Human-carnivore relations: conflicts, tolerance and coexistence in the American West

Carnivore and humans live in proximity due to carnivore recovery efforts and ongoing human encroachment into carnivore habitats globally. The American West is a region that uniquely exemplifies these human-carnivore dynamics, however, it is unclear how the research community here integrates social and ecological factors to examine human-carnivore relations. Therefore, strategies promoting human-carnivore coexistence are urgently needed. We conducted a systematic review on human-carnivore relations in the American West covering studies between 2000 and 2018. We first characterized human-carnivore relations across states of the American West. Second, we analyzed similarities and dissimilarities across states in terms of coexistence, tolerance, number of ecosystem services and conflicts mentioned in literature. Third, we used Bayesian modeling to quantify the effect of social and ecological factors influencing the scientific interest on coexistence, tolerance, ecosystem services and conflicts. Results revealed some underlying biases in human-carnivore relations research. Colorado and Montana were the states where the highest proportion of studies were conducted with bears and wolves the most studied species. Non-lethal management was the most common strategy to mitigate conflicts. Overall, conflicts with carnivores were much more frequently mentioned than benefits. We found similarities among Arizona, California, Utah, and New Mexico according to how coexistence, tolerance, services and conflicts are addressed in literature. We identified percentage of federal/private land, carnivore family, social actors, and management actions, as factors explaining how coexistence, tolerance, conflicts and services are addressed in literature. We provide a roadmap to foster tolerance towards carnivores and successful coexistence strategies in the American West based on four main domains, (1) the dual role of carnivores as providers of both beneficial and detrimental contributions to people, (2) social-ecological factors underpinning the provision of beneficial and detrimental contributions, (3) the inclusion of diverse actors, and (4) cross-state collaborative management

Baseline characteristics of an incident haemodialysis population in Spain: results from ANSWER—a multicentre, prospective, observational cohort study

Background. The ANSWER study aims to identify risk factors leading to increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in a Spanish incident haemodialysis population. This paper summarizes the baseline characteristics of this population

A nearby m star with three transiting super-earths discovered by k2

I. J. M. Crossfied, “A Nearby M Star with Three Transiting Super-Earths Discovered by K2”, The Astrophysical Journal, Vol 804(1), April 2015. © 2015. The American Astronomical Society.Small, cool planets represent the typical end-products of planetary formation. Studying the architectures of these systems, measuring planet masses and radii, and observing these planets' atmospheres during transit directly informs theories of planet assembly, migration, and evolution. Here we report the discovery of three small planets orbiting a bright (Ks = 8.6 mag) M0 dwarf using data collected as part of K2, the new ecliptic survey using the re-purposed Kepler spacecraft. Stellar spectroscopy and K2 photometry indicate that the system hosts three transiting planets with radii 1.5-2.1 , straddling the transition region between rocky and increasingly volatile-dominated compositions. With orbital periods of 10-45 days the planets receive just 1.5-10x the flux incident on Earth, making these some of the coolest small planets known orbiting a nearby star; planet d is located near the inner edge of the system's habitable zone. The bright, low-mass star makes this system an excellent laboratory to determine the planets' masses via Doppler spectroscopy and to constrain their atmospheric compositions via transit spectroscopy. This discovery demonstrates the ability of K2 and future space-based transit searches to find many fascinating objects of interest.Peer reviewe

The diversity of population responses to environmental change

This is the final version. Available from Wiley via the DOI in this record.Data available from the Dryad Digital Repository: https:// doi.org/10.5061/dryad.d5f54s7The current extinction and climate change crises pressure us to predict population dynamics with ever-greater accuracy. Although predictions rest on the well-advanced theory of age-structured populations, two key issues remain poorly explored. Specifically, how the age-dependency in demographic rates and the year-to-year interactions between survival and fecundity affect stochastic population growth rates. We use inference, simulations and mathematical derivations to explore how environmental perturbations determine population growth rates for populations with different age-specific demographic rates and when ages are reduced to stages. We find that stage- vs. age-based models can produce markedly divergent stochastic population growth rates. The differences are most pronounced when there are survival-fecundity-trade-offs, which reduce the variance in the population growth rate. Finally, the expected value and variance of the stochastic growth rates of populations with different age-specific demographic rates can diverge to the extent that, while some populations may thrive, others will inevitably go extinct.Max Planck Society, Marie Curie FellowshipERCGerman Research FoundationSwiss National Science FoundationNational Science FoundationNational Institute of AgingRamon y Cajal Research GrantWenner-Gren FoundationLeakey FoundationNational Geographic SocietyZoological Society of San DiegoUniversity of PennsylvaniaArgentinean National Council of Researc

PAI-1 and functional blockade of SNAI1 in breast cancer cell migration

12 pages, 5 figures.-- PMID: 19055748 [PubMed].-- et al.[Introduction]: Snail, a family of transcriptional repressors implicated in cell movement, has been correlated with tumour invasion. The Plasminogen Activation (PA) system, including urokinase plasminogen activator (uPA), its receptor and its inhibitor, plasminogen activator inhibitor type 1(PAI-1), also plays a key role in cancer invasion and metastasis, either through proteolytic degradation or by non-proteolytic modulation of cell adhesion and migration. Thus, Snail and the PA system are both over-expressed in cancer and influence this process. In this study we aimed to determine if the activity of SNAI1 (a member of the Snail family) is correlated with expression of the PA system components and how this correlation can influence tumoural cell migration.[Methods]: We compared the invasive breast cancer cell-line MDA-MB-231 expressing SNAI1 (MDA-mock) with its derived clone expressing a dominant-negative form of SNAI1 (SNAI1-DN). Expression of PA system mRNAs was analysed by cDNA microarrays and real-time quantitative RT-PCR. Wound healing assays were used to determine cell migration. PAI-1 distribution was assessed by immunostaining.[Results]: We demonstrated by both cDNA microarrays and realtime quantitative RT-PCR that the functional blockade of SNAI1 induces a significant decrease of PAI-1 and uPA transcripts. After performing an in vitro wound-healing assay, we observed that SNAI1-DN cells migrate more slowly than MDA-mock cells and in a more collective manner. The blockade of SNAI1 activity resulted in the redistribution of PAI-1 in SNAI1-DN cells decorating large lamellipodia, which are commonly found structures in these cells.[Conclusions]: In the absence of functional SNAI1, the expression of PAI-1 transcripts is decreased, although the protein is redistributed at the leading edge of migrating cells in a manner comparable with that seen in normal epithelial cells.This work was supported by the CNRS ACI Program "Complexité du vivant" (grant # 050009DR11) and by the Evry Genopole grant "Aide à l'acquisition d'équipement semi-lourd" 2007 and 2008.Peer reviewe

Sperm Competition, Sperm Numbers and Sperm Quality in Muroid Rodents

Sperm competition favors increases in relative testes mass and production efficiency, and changes in sperm phenotype that result in faster swimming speeds. However, little is known about its effects on traits that contribute to determine the quality of a whole ejaculate (i.e., proportion of motile, viable, morphologically normal and acrosome intact sperm) and that are key determinants of fertilization success. Two competing hypotheses lead to alternative predictions: (a) sperm quantity and quality traits co-evolve under sperm competition because they play complementary roles in determining ejaculate's competitive ability, or (b) energetic constraints force trade-offs between traits depending on their relevance in providing a competitive advantage. We examined relationships between sperm competition levels, sperm quantity, and traits that determine ejaculate quality, in a comparative study of 18 rodent species using phylogenetically controlled analyses. Total sperm numbers were positively correlated to proportions of normal sperm, acrosome integrity and motile sperm; the latter three were also significantly related among themselves, suggesting no trade-offs between traits. In addition, testes mass corrected for body mass (i.e., relative testes mass), showed a strong association with sperm numbers, and positive significant associations with all sperm traits that determine ejaculate quality with the exception of live sperm. An “overall sperm quality” parameter obtained by principal component analysis (which explained 85% of the variance) was more strongly associated with relative testes mass than any individual quality trait. Overall sperm quality was as strongly associated with relative testes mass as sperm numbers. Thus, sperm quality traits improve under sperm competition in an integrated manner suggesting that a combination of all traits is what makes ejaculates more competitive. In evolutionary terms this implies that a complex network of genetic and developmental pathways underlying processes of sperm formation, maturation, transport in the female reproductive tract, and preparation for fertilization must all evolve in concert

The First Post-Kepler Brightness Dips of KIC 8462852

We present a photometric detection of the first brightness dips of the unique variable star KIC 8462852 since the end of the Kepler space mission in 2013 May. Our regular photometric surveillance started in October 2015, and a sequence of dipping began in 2017 May continuing on through the end of 2017, when the star was no longer visible from Earth. We distinguish four main 1-2.5% dips, named "Elsie," "Celeste," "Skara Brae," and "Angkor", which persist on timescales from several days to weeks. Our main results so far are: (i) there are no apparent changes of the stellar spectrum or polarization during the dips; (ii) the multiband photometry of the dips shows differential reddening favoring non-grey extinction. Therefore, our data are inconsistent with dip models that invoke optically thick material, but rather they are in-line with predictions for an occulter consisting primarily of ordinary dust, where much of the material must be optically thin with a size scale <<1um, and may also be consistent with models invoking variations intrinsic to the stellar photosphere. Notably, our data do not place constraints on the color of the longer-term "secular" dimming, which may be caused by independent processes, or probe different regimes of a single process