DEFINING AND REDUCING WILDLIFE HAZARDS TO AVIATION IN THE USA

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Wildlife Research Center (NWRC), through an interagency agreement with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), conducts a national research program to define and reduce bird and other wildlife hazards to aircraft. The goal is to provide the FAA and airports nationwide with a scientific foundation for policies and recommendations related to wildlife and aviation safety. Research tasks conducted by NWRC under the agreement include: 1) investigations of habitat management and land-use practices on and near airports to reduce bird activity; 2) development and evaluation of bird repellent and frightening methods for airports; 3) management and analysis of the National Wildlife Strike Database for civil aviation; and 4) development of publications, including a manual on wildlife hazard management, for use by airport operators nationwide. The research, coordinated by NWRC’s Sandusky, Ohio Field Station, has resulted in over 100 scientific publications since 1992. Recent highlights include 1) development of a wildlife strike database for civil aviation with about 28,000 strike reports, 1990-1999; 2) publication of a report, based on analyses of data in the bird strike database, which indicated wildlife collisions with aircraft cost U.S. civil aviation over $300 million/year, 1990-1998; 3) partnership with private industry to develop chemical repellents for use against Canada geese on airports; 4) development of management program at JFK International Airport, New York, that resulted in a 90% reduction in gull-aircraft collisions; and 5) publication of a comprehensive manual for airport personnel entitled “Wildlife Hazard Management at Airports”

Reducing Impacts of Double-crested Cormorants to Natural Resources in Central New York: A Review of a Collaborative Research, Management, and Monitoring Program

Double-crested Cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus) have used central New York waters for breeding and stopover habitats during migration since 1984. In response to public concern over Oneida Lake, the United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation initiated an integrated research, management and monitoring program aimed at mitigating cormorant impacts to fisheries and other natural resources in 1998. The history of this program was reviewed and efforts to reduce negative impacts of the Double-crested Cormorant population in central New York described. Management was successful, as demonstrated by a substantial decrease in cormorant use of Oneida Lake during spring, summer and fall seasons, and the apparent recovery of certain sportfish populations. Research identified cormorant movement patterns within and among water bodies and documented cormorant responses to hazing and other management techniques. The cormorant management program in central New York was intended to keep cormorant use of Oneida Lake at a level that prevents unsustainable impacts to fisheries populations

Molecular profiling of signet ring cell colorectal cancer provides a strong rationale for genomic targeted and immune checkpoint inhibitor therapies

We would like to thank all patients whose samples were used in this study. We are also thankful to the Northern Ireland Biobank and Grampian Biorepository for providing us with tissue blocks and patient data; and Dr HG Coleman (Queen’s University Belfast) for her advice on statistical analyses. This work has been carried out with financial support from Cancer Research UK (grant: C11512/A18067), Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre Network (grant: C36697/A15590 from Cancer Research UK and the NI Health and Social Care Research and Development Division), the Sean Crummey Memorial Fund and the Tom Simms Memorial Fund. The Northern Ireland Biobank is funded by HSC Research and Development Division of the Public Health Agency in Northern Ireland and Cancer Research UK through the Belfast CRUK Centre and the Northern Ireland Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre; additional support was received from Friends of the Cancer Centre. The Northern Ireland Molecular Pathology Laboratory which is responsible for creating resources for the Northern Ireland Biobank has received funding from Cancer Research UK, Friends of the Cancer Centre and Sean Crummey Foundation.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Reducing Impacts of Double-crested Cormorants to Natural Resources in Central New York: A Review of a Collaborative Research, Management, and Monitoring Program

Double-crested Cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus) have used central New York waters for breeding and stopover habitats during migration since 1984. In response to public concern over Oneida Lake, the United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation initiated an integrated research, management and monitoring program aimed at mitigating cormorant impacts to fisheries and other natural resources in 1998. The history of this program was reviewed and efforts to reduce negative impacts of the Double-crested Cormorant population in central New York described. Management was successful, as demonstrated by a substantial decrease in cormorant use of Oneida Lake during spring, summer and fall seasons, and the apparent recovery of certain sportfish populations. Research identified cormorant movement patterns within and among water bodies and documented cormorant responses to hazing and other management techniques. The cormorant management program in central New York was intended to keep cormorant use of Oneida Lake at a level that prevents unsustainable impacts to fisheries populations.Keywords: Non-lethal management, Oneida Lake, Double-crested Cormorant, Harassment, Wildlife management, New York, Management, Monitorin

Updated trends of the stratospheric ozone vertical distribution in the 60° S–60° N latitude range based on the LOTUS regression model

This study presents an updated evaluation of stratospheric ozone profile trends in the 60° S–60° N latitude range over the 2000–2020 period using an updated version of the Long-term Ozone Trends and Uncertainties in the Stratosphere (LOTUS) regression model that was used to evaluate such trends up to 2016 for the last WMO Ozone Assessment (2018). In addition to the derivation of detailed trends as a function of latitude and vertical coordinates, the regressions are performed with the datasets averaged over broad latitude bands, i.e. 60–35° S, 20° S–20° N and 35–60° N. The same methodology as in the last assessment is applied to combine trends in these broad latitude bands in order to compare the results with the previous studies. Longitudinally resolved merged satellite records are also considered in order to provide a better comparison with trends retrieved from ground-based records, e.g. lidar, ozonesondes, Umkehr, microwave and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometers at selected stations where long-term time series are available. The study includes a comparison with trends derived from the REF-C2 simulations of the Chemistry Climate Model Initiative (CCMI-1). This work confirms past results showing an ozone increase in the upper stratosphere, which is now significant in the three broad latitude bands. The increase is largest in the Northern and Southern Hemisphere midlatitudes, with ∼2.2 ± 0.7 % per decade at ∼2.1 hPa and ∼2.1 ± 0.6 % per decade at ∼3.2 hPa respectively compared to ∼1.6 ± 0.6 % per decade at ∼2.6 hPa in the tropics. New trend signals have emerged from the records, such as a significant decrease in ozone in the tropics around 35 hPa and a non-significant increase in ozone in the southern midlatitudes at about 20 hPa. Non-significant negative ozone trends are derived in the lowermost stratosphere, with the most pronounced trends in the tropics. While a very good agreement is obtained between trends from merged satellite records and the CCMI-1 REF-C2 simulation in the upper stratosphere, observed negative trends in the lower stratosphere are not reproduced by models at southern and, in particular, at northern midlatitudes, where models report an ozone increase. However, the lower-stratospheric trend uncertainties are quite large, for both measured and modelled trends. Finally, 2000–2020 stratospheric ozone trends derived from the ground-based and longitudinally resolved satellite records are in reasonable agreement over the European Alpine and tropical regions, while at the Lauder station in the Southern Hemisphere midlatitudes they show some differences

Precipitation Origins and Key Drivers of Precipitation Isotope (18O, 2H, and 17O) Compositions Over Windhoek

©2018. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved. Southern African climate is characterized by large precipitation variability, and model precipitation estimates can vary by 70% during summer. This may be partly attributed to underestimation and lack of knowledge of the exact influence of the Atlantic Ocean on precipitation over the region. The current study models trajectories of precipitation events sampled from Windhoek (2012–2016), coupled with isotopes (δ18O, δ2H, δ17O, d, and δ′17O-δ′18O) to determine key local drivers of isotope compositions as well as infer source evaporative conditions. Multiple linear regression analyses suggest that key drivers of isotope compositions (relative humidity, precipitation amount, and air temperature) account for 47–53% of δ18O, δ2H, and δ17O variability. Surprisingly, precipitation δ18O, δ2H, and δ17O were independent of precipitation type (stratiform versus convective), and this may be attributed to greater modification of stratiform compared to convective raindrops, leading to convergence of isotopes from these precipitation types. Trajectory analyses showed that 78% and 21% of precipitation events during the period originated from the Indian and South Atlantic Oceans, respectively. Although precipitation from the Atlantic Ocean was significantly enriched compared to that from the Indian Ocean (

Sensing and Adaptation to Low pH Mediated by Inducible Amino Acid Decarboxylases in Salmonella

During the course of infection, Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium must successively survive the harsh acid stress of the stomach and multiply into a mild acidic compartment within macrophages. Inducible amino acid decarboxylases are known to promote adaptation to acidic environments. Three low pH inducible amino acid decarboxylases were annotated in the genome of S. Typhimurium, AdiA, CadA and SpeF, which are specific for arginine, lysine and ornithine, respectively. In this study, we characterized and compared the contributions of those enzymes in response to acidic challenges. Individual mutants as well as a strain deleted for the three genes were tested for their ability (i) to survive an extreme acid shock, (ii) to grow at mild acidic pH and (iii) to infect the mouse animal model. We showed that the lysine decarboxylase CadA had the broadest range of activity since it both had the capacity to promote survival at pH 2.3 and growth at pH 4.5. The arginine decarboxylase AdiA was the most performant in protecting S. Typhimurium from a shock at pH 2.3 and the ornithine decarboxylase SpeF conferred the best growth advantage under anaerobiosis conditions at pH 4.5. We developed a GFP-based gene reporter to monitor the pH of the environment as perceived by S. Typhimurium. Results showed that activities of the lysine and ornithine decarboxylases at mild acidic pH did modify the local surrounding of S. Typhimurium both in culture medium and in macrophages. Finally, we tested the contribution of decarboxylases to virulence and found that these enzymes were dispensable for S. Typhimurium virulence during systemic infection. In the light of this result, we examined the genomes of Salmonella spp. normally responsible of systemic infection and observed that the genes encoding these enzymes were not well conserved, supporting the idea that these enzymes may be not required during systemic infection

Influenza Infection in Wild Raccoons

Raccoons can transmit avian and human influenza Influenza Infection in Wild Raccoon

An update on ozone profile trends for the period 2000 to 2016

Ozone profile trends over the period 2000 to 2016 from several merged satellite ozone data sets and from ground-based data measured by four techniques at stations of the Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Composition Change indicate significant ozone increases in the upper stratosphere, between 35 and 48 km altitude (5 and 1 hPa). Near 2 hPa (42 km), ozone has been increasing by about 1.5 % per decade in the tropics (20° S to 20° N), and by 2 to 2.5 % per decade in the 35 to 60° latitude bands of both hemispheres. At levels below 35 km (5 hPa), 2000 to 2016 ozone trends are smaller and not statistically significant. The observed trend profiles are consistent with expectations from chemistry climate model simulations. This study confirms positive trends of upper stratospheric ozone already reported, e.g., in the WMO/UNEP Ozone Assessment 2014 or by Harris et al. (2015). Compared to those studies, three to four additional years of observations, updated and improved data sets with reduced drift, and the fact that nearly all individual data sets indicate ozone increase in the upper stratosphere, all give enhanced confidence. Uncertainties have been reduced, for example for the trend near 2 hPa in the 35 to 60° latitude bands from about ±5 % (2σ) in Harris et al. (2015) to less than ±2 % (2σ). Nevertheless, a thorough analysis of possible drifts and differences between various data sources is still required, as is a detailed attribution of the observed increases to declining ozone-depleting substances and to stratospheric cooling. Ongoing quality observations from multiple independent platforms are key for verifying that recovery of the ozone layer continues as expected