Haemosporidian Infection Risk Variation Across an Urban Gradient in a Songbird.

Urbanization is a significant source of inter- and intra-city environmental variation and is associated with declining avian population sizes, with a shift towards more homogeneous communities that consist of large populations of the same species. However, whether this shift extends to urban disease ecology and related parasite communities requires further examination. By comparing the diversity of two related parasite genera (largely host-generalist and largely host-specialist and infection status of dark-eyed juncos () across an urbanization gradient in California, we can determine how broad urban-associated land use changes and localized habitat composition correlate with pathogen communities.

Feather macrostructure is marginally correlated with temperature range but not urbanization across California.

Urban environments are often associated with resource and environmental differences providing potential novel selection pressures compared to adjacent unmodified landscapes. While these characteristics (e.g.

Determinants of vector-borne avian pathogen occurrence in a mosaic of habitat fragmentation in California.

Background: As habitat fragmentation increases, ecological processes, including patterns of vector-borne pathogen prevalence, will likely be disrupted, but ongoing investigations are necessary to examine this relationship. Here, we report the differences in the prevalence of Lyme disease (Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato, s.l.

Investigating Instructor Talk among Graduate Teaching Assistants in Undergraduate Biology Laboratory Classrooms.

Instructor Talk-noncontent and nonlogistical language that is focused on shaping the classroom learning environment-is a recently defined variable that may play an important role in how undergraduates experience courses. Previous research characterized Instructor Talk used by faculty teaching in biology lecture classrooms. However, graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) and laboratory classrooms represent critical factors in undergraduate education, and Instructor Talk in this context has yet to be explored.

Prevalence and diversity of avian haemosporidian parasites across islands of Milne Bay Province, Papua New Guinea.

The taxonomically diverse and relatively understudied avifauna of Papua New Guinea's (PNG) island archipelagos provide a unique ecological framework for studying haemosporidian parasite differentiation and geographic structure. We implemented molecular and phylogenetic analyses of partial mitochondrial DNA sequences to assess the host distribution of 3 genera of vector-transmitted avian blood parasites (Plasmodium, Leucocytozoon and Haemoproteus) across a range of islands off the southeastern tip of PNG. We identified 40 new lineages of haemosporidians, including five lineages belonging to Leucocytozoon, a genus not previously described in this region.

Local Community Composition Drives Avian Infection and Tick Infestation.

Globally, zoonotic vector-borne diseases are on the rise and understanding their complex transmission cycles is pertinent to mitigating disease risk. In North America, Lyme disease is the most commonly reported vector-borne disease and is caused by transmission of sensu lato (s.l.

Loss of Sbds in zebrafish leads to neutropenia and pancreas and liver atrophy.

Shwachman-Diamond syndrome (SDS) is characterized by exocrine pancreatic insufficiency, neutropenia, and skeletal abnormalities. Biallelic mutations in SBDS, which encodes a ribosome maturation factor, are found in 90% of SDS cases. Sbds-/- mice are embryonic lethal.