Publications by authors named "B A Rideout"
The driving forces behind the evolution of early metazoans are not well understood, but key insights into their ecology and evolution can be gained through ecological analyses of the in situ, sessile communities of the Avalon assemblage in the Ediacaran (~565 million years ago). Community structure in the Avalon is thought to be underpinned by epifaunal tiering and ecological succession, which we investigate in this study in 18 Avalon communities. Here we found that Avalon communities form four distinctive Community Types irrespective of succession processes, which are instead based on the dominance of morphologically distinct taxa, and that tiering is prevalent in three of these Community Types.
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- Infections, particularly from specific parasites, are prevalent in both wild and captive passerine birds, with some species co-evolving with certain parasites.* -
- The severity of disease can range from mild to fatal, which raises concerns for institutions managing endangered bird species, especially in mixed-species settings.* -
- Research aimed at understanding the host-specificity of these parasites has shown that genetic sequences mainly align with specific bird species, indicating a need for further investigation on interspecies transmission and disease risk factors.*
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- Climate change is affecting wildlife disease dynamics, particularly in polar bears, but long-term studies on this issue have been limited.
- A study examined serum samples from polar bears in Canada over three different time periods, revealing an increase in exposure to certain zoonotic and bacterial pathogens between 1986 and 2017.
- The research indicates that changing climate factors, like temperature and precipitation, influence pathogen prevalence in polar bears, highlighting the connection between climate change and wildlife health.
The goal of this study was to evaluate longitudinal patterns of avian mycobacteriosis spread through a social network. Specifically, we wanted to determine whether the patterns of connectivity over time can predict future infections, and whether this pattern can distinguish between different sources of infection. The study population included 13,409 individuals nested in a larger population of birds that were closely monitored in zoological facilities for over 22 years (1992-2014).
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