Training future generations to deliver evidence-based conservation and ecosystem management

1. To be effective, the next generation of conservation practitioners and managers need to be critical thinkers with a deep understanding of how to make evidence-based decisions and of the value of evidence synthesis. 2. If, as educators, we do not make these priorities a core part of what we teach, we are failing to prepare our students to make an effective contribution to conservation practice. 3. To help overcome this problem we have created open access online teaching materials in multiple languages that are stored in Applied Ecology Resources. So far, 117 educators from 23 countries have acknowledged the importance of this and are already teaching or about to teach skills in appraising or using evidence in conservation decision-making. This includes 145 undergraduate, postgraduate or professional development courses. 4. We call for wider teaching of the tools and skills that facilitate evidence-based conservation and also suggest that providing online teaching materials in multiple languages could be beneficial for improving global understanding of other subject areas.Peer reviewe

Whole-genome sequencing reveals host factors underlying critical COVID-19

Critical COVID-19 is caused by immune-mediated inflammatory lung injury. Host genetic variation influences the development of illness requiring critical care1 or hospitalization2,3,4 after infection with SARS-CoV-2. The GenOMICC (Genetics of Mortality in Critical Care) study enables the comparison of genomes from individuals who are critically ill with those of population controls to find underlying disease mechanisms. Here we use whole-genome sequencing in 7,491 critically ill individuals compared with 48,400 controls to discover and replicate 23 independent variants that significantly predispose to critical COVID-19. We identify 16 new independent associations, including variants within genes that are involved in interferon signalling (IL10RB and PLSCR1), leucocyte differentiation (BCL11A) and blood-type antigen secretor status (FUT2). Using transcriptome-wide association and colocalization to infer the effect of gene expression on disease severity, we find evidence that implicates multiple genes—including reduced expression of a membrane flippase (ATP11A), and increased expression of a mucin (MUC1)—in critical disease. Mendelian randomization provides evidence in support of causal roles for myeloid cell adhesion molecules (SELE, ICAM5 and CD209) and the coagulation factor F8, all of which are potentially druggable targets. Our results are broadly consistent with a multi-component model of COVID-19 pathophysiology, in which at least two distinct mechanisms can predispose to life-threatening disease: failure to control viral replication; or an enhanced tendency towards pulmonary inflammation and intravascular coagulation. We show that comparison between cases of critical illness and population controls is highly efficient for the detection of therapeutically relevant mechanisms of disease

Evidence-based medicine and women: Do the principles and practice of EBM further women's health?

108 COWLEY RD, OXFORD, ENGLAND, OXON, OX4 1J

On the phylogenetic position and systematics of extant and fossil Aclopinae (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae)

The Aclopinae is a small subfamily within the family Scarabaeidae. It currently comprises five extant genera with 28 species, and eight fossil genera with 25 species. The systematic position of Aclopinae within the family Scarabaeidae is uncertain, particularly because representative species of Aclopinae have been absent in previous phylogenetic studies. Here we performed phylogenetic analyses using morphological and molecular data to investigate the phylogenetic position of fossil and extant Aclopinae. For this objective, we expanded and revised a former morphological data matrix (composed of 68 characters) including all extant genera of Aclopinae. We complemented our morphological investigations with a molecular phylogenetic analysis based on four genes of several extant taxa of Aclopinae and a wide sample of diverse Scarabaeoidea. Our phylogenetic analyses show that all the type species of the fossil genera formerly included within Aclopinae do not belong within the extant Aclopinae clade and support both the exclusion of those fossil taxa and the monophyly of the extant genera of Aclopinae: Aclopus Erichson, Desertaclopus Ocampo & Mondaca, Gracilaclopus Ocampo & Mondaca, Neophanaeognatha Allsopp and Phanaeognatha Hope. Our results also show that the fossil taxa Prophaenognatha robusta Bai et al. and Ceafornotensis archratiras Woolley are closely related to Ochodaeidae, while the remaining type species of fossils formerly included in Aclopinae (Cretaclopus longipes (Ponomarenko), Holcorobeus vittatus Nikritin, Juraclopus rodhendorfi Nikolajev, Mesaclopus mongolicus (Nikolajev), and Mongolrobeus zherikhini Nikolajev) belong to a distinct lineage closely related to Diphyllostomatidae. Based on these results, the subfamily Aclopinae appears monophyletic and sister to the ?pleurostict? lineage. Consequently, we propose the following changes to the current classification of the fossil taxa: Holcorobeus monreali (Gómez-Pallerola) belongs to Carabidae (incertae sedis) as proposed by the original author, and we place Ceafornotensis Woolley, Cretaclopus Nikolajev, Holcorobeus Nikritin, Juraclopus Nikolajev, Mesaclopus Nikolajev, Mongolrobeus Nikolajev and Prophaenognatha Bai et al. in Scarabaeoidea (incertae sedis). Furthermore, we provide an identification key to, and diagnoses of, the genera, illustrations of diagnostic characters and checklists of their included species. The evolutionary perspective presented provides new insights into the evolution of the pleurostict condition in Scarabaeoidea and the biogeography of this group, which is now regarded as Gondwanan, probably evolving during the Cretaceous and not from the upper Jurassic as previously assumed.Fil: Neita Moreno, Jhon César. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Investigaciones de las Zonas Áridas. Provincia de Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Investigaciones de las Zonas Áridas. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Instituto Argentino de Investigaciones de las Zonas Áridas; Argentina. Instituto de Investigaciones de Recursos Biológicos Alexander Von Humboldt; ColombiaFil: Agrain, Federico Alejandro. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Investigaciones de las Zonas Áridas. Provincia de Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Investigaciones de las Zonas Áridas. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Instituto Argentino de Investigaciones de las Zonas Áridas; ArgentinaFil: Eberle, Jonas. Zoologisches Forschungsmuseum Alexander Koenig; AlemaniaFil: Ahrens, Dirk. Zoologisches Forschungsmuseum Alexander Koenig; AlemaniaFil: Pereyra, Vanina Antonella. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Investigaciones de las Zonas Áridas. Provincia de Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Investigaciones de las Zonas Áridas. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Instituto Argentino de Investigaciones de las Zonas Áridas; Argentin