Population Genomics Reveals Local Adaptation Related to Temperature Variation in Two Stream Frog Species: Implications for Vulnerability to Climate Warming.

Identifying populations at highest risk from climate change is a critical component of conservation efforts. However, vulnerability assessments are usually applied at the species level, even though intraspecific variation in exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity play a crucial role in determining vulnerability. Genomic data can inform intraspecific vulnerability by identifying signatures of local adaptation that reflect population-level variation in sensitivity and adaptive capacity.

Disentangling effects of dispersal, environment and anthropogenic barriers on functional connectivity in aquatic systems.

Disentangling the roles of structural landscape factors and animal movement behaviour can present challenges for practitioners managing landscapes to maintain functional connectivity and achieve conservation goals. We used a landscape genetics approach to combine robust demographic, behavioural and genetic datasets with spatially explicit simulations to evaluate the effects of anthropogenic barriers (dams, culverts) and natural landscape resistance (gradient, elevation) affecting dispersal behaviour, genetic connectivity and genetic structure in a resident population of Westslope Cutthroat Trout (Oncorhynchus clarkii lewisi). Analyses based on 10 years of sampling effort revealed a pattern of restricted dispersal, and population genetics identified discrete population clusters between distal tributaries and the mainstem stream and no structure within the mainstem stream.

A simple modification to the classical SIR model to estimate the proportion of under-reported infections using case studies in flu and COVID-19.

Background: Under-reporting and, thus, uncertainty around the true incidence of health events is common in all public health reporting systems. While the problem of under-reporting is acknowledged in epidemiology, the guidance and methods available for assessing and correcting the resulting bias are obscure.

Objective: We aim to design a simple modification to the Susceptible - Infected - Removed (SIR) model for estimating the fraction or proportion of reported infection cases.

Seasonal extreme temperatures and short-term fine particulate matter increases pediatric respiratory healthcare encounters in a sparsely populated region of the intermountain western United States.

Background: Western Montana, USA, experiences complex air pollution patterns with predominant exposure sources from summer wildfire smoke and winter wood smoke. In addition, climate change related temperatures events are becoming more extreme and expected to contribute to increases in hospital admissions for a range of health outcomes. Evaluating while accounting for these exposures (air pollution and temperature) that often occur simultaneously and may act synergistically on health is becoming more important.