Objectives : analyze the people relations with their " milieux " under the perspective of the vulnerability and the adaptation of coastal communities potentially exposed to the impacts of climate change. The research articulates in two modules dedicated to the analysis of the vulnerability : the hazard and the perception of the risks. Interdisciplinary, it requires a redistribution of collaborations between disciplines : social sciences and human naturalists. The architecture of the project is a methodological experiment. It will ultimately contribute to the reflexion and the information of adaptation and risk management public policies. ; Erosions, tempêtes, submersions contribuent au façonnement des espaces côtiers. Dérangeants, menaçants, angoissants quelquefois, ces phénomènes n'étaient pas forcément perçus jusqu'ici comme une mise en péril de la possibilité de continuer à vivre sur ces espaces. Des traces laissées dans l'espace représentent, dans un horizon de sens ordinaire, l'empreinte laissée par la mer, la houle, les marées. Dans quelles mesures ces dernières sont-elles désormais perçues comme l'empreinte des changements climatiques ? Quel horizon de sens dessinent-elles désormais ? La recherche ADAPTALITT, " Capacités d'adaptation des sociétés littorales aux phénomènes d'érosion - submersion des côtes en prise avec les changements climatiques " vise à analyser les relations des habitants à leurs milieux sous l'angle de la vulnérabilité et des modalités d'actions (voire d'adaptation) face ou avec le risque dans un contexte de changements climatiques. Une des originalités de notre recherche est d'intégrer la sensibilité habitante de cette relation : une dimension généralement non prise en compte dans les politiques d'adaptation. Pluridisciplinaire, l'équipe réunit à la fois des chercheurs en géographie, géomorphologie, sociologie, linguistique et science politique. Elle nécessite la mise en place d'un langage ou référentiel commun et de lier approches naturalistes et approches sociales. Les objectifs : ...
Acknowledgements This research was made possible due to the infrastructure and funding provided by the Scottish Genomes Partnership, for which we are grateful. We thank the members of the Scottish Genomes Partnership Ethics Advisory Group (in particular the Chair Dr Anne Lampe) for their suggestions for improvement and constructive criticisms of the project. The University of Edinburgh Academic and Clinical Central Office for Research and Development (ACCORD) also provided helpful advice. VIKING DNA extractions and array genotyping were performed at the Edinburgh Clinical Research Facility, University of Edinburgh and were funded by the Medical Research Council UK quinquennial programme grant to the MRC Human Genetics Unit. Emily Weiss and Reka Nagy assembled the Shetland pedigree using records kept at the General Register Ofce and study information, building on earlier pedigree work in the Northern Isles. Nicola Pirastu selected the most appropriate participants for WGS using the ANCHAP software. Whole Genome Sequencing was carried out at Edinburgh Genomics, The University of Edinburgh. We thank Susan Campbell and technical services at MRC HGU for the Sanger sequencing. We thank Archie Campbell and Rachel Edwards for transfer of ECG data into an SQL database and for expert support with extraction of EHR data. Te linkage to data in the EHR provided by patients and collected by the NHS as part of their care and support was facilitated by Dionysis Vragkos, eData Research and Innovation Service (eDRIS). We would like to acknowledge the invaluable contributions of the research nurses in Shetland and the administrative team in Edinburgh. Finally and most importantly, we thank the people of Shetland for their involvement in and ongoing support for our research. This work was funded by the MRC University Unit award to the MRC Human Genetics Unit, University of Edinburgh, MC_UU_00007/10. Whole genome sequencing was funded by the Chief Scientist Office of the Scottish Government Health Directorates (grant reference ...
Background Transthyretin amyloidosis (also known as ATTR amyloidosis) is a systemic, life-threatening disease characterized by transthyretin (TTR) fibril deposition in organs and tissue. A definitive diagnosis of ATTR amyloidosis is often a challenge, in large part because of its heterogeneous presentation. Although ATTR amyloidosis was previously considered untreatable, disease-modifying therapies for the treatment of this disease have recently become available. This article aims to raise awareness of the initial symptoms of ATTR amyloidosis among general practitioners to facilitate identification of a patient with suspicious signs and symptoms. Methods These consensus recommendations for the suspicion and diagnosis of ATTR amyloidosis were developed through a series of development and review cycles by an international working group comprising key amyloidosis specialists. This working group met to discuss the barriers to early and accurate diagnosis of ATTR amyloidosis and develop a consensus recommendation through a thorough search of the literature performed using PubMed Central. Results The cardiac and peripheral nervous systems are most frequently involved in ATTR amyloidosis; however, many patients often also experience gastrointestinal and other systemic manifestations. Given the multisystemic nature of symptoms, ATTR amyloidosis is often misdiagnosed as a more common disorder, leading to significant delays in the initiation of treatment. Although histologic evaluation has been the gold standard to confirm ATTR amyloidosis, a range of tools are available that can facilitate early and accurate diagnosis. Of importance, genetic testing should be considered early in the evaluation of a patient with unexplained peripheral neuropathy. Conclusions A diagnostic algorithm based on initial red flag symptoms and manifestations of cardiac or neurologic involvement will facilitate identification by the general practitioner of a patient with clinically suspicious symptoms, enabling subsequent referral of the patient to a multidisciplinary specialized medical center.
Soil is one of the most biodiverse terrestrial habitats. Yet, we lack an integrative conceptual framework for understanding the patterns and mechanisms driving soil biodiversity. One of the underlying reasons for our poor understanding of soil biodiversity patterns relates to whether key biodiversity theories (historically developed for aboveground and aquatic organisms) are applicable to patterns of soil biodiversity. Here, we present a systematic literature review to investigate whether and how key biodiversity theories (species-energy relationship, theory of island biogeography, metacommunity theory, niche theory and neutral theory) can explain observed patterns of soil biodiversity. We then discuss two spatial compartments nested within soil at which biodiversity theories can be applied to acknowledge the scale-dependent nature of soil biodiversity. ; Published version ; M.P.T. acknowledges funding from the GermanResearch Foundation (DFG, TH 2307/1-1). H.R.P.P.was supported by the sDiv (DFG FZT 118). M.L.was supported by the TULIP Laboratory of Excellence(ANR-10-LABX-41). M.C.R. and W.H.V.d.P. acknowledgesupport from ERC Advanced Grants [grant number:ERC-ADV 694368 and ERC-ADV 323020 (SPECIALS),respectively]. F.T.D.V. is supported by a BBSRC DavidPhillips Fellowship (BB/L02456X/1). N.E. and O.F.acknowledge funding by the European Research Council(ERC Starting Grant 677232, ECOWORM). C.A.G. issupported by the European Union's Horizon 2020 researchand innovation programme under grant agreement No641762-ECOPOTENTIAL. E.K.C. acknowledges fundingfrom the Academy of Finland (285882) and the NaturalSciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada(postdoctoral fellowship 471903 and RGPIN-2019-05758).
Acknowledgments and Disclosures: This work was supported by the Wellcome Trust through a Strategic Award (104036/Z/14/Z). The Chief Scientist Office of the Scottish Government and the Scottish Funding Council provided core support for Generation Scotland. GS:SFHS was funded by a grant from the Scottish Government Health Department, Chief Scientist Office (CZD/16/6). We are grateful to the families who took part in GS:SFHS, the general practitioners and Scottish School of Primary Care for their help in recruiting them, and the whole Generation Scotland team, which includes academic researchers, clinic staff members, laboratory technicians, clerical workers, information technology staff members, statisticians, and research managers. AMM has previously received grant support from Pfizer, Lilly, and Janssen. These studies are not connected to the current investigation. YZ acknowledges support from the China Scholarship Council. T-KC and AMM acknowledge with gratitude the financial support received for this work from the Dr Mortimer and Theresa Sackler Foundation. PAT, DJP, IJD, and AMM are members of the University of Edinburgh Centre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology, part of the cross-council Lifelong Health and Wellbeing Initiative (MR/K026992/1). Funding from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council and Medical Research Council (MRC) is gratefully acknowledged. DJM is an NHS Research Scotland (NRS) Fellow, funded by the Chief Scientist Office. PN and CSH acknowledge support from the MRC. All other authors report no biomedical financial interests or potential conflicts of interest. GS:SFHS data are available to researchers on application to the Generation Scotland Access Committee (access: http://generationscotland.org). The managed access process ensures that approval is granted only to research that comes under the terms of participant consent. ; Peer reviewed ; Publisher PDF
P. 167-185 ; The European Union has adopted the ambitious target of halting the loss of biodiversity by 2010. Several indicators have been proposed to assess progress towards the 2010 target, two of them addressing directly the issue of species decline. In Europe, the Fauna Europaea database gives an insight into the patterns of distribution of a total dataset of 130,000 terrestrial and freshwater species without taxonomic bias, and provide a unique opportunity to assess the feasibility of the 2010 target. It shows that the vast majority of European species are rare, in the sense that they have a restricted range. Considering this, the paper discusses whether the 2010 target indicators really cover the species most at risk of extinction. The analysis of a list of 62 globally extinct European taxa shows that most contemporary extinctions have affected narrow-range taxa or taxa with strict ecological requirements. Indeed, most European species listed as threatened in the IUCN Red List are narrow-range species. Conversely, there are as many wide-range species as narrow-range endemics in the list of protected species in Europe (Bird and Habitat Directives). The subset of biodiversity captured by the 2010 target indicators should be representative of the whole biodiversity in terms of patterns of distribution and abundance. Indicators should not overlook a core characteristic of biodiversity, i.e. the large number of narrow-range species and their intrinsic vulnerability. With ill-selected indicator species, the extinction of narrowrange endemics would go unnoticed ; SI
High-quality and complete reference genome assemblies are fundamental for the application of genomics to biology, disease, and biodiversity conservation. However, such assemblies are available for only a few non-microbial species1,2,3,4. To address this issue, the international Genome 10K (G10K) consortium5,6 has worked over a five-year period to evaluate and develop cost-effective methods for assembling highly accurate and nearly complete reference genomes. Here we present lessons learned from generating assemblies for 16 species that represent six major vertebrate lineages. We confirm that long-read sequencing technologies are essential for maximizing genome quality, and that unresolved complex repeats and haplotype heterozygosity are major sources of assembly error when not handled correctly. Our assemblies correct substantial errors, add missing sequence in some of the best historical reference genomes, and reveal biological discoveries. These include the identification of many false gene duplications, increases in gene sizes, chromosome rearrangements that are specific to lineages, a repeated independent chromosome breakpoint in bat genomes, and a canonical GC-rich pattern in protein-coding genes and their regulatory regions. Adopting these lessons, we have embarked on the Vertebrate Genomes Project (VGP), an international effort to generate high-quality, complete reference genomes for all of the roughly 70,000 extant vertebrate species and to help to enable a new era of discovery across the life sciences. ; We thank them for their permission to publish. A.R., S.K., B.P.W. and A.M.P. were supported by the Intramural Research Program of the NHGRI, NIH (1ZIAHG200398). A.R. was also supported by the Korea Health Technology R&D Project through KHIDI, funded by the Ministry of Health & Welfare, Republic of Korea (HI17C2098). S.A.M., I.B. and R.D. were supported by Wellcome Trust grant WT207492; W.C., M. Smith, Z.N., Y.S., J.C., S. Pelan, J.T., A.T., J.W. and Kerstin Howe by WT206194; L.H., F.M., Kevin Howe and P. Flicek by WT108749/Z/15/Z, WT218328/B/19/Z and the European Molecular Biology Laboratory. O.F. and E.D.J. were supported by Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Rockefeller University start-up funds for this project. J.D. and H.A.L. were supported by the Robert and Rosabel Osborne Endowment. M.U.-S. received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement (750747). F.T.-N., J. Hoffman, P. Masterson and K.C. were supported by the Intramural Research Program of the NLM, NIH. C.L., B.J.K., J. Kim and H.K. were supported by the Marine Biotechnology Program of KIMST, funded by the Ministry of Ocean and Fisheries, Republic of Korea (20180430). M.C. was supported by Sloan Research Fellowship (FG-2020-12932). S.C.V. was funded by a Max Planck Research Group award from the Max Planck Society, and a Human Frontiers Science Program (HFSP) Research grant (RGP0058/2016). T.M.L., W.E.J. and the Canada lynx genome were funded by the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife (F11AF01099), including when W.E.J. held a National Research Council Research Associateship Award at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR). C.B. was supported by the NSF (1457541 and 1456612). D.B. was funded by The University of Queensland (HFSP - RGP0030/2015). D.I. was supported by Science Exchange Inc. (Palo Alto, CA). H.W.D. was supported by NSF grants (OPP-0132032 ICEFISH 2004 Cruise, PLR-1444167 and OPP-1955368) and the Marine Science Center at Northeastern University (416). G.J.P.N. and the thorny skate genome were funded by Lenfest Ocean Program (30884). M.P. was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (01IS18026C). M. Malinsky was supported by an EMBO fellowship (ALTF 456-2016). The following authors' contributions were supported by the NIH: S. Selvaraj (R44HG008118); C.V.M., S.R.F., P.V.L. (R21 DC014432/DC/NIDCD); K.D.M. (R01GM130691); H.C. (5U41HG002371-19); M.D. (U41HG007234); and B.P. (R01HG010485). D.G. was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2017YFC1201201, 2018YFC0910504 and 2017YFC0907503). F.O.A. was supported by Al-Gannas Qatari Society and The Cultural Village Foundation-Katara, Doha, State of Qatar and Monash University Malaysia. C.T. was supported by The Rockefeller University. M. Hiller was supported by the LOEWE-Centre for Translational Biodiversity Genomics (TBG) funded by the Hessen State Ministry of Higher Education, Research and the Arts (HMWK). H.C. was supported by the NHGRI (5U41HG002371-19). R.H.S.K. was funded by the Max Planck Society with computational resources at the bwUniCluster and BinAC funded by the Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts Baden-Württemberg and the Universities of the State of Baden-Württemberg, Germany (bwHPC-C5). B.V. was supported by the Biomedical Research Council of A*STAR, Singapore. T.M.-B. was funded by the European Research Council under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (864203), MINECO/FEDER, UE (BFU2017-86471-P), Unidad de Excelencia María de Maeztu, AEI (CEX2018-000792-M), a Howard Hughes International Early Career award, Obra Social "La Caixa" and Secretaria d'Universitats i Recerca and CERCA Programme del Departament d'Economia i Coneixement de la Generalitat de Catalunya (GRC 2017 SGR 880). E.C.T. was supported by the European Research Council (ERC-2012-StG311000) and an Irish Research Council Laureate Award. M.T.P.G. was supported by an ERC Consolidator Award 681396-Extinction Genomics, and a Danish National Research Foundation Center Grant (DNRF143). T.W. was supported by the NSF (1458652). J. M. Graves was supported by the Australian Research Council (CEO561477). E.W.M. was partially supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (01IS18026C). Complementary sequencing support for the Anna's hummingbird and several genomes was provided by Pacific Biosciences, Bionano Genomics, Dovetail Genomics, Arima Genomics, Phase Genomics, 10X Genomics, NRGene, Oxford Nanopore Technologies, Illumina, and DNAnexus. All other sequencing and assembly were conducted at the Rockefeller University, Sanger Institute, and Max Planck Institute Dresden genome labs. Part of this work used the computational resources of the NIH HPC Biowulf cluster (https://hpc.nih.gov). We acknowledge funding from the Wellcome Trust (108749/Z/15/Z) and the European Molecular Biology Laboratory. ; With funding from the Spanish government through the "Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence" accreditation (CEX2018-000792-M). ; Peer reviewed
In: Gao , Y , Wang , T , Yu , X , Ferrari , R , Hernandez , D G , Nalls , M A , Rohrer , J D , Ramasamy , A , Kwok , J B J , Dobson-Stone , C , Brooks , W S , Schofield , P R , Halliday , G M , Hodges , J R , Piguet , O , Bartley , L , Thompson , E , Haan , E , Hernández , I , Ruiz , A , Boada , M , Borroni , B , Padovani , A , Cruchaga , C , Cairns , N J , Benussi , L , Binetti , G , Ghidoni , R , Forloni , G , Albani , D , Galimberti , D , Fenoglio , C , Serpente , M , Scarpini , E , Clarimón , J , Lleó , A , Blesa , R , Waldö , M L , Nilsson , K , Nilsson , C , Mackenzie , I R A , Hsiung , G Y R , Mann , D M A , Grafman , J , Morris , C M , Attems , J , Griffiths , T D , McKeith , I G , Thomas , A J , Pietrini , P , Huey , E D , Wassermann , E M , Baborie , A , Jaros , E , Tierney , M C , Pastor , P , Razquin , C , Ortega-Cubero , S , Alonso , E , Perneczky , R , Diehl-Schmid , J , Alexopoulos , P , Kurz , A , Rainero , I , Rubino , E , Pinessi , L , Rogaeva , E , George-Hyslop , P S , Rossi , G , Tagliavini , F , Giaccone , G , Rowe , J B , Schlachetzki , J C M , Uphill , J , Collinge , J , Mead , S , Danek , A , Van Deerlin , V M , Grossman , M , Trojanowski , J Q , van der Zee , J , Cruts , M , Van Broeckhoven , C , Cappa , S F , Leber , I , Hannequin , D , Golfier , V , Vercelletto , M , Brice , A , Nacmias , B , Sorbi , S , Bagnoli , S , Piaceri , I , Nielsen , J E , Hjermind , L E , Riemenschneider , M , Mayhaus , M , Ibach , B , Gasparoni , G , Pichler , S , Gu , W , Rossor , M N , Fox , N C , Warren , J D , Spillantini , M G , Morris , H R , Rizzu , P , Heutink , P , Snowden , J S , Rollinson , S , Richardson , A , Gerhard , A , Bruni , A C , Maletta , R , Frangipane , F , Cupidi , C , Bernardi , L , Anfossi , M , Gallo , M , Conidi , M E , Smirne , N , Rademakers , R , Baker , M , Dickson , D W , Graff-Radford , N R , Petersen , R C , Knopman , D , Josephs , K A , Boeve , B F , Parisi , J E , Seeley , W W , Miller , B L , Karydas , A M , Rosen , H , van Swieten , J C , Dopper , E G P , Seelaar , H , Pijnenburg , Y A L , Scheltens , P , Logroscino , G , Capozzo , R , Novelli , V , Puca , A A , Franceschi , M , Postiglione , A , Milan , G , Sorrentino , P , Kristiansen , M , Chiang , H H , Graff , C , Pasquier , F , Rollin , A , Deramecourt , V , Lebouvier , T , Kapogiannis , D , Ferrucci , L , Pickering-Brown , S , Singleton , A B , Hardy , J , Momeni , P , Zhao , H , Zeng , P & International FTD-Genomics Consortium (IFGC) 2020 , ' Mendelian randomization implies no direct causal association between leukocyte telomere length and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis ' , Scientific Reports , vol. 10 , no. 1 , 12184 . https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-68848-9
We employed Mendelian randomization (MR) to evaluate the causal relationship between leukocyte telomere length (LTL) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) with summary statistics from genome-wide association studies (n = ~ 38,000 for LTL and ~ 81,000 for ALS in the European population; n = ~ 23,000 for LTL and ~ 4,100 for ALS in the Asian population). We further evaluated mediation roles of lipids in the pathway from LTL to ALS. The odds ratio per standard deviation decrease of LTL on ALS was 1.10 (95% CI 0.93–1.31, p = 0.274) in the European population and 0.75 (95% CI 0.53–1.07, p = 0.116) in the Asian population. This null association was also detected between LTL and frontotemporal dementia in the European population. However, we found that an indirect effect of LTL on ALS might be mediated by low density lipoprotein (LDL) or total cholesterol (TC) in the European population. These results were robust against extensive sensitivity analyses. Overall, our MR study did not support the direct causal association between LTL and the ALS risk in neither population, but provided suggestive evidence for the mediation role of LDL or TC on the influence of LTL and ALS in the European population.
Earthworms are an important soil taxon as ecosystem engineers, providing a variety of crucial ecosystem functions and services. Little is known about their diversity and distribution at large spatial scales, despite the availability of considerable amounts of local-scale data. Earthworm diversity data, obtained from the primary literature or provided directly by authors, were collated with information on site locations, including coordinates, habitat cover, and soil properties. Datasets were required, at a minimum, to include abundance or biomass of earthworms at a site. Where possible, site-level species lists were included, as well as the abundance and biomass of individual species and ecological groups. This global dataset contains 10,840 sites, with 184 species, from 60 countries and all continents except Antarctica. The data were obtained from 182 published articles, published between 1973 and 2017, and 17 unpublished datasets. Amalgamating data into a single global database will assist researchers in investigating and answering a wide variety of pressing questions, for example, jointly assessing aboveground and belowground biodiversity distributions and drivers of biodiversity change. ; H.R.P.P., B.K-R., and the sWorm workshops were supported by the sDiv [Synthesis Centre of the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig (DFG FZT 118)]. H.R.P.P., O.F. and N.E. acknowledge funding by the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement no. 677232 to NE). K.S.R. and W.H.v.d.P. were supported by ERC-ADV grant 323020 to W.H.v.d.P. Also supported by iDiv (DFG FZT118) Flexpool proposal 34600850 (C.A.G. and N.E.); the Academy of Finland (285882) and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (postdoctoral fellowship and RGPIN-2019-05758) (E.K.C.); German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (01LO0901A) (D.J.R.); ERC-AdG 694368 (M.R.); the TULIP Laboratory of Excellence (ANR-10-LABX-41) (M.L); and the BBSRC David Phillips Fellowship to F.T.d.V. (BB/L02456X/1). In addition, data collection was funded by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (12-04-01538-а, 12-04-01734-a, 14-44-03666-r_center_a, 15-29-02724-ofi_m, 16-04-01878-a 19-05-00245, 19-04-00-609-a); Tarbiat Modares University; Aurora Organic Dairy; UGC(NERO) (F. 1-6/Acctt./NERO/2007-08/1485); Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (RGPIN-2017-05391); Slovak Research and Development Agency (APVV-0098-12); Science for Global Development through Wageningen University; Norman Borlaug LEAP Programme and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); São Paulo Research Foundation - FAPESP (12/22510-8); Oklahoma Agricultural Experiment Station; INIA - Spanish Agency (SUM 2006-00012-00-0); Royal Canadian Geographical Society; Environmental Protection Agency (Ireland) (2005-S-LS-8); University of Hawai'i at Mānoa (HAW01127H; HAW01123M); European Union FP7 (FunDivEurope, 265171; ROUTES 265156); U.S. Department of the Navy, Commander Pacific Fleet (W9126G-13-2-0047); Science and Engineering Research Board (SB/SO/AS-030/2013) Department of Science and Technology, New Delhi, India; Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP) of the U.S. Department of Defense (RC-1542); Maranhão State Research Foundation (FAPEMA 03135/13, 02471/17); Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES 3281/2013); Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic (LTT17033); Colorado Wheat Research Foundation; Zone Atelier Alpes, French National Research Agency (ANR-11-BSV7-020-01, ANR-09-STRA-02-01, ANR 06 BIODIV 009-01); Austrian Science Fund (P16027, T441); Landwirtschaftliche Rentenbank Frankfurt am Main; Welsh Government and the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (Project Ref. A AAB 62 03 qA731606); SÉPAQ, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of Finland; Science Foundation Ireland (EEB0061); University of Toronto (Faculty of Forestry); National Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada; Haliburton Forest & Wildlife Reserve; NKU College of Arts & Sciences Grant; Österreichische Forschungsförderungsgesellschaft (837393 and 837426); Mountain Agriculture Research Unit of the University of Innsbruck; Higher Education Commission of Pakistan; Kerala Forest Research Institute, Peechi, Kerala; UNEP/GEF/TSBF-CIAT Project on Conservation and Sustainable Management of Belowground Biodiversity; Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of Finland; Complutense University of Madrid/European Union FP7 project BioBio (FPU UCM 613520); GRDC; AWI; LWRRDC; DRDC; CONICET (National Scientific and Technical Research Council) and FONCyT (National Agency of Scientific and Technological Promotion) (PICT, PAE, PIP), Universidad Nacional de Luján y FONCyT (PICT 2293 (2006)); Fonds de recherche sur la nature et les technologies du Québec (131894); Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (SCHR1000/3-1, SCHR1000/6-1, 6-2 (FOR 1598), WO 670/7-1, WO 670/7-2, & SCHA 1719/1-2), CONACYT (FONDOS MIXTOS TABASCO/PROYECTO11316); NSF (DGE-0549245, DGE-0549245, DEB-BE-0909452, NSF1241932, LTER Program DEB-97–14835); Institute for Environmental Science and Policy at the University of Illinois at Chicago; Dean's Scholar Program at UIC; Garden Club of America Zone VI Fellowship in Urban Forestry from the Casey Tree Endowment Fund; J.E. Weaver Competitive Grant from the Nebraska Chapter of The Nature Conservancy; The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Depaul University; Elmore Hadley Award for Research in Ecology and Evolution from the UIC Dept. of Biological Sciences, Spanish CICYT (AMB96-1161; REN2000-0783/GLO; REN2003-05553/GLO; REN2003-03989/GLO; CGL2007-60661/BOS); Yokohama National University; MEXT KAKENHI (25220104); Japan Society for the Promotion of Science KAKENHI (25281053, 17KT0074, 25252026); ADEME (0775C0035); Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities of Spain (CGL2017-86926-P); Syngenta Philippines; UPSTREAM; LTSER (Val Mazia/Matschertal); Marie Sklodowska Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship (747607); National Science & Technology Base Resource Survey Project of China (2018FY100306); McKnight Foundation (14–168); Program of Fundamental Researches of Presidium of Russian Academy of Sciences (AААА-A18–118021490070–5); Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq 310690/2017–0, 404191/2019–3, 307486/2013–3); French Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs; Bavarian Ministry for Food, Agriculture and Forestry (Project No B62); INRA AIDY project; MIUR PRIN 2008; Idaho Agricultural Experiment Station; Estonian Science Foundation; Ontario Ministry of the Environment, Canada; Russian Science Foundation (16-17-10284); National Natural Science Foundation of China (41371270); Australian Research Council (FT120100463); USDA Forest Service-IITF. ; Peer reviewed
The global lockdown to mitigate COVID-19 pandemic health risks has altered human interactions with nature. Here, we report immediate impacts of changes in human activities on wildlife and environmental threats during the early lockdown months of 2020, based on 877 qualitative reports and 332 quantitative assessments from 89 different studies. Hundreds of reports of unusual species observations from around the world suggest that animals quickly responded to the reductions in human presence. However, negative effects of lockdown on conservation also emerged, as confinement resulted in some park officials being unable to perform conservation, restoration and enforcement tasks, resulting in local increases in illegal activities such as hunting. Overall, there is a complex mixture of positive and negative effects of the pandemic lockdown on nature, all of which have the potential to lead to cascading responses which in turn impact wildlife and nature conservation. While the net effect of the lockdown will need to be assessed over years as data becomes available and persistent effects emerge, immediate responses were detected across the world. Thus, initial qualitative and quantitative data arising from this serendipitous global quasi-experimental perturbation highlights the dual role that humans play in threatening and protecting species and ecosystems. Pathways to favorably tilt this delicate balance include reducing impacts and increasing conservation effectiveness. ; The Canada Research Chairs program provided funding for the core writing team. Field research funding was provided by A.G. Leventis Foundation; Agence Nationale de la Recherche, [grant number ANR-18-32–0010CE-01 (JCJC PEPPER)]; Agencia Estatal de Investigaci; Agência Regional para o Desenvolvimento da Investigação Tecnologia e Inovação (ARDITI), [grant number M1420-09-5369-FSE-000002]; Alan Peterson; ArcticNet; Arkadaşlar; Army Corp of Engineers; Artificial Reef Program; Australia's Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS), National Collaborative; Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS), University of Tasmania; Australian Institute of Marine Science; Australian Research Council, [grant number LP140100222]; Bai Xian Asia Institute; Batubay Özkan; BC Hydro Fish and Wildlife Compensation Program; Ben-Gurion University of the Negev; Bertarelli Foundation; Bertarelli Programme in Marine Science; Bilge Bahar; Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; Biology Society of South Australia; Boston University; Burak Över; California State Assembly member Patrick O'Donnell; California State University Council on Ocean Affairs, Science & Technology; California State University Long Beach; Canada Foundation for Innovation (Major Science Initiative Fund and funding to Oceans Network Canada), [grant number MSI 30199 for ONC]; Cape Eleuthera Foundation; Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales; Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique; Charles Darwin Foundation, [grant number 2398]; Colombian Institute for the Development of Science and Technology (COLCIENCIAS), [grant number 811–2018]; Colombian Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development, [grant number 0041–2020]; Columbia Basin Trust; Commission for Environmental Cooperation; Cornell Lab of Ornithology; Cultural practices and environmental certification of beaches, Universidad de la Costa, Colombia, [grant number INV.1106–01–002-15, 2020–21]; Department of Conservation New Zealand; Direction de l'Environnement de Polynésie Française; Disney Conservation Fund; DSI-NRF Centre of; Excellence at the FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology; Ecology Project International; Emin Özgür; Environment and Climate Change Canada; European Community: RTD programme - Species Support to Policies; European Community's Seventh Framework Programme; European Union; European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, Marie Skłodowska-Curie, [grant number 798091, 794938]; Faruk Eczacıbaşı; Faruk Yalçın Zoo; Field research funding was provided by King Abdullah University of Science and Technology; Fish and Wildlife Compensation Program; Fisheries and Oceans Canada; Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, [grant numbers FWC-12164, FWC-14026, FWC-19050]; Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional; Fonds québécois de la recherche nature et technologies; Foundation Segré; Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT Portugal); Galapagos National Park Directorate research, [grant number PC-41-20]; Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, [grant number GBMF9881 and GBMF 8072]; Government of Tristan da Cunha; Habitat; Conservation Trust Foundation; Holsworth Wildlife Research Endowment; Institute of Biology of the Southern Seas, Sevastopol, Russia; Instituto de Investigación de Recursos Biológicos Alexander von Humboldt; Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE), Brazil; Israeli Academy of Science's Adams Fellowship; King Family Trust; Labex, CORAIL, France; Liber Ero Fellowship; LIFE (European Union), [grant number LIFE16 NAT/BG/000874]; Mar'a de Maeztu Program for Units of Excellence in R&D; Ministry of Science and Innovation, FEDER, SPASIMM,; Spain, [grant number FIS2016–80067-P (AEI/FEDER, UE)]; MOE-Korea, [grant number 2020002990006]; Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund; Montreal Space for Life; National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Earth and Space Science Fellowship Program; National Geographic Society, [grant numbers NGS-82515R-20]; National Natural Science Fund of China; National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; National Parks Board, Singapore; National Science and Technology Major Project of China; National Science Foundation, [grant number DEB-1832016]; Natural Environment Research Council of the UK; Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), Alliance COVID-19 grant program, [grant numbers ALLRP 550721–20, RGPIN-2014-06229 (year: 2014), RGPIN-2016-05772 (year: 2016)]; Neiser Foundation; Nekton Foundation; Network of Centre of Excellence of Canada: ArcticNet; North Family Foundation; Ocean Tracking Network; Ömer Külahçıoğlu; Oregon State University; Parks Canada Agency (Lake Louise, Yoho, and Kootenay Field Unit); Pew Charitable Trusts; Porsim Kanaf partnership; President's International Fellowship Initiative for postdoctoral researchers Chinese Academy of Sciences, [grant number 2019 PB0143]; Red Sea Research Center; Regional Government of the Azores, [grant number M3.1a/F/025/2015]; Regione Toscana; Rotary Club of Rhinebeck; Save our Seas Foundation; Science & Technology (CSU COAST); Science City Davos, Naturforschende Gesellschaft Davos; Seha İşmen; Sentinelle Nord program from the Canada First Research Excellence Fund; Servizio Foreste e Fauna (Provincia Autonoma di Trento); Sigrid Rausing Trust; Simon Fraser University; Sitka Foundation; Sivil Toplum Geliştirme Merkezi Derneği; South African National Parks (SANParks); South Australian Department for Environment and Water; Southern California Tuna Club (SCTC); Spanish Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge; Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness; Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation; State of California; Sternlicht Family Foundation; Suna Reyent; Sunshine Coast Regional Council; Tarea Vida, CEMZOC, Universidad de Oriente, Cuba, [grant number 10523, 2020]; Teck Coal; The Hamilton Waterfront Trust; The Ian Potter Foundation, Coastwest, Western Australian State NRM; The Red Sea Development Company; The Wanderlust Fund; The Whitley Fund; Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline; Tula Foundation (Hakai Institute); University of Arizona; University of Pisa; US Fish and Wildlife Service; US Geological Survey; Valencian Regional Government; Vermont Center for Ecostudies; Victorian Fisheries Authority; VMRC Fishing License Fund; and Wildlife Warriors Worldwide.
Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted routine hospital services globally. This study estimated the total number of adult elective operations that would be cancelled worldwide during the 12 weeks of peak disruption due to COVID-19. Methods: A global expert response study was conducted to elicit projections for the proportion of elective surgery that would be cancelled or postponed during the 12 weeks of peak disruption. A Bayesian β-regression model was used to estimate 12-week cancellation rates for 190 countries. Elective surgical case-mix data, stratified by specialty and indication (surgery for cancer versus benign disease), were determined. This case mix was applied to country-level surgical volumes. The 12-week cancellation rates were then applied to these figures to calculate the total number of cancelled operations. Results: The best estimate was that 28 404 603 operations would be cancelled or postponed during the peak 12 weeks of disruption due to COVID-19 (2 367 050 operations per week). Most would be operations for benign disease (90·2 per cent, 25 638 922 of 28 404 603). The overall 12-week cancellation rate would be 72·3 per cent. Globally, 81·7 per cent of operations for benign conditions (25 638 922 of 31 378 062), 37·7 per cent of cancer operations (2 324 070 of 6 162 311) and 25·4 per cent of elective caesarean sections (441 611 of 1 735 483) would be cancelled or postponed. If countries increased their normal surgical volume by 20 per cent after the pandemic, it would take a median of 45 weeks to clear the backlog of operations resulting from COVID-19 disruption. Conclusion: A very large number of operations will be cancelled or postponed owing to disruption caused by COVID-19. Governments should mitigate against this major burden on patients by developing recovery plans and implementing strategies to restore surgical activity safely.