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When raccoon rabies first invaded the mid-Atlantic United States, epizootics were larger, longer, and more pronounced than those in its historic, more southern, range, suggesting a North-South gradient in disease dynamics. In addition, due to higher raccoon densities and concentrated feeding sources, urban areas might sustain larger epizootics, suggesting an urban-rural gradient might likewise influence dynamics. Here we leverage long-term surveillance data on raccoon rabies, collated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, United States Department of Agriculture, and state and local public health agencies to better understand the role of latitude and urbanness for raccoon rabies epizootiology. Our analysis utilizes surveillance data from the 20 states composing the raccoon rabies enzootic area across 2006–2018. We identified effects of latitude and human population density (a proxy for urbanness) on the county-level probability of detecting raccoon rabies. We find that: 1) in the northeastern US, more samples are submitted in the summer, and more positive results are obtained, albeit with a lower likelihood of a given sample being found to be rabid, while these trends are independent of season at southern latitudes; 2) the association between urbanness and risk of rabies cases varies across latitude, with greater rabies presence in rural vs. urban counties in the south and a more consistent risk across urbanness in the north; and 3) the most consistent predictors of raccoon rabies detection are spatiotemporal effects, suggesting that recent detection of cases in a county or its neighbors are more informative of raccoon rabies dynamics than are general metrics like latitude and urbanness. Statistical and spatial long-term studies like these not only can improve understanding of wildlife disease patterns but can help guide public health and wildlife management efforts in areas most at risk for raccoon rabies virus infection. 

Abstract PremiseThe agaricomycete order Cantharellales contains approximately 1000 species of fungi characterized by diverse morphological forms, ecological guilds, and nutritional modes. Examples include coralloid lichens that form symbioses with unicellular green algae, bulbil‐forming lichenicolous species, corticioid free‐living fungi that degrade dead sources of organic carbon, pathogens that cause plant disease, orchid root endosymbionts, and ectomycorrhizal fungi including popular edible mushrooms. However, evolutionary relationships in the Cantharellales remain poorly understood due to conflicting estimates based on ribosomal DNA loci. MethodsWe constructed a five‐gene phylogeny of the Cantharellales using data from 301 specimens to evaluate family‐level relationships. We used penalized likelihood to estimate divergence times and ancestral state reconstruction to test the hypothesis of multiple independent origins of biotrophic ecologies in the order and whether those transitions are younger than the divergence times of associated plant or lichen hosts. ResultsFour monophyletic families were recovered with strong support: Botryobasidiaceae, Ceratobasidiaceae, Hydnaceae s.l., and Tulasnellaceae, with Hydnaceae containing the greatest species richness and morphological diversity. Our results suggest the Cantharellales diverged during the Carboniferous period with subsequent diversification following the Permian‐Triassic extinction. Ancestral state reconstruction supports a saprotrophic most recent common ancestor with at least three transitions to an ectomycorrhizal ecology, multiple transitions to a lichenicolous habit with one or more subsequent transitions to mutualistic nutritional modes, four transitions to an orchid mycorrhizal ecology, and two transitions to a lichenized lifestyle. ConclusionsThis study represents the first comprehensive examination of the evolution of form and function across this ecologically and morphologically diverse order of fungi. 

Geographical remoteness, limited resources, and socioeconomic disparities contribute to the migration of rural Alaska Native Elders to urban areas to access medical services and resources, improve economic situations, or reunite with family. We compared the discourse of 12 Elders in Anchorage who previously lived in four remote traditional villages in the Norton Sound region (ages 60–84) and 13 Elders in those villages (ages 48–80). Using Gee’s discourse analysis framework, two patterns emerged detailing cultural effects on identity and Eldership, illuminating differences in the self-evaluation of successful aging based on cultural influences and the role of contextual factors. 

Abstract This study delves into the polarization properties of various hair colors using several techniques, including polarization ray tracing, full Stokes, and Mueller matrix imaging. Our analysis involved studying hair in both indoor and outdoor settings under varying lighting conditions. Our results demonstrate a strong correlation between hair color and the degree of linear polarization. Specifically, light-colored hair, such as white and blond, exhibits high albedo and low DoLP. In contrast, dark hair, like black and brown hair, has low albedo and high DoLP. Our research also revealed that a single hair strand displays high diattenuation near specular reflections but high depolarization in areas with diffuse reflections. Additionally, we investigated the wavelength dependency of the polarization properties by comparing the Mueller matrix under illumination at 450 nm and 589 nm. Our investigation demonstrates the impact of hair shade and color on polarization properties and the Umov effect. 

Influenza A virus (IAV) is a multi-host pathogen maintained in water birds and capable of spillover into humans, wildlife, and livestock. Prior research has focused on dabbling ducks as a known IAV reservoir species, yet our understanding of influenza dynamics in other water birds, including gulls, is lacking. Here, we quantify morphological and environmental drivers of serological (antibody detection by ELISA) and virological (viral RNA detection by PCR) prevalence in two gull species: ring-billed (Larus delawarensis) and Franklin’s (Leucophaeus pipixcan) gulls. Across 12 months and 10 locations, we tested over 1500 gulls for influenza viral RNA, and additionally tested antibody levels in nearly 1000 of these. We find substantial virus prevalence and a large, nonoverlapping seroprevalence, with significant differences across age and species classifications. The body condition index had minimal explanatory power to predict (sero)positivity, and the effect of the surrounding environment was idiosyncratic. Our results hint at a nontrivial relationship between virus and seropositivity, highlighting serological surveillance as a valuable counterpoint to PCR. By providing indication of both past infections and susceptibility to future infections, serosurveillance can help inform the distribution of limited resources to maximize surveillance effectiveness for a disease of high human, wildlife, and livestock concern. 

The National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) is gathering select ecological and taxonomic data across 81 sites in the United States and Puerto Rico. Lichens are one of the organismal groups that NEON has not yet assessed across these sites. Here we sampled lichens at Ordway-Swisher Biological Station (OSBS), a NEON site in north central Florida, to provide a baseline survey of the commonly encountered macrolichens (foliose, fruticose, and squamulose lichens). Macrolichens represent a subset of observable lichens and are more commonly surveyed than crustose lichens. Seventy-four species of macrolichens were collected, including 25 occurrences that constitute new records for Putnam County, Florida. The lichen diversity at OSBS comprised approximately 30% of the macrolichen diversity known from the entire state of Florida. Fifty-four taxa are common in the state of Florida, 12 infrequent across the state, and eight are considered rare. Macrolichens were the seventh most species-rich taxonomic groups at OSBS and more diverse than the NEON focal groups of mammals and fish. Lastly, we suggest a theoretical roadmap for how lichenologists could work together with NEON to include lichens in future datasets. We hope that biologists focused on other key organismal groups will sample in NEON sites so that NEON data can be leveraged appropriately in future cross-taxon studies of biodiversity at the continental scale. 

Cistaceae are shrubs, subshrubs and herbs that often occur in stressful, fire-prone or disturbed environments and form ectomycorrhizal (ECM) associations with symbiotic fungi. Although some Cistaceae are long-lived shrubs that grow to significant size, others are herbaceous annuals or short-lived plants. Thus, Cistaceae are atypical ECM hosts that are fundamentally different in their biology from trees that are the more typically studied ECM hosts. The Mediterranean region is the center of diversity for Cistaceae and the ectomycorrhizal fungi associated with Cistaceae hosts have primarily been studied in Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. Mediterranean Cistaceae often host diverse communities of ECM fungi, but they also act as hosts for some ECM fungi that putatively show host-specificity or strong host preference for Cistaceae (including species of Delastria, Hebeloma, Terfezia, and Tirmania). The ECM associations of Cistaceae in North America, however, remain highly understudied. Here we use fungal DNA metabarcoding to document the ectomycorrhizal fungal communities associated with Crocanthemum and Lechea (Cistaceae) in open, fire-prone sandhill habitats in north Florida. At each site we also sampled nearby Pinus to determine whether small, herbaceous Cistaceae have specialized ECM fungi or whether they share their ECM fungal community with nearby pines. The ECM communities of Florida Cistaceae are dominated by Cenococcum (Ascomycota) and Russula (Basidiomycota) species but were also significantly associated with Delastria, an understudied genus of mostly truffle-like Pezizales (Ascomycota). Although many Cistaceae ECM fungi were shared with neighboring pines, the ECM communities with Cistaceae were nonetheless significantly different than those of pines.