Enterovirus (EV) 68 was originally isolated in California in 1962 from four children with respiratory illness. Since that time, reports of EV68 isolation have been very uncommon. Between 1989 and 2003, 12 additional EV68 clinical isolates were identified and characterized, all of which were obtained from respiratory specimens of patients with respiratory tract illnesses. No EV68 isolates from enteric specimens have been identified from these same laboratories. These recent isolates, as well as the original California strains and human rhinovirus (HRV) 87 (recently shown to be an isolate of EV68 and distinct from the other human rhinoviruses), were compared by partial nucleotide sequencing in three genomic regions (partial sequencing of the 59-non-translated region and 3D polymerase gene, and complete sequencing of the VP1 capsid gene). The EV68 isolates, including HRV87, were monophyletic in all three regions of the genome. EV68 isolates and HRV87 grew poorly at 37 6C relative to growth at 33 6C and their titres were reduced by incubation at pH 3?0, whereas the control enterovirus, echovirus 11, grew equally well at 33 and 37 6C and its titre was not affected by treatment at pH 3?0. Acid lability and a lower optimum growth temperature are characteristic features of the human rhinoviruses. It is concluded that EV68 is primarily an agent of respiratory disease and that it shares important biological and molecular properties with both the enteroviruses and the rhinoviruses.

a b s t r a c tSoundscape assessment has been proposed as a remote ecological monitoring tool for measuring biodiversity, but few studies have examined how soundscape patterns vary with landscape configuration and condition. The goal of our study was to examine a suite of published acoustic indices to determine whether they provide comparable results relative to varying levels of landscape fragmentation and ecological condition in nineteen forest sites in eastern Australia. Our comparison of six acoustic indices according to time of day revealed that two indices, the acoustic complexity and the bioacoustic index, presented a similar pattern that was linked to avian song intensity, but was not related to landscape and biodiversity attributes. The diversity indices, acoustic entropy and acoustic diversity, and the normalized difference soundscape index revealed high nighttime sound, as well as a dawn and dusk chorus. These indices appear to be sensitive to nocturnal biodiversity which is abundant at night in warm, subtropical environments. We argue that there is need to better understand temporal partitioning of the soundscape by specific taxonomic groups, and this should involve integrated research on amphibians, insects and birds during a 24 h cycle. The three indices that best connected the soundscape with landscape characteristics, ecological condition and bird species richness were acoustic entropy, acoustic evenness and the normalized difference soundscape index. This study has demonstrated that remote soundscape assessment can be implemented as an ecological monitoring tool in fragmented Australian forest landscapes. However, further investigation should be dedicated to refining and/or combining existing acoustic indices and also to determine if these indices are appropriate in other landscapes and for other survey purposes.Crown

In the 1950s the myxoma virus was released into European rabbit populations in Australia and Europe, decimating populations and resulting in the rapid evolution of resistance. We investigated the genetic basis of resistance by comparing the exomes of rabbits collected before and after the pandemic. We found a strong pattern of parallel evolution, with selection on standing genetic variation favouring the same alleles in Australia, France and the United Kingdom. Many of these changes occurred in immunity-related genes, supporting a polygenic basis of resistance. We experimentally validated the role of several genes in viral replication and showed that selection acting on an interferon protein has increased its antiviral effect.

Aphis gossypii is an aphid species that is found throughout the world and is extremely polyphagous. It is considered a major pest of cotton and cucurbit species. In Europe, A. gossypii is assumed to reproduce exclusively by apomictic parthenogenesis. The present study investigates the genetic diversity of A. gossypii in a microgeographic, fragmented habitat consisting of eight glasshouses of cucurbit crops. This analysis, which was based on the results from seven microsatellite loci, has confirmed that A. gossypii populations in southern France are primarily asexual, as only 12 nonrecombinant genotypic classes (clones) were identified from 694 aphids. Moreover, a high proportion of the aphids (87%) had one of three common genotypes. No significant correlation was found between genotypic class and host plant species. Within a glasshouse population of A. gossypii, a significant reduction in clonal diversity was observed as the spring/summer season progressed. The final predominance of a clone could result from interclonal competition. At the microgeographic level (i.e. glasshouses within a 500-m radius), significant genetic subdivision was detected and could be attributed to founder effects and the limitation of gene flow imposed by the enclosed nature of the glasshouse structure. Finally, the three common clones of A. gossypii detected in 1996 reappeared in spring 1997 following the winter extinction, together with rare clones that had not previously been seen. The probability that A. gossypii overwinters within refuges at a microgeographic scale from which populations are renewed each spring is discussed.

Previous phylogenetic studies of the bee tribe Allodapini suggested a puzzling biogeographic problem: one of the key basal divergences involved separation of the southern African and southern Australian clades at a very early stage in allodapine evolution, but no taxa occur in the Palaearctic or Asian regions that might suggest a Laurasian dispersal route. However, these studies lacked sufficient sequence data and appropriate maximum likelihood partition models to provide reliable phylogenetic estimates and enable alternative biogeographic hypotheses to be distinguished. Using Bayesian and penalized likelihood approaches and an expanded sequence and taxon set we examine phylogenetic relationships between the Australian, African, and Malagasy groups and estimate divergence times for key nodes. We show that divergence of the three basal Australian clades (known as the exoneurines) occurred at least 25 Mya following a single colonization event, and that this group diverged from the African + Madagascan clade at least 30 Mya, but actual divergence dates are likely to be much older than these very conservative limits. The bifurcation order of the exoneurine clades was not resolved and analyses could not rule out the existence of a hard polytomy, suggesting rapid radiation after colonization of Australia. Their divergence involved major transitions in life history traits and these placed constraints on the kinds of social organization that subsequently evolved in each lineage. Early divergence between the African, Malagasy, and Australian clades presents a major puzzle for historical biogeography: node ages are too recent for Gondwanan vicariance hypotheses, but too early for Laurasian dispersal scenarios. We suggest a scenario involving island hopping across the Indian Ocean via a series of now largely submerged elements of the Kergulen Plateau and Broken Ridge provinces, both of which are known to have had subaerial formations during the Cenozoic. [Bayesian; biogeography; dispersal; Gondwana; Kerguelen Plateau; penalized likelihood.].