We review the conservation issues facing migratory shorebird populations that breed in temperate regions and use wetlands in the non-breeding season. Shorebirds are excellent model organisms for understanding ecological, behavioural and evolutionary processes and are often used as indicators of wetland health. A global team of experienced shorebird researchers identified 45 issues facing these shorebird populations, and divided them into three categories (natural, current anthropogenic and future issues). The natural issues included megatsunamis, volcanoes and regional climate changes, while current anthropogenic threats encompassed agricultural intensification, conversion of tidal flats and coastal wetlands by human infrastructure developments and eutrophication of coastal systems. Possible future threats to shorebirds include microplastics, new means of recreation and infectious diseases. We suggest that this review process be broadened to other taxa to aid the identification and ranking of current and future conservation actions.
1. Road salt is a common, anthropogenic source of NaCl in many temperate ecosystems. Sodium is also an essential and potentially limiting element for inland animal populations. This suggests that Na limitation in inland ecosystems, and hence attraction to Na sources, should increase with distance from salted roads.2. In a North Temperate forest, we tested the prediction that Na recruitment would increase, as soil [Na] decreased, with distance from a salted two-lane highway. We presented ants with three concentrations of NaCl and sucrose solution along four pairs of transects ca 1, 10, 100, and 1000 m from the road.3. Consistent with the Na-limitation hypothesis, the ratio of NaCl to sucrose use increased with distance from the road from 1:13 vials at 1 m to 1:5 vials at 1 km. Genera characterised by high Na use did not accumulate farther from the road. For the common and widespread Tapinoma sessile (Say), a 10-fold increase in distance from the road resulted in ants doubling their use of NaCl relative to sucrose. 4. Road salt is a well-known pollutant, especially of freshwater ecosystems. However, by suppressing plants and potentially promoting consumers, road salt may have more complex effects on terrestrial ecosystems, especially those far inland from oceanic aerosols.
BackgroundIn this paper, we address the evidence for the Ambush Hypothesis. Proposed by Seligmann and Pollock, this hypothesis posits that there exists a selection for off-frame stop codons (OSCs) to counteract the possible deleterious effects of translational frameshifts, including the waste of resources and potential cytotoxicity. Two main types of study have been used to support the hypothesis. Some studies analyzed codon usage and showed that codons with more potential to create OSCs seem to be favored over codons with lower potential; they used this finding to support the Ambush Hypothesis. Another study used 342 bacterial genomes to evaluate the hypothesis directly, finding significant excesses of OSCs in these genomes.ResultsWe repeated both analyses with newer datasets and searched for other factors that could explain the observed trends. In the first case, the relative frequency of codons with the potential to create OSCs is directly correlated with the GC content of organisms, as stop codons are GC-poor. When evaluating the frequency of OSCs directly in 1,976 bacterial genomes we also detected a significant excess. However, when comparing the excess of OSCs with similarly obtained results for the frequency of out-of-frame sense codons, some sense codons have a more significant excess than stop codons.ConclusionsTwo avenues of study have been used to support the Ambush Hypothesis. Using the same methods as these previous studies, we demonstrate that the evidence in support of the Ambush Hypothesis does not hold up against more rigorous testing.
Indigenous knowledge is a multilayered knowledge system that can effectively manage global ecosystem and biodiversity conservation. Conservation is an applied discipline with the goal of preserving the world's biodiversity and ecosystems. However, settler-coloniser conservation practices often fail to fully examine how settler-coloniser epistemologies are centred at the expense of Indigenous conservation praxis. Evaluating how conservation practices outside of an Indigenous lens can become more inclusive and just is a critical area for research and reflection. We draw on our own experiences as early-career researchers working towards anticolonial, just and inclusive approaches to conservation science and practice by discussing what it means to be for a Place. We believe that a non-Indigenous conservationist who is for a Place advocates for inclusive stewardship with Indigenous Peoples and other marginalised communities to conserve species and ecosystems and the connections that bind communities to their landscapes. As an example of how settler-coloniser conservation practitioners can be for a Place, we discuss writing a policy statement in 2019 on behalf of the Society for Conservation Biology opposing the construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope on the summit of Mauna Kea, Hawai'i. We describe the thought process behind our policy statement and provide examples of other actions for conservation researchers and practitioners working to be for a Place. We aim to provide our colleagues, particularly those trained in settler-coloniser conservation practices, an opportunity to identify more just practices for the Places we aspire to conserve.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.