Unintentional effects of environmentally-friendly farming practices : arising conflicts between zero-tillage and a crop pest, the common vole (Microtus arvalis)

We are grateful to Dra. Aurora Sombrero Sacristán (ITACyL) and her staff for allowing this experiment to take place parallel to their own and for providing information on the experimental field for this research. We would also like to thank Dr Alex Douglas for his help with the statistical analysis, and K. Barré and an anonymous reviewer for help comments on the MS. This work was supported by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) [grant number BB/M010996/1], through Eastbio DTP. The surveys were carried out under ITACYL project 2007/2155. Sir Maitland Mackie Scholarship provided additional funding to the lead author, D. Roos, for which he is grateful. The authors report no conflict of interests.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Viral Zoonoses in Small Wild Mammals and Detection of Hantavirus, Spain

We screened 526 wild small mammals for zoonotic viruses in northwest Spain and found hantavirus in common voles (Microtus arvalis) (1.5%) and high prevalence (48%) of orthopoxvirus among western Mediterranean mice (Mus spretus). We also detected arenavirus among small mammals. These findings suggest novel risks for viral transmission in the region.Non peer reviewe

Sexual Selection Halts the Relaxation of Protamine 2 among Rodents

Sexual selection has been proposed as the driving force promoting the rapid evolutionary changes observed in some reproductive genes including protamines. We test this hypothesis in a group of rodents which show marked differences in the intensity of sexual selection. Levels of sperm competition were not associated with the evolutionary rates of protamine 1 but, contrary to expectations, were negatively related to the evolutionary rate of cleaved- and mature-protamine 2. Since both domains were found to be under relaxation, our findings reveal an unforeseen role of sexual selection: to halt the degree of degeneration that proteins within families may experience due to functional redundancy. The degree of relaxation of protamine 2 in this group of rodents is such that in some species it has become dysfunctional and it is not expressed in mature spermatozoa. In contrast, protamine 1 is functionally conserved but shows directed positive selection on specific sites which are functionally relevant such as DNA-anchoring domains and phosphorylation sites. We conclude that in rodents protamine 2 is under relaxation and that sexual selection removes deleterious mutations among species with high levels of sperm competition to maintain the protein functional and the spermatozoa competitive

From pattern to process? : Dual travelling waves, with contrasting propagation speeds, best describe a self-organised spatio-temporal pattern in population growth of a cyclic rodent

Open Access via the Wiley Agreement BOOMRAT (GrantNumber(s): MINECO: PID2019-109327RB-I00; Grant recipient(s): FRANÇOIS MOUGEOT, Juan Jose Luque-Larena) Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (GrantNumber(s): BB/M010996/1; Grant recipient(s): Deon Roos)Peer reviewedPublisher PDFPublisher PD

El búho campestre Asio flammeus: una epecie centinela para la monitorización de las plagas de topillos

Resumen del trabajo presentado al 25º Congreso Español de Ornitología: Ciencia para la conservación, celebrado en Menorca del 9 al 13 de noviembre de 2022.Peer reviewe