Robust evidence for bats as reservoir hosts is lacking in most African virus studies: a review and call to optimize sampling and conserve bats.

Africa experiences frequent emerging disease outbreaks among humans, with bats often proposed as zoonotic pathogen hosts. We comprehensively reviewed virus-bat findings from papers published between 1978 and 2020 to evaluate the evidence that African bats are reservoir and/or bridging hosts for viruses that cause human disease. We present data from 162 papers (of 1322) with original findings on (1) numbers and species of bats sampled across bat families and the continent, (2) how bats were selected for study inclusion, (3) if bats were terminally sampled, (4) what types of ecological data, if any, were recorded and (5) which viruses were detected and with what methodology.

Opening the black box of bird-window collisions: passive video recordings in a residential backyard.

Collisions with windows on buildings are a major source of bird mortality. The current understanding of daytime collisions is limited by a lack of empirical data on how collisions occur in the real world because most data are collected by recording evidence of mortality rather than pre-collision behaviour. Based on published literature suggesting a causal relationship between bird collision risk and the appearance of reflections on glass, the fact that reflections vary in appearance depending on viewing angle, and general principles of object collision kinematics, we hypothesized that the risk and lethality of window collisions may be related to the angle and velocity of birds' flight.

Correction: A vesicular stomatitis virus-based prime-boost vaccination strategy induces potent and protective neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.

M. Brock Fenton.

Interview with Brock Fenton, who studies the behaviour, ecology and evolution of bats at the University of Western Ontario.

A vesicular stomatitis virus-based prime-boost vaccination strategy induces potent and protective neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2.

The development of safe and effective vaccines to prevent SARS-CoV-2 infections remains an urgent priority worldwide. We have used a recombinant vesicular stomatitis virus (rVSV)-based prime-boost immunization strategy to develop an effective COVID-19 vaccine candidate. We have constructed VSV genomes carrying exogenous genes resulting in the production of avirulent rVSV carrying the full-length spike protein (SF), the S1 subunit, or the receptor-binding domain (RBD) plus envelope (E) protein of SARS-CoV-2.

Body size affects immune cell proportions in birds and non-volant mammals, but not bats.

Powered flight has evolved several times in vertebrates and constrains morphology and physiology in ways that likely have shaped how organisms cope with infections. Some of these constraints probably have impacts on aspects of immunology, such that larger fliers might prioritize risk reduction and safety. Addressing how the evolution of flight may have driven relationships between body size and immunity could be particularly informative for understanding the propensity of some taxa to harbor many virulent and sometimes zoonotic pathogens without showing clinical disease.

Disentangling interactions among mercury, immunity and infection in a Neotropical bat community.

1. Contaminants such as mercury are pervasive and can have immunosuppressive effects on wildlife. Impaired immunity could be important for forecasting pathogen spillover, as many land-use changes that generate mercury contamination also bring wildlife into close contact with humans and domestic animals.

Surveying the Vampire Bat () Serum Proteome: A Resource for Identifying Immunological Proteins and Detecting Pathogens.

Bats are increasingly studied as model systems for longevity and as natural hosts for some virulent viruses. Yet the ability to characterize immune mechanisms of viral tolerance and to quantify infection dynamics in wild bats is often limited by small sample volumes and few species-specific reagents. Here, we demonstrate how proteomics can overcome these limitations by using data-independent acquisition-based shotgun proteomics to survey the serum proteome of 17 vampire bats () from Belize.

Ecological and evolutionary drivers of haemoplasma infection and bacterial genotype sharing in a Neotropical bat community.

Most emerging pathogens can infect multiple species, underlining the importance of understanding the ecological and evolutionary factors that allow some hosts to harbour greater infection prevalence and share pathogens with other species. However, our understanding of pathogen jumps is based primarily around viruses, despite bacteria accounting for the greatest proportion of zoonoses. Because bacterial pathogens in bats (order Chiroptera) can have conservation and human health consequences, studies that examine the ecological and evolutionary drivers of bacterial prevalence and barriers to pathogen sharing are crucially needed.

The benefits of insect-swarm hunting to echolocating bats, and its influence on the evolution of bat echolocation signals.

Predation on swarms of prey, especially using visual information, has drawn much interest in studies of collective movement. Surprisingly, in the field of biosonar this aspect of prey detection, which is probably very common, has received little to no attention. Here, we combine computer simulations and actual echo measurements to accurately estimate the echo sound pressure of insect swarms of different size and density.

Chemical characterisation of potential pheromones from the shoulder gland of the Northern yellow-shouldered-bat, (Phyllostomidae: Stenodermatinae).

Bats of the genus (Family Phyllostomidae) are characterised by shoulder glands that are more developed in reproductively mature adult males. The glands produce a waxy secretion that accumulates on the fur around the gland, dyeing the fur a dark colour and giving off a pungent odour. These shoulder glands are thought to play a role in their reproductive behaviour.

Molecular diet analysis finds an insectivorous desert bat community dominated by resource sharing despite diverse echolocation and foraging strategies.

Interspecific differences in traits can alter the relative niche use of species within the same environment. Bats provide an excellent model to study niche use because they use a wide variety of behavioral, acoustic, and morphological traits that may lead to multi-species, functional groups. Predatory bats have been classified by their foraging location (edge, clutter, open space), ability to use aerial hawking or substrate gleaning and echolocation call design and flexibility, all of which may dictate their prey use.

Approaches to integrating genetic data into ecological networks.

As molecular tools for assessing trophic interactions become common, research is increasingly focused on the construction of interaction networks. Here, we demonstrate three key methods for incorporating DNA data into network ecology and discuss analytical considerations using a model consisting of plants, insects, bats and their parasites from the Costa Rica dry forest. The simplest method involves the use of Sanger sequencing to acquire long sequences to validate or refine field identifications, for example of bats and their parasites, where one specimen yields one sequence and one identification.

Host association influences variation at salivary protein genes in the bat ectoparasite Cimex adjunctus.

Parasite-host relationships create strong selection pressures that can lead to adaptation and increasing specialization of parasites to their hosts. Even in relatively loose host-parasite relationships, such as between generalist ectoparasites and their hosts, we may observe some degree of specialization of parasite populations to one of the multiple potential hosts. Salivary proteins are used by blood-feeding ectoparasites to prevent hemostasis in the host and maximize energy intake.

Livestock abundance predicts vampire bat demography, immune profiles and bacterial infection risk.

Human activities create novel food resources that can alter wildlife-pathogen interactions. If resources amplify or dampen, pathogen transmission probably depends on both host ecology and pathogen biology, but studies that measure responses to provisioning across both scales are rare. We tested these relationships with a 4-year study of 369 common vampire bats across 10 sites in Peru and Belize that differ in the abundance of livestock, an important anthropogenic food source.