Gastrointestinal parasites of the New England cottontail rabbit (Sylvilagus transitionalis) and eastern cottontail rabbit (Sylvilagus floridanus) in the Hudson Valley, New York

Characterization of a novel picornavirus prevalent in experimental rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus)

Here, using viral metagenomic method a novel picornavirus (named UJS-2019picorna, GenBank accession number OP821762) was discovered in fecal and blood samples of experimental rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus). The complete genome size of UJS-2019picorna is 7832 bp excluding the poly(A)-tail, with GC content of 44.00% and a nucleotide composition of 28.0% A, 28.0% U, 21.5% G, and 22.5% C. The viral genome has a typical picornavirus organization pattern from the 5'-3' direction: VPg-5' UTR-(L)-P1, (VP4-VP2-VP3-VP1)-P2, (2 A-2B-2C)-P3, (3 A-3B-3C-3D)-3' UTR-poly(A). The P1 region of UJS-2019picorna is related to Erbovirus with amino acid identity of 37.31%, while the P2 and P3 regions are the closest to Bopivirus with amino acid identity of 35.66%-39.53%. According to the Picornaviridae Study Group guidelines, UJS-2019picorna should be presumed to be a new genus belonging to the Picornaviridae family. Epidemiologic study revealed that this novel picornavirus was prevalent in a cohort of experimental rabbits, with prevalence rate of 23.68% (9/38) in feces and 18.4% (7/38) in blood samples. Further work is required to elucidate whether this virus is pathogenic to rabbits and whether it has influence on studies using rabbits as experimental animal.

Separating Proactive Conservation from Species Listing Decisions

Proactive Conservation is a paradigm of natural resource management in the United States that encourages voluntary, collaborative efforts to restore species before they need to be protected through government regulations. This paradigm is widely used to conserve at-risk species today, and when used in conjunction with the Policy for Evaluation of Conservation Efforts (PECE), it allows for successful conservation actions to preclude listing of species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Despite the popularity of this paradigm, and recent flagship examples of its use (e.g., greater sage grouse, Centrocercus urophasianus), critical assessments of the outcomes of Proactive Conservation are lacking from the standpoint of species status and recovery metrics. Here, we provide such an evaluation, using the New England cottontail (Sylvilagus transitionalis), heralded as a success of Proactive Conservation efforts in the northeastern United States, as a case study. We review the history and current status of the species, based on the state of the science, in the context of the Conservation Initiative, and the 2015 PECE decision not to the list the species under the ESA. In addition to the impacts of the PECE decision on the New England cottontail conservation specifically, our review also evaluates the benefits and limits of the Proactive Conservation paradigm more broadly, and we make recommendations for its role in relation to ESA implementation for the future of at-risk species management. We find that the status and assurances for recovery under the PECE policy, presented at the time of the New England cottontail listing decision, were overly optimistic, and the status of the species has worsened in subsequent years. We suggest that use of PECE to avoid listing may occur because of the perception of the ESA as a punitive law and a misconception that it is a failure, although very few listed species have gone extinct. Redefining recovery to decouple it from delisting and instead link it to probability of persistence under recommended conservation measures would remove some of the stigma of listing, and it would strengthen the role of Species Status Assessments in endangered species conservation.