Green Exercise, Blue Spaces and Active Leisure Events: The Performance of New Participants is Associated With Their Response to Event Characteristics

Active leisure events (ALEs) promoting activity among non-traditional sporting participants are an increasingly important part of health interventions and social prescribing. Identifying characteristics of ALEs that encourage engagement are key for enhancing their efficacy. Models revealed first-time participants returned to parkrun more quickly if they were male, older, performed poorly, attended a larger event with more new adult participants, a hard surface type and with woodland and freshwater on its route. Interaction terms between performance and event characteristics revealed poor performing new participants were particularly influenced by event size and less influenced by woodland and freshwater suggesting that they might find it easier to hide at large events and feel less out of place. This highlights the importance not just of identifying characteristics of ALEs that influence return rates but also identifying interaction terms with performance so the behavior of target demographics can be better understood. Organisers of ALEs might want to consider prioritizing the use of routes that maximize exposure to woodland and freshwater and consider introducing additional strategies designed to make less fit participants feel that they belong

Extreme Promiscuity in a Mating System Dominated by Sexual Conflict

Coelopids live in wrack beds consisting of seaweed washed up on beaches. 5 Their mating system is characterized by sexual conflict and convenience 6 polyandry, with females resisting male mating attempts. We estimated the 7 level of harassment by males and the success rate of rejection by females 8 collected from a high density wild population. Males mounted a female every 9 8.41 min. Of these mounts 35% resulted in copulation. This suggests that 10 females could be mated up to 5 times every 2 h. Females typically live for 11 3 weeks, and thus, could mate with hundreds of males during their lifetime. 12 We found a 50:50 sex ratio throughout the wrack bed revealing that females 13 do not avoidmale harassment by leaving the wrack bed when not ovipositing

Factors driving the decline in the publication of geocaches

Geocaching is a popular outdoor recreational pastime that uses GPS to navigate to specific coordinates where the geocacher usually has to find a hidden container. Geocaching has many benefits including promoting exercise and learning. The number of new geocaches being published has started to decline. Here I present the first analysis of what factors might be contributing to that decline. Data on the geocache placement patterns of 116 geocachers were derived using the geocaching statistics analytical tool, Project GC. Two generalised linear mixed models were conducted on the resulting dataset. The study suggested that more active participants in the game are more likely to hide geocaches. The rate of hiding of geocaches declines over time. A quadratic relationship was identified with number of caches owned which suggests that individual geocachers have limits to the number of geocaches they can maintain. Perhaps, surprisingly the study suggested that cache saturation was only having a relatively small impact compared to these other potential drivers of the decline. Individual limits on geocaches owned and reduced activity over time appear to be the key drivers of the decline. Consequently the study suggests that a continuing influx of new participants to the pastime is required to maintain high levels of geocache placements. A range of measures to make geocaching more attractive to both current and future participants is suggested, for example increasing efforts to remove abandoned geocaches, making it easier for geocachers to identify the locations of high quality geocaches and increasing the variety of geocache types by the introduction of Citizen Science geocaches. By contrast, the study suggests that relaxing the rules on cache saturation is not likely to have much of an impact upon future levels of geocache placement. Management implications This study has identified keys factors associated with the current decline in geocache placements and has identified alterations to the management of the game that could mediate some of these effects. It remains to be seen whether or not the planet will ever have 4,000,000 active geocaches. The current trajectory suggests not, however actions could be taken which could alter this trajectory. In particular this study suggests key to continue to attract new participants to the pastime. This could be done by increasing cache type variety and improving the quality of existing geocaches and the ability of geocachers to identify their locations

Predictors of successful return to parkrun for first-time adult participants in Scotland

Physical activity is essential for promoting good health and reducing burdens on healthcare systems. parkrun organise free weekly events where participants complete a 5km route. Studies have identified characteristics of participants associated with lower levels of participation. The aim of the study was to identify predictors of the likelihood of returning to parkrun for first-time adult participants. The return rate of adult first-time participants was determined for all 5km parkrun events in Scotland over a 1-year period from February 2019. The dataset consisted of 20,191 adult participants made up of 11,459 females and 8,732 males across 58 venues. A General Linear Mixed Model was used to identify factors associated with return rate. Return rates were negatively correlated with event size and positively correlated with the proportion of first-time adult participants at the event. Age was positively correlated with return rate and males were more likely to return. New participants that finished in a relatively slow time were disproportionately less likely to return. Return rates were positively correlated with the amount of freshwater and woodland on the route. These findings provide potential opportunities to manage events to enhance their efficacy. Specific events could be promoted as first-timer days to encourage new participants to attend together. New events could be prioritised in proximity to events that currently experience high attendances to reduce attendances locally. As the presence of freshwater and woodland are associated with higher return these habitats could play a role in generating the benefits of green exercise. If so the creation of more routes running through or alongside these habitats could be beneficial. The findings are likely to be widely applicable to other mass participation events and those interesting in understanding the mechanism by which green exercise provides its benefits

New Parkrunners Are Slower and the Attendance Gender Gap Narrowing Making Parkrun More Inclusive

Parkrun is a weekly mass-participation event. Finishes are recorded, with the resulting database potentially containing important public health information. The aim of this study was to identify characteristics of events that overcome barriers to participation, and to identify changing patterns in the demographics of participants. GLMMs were generated of age-graded performance, gender ratio and age of participants at Scottish parkrun events. Predictor variables included age, gender, participant, runs, date, elevation gain, surface and travelling time to the next nearest venue. There was a decline in the mean performance of participants at events, yet individual performances improved. The gender ratio showed higher male participation with a narrowing gender gap. Events in the most remote parts of Scotland had lower performance and a higher proportion of female participants. Events on slower surfaces had more female participants. Parkrun events are becoming more inclusive, with more females and participants exhibiting low performance. In more remote parts of Scotland, more females participated in parkrun than males, suggesting parkrun has overcome traditional barriers to female participation in sport. Prioritising the creation of events at remote locations and on slower surfaces could increase inclusivity further. General practitioners prescribing parkrun might want to prescribe attendance at slower events for female patients

New Parkrunners Are Slower and the Attendance Gender Gap Narrowing Making Parkrun More Inclusive

Parkrun is a weekly mass-participation event. Finishes are recorded, with the resulting database potentially containing important public health information. The aim of this study was to identify characteristics of events that overcome barriers to participation, and to identify changing patterns in the demographics of participants. GLMMs were generated of age-graded performance, gender ratio and age of participants at Scottish parkrun events. Predictor variables included age, gender, participant, runs, date, elevation gain, surface and travelling time to the next nearest venue. There was a decline in the mean performance of participants at events, yet individual performances improved. The gender ratio showed higher male participation with a narrowing gender gap. Events in the most remote parts of Scotland had lower performance and a higher proportion of female participants. Events on slower surfaces had more female participants. Parkrun events are becoming more inclusive, with more females and participants exhibiting low performance. In more remote parts of Scotland, more females participated in parkrun than males, suggesting parkrun has overcome traditional barriers to female participation in sport. Prioritising the creation of events at remote locations and on slower surfaces could increase inclusivity further. General practitioners prescribing parkrun might want to prescribe attendance at slower events for female patients

Are neonicotinoid insecticides driving declines of widespread butterflies?

There has been widespread concern that neonicotinoid pesticides may be adversely impacting wild and managed bees for some years, but recently attention has shifted to examining broader effects they may be having on biodiversity. For example in the Netherlands, declines in insectivorous birds are positively associated with levels of neonicotinoid pollution in surface water. In England, the total abundance of widespread butterfly species declined by 58% on farmed land between 2000 and 2009 despite both a doubling in conservation spending in the UK, and predictions that climate change should benefit most species. Here we build models of the UK population indices from 1985 to 2012 for 17 widespread butterfly species that commonly occur at farmland sites. Of the factors we tested, three correlated significantly with butterfly populations. Summer temperature and the index for a species the previous year are both positively associated with butterfly indices. By contrast, the number of hectares of farmland where neonicotinoid pesticides are used is negatively associated with butterfly indices. Indices for 15 of the 17 species show negative associations with neonicotinoid usage. The declines in butterflies have largely occurred in England, where neonicotinoid usage is at its highest. In Scotland, where neonicotinoid usage is comparatively low, butterfly numbers are stable. Further research is needed urgently to show whether there is a causal link between neonicotinoid usage and the decline of widespread butterflies or whether it simply represents a proxy for other environmental factors associated with intensive agriculture

Sex-Biased Phoretic Mite Load on Two Seaweed Flies: Coelopa frigida and Coelopa pilipes

Two hypotheses explain male-biased parasitism. Physiological costs of male sexually selected characteristics can reduce immunocompetence. Alternatively, ecological differences could generate male-biased parasitism. One method of comparing the importance of the two theories is to investigate patterns of phoresy, which are only likely to be generated by ecological rather than immunological differences between the sexes. Here we studied the pattern of phoresy of the mite, Thinoseius fucicola, on two species of seaweed by hosts, Coelopa frigida and Coelopa pilipes.We found a highly male-biased pattern of phoresy of T. fucicola on both species. These are the first reported instances of sex-biased phoresy in a solely phoretic parasite. We also show the first two cases of size-biased phoresy. We suggest that ecological factors, particularly, male mate searching, generated male biased patterns of phoresy. We highlight the potential importance of studies of phoresy in determining the relative roles of the immunocompetence and ecological theories in generating male-biased parasitism. We suggest that more studies of patterns of phoresy are carried out to allow detailed comparisons with patterns of parasitism

The seaweed fly (Coelopidae) can facilitate environmental survival and transmission of E. coli O157 at sandy beaches

The sustainable management of recreational beaches is essential for minimising risk of human exposure to microbial pathogens whilst simultaneously maintaining valuable ecosystem services. Decaying seaweed on public beaches is gaining recognition as a substrate for microbial contamination, and is a potentially significant reservoir for human pathogens in close proximity to beach users. Closely associated with beds of decaying seaweed are dense populations of the seaweed fly (Coelopidae), which could influence the spatio-temporal fate of seaweed-associated human pathogens within beach environments. Replicated mesocosms containing seaweed inoculated with a bioluminescent strain of the zoonotic pathogen E. coli O157:H7, were used to determine the effects of two seaweed flies, Coelopa frigida and C. pilipes, on E. coli O157:H7 survival dynamics. Multiple generations of seaweed flies and their larvae significantly enhanced persistence of E. coli O157:H7 in simulated wrack habitats, demonstrating that both female and male C. frigida flies are capable of transferring E. coli O157:H7 between individual wrack beds and into the sand. Adult fly faeces can contain significant concentrations of E. coli O157:H7, which suggests they are capable of acting as biological vectors and bridge hosts between wrack habitats and other seaweed fly populations, and facilitate the persistence and dispersal of E. coli O157:H7 in sandy beach environments. This study provides the first evidence that seaweed fly populations inhabiting natural wrack beds contaminated with the human pathogen E. coli O157:H7 have the capacity to amplify the hazard source, and therefore potential transmission risk, to beach users exposed to seaweed and sand in the intertidal zone. The risk to public health from seaweed flies and decaying wrack beds is usually limited by human avoidance behaviour; however, seaweed fly migration and nuisance inland plagues in urban areas could increase human exposure routes beyond the beach environment

Habitat composition, sexual conflict and life history evolution in Coelopa frigida

This thesis describes an investigation into the effects of habitat composition, principally the composition of algae in a wrack bed, on the life history of the seaweed fly, Coelopa frigida. The mating system of C. frigida is dominated by intense sexual conflict characterised by frequent harassment by males leading to a vigorous pre-mating struggle. This response leads to sexual selection for large male size and sexual dimorphism. The mating behaviour of C. frigida is affected by their environment, with exposure to brown algae inducing harassment in males and oviposition in females. Despite more than two decades of research into coelopid reproduction little is known about how habitat composition alters the patterns and processes of sexual conflict. Studies contained in this thesis consider environmental influences that both directly and indirectly influence sexual conflict. Direct effects of the environment are measured by conducting mating trials following culture of C. frigida on different species of algae and by exposing males to different species of algae. This work is accompanied by studies of larval development and adult survival on different algae. In recent years it has been observed that the distribution of European coelopids has undergone a northward range shift. An investigation into the current distribution of European coelopid species and a discussion of the effects of climate change that may have caused this change is included. Finally, the use of stable isotope analysis to determine the diet of wild coelopids and alternative statistical methods to analyse mating trials are described.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceNatural Environment Research CouncilGBUnited Kingdo