Faced with the challenge of saving as much diversity as possible given financial and time constraints, conservation biologists are increasingly prioritizing species on the basis of their overall contribution to evolutionary diversity. Metrics such as EDGE (Evolutionary Distinct and Globally Endangered) have been used to set such evolutionarily based conservation priorities for a number of taxa, such as mammals, birds, corals, amphibians, and sharks. Each application of EDGE has required some form of correction to account for species whose positions within the tree of life are unknown. Perhaps the most advanced of these corrections is phylogenetic imputation, but to date there has been no systematic assessment of both the sensitivity of EDGE scores to a phylogeny missing species, and the impact of using imputation to correct for species missing from the tree. Here, we perform such an assessment, by simulating phylogenies, removing some species to make the phylogeny incomplete, imputing the position of those species, and measuring (1) how robust ED scores are for the species that are not removed and (2) how accurate the ED scores are for those removed and then imputed. We find that the EDGE ranking for species on a tree is remarkably robust to missing species from that tree, but that phylogenetic imputation for missing species, while unbiased, does not accurately reconstruct species’ evolutionary distinctiveness. On the basis of these results, we provide clear guidance for EDGE scoring in the face of phylogenetic uncertainty.
8Faced with the challenge of saving as much diversity as possible given financial and time constraints, conser-9 vation biologists are increasingly prioritizing species on the basis of their overall contribution to evolutionary 10 diversity. Metrics such as EDGE (Evolutionary Distinct and Globally Endangered) have been used to set 11 such evolutionarily-based conservation priorities for a number of taxa, such as mammals, birds, corals, am-12 phibians, and sharks. Each application of EDGE has required some form of correction to account for species 13 whose position within the tree of life are unknown. Perhaps the most advanced of these corrections is phy-14 logenetic imputation, but to date there has been no systematic assessment of both the sensitivity of EDGE 15 scores to a phylogeny missing species, and the impact of using imputation to correct for species missing from 16 the tree. Here we perform such an assessment, by simulating phylogenies, removing some species to make 17 the phylogeny incomplete, imputating the position of those species, and measuring (1) how robust ED scores 18 are for the species that are not removed and (2) how accurate the ED scores are for those removed and 19 then imputed. We find that the EDGE ranking for species on a tree is remarkably robust to missing species 20 from that tree, but that phylogenetic imputation for missing species, while unbiased, does not accurately 21 reconstruct species' evolutionary distinctiveness. On the basis of these results, we provide clear guidance for 22EDGE scoring in the face of phylogenetic uncertainty.
The 2019/2020 influenza season in the United States began earlier than any season since the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, with an increase in influenza-like illnesses observed as early as August. Also noteworthy was the numerical domination of influenza B cases early in this influenza season, in contrast to their typically later peak in the past. Here, we dissect the 2019/2020 influenza season not only with regard to its unusually early activity, but also with regard to the relative dynamics of type A and type B cases. We propose that the recent expansion of a novel influenza B/Victoria clade may be associated with this shift in the composition and kinetics of the influenza season in the United States. We use epidemiological transmission models to explore whether changes in the effective reproduction number or short-term cross-immunity between these viruses can explain the dynamics of influenza A and B seasonality. We find support for an increase in the effective reproduction number of influenza B, rather than support for cross-type immunity-driven dynamics. Our findings have clear implications for optimal vaccination strategies.
The eastern oyster, Crassostrea virginica, is a valuable fishery and aquaculture species that provides critical services as an ecosystem engineer. Oysters have a life-history that promotes high genetic diversity and gene flow while also occupying a wide range of habitats in variable coastal environments from the southern Gulf of Mexico to the southern waters of Atlantic Canada. To understand the interplay of genetic diversity, gene flow, and intense environmental selection, we used whole genome re-sequencing data from 90 individuals across the eastern United States and Gulf of Mexico, plus 5 selectively bred lines. Our data confirmed a large phylogeographic break between oyster populations in the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic coast of the USA. We also demonstrated that domestication has artificially admixed genetic material between the two ocean basins, and selected lines with admixed ancestry continue to maintain heterozygosity at these sites through several generations post admixture, possibly indicating relevance to desirable aquaculture traits. We found that genetic and structural variation are high in both wild and selected populations, but we also demonstrated that, when controlling for domestication admixture across ocean basins, wild populations do have significantly higher levels of nucleotide diversity and copy number variation than selected lines. Within the Atlantic coast, we detected subtle but distinct population structure, introgression of selected lines within wild individuals, an interaction between structural variation and putatively adaptive population structure, and evidence of candidate genes responding to selection from salinity. Our study highlights the potential for applying whole genome sequencing to highly polymorphic species and provides a road map for future work examining the genome variation of eastern oyster populations.
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