Nutrient specific foraging and the role of spiders as biocontrol agents

Spiders help farmers by eating pests like aphids. We don’t, however, understand how spiders choose what they eat. To make best use of spiders in farms, we must first study their dietary choices. In this thesis, we designed a new way of measuring how much carbohydrate, fat and protein is in small invertebrates. We also created new tools to help detect what spiders have eaten using DNA in their guts, which helped us find out that spiders eat different things before and after the cereal crops that they live in are harvested. Using the same tools, we looked into what 300 spiders had eaten and saw that what spiders eat changes over time and that, depending on the type of spider and its age, they eat different prey. We also found out that different spiders may be better at protecting farmers’ crops than others, particularly young spiders and two specific types of spider (Bathyphantes and Tenuiphantes). Using the new way of measuring the nutrients in spiders, we managed to group and rename the different prey that live near spiders based on what nutrients they have. We then saw that spiders eat groups of prey with different nutrients in them together to get a balanced diet, but that different spiders get their nutrients by eating different prey to one another. This is the first time that this has been shown in the wild and outside of a laboratory

Investigating the prevalence of reactive online searching in the COVID-19 pandemic

Background: The ongoing coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has placed an unprecedented strain on global society, healthcare, governments and mass media. Public dissemination of government policies, medical interventions and misinformation has been remarkably rapid and largely unregulated during the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in increased misinterpretations, miscommunication, and public panic. Being the first full-scale global pandemic of the digital age, COVID-19 has presented novel challenges pertinent to government advice, the spread of news and misinformation, and the trade-off between the accessibility of science and the premature public use of unproven medical interventions. Objective: This study aims to assess the use of internet search terms relating to COVID-19 information and misinformation during the global pandemic, identify which were most used in six affected countries, investigate any temporal trends and the likely propagators of key search terms, and determine any correlation between the per capita cases and deaths with the adoption of these search terms in each of the six countries. Methods: This study uses relative search volume data extracted from Google Trends for search terms linked to the COVID-19 pandemic alongside per capita case and mortality data extracted from the European Open Data Portal, to identify the temporal dynamics of the spread of news and misinformation during the global pandemic in six affected countries (Australia, Germany, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom, United States of America). A correlation analysis was carried out to ascertain any correlation between the temporal trends of search term use and the rise of per capita mortality and disease cases. Results: Of the selected search terms, most were searched immediately following promotion by governments, public figures or viral circulation of unfounded claims, but also relating to the publication of scientific resources, which were sometimes misinterpreted before further dissemination. Strong correlations were identified between the volume of these COVID-19-related search terms, and per capita mortality and cases. Conclusions: These findings illustrate the increased rate and volume of public consumption of novel information during a global healthcare crisis. The strong positive correlation between mortality and online searching, particularly in countries with lower COVID-19 testing rates, may demonstrate the imperative to safeguard official communications and dispel misinformation in these countries. Online news, government briefings and social media provide a powerful tool for the dissemination of important information to the public during pandemics, but their misuse, and the presentation of misrepresented medical information, should be monitored, minimised and addressed to safeguard public safety. Ultimately, governments, public health authorities and scientists have a moral imperative to safeguard the truth and maintain an accessible discourse with the public to inhibit fear

A high-resolution map of human evolutionary constraint using 29 mammals.

The comparison of related genomes has emerged as a powerful lens for genome interpretation. Here we report the sequencing and comparative analysis of 29 eutherian genomes. We confirm that at least 5.5% of the human genome has undergone purifying selection, and locate constrained elements covering ∼4.2% of the genome. We use evolutionary signatures and comparisons with experimental data sets to suggest candidate functions for ∼60% of constrained bases. These elements reveal a small number of new coding exons, candidate stop codon readthrough events and over 10,000 regions of overlapping synonymous constraint within protein-coding exons. We find 220 candidate RNA structural families, and nearly a million elements overlapping potential promoter, enhancer and insulator regions. We report specific amino acid residues that have undergone positive selection, 280,000 non-coding elements exapted from mobile elements and more than 1,000 primate- and human-accelerated elements. Overlap with disease-associated variants indicates that our findings will be relevant for studies of human biology, health and disease

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Biomonitoring of biocontrol across the full annual cycle in temperate climates: post-harvest, winter and early-season interaction data and methodological considerations for its collection

1. Conservation biocontrol, the regulation of crop pests by naturally-occurring biocontrol agents (e.g., predators and parasitoids), is predominantly monitored throughout periods of primary crop growth when pests exert the most observable impact on yields. Pest-focused agricultural biomonitoring often overlooks post-harvest, winter and even early-season biocontrol, despite the significant predator-pest interactions during these periods that profoundly affect pest abundance and, consequently, crop yields. Rapid advances in biomonitoring, particularly in the detection of predator-pest interactions that underpin biocontrol, provide an opportunity to reconsider how and when we monitor these interactions. 2. Advances in agricultural biomonitoring must transcend methodological innovation and encompass conceptual changes in monitoring of agricultural systems. Here, we assess existing evidence supporting the importance of periods beyond primary crop growth for biocontrol, and how predator-pest interactions are likely to evolve during these periods, subsequently influencing pest population dynamics during the primary crop growth period. 3. We advocate for a greater concerted effort to establish continuous monitoring of biocontrol interactions, particularly beyond primary crop growth periods in temperate climates. To facilitate this, we also summarise the methodological approaches that can make it possible, and explore how extending sampling across the full annual cycle might impact the practicalities and outcomes of these approaches. 4. Year-round monitoring of biocontrol interactions, both in crops and adjacent semi-natural habitats, will provide a previously intractable understanding of predator-pest dynamics, offering significant potential to enhance our ability to optimise and manipulate these systems for improved crop yields

The case for open research in entomology: reducing harm, refining reproducibility and advancing insect science

Open research is an increasingly developed and crucial framework for the advancement of science and has seen successful adoption across a broad range of disciplines. Entomology has, however, been slow to adopt these practices compared to many adjacent fields despite ethical and practical imperatives to do so. The grand challenges facing entomology in the 21st century require synthesis of evidence at global scales, necessitating open sharing of data and research at a pace and scale incompatible with the slow adoption of open research practices. Open science also plays a vital role in fostering trust in research and maximising use of research outputs, which is ethically crucial for reducing harms to insects. We outline these imperatives and how open research practices can enhance entomological research across a range of contexts. We also highlight the holistic nature of open science across the full research lifecycle through several specific examples of open research practices that can be adopted easily by individual entomologists. We do, however, argue that the responsibility of promoting, integrating and encouraging open research is most crucially held by publishers, including scholarly societies, which have leveraged widespread adoption in adjacent fields. Entomology must advance quickly to become a leading discipline in the open research transition

Implementing stakeholder engagement to explore alternative models of consent: An example from the PREP-IT trials

Introduction: Cluster randomized crossover trials are often faced with a dilemma when selecting an optimal model of consent, as the traditional model of obtaining informed consent from participant's before initiating any trial related activities may not be suitable. We describe our experience of engaging patient advisors to identify an optimal model of consent for the PREP-IT trials. This paper also examines surrogate measures of success for the selected model of consent. Methods: The PREP-IT program consists of two multi-center cluster randomized crossover trials that engaged patient advisors to determine an optimal model of consent. Patient advisors and stakeholders met regularly and reached consensus on decisions related to the trial design including the model for consent. Patient advisors provided valuable insight on how key decisions on trial design and conduct would be received by participants and the impact these decisions will have. Results: Patient advisors, together with stakeholders, reviewed the pros and cons and the requirements for the traditional model of consent, deferred consent, and waiver of consent. Collectively, they agreed upon a deferred consent model, in which patients may be approached for consent after their fracture surgery and prior to data collection. The consent rate in PREP-IT is 80.7%, and 0.67% of participants have withdrawn consent for participation. Discussion: Involvement of patient advisors in the development of an optimal model of consent has been successful. Engagement of patient advisors is recommended for other large trials where the traditional model of consent may not be optimal