm) from both populations held at 0 degrees C for periods ranging from 20 to 35 days. AFGP were first produced on day 30, although no differences were found in AFGP production in either population. Our results do not support the hypothesis that physiological differences in egg buoyancy and anti-freeze protein product exist between these two cod populations. The similarity in expression of these traits may reflect the high level of nutrition that both broodstock populations received, and the common juvenile size during cold-water exposure. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Structure of the M. tuberculosis DnaK−GrpE complex reveals how key DnaK roles are controlled

Abstract The molecular chaperone DnaK is essential for viability of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb). DnaK hydrolyzes ATP to fold substrates, and the resulting ADP is exchanged for ATP by the nucleotide exchange factor GrpE. It has been unclear how GrpE couples DnaK’s nucleotide exchange with substrate release. Here we report a cryo-EM analysis of GrpE bound to an intact Mtb DnaK, revealing an asymmetric 1:2 DnaK−GrpE complex. The GrpE dimer ratchets to modulate both DnaK nucleotide-binding domain and the substrate-binding domain. We further show that the disordered GrpE N-terminus is critical for substrate release, and that the DnaK−GrpE interface is essential for protein folding activity both in vitro and in vivo. Therefore, the Mtb GrpE dimer allosterically regulates DnaK to concomitantly release ADP in the nucleotide-binding domain and substrate peptide in the substrate-binding domain

A Comparative Analysis of Glass Plate Digitization Methods: Methods Motivated by Stellar Variability

Presented at the 2022 Midstates Consortium for Math and Science Undergraduate Research Symposia, this poster details the research and analysis of digitization of historic astronomical glass plates using a a graphic arts flatbed scanner and a DSLR camera

Crystal structure of HAB1.

<p>Ribbon representation of the HAB1 phosphatase domain (PDB: 4LA7) with C186 and C274 presented as stick models and the remaining cysteine residues as yellow patches. The SnRK2.6 interacting site is shown in magenta and MgCl₂ ions as magenta spheres (figure drawn from).</p

Reversible oxidation of HAB1 by H₂O₂.

<p>A) Sensitivity of full length (1–511 aa) and phosphatase domain (171–511 aa) of HAB1 to H₂O₂ treatment. B) Reactivation of H₂O₂ treated HAB1 by reducing agents (n = 3, error bar represent s.d.).</p