Introducing Interdisciplinary Curricula Into Conservation Biology: Exploring Changes in Students’ Perceived Proenvironmental Attitudes and Behaviors

Today, conserving the natural environment is paramount. Educators have been striving to develop pedagogical approaches that facilitate greater engagement in conservation behaviors. However, many of these reforms have been targeted at an institutional level, without necessarily testing whether changes in proenvironmental perceptions, attitudes, or behaviors occur for students. This step seems important when developing conservation biology courses that provide well-rounded education that may better prepare students for future challenges in biodiverse conservation contexts. Our objective was to assess the proenvironmental attitudes and conservation values of undergraduate students enrolled in an undergraduate conservation biology course before and after instruction to determine whether a multidisciplinary curriculum, in conjunction with traditional conservation biology content, would alter their perceptions. Students in both the control and intervention groups felt relatively neutral about a range of environmental and conservation topics. No statistical significance between curricula and impact on student perception was revealed. However, in the experimental course, shifts were found concerning students’ understanding of the complexity of conservation. Results also highlight long-standing issues related to conservation education, such as a bias toward mammal conservation, and suggest that guest lectures are insufficient to bring about attitude change related to sustainability. Further research on incorporating cross-disciplinary pedagogy into STEM courses is recommended

Pleistocene divergence of two disjunct conifers in the eastern Australian temperate zone

The eastern Australian temperate biota harbours many plants with fragmented geographic ranges distributed over 1000s of kilometres, yet the spatial genetic structure of their populations remains largely unstudied. In this study, we investigated genetic variation of the nuclear internal transcribed spacer (ITS) and chloroplast DNA sequences to disentangle the phylogeography of two widely distributed but highly fragmented eastern Australian fire-sensitive temperate conifers: Callitris oblonga (12 populations and 121 individuals) and C. rhomboidea (22 populations and 263 individuals). The three highly disjunct populations of C. oblonga all had unique chloroplast and ITS haplotypes consistent with the classification of these three populations as distinct subspecies. Molecular dating indicates that divergences of these populations occurred pre- to mid- Pleistocene (2.66 to 1.08 mya). Callitris rhomboidea showed greater diversity of chloroplast haplotypes which was strongly phylogeographically structured (Gst = 0.972), with haplotypes unique to specific geographic regions. ITS haplotype diversity was far higher than in C. oblonga with 38 haplotypes displaying high geographic structuring (Gst = 0.387) with many population-specific haplotypes. A phylogeographic break was identified between populations north and south of eastern Victoria dated at 0.43–0.47 mya. In both species, the strong genetic structuring of both chloroplast and ITS haplotypes provides evidence that their widespread ranges have resulted from long term persistence in low fire frequency refugia combined with poor dispersal. Any loss of populations due to increasing fire frequency or habitat loss is likely to result in a reduction of genetic diversity

Landscape drivers of genomic diversity and divergence in woodland Eucalyptus

Spatial genetic patterns are influenced by numerous factors, and they can vary even among coexisting, closely related species due to differences in dispersal and selection. Eucalyptus (L'Héritier 1789; the “eucalypts”) are foundation tree species that provide essential habitat and modulate ecosystem services throughout Australia. Here we present a study of landscape genomic variation in two woodland eucalypt species, using whole-genome sequencing of 388 individuals of Eucalyptus albens and Eucalyptus sideroxylon. We found exceptionally high genetic diversity (π ≈ 0.05) and low genome-wide, interspecific differentiation (FST = 0.15) and intraspecific differentiation between localities (FST ≈ 0.01–0.02). We found no support for strong, discrete population structure, but found substantial support for isolation by geographic distance (IBD) in both species. Using generalized dissimilarity modelling, we identified additional isolation by environment (IBE). Eucalyptus albens showed moderate IBD, and environmental variables have a small but significant amount of additional predictive power (i.e. IBE). Eucalyptus sideroxylon showed much stronger IBD and moderate IBE. These results highlight the vast adaptive potential of these species and set the stage for testing evolutionary hypotheses of interspecific adaptive differentiation across environmentsAustralian Research Council, Grant/Award Number: CE140100008, DP150103591 and DE19010032

Efficacy of Messenger RNA-1273 Against Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Acquisition in Young Adults From March to December 2021

BACKGROUND: The efficacy of messenger RNA (mRNA)-1273 against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection is not well defined, particularly among young adults. METHODS: Adults aged 18-29 years with no known history of SARS-CoV-2 infection or prior vaccination for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) were recruited from 44 US sites from 24 March to 13 September 2021 and randomized 1:1 to immediate vaccination (receipt of 2 doses of mRNA-1273 vaccine at months 0 and 1) or the standard of care (receipt of COVID-19 vaccine). Randomized participants were followed up for SARS-CoV-2 infection measured by nasal swab testing and symptomatic COVID-19 measured by nasal swab testing plus symptom assessment and assessed for the primary efficacy outcome. A vaccine-declined observational group was also recruited from 16 June to 8 November 2021 and followed up for SARS-CoV-2 infection as specified for the randomized participants. RESULTS: The study enrolled 1149 in the randomized arms and 311 in the vaccine-declined group and collected >122 000 nasal swab samples. Based on randomized participants, the efficacy of 2 doses of mRNA-1273 vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 infection was 52.6% (95% confidence interval, -14.1% to 80.3%), with the majority of infections due to the Delta variant. Vaccine efficacy against symptomatic COVID-19 was 71.0% (95% confidence interval, -9.5% to 92.3%). Precision was limited owing to curtailed study enrollment and off-study vaccination censoring. The incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection in the vaccine-declined group was 1.8 times higher than in the standard-of-care group. CONCLUSIONS: mRNA-1273 vaccination reduced the incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection from March to September 2021, but vaccination was only one factor influencing risk. CLINICAL TRIALS REGISTRATION: NCT04811664

Techniques for Tasmanian Native Orchid Germination

This manual was developed as a practical training aid for educational purposes and interested Threatened Plants Tasmania volunteers, consultants and scientific researchers. It is hoped that the practical outcomes from this manual will strengthen the ongoing relationship between the numerous collaborators that will assist in the growth and maintenance of the collection after the completion of the Threatened Tasmanian Orchid Flora Recovery Plan 2006-2010

A short review on the history of orchid taxonomy

The family Orchidaceae is one of the largest flowering plant families in the world and contains over 20,000 naturally occurring orchid species and approximately 10,000 man-made hybrids (Woolcock and Woolcock 1984; Dockrill 1992; Cameron et al. 1999; Bateman et al. 2003; Cafasso et al. 2005;). It is generally accepted that orchids have an ancient origin due to their close association with the Liliaceae, Iridaceae and Amarillidaceae families, of the subclass Monocotyledonae (Dressler and Dodson 1960; Schmid 1977; Dockrill 1992). Orchids are thought to have originated in Malaysia in the Cretaceous period and dispersed throughout the Tertiary period, becoming epiphytic in the Plio-pleistocene (Schmid 1977; Dressler 1981; Janssen and Bremer 2004). However, evidence of these events is lacking, primarily due to a poor fossil record (Schmid 1977)

Three new combinations of Pterostylis (Orchidaceae)

Janes et al. (2010) presented a molecular phylogenetic study of subtribe Pterostylidinae Pfitzer and concluded that the species in the tribe should be placed in one genus Pterostylis R.Br., and not the 16 genera as proposed by Szlachetko (2001) and Jones & Clements (2002) (see review in Janes et al. 2010). A new classification system for the tribe with one genus, two subgenera and 10 sections was described by Janes & Duretto (2010). Janes & Duretto (2010) also transferred seven species from various genera to Pterostylis and thus for the first time in several years workers have been able to apply formal names in Pterostylis to all species placed in subtribe Pterostylidinae

A new classification for subtribe Pterostylidinae (Orchidaceae), reaffirming Pterostylisin the broad sense

A new classification for subtribe Pterostylidinae (Orchidaceae) is formally described in which there is one genus, Pterostylis R.Br., two subgenera and 10 sections. Five new combinations are made for this classification at the ranks of subgenus and section, viz. Pt. subg. Oligochaetochilus (Szlach.) Janes & Duretto, Pt. sect. Parviflorae (Benth.) Janes & Duretto, Pt. sect. Pharochilum (D.L.Jones & M.A.Clem.) Janes & Duretto, Pt. sect. Stamnorchis (D.L.Jones & M.A.Clem.) Janes & Duretto and Pt. sect. Urochilus (D.L.Jones & M.A.Clem.) Janes & Duretto. Pt. ser. Parviflorae Benth. is lectotypified. To complete the revision, seven new species-level combinations are made for two species from Western Australia, one from New South Wales and four from Queensland, viz. Pt. anaclasta (D.L.Jones) Janes & Duretto, Pt. extranea (D.L.Jones) Janes & Duretto, Pt. pearsonii (D.L.Jones) Janes & Duretto, Pt. pedina (D.L.Jones) Janes & Duretto, Pt. sinuata (D.L.Jones) Janes & Duretto, Pt. timothyi (D.L.Jones) Janes & Duretto and Pt. thulia (D.L.Jones) Janes & Duretto