Incense Burning is Associated with Human Oral Microbiota Composition

© 2019, The Author(s). Incense burning is common worldwide and produces environmental toxicants that may influence health; however, biologic effects have been little studied. In 303 Emirati adults, we tested the hypothesis that incense use is linked to compositional changes in the oral microbiota that can be potentially significant for health. The oral microbiota was assessed by amplification of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene from mouthwash samples. Frequency of incense use was ascertained through a questionnaire and examined in relation to overall oral microbiota composition (PERMANOVA analysis), and to specific taxon abundances, by negative binomial generalized linear models. We found that exposure to incense burning was associated with higher microbial diversity (p \u3c 0.013) and overall microbial compositional changes (PERMANOVA, p = 0.003). Our study also revealed that incense use was associated with significant changes in bacterial abundances (i.e. depletion of the dominant taxon Streptococcus), even in occasional users (once/week or less) implying that incense use impacts the oral microbiota even at low exposure levels. In summary, this first study suggests that incense burning alters the oral microbiota, potentially serving as an early biomarker of incense-related toxicities and related health consequences. Although a common indoor air pollutant, guidelines for control of incense use have yet to be developed

Limited Progress in Improving Gender and Geographic Representation in Coral Reef Science

Despite increasing recognition of the need for more diverse and equitable representation in the sciences, it is unclear whether measurable progress has been made. Here, we examine trends in authorship in coral reef science from 1,677 articles published over the past 16 years (2003–2018) and find that while representation of authors that are women (from 18 to 33%) and from non-OECD nations (from 4 to 13%) have increased over time, progress is slow in achieving more equitable representation. For example, at the current rate, it would take over two decades for female representation to reach 50%. Given that there are more coral reef non-OECD countries, at the current rate, truly equitable representation of non-OECD countries would take even longer. OECD nations also continue to dominate authorship contributions in coral reef science (89%), in research conducted in both OECD (63%) and non-OECD nations (68%). We identify systemic issues that remain prevalent in coral reef science (i.e., parachute science, gender bias) that likely contribute to observed trends. We provide recommendations to address systemic biases in research to foster a more inclusive global science community. Adoption of these recommendations will lead to more creative, innovative, and impactful scientific approaches urgently needed for coral reefs and contribute to environmental justice efforts.We acknowledge the contributions of the many unrecognized and undervalued individuals in coral reef research whose efforts have made it possible for the field to progress. These scientists have collected data, translated across languages, coordinated field work, welcomed foreign visitors to their countries, shared ideas, trained and mentored students, become friends, inspired, and built the foundation for the discipline we know today. We acknowledge the work of all coral reef scientists who continue day after day to pursue equity, inclusion, and justice in the field and for their colleagues and themselves.Ye

Scatter-plots showing relationships between human population size and fish biomass (top panels) and average fish weight (bottom panels) for selected fish groups across the Caribbean.

<p>Selected fish groups are a) snappers (n = 226), b) groupers (n = 260), c) highly valued commercial species (n = 269), and c) parrotfishes (n = 274). Spearman rank correlation coefficients between human population size and the fish metrics are shown, along with the corresponding adjusted degrees of freedom and p-values. Loess smoother black dotted lines were fitted to the data to help visualize trends. All variables have been fourth-root transformed before plotting (thus, all axes are plotted on a fourth-root transformed scale), but numbers shown on axes represent back-transformed values. See <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0086291#pone.0086291.s001" target="_blank">Table S1</a> for details on species making up these fish groups.</p

Relationships between human population size and average fish weight and relative fish density of individual parrotfish species across the Caribbean.

<p>a) Spearman rank correlation coefficients (+95% one-tailed upper confidence interval; black circles) between human population size and the average fish weight for eight frequently occurring parrotfish species across the Caribbean; the correlation coefficients are ordered as a function maximum body length for each species (as reported by <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0086291#pone.0086291-Robertson1" target="_blank">[41]</a>); grey line illustrates the relationship between the magnitude of the correlation coefficients and body size; the eight correlation values were incorporated into one summary correlation coefficient (+95% one-tailed confidence interval; black square); see <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0086291#pone-0086291-t005" target="_blank">Table 5</a> for number of reef-surveys included in the correlation analysis for each species. b) Plot illustrating fish density scores of eight frequently occurring parrotfish species along one redundancy analysis axis representing a gradient of human population size; the species scores were obtained by constraining the species composition of the parrotfish assemblage by human population size across the Caribbean region; the size of the circles representing the species is proportional to the maximum body length of each species (n = 274 reef-surveys).</p

Summary statistics for fish biomass (grams per 100 m²), fish density (fish per 100 m²) and average fish weight (grams per fish) for different fish groups across reef-surveys allocated to two categories of protection effectiveness against fishing.

<p>Snappers (SNP), groupers (GRP), highly valued commercial species (COM) and parrotfishes (PAR). n- number of surveys in which the fish group was present; Percent – percentage of surveys in which the fish group was present; sd-standard deviation. Only data of surveys under the Unprotected/Unknown protection status (left columns) were used in correlation analyses with human population size. See <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0086291#pone.0086291.s001" target="_blank">Table S1</a> for details on species making up these fish groups.</p

Scatter-plots showing relationships between human population size and fish density for selected fish groups across the Caribbean (top panels) and the coefficient of variation, a measure inversely related to precision, associated with the fish density estimates for each fish group (bottom panels).

<p>Selected fish groups are a) snappers (n = 226), b) groupers (n = 260), c) highly valued commercial species (n = 269), and c) parrotfishes (n = 274). Spearman rank correlation coefficients between human population size and the fish metrics are shown, along with the corresponding adjusted degrees of freedom and p-values. Loess smoother black lines were fitted to the data to help visualize trends. Horizontal lines in bottom panels indicate the average coefficient of variation for the fish density estimates of each fish group across all surveys. Fish densities and human population size have been fourth-root transformed before plotting (thus, these axes are plotted on a fourth-root transformed scale), but numbers shown on axes represent back-transformed values. See <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0086291#pone.0086291.s001" target="_blank">Table S1</a> for details on species making up these fish groups.</p

Sampling batch ID, location, year code, average latitude and longitude (decimal degrees) coordinates and number (n) of Atlantic and Gulf Rapid Reef Assessment (AGRRA) surveys included in the analyses.

<p>Sampling batch ID, location, year code, average latitude and longitude (decimal degrees) coordinates and number (n) of Atlantic and Gulf Rapid Reef Assessment (AGRRA) surveys included in the analyses.</p

Percentage of Atlantic and Gulf Rapid Reef Assessment (AGRRA) fish surveys in 17 state/territories (as referred to by AGRRA) carried out in different coral reef habitats between 1997 and 2004 where parrotfishes were the dominant family in terms of biomass and where parrotfish biomass exceeded that of highly valued commercial fish groups.

<p>Parrotfish biomass (PAR), snapper biomass (SNP) and grouper biomass (GRP), and combined biomass of a selection of species (COM) considered by AGRRA to be “Commercially significant”, including snappers, groupers, grunts, triggerfishes and large labrids.</p

Summary statistics for average fish weight (grams per fish), fish density (fish per 100 m²) and fish biomass (grams per 100 m²) of eight frequently occurring parrotfish species across reef-surveys with Unprotected/unknown protection status (n = 274).

<p>n- number of reef-surveys where the species was present; sd-standard deviation. These data were used in species-level correlation analyses with human population size and in the redundancy analysis (RDA) linking parrotfish community composition to human population size. Species are ordered by decreasing order of occurrence across surveys. Note that no species occurred across all the 274 fish surveys.</p

Box-and-whisker plots comparing a) fish biomass, b) fish density and c) average fish weight between reef sites fully/partially protected from fishing (white boxes) and sites unprotected or of unknown protection status (grey boxes) throughout the Caribbean region for snappers (SNP), groupers (GRP), highly valued commercial species (COM) and parrotfishes (PAR).

<p>Dots on bottom and top of whiskers represent 5 and 95 percentiles, respectively. All fish metrics have been fourth-root transformed before plotting (thus, vertical axes are plotted on a fourth-root transformed scale), but numbers shown on axes represent back-transformed values. mns- indicates marginally non-significant difference (p<0.1) between protection categories. *-indicates significant difference (p<0.05) between protection categories for a given fish group. See <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0086291#pone.0086291.s001" target="_blank">Table S1</a> for details on species making up these fish groups.</p