A. Townsend Peterson

Bio: A. Townsend Peterson is an academic researcher from University of Kansas. The author has contributed to research in topics: Environmental niche modelling & Ecological niche. The author has an hindex of 91, co-authored 521 publications receiving 51524 citations. Previous affiliations of A. Townsend Peterson include California Academy of Sciences & University of Chicago.

Mammal taxa constituting potential coevolved reservoirs of filoviruses

Abstract: The virus family Filoviridae includes 2 genera, the Marburg viruses and the Ebola viruses. The ecology of the filoviruses is poorly known, and indeed their host relationships remain completely unknown. An earlier effort prioritized mammalian taxa as to their possible status as the long-term coevolved reservoir of the filoviruses based on a coarse, regional classification of occurrences; here, we greatly refine the geographic data set for the mammalian taxa based on rich occurrence data sets and range interpolations from ecological niche models for each species involved. This improved detail permits a much more detailed inspection of distributional overlap patterns, and consequently a shorter list of candidate taxa—geographic analysis of 124 mammalian clades led to identification of 55 groups of interest that coincide spatially with known filovirus outbreaks, and fulfill the requirements of several additional assumptions. We discuss implications of our results for the search for the filovirus reservoir, and for research in African mammalogy.

Bottlenecks in the Open-Access System: Voices from Around the Globe

Abstract: A level playing field is key for global participation in science and scholarship, particularly with regard to how scientific publications are financed and subsequently accessed. However, there are potential pitfalls of the so-called “Gold” open-access (OA) route, in which author-paid publication charges cover the costs of production and publication. Gold OA plans in which author charges are required may not solve the access problem, but rather may shift the access barrier from reader to writer. Under such plans, everyone may be free to read papers, but it may still be prohibitively expensive to publish them. In a scholarly community that is increasingly global, spread over more and more regions and countries of the world, these publication access barriers may be quite significant. In the present paper, a global suite of colleagues in academe joins this debate. The group of colleagues, a network of researchers active in scholarly publishing, spans four continents and multiple disciplines in the natural sciences, humanities, and social sciences, as well as diverse political and economic situations. We believe that this global sampling of researchers can provide the nuance and perspective necessary to grasp this complex problem. The group was assembled without an attempt to achieve global coverage through random sampling. This contribution differs from other approaches to the open-access problem in several fundamental ways. (A) It is scholar-driven, and thus can represent the ‘other side of the coin’ of scholarly communication. (B) It focuses on narrative report, where scholars were free to orient their responses as they saw fit, rather than being confined to binary or scalar choices. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, (C) it distinguishes among institutions and countries and situations, highlighting inequalities of access among wealthy and economically-challenged nations, and also within countries depending on the size and location of particular institutions.

Modeling endangered mammal species distributions and forest connectivity across the humid Upper Guinea lowland rainforest of West Africa

Abstract: Species distribution data provide critical baseline information for conservation planning and decision making. However, in many of the Earth’s most biodiverse regions, such data are lacking for many species. Here, we used ecological niche modeling and connectivity analyses to model distributions of endangered species and protected area connectivity across the Upper Guinea Forest (UGF) Global Conservation Hotspot of West Africa. We estimated the current distributions of African forest elephant Loxodonta cyclotis (Vulnerable), western chimpanzee Pan troglodytes verus (Critically Endangered), and pygmy hippopotamus Choeropsis liberiensis (Endangered) across the region and optimized connectivity in two main forest complexes in the region. We used occurrence data for the period 2010–2016 for the three species from two well-sampled national parks in Liberia (Sapo National Park and Gola National Park), and remotely sensed MODIS enhanced vegetation index data for the period 2010–2015. Our models predicted a total of 75,157 km2 of suitable habitat for chimpanzees in the region, 79,400 km2 for elephants, and 290,696 km2 for hippos. Of these areas, for chimpanzees, 30% of the area predicted falls within the boundaries of proposed or designated protected areas, and likewise 30% for elephants, and 19% for hippos. Liberia had the largest blocks of contiguous forest suitable for these species compared to other countries in the region but this forest was largely unprotected. This study identifies priority areas for biodiversity conservation and forest connectivity in the region, and reemphasizes the practicality of these tools to optimize conservation planning and implementation.

Influence of bill shape on ectoparasite load in western scrub-jays

Abstract: Populations of the Western Scrub-Jay (Aphelocoma californica) have bills specialized for feeding in their respective habitats. Populations in oak habitat have hooked bills, whereas those in pinyon habitat have pointed bills with a reduced maxillary overhang. Work on other bird species shows that the bill overhang is essential for efficient preening to control ectoparasites. Given the importance of this overhang, we predicted that louse-infested jays with pointed bills would have higher louse loads than those with hooked bills. We compared the number of lice on 65 pointed-billed (4 infested) and 105 hooked-billed (17 infested) birds. Despite their lower incidence of louse infestation, pointed-billed birds had significantly more lice than hooked-billed birds, supporting our prediction. While pointed bills enhance feeding in pinyon habitat, our results suggest that they may incur a cost of reduced preening efficiency. Evolution of bill shape has traditionally been interpreted mainly in terms of fora...

Ecological approaches in veterinary epidemiology: mapping the risk of bat-borne rabies using vegetation indices and night-time light satellite imagery

Abstract: Rabies remains a disease of significant public health concern. In the Americas, bats are an important source of rabies for pets, livestock, and humans. For effective rabies control and prevention, identifying potential areas for disease occurrence is critical to guide future research, inform public health policies, and design interventions. To anticipate zoonotic infectious diseases distribution at coarse scale, veterinary epidemiology needs to advance via exploring current geographic ecology tools and data using a biological approach. We analyzed bat-borne rabies reports in Chile from 2002 to 2012 to establish associations between rabies occurrence and environmental factors to generate an ecological niche model (ENM). The main rabies reservoir in Chile is the bat species Tadarida brasiliensis; we mapped 726 occurrences of rabies virus variant AgV4 in this bat species and integrated them with contemporary Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). The correct prediction of areas with rabies in bats and the reliable anticipation of human rabies in our study illustrate the usefulness of ENM for mapping rabies and other zoonotic pathogens. Additionally, we highlight critical issues with selection of environmental variables, methods for model validation, and consideration of sampling bias. Indeed, models with weak or incorrect validation approaches should be interpreted with caution. In conclusion, ecological niche modeling applications for mapping disease risk at coarse geographic scales have a promising future, especially with refinement and enrichment of models with additional information, such as night-time light data, which increased substantially the model’s ability to anticipate human rabies.

The Theory of Island Biogeography

Abstract: Preface to the Princeton Landmarks in Biology Edition vii Preface xi Symbols Used xiii 1. The Importance of Islands 3 2. Area and Number of Speicies 8 3. Further Explanations of the Area-Diversity Pattern 19 4. The Strategy of Colonization 68 5. Invasibility and the Variable Niche 94 6. Stepping Stones and Biotic Exchange 123 7. Evolutionary Changes Following Colonization 145 8. Prospect 181 Glossary 185 References 193 Index 201

Bayesian Phylogenetics with BEAUti and the BEAST 1.7

Abstract: Computational evolutionary biology, statistical phylogenetics and coalescent-based population genetics are becoming increasingly central to the analysis and understanding of molecular sequence data. We present the Bayesian Evolutionary Analysis by Sampling Trees (BEAST) software package version 1.7, which implements a family of Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithms for Bayesian phylogenetic inference, divergence time dating, coalescent analysis, phylogeography and related molecular evolutionary analyses. This package includes an enhanced graphical user interface program called Bayesian Evolutionary Analysis Utility (BEAUti) that enables access to advanced models for molecular sequence and phenotypic trait evolution that were previously available to developers only. The package also provides new tools for visualizing and summarizing multispecies coalescent and phylogeographic analyses. BEAUti and BEAST 1.7 are open source under the GNU lesser general public license and available at http://beast-mcmc.googlecode.com and http://beast.bio.ed.ac.uk

Ecological and Evolutionary Responses to Recent Climate Change

Abstract: Ecological changes in the phenology and distribution of plants and animals are occurring in all well-studied marine, freshwater, and terrestrial groups These observed changes are heavily biased in the directions predicted from global warming and have been linked to local or regional climate change through correlations between climate and biological variation, field and laboratory experiments, and physiological research Range-restricted species, particularly polar and mountaintop species, show severe range contractions and have been the first groups in which entire species have gone extinct due to recent climate change Tropical coral reefs and amphibians have been most negatively affected Predator-prey and plant-insect interactions have been disrupted when interacting species have responded differently to warming Evolutionary adaptations to warmer conditions have occurred in the interiors of species’ ranges, and resource use and dispersal have evolved rapidly at expanding range margins Observed genetic shifts modulate local effects of climate change, but there is little evidence that they will mitigate negative effects at the species level