Climate-induced changes in the suitable habitat of cold-water corals and commercially important deep-sea fishes in the North Atlantic

The deep sea plays a critical role in global climate regulation through uptake and storage of heat and carbon dioxide. However, this regulating service causes warming, acidification and deoxygenation of deep waters, leading to decreased food availability at the seafloor. These changes and their projections are likely to affect productivity, biodiversity and distributions of deep-sea fauna, thereby compromising key ecosystem services. Understanding how climate change can lead to shifts in deep-sea species distributions is critically important in developing management measures. We used environmental niche modelling along with the best available species occurrence data and environmental parameters to model habitat suitability for key cold-water coral and commercially important deep-sea fish species under present-day (1951–2000) environmental conditions and to project changes under severe, high emissions future (2081–2100) climate projections (RCP8.5 scenario) for the North Atlantic Ocean. Our models projected a decrease of 28%–100% in suitable habitat for cold-water corals and a shift in suitable habitat for deep-sea fishes of 2.0°–9.9° towards higher latitudes. The largest reductions in suitable habitat were projected for the scleractinian coral Lophelia pertusa and the octocoral Paragorgia arborea, with declines of at least 79% and 99% respectively. We projected the expansion of suitable habitat by 2100 only for the fishes Helicolenus dactylopterus and Sebastes mentella (20%–30%), mostly through northern latitudinal range expansion. Our results projected limited climate refugia locations in the North Atlantic by 2100 for scleractinian corals (30%–42% of present-day suitable habitat), even smaller refugia locations for the octocorals Acanella arbuscula and Acanthogorgia armata (6%–14%), and almost no refugia for P. arborea. Our results emphasize the need to understand how anticipated climate change will affect the distribution of deep-sea species including commercially important fishes and foundation species, and highlight the importance of identifying and preserving climate refugia for a range of area-based planning and management tools.S

Peer communication improves environmental employee engagement programs: Evidence from a quasi-experimental field study

Environmental employee engagement programs promise to raise employee morale, improve social and environmental conditions and strengthen companies' financial performance. Such programs, however, sometimes fail to improve employee engagement, often because employees do not believe in the program's authenticity. This study evaluates peer communication as a mechanism for improving the credibility of employee engagement programs. We use a quasi-experimental research design in which employees from different regional offices of a single company were placed in either a treatment group that experienced a peer communication program or a control group that did not. Pre- and post-test surveys measured employees' affective, cognitive and behavioral engagement with their work. Treatment group employees showed increases in pride in the company's environmental initiatives and accomplishments, confidence in discussing its environmental record with external stakeholders, and awareness of and participation in its employee environmental programs. These changes were significantly greater than what occurred in the control groups, suggesting that the peer communication program was generally effective at improving employee engagement. These results demonstrate new modes of internal communication that can strengthen companies' environmental performance and improve employee-related outcomes

Which is More Costly? The Effects of Migration vs. Overwintering on Telomeres of American Kestrels (Falco sparverius)

Little is known about the costs and benefits of different migration strategies. Telomeres are sequences at the end of chromosomes that prevent DNA degradation. Telomere length, and their ability to protect DNA, decreases with age and stress. We studied the telomere lengths of migrant and non-migrant American Kestrels to compare the relative stress and energetic demands of migration versus residency as wintering strategies. We captured nesting American Kestrels and classified migration strategy with hydrogen isotope analysis of claw samples. DNA was extracted from blood samples and telomere lengths were estimated by quantitative PCR (qPCR) using primers that bind to the telomeric repeat. This qPCR signal was normalized to the PCR signal from a single copy gene. Understanding the trade-offs between the costs of migration and overwintering is important for understanding the evolutionary ecology of migration and predicting how Kestrels may alter their wintering strategies in response to climate change

Beyond flu: Trends in respiratory infection outbreaks in Ontario healthcare settings from 2007 to 2017, and implications for non-influenza outbreak management

Background: Outbreaks cause significant morbidity and mortality in healthcare settings. Current testing methods can identify specific viral respiratory pathogens, yet the approach to outbreak management remains general. Objectives: Our aim was to examine pathogen-specific trends in respiratory outbreaks, including how attack rates, case fatality rates and outbreak duration differ by pathogen between hospitals and long-term care (LTC) and retirement homes (RH) in Ontario. Methods: Confirmed respiratory outbreaks in Ontario hospitals and LTC/RH reported between September 1, 2007, and August 31, 2017, were extracted from the integrated Public Health Information System (iPHIS). Median attack rates and outbreak duration and overall case fatality rates of pathogen-specific outbreaks were compared in both settings. Results: Over the 10-year surveillance period, 9,870 confirmed respiratory outbreaks were reported in Ontario hospitals and LTC/RH. Influenza was responsible for most outbreaks (32% in LTC/RH, 51% in hospitals), but these outbreaks were shorter and had lower attack rates than most non-influenza outbreaks in either setting. Human metapneumovirus, while uncommon (<4% of outbreaks) had high case fatality rates in both settings. Conclusion: Attack rates and case fatality rates varied by pathogen, as did outbreak duration. Development of specific outbreak management guidance that takes into account pathogen and healthcare setting may be useful to limit the burden of respiratory outbreaks