Researchers join forces to conserve red colobus (Piliocolobus badius temminckii) in West Africa

The recent development of the Red Colobus Conservation Action Plan has spurred momentum to promote site-based conservation of red colobus while forging partnerships among researchers and building local capacity. Communities for Red Colobus (C4RC) is a community-centered conservation organization in The Gambia, West Africa, that aims to protect Temminck's red colobus (Piliocolobus badius temminckii) while advancing opportunities for local people. We highlight the inception and initial development of C4RC with its educational and ranger teams and describe how local and international collaborations have positively impacted the organization through training and mentoring programs. This conservation program has the potential to become sustainable with plans for continued ecological monitoring, reforestation efforts, use of alternative methods of cooking, and the expansion of ecotourism. We hope that the dissemination of project information through Gambian broadcast and social media channels and wider community outreach activities will improve perceptions and conservation of primates and inspire the development of other red colobus initiatives at suitable forest sites based on the C4RC model of community-based conservation.

The bii4africa dataset of faunal and floral population intactness estimates across Africa's major land uses

Sub-Saharan Africa is under-represented in global biodiversity datasets, particularly regarding the impact of land use on species' population abundances. Drawing on recent advances in expert elicitation to ensure data consistency, 200 experts were convened using a modified-Delphi process to estimate 'intactness scores': the remaining proportion of an 'intact' reference population of a species group in a particular land use, on a scale from 0 (no remaining individuals) to 1 (same abundance as the reference) and, in rare cases, to 2 (populations that thrive in human-modified landscapes). The resulting bii4africa dataset contains intactness scores representing terrestrial vertebrates (tetrapods: ±5,400 amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals) and vascular plants (±45,000 forbs, graminoids, trees, shrubs) in sub-Saharan Africa across the region's major land uses (urban, cropland, rangeland, plantation, protected, etc.) and intensities (e.g., large-scale vs smallholder cropland). This dataset was co-produced as part of the Biodiversity Intactness Index for Africa Project. Additional uses include assessing ecosystem condition; rectifying geographic/taxonomic biases in global biodiversity indicators and maps; and informing the Red List of Ecosystems.

Genomic diversity of Escherichia coli isolates from non-human primates in the Gambia

Increasing contact between humans and non-human primates provides an opportunity for the transfer of potential pathogens or antimicrobial resistance between host species. We have investigated genomic diversity and antimicrobial resistance in Escherichia coli isolates from four species of non-human primates in the Gambia: Papio papio (n=22), Chlorocebus sabaeus (n=14), Piliocolobus badius (n=6) and Erythrocebus patas (n=1). We performed Illumina whole-genome sequencing on 101 isolates from 43 stools, followed by nanopore long-read sequencing on 11 isolates. We identified 43 sequence types (STs) by the Achtman scheme (ten of which are novel), spanning five of the eight known phylogroups of E. coli. The majority of simian isolates belong to phylogroup B2 - characterized by strains that cause human extraintestinal infections - and encode factors associated with extraintestinal disease. A subset of the B2 strains (ST73, ST681 and ST127) carry the pks genomic island, which encodes colibactin, a genotoxin associated with colorectal cancer. We found little antimicrobial resistance and only one example of multi-drug resistance among the simian isolates. Hierarchical clustering showed that simian isolates from ST442 and ST349 are closely related to isolates recovered from human clinical cases (differences in 50 and 7 alleles, respectively), suggesting recent exchange between the two host species. Conversely, simian isolates from ST73, ST681 and ST127 were distinct from human isolates, while five simian isolates belong to unique core-genome ST complexes - indicating novel diversity specific to the primate niche. Our results are of planetary health importance, considering the increasing contact between humans and wild non-human primates.

The coevolution of circumperineal color and terrestriality

Old World monkeys (Cercopithecoidea) are unusual among primates for the high percentage of species exhibiting circumperineal coloration, as well as the large percentage of highly terrestrial species. Kingdon [1974, 1980] suggested that circumperineal skin coloration is functionally related to terrestriality, but this hypothesis has not been tested. From the literature, we collected data on habitat use (terrestrial/arboreal) and circumperineal coloration (present/absent) for 78 species. Indeed, among the 78 species surveyed here, 75% of them fall into either the category of colored circumperineals with terrestrial lifestyle, or of uncolored circumperineals with arboreal lifestyle (Χ(2)(1) = 19.550, P < 0.001). However, conventional statistical procedures assume all taxa are equally related-which is not usually the case in multispecies analyses-leading to higher rates of both type I and II statistical errors. We performed Bayesian trait coevolution analyses that show that models of dependent trait evolution are not significantly better than models assuming independent evolution of the two traits (log-likelihood ratio test P = 0.396, Bayes Factor = 1). Bayesian nodal reconstructions of the cercopithecoid phylogeny indicate that relatively few trait transitions are needed to account for the distributions of the two traits. Further, chi-squared distributional tests show that sub-family affiliation (i.e., Cercopithecinae, Colobinae) is an accurate predictor of trait status. The discordance of the analyses may represent the results of a few different evolutionary scenarios, but ultimately circumperineal coloration seems weakly linked to terrestrial ecology.

Adult age confounds estimates of static allometric slopes in a vertebrate

In many animal groups, the size of male genitalia scales shallowly with individual body size. This widespread pattern appears to admit some exceptions. For instance, steep allometries have been reported for vertebrate genitalia. This exception, however, may be due to a confounding effect arising from the continued growth of some structures during adulthood in vertebrates. Consider the possibility that genitalia continue to grow in adults while body size does not. If so, taking measurements from adults of different ages could yield steeper allometries than would be obtained from measurements of adults of the same age. We used vervet monkeys to test this hypothesis. We found that all body parts continued to grow in adult vervet monkeys, with sexual traits (including genitalia) showing faster growth rates. Traits with faster growth rates over adult ages had steeper allometries. And accounting for variation in adult age yielded shallower allometries, bringing vervet monkey genitalia in line with the predominant pattern observed in other animal groups. These results suggest that steep allometric slope estimates reported for other vertebrates may be due in part to mixing of adult ages, and reinforces one of the most consistent patterns yet detected in the study of static allometry.

Passive protection of segmented swine colonic loops against swine dysentery

Swine-ligated loops were used to demonstrate passive protection against swine dysentery. Loops inoculated with immune sera containing complement and with homologous Treponema hyodysenteriae were normal at necropsy. Loops inoculated with heat-inactivated immune sera and heterologous T hyodysenteriae were not protected. Loops inoculated with heat-inactivated immune sera and homologous T hyodysenteriae were partially protected. Positive control loops inoculated with isolate B204 (88%) or B234 (44%) T hyodysenteriae and normal sera developed lesions typical of swine dysentery, whereas negative control loops inoculated with nonexposed sera only were normal.

In vivo cross-reactivity of Taenia saginata and Taenia crassiceps antigens in bovine cysticercosis

Steers sensitized or infected with Taenia saginata exhibited similar delayed-type dermal hypersensitivity (DTH) responses after intradermal inoculation with T. saginata or T. crassiceps skin test antigens. Steers sensitized to T. crassiceps cysticerci exhibited similar DTH responses to intradermal inoculation with T. crassiceps, T. saginata whole worm and T. saginata cysticerci antigens. No correlation existed between the DTH responses and the number of cysticerci in the carcasses. One sensitized/infected and one infected steer harbored cysticerci but exhibited no DTH responses. Infection with cysticerci did not elevate DTH responsiveness in sensitized animals.