Gonçalo M. Rosa

Conservation decisions under pressure: Lessons from an exercise in rapid response to wildlife disease

Publisher: Wiley

Date: 29-11-2020

DOI: 10.1111/CSP2.141

Association between the family environment and television viewing in Australian children

Publisher: Wiley

Date: 23-05-2007

DOI: 10.1111/J.1440-1754.2007.01111.X

Abstract: To describe the time children spend watching television (TV) and to assess associations between TV viewing time, the family environment and weight status. Parents reported the amount of time children watched TV/video both for 'the previous school day' and 'usually' and described aspects of the family environment influencing TV access as part of a large cross-sectional study in the Barwon South-western region of Victoria, Australia. Child weight status was based on measured height and weight. All data were collected in 2003/2004. A total of 1926 children aged 4-12 years participated. Parent-reported mean +/- SE TV time for the previous school day was 83 +/- 1.5 min. Children who lived in a family with tight rules governing TV viewing time (22%), or who never watched TV during dinner (33%), or had only one TV in the household (23%) or had no TV in their bedroom (81%) had significantly less TV time than their counterparts. Overweight or obese children had more TV time than healthy weight children 88 +/- 2.9 versus 82 +/- 1.7 min per day (P=0.04). They were also more likely to live in a household where children had a TV in their bedroom than healthy weight children (25% vs. 17%, P<0.001). Strategies to reduce TV time should be included as part of broader strategies to prevent childhood obesity. They should include messages to parents about not having a TV in children's bedrooms, encouraging family rules restricting TV viewing, and not having the TV on during dinner.

Development and worldwide use of non-lethal, and minimal population-level impact, protocols for the isolation of amphibian chytrid fungi

Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC

Date: 17-05-2018

DOI: 10.1038/S41598-018-24472-2

Abstract: Parasitic chytrid fungi have emerged as a significant threat to hibian species worldwide, necessitating the development of techniques to isolate these pathogens into culture for research purposes. However, early methods of isolating chytrids from their hosts relied on killing hibians. We modified a pre-existing protocol for isolating chytrids from infected animals to use toe clips and biopsies from toe webbing rather than euthanizing hosts, and distributed the protocol to researchers as part of the Bio ERsA project RACE here called the RML protocol. In tandem, we developed a lethal procedure for isolating chytrids from tadpole mouthparts. Reviewing a database of use a decade after their inception, we find that these methods have been applied across 5 continents, 23 countries and in 62 hibian species. Isolation of chytrids by the non-lethal RML protocol occured in 18% of attempts with 207 fungal isolates and three species of chytrid being recovered. Isolation of chytrids from tadpoles occured in 43% of attempts with 334 fungal isolates of one species ( Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis ) being recovered. Together, these methods have resulted in a significant reduction and refinement of our use of threatened hibian species and have improved our ability to work with this group of emerging pathogens.

Recent Asian origin of chytrid fungi causing global amphibian declines

Publisher: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

Date: 11-05-2018

DOI: 10.1126/SCIENCE.AAR1965

Abstract: Species in the fungal genus Batrachochytrium are responsible for severe declines in the populations of hibians globally. The sources of these pathogens have been uncertain. O'Hanlon et al. used genomics on a panel of more than 200 isolates to trace the source of the frog pathogen B. dendrobatidis to a hyper erse hotspot in the Korean peninsula (see the Perspective by Lips). Over the past century, the trade in hibian species has accelerated, and now all lineages of B. dendrobatidis occur in traded hibians the fungus has become ubiquitous and is ersifying rapidly. Science , this issue p. 621 see also p. 604

From fish to frogs and beyond: Impact and host range of emergent ranaviruses

Publisher: Elsevier BV

Date: 11-2017

DOI: 10.1016/J.VIROL.2017.08.001

Abstract: Ranaviruses are pathogens of ectothermic vertebrates, including hibians. We reviewed patterns of host range and virulence of ranaviruses in the context of virus genotype and postulate that patterns reflect significant variation in the historical and current host range of three groups of Ranavirus: FV3-like, CMTV-like and ATV-like ranaviruses. Our synthesis supports previous hypotheses about host range and jumps: FV3s are hibian specialists, while ATVs are predominantly fish specialists that switched once to caudate hibians. The most recent common ancestor of CMTV-like ranaviruses and FV3-like forms appears to have infected hibians but CMTV-like ranaviruses may circulate in both hibian and fish communities independently. While these hypotheses are speculative, we hope that ongoing efforts to describe ranavirus genetics, increased surveillance of host species and targeted experimental assays of susceptibility to infection and/or disease will facilitate better tests of the importance of hypothetical evolutionary drivers of ranavirus virulence and host range.

Post‐epizootic microbiome associations across communities of neotropical amphibians

Publisher: Wiley

Date: 20-01-2021

DOI: 10.1111/MEC.15789