Pollen analysis of Australian honey

Pollen analysis is widely used to verify the geographic origin of honeys, but has never been employed in Australia. In this study, we analysed the pollen content of 173 unblended honey samples sourced from most of the commercial honey producing regions in southern Australia. Southern Australian vegetation is dominated by Eucalyptus (Myrtaceae) forests and, as expected, most Australian honeys are palynologically dominated by Eucalyptus, while other important components include Myrtaceae taxa such as Corymbia/Angophora and the tribe Leptospermeae; plus Brassicaceae, Echium, Macadamia, and Acacia. An important feature of the honeys is the number of Myrtaceae pollen morphotypes per sample, which is generally high (mean = 4.6) compared to honeys produced outside of Australia, including Eucalyptus honeys produced in the Mediterranean region, and honeys produced in South America, which has its own rich indigenous Myrtaceae flora. In the latter regions, the number of Myrtaceae morphotypes is apparently generally 2. A high number of Myrtaceae morphotypes may be a feasible criterion for authenticating the origin of Australian honeys, since most Australian honey is produced by honey bees mainly working indigenous floral resources. Myrtaceae morphotype diversity is a convenient melissopalynological measure that could be applied even where detailed knowledge of the pollen morphology of the many component genera and species is absent. Palynological criteria developed in Europe for authenticating Eucalyptus honeys should not be relied upon for Australian honeys, since those criteria are not based on samples of Australian honey.This study was funded by the Australian Government Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation (now AgriFutures Australia, www.agrifutures.com.au), Grant PRJ-009770 to JMKS. The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. However, the funders and two industry partners commented on the manuscript

Integrating complementary methods to improve diet analysis in fishery‐targeted species

Developing efficient, reliable, cost‐effective ways to identify diet is required to understand trophic ecology in complex ecosystems and improve food web models. A combination of techniques, each varying in their ability to provide robust, spatially and temporally explicit information can be applied to clarify diet data for ecological research. This study applied an integrative analysis of a fishery‐targeted species group—Plectropomus spp. in the central Great Barrier Reef, Australia, by comparing three diet‐identification approaches. Visual stomach content analysis provided poor identification with ~14% of stomachs sampled resulting in identification to family or lower. A molecular approach was successful with prey from ~80% of stomachs identified to genus or species, often with several unique prey in a stomach. Stable isotope mixing models utilizing experimentally derived assimilation data, identified similar prey as the molecular technique but at broader temporal scales, particularly when prior diet information was incorporated. Overall, Caesionidae and Pomacentridae were the most abundant prey families (>50% prey contribution) for all Plectropomus spp., highlighting the importance of planktivorous prey. Less abundant prey categories differed among species/color phases indicating possible niche segregation. This study is one of the first to demonstrate the extent of taxonomic resolution provided by molecular techniques, and, like other studies, illustrates that temporal investigations of dietary patterns are more accessible in combination with stable isotopes. The consumption of mainly planktivorous prey within this species group has important implications within coral reef food webs and provides cautionary information regarding the effects that changing resources could have in reef ecosystems

Testing socioeconomic status and family socialization hypotheses of alcohol use in young people: A causal mediation analysis

Introduction: The effect of socioeconomic status on adolescent substance abuse may be mediated by family socialization practices. However, traditional mediation analysis using a product or difference method is susceptible to bias when assumptions are not addressed. We aimed to use a potential outcomes framework to assess assumptions of exposure‐mediator interaction and of no confounding of the results. Method: We revisited a traditional mediation analysis with a multiple mediator causal mediation approach using data from 17,761 Norwegian young people (13–18 years), 51% female. Data were collected through a print questionnaire. Socioeconomic status was operationalized as parental education and employment status (employed or receiving welfare); drinking behavior as the frequency of alcohol consumption and frequency of intoxication in the past year; and socialization practices as general parenting measures, alcohol‐related parental permissiveness, and parent drinking behavior. Results: There was no consistent evidence of exposure‐mediator interaction. Formal sensitivity analysis of mediator‐outcome confounding was not possible in the multiple mediator model, and this analysis supported the hypothesis that socioeconomic status effects on adolescent substance abuse are fully mediated by family socialization practices, with apparently stronger effects in younger age groups observed in plots. Conclusion: We found that the effect of socioeconomic status on adolescent substance abuse was fully mediated by family socialization practices. While our analysis provides more rigorous support for causal inferences than past work, we could not completely rule out the possibility of unmeasured confounding

Integrating complementary methods to improve diet analysis in fishery-targeted species

Developing efficient, reliable, cost-effective ways to identify diet is required to understand trophic ecology in complex ecosystems and improve food web models. A combination of techniques, each varying in their ability to provide robust, spatially and temporally explicit information can be applied to clarify diet data for ecological research. This study applied an integrative analysis of a fishery-targeted species group—Plectropomus spp. in the central Great Barrier Reef, Australia, by comparing three diet-identification approaches. Visual stomach content analysis provided poor identification with ~14% of stomachs sampled resulting in identification to family or lower. A molecular approach was successful with prey from ~80% of stomachs identified to genus or species, often with several unique prey in a stomach. Stable isotope mixing models utilizing experimentally derived assimilation data, identified similar prey as the molecular technique but at broader temporal scales, particularly when prior diet information was incorporated. Overall, Caesionidae and Pomacentridae were the most abundant prey families (\u3e50% prey contribution) for all Plectropomus spp., highlighting the importance of planktivorous prey. Less abundant prey categories differed among species/color phases indicating possible niche segregation. This study is one of the first to demonstrate the extent of taxonomic resolution provided by molecular techniques, and, like other studies, illustrates that temporal investigations of dietary patterns are more accessible in combination with stable isotopes. The consumption of mainly planktivorous prey within this species group has important implications within coral reef food webs and provides cautionary information regarding the effects that changing resources could have in reef ecosystems

Uncovering key transcriptional and epigenetic changes underpinning the emergence of the glioma stem cell state

Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM) is the most aggressive and common adult primary brain tumour, with an awful prognosis of 14 months median survival. GBMs can also occur in children, as paediatric high-grade glioma (pHGG), or diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG), and like adult GBMs are incurable. GBM tumour growth and relapse after therapy is thought to be driven by the glioma stem cell (GSC). GSCs display similarities to neural stem and progenitor cells and likely arise from these cells. However, we currently have a poor understanding of the transcriptional and epigenetic reconfiguration which follows neural stem cell (NSC) to GSC transformation. In particular, further work is required to understand how common driver mutations contribute to immune evasion in adult GBM, and how the common paediatric mutation H3.3-G34R drives pHGG oncogenesis in a forebrain specific context. In the first instance using a novel set of engineered mouse NSC lines harbouring common adult glioma-associated driver mutations (RTK/PI3K/MAPK/P53 pathways) and transcriptional and epigenetic profiling, we explored mechanisms of adult GBM immune evasion as tumour-initiating GSCs were serially transplanted into C57BL/6J (BL6) immunocompetent mice. Second, to model the paediatric disease, an additional set of cortex and hindbrain human foetal NSC lines were engineered with paediatric glioma-associated mutations (H3.3-G34R mutations and RTK/P53 pathways). We used multi-omics data and bioinformatics approaches to characterise these adult and paediatric models of GBM, alongside adult and paediatric GSCs, to understand the transcriptional and epigenetic alterations imposed by these driver mutations. We found that triple mutants (Nf1 and Pten knock-out (KO); EGFRvIII overexpression), herein termed NPE cells, demonstrated unconstrained proliferation and a differentiation block through transcriptional downregulation and epigenetic silencing of Bmpr1b. Furthermore, we found an acquired capacity for immune evasion in NPE derivatives (in the absence of any genetic selection), suggesting a form of epigenetic immunoediting. In particular we found, upregulation of myeloid associated transcription factors (e.g. Irf8), interferon (IFN) response genes, and myeloid suppressor cell chemo-attractants such as Ccl9 which drove a myeloid-derived suppressive cell (MDSC) weighted tumour micro-environment. In human we demonstrated that GSCs could be defined by a single axis of IFN-gamma, immune response gene activation, associated with the ‘mesenchymal’ (MES) transcriptional subtype. We have therefore uncovered a key IFN driven immune evasion signal present within MES like GBM, imposed by the tumour microenvironment, which likely supports immune evasion. In a parallel analysis of foetal engineered NSC transcriptomes (H3.3-G34R, PDGFRA overexpression, and TP53 KO) obtained from cortex and hindbrain regions, we demonstrated that in a forebrain context the H3.3-G34R mutation reinforces pre-existing forebrain progenitor transcriptional circuits, whilst in the hindbrain it drives a cytostatic response. The G34R mutation does not cause widespread epigenetic changes, but instead maintains highly expressed forebrain genes through reduced binding of transcriptional regulator ZMYND11. A key mechanistic role for the oncohistone mutation H3.3-G34R in pHGG is therefore to reinforce forebrain NSC identity, explaining the mutations incompatibility within the hindbrain

Global trends in aquatic animal tracking with acoustic telemetry

Acoustic telemetry (AT) is a rapidly evolving technique used to track the movements of aquatic animals. As the capacity of AT research expands it is important to optimize its relevance to management while still pursuing key ecological questions. A global review of AT literature revealed region-specific research priorities underscoring the breadth of how AT is applied, but collectively demonstrated a lack of management-driven objectives, particularly relating to fisheries, climate change, and protection of species. In addition to the need for more research with direct pertinence to management, AT research should prioritize ongoing efforts to create collaborative opportunities, establish long-term and ecosystem-based monitoring, and utilize technological advancements to bolster aquatic policy and ecological understanding worldwide

Landscape science: a Russian geographical tradition

The Russian geographical tradition of landscape science (landshaftovedenie) is analyzed with particular reference to its initiator, Lev Semenovich Berg (1876-1950). The differences between prevailing Russian and Western concepts of landscape in geography are discussed, and their common origins in German geographical thought in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries are delineated. It is argued that the principal differences are accounted for by a number of factors, of which Russia's own distinctive tradition in environmental science deriving from the work of V. V. Dokuchaev (1846-1903), the activities of certain key individuals (such as Berg and C. O. Sauer), and the very different social and political circumstances in different parts of the world appear to be the most significant. At the same time it is noted that neither in Russia nor in the West have geographers succeeded in specifying an agreed and unproblematic understanding of landscape, or more broadly in promoting a common geographical conception of human-environment relationships. In light of such uncertainties, the latter part of the article argues for closer international links between the variant landscape traditions in geography as an important contribution to the quest for sustainability

Nature meets nurture: molecular genetics of gastric cancer

The immensity of genes and molecules implicated in gastric carcinogenesis is overwhelming and the relevant importance of some of these molecules is too often unclear. This review serves to bring us up-to-date with the latest findings as well as to look at the larger picture in terms of how to tackle the problem of solving this multi-piece puzzle. In this review, the environmental nurturing of intestinal cancer is discussed, beginning with epidemiology (known causative factors for inducing molecular change), an update of H. pylori research, including the role of inflammation and stem cells in premalignant lesions. The role of E-cadherin in the nature (genotype) of diffuse gastric cancer is highlighted, and finally the ever growing discipline of SNP analysis (including IL1B) is discussed

High contributions of sea ice derived carbon in polar bear (Ursus maritimus) tissue.

Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) rely upon Arctic sea ice as a physical habitat. Consequently, conservation assessments of polar bears identify the ongoing reduction in sea ice to represent a significant threat to their survival. However, the additional role of sea ice as a potential, indirect, source of energy to bears has been overlooked. Here we used the highly branched isoprenoid lipid biomarker-based index (H-Print) approach in combination with quantitative fatty acid signature analysis to show that sympagic (sea ice-associated), rather than pelagic, carbon contributions dominated the marine component of polar bear diet (72-100%; 99% CI, n = 55), irrespective of differences in diet composition. The lowest mean estimates of sympagic carbon were found in Baffin Bay bears, which were also exposed to the most rapidly increasing open water season. Therefore, our data illustrate that for future Arctic ecosystems that are likely to be characterised by reduced sea ice cover, polar bears will not only be impacted by a change in their physical habitat, but also potentially in the supply of energy to the ecosystems upon which they depend. This data represents the first quantifiable baseline that is critical for the assessment of likely ongoing changes in energy supply to Arctic predators as we move into an increasingly uncertain future for polar ecosystems