TY - JOUR TI - The Coupled Influence of Thermal Physiology and Biotic Interactions on the Distribution and Density of Ant Species along an Elevational Gradient AU - Chick, Lacy D. AU - Lessard, Jean-Philippe AU - Dunn, Robert R. AU - Sanders, Nathan J. T2 - DIVERSITY-BASEL AB - A fundamental tenet of biogeography is that abiotic and biotic factors interact to shape the distributions of species and the organization of communities, with interactions being more important in benign environments, and environmental filtering more important in stressful environments. This pattern is often inferred using large databases or phylogenetic signal, but physiological mechanisms underlying such patterns are rarely examined. We focused on 18 ant species at 29 sites along an extensive elevational gradient, coupling experimental data on critical thermal limits, null model analyses, and observational data of density and abundance to elucidate factors governing species’ elevational range limits. Thermal tolerance data showed that environmental conditions were likely to be more important in colder, more stressful environments, where physiology was the most important constraint on the distribution and density of ant species. Conversely, the evidence for species interactions was strongest in warmer, more benign conditions, as indicated by our observational data and null model analyses. Our results provide a strong test that biotic interactions drive the distributions and density of species in warm climates, but that environmental filtering predominates at colder, high-elevation sites. Such a pattern suggests that the responses of species to climate change are likely to be context-dependent and more specifically, geographically-dependent. DA - 2020/12// PY - 2020/12// DO - 10.3390/d12120456 VL - 12 IS - 12 SP - SN - 1424-2818 KW - ants KW - community structure KW - physiology KW - interactions KW - temperature ER - TY - JOUR TI - Bacterial exposure leads to variable mortality but not a measurable increase in surface antimicrobials across ant species AU - Halawani, Omar AU - Dunn, Robert R. AU - Grunden, Amy M. AU - Smith, Adrian A. T2 - PEERJ AB - Social insects have co-existed with microbial species for millions of years and have evolved a diversity of collective defenses, including the use of antimicrobials. While many studies have revealed strategies that ants use against microbial entomopathogens, and several have shown ant-produced compounds inhibit environmental bacterial growth, few studies have tested whether exposure to environmental bacteria represents a health threat to ants. We compare four ant species’ responses to exposure to Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus epidermidis bacteria in order to broaden our understanding of microbial health-threats to ants and their ability to defend against them. In a first experiment, we measure worker mortality of Solenopsis invicta , Brachymyrmex chinensis , Aphaenogaster rudis , and Dorymyrmex bureni in response to exposure to E. coli and S. epidermidis . We found that exposure to E. coli was lethal for S. invicta and D. bureni , while all other effects of exposure were not different from experimental controls. In a second experiment, we compared the antimicrobial ability of surface extracts from bacteria-exposed and non-exposed S. invicta and B. chinensis worker ants, to see if exposure to E. coli or S. epidermidis led to an increase in antimicrobial compounds. We found no difference in the inhibitory effects from either treatment group in either species. Our results demonstrate the susceptibility to bacteria is varied across ant species. This variation may correlate with an ant species’ use of surface antimicrobials, as we found significant mortality effects in species which also were producing antimicrobials. Further exploration of a wide range of both bacteria and ant species is likely to reveal unique and nuanced antimicrobial strategies and deepen our understanding of how ant societies respond to microbial health threats. DA - 2020/12/3/ PY - 2020/12/3/ DO - 10.7717/peerj.10412 VL - 8 SP - SN - 2167-8359 KW - Entomopathogen KW - Metapleural gland KW - Social immunity KW - Bacterial exposure KW - Social insects KW - Sociobiology KW - Antimicrobial ER - TY - JOUR TI - History and Domestication of Saccharomyces cerevisiae in Bread Baking AU - Lahue, Caitlin AU - Madden, Anne A. AU - Dunn, Robert R. AU - Smukowski Heil, Caiti T2 - FRONTIERS IN GENETICS AB - The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae has been instrumental in the fermentation of foods and beverages for millennia. In addition to fermentations like wine, beer, cider, sake, and bread, S. cerevisiae has been isolated from environments ranging from soil and trees, to human clinical isolates. Each of these environments has unique selection pressures that S. cerevisiae must adapt to. Bread dough, for example, requires S. cerevisiae to efficiently utilize the complex sugar maltose; tolerate osmotic stress due to the semi-solid state of dough, high salt, and high sugar content of some doughs; withstand various processing conditions, including freezing and drying; and produce desirable aromas and flavors. In this review, we explore the history of bread that gave rise to modern commercial baking yeast, and the genetic and genomic changes that accompanied this. We illustrate the genetic and phenotypic variation that has been documented in baking strains and wild strains, and how this variation might be used for baking strain improvement. While we continue to improve our understanding of how baking strains have adapted to bread dough, we conclude by highlighting some of the remaining open questions in the field. DA - 2020/11/11/ PY - 2020/11/11/ DO - 10.3389/fgene.2020.584718 VL - 11 SP - SN - 1664-8021 KW - Saccharomyces cerevisiae (Baker’ KW - s yeast) KW - bread KW - baking KW - domestication KW - industrial KW - yeast ER - TY - JOUR TI - Antimicrobial resistance and virulence factors profile of Salmonella spp. and Escherichia coli isolated from different environments exposed to anthropogenic activity AU - Balbin, Michelle M. AU - Hull, Dawn AU - Guest, Chloe AU - Nichols, Lauren AU - Dunn, Robert AU - Thakur, Siddhartha T2 - JOURNAL OF GLOBAL ANTIMICROBIAL RESISTANCE AB - The study aimed to identify the antimicrobial resistance (AMR) determinants and virulence factors in Salmonella spp. and Escherichia coli recovered from different anthropogenic areas in North Carolina. Soil samples were collected from different anthropogenic areas, urban and natural. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) was determined by using the broth microdilution method. Whole-genome sequencing (WGS) and analysis were done to identify the AMR determinants and virulence factors. A higher prevalence of Salmonella spp. and E. coli was detected in the urban environment. The Salmonella spp. isolates showed resistance to sulfisoxazole and streptomycin, whereas E. coli was resistant to sulfisoxazole, cefoxitin and ampicillin. Salmonella serotypes Schwarzengrund and Mississippi were identified based on WGS analysis. Aminoglycoside resistance genes and IncFIB and IncFIC(FII) plasmids were detected among Salmonella spp. In general, E. coli was predominated by isolates from phylogroups B1, B2 and D. The multidrug transporter mdfA gene was detected in most of the E. coli from both the urban (100%) and natural (84.5%) environments. The FosA7 gene was detected in an isolate from a residential yard. The pCoo and pB171 plasmids were detected in an urban environment; col(156) and pHN7A8 plasmids were detected in natural environments. The detection of AMR determinants and virulence factors in these bacteria is significant in understanding the occurrence and even the development of AMR. The presence of these determinants in different anthropogenic areas suggests the need to conduct longitudinal studies for comparing the profile of pathogens across different environments. DA - 2020/9// PY - 2020/9// DO - 10.1016/j.jgar.2020.05.016 VL - 22 SP - 578-583 SN - 2213-7173 KW - Anthropogenic areas KW - Whole-genome sequencing KW - FosA7 gene KW - pHN7A8 (F33:A-:B-plasmid) ER - TY - JOUR TI - The Internal, External and Extended Microbiomes of Hominins (vol 8, 25, 2020) AU - Dunn, Robert R. AU - Amato, Katherine R. AU - Archie, Elizabeth A. AU - Arandjelovic, Mimi AU - Crittenden, Alyssa N. AU - Nichols, Lauren M. T2 - FRONTIERS IN ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION AB - Error in Figure/TableIn the original article, there was a mistake in Figure 1 as published. Colobus monkeys and Langur monkeys were misclassified as omnivores rather than as folivores; and “Sykes monkeys” was misspelled and misclassified as an herbivore rather than as an omnivore. The corrected Figure 1 appears below. The authors apologize for this error and state that this does not change the scientific conclusions of the article in any way. The original article has been updated. DA - 2020/8/19/ PY - 2020/8/19/ DO - 10.3389/fevo.2020.00236 VL - 8 SP - SN - 2296-701X KW - fermentation KW - primates KW - prosocial microbes KW - feces KW - food KW - armpits KW - alcohol ER - TY - JOUR TI - The small home ranges and large local ecological impacts of pet cats AU - Kays, R. AU - Dunn, R. R. AU - Parsons, A. W. AU - Mcdonald, B. AU - Perkins, T. AU - Powers, S. A. AU - Shell, L. AU - McDonald, J. L. AU - Cole, H. AU - Kikillus, H. AU - Woods, L. AU - Tindle, H. AU - Roetman, P. T2 - ANIMAL CONSERVATION AB - Abstract Domestic cats ( Felis catus ) are a conservation concern because they kill billions of native prey each year, but without spatial context the ecological importance of pets as predators remains uncertain. We worked with citizen scientists to track 925 pet cats from six countries, finding remarkably small home ranges (3.6 ± 5.6 ha). Only three cats ranged > 1 km 2 and we found no relationship between home range size and the presence of larger native predators (i.e. coyotes, Canis latrans ). Most (75%) cats used primarily (90%) disturbed habitats. Owners reported that their pets killed an average of 3.5 prey items/month, leading to an estimated ecological impact per cat of 14.2‐38.9 prey ha −1 yr −1 . This is similar or higher than the per‐animal ecological impact of wild carnivores but the effect is amplified by the high density of cats in neighborhoods. As a result, pet cats around the world have an ecological impact greater than native predators but concentrated within ~100 m of their homes. DA - 2020/10// PY - 2020/10// DO - 10.1111/acv.12563 VL - 23 IS - 5 SP - 516-523 SN - 1469-1795 KW - citizen science KW - domestic cats KW - GPS tracking KW - predation KW - urban ecology KW - home rage KW - carnivores KW - Felis catus ER - TY - JOUR TI - Testing trade-offs and the dominance-impoverishment rule among ant communities AU - Sheard, Julie K. AU - Nelson, Annika S. AU - Berggreen, Jeppe D. AU - Boulay, Raphael AU - Dunn, Robert R. AU - Sanders, Nathan J. T2 - JOURNAL OF BIOGEOGRAPHY AB - Abstract Aim Ant communities are believed to be structured by competition, with dominant species competitively excluding subordinates (the dominance–impoverishment rule). However, a high number of seemingly similar species coexist, possibly due to interspecific trade‐offs. Here, we examine the evidence for the dominance–impoverishment rule across a broad latitudinal gradient and explore whether trade‐offs explain coexistence within and among ant communities. Location 40 sites in 19 countries across Europe, western North America and northern South America. Taxon Formicidae. Methods We conducted 2‐hr baiting experiments at each site. Three dominance scores were calculated for each species at each site where it occurred. We then examined the relationship between ant dominance and diversity and tested for the generality of three trade‐offs (dominance–discovery, dominance–thermal tolerance and dominance–generalism) within and among ant communities along with the possible effects of environmental variables on these trade‐offs. Results We found no support for the dominance–impoverishment rule. Instead, overall species richness at baits was positively correlated with the number of dominant species and exhibited a unimodal relationship with the relative abundance of dominant ants. Moreover, we found little consistent evidence for the three interspecific trade‐offs. Main conclusion Although total species richness at baits is positively correlated with species richness of dominant species and, to a point, increasing worker numbers of dominants, trade‐offs among species do not appear to shape broad‐scale patterns of coexistence among ants. Species richness declines only when the numbers of dominant workers are very high. Together, these results suggest that while trade‐offs and the dominance–impoverishment rule might promote coexistence or shape ant communities in some locations, the evidence for their being general across communities is scant. DA - 2020/9// PY - 2020/9// DO - 10.1111/jbi.13911 VL - 47 IS - 9 SP - 1899-1909 SN - 1365-2699 KW - biogeography KW - competition KW - discovery KW - dominance KW - formicidae KW - resource use KW - thermal tolerance ER - TY - JOUR TI - Is the insect apocalypse upon us? How to find out AU - Montgomery, Graham A. AU - Dunn, Robert R. AU - Fox, Richard AU - Jongejans, Eelke AU - Leather, Simon R. AU - Saunders, Manu E. AU - Shortall, Chris R. AU - Tingley, Morgan W. AU - Wagner, David L. T2 - Biological Conservation AB - In recent decades, entomologists have documented alarming declines in occurrence, taxonomic richness, and geographic range of insects around the world. Additionally, some recent studies have reported that insect abundance and biomass, often of common species, are rapidly declining, which has led some to dub the phenomenon an “Insect Apocalypse”. Recent reports are sufficiently robust to justify immediate actions to protect insect biodiversity worldwide. We caution, however, that we do not yet have the data to assess large-scale spatial patterns in the severity of insect trends. Most documented collapses are from geographically restricted studies and, alone, do not allow us to draw conclusions about insect declines on continental or global scales, especially with regards to future projections of total insect biomass, abundance, and extinction. There are many challenges to understanding insect declines: only a small fraction of insect species have had any substantial population monitoring, millions of species remain unstudied, and most of the long-term population data for insects come from human-dominated landscapes in western and northern Europe. But there are still concrete steps we can take to improve our understanding of potential declines. Here, we review the challenges scientists face in documenting insect population and diversity trends, including communicating their findings, and recommend research approaches needed to address these challenges. DA - 2020/1// PY - 2020/1// DO - 10.1016/j.biocon.2019.108327 VL - 241 SP - 108327 J2 - Biological Conservation LA - en OP - SN - 0006-3207 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2019.108327 DB - Crossref KW - Insect declines KW - Biodiversity crisis KW - Biomass KW - Monitoring KW - Entomology ER - TY - JOUR TI - Global forensic geolocation with deep neural networks AU - Grantham, Neal S. AU - Reich, Brian J. AU - Laber, Eric B. AU - Pacifici, Krishna AU - Dunn, Robert R. AU - Fierer, Noah AU - Gebert, Matthew AU - Allwood, Julia S. AU - Faith, Seth A. T2 - JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL STATISTICAL SOCIETY SERIES C-APPLIED STATISTICS AB - Summary An important problem in modern forensic analyses is identifying the provenance of materials at a crime scene, such as biological material on a piece of clothing. This procedure, which is known as geolocation, is conventionally guided by expert knowledge of the biological evidence and therefore tends to be application specific, labour intensive and often subjective. Purely data-driven methods have yet to be fully realized in this domain, because in part of the lack of a sufficiently rich source of data. However, high throughput sequencing technologies can identify tens of thousands of fungi and bacteria taxa by using DNA recovered from a single swab collected from nearly any object or surface. This microbial community, or microbiome, may be highly informative of the provenance of the sample, but data on the spatial variation of microbiomes are sparse and high dimensional and have a complex dependence structure that render them difficult to model with standard statistical tools. Deep learning algorithms have generated a tremendous amount of interest within the machine learning community for their predictive performance in high dimensional problems. We present DeepSpace: a new algorithm for geolocation that aggregates over an ensemble of deep neural network classifiers trained on randomly generated Voronoi partitions of a spatial domain. The DeepSpace algorithm makes remarkably good point predictions; for example, when applied to the microbiomes of over 1300 dust samples collected across continental USA, more than half of geolocation predictions produced by this model fall less than 100 km from their true origin, which is a 60% reduction in error from competing geolocation methods. Moreover, we apply DeepSpace to a novel data set of global dust samples collected from nearly 30 countries, finding that dust-associated fungi alone predict a sample's country of origin with nearly 90% accuracy. DA - 2020/8// PY - 2020/8// DO - 10.1111/rssc.12427 VL - 69 IS - 4 SP - 909-929 SN - 1467-9876 KW - Citizen science KW - Machine learning KW - Microbiome KW - Non-homogeneous Poisson process KW - Spatial point pattern ER - TY - JOUR TI - Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds, and Shape Our Futures AU - Dunn, Rob T2 - SCIENCE AB - An ode to an underappreciated life form reminds readers that the mundane can be sublime DA - 2020/5/15/ PY - 2020/5/15/ DO - 10.1126/science.abb5841 VL - 368 IS - 6492 SP - 722-722 SN - 1095-9203 ER - TY - JOUR TI - Island area, not isolation, drives taxonomic, phylogenetic and functional diversity of ants on land-bridge islands AU - Zhao, Yuhao AU - Dunn, Robert R. AU - Zhou, Haonan AU - Si, Xingfeng AU - Ding, Ping T2 - JOURNAL OF BIOGEOGRAPHY AB - Abstract Aim To explore the impact of island area and isolation on multiple dimensions of ant biodiversity (taxonomic, phylogenetic and functional diversity) and the underlying processes of community assembly on islands. Location Thousand Island Lake, Zhejiang, China, created by dam construction in 1959. Taxon Ants. Methods We sampled ants on 33 islands, built a species‐level phylogenetic tree and measured five morphological traits of all species collected to estimate taxonomic, phylogenetic and functional diversity. We used multiple linear regression models and null models to examine the relationships between diversity metrics and island variables (area and isolation). Results We recorded 97 ant species on the study islands. We verified positive diversity–area relationships for species richness, phylogenetic diversity and functional diversity. However, although functional and phylogenetic community structure were indistinguishable from random communities, phylogenetic structure tended to be clustered, whereas functional structure tended to be overdispersed. Additionally, we found the structure of ant communities shifted from phylogenetic and functional clustering on smaller islands to phylogenetic and functional overdispersion on larger islands. Main conclusions Our results support the hypothesis that environmental filtering is the dominant process structuring ant communities on smaller islands, and that competitive exclusion becomes more important on larger islands. Thus, island area acts as an important filter even though ant community structure on the study islands was indistinguishable from random communities. Moreover, our results show that environmental filtering influences phylogenetic community structure of ants, whereas competitive exclusion influences functional community structure of ants. These findings highlight the need to examine both phylogenetic and functional diversity in order to understand the mechanisms that govern the assembly of natural communities on islands. DA - 2020/8// PY - 2020/8// DO - 10.1111/jbi.13860 VL - 47 IS - 8 SP - 1627-1637 SN - 1365-2699 KW - ants KW - community structure KW - competitive exclusion KW - environmental filtering KW - island biogeography KW - morphological traits KW - phylogeny KW - Thousand Island Lake ER - TY - JOUR TI - Natural and anthropogenic-induced changes in a tidal inlet: Morphological evolution of Oregon Inlet AU - Velasquez-Montoya, Liliana AU - Overton, Margery F. AU - Sciaudone, Elizabeth J. T2 - GEOMORPHOLOGY AB - Natural processes driving the dynamics of tidal inlets have been studied in length, however, as human influence in the coastal environment persists, there is a need to comprehend how both natural and human-induced processes drive different aspects of tidal inlet morphological evolution. An effort to understand the combined effects of natural and anthropogenic-induced processes in a tidal inlet is pursued by studying Oregon Inlet, considered one of the most dynamic inlets in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, USA. The temporal and spatial scales of the anthropogenic processes driving the morphological evolution of this tidal inlet are studied by means of remotely sensed data and in-situ observations gathered from 2005 until 2015. Effects of natural process that cannot be gathered from observations are studied via a morphological model based on Delft3D. Evolutional trends include the cyclical response of the main channel of the inlet to dredging, a 13° northward rotation of the main channel, and frequent sediment transport reversal in the southern shoulder. Simulations indicate a net sediment transport rate into the inlet of 205,000 m3/yr. Tidal currents are responsible for 55% of such transport, while waves account for the remaining 45%. After a 2-year non-dredging modeling scenario, sediments from the subaqueous spit form a detached shoal in the north side of the flood delta and the main channel remains open branching into two dominant channels. Observations and model results indicate that Oregon Inlet has been in a state of stable equilibrium in the past decade. Natural and human-induced processes contribute to such equilibrium. This study exemplifies the decadal behavior of a tidal inlet influenced by natural processes, infrastructure, and dredging. DA - 2020/2/1/ PY - 2020/2/1/ DO - 10.1016/j.geomorph.2019.106871 VL - 350 SP - SN - 1872-695X KW - Nearshore processes KW - Coastal morphodynamics KW - Numerical modeling KW - Dredging KW - Human impacts KW - Outer Banks of North Carolina ER - TY - JOUR TI - Storm-driven erosion and inundation of barrier islands from dune-to region-scales AU - Gharagozlou, Alireza AU - Dietrich, Joel Casey AU - Karanci, Ayse AU - Luettich, Richard A. AU - Overton, Margery F. T2 - COASTAL ENGINEERING AB - Barrier islands are susceptible to erosion, overwash, and breaching during intense storms. However, these processes are not represented typically in large-domain models for storm surge and coastal inundation. In this study, we explore the requirements for bridging the gap between dune-scale morphodynamic and region-scale flooding models. A high-resolution XBeach model is developed to represent the morphodynamics during Hurricane Isabel (2003) in the North Carolina (NC) Outer Banks. The model domain is extended to more than 30km of Hatteras Island and is thus larger than in previous studies. The predicted dune erosion is in good agreement with post-storm observed topography, and an ‘‘excellent’’ Skill Score of 0.59 is obtained on this large domain. Sensitivity studies show the morphodynamic model accuracy is decreased as the mesh spacing is coarsened in the cross-shore direction, but the results are less sensitive to the alongshore resolution. A new metric to assess model skill, Water Overpassing Area (WOA), is introduced to account for the available flow pathway over the dune crest. Together, these findings allow for upscaled parameterizations of erosion in larger-domain models. The updated topography, obtained from XBeach prediction, is applied in a region-scale flooding model, thus allowing for enhanced flooding predictions in communities along the Outer Banks. It is found that, even using a fixed topography in region-scale model, the flooding predictions are improved significantly when post-storm topography from XBeach is implemented. These findings can be generalized to similar barrier island systems, which are common along the U.S. Gulf and Atlantic coasts. DA - 2020/6// PY - 2020/6// DO - 10.1016/j.coastaleng.2020.103674 VL - 158 SP - SN - 1872-7379 KW - XBeach KW - Hurricane Isabel KW - Outer banks KW - Coastal morphodynamics KW - ADCIRC plus SWAN ER - TY - JOUR TI - Use of standardized bioinformatics for the analysis of fungal DNA signatures applied to sample provenance AU - Allwood, Julia S. AU - Fierer, Noah AU - Dunn, Robert R. AU - Breen, Matthew AU - Reich, Brian J. AU - Laber, Eric B. AU - Clifton, Jesse AU - Grantham, Neal S. AU - Faith, Seth A. T2 - FORENSIC SCIENCE INTERNATIONAL AB - The use of environmental trace material to aid criminal investigations is an ongoing field of research within forensic science. The application of environmental material thus far has focused upon a variety of different objectives relevant to forensic biology, including sample provenance (also referred to as sample attribution). The capability to predict the provenance or origin of an environmental DNA sample would be an advantageous addition to the suite of investigative tools currently available. A metabarcoding approach is often used to predict sample provenance, through the extraction and comparison of the DNA signatures found within different environmental materials, such as the bacteria within soil or fungi within dust. Such approaches are combined with bioinformatics workflows and statistical modelling, often as part of large-scale study, with less emphasis on the investigation of the adaptation of these methods to a smaller scale method for forensic use. The present work was investigating a small-scale approach as an adaptation of a larger metabarcoding study to develop a model for global sample provenance using fungal DNA signatures collected from dust swabs. This adaptation was to facilitate a standardized method for consistent, reproducible sample treatment, including bioinformatics processing and final application of resulting data to the available prediction model. To investigate this small-scale method, 76 DNA samples were treated as anonymous test samples and analyzed using the standardized process to demonstrate and evaluate processing and customized sequence data analysis. This testing included samples originating from countries previously used to train the model, samples artificially mixed to represent multiple or mixed countries, as well as outgroup samples. Positive controls were also developed to monitor laboratory processing and bioinformatics analysis. Through this evaluation we were able to demonstrate that the samples could be processed and analyzed in a consistent manner, facilitated by a relatively user-friendly bioinformatic pipeline for sequence data analysis. Such investigation into standardized analyses and application of metabarcoding data is of key importance for the future use of applied microbiology in forensic science. DA - 2020/5// PY - 2020/5// DO - 10.1016/j.forsciint.2020.110250 VL - 310 SP - SN - 1872-6283 KW - Forensic microbiology KW - Bioinformatics KW - Metabarcoding KW - Sample provenance ER - TY - JOUR TI - Mosquito diversity and dog heartworm prevalence in suburban areas AU - Spence Beaulieu, Meredith R. AU - Federico, Jennifer L. AU - Reiskind, Michael H. T2 - PARASITES & VECTORS AB - Abstract Background Urbanization is occurring rapidly on a global scale and is altering mosquito communities, creating assemblages that are characteristically less diverse. Despite high rates of urbanization and ample examples of vector-borne diseases transmitted by multiple species, the effects of urbanization-driven mosquito diversity losses on disease transmission has not been well explored. We investigated this question using the dog heartworm, a filarial parasite vectored by numerous mosquito species. Methods We trapped host-seeking mosquitoes in undeveloped areas and neighborhoods of different ages in Wake County, North Carolina, USA, analyzing captured mosquitoes for heartworm DNA. We compared within-mosquito heartworm infection across land-use types by Kruskal–Wallis and likelihood ratio tests. Using zip code level data acquired from dogs in a local shelter, we performed linear regressions of within-host heartworm prevalence by within-mosquito heartworm prevalence as well as by three mosquito diversity measures. We also determined the best predictor of host-level prevalence among models including within-mosquito infection, mosquito diversity and abundance, and socioeconomic status as variables. Results Suburban areas had lower within-mosquito heartworm prevalence and lower likelihood of heartworm-positive mosquitoes than did undeveloped field sites, although no differences were seen between suburban and undeveloped wooded sites. No relationships were noted between within-mosquito and within-host heartworm prevalence. However, mosquito diversity metrics were positively correlated with host heartworm prevalence. Model selection revealed within-host prevalence was best predicted by a positive relationship with mosquito Shannon–Wiener diversity and a negative relationship with household income. Conclusions Our results demonstrate that decreases in mosquito diversity due to urbanization alter vector-borne disease risk. With regard to dog heartworm disease, this loss of mosquito diversity is associated with decreased heartworm prevalence within both the vector and the host. Although the response is likely different for diseases transmitted by one or few species, mosquito diversity losses leading to decreased transmission could be generalizable to other pathogens with multiple vectors. This study contributes to better understanding of the effects of urbanization and the role of vector diversity in multi-vectored pathosystems. DA - 2020/1/10/ PY - 2020/1/10/ DO - 10.1186/s13071-019-3874-0 VL - 13 IS - 1 SP - SN - 1756-3305 KW - Mosquito KW - Heartworm KW - Urbanization KW - Diversity KW - Vector KW - Landscape KW - Disease ecology ER - TY - JOUR TI - The Internal, External and Extended Microbiomes of Hominins AU - Dunn, Robert R. AU - Amato, Katherine R. AU - Archie, Elizabeth A. AU - Arandjelovic, Mimi AU - Crittenden, Alyssa N. AU - Nichols, Lauren M. T2 - FRONTIERS IN ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION AB - The social structure of primates has recently been shown to influence the composition of their microbiomes. What is less clear is how the microbiome composition of primates might influence their social behavior, either in general or with particular reference to hominins. Here we use a comparative approach to understand how microbiomes of hominins have, or might have, changed since the last common ancestor of chimpanzees and humans, roughly six million years ago. We focus on microbiomes associated with social evolution, namely those hosted or influenced by stomachs, intestines, armpits, and food fermentation. In doing so, we highlight the potential influence of microbiomes in hominin evolution while also offering a series of hypotheses and questions with regard to evolution of human stomach acidity, the factors structuring gut microbiomes, the functional consequences of changes in armpit ecology, and whether Homo erectus was engaged in fermentation. We conclude by briefly considering the possibility that hominin social behavior was influenced by prosocial microbes whose fitness was favored by social interactions among individual hominins. DA - 2020/2/19/ PY - 2020/2/19/ DO - 10.3389/fevo.2020.00025 VL - 8 SP - SN - 2296-701X KW - fermentation KW - primates KW - prosocial microbes KW - feces KW - food KW - armpits KW - alcohol ER - TY - JOUR TI - Influences of Ingredients and Bakers on the Bacteria and Fungi in Sourdough Starters and Bread AU - Reese, Aspen T. AU - Madden, Anne A. AU - Joossens, Marie AU - Lacaze, Guylaine AU - Dunn, Robert R. T2 - MSPHERE AB - Sourdough starters are complex communities of yeast and bacteria which confer characteristic flavor and texture to sourdough bread. The microbes present in starters can be sourced from ingredients or the baking environment and are typically consistent over time. Herein, we show that even when the recipe and ingredients for starter and bread are identical, different bakers around the globe produce highly diverse starters which then alter bread acidity and flavor. Much of the starter microbial community comes from bread flour, but the diversity is also associated with differences in the microbial community on the hands of bakers. These results indicate that bakers may be a source for yeast and bacteria in their breads and/or that bakers’ jobs are reflected in their skin microbiome. DA - 2020/// PY - 2020/// DO - 10.1128/mSphere.00950-19 VL - 5 IS - 1 SP - SN - 2379-5042 KW - Lactobacillus KW - Saccharomyces KW - skin microbiome KW - sourdough ER - TY - JOUR TI - High variability within pet foods prevents the identification of native species in pet cats' diets using isotopic evaluation AU - McDonald, Brandon W. AU - Perkins, Troi AU - Dunn, Robert R. AU - McDonald, Jennifer AU - Cole, Holly AU - Feranec, Robert S. AU - Kays, Roland T2 - PEERJ AB - Domestic cats preying on wildlife is a frequent conservation concern but typical approaches for assessing impacts rely on owner reports of prey returned home, which can be biased by inaccurate reporting or by cats consuming prey instead of bringing it home. Isotopes offer an alternative way to quantify broad differences in animal diets. By obtaining samples of pet food from cat owners we predicted that we would have high power to identify cats feeding on wild birds or mammals, given that pet food is thought to have higher C isotope values, due to the pervasive use of corn and/or corn by-products as food ingredients, than native prey. We worked with citizen scientists to quantify the isotopes of 202 cat hair samples and 239 pet food samples from the US and UK. We also characterized the isotopes of 11 likely native prey species from the southeastern US and used mixing models to assess the diet of 47 cats from the same region. Variation in C and N isotope values for cat food was very high, even within the same brand/flavor, suggesting that pet food manufacturers use a wide range of ingredients, and that these may change over time. Cat food and cat hair from the UK had lower C values than the US, presumably reflecting differences in the amount of corn used in the food chains of the two countries. This high variation in pet food reduced our ability to classify cats as hunters of native prey, such that only 43% of the animals could be confidently assigned. If feral or free ranging cats were considered, this uncertainty would be even higher as pet food types would be unknown. Our results question the general assumption that anthropogenic foods always have high C isotope values, because of the high variability we documented within one product type (cat food) and between countries (US vs. UK), and emphasize the need to test a variety of standards before making conclusions from isotope ecology studies. DA - 2020/1/22/ PY - 2020/1/22/ DO - 10.7717/peerj.8337 VL - 8 SP - SN - 2167-8359 KW - Felis catus KW - Carbon KW - Stable isotopes KW - Predation KW - Pet food KW - Nitrogen ER - TY - JOUR TI - The Future of Environmental DNA in Forensic Science AU - Allwood, Julia S. AU - Fierer, Noah AU - Dunn, Robert R. T2 - APPLIED AND ENVIRONMENTAL MICROBIOLOGY AB - DNA sequencing technologies continue to improve, and there has been a corresponding expansion of DNA-based applications in the forensic sciences. DNA recovered from dust and environmental debris can be used to identify the organisms associated with these sample types, including bacteria, plants, fungi, and insects. Such results can then be leveraged to discern sample origin or geolocation and investigate individual identification. Here, we take a critical look at the current DNA-based technologies using microbiome and environmental sample sources that are focused on the generation of some investigative tools for use in forensic science. We discuss the pitfalls and contentions associated with the use of these techniques and highlight some of the future research required to expand the utility of these methods in the forensic sciences. DA - 2020/1// PY - 2020/1// DO - 10.1128/AEM.01504-19 VL - 86 IS - 2 SP - SN - 1098-5336 KW - environmental DNA KW - forensic science KW - eDNA KW - metabarcoding KW - DNA sequencing ER -