Establishment of a taxonomic and molecular reference collection to support the identification of species regulated by the Western Australian Prevention List for Introduced Marine Pests

Introduced Marine Pests (IMP, = non-indigenous marine species) prevention, early detection and risk-based management strategies have become the priority for biosecurity operations worldwide, in recognition of the fact that, once established, the effective management of marine pests can rapidly become cost prohibitive or impractical. In Western Australia (WA), biosecurity management is guided by the “Western Australian Prevention List for Introduced Marine Pests” which is a policy tool that details species or genera as being of high risk to the region. This list forms the basis of management efforts to prevent introduction of these species, monitoring efforts to detect them at an early stage, and rapid response should they be detected. It is therefore essential that the species listed can be rapid and confidently identified and discriminated from native species by a range of government and industry stakeholders. Recognising that identification of these species requires very specialist expertise which may be in short supply and not readily accessible in a regulatory environment, and the fact that much publicly available data is not verifiable or suitable for regulatory enforcement, the WA government commissioned the current project to collate a reference collection of these marine pest specimens. In this work, we thus established collaboration with researchers worldwide in order to source representative specimens of the species listed. Our main objective was to build a reference collection of taxonomically vouchered specimens and subsequently to generate species-specific DNA barcodes suited to supporting their future identification. To date, we were able to obtain specimens of 75 species (representative of all but four of the pests listed) which have been identified by experts and placed with the WA Government Department of Fisheries and, where possible, in accessible museums and institutions in Australasia. The reference collection supports the fast and reliable taxonomic and molecular identification of marine pests in WA and constitutes a valuable resource for training of stakeholders with interest in IMP recognition in Australia. The reference collection is also useful in supporting the development of a variety of DNA-based detection strategies such as real-time PCR and metabarcoding of complex environmental samples (e.g. biofouling communities). ThePrevention List is under regular review to ensure its continued relevance and that it remains evidence and risk-based. Similarly, its associated reference collection also remains to some extent a work in progress. In recognition of this fact, this report seeks to provide details of this continually evolving information repository publicly available to the biosecurity management community worldwid

The National Early Warning Score and its subcomponents recorded within ±24 hours of emergency medical admission are poor predictors of hospital-acquired acute kidney injury

YesBackground: Hospital-acquired Acute Kidney Injury (H-AKI) is a common cause of avoidable morbidity and mortality. Aim: To determine if the patients’ vital signs data as defined by a National Early Warning Score (NEWS), can predict H-AKI following emergency admission to hospital. Methods: Analyses of emergency admissions to York hospital over 24-months with NEWS data. We report the area under the curve (AUC) for logistic regression models that used the index NEWS (model A0), plus age and sex (A1), plus subcomponents of NEWS (A2) and two-way interactions (A3). Likewise for maximum NEWS (models B0,B1,B2,B3). Results: 4.05% (1361/33608) of emergency admissions had H-AKI. Models using the index NEWS had the lower AUCs (0.59 to 0.68) than models using the maximum NEWS AUCs (0.75 to 0.77). The maximum NEWS model (B3) was more sensitivity than the index NEWS model (A0) (67.60% vs 19.84%) but identified twice as many cases as being at risk of H-AKI (9581 vs 4099) at a NEWS of 5. Conclusions: The index NEWS is a poor predictor of H-AKI. The maximum NEWS is a better predictor but seems unfeasible because it is only knowable in retrospect and is associated with a substantial increase in workload albeit with improved sensitivity.The Health Foundatio

Investigating the Limits of Native Oyster Recovery and Restoration

Why does one native Olympia oyster restoration project succeed while a seemingly identical one fails? This project sought to answer the question by collecting recruitment, growth and survivorship statistics for oysters in Tomales Bay. Scientists also measured oyster predation by Atlantic oyster drills and are quantifying the effects of fouling organisms and “space competitors” (i.e., tunicates and sponges) on the availability of suitable oyster habitat. Findings are providing information on where and how to go about restoring oysters in California

Investigating the Limits of Native Oyster Recovery and Restoration

Why does one native Olympia oyster restoration project succeed while a seemingly identical one fails? This project sought to answer the question by collecting recruitment, growth and survivorship statistics for oysters in Tomales Bay. Scientists also measured oyster predation by Atlantic oyster drills and are quantifying the effects of fouling organisms and “space competitors” (i.e., tunicates and sponges) on the availability of suitable oyster habitat. Findings are providing information on where and how to go about restoring oysters in California

Recreational Boats as Potential Vectors of Marine Organisms at an Invasion Hotspot

With more than 200 aquatic nonindigenous species (NIS), San Francisco Bay (California, USA) is among the world’s most invaded harbors. Hard-substratum benthic (biofouling) organisms, which dominate NIS richness, have arrived primarily as a result of shipping and aquaculture activity over past centuries. To date there has been no assessment of the leisure craft vector in the Bay. We aimed to characterize (1) biofouling on boats’ submerged surfaces and (2) boater behavior likely to affect the risk of NIS transfers. We used an underwater pole-cam, specimen collections, and a boater questionnaire to quantify the extent and composition of biofouling on recreational boats and to evaluate boater behavior at a subset of the Bay’s marinas. Several NIS, already established within the Bay, were recorded from vessel hulls, including the bryozoans Bugula neritina, Membranipora chesapeakensis and Watersipora sp., the ascidians Botrylloides violaceus, Styela clava and Ciona intestinalis, the polychaete Ficopomatus enigmaticus, and the sponge Clathria prolifera. Only 16% of questionnaire respondents had traveled to sites outside the Bay in the previous 12 mo. Frequency of hull painting and cleaning varied substantially, but we did not find strong patterns of biofouling extent associated with hull husbandry or boat usage. The potential for within-Bay and coastwise regional spread of NIS is high, and recreational boats probably interact in close proximity to other vectors (e.g. commercial ships), causing a ratchet effect of vector events; however, there remains a gap in understanding the levels and condition of biofouling on transient boats. Transient vessels from San Francisco Bay and other West Coast sites should be the focus of future studies to evaluate the extent to which organisms are being transferred among bays and how vector management could be applied to prevent NIS transfers and impacts

Testing local and global stressor impacts on a coastal foundation species using an ecologically realistic framework.

Despite the abundance of literature on organismal responses to multiple environmental stressors, most studies have not matched the timing of experimental manipulations with the temporal pattern of stressors in nature. We test the interactive effects of diel-cycling hypoxia with both warming and decreased salinities using ecologically realistic exposures. Surprisingly, we found no evidence of negative synergistic effects on Olympia oyster growth; rather, we found only additive and opposing effects of hypoxia (detrimental) and warming (beneficial). We suspect that diel-cycling provided a temporal refuge that allowed physiological compensation. We also tested for latent effects of warming and hypoxia to low-salinity tolerance using a seasonal delay between stressor events. However, we did not find a latent effect, rather a threshold survival response to low salinity that was independent of early life-history exposure to warming or hypoxia. The absence of synergism is likely the result of stressor treatments that mirror the natural timing of environmental stressors. We provide environmental context for laboratory experimental data by examining field time series environmental data from four North American west coast estuaries and find heterogeneous environmental signals that characterize each estuary, suggesting that the potential stressor exposure to oysters will drastically differ over moderate spatial scales. This heterogeneity implies that efforts to conserve and restore oysters will require an adaptive approach that incorporates knowledge of local conditions. We conclude that studies of multiple environmental stressors can be greatly improved by integrating ecologically realistic exposure and timing of stressors found in nature with organismal life-history traits

Conservation aquaculture as a tool for imperiled marine species: Evaluation of opportunities and risks for Olympia oysters, Ostrea lurida

Conservation aquaculture is becoming an important tool to support the recovery of declining marine species and meet human needs. However, this tool comes with risks as well as rewards, which must be assessed to guide aquaculture activities and recovery efforts. Olympia oysters (Ostrea lurida) provide key ecosystem functions and services along the west coast of North America, but populations have declined to the point of local extinction in some estuaries. Here, we present a species-level, range-wide approach to strategically planning the use of aquaculture to promote recovery of Olympia oysters. We identified 12 benefits of culturing Olympia oysters, including identifying climate-resilient phenotypes that add diversity to growers' portfolios. We also identified 11 key risks, including potential negative ecological and genetic consequences associated with the transfer of hatchery-raised oysters into wild populations. Informed by these trade-offs, we identified ten priority estuaries where aquaculture is most likely to benefit Olympia oyster recovery. The two highest scoring estuaries have isolated populations with extreme recruitment limitation-issues that can be addressed via aquaculture if hatchery capacity is expanded in priority areas. By integrating social criteria, we evaluated which project types would likely meet the goals of local stakeholders in each estuary. Community restoration was most broadly suited to the priority areas, with limited commercial aquaculture and no current community harvest of the species, although this is a future stakeholder goal. The framework we developed to evaluate aquaculture as a tool to support species recovery is transferable to other systems and species globally; we provide a guide to prioritizing local knowledge and developing recommendations for implementation by using transparent criteria. Our collaborative process engaging diverse stakeholders including managers, scientists, Indigenous Tribal representatives, and shellfish growers can be used elsewhere to seek win-win opportunities to expand conservation aquaculture where benefits are maximized for both people and imperiled species

A global analysis of complexity–biodiversity relationships on marine artificial structures

Aim: Topographic complexity is widely accepted as a key driver of biodiversity, but at the patch-scale, complexity–biodiversity relationships may vary spatially and temporally according to the environmental stressors complexity mitigates, and the species richness and identity of potential colonists. Using a manipulative experiment, we assessed spatial variation in patch-scale effects of complexity on intertidal biodiversity. Location: 27 sites within 14 estuaries/bays distributed globally. Time period: 2015–2017. Major taxa studied: Functional groups of algae, sessile and mobile invertebrates. Methods: Concrete tiles of differing complexity (flat; 2.5-cm or 5-cm complex) were affixed at low–high intertidal elevation on coastal defence structures, and the richness and abundance of the colonizing taxa were quantified after 12 months. Results: The patch-scale effects of complexity varied spatially and among functional groups. Complexity had neutral to positive effects on total, invertebrate and algal taxa richness, and invertebrate abundances. However, effects on the abundance of algae ranged from positive to negative, depending on location and functional group. The tidal elevation at which tiles were placed accounted for some variation. The total and invertebrate richness were greater at low or mid than at high intertidal elevations. Latitude was also an important source of spatial variation, with the effects of complexity on total richness and mobile mollusc abundance greatest at lower latitudes, whilst the cover of sessile invertebrates and sessile molluscs responded most strongly to complexity at higher latitudes. Conclusions: After 12 months, patch-scale relationships between biodiversity and habitat complexity were not universally positive. Instead, the relationship varied among functional groups and according to local abiotic and biotic conditions. This result challenges the assumption that effects of complexity on biodiversity are universally positive. The variable effect of complexity has ramifications for community and applied ecology, including eco-engineering and restoration that seek to bolster biodiversity through the addition of complexity.</p

A global analysis of complexity–biodiversity relationships on marine artificial structures

Aim: Topographic complexity is widely accepted as a key driver of biodiversity, but at the patch-scale, complexity–biodiversity relationships may vary spatially and temporally according to the environmental stressors complexity mitigates, and the species richness and identity of potential colonists. Using a manipulative experiment, we assessed spatial variation in patch-scale effects of complexity on intertidal biodiversity. Location: 27 sites within 14 estuaries/bays distributed globally. Time period: 2015–2017. Major taxa studied: Functional groups of algae, sessile and mobile invertebrates. Methods: Concrete tiles of differing complexity (flat; 2.5-cm or 5-cm complex) were affixed at low–high intertidal elevation on coastal defence structures, and the richness and abundance of the colonizing taxa were quantified after 12 months. Results: The patch-scale effects of complexity varied spatially and among functional groups. Complexity had neutral to positive effects on total, invertebrate and algal taxa richness, and invertebrate abundances. However, effects on the abundance of algae ranged from positive to negative, depending on location and functional group. The tidal elevation at which tiles were placed accounted for some variation. The total and invertebrate richness were greater at low or mid than at high intertidal elevations. Latitude was also an important source of spatial variation, with the effects of complexity on total richness and mobile mollusc abundance greatest at lower latitudes, whilst the cover of sessile invertebrates and sessile molluscs responded most strongly to complexity at higher latitudes. Conclusions: After 12 months, patch-scale relationships between biodiversity and habitat complexity were not universally positive. Instead, the relationship varied among functional groups and according to local abiotic and biotic conditions. This result challenges the assumption that effects of complexity on biodiversity are universally positive. The variable effect of complexity has ramifications for community and applied ecology, including eco-engineering and restoration that seek to bolster biodiversity through the addition of complexity