title: PeerJ description: Articles published in PeerJ link: https://peerj.com/articles/index.rss3?journal=peerj&page=1387 creator: info@peerj.com PeerJ errorsTo: info@peerj.com PeerJ language: en title: Extinction and the U.S. Endangered Species Act link: https://peerj.com/articles/6803 last-modified: 2019-04-22 description: The U.S. Endangered Species Act is one of the strongest laws of any nation for preventing species extinction, but quantifying the Act’s effectiveness has proven difficult. To provide one measure of effectiveness, we identified listed species that have gone extinct and used previously developed methods to update an estimate of the number of species extinctions prevented by the Act. To date, only four species have been confirmed extinct with another 22 possibly extinct following protection. Another 71 listed species are extinct or possibly extinct, but were last seen before protections were enacted, meaning the Act’s protections never had the opportunity to save these species. In contrast, a total of 39 species have been fully recovered, including 23 in the last 10 years. We estimate the Endangered Species Act has prevented the extinction of roughly 291 species since passage in 1973, and has to date saved more than 99% of species under its protection. creator: Noah Greenwald creator: Kieran F. Suckling creator: Brett Hartl creator: Loyal A. Mehrhoff uri: https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.6803 license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ rights: © 2019 Greenwald et al. title: eHealth adoption and use among healthcare professionals in a tertiary hospital in Sub-Saharan Africa: a Qmethodology study link: https://peerj.com/articles/6326 last-modified: 2019-04-19 description: BackgroundThe aim of the study was to explore the viewpoints of healthcare professionals (HCPs) on the adoption and use of eHealth in clinical practice in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Information and communication technologies (ICTs) including eHealth provide HCPs the opportunity to provide quality healthcare to their patients while also improving their own clinical practices. Despite this, previous research has identified these technologies have their associated challenges when adopting them for clinical practice. But more research is needed to identify how these eHealth resources influence clinical practice. In addition, there is still little information about adoption and use of these technologies by HCPs inclinical practice in Sub-Saharan Africa.MethodAn exploratory descriptive design was adopted for this study. Thirty-six (36) HCPs (18 nurses and 18 physicians) working in the clinical area in a tertiary health institution in SSA participated in this study. Using Qmethodology, study participants rank-ordered forty-six statementsin relation to their adoption and use of eHealth within their clinical practice.This was analysed using by-person factor analysis and complemented with audio-taped interviews.ResultsThe analysis yielded four factors i.e., distinct viewpoints the HCPs hold about adoption and use of eHealth within their clinical practice. These factors include: “Patient-focused eHealth advocates” who use the eHealth because they are motivated by patients and their families preferences; “Task-focused eHealth advocates” use eHealth because it helps them complete clinical tasks; “Traditionalistic-pragmatists” recognise contributions eHealth makes in clinical practice but separate from their routine clinical activities; and the “Tech-focused eHealth advocates” who use the eHealth because they are motivated by the technology itself.ConclusionThe study shows the equivocal viewpoints that HCPs have about eHealth within their clinical practice. This, in addition to adding to existing literature, will help policymakers/decision makers to consider HCPs views about these technologies prior to implementing an eHealth resource. creator: Muhammad Awwal Ladan creator: Heather Wharrad creator: Richard Windle uri: https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.6326 license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ rights: ©2019 Ladan et al. title: Rapid ecological specialization despite constant population sizes link: https://peerj.com/articles/6476 last-modified: 2019-04-19 description: BackgroundThe bushbuck, Tragelaphus scriptus, is a widespread and ecologically diverse ungulate species complex within the spiral-horned antelopes. This species was recently found to consist of two genetically divergent but monophyletic lineages, which are paraphyletic at mitochondrial (mt)DNA owing to an ancient interspecific hybridization event. The Scriptus lineage (T. s. scriptus) inhabits the north-western half of the African continent while Sylvaticus (T. s. sylvaticus) is found in the south-eastern half. Here we test hypotheses of historical demography and adaptation in bushbuck using a higher-resolution framework, with four nuclear (MGF, PRKCI, SPTBN, and THY) and three new mitochondrial markers (cytochrome b, 12S rRNA, and 16S rRNA).MethodsGenealogies were reconstructed for the mitochondrial and nuclear data sets, with the latter dated using fossil calibration points. We also inferred the demographic history of Scriptus and Sylvaticus using coalescent-based methods. To obtain an overview of the origins and ancestral colonisation routes of ancestral bushbuck sequences across geographic space, we conducted discrete Bayesian phylogeographic and statistical dispersal-vicariance analyses on our nuclear DNA data set.ResultsBoth nuclear DNA and mtDNA support previous findings of two genetically divergent Sylvaticus and Scriptus lineages. The three mtDNA loci confirmed 15 of the previously defined haplogroups, including those with convergent phenotypes. However, the nuclear tree showed less phylogenetic resolution at the more derived parts of the genealogy, possibly due to incomplete lineage sorting of the slower evolving nuclear genome. The only exception to this was the montane Menelik’s bushbuck (Sylvaticus) of the Ethiopian highlands, which formed a monophyletic group at three of four nuclear DNA loci. We dated the coalescence of the two lineages to a common ancestor ∼2.54 million years ago. Both marker sets revealed similar demographic histories of constant population size over time. We show that the bushbuck likely originated in East Africa, with Scriptus dispersing to colonise suitable habitats west of the African Rift and Sylvaticus radiating from east of the Rift into southern Africa via a series of mainly vicariance events.DiscussionDespite lower levels of genetic structure at nuclear loci, we confirmed the independent evolution of the Menelik’s bushbuck relative to the phenotypically similar montane bushbuck in East Africa, adding further weight to previous suggestions of convergent evolution within the bushbuck complex. Perhaps the most surprising result of our analysis was that both Scriptus and Sylvaticus populations remained relatively constant throughout the Pleistocene, which is remarkable given that this was a period of major climatic and tectonic change in Africa, and responsible for driving the evolution of much of the continent’s extant large mammalian diversity. creator: Andrinajoro R. Rakotoarivelo creator: Paul O’Donoghue creator: Michael W. Bruford creator: Yoshan Moodley uri: https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.6476 license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ rights: ©2019 Rakotoarivelo et al. title: Ability emotional intelligence in young people and older adults with and without depressive symptoms, considering gender and educational level link: https://peerj.com/articles/6595 last-modified: 2019-04-19 description: BackgroundThere is little research on differences in Emotional Intelligence (EI) ability at different stages of adult development. The few published studies tend not to use older adult samples. Previous studies on EI ability and age have shown contradictory results. Our main objective was to evaluate results in EI ability across different stages of adult development, taking into account gender, depressive symptoms, and educational level.MethodsWe interviewed 166 participants (108 women), 66 of whom were aged 18–30 years, 53 aged 31–60 years, and 40 aged 61–76 years. All were either working or enrolled in colleges at the time of the study. The assessment tools used were the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT), a test that assesses performance-based EI, and the Centre for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression (CES-D) scale, a tool to evaluate depressive symptoms.ResultsYoung people, women, and participants with a higher educational level achieved higher scores on the MSCEIT. Additionally, depressive symptomatology was only partially associated with the MSCEIT (i.e., with the using emotions branch). However, a subsequent joint analysis of the independent effects of variables age, gender, educational level, and depressive symptomatology and their interactions on MSCEIT total suggests that only educational level and depressive symptomatology were associated with EI ability, with the direct relationship between age and gender with MSCEIT disappearing. Additionally, our study indicated an interaction effect between age and depressive symptoms, showing that participants in age cohorts 18–30 and 31–60 and without depressive symptoms have a higher EI ability.DiscussionOur study suggests that the direct effects of age and gender on EI ability across adult development, using a wide age range, can change or disappear when effects of educational level and depressive symptomatology, and their interactions, are controlled for. Our results also suggest that EI ability is a protective factor against depression in some age cohorts. This novel aspect of our study does not appear in the previous literature. However, prospective studies are needed to verify these findings and examine whether other psychological variables could determine the relations between age, gender and EI ability across adult development. creator: Beatriz Navarro-Bravo creator: José M. Latorre creator: Ana Jiménez creator: Rosario Cabello creator: Pablo Fernández-Berrocal uri: https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.6595 license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ rights: ©2019 Navarro-Bravo et al. title: The newly described Araguaian river dolphins, Inia araguaiaensis (Cetartiodactyla, Iniidae), produce a diverse repertoire of acoustic signals link: https://peerj.com/articles/6670 last-modified: 2019-04-19 description: The recent discovery of the Araguaian river dolphin (Inia araguaiaensis) highlights how little we know about the diversity and biology of river dolphins. In this study, we described the acoustic repertoire of this newly discovered species in concert with their behaviour. We analysed frequency contours of 727 signals (sampled at 10 ms temporal resolution). These contours were analyzed using an adaptive resonance theory neural network combined with dynamic time-warping (ARTwarp). Using a critical similarity value of 96%, frequency contours were categorized into 237 sound-types. The most common types were emitted when calves were present suggesting a key role in mother-calf communication. Our findings show that the acoustic repertoire of river dolphins is far from simple. Furthermore, the calls described here are similar in acoustic structure to those produced by social delphinids, such as orcas and pilot whales. Uncovering the context in which these signals are produced may help understand the social structure of this species and contribute to our understanding of the evolution of acoustic communication in whales. creator: Gabriel Melo-Santos creator: Angélica Lúcia Figueiredo Rodrigues creator: Rodrigo Hipólito Tardin creator: Israel de Sá Maciel creator: Miriam Marmontel creator: Maria Luisa Da Silva creator: Laura Johanna May-Collado uri: https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.6670 license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ rights: ©2019 Melo-Santos et al. title: Physiological responses of Oxyrrhis marina to a diet of virally infected Emiliania huxleyi link: https://peerj.com/articles/6722 last-modified: 2019-04-19 description: The coccolithophore Emiliania huxleyi forms some of the largest phytoplankton blooms in the ocean. The rapid demise of these blooms has been linked to viral infections. E. huxleyi abundance, distribution, and nutritional status make them an important food source for the heterotrophic protists which are classified as microzooplankton in marine food webs. In this study we investigated the fate of E. huxleyi (CCMP 374) infected with virus strain EhV-86 in a simple predator-prey interaction. The ingestion rates of Oxyrrhis marina were significantly lower (between 26.9 and 50.4%) when fed virus-infected E. huxleyi cells compared to non-infected cells. Despite the lower ingestion rates, O. marina showed significantly higher growth rates (between 30 and 91.3%) when fed infected E. huxleyi cells, suggesting higher nutritional value and/or greater assimilation of infected E. huxleyi cells. No significant differences were found in O. marina cell volumes or fatty acids profiles. These results show that virally infected E. huxleyi support higher growth rates of single celled heterotrophs and in addition to the “viral shunt” hypothesis, viral infections may also divert more carbon to mesozooplankton grazers. creator: Andrew G. Goode creator: David M. Fields creator: Stephen D. Archer creator: Joaquín Martínez Martínez uri: https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.6722 license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ rights: ©2019 Goode et al. title: Modulation of biochemical and physiological parameters in Hordeum vulgare L. seedlings under the influence of benzyl-butyl phthalate link: https://peerj.com/articles/6742 last-modified: 2019-04-19 description: BackgroundPhthalates are man-made chemical compounds with numerous applications especially known for their use as plasticizers. They have weak bonding to the polymeric matrix or products in which they are used. Owing to this reason, they are readily released into the environment which makes them ubiquitous. The agricultural soils are also reported to be polluted with phthalates up to a considerable extent which causes adverse effects on flora and fauna. A few studies have been conducted on phthalate-induced phytotoxicity, which has revealed that phthalates affect the quality and yield of edible plants. In the last decades, some crops were analyzed for phthalate-induced adversities; among them, barley was the least explored.MethodsThe present study has investigated the impact of benzyl-butyl phthalate (BBP) on barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) seedlings to address the biochemical, physiological consequences, and toxicological implications. After the exogenous exposure of BBP (viz. 0, 25, 50, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1,600 mg/L) for 7 days, barley seedlings were analyzed for different indices.ResultsThe exposure of BBP mediated a significant (p ≤ 0.05, 0.01) overall elevation in the contents of pigment, proline, soluble protein, carbohydrate, hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), and malondialdehyde (MDA) in shoots and roots of barley seedlings. The activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), guaiacol peroxidase (POD), catalase (CAT), ascorbate peroxidase (APX), and glutathione reductase (GR) were also stimulated significantly in shoots and roots of seedlings against BBP stress except for SOD activity which declined in the roots. The polyphenols (non-enzymatic antioxidants) content was also altered in all the treated concentrations as compared to the control. Furthermore, BBP caused stomatal abnormalities, induced cytotoxicity, and loss of plasma membrane integrity.ConclusionsBBP disturbed the normal physiology of barley which could also affect the yield of the crop under field conditions. creator: Arpna Kumari creator: Rajinder Kaur uri: https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.6742 license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ rights: ©2019 Kumari and Kaur title: Effect of irradiance on the emission of short-lived halocarbons from three common tropical marine microalgae link: https://peerj.com/articles/6758 last-modified: 2019-04-19 description: Marine algae have been reported as important sources of biogenic volatile halocarbons that are emitted into the atmosphere. These compounds are linked to destruction of the ozone layer, thus contributing to climate change. There may be mutual interactions between the halocarbon emission and the environment. In this study, the effect of irradiance on the emission of halocarbons from selected microalgae was investigated. Using controlled laboratory experiments, three tropical marine microalgae cultures, Synechococcus sp. UMACC 371 (cyanophyte), Parachlorella sp. UMACC 245 (chlorophyte) and Amphora sp. UMACC 370 (diatom) were exposed to irradiance of 0, 40 and 120 µmol photons m−2s−1. Stress in the microalgal cultures was indicated by the photosynthetic performance (Fv/Fm, maximum quantum yield). An increase in halocarbon emissions was observed at 120 µmol photons m−2s−1, together with a decrease in Fv/Fm. This was most evident in the release of CH3I by Amphora sp. Synechococcus sp. was observed to be the most affected by irradiance as shown by the increase in emissions of most halocarbons except for CHBr3 and CHBr2Cl. High positive correlation between Fv/Fm and halocarbon emission rates was observed in Synechococcus sp. for CH2Br2. No clear trends in correlation could be observed for the other halocarbons in the other two microalgal species. This suggests that other mechanisms like mitochondria respiration may contribute to halocarbon production, in addition to photosynthetic performance. creator: Yong-Kian Lim creator: Fiona Seh-Lin Keng creator: Siew-Moi Phang creator: William T. Sturges creator: Gill Malin creator: Noorsaadah Abd Rahman uri: https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.6758 license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ rights: ©2019 Lim et al. title: An affordable and automated imaging approach to acquire highly resolved individual data—an example of copepod growth in response to multiple stressors link: https://peerj.com/articles/6776 last-modified: 2019-04-19 description: Individual trait variation is essential for populations to cope with multiple stressors and continuously changing environments. The immense number of possible stressor combinations and the influence of phenotypic variation makes experimental testing for effects on organisms challenging. The acquisition of such data requires many replicates and is notoriously laborious. It is further complicated when responses occur over short time periods. To overcome such challenges, we developed an automated imaging platform to acquire temporally highly resolved individual data. We tested this platform by exposing copepods to a combination of a biotic stressor (predator cues) and a toxicant (copper) and measured the growth response of individual copepods. We tested the automatically acquired data against published manually acquired data with much lower temporal resolution. We find the same general potentiating effects of predator cues on the adverse effects of copper, and the influence of an individual’s clutch identity on its ability to resist stress, between the data obtained from low and high temporal resolution. However, when using the high temporal resolution, we also uncovered effects of clutch ID on the timing and duration of stage transitions, which highlights the importance of considering phenotypic variation in ecotoxicological testing. Phenotypic variation is usually not acknowledged in ecotoxicological testing. Our approach is scalable, affordable, and adjustable to accommodate both aquatic and terrestrial organisms, and a wide range of visually detectable endpoints. We discuss future extensions that would further widen its applicability. creator: Jan Heuschele creator: Torben Lode creator: Tom Andersen creator: Katrine Borgå creator: Josefin Titelman uri: https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.6776 license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ rights: © 2019 Heuschele et al. title: Using Ipomoea aquatic as an environmental-friendly alternative to Elodea nuttallii for the aquaculture of Chinese mitten crab link: https://peerj.com/articles/6785 last-modified: 2019-04-19 description: Elodea nuttallii is widely used in Chinese mitten crab (CMC) rearing practice, but it is not a native aquatic plant and cannot endure high temperature. Thus, large E. nuttallii mortality and water deterioration events could occur during high-temperature seasons. The aim of this study was to identify the use of local macrophytes in CMC rearing practice, including Ipomoea aquatic and Oryza sativa. A completely randomized field experiment was conducted to investigate the crab yield, water quality, bacterioplankton community and functions in the three different systems (E. nuttallii, I. aquatic, and O. sativa). Average crab yields in the different macrophyte systems did not differ significantly. The I. aquatic and O. sativa systems significantly decreased the total nitrogen and nitrate-N quantities in the outflow waters during the rearing period compared to the E. nuttallii system, and the I. aquatic and O. sativa plants assimilated more nitrogen than the E. nuttallii plant. Moreover, the significant changes of bacterioplankton abundances and biodiversity in the three systems implied that cleanliness of rearing waters was concomitantly attributed to the differential microbial community and functions. In addition, principle component analysis successfully differentiated the bacterioplankton communities of the three macrophytes systems. Environmental factor fitting and the co-occurrence network analyses indicated that pH was the driver of bacterioplankton community structure. Functional predictions using PICRUSt (v.1.1.3) software based on evolutionary modeling indicated a higher potential for microbial denitrification in the I. aquatic and O. sativa systems. Notably, the O. sativa plants stopped growing in the middle of the rearing period. Thus, the I. aquatic system rather than the O. sativa system could be a feasible and environmental-friendly alternative to the E. nuttallii system in CMC rearing practice. creator: Linlin Shi creator: Meijuan Jin creator: Mingxing Shen creator: Changying Lu creator: Haihou Wang creator: Xingwei Zhou creator: Lijuan Mei creator: Shixue Yin uri: https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.6785 license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ rights: © 2019 Shi et al.