Developing a conservation evidence-base for the Critically Endangered Hainan gibbon ('Nomascus hainanus')

The Critically Endangered Hainan gibbon (Nomascus hainanus) is the world’s rarest ape, with a single population of an estimated 25 individuals surviving in approximately 15 km² of suboptimal forest within Bawangling National Nature Reserve, Hainan, China. The existing biological evidence-base for the species is inadequate for conservation planning, precluding evaluation of appropriate recovery actions. I derived comprehensive new baseline data on Hainan gibbon ecology, behaviour and genetics to clarify the species’ biology and population status, and inform urgently required conservation management for the species. Rigorous re-evaluation of Hainan gibbon spatial requirements indicated the species’ home range is much smaller than previously estimated (c. 1.5 km²) and in line with closely related Nomascus species in similar ecological conditions. Molecular assessment of the genetic status of the surviving population within the context of the species’ historical genetic diversity revealed that the Hainan gibbon has suffered a significant decline in genetic diversity following its past population bottleneck. The current population also shows a high level of relatedness and male-biased offspring sex ratio. Predictive models examining reportedly ‘anomalous’ Hainan gibbon ecological and behavioural traits within a phylogenetic framework indicated that large, polygynous groups may be evolutionarily characteristic for the species, but home range requirements are influenced by both intrinsic factors and current extrinsic conditions. Finally, Population Viability Analysis demonstrated that the species is highly likely to become extinct in the near future without active management, and that multiple actions mitigating extrinsic threats, enhancing habitat carrying capacity and improving survivorship will be required to reduce extinction risk. Together, these findings suggest that landscape-level management actions and intensive manipulation of the population may be necessary to safeguard the future of the Hainan gibbon. This research also has wider implications for improved understanding of gibbon ecology and conservation of species of extreme rarity

Identifying environmental versus phylogenetic correlates of behavioural ecology in gibbons: implications for conservation management of the world's rarest ape.

For conservation of highly threatened species to be effective, it is crucial to differentiate natural population parameters from atypical behavioural, ecological and demographic characteristics associated with human disturbance and habitat degradation, which can constrain population growth and recovery. Unfortunately, these parameters can be very hard to determine for species of extreme rarity. The Hainan gibbon (Nomascus hainanus), the world's rarest ape, consists of a single population of c.25 individuals, but intensive management is constrained by a limited understanding of the species' expected population characteristics and environmental requirements. In order to generate a more robust evidence-base for Hainan gibbon conservation, we employed a comparative approach to identify intrinsic and extrinsic drivers of variation in key ecological and behavioural traits (home range size, social group size, mating system) across the Hylobatidae while controlling for phylogenetic non-independence

Assessing current genetic status of the Hainan gibbon using historical and demographic baselines: implications for conservation management of species of extreme rarity

Evidence-based conservation planning is crucial for informing management decisions for species of extreme rarity, but collection of robust data on genetic status or other parameters can be extremely challenging for such species. The Hainan gibbon, possibly the world's rarest mammal, consists of a single population of c.25 individuals restricted to one protected area on Hainan Island, China, and has persisted for over 30 years at exceptionally low population size. Analysis of genotypes at 11 microsatellite loci from faecal samples for 36% of the current global population and tissue samples from 62% of existing historical museum specimens demonstrates limited current genetic diversity (Na=2.27, Ar=2.24, He =0.43); diversity has declined since the 19th century and even further within the last 30 years, representing declines of c.30% from historical levels (Na=3.36, Ar=3.29, He =0.63). Significant differentiation is seen between current and historical samples (FST =0.156, P=0.0315), and the current population exhibits extremely small Ne (current Ne =2.16). There is evidence for both a recent population bottleneck and an earlier bottleneck, with population size already reasonably low by the late 19th century (historical Ne =1162.96). Individuals in the current population are related at the level of half- to full-siblings between social groups, and full-siblings or parent-offspring within a social group, suggesting that inbreeding is likely to increase in the future. The species' current reduced genetic diversity must be considered during conservation planning, particularly for expectations of likely population recovery, indicating that intensive, carefully planned management is essential

The Be Our Ally Beat Smoking (BOABS) study, a randomised controlled trial of an intensive smoking cessation intervention in a remote aboriginal Australian health care setting

Background: Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples (Indigenous Australians) smoke at much higher rates than non-Indigenous people and smoking is an important contributor to increased disease, hospital admissions and deaths in Indigenous Australian populations. Smoking cessation programs in Australia have not had the same impact on Indigenous smokers as on non-Indigenous smokers. This paper describes the outcome of a study that aimed to test the efficacy of a locally-tailored, intensive, multidimensional smoking cessation program. Methods: A randomised controlled trial of Aboriginal researcher delivered tailored smoking cessation counselling during face-to-face visits, aiming for weekly for the first four weeks, monthly to six months and two monthly to12 months. The control (“usual care”) group received routine care relating to smoking cessation at their local primary health care service. Data collection occurred at enrolment, six and 12 months. The primary outcome was self-reported smoking cessation with urinary cotinine confirmation at final follow-up (median 13 (interquartile range 12–15) months after enrolment).Results: Participants in the intervention (n = 55) and usual care (n = 108) groups were similar in baseline characteristics, except the intervention group was slightly older. At final follow-up the smoking cessation rate for participants assigned to the intervention group (n = 6; 11%), while not statistically significant, was double that of usual care (n = 5; 5%; p = 0.131). A meta-analysis of these findings and a similarly underpowered but comparable study of pregnant Indigenous Australian women showed that Indigenous Australian participants assigned to the intervention groups were 2.4 times (95% CI, 1.01-5.5) as likely to quit as participants assigned to usual care. Conclusions: Culturally appropriate, multi-dimensional Indigenous quit smoking programs can be successfully implemented in remote primary health care. Intensive one-on-one interventions with substantial involvement from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander workers are likely to be effective in these settings. Trial registration: Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ACTRN12608000604303)

NGTS-13b: A hot 4.8 Jupiter-mass planet transiting a subgiant star

We report the discovery of the massive hot Jupiter NGTS-13b by the Next Generation Transit Survey (NGTS). The V = 12.7 host star is likely in the subgiant evolutionary phase with log g$_{*}$ = 4.04 $\pm$ 0.05, T$_{eff}$ = 5819 $\pm$ 73 K, M$_{*}$ = 1.30$^{+0.11}_{-0.18}$ M$_{\odot}$, and R$_{*}$ = 1.79 $\pm$ 0.06 R$_{\odot}$. NGTS detected a transiting planet with a period of P = 4.12 days around the star, which was later validated with the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS; TIC 454069765). We confirm the planet using radial velocities from the CORALIE spectrograph. Using NGTS and TESS full-frame image photometry combined with CORALIE radial velocities we determine NGTS-13b to have a radius of R$_{P}$ = 1.142 $\pm$ 0.046 R$_{Jup}$, mass of M$_{P}$ = 4.84 $\pm$ 0.44 M$_{Jup}$ and eccentricity e = 0.086 $\pm$ 0.034. Some previous studies suggest that $\sim$4 M$_{Jup}$ may be a border between two separate formation scenarios (e.g., core accretion and disk instability) and that massive giant planets share similar formation mechanisms as lower-mass brown dwarfs. NGTS-13b is just above 4 M$_{Jup}$ making it an important addition to the statistical sample needed to understand the differences between various classes of substellar companions. The high metallicity, [Fe/H] = 0.25 $\pm$ 0.17, of NGTS-13 does not support previous suggestions that massive giants are found preferentially around lower metallicity host stars, but NGTS-13b does support findings that more massive and evolved hosts may have a higher occurrence of close-in massive planets than lower-mass unevolved stars

Cost-effective scat-detection dogs: unleashing a powerful new tool for international mammalian conservation biology

Recently, detection dogs have been utilized to collect fecal samples from cryptic and rare mammals. Despite the great promise of this technique for conservation biology, its broader application has been limited by the high cost (tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars) and logistical challenges of employing a scat-detection dog team while conducting international, collaborative research. Through an international collaboration of primatologists and the Chinese Ministry of Public Security, we trained and used a detection dog to find scat from three species of unhabituated, free-ranging primates, for less than $3,000. We collected 137 non-human primate fecal samples that we confirmed by sequencing taxonomically informative genetic markers. Our detection dog team had a 92% accuracy rate, significantly outperforming our human-only team. Our results demonstrate that detection dogs can locate fecal samples from unhabituated primates with variable diets, locomotion, and grouping patterns, despite challenging field conditions. We provide a model for in-country training, while also building local capacity for conservation and genetic monitoring. Unlike previous efforts, our approach will allow for the wide adoption of scat-detection dogs in international conservation biology

AKT overactivation can suppress DNA repair via p70S6 kinase-dependent downregulation of MRE11

Deregulated AKT kinase activity due to PTEN deficiency in cancer cells contributes to oncogenesis by incompletely understood mechanisms. Here, we show that PTEN deletion in HCT116 and DLD1 colon carcinoma cells leads to suppression of CHK1 and CHK2 activation in response to irradiation, impaired G2 checkpoint proficiency and radiosensitization. These defects are associated with reduced expression of MRE11, RAD50 and NBS1, components of the apical MRE11/RAD50/NBS1 (MRN) DNA damage response complex. Consistent with reduced MRN complex function, PTEN-deficient cells fail to resect DNA double-strand breaks efficiently after irradiation and show greatly diminished proficiency for DNA repair via the error-free homologous recombination (HR) repair pathway. MRE11 is highly unstable in PTEN-deficient cells but stability can be significantly restored by inhibiting mTORC1 or p70S6 kinase (p70S6K), downstream kinases whose activities are stimulated by AKT, or by mutating a residue in MRE11 that we show is phosphorylated by p70S6K in vitro. In primary human fibroblasts, activated AKT suppresses MRN complex expression to escalate RAS-induced DNA damage and thereby reinforce oncogene-induced senescence. Taken together, our data demonstrate that deregulation of the PI3K-AKT/ mTORC1/ p70S6K pathways, an event frequently observed in cancer, exert profound effects on genome stability via MRE11 with potential implications for tumour initiation and therapy

The SAMI Galaxy Survey: Early Data Release

We present the Early Data Release of the Sydney–AAO Multi-object Integral field spectrograph (SAMI) Galaxy Survey. The SAMI Galaxy Survey is an ongoing integral field spectroscopic survey of _3400 low-redshift (z < 0:12) galaxies, covering galaxies in the field and in groups within the Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey regions, and a sample of galaxies in clusters. In the Early Data Release, we publicly release the fully calibrated datacubes for a representative selection of 107 galaxies drawn from the GAMA regions, along with information about these galaxies from the GAMA catalogues. All datacubes for the Early Data Release galaxies can be downloaded individually or as a set from the SAMI Galaxy Survey website. In this paper we also assess the quality of the pipeline used to reduce the SAMI data, giving metrics that quantify its performance at all stages in processing the raw data into calibrated datacubes. The pipeline gives excellent results throughout, with typical sky subtraction residuals in the continuum of 0.9–1.2 per cent, a relative flux calibration uncertainty of 4.1 per cent (systematic) plus 4.3 per cent (statistical), and atmospheric dispersion removed with an accuracy of 0:0009, less than a fifth of a spaxel

The SAMI Galaxy Survey: Early Data Release

We present the Early Data Release of the Sydney–AAO Multi-object Integral field spectrograph (SAMI) Galaxy Survey. The SAMI Galaxy Survey is an ongoing integral field spectroscopic survey of _3400 low-redshift (z < 0:12) galaxies, covering galaxies in the field and in groups within the Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey regions, and a sample of galaxies in clusters. In the Early Data Release, we publicly release the fully calibrated datacubes for a representative selection of 107 galaxies drawn from the GAMA regions, along with information about these galaxies from the GAMA catalogues. All datacubes for the Early Data Release galaxies can be downloaded individually or as a set from the SAMI Galaxy Survey website. In this paper we also assess the quality of the pipeline used to reduce the SAMI data, giving metrics that quantify its performance at all stages in processing the raw data into calibrated datacubes. The pipeline gives excellent results throughout, with typical sky subtraction residuals in the continuum of 0.9–1.2 per cent, a relative flux calibration uncertainty of 4.1 per cent (systematic) plus 4.3 per cent (statistical), and atmospheric dispersion removed with an accuracy of 0:0009, less than a fifth of a spaxel