Abstract: Spatial disease ecology is emerging as a new field that requires the integration of complementary approaches to address how the distribution and movements of hosts and parasites may condition the dynamics of their interactions. In this context, migration, the seasonal movement of animals to different zones of their distribution, is assumed to play a key role in the broad scale circulation of parasites and pathogens. Nevertheless, migration is not the only type of host movement that can influence the spatial ecology, evolution, and epidemiology of infectious diseases. Dispersal, the movement of individuals between the location where they were born or bred to a location where they breed, has attracted attention as another important type of movement for the spatial dynamics of infectious diseases. Host dispersal has notably been identified as a key factor for the evolution of host–parasite interactions as it implies gene flow among local host populations and thus can alter patterns of coevolution with infectious agents across spatial scales. However, not all movements between host populations lead to dispersal per se. One type of host movement that has been neglected, but that may also play a role in parasite spread is prospecting, i.e., movements targeted at selecting and securing new habitat for future breeding. Prospecting movements, which have been studied in detail in certain social species, could result in the dispersal of infectious agents among different host populations without necessarily involving host dispersal. In this article, we outline how these various types of host movements might influence the circulation of infectious disease agents and discuss methodological approaches that could be used to assess their importance. We specifically focus on examples from work on colonial seabirds, ticks, and tick-borne infectious agents. These are convenient biological models because they are strongly spatially structured and involve relatively simple communities of interacting species. Overall, this review emphasizes that explicit consideration of the behavioral and population ecology of hosts and parasites is required to disentangle the relative roles of different types of movement for the spread of infectious diseases.

Abstract: Skip to Next Section In response to prolonged periods of fasting, animals have evolved metabolic adaptations helping to mobilize body reserves and/or reduce metabolic rate to ensure a longer usage of reserves. However, those metabolic changes can be associated with higher exposure to oxidative stress, raising the question of how species that naturally fast during their life cycle avoid an accumulation of oxidative damage over time. King penguins repeatedly cope with fasting periods of up to several weeks. Here, we investigated how adult male penguins deal with oxidative stress after an experimentally induced moderate fasting period (PII) or an advanced fasting period (PIII). After fasting in captivity, birds were released to forage at sea. We measured plasmatic oxidative stress on the same individuals at the start and end of the fasting period and when they returned from foraging at sea. We found an increase in activity of the antioxidant enzyme superoxide dismutase along with fasting. However, PIII individuals showed higher oxidative damage at the end of the fast compared with PII individuals. When they returned from re-feeding at sea, all birds had recovered their initial body mass and exhibited low levels of oxidative damage. Notably, levels of oxidative damage after the foraging trip were correlated to the rate of mass gain at sea in PIII individuals but not in PII individuals. Altogether, our results suggest that fasting induces a transitory exposure to oxidative stress and that effort to recover in body mass after an advanced fasting period may be a neglected carryover cost of fasting.

Abstract: AbstractThe new genus and species Ducatina umbilicata is described from Îles Crozet and Îles Kerguelen. This lichen is characterized by an umbilicate thallus with a black verrucose lower surface and a greyish to dark olivaceous smooth upper surface having large verrucae, large semi-immersed cephalodia, semi-immersed apothecia with a prominent thalline margin, simple, mainly ellipsoid ascospores of 23–42×12–25 µm and the presence of unknown chemical compounds. Phylogenetic analyses using nuLSU and mtSSU sequences place Ducatina in the Trapeliaceae (Baeomycetales). The new taxon is closely related to Orceolina antarctica and O. kerguelensis, two other lichens endemic to these subantarctic islands, differing by its morphology and the lack of chemical compounds. Ducatina is the only genus in the Trapeliaceae to develop a large umbilicate thallus.

Abstract: On average, the models in the Fifth Climate Model Intercomparison Project archive predict an increase in Antarctic precipitation from 5.5 to 24.5 % between 1986–2005 and 2080–2099, depending on greenhouse gas emissions scenarios. This translates into a moderation of future sea level rise ranging from −19 to −71 mm between 2006 and 2099. However, comparison with CloudSat and ERA-Interim data show that almost all the models overestimate current Antarctic precipitation, some by more than 100 %. If only the models that agree with CloudSat data within 20 % of error are considered, larger precipitation changes (from 7.4 to 29.3 %) and impact on sea level (from −25 to −85 mm) are predicted. A common practice of averaging all models to evaluate climate projections thus leads to a significant underestimation of the contribution of Antarctic precipitation to future sea level. Models simulate, on average, a 7.4 %/°C precipitation change with surface temperature warming. The models in better agreement with CloudSat observations for Antarctic snowfall predict, on average, larger temperature and Antarctic sea ice cover changes, which could explain the larger changes in Antarctic precipitation simulated by these models. The agreement between the models, CloudSat data and ERA-Interim is generally less in the interior of Antarctica than at the peripheries, but the interior is also where climate change will induce the smallest absolute change in precipitation. About three-quarters of the impact on sea level will result from precipitation change over the half most peripheral and lowest elevation part of the surface of Antarctica.